Thanksgiving photos

The Beeler family came for a visit in November last year. see some photos of the trip here

http://bit.ly/hsUyeA

My cousin, Kris takes brilliant pictures all the time. Take a look here at what she got on film while visiting our favorite california.

Road trip to Tennessee

We decided to drive across the country this year to get home for the holidays. I know, I know it's sounds crazy, but truthfully, it was easier. Way less stress, we were able to take the dog, and we were on our own timeline. It took us 3 days to get to Memphis, and the first day of driving was almost all California. That picture there on the left is in Mojave, CA...I think. Those things on the hills are wind turbines. There were thousands of them! It was really cool to see. To see new forms of energy production.

By the time we crossed into Arizona, we found this. We were never snowed on, but were on roads that had been hit before our arrival...and eventually got more after we passed through. We were lucky to have seen so little weather on the way. During our travels, we would drive for what seemed like 100 miles before seeing any civilization. I know it was less, because on our way back to Cali, it was about every 35-40 miles that there would be a rest stop. The longest pass is from Needles, CA to Barstow. 80 miles of nothing. Nevertheless, we made it. We listened to 6 books on CD on the whole trip. I think we may have actually talked to each other for a total of an hour during the 6 days of travel. We got in one fight, after having been on the road on the final day. We were about an hour from home and had been making great time. Had been driving at this point for about 9 hours, and then traffic came to a halt. The tail lights looked like blinking christmas tree lights. I was driving crazy and Michelle was nervous. The argument lasted about 45 seconds before I started laughing at the realization that we hadn't talked all day and were now fighting over the people putting on their brakes.

Here's a few photos of our favorite Beeler people.

Amzie

Evan

Camryn

Glenda the Good

Marlena and the Doctor, winners at the ugly sweater party.

The Dude

Once we arrived in Nashville, the weather had turned very cold and for the first time in a really long time, we saw a white christmas! It was wonderful! We were able to spend about 7 days with our Nashville family. We played lots of games of BananaGrams, Monopoly Deal, and Farkle. And we got a great gift from Michelle's parents...going to the see the Zac Brown Band live at the Arena with them and our favorite uncles, Paul and Tim.

Here's a few pics of our favorite Edwards people.

Pap & Bebe

Jake

Brady

Lu

Susan & Sonja

Tim & Paul

On the whole, it was a great trip, full of love, laughter, and of course, children full of glee over christmas. We miss all of them and look forward to seeing them all again soon!

December...a little dated i know

We went to Mexico in the beginning of the month to celebrate the union of some of our best friends. It was a beautiful ceremony, and a really fun week, filled with bonfires, karaoke, buffets, dancing, cards, trash talking, wave jumping, and jet skiing. It was so good to get away, and so good to be in a relaxing spot for 5 days in a row.

This is the view from our hotel, The Dreams.

Here's the whole rowdy bunch. Good times!

California weather

For the last month, the weather has been amazing in California. We've seen temperatures from 65-80 degrees. But the best part has been some of the sunsets. I feel pretty lucky to have this view from my office.

On the other hand, some of my wine making pals are nervous about this heat wave...worried about what's going to happen to the vines. Having to change the type of grapes grown here in this valley. I guess whatever is grown next will be the next best thing, since normally what comes out of this area is pretty remarkable.

Uh huh, her

Happy Halloween!!!

A couple of years ago we invited Rick and chipmunk over to do some pumpkin carving. Michelle also had a specific dish in mind for dinner that she wanted us to try...dinner in a pumpkin. Those two dudes were a little leery of this meal, as was I. We couldn't make sense of it before seeing the end result, and we had a backup plan in place if it was too weird. It was not weird. In fact, it was delicious. Meat, good. Cheese, good. Rice, good...what's not to like? So there began the tradition. Pumpkin carving. Dinner in a pumpkin.

This year, we are in a new place. Less room in the kitchen, and with the added bonus of it raining, we set up shop in the living room. Threw down a few plastic table clothes, put the leaves in the table, and voila! We had a great time. It was really fun to watch the littlest member of the group decorate her pumpkin with magic marker, then get marker all over her hands and try to hug her Daddy.

The trash can on the table for pumpkin guts was a life saver for me. Otherwise, string and seeds would have been all over the place! Here's some of our handy work.

I always liked rainbows. Especially as a kid. Nothing cooler than seeing the colors scream across the blue sky, as the sun bursts through after a hard rain. Maybe it's the sky's way of smiling back at the refreshed earth. The best ones are those that come out after a spring time rain has settled the dust and pollen back down. I guess they're two fold for me, being allergic to all those things. Rainbows carry more weight for me now. They represent a group of people I belong to, a mission I am part of, a belief in the rights that belong to all of us simply because we are humans. As this is national coming out month, I feel fortunate to be able to live my life out. Thanks to all who show me love and respect.