Happy Holidays

The Christmas season at our house wouldn't be complete without homemade donuts. Crae and my nephew Tyson won't let me get away without this. So both families get together and spend an evening of chili and way too many donuts! What a low-cal tradition this is...NOT.
So here's Crae and Sean hamming it up after one to many donuts!

And Mom, the chief donut maker enjoying having all the family home for Christmas this year. But unfortunately Noelle and her family didn't make it home until after this party.

And for me, it just doesn't seem like Christmas without the white stuff..snow that is. So after a big snow, my grandson, daughter in law, and I went out to play in the snow and build "Frosty". Here is what we came up with it. What a good day for grandma.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!

Well, we might be getting older, but we still like to have fun. This Halloween we went to a neighbor's party. Dave went as Harry Potter. He did his costume all by himself, complete with Hedwig, a wand, and the golden snitch around his neck. I bought the witches hat at Gardner Village and made the skirt out of strips of tuile. We had fun and got quite a few laughs in the process.

Our night in an Emergency Shelter

On our way home from Spokane in the middle of October, we got caught in a white out outside of Dillon, Montana. I-15 was closed in both directions, so the only place to stay was a small town called Dillon. When we arrived, the road had been closed for over 5 hours, so all the hotels in this tiny town were filled. Luckily we were told the Red Cross was opening up an emergency shelter in the University of Montana Western gym, so we went there. We helped unload cots and quilts and settled down for the night. Luckily a few restaurants were open, so we were able to eat. We had books with us, so we just settled in with 175 other people and read and visited with others that evening. You sure can meet some colorful people in a shelter!!!

We were actually quite comfortable, but luckily we had earplugs to sleep with, cause it sounded like a bad symphony with all the snoring!!

The Red Cross was very organized and provided towels, bedding and even LDS personal hygiene kits, hot drinks and snacks. So we even had a hot shower in the morning. Not that I want to repeat this experience, but it was more of an adverture than an inconvenience. We are grateful for the Red Cross, that's for sure.

"Time" with our Grand daughter Brynnley

Right after we got home from Kanab, Noelle called and said she had a back injury and couldn't carry Brynnley around. Adam had to be out of town for the weekend, and we were planning on visiting anyway a few days later, so we hopped in the car (again) and went to the rescue. It was hard to see Noelle in pain (she slipped a disc), but it was good to spend time with Noelle, Brynnley, and Adam (when he returned). Here's a few pics of our cutest grand daughter.


Time with Grandma
Time with Papa

Playtime

Storytime with Mom

Dinner time

Bath time

Photo Shoot in Kanab

On a whim, several couples in our neighbor and we took a 2-day trip to Kanab, Utah and hired a pro photographer to take us through the back country to take some nature photos. We hiked through canyons, spent an afternoon on a working ranch (chickens and all), and scoped old pioneer cabins as well as the old set of Gunsmoke TV show. I guess Kanab is called Utah's Little Hollywood because of all the old westerns that had been done there.

Fall was definitely in the air in the higher elevation outside Kanab.

Here's one majestic view that we saw on our photo shoot that day.

Imagine our shock when we came across this Great Basin rattlesnake on our travels in the back country of Kanab!!!


This range is called the "Pinks". Beautiful colors of rock here


Dave and I on a ranch near Kanab

Brillante Weblog-Premo 2008 Award!!!

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.Here are the questions:

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Where is your significant other? Downstairs
3. Your hair color? gray
4. Your mother? Rose
5. Your father? John
6. Your favorite thing? husband
7. Your dream last night? Forgot
8. Your dream/goal? weightloss
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking
11. Your fear? cancer
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? store
14. What you're not? young
15. One of your wish-list items? travel
16. Where you grew up? California
17. The last thing you did? walked
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? LCD
20. Your pet? Dave
21. Your computer? Lifesaver
22. Your mood? Relaxed
23. Missing someone? Children
24. Your car? Acura
25. Something you're not wearing?glasses
26. Favorite store? ColdWaterCreek
27. Your summer? Fun!
28. Love someone? Family
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? unsure

I am passing the award on to:

Pat Vilbaum
Paula Brown
Ann Vaughan
Crae Lambert
Sean Lambert
Jin Hee Lambert
Karen Lambert

My Long Overdue Family Reunion

After not seeing my brother, Rick, for over 2 years, and my brother, Bob, for over 20 years, I decided since we now live closer that it was time to take a trip to California to visit. On the way we stopped at Yosemite National Park. I can't believe I never went there as a child when we lived in California!

While hiking, we came upon this doe and 2 fawns. They didn't seem too concerned that I was snapping pictures.
Yosemite is a beautiful park. Here is a picture of Half Dome taken as the sun was starting to go down.

After arriving in San Francisco in the evening, checking into a hotel and meeting my brother Rick to plot our sightseeing, we began reminiscing our childhood. The next day we went to scope some old and new sites of Fisherman's Wharf. We walked along the Embarcadero, had sushi inside the Ferry Building, ate some sourdough bread at the Boudin Bakery, and sampled a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli square. That's what I call "souvenir" eating. By dinner time, we were so full, but forced down a wonderful seafood dinner at Scomas. Below is a picture of the Bay Bridge at night and some of the resident sea lions that live at Pier 39.

The next day my brothers, Dave and I met at Bob's in Santa Cruz and then drove out to Monterey to see that area. We really enjoyed walking along the beach front and watching the harbor seals basking in the sun, along with pelicans and otters.




Here I am with my brothers Rick (middle) and Bob at the wharf in Monterey, California

Here are just a few of the harbor seals balancing on rocks on the beach front along the wharf in Monterey.




A few days later, Rick and I decided to really venture back to our childhood and took a trip back to Guerneville and Johnson's Beach along the Russian River. We rented canoes and went up river for several hours. Things hadn't changed much in 40 years. We were even able to find what was left of the old cabin we stayed at each summer. It had fallen down and some of the cabin was missing, but we both recognized the place when we saw it. After that, we drove to the coast at Goat Rock state park and then went into Occidental and ate at the Union House, which is where we always ate when we would visit. It was the same also, right down to the red and white table cloths, candle holders made out of wine bottles (of which we would always get in trouble when we played with them) and the banana fritters for dessert. What a trip back in time that was!



Here are Rick and I on the Russian River.

Rick, me, and Dave beachside at Goat Rock State Beach.

Girls Trip to Yellowstone

In July 2008 two of my girlfriends, Pat Vilbaum and Paula Brown, came for a visit. We decided to do something they hadn't done before, so we gave up shopping and stamping for a trip to Yellowstone to camp. Dave was our gracious tourguide (we owe him a lot for this one!). We camped and drove around Yellowstone and Jackson Hole for 3 days.

Below is a picture of an elk that we watched grazing in an open field for quite a while. There were several of them actually.



We were amazed at the amount of flowers still blooming in July. Here on this lake were hundreds of water lilies. Here I am shooting a picture of a frog on a lily pad. Unfortunately, I can't find the picture on the computer to post it for all to see.


Here's the 4 of us in front of Artistic Falls in Yellowstone.

Brynnley's Blessing

Adam and Noelle came to Utah for a visit and a family reunion in the beginning of August, so they decided to bless Brynnley here at our home so the family could all be here. Below are a few pictures of Brynnley in her blessing gown on August 10th. A beautiful little girl we think!

A Lambert Brothers Family Reunion

Dave and his brother's, Bart and Rod, arranged another "Brother's" weekend in Pinetop. Arizona. This time, the wives and their mom were invited. We all had a good time, swimming, hiking, fishing, playing horsehoes (lots of competition between brother's there!) and eating. Dave and I ventured one day to the Painted Desert and the National Petrified Forest to see what was there.
Here's the Lambert clan in Pinetop, June 2008
This is a petroglyph of about 650 characters called Newspaper Rock in the National Park.
Cactus in Bloom!
Here's Dave standing in front of a 35' piece of petrified log in the National Petrified Forest in Arizona
Gayle sitting on a felled petrified tree in the Crystal Forest
Here's a pic of the Painted Desert. We really were intrigued with all the colors that were found in this desert.

My yard in full bloom

When we came home from Virginia and went in our backyard, we were overwhelmed with all the color. All of our irises were blooming!!!!! I have about 20 different varieties. We enjoyed the color for over a month. Then the peonies came out and now the roses are blessing our yard with color and fragrance! I love spring and summer.

Enjoying a bit of history in Jamestown, VA

After a few days visit with Sean in Chesterfield, VA, we drove about 1.5 hours to Jamestown, VA and explored the park there. It was fun to climb on all the "pirate ships" as Kyo called them. We learned quite a bit about the first settlers to this area and had a good day. Our favorite was the musket shooting I think.

Life is good when grandkids are around

After a few days of relaxing and work at Sean's, we all ventured off to Williamsburg to Great Wolf Lodge. This was an amazing place. The lodge was all decorated in a "wolf/timber" theme and there was a huge inside waterpark. We all had a blast, and even more of a blast watching Kyo and Mcrae have fun in the water. Kyo loved the water slides and Mcrae loved the water all together. It was a great couple of days.

We had a blast in Virginia in May

The last few days of our trip, we all ventured to Washington DC to go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, National Zoo and La Madeleine's (the best cafe for tomato basil soup!) It was 2 picture perfect days. Our first day, we went to the National Space Museum and saw more planes than I knew ever existed. The highlight for us was the Blackhawk, still the fastest plane in the world. I also enjoyed seeing the Space Shuttle Enterprise. A few places were a little restricted because Dreamworks was there preparing to film Transformers 2. We were able to find out that the Blackhawk will be one of the transformers in the new movie. We also caught site of a bit of the car "Bumblebee" in the parking lot, but due to security we weren't allowed anywhere near it.
Here's Kyo, Grandma and Papa at the space museum.
This is the space shuttle Enterprise. We were amazed at how big it was.
This Blackhawk plane will be one of the transformers in Transformers 2 movie. We were able to see them set up for the filming that evening.


The next day we went to the National Zoo. The kids were great and the grandkids were, too! I had never seen a Giant Panda before or a Kimodo Dragon. Very awesome. I'm not sure if we had more fun watching the animals or watching the grandkids have a great time.


Kyo was fascinated with this huge Kimodo Dragon. There really are such things as dragon's, he discovered. I wouldn't like to come across one of these anytime soon.

Two cool dudes in their sunglasses...papa and Mcrae

Kyo has the knack to enjoy anything anywhere. Here he is hamming it up for the camera! He loves to have his pic taken.

Here's one of 3 giant pandas we saw. They are the cutest and the favorite animal we saw that day.