Los Rios Ranch

The week of Thanksgiving my sister-in-law Elizabeth and her family came over to Grandma's house to spend the entire week here. We were able to meet them for one of their adventures. My little nephew Conrad is working on his Cub Scouts Book and one of his check offs was to plan a hike from top to bottom. He chose the place, the time, and even made snacks for every body!

The doggies tend to get very excited when the little ones are with us, so I went early and walked them around for about an hour before every one else got there. It was well worth it, those little fur balls were very well behaved the entire hike.

My pride and joy :)

 Every where you turned was just so beautiful! Mike and I love the outdoors but since we've been so busy lately, we haven't really taken the dogs out on hikes. Maybe we should sneak in a hike or two before we both start school again.

My furry child and I waiting for the rest of the family to arrive (Gus didn't want to pose for the picture, oh well)

They did such a great job building this trail! We all kept commenting about just how beautiful every thing was. This place was  built to preserve the wild life and the animals that live in the mountains. One of the prettiest trails I've been on. And it was kid friendly too. Double whammy!

 

Next year we are coming to Oak Glen and take our Christmas pictures at Los Rios Ranch!

 

I'm so sad I forgot my camera, my lousy phone pictures don't do this place justice.

 Conrad was our leader and chose which paths we would go on, he did such a good job :)

 

Katie, Odin and Ridge got to hang out with us also. So glad they were able to make it, I love those  boys

 

The kids had a fun time taking turns walking the dogs. In the background there are some girls modeling shoes for their boutique. We also passed a couple taking engagement pictures. Such a beautiful place for pictures!

So glad every one had a great time and there were no meltdowns, even when we walked for almost 2 hours! When we were done walking we went over to the shops and sat down for lunch. Conrad had packed lunches for us to eat. Elizabeth got us some apple cider since Oak Glen is known for its many apple trees. The apple cider was delicious and fresh. After lunch, the kids weren't quite ready to go home so we headed down another trail, much harder trail. We got to go through the many apple trees and walked down a very steep path. I thought for a second the kiddos wouldn't be able to make it back and would want to be carried (I know I did) but we made it all the way and back up again. I was so exhausted. I need the energy of a 3 year old! 

 

The next day we celebrated Thanksgiving (Friday) 

My sister in law Jill was in town from Texas, Ann was in town from Roseville, Matt was in town from Idaho, we almost had every body!

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We all divided up the food  so Marcia wouldn't have to cook everything. Everything on my plate was soo good! My sister-in-laws sure can cook and Papa did a perfect job frying that turkey.

 

After dinner we celebrated Evan's Birthday with cake, ice cream, and presents

 

As another year has gone by, I am reminded of how fortunate I am. I'm so thankful for my *husband*, my family, my little home, my running car, friends, the gospel, my dogs, living in the US, always having a job,  always having food to eat, for my super comfortable bed, for security, for my freedom, and so many other things that I tend to take for granted.

"Count your many blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done"

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

What a day!

This morning I got a phone call from the Peds Hem/Oncology Department Manager saying I had been hired for the CNA position! I love working in ICU but I think it's going to be a great learning experience to work in pediatrics. Two of my sister-in-laws have worked on that unit and they both have great things to say about it. It's going to be bitter sweet leaving ICU, but I'm excited for the new challenge!
Later on in the day I went and turned in my application for the RN Program and the lady told me everything in my application looked good and she gave me a packet and told me to sign all these forms. She was telling me that I needed to go over to the Registrations Department so that they can add me for the classes and I was like "Wait, does this mean I'm accepted into the program?!" and she's like "Oh, yes, sorry, you've been accepted" (Insert happy dance*) Yowzers! You'd think I love studying and stressing over tests, but I really can't imagine doing anything else other than nursing.
I'm so excited about the new upcoming year. There are many changes going to happen in the Stewart home, but everything will be for the better, it's going to be a very Happy New Year! :D

Marcia's Birthday

I am so glad we get to celebrate Marcia's birthday once again. I am always so grateful that she is still with us after her heart incident. She has truly become one of my best friends and I don't know what I would do without her. She is always there to listen to me blabber away and she always has great advice. I just have THE sweetest mother in law of all time.
At the Stewarts house, every time it's your birthday, you get a Sunday Birthday Dinner. Marcia always spoils us rotten with her amazing cooking skills so I was a little nervous cooking her birthday dinner. Michael was such a big help. As I cooked he cleaned and while I cooked one thing, he prepared another. Marcia makes cooking look way too easy! Thanks so much for your help Mike!

(Even our doggies love going to Marcias house. They run out of the car and go straight to the back yard, it's pretty cute)



 

Grandma and Grandpa Stewart were in town for the week. Always so glad to see them!

Little Ridgy crawling away. He's so good at grabbing unto things and standing up. Hasn't quite gotten the balance thing down though, ouch!

 

I love these two!

 

Birthday hugs from her oldest boy :)

For dinner we had glazed carrots...

 

Steak...

 

Green Bean Fries...

 

 

Potatoes...

 

 

and fluff salad...

And I am happy to report that dinner was a success! Thank you SixSistersStuff.com :)

 



 

After dinner Walt and Marcia set up their new TV! It's ginormous compared to the old one, they were pretty excited

 

Forget Christmas presents, Ridge and Odin are getting a box for Christmas!

 



 

 

...And maybe Michael too, hehe

 

 

Can you tell Papa is excited about his new toy?

I supervised the entire thing. They did great ;)

 

Ridge also got his very first hair cut that night

 

Such a pleasant baby

 

For dessert Katie made German Chocolate cake and Marcia made home made frosting, it was soooo good.

Happy Birthday to you!

 



 

After cake Marcia got to open her present from us

She loves entertaining at her house, I think this will be perfect for those parties or church activities.

After presents, cake and ice cream we sat down to watch the Christmas Devotional. One of these days we'll have to go see it live!



Michael is going to be such a good daddy some day, he's a natural! :)

 



 

The next day we went out to have breakfast at Patsy's Country Kitchen. Marcia had heard from a friend that it was a great hole in the wall place and her friend was right!

 

Everything was finger licking good. There was so much food on our plates we could hardly finish it all. This is Papa Cy's order of French toast, it was enough to last him all week!

 

Deep fried bacon, mmm.

That night Mike and I tagged along to Walt and Marcia's annual bishopric night out. I love that the old bishopric from singles ward still gets together every year and hang out. That night we had dinner at Romano's Italian Restaurant and then headed out to University of Redlands for Feast of Lights. Thank you Marcia and Walt for letting us tag along and for the tickets! I loved every second of it. It was like a mini Tabernacle Choir. These students were so professional and the orchestra was amazing. We had front row seats so when the trumpets came forward to play their song it blew my hair, I loved it! I had never gone to Feast of Lights so I had no idea what to expect. It was in a catholic church and they had music, poetry and a live nativity.  

 

I was scared to take pictures in the church so here are some ones I borrowed from Google to give ya'll a good visual :D

Towards the end I found out why they called it the Feast of Lights. They turned off all of the lights in the church and students went around turning on all of the candles. There was no clapping inside the church so that you could feel the peace and tranquility when the Father read the story of Jesus' birth.





We had such a great weekend. Thank you Marcia for having a birthday:) Here's to many more!