Animal Rescue

 

We tried to pull off an amazing animal rescue, "Diego" style today. This morning I saw this bird out in our front yard. It's a crazy looking bird, right? I got as close to it as I could to see what the heck kind of beak it had. At first I thought maybe it had some kind of trash stuck to its beak and it was suffering, but the closer I looked the more confused I got. I snapped these pictures because I knew no one would believe me, just like the time no one believed me when I saw a kimodo(sp?)dragon on the side of the road in Fallbrook, but that's beside the point. Anyway, when I got back to the house later in the afternoon it was still in the same spot. I guess because I felt I owed a good deed to all animalhood because of how we mistreated our cat earlier in the month, we decided to call animal friends of the valley. I tried to describe it to the operator but I was pretty sure she thought I was a crazy lady calling them to save a pigeon with a red beak. Well, to make a long story short, the person who came out had no idea what kind of bird it was or what was up with the crazy red and green plastic beak. But the bird turned out to be just fine, because it flew away like a perfectly healthy bird as soon as she tried to grab it. I still feel good about it!

A great day

Saturday was a big day for our family. Aaron (my little brother) married the beautiful, sweet Amberly Crosby. We are so excited to have her in the family. They are truly perfect for each other! She is so sweet with Ethan too. I have to give them credit for pulling off a fabulous wedding in spite of just a few minor setbacks. The room in the clubhouse that they were supposed to use was damaged due to flooding a few short weeks before the big day. They ended up putting a tent outside and despite the wind and rain, we were cozy and warm inside. It was sunny just long enough for them to get some fabulous pictures which we hope to see on the Blue Lily website soon. Shelby was one of five adorable flower girls and Lindsay was thrilled to have a job as official wedding greeter, (but still coveted the flower girl position and actually told Amberly that!) Owen was satisfied with his title "guest" but he later got confused and asked if Spencer was going to be a "ghost" too. My pictures do not do justice to the event but I will still share them. Congratulations Amberly and Aaron!

Getting away and abusing our pet

Chris had a partner retreat in Oakland this weekend, so I just tagged along. While Chris was in meetings, I spent most of my time reading in the room with a box of See's candies. I did venture just outside the hotel to wander around Barnes and Noble for hours, visit the cafe and then return to my cozy room. It was a dream (I only felt the teeniest bit guilty about it). We had some incredible dinners with the partners and went to a jazz concert one night. The kids were well cared for by Mimi and Granddad. They had a day at the zoo and a pizza party and sleepover with the Burnetts. The only one who suffered over our getaway was Quincy our cat. We came home and discovered he had been locked in the garage. His cat door was stuck closed. When we rescued him his little nose was cut and bloody from trying to get the door open! And he was very hungry. Please don't tell PETA about this.

The Big Christmas Tear Down

Today is the most dreaded of all days for me. I am beginning the process of de-Christmas-ing the house. I had a friend growing up who convinced her mom to leave their Christmas tree up every year until her birthday in February. Even as a kid I thought that was a little weird. Now I can kind of understand. I am posting some pre-take down pictures to document the many hours we've spent.

Today is the most dreaded of all days for me. I am beginning the process of de-Christmas-ing the house. I had a friend growing up who convinced her mom to leave their Christmas tree up every year until her birthday in February. Even as a kid I thought that was a little weird. Now I can kind of understand. I am posting some pre-take down pictures to document the many hours we've spent.

Ringing in the New Year

 

We had to finish out the year in a big way. Our friends the Greenes were in town from Arizona, so of course we had to have a party for them. We are still trying to convince them to come back! We had so so so much delicious food - thanks everyone! Then we entertained ourselves for hours with guitar hero and American Idol karaoke. We got everyone to sing -that means it was a REALLY good party!

Second Annual Christmas Shopping Trip

Here's a picture from what seems to have become our tradition. The Keeler family after Christmas shopping trip. Mimi and Grandad gave all the Keeler cousins real Visa cards this year. Owen got a new wallet for Christmas, when he opened it he said "When I grow up I'm going to get a credit card to put in this". You can imagine how proud we were! Well sure enough the next day, he got one. He promptly put it in his wallet. It was so funny to see him sign his name on the credit card receipt when he made his purchase! We met up at Fashion Valley and split up the boys going one way the girls another. It didn't take long for the girls to find some cute clothes at Abercrombie. The boys managed to spend theirs too. We finished up at the movies! What a fun day!