Christmas and New Years

This Christmas we had a great time with the in-laws coming down from WA to spend some time in the sun of California. Christmas day we had Brad and Karen (our pastor and his wife) along with their baby Haden(about the cutest kid I have ever seen) over for dinner and Brenda’s rents as well. It was more of a thanksgiving dinner menu, but we had a great time.
The day after Christmas we went to the bustling metropolis of Ripon CA. We stopped by mutual relatives houses (if you don’t know about Brenda and I don’t ask), Kevin and Lyndsay’s(spelled correctly) house and then spent the night in Merced. We stayed in Merced because it was the closest hotel to Yosemite where we were going the next day. Yosemite was great and new to us because we had not been there in the winter before. The water in the falls was freezing on the way down and forming ice. The ice would break off occasionally and when it would fall to the ground it was so loud, but very cool.
On the way home we stopped at a “Horseless Carriage” garage and looked at a couple of old cars which were very cool. There was actually a 1914 ford T coupe there and that is the exact car that Jim (my father in law) is rebuilding.
Friday I took Jim out golfing with guns as the ladies went shopping for bargains. I will just say we did real good, but will not say what our score was.


Seafarers of Catan was played so many times I can't even count.
The Ahwahnee hotel in the winter is very nicely decorated and a must see while in the valley, but rooms starting at $426 it was not in the budget to stay there a night.
Brenda and her mom by the mighty merced river.
Jim and Sandy pose in front of halfdome.
El Capitan...no need to explain.

Half Dome.

The Model T like the one Jim is restoring.

Saturday we went out to Maggianos (an Italian restaurant) and were told that there was a 3.5 hour wait for a table. I guess we should have made reservations. We ended up getting a table in the bar section in about 15 min. and having a great dinner with tons of food. We had enough leftovers for another full meal for four at home on Sunday and Brenda and I just had the rest of the food tonight so we will just say that they give you a ridiculous amount of food.

Jim and Sandy out for a night on the town.



New Years Eve we went to Lyndsay and Kevin’s and hung out with them and then had a family get together the next day. A very busy time, but all in all we had a blast and it is hard to go back to work.

EJ it very smart and like me to...the latter is more valuable to him in the future.You may be asking what this is a picture of. Well it the the makings of a nutritious, healthy, robust, flavorful, barley and hops filled beverage that has a special place in all of hearts. Yes, you guessed it...Beer. Just a few weeks and we will have a special home brew fit for a king.

If you listen you can hear EJ sayiing no no when asked about the Christmas tree. He was told not to get close to it and stay away (baaahumbug) and listens well when uncle John is not around.