Christmas 2008 (to be held in 2009, but who's counting...)

Hey everyone!

I second all of Rene's comments about Family Day 2008 and can't wait to see all of you again at Kristie and Ranier's wedding on December 20 and then at our Christmas brunch on January 4, 2009 (at 11am at my house).

As a reminder, the results of the Christmas drawings were as follows:

Kristie will buy for Mike
Ranier will buy for Kristi
Kristi will buy for Katie
Adam will buy for Karen
Cheryl will buy for Adam
Rene will buy for Darin
Darin will buy for Cheryl
Karen will buy for Ranier
Mike will buy for Kristie
Julia will buy for Shawn
Brianna will buy for Cheyenne
Samantha will buy for Emma
Cheyenne will buy for Julia
Shawn will buy for Tyler
Tyler will buy for Samantha
Emma will buy for Brianna

Adult gifts should be around $40 and kid gifts should be around $15.

My address is 44 Pulido Court, Danville, CA 94526. From Turlock, take 99N to 120W (in Manteca). Merge onto 5S toward SF/LA. Merge onto 205W toward 580/SF. 205 W becomes 580 W. After about 20 miles, merge onto 680 N toward Sacramento. Exit the 680 at Stone Valley Road-East. Turn right onto Stone Valley Road. Stay on Stone Valley Road for about 5 minutes (you will pass Round Hill Country Club on your left and Monte Vista High School on your right.) Once you pass Monte Vista High School, you will make your first right onto Green Valley Road. Then make your third left onto Verde Mesa Road (you should see a sign saying no left turn between 3 and 4pm on weekdays -- that is where you will turn left). Turn left onto Pulido Road and then another left onto Pulido Court. Our house is on the right hand side at the bottom of the court. It should take about an hour and 15 minutes or so from Turlock. Of course, if you have any issues, just call my cell phone.

Also, Dad wanted me to mention again the idea of having monthly family dinners. We could have a set day (i.e. first Sunday of the month, third Saturday of the month, etc.) and could rotate locations. If you have a chance, think about the idea and we can chat about it at our Christmas brunch.

Lastly, Dad wanted me to mention that he would like assistance putting together photo albums of Louise. If you would like to help in any way, let him (or me) know and we can try to coordinate a day to sit down and put the albums together. I know Dad would like to get as much information as he can about the photos so that he can write comments about the photos in the albums...

Okay, I think that's it for now. Let me know if I forgot anything!

See you all soon,
Karen

Family Day 2008

Another great Family Day! We all headed up to the cabin for a day of football on the TV, trays filled with veggies and monster shrimp, and picking on Mike Riley. I'm glad we were all able to get up there. Thanks very much to Katie for coordinating the Bunco game. Congratulations to Karen for winning first place!!!

We had a great turkey (squash for the veggie-oriented ones among us) dinner at the Ocean Sierra restaurant. It was a classic moment when the waitress asked Darin if he wanted a drink. After he asked her what sodas were available and she got this deer-in-the-headlights look about her and turned to go and ask. It's for moments like this that we haul ourselves up to the woods!

We were missing someone very dear to us. There was some sadness. Knowing how she felt about the grandbabies, however, she must have been proud of us for going there and carrying on the family tradition. The kids seemed to have a good time cruising in the Mule and giving everyone knuckles, and for her, that's what mattered. I'm glad we did it and I'm already looking forward to next year. One of these years, I'm going to get it together and get Family Day t-shirts made...

Emma's Baptism

We baptized Emma on Sunday, November 9th. Thanks to everyone for coming out to help us celebrate. We know it may have been a bit difficult since the mass was in Assyrian, but it really meant a great deal to have Rene's dad participate as deacon. Also of interest, the gown that little Emma was wearing was the same one that Rene wore when he was baptized so many years ago.

Again, it was great for us to be surrounded by our loving family for this special day. By the way, after earning the knucklehead of the year award the night before while loading the cupcakes into the back of the minivan and breaking his big toe, Rene is doing okay. He's hobbling around with a massive Star Wars-looking boot, but generally speaking, he's doing fine. The only pain he suffers is from his bruised ego. And if anyone asks, he was attacked by ninjas, at least that's what he's telling the folks at work.