Hey all! How was everyone’s Christmas!? Hope it was wonderful and you got everything you wanted under the Christmas tree! =) We spent this year up at mom’s again and had a nice relaxing time. We got a special treat the day before we left…4 inches of snow! It was awesome and the kids were stoked. We of course didn’t pack appropriate clothes but still enjoyed freezing our butts off! =) We got some great presents this year and the kids were spoiled rotten, as usual. Hopefully if everything goes right, we will be celebrating Christmas in a different destination next year, so keep your fingers crossed and we’ll keep you posted. Also, our climbing wall has absolutely consumed our every waking hour, so our Christmas card will be super late…because we haven’t even taken our picture yet. Sorry! Please give us grace…we’ll get them out to everyone before the 4th of July, I promise. Haha! Love to all of you out there and thanks for keeping us with us. Hope to see everyone at least once in the coming year. xoxoxo
Visiting Great Grandma MarieAdmiring Wills hat
Helping Oma bake cookies…Good grief…he looks like JawsStinkerAuntie and Uncle Scott joined us on SkypeTearing it all upTrucks!Holly got them stuffed animals from the old Rudolph story…here I am holding the snow monster. SO cute.Auntie got them the Pinnochio DVD – they became obsessed with it after our Disneyland trip…Holly gave me one of her framed photographs which is absolutely beautiful…Look at how gorgeous! Both Holly and Joe are photographers and take some of the most beautiful pictures ever…My office will be covered in them soon…Tommy got a cute hat and an awesome gun mat…Mom got a cool candle holder…that broke it’s arm.Holly matted some of Joe’s photos for him.So pretty!A Christmas cookie that Scott made…Big surprise. Haha!Uncle Mike got them a crap ton of Play-doh. Ugh.Presents galore…They both got really cute backpacks…Our really good friends got us these coffee mugs…I love them!Hahaha!Tommy and I went on a cool hike down the wash…Cool fossil we found…I got completely distracted by a cool boulder we walked by. I tried to establish the FA but it was impossible. Ha!
Going out to freeze to death…Trudging through…Henry’s so excitedStill trudging…Still excited…Running around with MontyLook at his hands!! They’re so cold!Finally heading in for some cookies and hot chocolate. Yum. =)
This past week has been a blur – Tommy’s vacation finally started yesterday but the weather was freezing and rainy, so he was only able to cut plywood in the garage…and completely destroy it in the process. There are wood shavings and dust everywhere. =( The weather last Saturday was also cold and rainy so we invited Grandpa up for some cookie making and game playing. It was a nice and relaxing day. Then on Tuesday, we dropped by our good friends/neighbors house for a little Christmas get together so they could give the boys a present. Their names are Chris and Don and they are such funny, nice people…we’ve had nothing but good experiences with the people in this neighborhood since we moved in. I’m so impressed and eager to get to know everyone. Last night was our early Christmas party with Grandpa. We decided to break tradition and go around the local neighborhood to see lights rather than at Winterhaven. The lights down there are awesome, but they’re pretty much the same every year and after several years of this, we thought it was time to see something else. So after the lights, we went to go get some cake and hot chocolate at our beloved café, only to discover that it had closed down. What a bummer! So we went to Village Inn instead and got our goodies. Then it was back to Grandpa’s house to open presents and hang out for a while. He spoiled the boys again with some really awesome stuff! Thanks Grandpa!! You’re the best! We leave for NM this Sunday to spend Christmas with mom and Joe and then return the following Saturday. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and stuffs themselves full of good food!! Love you all! xoxo
Grandpa and the boys baking some cookiesDon’t look so happy, people…William destroying his cookie cutters
Game time! We played Candyland. Grandpa got this for Henry a couple years ago…Will was trying to play but wanted to just destroy everything…he’s like a dog, I swear.
Here are our neighbors, Chris and Don. They are originally from New York and still have very heavy accents. It’s hilarious to hear them speak! =)We made the boys dress up a little last night…too bad we didn’t wipe the spaghetti sauce off their faces!! =0I swear, William is going to be the class clown when he gets to school…Opening presents at Grandpa’s house…Henry got some SpongeBob legos! Sooo awesome. Haha!Look at this adorable hat!! It’s a Thomas the Train hat and Will loves it!He also got a Thomas the Train whistle that sounds just like a choo choo. We had to endure it the whole car ride back home. =/Grandpa got both of them a set of magnets…really cool.Grandpa opening up his present from us.
Me and Turd #1This kid, I swear. I love him to death but he drives me crazy.This was one of Henry’s presents…a super cool gyro that lit up the faster you spun it…It’s kinda mesmerizing..Daddy and Turd #2Well…we’re missing a kid in this picture and it’s because he decided to throw a tantrum and ruin the picture. So I told him he couldn’t be in it. The joys of being a parent.
So, Tommy came home early Thursday and we busted our butts till about 8 last night digging footers, making molds and pouring concrete. The weather is crappy today and we wanted to get the footers poured before it rained so they would have a good amount of time to cure. Tommy starts his vacation this Thursday so we’re gonna hit it hard before we head up to Moms house for Christmas. =) We’ve obviously got a crap ton still to do but it’s coming along at a good pace. We’re excited!! Stay tuned for the next phase! Hope everyone is well xoxo
Making sure the footers will be level
The holds! It may not look like it but we’ve accumulated about 400…Hand holds…Foot holds and jibsTommy tamping down the surrounding soil to make sure it won’t move…(hint: this thing isn’t going anywhere…)
Trench dugThis kid continues to amaze me…he helped us out a lot yesterday. =)
Here he is hauling rebar. My heart!
Happy to help his daddyAdorableDrilling holes…Getting ready to pour our concreteGil let us borrow his cement mixer. What would we do without that guy!?Pouring!Moving it aroundTime to cure…This pic gives you an idea of how big it will be … Yay!! =)
So last weekend, we began the process of building our new climbing wall. Now, I knew from Tommy’s plans that this thing was going to be fairly big. However, when we got to the store to buy the supplies, the magnitude of the project finally sunk in. I thought we’d be able to get it all in one load, but we ended up making 3 trips for everything – 3 tons of concrete and 4 tons of lumber. Everyone at Home Depot kept asking us, “What the heck are you building!?” When we told them, they said one of two things: What’s a woody? or Why would you build that? Haha! Hilarious. So last Friday night was our biggest load. Our good friend Gil let us use his huge diesel truck and trailer and we almost blew out the tires on the thing hauling all the concrete. Saturday morning we moved all 90 bags to the backyard in wheelbarrows which was really f’ing hard and then finished out the day by putting all the lumber in the garage so it wouldn’t get wet. Holy Mother. I told Tommy that I’m not sure we’re going to be alive enough to actually climb on this thing after it’s built. =) Anyway, here’s the first wave of pictures of tons more to come. When this thing’s done, you all are more than welcome to come try it out! Haha! Love you all! xo
Here’s my little stinker helping me fill holes where old posts used to be…I think the original owners kept horses back here.He’s gonna be a hard workerAll the crap we cleared out…about 10 Creosote and 7 posts along with a huge cholla and other cacti. FunUnder that tarp is all our concrete…Ugh!Another view…All the lumberWe’ve got our work cut out for us… =0
Hey everyone! If you’ve been following this blog for long, you know its our annual tradition to head out to Bishop, CA for the Thanksgiving holiday. Tommy and I celebrated 10 years in September and we thought it would be nice to take a trip out to the boulders without the boys this year. I was super keen on it at first but after a couple days, I really started to miss them. Mom was nice enough to take them for a week and they had a wonderful time with her and Uncle Joe. The weather out in CA was great (a little cold for my blood) but we had a wonderful time. We were super excited to come home, however, because we are going to break ground on a wood wall in our back yard this weekend. That’s right, we’re finally building our woody! Tommy has been designing it for the last year and he’s come up with a concept that is going to be pretty amazing. I’ll keep you all updated with photos for sure! In the meantime, here are pictures from our trip. We definitely have some scores to settle next year that will be made easier by our new wall. =) Can’t wait! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well – stay tuned. =)
First day out…Tommy working a hard 5This was our first year out to a place called the Druid Stones. W. T. H. The hike is 45 minutes long and with a ginormous pad on your back, it’s absolutely miserable.Tommy on a boulder called Arch Druid. This rock was really cool…Making it all the way to the top…Yay Tommy!My turn to flail around on it…I don’t know if it was because of the hike or because I was totally weak but this thing kicked my butt…Another cool rock up in the Druids – the Sky Stone. The problem we’re working is called Sky Dance V6 and it’s really fun! This would be the only reason we’d make that God awful hike again…Making my way out of it…Here’s Tommy giving it a go…Picture of the town from the stones…In the Buttermilks!Me and LizTravers working High Plains Drifter V7Now Tommy giving it a go…Me working the climb next door, Change of Heart V6A different angle with Liz…Another shot of the Milks…you can’t take a bad photo hereMe and Travers having pad difficultyMe and the infamous Andy Lui! Tommy and I watch his climbing videos all the time – he is such a nice guy and it was a hilarious celebrity moment! =)Working a ridiculously hard problem – the Buttermilk Stem which is only a V1 but it’s so frickin’ hard to get off the damn groundTravers doing his betaLiz giving it a goHere’s a better angle of it…It’s a good problem but it does tear the hell out of your palmsHere’s the gang watching some beta videos in the trailerTommy’s Nemesis…Morning Dove White v7I hate looking at these pictures. On the 5th day of our trip Tommy messed up his feet and came off from the top of this thing. He didn’t have the gas to get back on and do it again. We came back on our last day to try again and he couldn’t do it. I was more crushed than he was but it’s definitely going down next year!!!!This is a cool picAfter 4 years of trying this stupid thing, I finally got it! Solarium V4 – It’s all about the beta babyGrabbing the lipOne of our buddies came in late Tuesday and we met him and started working on this problem…Rave V hardTravers making his way on Every Color You Are V6Great job!A painful, pockety problem…Mr. Happy V5This thing ripped the crap outta my handsGetting on the amazing Atari V6 on Thanksgiving night. So fun…Jason almost making it to the top!A send in the dark…Wilson making it look easy…
