Ashlee's 14th Birthday

This year Ashlee decided that she wanted to have a small party with her friends from her old school Whitmore.   It was kind of last minute thing, it's just too hard trying to plan something for a winter time party.  So we decided to take them to have pedicures and their nails painted,  followed by lunch at Chili's,  After lunch we came back to the house for a while and Ashlee opened gifts and the girls played outside for a while.  All of her friends were able to make it and she enjoyed being able to see them again.

Ashlee, Alyssa, Lauren, Mariah and Sarah

The birthday girl.  The nail place provided cupcakes, a drink and chips for the girls.

 The ladies at the nail salon were quite entertained with these girls.  They kept laughing at the things they were saying.  Even a few customers in the salon were laughing at the things they were saying.  Which is good.  I was afraid they may get upset, but come to find out, I knew one of the ladies.  I went to school with her sons.  Small world!

Back at home opening gifts.  Ashlee bought all her friends a cup and filled it with candy, and nail stuff.  

Outside playing basketball.

That evening we went to pizza with my Mom and brother and his family.  My nephew, Landon has a birthday a few days after Ashlee so we just had a mini family party for both of them.

Landon opening his card from grandma.  

Ashlee opening her card from grandma.  My mom always writes them a note about things they have done during the year.

Sunday (the day of her birthday) she had to give a talk in church.  Coincidently she ended up speaking with her Uncle Danny.  They didn't know they were speaking together, until we got to church that day.

Monday, Ashlee didn't have school.  She spent the morning at the orthodontist and then we met Aunt Teresa for lunch at Panera.  After lunch, Teresa took Ashlee and I to a salon.   Ashlee got to have her make-up done and taught how to put make-up on.  

Your a very pretty, smart, bright, dedicated young lady.  We are proud of you,

Christmas

For Christmas we got to enjoy 5 days at The Cabin Under the Pines.  It was so nice.  We always love going to the cabin.  As soon as we arrived at the cabin on Christmas Eve it started to pour down rain. We thought it may get cold enough for snow, but it didn't.

Christmas morning the girls actually slept until 7:30am.  That was nice.   The girls opened their gifts.

This is what Our Christmas Tree at home looked like.  

Teresa had a tree decorated at the cabin.  All we had to do was put our gifts under it.  

Ashlee and Mikayla opening their gifts.  Christmas didn't consist of any big ticket items.  They got what they needed...clothes.

After gifts, John and the girls went for a walk to the pond across the street and they captured some awesome photos.

The pond was frozen.  They were able to capture this reflection.

The morning sun shinning through the trees.

Ashlee and Mikayla

Mikayla

While they were at the pond, I set the table for our Christmas Lunch/Dinner and started cooking.  My mom and her husband Terry and my Grandpa Billy and Kay came up to spend a few hours with us.  Teresa had a nice center piece already on the table too.  I took the simple route.  We ate on paper plates.  I had been sick all week, and so simple was nice and easier.

After lunch we went for a walk, exchanged gifts, visited , had dessert and then our family that came for the day headed home.

The day after Christmas, John had made arrangements for us to go snowmobiling up at Bear Valley, Alpine Lake, Ebbets Pass Area.  This was a first for all of us.  I am glad we went ahead and bought snow gear for the girls before leaving home, because it was cold.  We ended up using our ear bands for our faces, because the helmets kept our ears warm and our faces were freezing.

John and Ashlee on the left. Mikayla and I on the right

 Libby and Mikayla

 Alpine Lake Frozen over

 John and Ashlee

Ashlee, John and Mikayla

 Mikayla

Mikayla, Libby, Ashlee and Mikayla

We had fun.  If we ever do it again, we will bring masks for our faces.  Your face definitely gets cold,  

I seemed to be the joke of the day.  I had to get a child's helmet because my head is so small.  Then when we were headed back in on the snow mobiles, I took a corner too fast and Mikayla and I flipped over.  Luckily we didn't get hurt.  Just a little sore.  And before heading back to the cabin, we stopped at the store to grab a few items, and as we were walking through the store my shoes kept making a sound like there was something sticky on them.  A bit later we noticed my shoes were literally falling apart all over the store.  Everywhere I walked I was leaving pieces of my shoes.  I had these shoes for about 10 years, but had only worn them about 5 times.  I couldn't believe they were coming apart.  At least they didn't fall apart while we were on the snow mobiles!

Saturday we went on a short hike.  Every time we are at the cabin John researches a new adventure for us to go on.  This time we went on a hike above the Logging Museum in Arnold.  A nice, short paved (for the most part) hike.

 Libby and Ashlee

 Ashlee and John in front.  Mikayla in rear.

 John, Mikayla and Ashlee

 Selfie time

We had a great trip.  We love going to cabin.  Every time we go, we never want to come home. John and Mikayla always come up with a bunch of excuses and reasons to stay.  Thank you Danny and Teresa.  We appreciate it.

Gustine Basketball Tournament

This weekend the girls participated in another basketball tournament in Gustine.  They played in the tournament for two days, Friday and Saturday.  They were up against some tough teams.  The girls looked like midgets compared to the girls on the other teams.  The girls did their best, despite playing some larger girls and some pretty poor reffing.  Ashlee's team ended up winning the tournament.  Mikayla's team got 4th.

Ashlee's Team.  Ashlee is 3rd in from the left.

Ballico Basketball Tournament

Over the course of three days, Ashlee and Mikayla participated in their schools basketball tournament held at Livingston High School (their school has a gym that's too small) so they use a nearby high school for some of their games.  Both girls did great.

Ashlee's team took first place in the tournament.  Mikayla's team took second place in the tournament.

Mikayla's Team.  Mikayla is in back row right after the coach.

Ashlee's team.  Ashlee is first person on left.

Google Field Trip

This year the girls are using Chrome books at school.  They do not have text books.  Everything is done on their Chrome books and they use everything Google.  Today the 8th graders got to go to Google for a field trip and I got selected to be a chaperon.

Google is huge! It's like it's own little city.  Google employees have just about everything they need at work.  They can take their dogs to work, get haircuts at work, eat from numerous cafeterias/buffets, play volleyball, take naps, get massages, etc.  You name it, they can pretty much do it all free of charge.  Google employees don't even really have a starting and ending time to their work day.  As long as their work is done, no questions are asked.  In fact, our guide for the day was telling us, that Google got into some trouble with the city because some of their employees, chose to not have a place to call home, and instead, called home their car in the Google parking lot.  By sleeping in their cars they could save money on rent.  They didn't need a home because they could shower, do their laundry, etc all at Google!

Ashlee's 8th grade class.  Ashlee is almost directly in the center back row in a light pink sweatshirt.

A mobile haircut

There is a little "park" area with figurines of all of Androids different operating  systems.

Annika, Aleya, Makenzie, Cassidy and Ashlee

Annika, Annie, Aleya, Makenzie, Cassidy and Ashlee

All the 8th graders with their two teachers on the ends.  Mrs. Crohare and Ms. Virtue

Google bikes.  Employees can take a bike and ride it anywhere they need to go around the Google Complex.  When they are done, they just park it for someone else to take.

All the 8th graders with Mr. Ballenger the principal peering over the sign.

The Google Maps Car

As big as Google is, I really was expecting to see more.  But they didn't show us too much.  Not sure if it's because they don't want to leak information or that's all our tour guide felt like showing us.  At lunch time we got to eat in one of Google's Cafeterias for free.  Unlimited Buffet.  They had anything and everything you could possible imaging there.  When we were finished with a plate, we put it on a conveyor belt and it went into their kitchen to be washed.  And yes, even the toilets at Google are techie.  We had a good trip.  I just wished they would have showed us more.