OK - I have been in the cold working outside for soooo many days and I am SICK OF IT. So for all of you who feel the same way here are a few pics to help you through to summer again (or maybe it just makes me feel worse???)

Aubree in the pool. She wanted to go swimming today when she got to Nana and Papas. Good thing she forgot her swimsuit.

The slide was a new addition to the pool this year and was a big hit. I think the kids wore a path from the pool to the slide they were on it so much. The first time down is a little scary, but once they try it, they are hooked. I even tried it a few times.

Here are the newcomers for next year. Felicity and Chloe. See how excited they were to have a "pool party". Next year I am sure they will be in the pool.

Some of the landscaping we did this year

I can't wait to see flowers blooming again. What can I plant this year?

When is Summer Coming?

We went to Vail

Sorry I haven't been updating in a while. The refinance world is crazy. I have done over 100 appraisals since Christmas. Usually a full time appraiser does about 300 a year. I figure if I work another couple of weeks I will be able to take off the rest of the year. Ha Ha. I don't want to complain though. I feel very fortunate to be working when so many are going through such a difficult time. My prayers are with you.

Last week Lorin and I went to Vail, CO. What an awesome place. I was hired to plan a wedding in Vail for June 2009 and we went to do a site visit and get everything planned. I can't wait to go back in June. The mountains are awesome. This first picture is when we are leaving Denver - NO SNOW - It was almost 60 degrees when we landed. It was in the 70's the day before.

By the Way - I got a new camer - a Nikon D90 SLR - so I took lots of pics. I used to putz in photography and seeing all of Connie's pics gave me the inspiration to buy a new digital SLR. I don't expect to do what she does but she certainly gives me inspiration - Thanks Connie.

This is the bridge behind the hotel we stayed at. It crosses Gore Creek. No driving -Just skiing

This is our hotel room. There was a fireplace, soaker tubs, lots of marble, hardwood, and a butler with each room. What an experience.

Here is one of the gondolas we took up the mountain.

The gondola will only go so far up the mountain. There is a private club we were looking at for the reception and the only way to get there is take the gondola to the top of the mountain and then the snowcat even further up. Here we are in front of the snowcat. It kept snowing hard that day and when we were coming down visibility was awful. There are red poles along one side of the trail so the driver knows where to go to stay on the mountain. Many times he couldn't see. He didn't tell us this till we were back down the mountain. I wanted to drive.

The gondola was right behind our hotel and all the skiiers ended up right there. Notice no snow coming down. There was a blizzard going on up on top of the mountain and when we got to the bottom not a flake. Weird.

Emmerichs' Annual Christmas Open House

Emmerichs' Annual Christmas Open House

Christmas Fireplace Decorations -(Without Flash)


Christmas Fireplace Decorations - (With Flash) - I couldn't decide which to use so I will show you both. Lots of decorating all around the house. I am usually ready to take it down, but I will be sad to see it go. I really like it this year.

Christmas Day is here!

What a day! So many good friends and family to enjoy the holiday with. The day began with Jenn, Heather, Morgan, Aubree, Lorin and I opening our gifts to each other and having breakfast - Egg Bake and Holiday French Toast Bake (already too much to eat).

Aubree decided to try Nana's Santa Hat - I just love this picture of her.

Aubree opening one of her gifts - Nana and Papa got her the Hannah Montanna bed set. - She has Hannah Montanna PJ's on, got a Hannah Montanna guitar from Santa - Do you see a theme this year? Reminds me of when the girls got tons of New Kids on the Block stuff. I think some of that is still floating around here. (I remember the year Lorin borrowed it from the girls for hunting season and took it all out to the hunting shack - sleeping bag and all - but that is another story for another day.)

Here she is opening another gift - I wonder what it is?

It took her forever to open this and I don't think she guessed what it was until it was opened. Her new pool cue. I think by the time she is 10 she will be the next little pool shark. Watch out boys!

I am soooo glad we cut back on the number of gifts we all gave this year. Can you tell. We certainly had a big enough mess when done opening.

The day moved into the Open House. Lots of friends, family, food, good cheer and old stories. I think by the time the day is over, my cheeks hurt from laughing. How special it is. - Several years ago we began our Christmas Open House. Family, friends and anyone who has nowhere to go on Christmas Day is welcome. You never know who might show up. Always a nice surprise to see the people who join us in our celebration.This year we again had a visit from Santa. We are so fortunate he has time to stop at our home. All the kids here must have been extra good again this year. Santa got lots of hugs. Here Aubree is giving Santa a hug. Olivia even brought cookies from home to give to Santa.

Lots of kids sat on Santa's lap. (Kylee)

Even some of the "Big Kids" sat on Santa's lap.

A group shot with some of the kids. Tough to get all of them in there at one time. I think there were about 20 kids here all under the age of 6.

Here is Kylee, Aubree and Olivia - Lily on Casey's lap. The girls had lots of fun that day. Aubree says they are her best friends.

Lucas and Jackie getting ready to head out into the cold again. Aren't the ears cute?

Chloe and Kallie having a conversation.

Some of the boys.

Another group shot.Cookies hiding in the cabinet. I wonder who did that - Lorin? He loves his mom's Sally Anns. He said his mom put them in there for him. Do we believe him?

What a fabulous day to spend with the people who mean so much to all of us. For those who could not share the day with us - we missed you and our thoughts were with you through the day. God Bless you all and thank you for sharing this very special holiday with us.

Here is Annie after the festivities. She looks kind of like how I felt when the day was done - pooped.

My Car is "Busted"

The conversation went something like this.

Jenn - "Mom, I am sitting at an intersection and my car won't work".

Me - What do you mean it won't work?

Jenn - I stopped at the stop light and it shut off and it won't start again.

Me - What does it do?

Jenn - I turn the key and nothing. I need help.

Me - Jenn, you are in Minneapolis and I am in Medford, I can't come and get you.

Jenn - What should I do?

Me - Put your flashers on and walk to a service station. (There was one across the street.)

Long story short - Her car is "busted". It needed a new engine. Cost to fix in Minneapolis - $3,400 - Cost to fix in Medford (Randy Hamm) - $1,500 - No brainer - Go get the car.

Of course when you plan to do something like this it always is an event. The trip was the Saturday before Christmas and I don't know if you remember the weather that day, but it was nasty. Lots of snow, wind, icy roads, yuck! Lorin and I borrowed a trailer from a friend and made the trip to pick up the car. Lots of cars in the ditch - probably close to a hundred. Some areas had several in a short stretch. Fortunately, our trip went well - slow but we made it home fine. Randy has now fixed her car and she was on her way back home today with it. Thank God for small town mechanics.

Here is a picture of Lorin chaining the car to the trailer. It looks like the car is eating him (or maybe he is coming out of the other end?)

Another angle.

It was "girls weekend" by Jenn's so Heather and Jenn's friend Michelle were there to help with the "mission". (Annie is in the blanket - She was freezing.) Notice all the snow on their heads.

Jenn and me - Her arm isn't long enough.

Nothing better to do while dad works so lets dress up the dog.

Wine - Wine - Wine

Just a note for all you wine drinkers - I have the Christmas batch in the carboy. I'm on the final step so it should be done in about two weeks. Blackberry Cabernet (same as last Christmas)

See you all for the holidays!

My New Table

I haven't posted in a few days and couldn't think of something to write about. Then, as I sat by the dining room table waiting for Annie to get "finished" I thought - My new table. Here is how the story started - Last year around the beginning of November, I said to Lorin, "We should build a new table for the dining room" The one we had was round and I love the table, but the room is so big, it kind of got lost. So as I explained to him how we were going to do this with the old butcher block top we tore out of the kitchen when we moved here. (I wanted a big old tressel table.) He asked - "We don't need to get this done for Thanksgiving do we." and in one of my more patient moments when it comes to a project I said - "No, we can wait till after Thanksgiving." Well it is now a year later and the table was never started so when I brought it up to Lorin about building a new table, his first question was - "We don't need to do that before Thanksgiving do we?" My response was a little different this time. I reminded him of the conversation we had a year ago and thefore, Yes, it does need to be done before Thanksgiving - This Year. We spent a day in the garage cutting, sanding, etc. and then realized that if we put the table together we will never be able to lift it. So, we took it into the house piece by piece to assemble. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought through the whole process (don't tell Lorin that part). In order to put the table together in the dining room we had to move the old table which was way heavier than I expected. I then decided I didn't want the rug that was under the table in the dining room anymore but rather in the living room. Sooooo - we then had to move the living room furniture - Oh no, haven't vacuumed under there in a while. Get the vacuum, search through all the legos, loose change, etc. Pick up stuff and put that away. Back to vacuuming. Put the furniture back. Back to the dining room, we moved the rug, dust under there too. Get the broom, sweep, clean, etc. (All this time the Packers were on and Lorin was keeping up on the game.) I then thought - I have that other rug downstairs, I wonder how that would look under the new table.

Me - "Lorin, come help me carry up that rug from downstairs"

Lorin - "What rug?"

Me - "The one in the family room. I will show you."

Lorin - "What are you going to do with that?"

Me - "Put it under the dining room table."

Lorin - "We just moved a rug from under the table."

Me -" I know - I want to try the other one."

Lorin - "Whatever"

We go down to get the rug......

Me - "I don't like that rug. Can you take it back down in the family room?"

Back to the table. Assembly - Build the legs, attach supports to the legs, etc. Well its time to put the butcher block on the top.

Me - "There is no way I can lift that."

Lorin - "Call Morgan"

Wait till Heather, Morgan and Aubree get here.... Thank God for Morgan. We assemble the rest of the table. Attach some new boards to the ends of the table (the butcher block wasn't quite long enough) and finish the assembly. Done for the night. The next night Lorin comes home from work and I wasn't home yet. He walked past the table and noticed there were scratches, nics, etc on the top. His first thought was - How did I do that. Julee is going to be ticked. Then as he looked at the table he noticed there were scratches and dings all over. I told him later, I wanted a new OLD table. I don't think he understands why I beat up a brand new table. Anyway, I had Thanksgiving at our house and the table was great. Here is a picture of how it turned out. I just need two more chairs - one for each end. I want something either covered in fabric or possibly some big old wood ones. I will have to watch the garage sales in spring.

Let's Give Annie a Bath

As many of you know, Annie is about the most spoiled dog around. So typically she goes to the groomer every three weeks. (It's not easy looking beautiful.) A few months ago, Annie's groomer moved to Eau Claire, so now I go to Eau Claire to get Annie groomed (spoiled dog). Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I really don't have time to run to Eau Claire before then so I decided to give it a try. Aubree was spending the day at Nanas and thought giving Annie a bath sounded like fun. Of course, Aubree and I also got a bath at the same time. You wouldn't think that a four pound dog could make such a mess. I have whole new appreciation for Jill (Annie's Groomer). Here are some photos of the experience.

Here she is right after her bath. A face only a mother could love.

Our bathroom after Annie's bath. Aubree had already started "cleaning" for Nana. I think we actually threw another whole dog in the garbage.

Here is Annie when we were finished. Back to being a princess.

Aubree was helping Nana clean. It took about two hours to give Annie a bath, dry her and clip her hair. It took another hour to clean up the mess in the bathroom. I love my Groomer. Notice Aubrees outfit. As I mentioned, she and I got a bath when giving Annie her bath so she "borrowed a shirt from Papa." She said it fits perfect. Aubree loves the Swiffer Sweep and Vac. She told me several times that I was the best (because I got a vacuum just for her) - She was so excited to use "her" vacuum. Sometimes the smallest of things make them so happy.