Eliseo and Natalie left this morning at 2 am. Hopefully their train ride isn't too harrowing! On the way down, the train was delayed for 7 hours!! Can you imagine!? They had to sit and wait at every track crossing for other trains to go by. So we were expecting them at 4:00 am, and they didn't arrive until 11:00.

It was fun to have them here. We had a good time in Chico, just sauntering around and enjoying the weather. When they got here on Friday, it was 36 degrees and snowing! But it warmed up fast, and now it's in the low 60's again. Sheesh, our weather. (rolling eyes)

Lots to do today, ciao!

After filling our bellies with California Pasta (didn't quite pass muster with Eliseo)

Here are Natalie and Eliseo!!!

Hi everyone!

Now for a more recent post! When we got home from Minnesota, we enjoyed the WARMEST week ever here. It was in the mid-70's all week long (one day even reaching 80), there were people sun-bathing in bikinis by the pool at the club! In February! So amazing to come home to from the 12 degree days we were having at Dad and Mom's.

Our weather is back to normal now...since yesterday it's been in the 50's. Still sunny, tho, which is really nice.

I'm so excited, my friend Natalie and her boyfriend Eliseo (from Italy!) are coming in tonight on the train. They will get here really late (or early in the morning), so will have to take a taxi here and we'll meet Eliseo in the morning. They'll be here until Monday night... they'll probably take day trips around Northern Ca. throughout their stay.

So I have lots to do before they get here! I'll let this be all for now..... Hope all is well with everyone!

Minnesota!

I finally found the CD with all of our trip pictures on it! (I know you've been checking, Jenny!)
I have posted our first couple of days in Minnesota at Lee's little sister Jenny's house. She has a big, roomy new house with lots of kid space.
Jenny wasn't expecting us, so it was lots of fun to suprise her. I called her on my cell from her driveway, pretending we were in Chico going shopping. I rang the doorbell and she answered while still talking to me on the phone. She was so shocked, she couldn't breath or speak for awhile. She kept saying, "But you're in Chico! This isn't real!"

Random photo of our roof-top..this is what we left at home. It was 65 degrees and go-geous.

We're on our way! We fell in love with the great new feature of TV at every seat. What a quiet, calm plane trip it was!

This is us suprising John after showing up un-anounced in Minnesota. We had already suprised Jenny, which was a lot of fun!! Jenny went into shock and couldn't quite get her breath for a few minutes. It was great.

Snow is apparently only good for one thing, eating. No matter how dirty it is. :)

The dork, going out for a run in the ice and snow!

Cousin love. Awww! Rebecca, Joel, and Selina.

I'm caking your picture, too! And a photographer is born.

Lee and his beautiful sis, Jenny

I know, bad photographing. Selina is on the far left, at her new ballet class at the gym. These little girls were all around 3 years old, and so precocious. Here they were supposed to be standing in a row doing pliea's (I don't know how to spell that). Watching this class, I couldn't stop laughing at how cute the girls were and how hard it was for the teacher to keep their attention.

One of our long hoofs around Dad and Mom's neighborhood. It was so coooold, but we had lots of sweet things to work off! L to R, Jaina, Lee, Brett, and Leann.

I like this picture of Dad, he looks so snuggable! We were enjoying raspberry chocolate truffles.

Lee and I the day before we left

Going bananas again...

Lee and his special Mama.

A rare smile from Peyton... he was sick the first half of the trip and very grumpy.

A big Lorin smile!!!

Brrr! Snow at Lorin's in Wisconsin.

While visiting Uncle Lorin, we stopped by to see Aunt Debbie. Isn't she beautiful!

Ready for cross country skiing at Aunt Sharie's.

This is the most charming room at Aunt Sharie's.... I soaked in this tub after cross country skiing. Mmm!

Someday Peyton will not thank me for this, but isn't it a cute picture! Look at my baby! I like to start at around 1 1/2 getting him used to the potty... when he starts to recognize the urge, it won't be an unfamiliar transition.

This is supposedly the way that Snow White smiles. Selina really takes on the persona and quirks of the character.

Daddy and Peyton in the hot tub

My "look at me!" boy, he is constantly doing things to show off.

Kitchen

I've posted some new pics of the kitchen. I'm almost done with the tile counters, then all we have left to do is hang a pot rack on the right side, and a ceiling hung cabinet on the left, then finish out the top wall with trim and paint. Next will be tearing out the wall on the other side by the den, and turning the den into a formal dining room. I'll keep you updated!

As you can see, we still have some finishing to do on the tile. Lee will be getting our tile saw from his cousin this weekend so we can finish. Lee did such an amazing job on the cabinetry, both sides he extended further out to make lots of pantry space on the right, and dishwasher space on the left. I love it!

The dishwasher is finally built in! YAAAY!

That's my sissy!

smooch

blehhh! Wiping the kiss off

Kitchen remodeling (again!)

Well, Lee looked at me the moment Dad and Grandma pulled out of the driveway the day after Christmas and said, "What do you think, should we tear out these walls?" Oh YAH! So much fun. I will post a more recent photo soon... we've got the countertops extended and tiled, and Lee installed the dishwasher (YAY!), so no more big rolley dishwasher out in the middle of the room.
To see a "before" picture of the dining room walls that were torn out, scroll down to the Thanksgiving photos. There are two looking towards the kitchen that give you a good idea of what we did.

I know it's kind of a mess, but we tore out the walls seperating the kitchen and dining area.

Grandma Birdie and Dad came down for Christmas!

Peyton

Me and my big cuddly boy

Big cheese grin on Christmas day

Here is a picture of Paradise Lake, about a mile from our house. Row boats, paddle boats and shore fishing only.

Selina and Peyton with their favorite childcare lady at the gym.

A rock star is born! Selina got a "kittar" yesterday.

Grandpa Don and Grandma Birdie's wedding picture. Grandpa Don passed away in 1998.

Grandpa Gene and Grandma Joy's wedding picture. Grandma Joy passed away in 2004.

Flashback alert!

Here's a flashback post from summer 2001. Lee and I had just gotten married, and dad, mom and Brad visited on their way through California on a road trip. Here we are at one of Bidwell Park's many swimming holes, Bear Hole. I love this first picture, because it shows how amazing the landscape is there. Quite a lot of this area was formed by volcanic lava from Mt. Lassen. Isn't it beautiful!

A photo that I took of one of upper Bidwell Park's swimming holes, Bear Hole.

Lee jumping off of the highest rock into the water hole.

Bleariness!

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday is officially over. Mom left yesterday to return home... we wish she could've stayed another week! Or better yet, move in! (nudge nudge!)

It is extremely stormy out today, the wind is kind of at that scary stage where you start thinking about the integrity of your trees, and what you would do if one fell on the house. It's low 50's and has been raining on and off for the last couple of days. Ich! But looking on the bright side, I can wear my sweaters and boots now! Hard to believe that just a week ago when my family got here it was in the mid 70's and sunny, still summer.

Well, we really miss Lee's side of the family. It's been almost a year since we've seen them, with no future trips on the horizon. :( I function best away from family when there is a future trip to look forward to. We will have to get on planning something for the spring.

I don't know if I updated you all about the house. We took it off the market a couple of weeks ago. We decided to refinance instead, and take some c/o for some rennovating. Our existing garage is puny and an add-on, so we are going to tear it down (salvaging the newer materials) and re-build a larger structure that will serve as a Master bathroom/closets, and small laundry room accessible from our bedroom, and a door out of the living room to stairs to the garage's second story, which will be a large office/guest bedroom. By doing this, we'll be increasing the square footage by at least 350-450 sq feet, and adding a bathroom (big plus), and an office seperate from the house so that I can have a part-time job at home, prob. doing billing for Holiday Pools, if Lee's partner agrees. Isn't it exciting! Lee and I will sit down tonight to sketch the floor plan and building specs, then go have a prof draw them up. From there to the City for permits, then we can get busy! Lee's bro Jared will hopefully be our main man, along with others who would like to make some extra cashola.

Anyway, way too much info, I know. Can you tell I'm getting really jazzed about it!

Have a great day, everyone!