Californina - Hearst Castle

Emily wanted to spend some time in California as long as we were there, and Mandy and Mitch wanted to use this as their vacation. So we went to the Hearst Castle. I was so excited cuz this castle is in one of my many picture books. Many of u know of my plans to build a Bed & Breakfast Castle with my sister Bethanie. Going to see the castle gave me lots of ideas!

BTW - I LOVE picture books.. especially of castles or cathedrals... or old building.... just in case anyone feels the need to give me a present.

Apparently there are 4 tours of the house and grounds. Locals (Jamie and sister) told us to take tour 2. Unfortunately, this meant we didn't see the grand dining room or the other big rooms downstairs, but we did see the outside swimming pool, lots of guest rooms upstairs, Hearst's own suite as well as his mistress's, the kitchen, the upstairs library, and the inside swimming pool. I was VERY jealous of his pools! The first tour included a 45 minute video since each tour took ~2 hours, we would have only seen the inside of the house for 1 hour. So... I bought the video. Didn't want to miss out since I was there!

I think my favorite room was the upstairs library. It was big enough that all the decorations didn't seem as gaudy. The rest of the rooms were a bit overwhelmed in.... stuff.

This was our very strange tour guide. He didn't give very much information as the other tour guides (Emily ease dropped so I know that statement is true) made Mandy and Mitch hold their children inside the house as well as telling them exactly where to stand. He was also VERY adamant that Hearst was NOT Catholic, regardless of the decorations. I think we finally understood after the 34th time he mentioned it :-)

The kitchen where Emily washed up using the gold ducks.... (Kimball was finished)

And the indoor swimming POOL.
Man.. was I jealous. EVERY part of the pool was decorated with tiny tiles.

And by the way, at the deep end it was 10ft and at the shallow end it was 10ft... That means it was flat (information compliments of our Tour Guide).

And once again... Mr. Hearst was NOT Catholic, regardless of the decorations.

Just so u know.

In Which my Friend (Sister's Roommate) is Married

Emily and I flew to Los Angeles to see Jamie get married. Apparently, Los Angeles was the first temple to be built in the area so it has apartments you can stay in for 45$ a night. They obviously aren't high faluting places, but they certainly served the purpose of a good nights rest. The temple is beautiful and very large... it even has an assembly room which we got to see.

The wedding was very nice and it was good to be there to support Jamie.

(I put that flower in Emily's hair!)

Then Emily found the sitting tree so I sat in it. Unfortunately.... the lights and HUGE yellow extension cord kinda took away from the picture!

Melissa and Dan got in on the action and so did Mandy (cousin) and Mitch with their little Fay and Kimball. We pretty much spent the rest of the weekend with Fay in our car (cuz all little girls think we are COOL... giving her ice cream and treats helped a little too).

On our way to San Luis Obisbo we passed Los Alamos in California! Emily and I just had to take a picture.

I was feeling old and fat at the reception, so I didn't get many pictures. Can you believe they STILL want my sister and I to try and catch the bouquet? Ya right. Funny thing is, the announcer lady (Jamie's friend growing up) was trying to drum up excitement by mentioning that she caught a bouquet a while ago. Three months later she was engaged and she didn't have a boyfriend at the time of the thowing (up).

Boy... weddings sure are funny. Like I would advertise the fact I am so desperate (between u and me, if that always happened, I would be right there in that gaggle of girls, but... not much of a believer).

This is what Fay thought of the whole procedings.

Wordless Wednesday

In order to keep my goal of not blogging at work... this will need to be a word-less wednesday... LESS words... not no words at all... DUH!

CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve

Installment 2 - Christmas eve.

I arrived home (New Mexico will always be home) late December 23rd after a frustrating morning of trying to find pretty wood to give to Dad for Christmas. I also had been up since 5am since who can sleep when you are about to drive home 10 hrs to spend Christmas with family?

So.... I had a WONDERFUL nights rest and was ready to prepare for Christmas. Christmas Eve is probably even more important than Christmas in my family.

List of Activities... in order of appearance.

1. This year we went shopping for Mom and Dad by wandering around the small shops in Los Alamos buying funny things and stopping at the hardware store (where they know my father by name) to get wood. I found a BUTTER CURLER for my mother's stocking!



Unfortunately, because of this Emily and I missed all the set up for the luminarias.
Sad... But Emily said it was OK cuz it means we would get to light more.
















2. The luminarias.
This is a wonderful tradition in New Mexico and the southwest.
We put sand and a little candle in a paper bag to light the Christ child to our home.
This year we did... well, I'm not sure (see number 1), but I think 10 dozen. (I tried to get a picture of it without my flash but as u can see it didn't quite work!)








3. Make dozens and dozens of cinnamon rolls for our Home Teachers, Home Teachee's, Visting Teachers, and Visting Teachees. For some reason, the number gets larger every year. I heard 7 dozen rolls bandied about. I'm sure we ended up making more like 9 or 10 dozen because we have to have some for ourselves! Mother also made bread in a pot this year to try and cut down on the cinnamon roll needs. (notice the laundry basket behind my mother filled with cinnamon rolls as well as the one she is carrying. She also has the ward list so we can figure out where these people live!)

4. Clam Chowder for dinner... with REAL oster saltine crackers. Ah.. memories of trying to get as many as you could into ur bowl without the wrath of nearby siblings falling on ur head.

5. Then it's off to go caroling. I LOVE caroling. I couldn't believe my oldest sister said in her blog that she dislikes it!! I LOVE IT! Remember the 7 dozen cinnamon rolls? This is when we give them out. It was sad this year with no small ones to go up to the door with the offering. Every year, we try to get out early so we can get home in a reasonable time, but it never works. At least this year we didn't add anyone to our caroling list. Some people only got cinnamon rolls or a bread in a pot with no singing. I don't think they missed it.

6. We open our new pajamas (that my mother had wrapped that afternoon),
a reading of Luke 2, and its off to bed. I did get Spree's stocking ready, Angela did Thorpes (her assistance dog), and Emily and I got all the nuts and candy ready to go in the stockings. We were trying to help the parents reduce the staying up time. Its just not the same with only 4 unmarried children at home.

Let me say... I do like silk pajamas. I never knew! I think they are going to be nice and cool during the hot summer.

Wonderful News

Many of u might have noticed I haven't posted during the holidays.

HELLO! I was with my family! All I do with them is read, play games, sleep, eat, play games, watch movies, run with the dog, and play games. This year I spiced it up some with a couple of bike rides. NOTHING takes me away from family.. especially not blogging. (yes, many of these activities involve only me... do not confuse the issue with facts!)

Just think, now you can look forward to all the backblogging I will be doing! I know I know, it'll be hard to wait.

My first installment takes place on Sunday, January 4th. Sunday morning I dreamt that when I arrived back to Vegas Sunday evening, the first thing I did was check the mail. The Nevada State Board had sent me a letter telling me I had passed my PE exam! (background: pre-test, post-test) I was so excited that I decided I needed to tell Mauvia (a former college roommate) . But since it was so early in the morning, she wouldn't be up *Huh?*. Then I remembered that she would be awake and studying at the library with her baby Zoe so I could go tell her there....

Sunday Evening.... MY DREAM CAME TRUE!! (except for part about Mauvia, early morning, and baby Zoe (she's not a baby anymore!))

I will soon be the proud owner of a STAMP with my name on it. I danced around.. tried to call the parents... danced around some more.. and finally brought the bird in from the car.

This is Spree doing a happy dance for me.

(Umm...U'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it cuz I forgot to bring my jump drive to work today)

The family sang me a congratulations song and Dad asked if I would be getting a raise (love=money (subscript Dad)).

I will now be accepting accolades and presents. Melissa said I need to celebrate.

Perhaps a hot tub soak? :-)