Building a fort

Michael, Sophie (my neice) and I built a fort in my living room. We had a lot of fun!!

It's good to be home!

We got home last night and am so excited to be back. I loved being able to hug and kiss Michael after a week. He was so cute when he drove up. He ran to us with the biggest smile on his face! Such a reward!

It's good to be home!

Vikingsholm

Today, our last day here at Lake Tahoe, we hiked down to Vikingsholm Castle on the shore of Emerald Bay. It was a mile hike down hill, then of course a mile hike uphill. We are so out of shape!! We are now so sore from the hike.

Once we hiked down we saw the beautiful castle.

This is the view from the front of the castle. I would love to have this kind of front yard!

Then, we took another small hike from the visitors center, just east of the castle up to Eagle Falls. This is a picture of the waterfall, which as you can see is non existent. It would be gorgeous in the spring time though with the winter rundown.

Heavenly Flyer

Today, we went up the the Heavenly ski resort up the Gondola and then we rode on the flyer which was AWESOME!!

We rode up the Heavenly Gondola 9,156 feet, which was also very steep. The view was spectacular!

We got to get off at the top of the mountain for an awesome view.

Then we got back on the Gondola to get to the ski resort. There was rock climbing, blow up slide for kids, a restaurant , trails and tons of lounge chairs. We hiked and lounged- we were prepared and had our books- while we waited for our turn to get on the flyer.

At 3:00, it was finally our turn for the Heavenly Flyer. We took another lift up another 3,100 feet where we prepared for a 525 foot drop. Sweet!! We had fun talking with the other people in our group, mostly women, who were going on about how nervous yet excited they were. I was more excited. During the 525 foot drop, and 3,100 foot length, you could go about 60 MPH.

Me and Wayne had the pleasure of going first. We got strapped in and were told to lift our feet up off the ground and lean against the gate. Then they opened the gate and we soared off. It was exhilirating!! You felt so free as you flew down the mountain over the trees. It was awesome! It lasted about a minute, but it was still worth it! Once we got to the bottom, there were coils to slow us down. Then, we were unhooked and just slid down out of the seat. What a thrill!!

MSDixie II Dinner Dance Cruise

Last night we went on our Dinner Dance Cruise across the Lake to Emerald Bay. The MS Dixie II is a paddle wheeler, which also has five diesel engines to help it along. It was a sunset cruise, which was really neat, but by the time we got to Emerald Bay, it was hard to see Fannette Island as well as the Vikingsholm Castle. So, some of our pictures didn't turn out because our camera sucks at night time. Oh well... We did see through the big spot light the paddle boat shown on the Island and Castle, but it would have been better with day light.

It took an hour to get to Emerald Bay. It was kind of sad that there were people there who were already drunk before getting on the boat. So, it was kind of interesting. Some people are funny drunks, but these people were the annoying kind. Most of them belonged to a big biker group and came together, so they probably were feeding off of each other in their drunkeness. Some of the guys would stand on the front of the boat with their arms wide open and looking up at the sky... they were impersonating Rose from The Titanic.

It was so cold on the top deck. We stayed on top for the whole hour to the Bay to watch the sunset. My poor ears were frozen. Cuddle time!! It was fun to watch the sun set. it was really pretty seeing the reflection of the sun along the shore of the lake. Despite not having the sunlight to see the Fannette Island, it was still cool to see that close.

We were then called down to dinner. We sat with a couple from Colorado, which we had met up on the top deck. They were really fun to talk to. For dinner, we had shrimp cocktail, caesar salad with garlic bread sticks, choice of steak, artichoke heart stuffed chicken, Mahi Mahi, or ravioli. Wayne chose the steak and I the Chicken. For dessert there was a chocolate trilogy cake. It was really tasty!

After dinner, there was a live band playing and dancing on the middle level indoors. A lot of people danced and got all crazy, it was fun to watch them. Me and Wayne went up top for a minute to see the stars for about 5 minutes, that was about all I could handle of the cold. :) We spent the rest of the evening watching the people make fools of themselves dancing and singing. We did sing along as we watched.

We had a good time on the boat. It would have been funner if we had some close friends with us, but that is ok. We still had a great time.

Emerald Bay

Wayne and I drove to Emerald Bay today. WOW is all I can say! It was beautiful! The water was so blue and clear! And the trees were everywhere and so tall!

The Island is called Fannette Island and is the only island on Lake Tahoe.

After Emerald Bay, we kept driving and finally turned around at Meeks Bay. It is a 71 mile drive all the way around the lake at 35 miles per hour... that's why we turned around. On our way back through, we stopped at the Taylor Creek Visitors Center, which was really cool. The actual center was nothing, but they had a Rainbow Trail that was really cool. It was beautiful and well worth the walk.

Halfway through the trail, there was a really cool underwater observatory where we could see the fish and crawdaddys.

Day around town

We decided to do the 45 minute owner update with our resort, which was cool because we learned some great stuff about our timeshare that we didn't know which I wish I would have known. Anyway, by doing this owner update, we get a free gift. We got to choose from a $75 American Express gift card (awesome) or a few other activities around town, such as the dinner/dance cruise, which is 3 1/2 hours long, including dinner, dessert, wine or beer, which we will not partake :) and dancing on Lake Tahoe. That alone costs $71 per person. What do you think we chose?! Of course the cruise!! We set it up for Wednesday night, so we will let you know what it was like. I am so excited!!

After our little Q&A meeting, we left the state of Nevada, and headed into California. I didn't realize how close to the border we were. I don't think we were over 5 miles away from our resort. Pretty cool... Anyway, we did some shopping and sight seeing. I found a cute little stuffed bear (like a beanie baby) for Michael and then a pair of earrings for myself. Other than that, we saw some interesting stuff...

We did see some cool wood carvings around the shops. Here are some pictures:

Lake Tahoe

Wayne and I are at Lake Tahoe for a week without my cute little Michael. It is kind of wierd being without him. We are so greatful for Wayne's Mom, Elese, who is kind enough to spend the week at my house watching Michael. It helps to know that he is in good hands.

We are staying at our Worldmark Resort in Tahoe 3. This is the view from our building.

It is Beautiful here! I want to come again next year. The atmosphere is so nice and peaceful. If we could ever afford it, we would love to have a summer home up here, or somewhere like this.

We were hoping to actually sleep in since Michael won't be up at the crack of dawn to jump in bed with us, but the sun woke us up way too early! Our Resort is at the top of the mountain over looking the lake, so that doesn't help our cause with the sun.

We went on an awesome hike this afternoon which gave us a great view of the lake. It was amazing! The hike we chose was a short .25 miles called the Vista.

We got off the trail and hiked a big rock and were amazed at the view. We stayed on that rock until the wind picked up and started freezing my face. It was so beautiful! I couldn't help but think of how God created this spot and how enjoyable and peaceful it was to just sit and watch.

Michael's Monkey Bathroom

I just decorated Michael's bathroom in Monkeys. I bought all of this from Kohls. I love the monkeys and think they are so cute. It fits Michael because he is a monkey!

Grandpa's Obituary

Here is the link to my Grandpa's Obituary (click on the title)

Death....

My Grandpa Gabbitas died this morning. He fell in the bathroom and took the towel rod with him. By the time my uncle Dave was able to break the door down to get to him, he was dead. From what I understand, Dave did CPR on him, with no luck. When the ambulance arrived, they also tried to resuscitate him, and succeeded. He was taken to American Fork Hospital and kept on life support. He was unresponsive. He died around 9:00 am this morning. I got the call at 8:25, hoping to see him before he passed on, to tell him goodbye, but even if I had rushed to the hospital, I still wouldn't have seen him alive. I cried a lot and when I saw him at the hospital, I knew he was gone. It was just his lifeless body on the bed. Wayne said that he looked so happy and peaceful, the most he has seen him happy in years, and he is dead. I am sad to see him go and regret not seeing him sooner. Now I will never see him in this life again. But, I am happy that he is now happy and with my dad again, of which he hasn't seen for 22 years. I am positive that he is having the best reunion and is in a better place. I am grateful for the time I had with my Grandpa, but will sorely miss him.

I love you Grandpa! I will miss you, but I am happy for you because you no longer have any more pain! Say Hi to my Daddy for me...

Oops, I did it again!!

THIS REALLY SUCKS!!!! I changed the layout on my blog and once again and it erased my links, etc. Now, when I go to the dashboard, the 'layout' link is no longer there and so I can't change anything, or even add my friends links again. WHAT THE CRAP!! Can anyone help me?! If anyone knows how to put the layout link back, I would appreciate help, because I really don't know what the heck I am doing... the help section doesn't help at all either. So, I may have another blog started up soon if I can't figure this out....

Baby Shower Invitations

I am throwing a baby shower for my friend Laura Lund on Sept 13th. I am so excited about the way my invitations turned out that I wanted to share.