Christmas in California 2009

Rooster and Sweetie Pie

Rooster and Sweetie Pie

Grandpa with his other grand daughter

Rooster & Sweetie Pie with their cousin and uncle
Me and the kids flew to California this year on the Sunday before Christmas. We stayed in Riverside with family. Had a great 4 days. Dad drove down and got there on Christmas Eve. We haven't seen all of this side of the family since moving to Colorado. It was so good to see everyone. Expecially seeing all the 7 kiddo's running around and playing great with each other.

Disneyland 2009

Scared Rooster on Pirates ride. Priceless!!!
Sweetie Pie trying to flag down Goofy.
Rooster and Uncle Jon
Waiting in line for Nemo ride

We planned Disneyland well it was going to be on a weekday, but mom changed it to a weekend. Glad she did. The 8 of us had a great time even with the crowds. We only got about 5 rides in because of the lines, but we got to ride the one's we wanted to. Thanks Jon for staying for the fireworks show even though you didn't really want to. Special THANKS to mom and dad for the great Christmas gift.

Drive home from California 12-30-09

Where's the mountain's ???

Love watching the snow plows
Clearing the way for us. Thanks

Our first day we put in about 8 hours of driving in. We love getting the most of it the first day. After spending the night we woke up to a white out. Hubby asked me if we wanted to wait it out or go for it. I told him lets try it we have chains if we need them. Luckily we followed behind trucks and snow plows thru the hairy parts. Now I know why they call it WHITE OUT'S. We saw lots of cars over the side of the roads. Idiot's drive slower in these conditions!!!

Hubby's first kill !!! WARNING bloody pictures's

Hubby went hunting for the last time this year. He finally got his first kill. It was a calf she was less than a year old. We heard that the young one's have good meat while the older elk's are really gamey and tough. Our neighbor said we will get about 100 pounds of meat from this 250+ elk. I did pet her head and did say a little prayer and sorry. Her death won't go in vain we are going to eat the meat.

More friends came to see us!!!

Our friends came to see us after their Thanksgiving dinner. It was a long drive for them and a as a short visit for us. Miss them so much. They got here around 3 p.m. Friday we went to dinner at Rib City. Saturday I took them up the mountains to see the Rifle Falls. Rick fished a little bit while I took the girls up to sled. We had a great time hopefully next time they can stay longer.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Rooster played basketball while daddy cooked

Turkey's before getting dumped in the hot Peanut Oil.
Hubby making sure the fire was still going with all the wind
Mommy in the famous trash bag idea that she got from her mom

Hubby's first turkey out and it wasn't even burned.

Sweetie Pie with Kassie

Rooster with Kassie

The men hovering over the food

Getting ready to eat

We spent our first Thanksgiving in Colorado instead of California (camping at the beach). As much as we missed our family it was so nice to have friends drive over from California and our great neighbors come over and eat with us. Hubby deep fried two 20+ pound turkey's for the first time. He took tips and after all these years watching my dad do it they turned out fantastic. The garbage bag is a tradition that my mom does and I wanted to keep it up. We made entirely too much food, but doesn't everyone. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Day before Thanksgiving

Table is set

Our Centerpiece (wink wink)

Grandma and Grandpa Hotrod

Tis the day before Thanksgiving. Since this is the first time we missed camping (will be there is spirit) with our family in San Luis or Morro Bay. We thought we would bring the Grandparents here to us by labeling the scarecrows with Grandma & Grandpa Hotrod. The bed pan with flowers is also a tradition with the family. Just ask my dad. Love and Miss you guys so much. Oh no starting to cry.

LOVE YOU

Drive with my kiddo's 11-23-09

Bird we were feeding chicken to.

Rifle FallsKiddo's with beautiful rainbow by the falls.
Another picture of the kiddo's with the falls
Sweetie Pie

Me and Sweetie Pie by Rifle Falls

Me and Rooster by Rifle Falls
Rifle Falls from on top
Lower ice caves with Sweetie Pie. Luckily she
knows not to stand under them when they fall. She only knocked down a couple, so that other
people could enjoy them.
Lower Ice caves
Upper ice caves

Upper ice caves

Farther up the road with more snow on the road.

Harvey Gap with the water real low

Harvey Gap

The 4 walls of the house was closing in on me today. So, I decided to take a drive with the kiddo's. We picked up gas and chicken at the grocery store and headed up the mountain. First stop was Rifle Falls. There we ate our chicken and a fed a bird who loved the taste of chicken then up to the falls we went. We took some pictures of the falls and the beautifull rainbow shooting thru them. Next we took the short little hike up to the caves and up and over the falls we went. Second stop we drove up to the City Park where we stopped and hiked up to the lower and upper ice caves. Finally we drove even further up the hill till it started to snow and the road was getting a little worse. Wanted so bad to head up a road called Little Box. It's a road that is very narrow with a mountain on 1 side and a step cliff drop on the other. But, then I had to think about it. First thought I had to think of me and the kids and that no one knew we were up there. Second thought was it starting to snow and the roads were getting slippery. I had 4 wheel drive and a gun, but I don't think that was enough to even consider to try and attempt to do it. So, I turned around and headed back a different way home towards Harvey Gap. The time we were gone was about 6 1/2 hours, but it seemed like the day just flew by.