Visitors

Two weekends ago we had some wonderful visitors to Santa Barbara

Joelle and Nick were visiting sunny Los Angeles and drove to Santa Barbara and spent all day Saturday. It was so fun to have them here even if it was for a short time. (Miss you, Joelle)

We had lunch by the harbor and shopped State street.

We watched the sunset from our favor spot on the beach, and ate Sprinkles cupcakes. SO YUMMY (thanks Joelle and Nick)

Then we had great Mexican food and called it a day.

Oh and I don't want to forget to mention that Joelle and I got to go to the Golden Globes.

(sorry no pictures from inside but they said no cameras)

Definantly a once in a life time opportunity.

Thank you Bill for the tickets, Thank you Nick for letting me have your ticket,

Thank you Joelle for taking me

Rusty and Laura's Reception in Reno

We missed Kippy but his evil doppelganger kept popping his head in.

Pictures from New York

Sony building Christmas Tree

MOMA

Columbia

Thanks for a yummy dinner Brad and Jill

Our Christmas Holiday

Blogger is being really dumb and not letting me upload pictures. I can't wait any long because I am getting so far behind so I am going to update without pictures (sorry for everyone who only looks at the pictures) and then add pictures later.

Our Holiday break was a bit on the crazy side so lets see if you can keep up...

December 13-17: We had an awesome time in New York for the Pershing Holiday party.
December 18: We were in Santa Barbara for one day so I could work and we could repack our bags.
December 19-21: On the 19th we drove to Provo Utah for Rusty and Laura's wedding (Ryan's little brother and our new sister-in-law) It was a fun weekend full of driving, snow, Cafe Rio, wedding festivities, and more driving.
December 22-24: We were in Santa Barbara again so I could work, do laundry, and repack our bags.
December 24-25: We drove to northern California to be with my side of the family at my Grandparent's house. Christmas Eve we had a fun family dinner at Trade Vicks and then we had a baby shower for my sister who is expecting in February. Christmas Day was really nice. All us granddaughters made breakfast and then we opened Christmas gifts. The rest of the day was relaxing and grazing on yummy food.
December 26-28: Me, Ryan, my mom and Dad, two sisters and brother-in-law all drove down to Palmsprings to spend some warm days at my Grandparents other house. Even though Ryan and I were sick of driving it was a really nice few days. We played golf, ate mexican food, played Wii and sat around.
December 29-31: Sunday night we left the rest of the family in Palmpsrings and we drove back to Santa Barbara so I could work for a few days, we could dump all our Christmas stuff off and we could repack. For New Years Eve my parents, two sisters, and Brother-in-law joined us in Santa Barbara to celebrate. We had dinner and then watched a movie and played games to stay awake.
January 1-4: New Years Day we all got back in the car and headed for Reno. We made a quick stop in Solvang for breakfast (which I highly recommend) and continued on the road. We were in Reno for Rusty and Laura's second reception. We enjoyed family meals, decorating, Christmas with the Stodtmeisters, and video games. We drove back on Sunday night.

So I hope you were able to follow all of that. We have been really tired after all our traveling but feel lucky to have been able to be a part of everything. (Oh yeah and we literally drove over 4000 miles in 3 weeks.)

Happy New Year

Good-bye

2008

Hello

2009

Rusty and Laura's Wedding

This past weekend Ryan's little brother got married. (Click below to see more pictures.) It was a fun whirlwind weekend. We are super happy for them and are excited to have another girl in the Stodtmeister family.

Rusty and Laura's Wedding

Pershing Holiday Party

These are just some of the faces we love and miss.

Thank you Pershing for a great evening.

Trip to New York

(I will add our pictures as soon as I get them downloaded)

Now for the rest of the trip...

Sunday: we had a heat issue in our room on Saturday night so we were up for 3 hours in the middle of the night. Which was not good since Ryan had only had 30min sleep the night before. So we slept in once we were finally able to fall asleep. We had lunch at Bouchon Bakery, walked through the park, and enjoyed the city. Sunday evening Brad and Jill had us over to their new apartment up by Columbia for dinner, 2 games of Blokus, good conversation, and a tour of campus at night. It was a very fun evening thanks Brad and Jill.

Monday: We had an early lunch at Brooklyn Diner (best milkshakes ever) and I stopped into my old office to see all my friends. I stopped at the security desk to get a pass to go upstairs and the guard said, "Don't you work there." It gave me a little pain. It was so fun seeing everyone. After Ryan and I went to the MOMA and walked up Fifth Avenue. We made a stop at FAO Schwarz but it just made me sad. It wasn't quite as magical as I remember it from when I was 8. It was jam packed with people and it was 100 degrees inside. Oh well. We walked back to our hotel and relaxed before we went to dinner at Park Avenue Winter. It was an outstanding meal and I think my favorite restaurant in New York.

Tuesday: I got my nails done at my old nail salon and went shopping for the rest of the day. (Ryan had to finish grading papers so he was busy working.) We ran down to NYU to pick up a T-shirt and drop something off for an old professor of Ryan's and then we went back to the hotel to get ready for the holiday party. (oh yeah I forgot to say that it was snowing on and off all day which I loved.) Tuesday night we had the Pershing Holiday party at Del Posto. It was a perfect evening. Joelle always throws a great party. The food was really good and Bill's speech/toast/roast is always entertaining. I loved spending time with everyone that I love. After the party Ryan and I took a long walk in the rain to see the Tree.

Wednesday: We stopped into Alice's Tea Cup (best pumpkin scones ever!), walked to the Guggenheim (the outside was under construction the entire time we lived in Manhattan and it is finally done) and enjoyed pizza at our favor pizza place around the corner from our old apartment. Ryan and I can't eat pizza anymore because nothing compares to that pizza. We were worried that maybe we had built it up in our head and it really wasn't that good. But no it is that good and we enjoyed every bit.

It was a great trip. There is something so magical about New York City at Chirstmas. I miss everyone a lot so I guess we will just have to go back for another visit.

Joelle's Fabulous Holiday Party

We arrived in New York on Saturday just in time for Joelle's fabulous holiday party. Her apartment looked wonderful, the food was delicious...

Her tree looked perfect...

But by far the best part was seeing everyone that I miss so much.

This is Joelle and Angie (the amazing photographer)

We are off to New York City...

and I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

Yippy!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Dickens Village

Grandma Stodtmeister gave us part of her Christmas village.

I am on the look out for a tree topper, so far no luck.  I guess I am too picky.

This is my favorite ornament that Grandma Stodtmeister gave us.  The light inside turns on when you open the door and there is a small snowman in the freezer, very adorable.

It is hard to see in this picture but our new and very cute advent calendar from mom is sitting on the mantel.

Thanksgiving

Ryan and I have so much to be thankful for and one of those things was a great weekend with the family.

Wednesday- Wednesday night we drove to my Grandparents house in the Bay Area. It is half way between Santa Barbara and Reno. We stayed the night there to break up the trip and to say hi to my family.

Thursday- Ryan got up early and went for a Thanksgiving bike ride. He said it was the most fall he has had this year. Needless to say Santa Barbara is still very green and warm. It was foggy in the Bay Area and he saw all sorts of deer. After a wonderful breakfast with my parents, sister, and grandparents Ryan and I jumped on the road to head to Reno. We thought the traffic would be quiet but boy we were wrong. We finally made it to the Stodtmeister home and we were greeted by Ryan's whole family including Laura (our new soon to be sister-in-law). The only one were were missing was Kipp. (who we missed a lot.) We got there just in time to leave for Thanksgiving dinner. We went to Ryan's cousin's house for dinner and it was WONDERFUL. The food was awesome, the company was perfect, and the evening was relaxing. I love Thanksgiving food it is so delicious. After dinner we all came back to the house and played games.

Friday- My family always travels on Thanksgiving so this was the first time I have ever spent that Holiday in Reno. So this was the first time I ever got to experience the Stodtmeister shooting tradition. We drove to the middle of no where and practiced shooting guns. This was a big day for me because I had never shot a gun before in my life. They are scary and really loud but it was a fun time. I like the little guns because they don't kick as much and I was actually able to hit a target. We had a late lunch of left overs (yummy) and then we went to see the new James Bond movie. (I was glad it wasn't as violent as the last one.) We finished of the night with some new games and chatting.

Saturday- We had great blueberry pancakes (thanks Gay) and all got ready for the day. The day was filled with shopping and errand running. In the afternoon Grandma Stodtmeister had us come over and she graciously gave us a bunch of her Christmas decorations. (I am just tickled about them. They are beautiful and I love the fact that they have been handed down through the family. (I will post pictures soon.) Saturday night we had dinner to celebrate Alex's birthday and I finished sorting though Christmas decorations.

Sunday- We had one last breakfast together before everyone jumped on the road. We got on the road around noon and we didn't get home until 10:30pm. It was an extra 4 hours of traffic. We stopped in the middle to meet my parents as they were heading back to Reno. We had a hamburger and chatted for a little bit. (It is fun to live so close to family.)

Thanksgiving was wonderful but the weekend went by way to fast. Thank you Gay and Rod for a very fun time.