Chritmas '07

Christmas kinda snuck up on us this year. Before we knew it, it was 2 weeks before, and our tree was still bare, (not a present in sight). Ordering that late online causes express delivery and excess shipping charges.

We spent Christmas Eve at Jon and Steph's house. It was a great time with family! One of the highlights was Ellie being so excited about her Snow White dress-up, and Hello Kitty slippers. It just brought warmth to our hearts. Jon and Steph also informed us about sap bubbles. We had never heard of them before, but after a few weeks, the tree starts to develope bubbles of sap. If you pop them they release the sap which drips down the bark, thus filling the room with the wonderful aroma of pine once again. But I must warn you, Spring found a really big one on her tree and it squirted in her eye, causing much discomfort for several hours. Peter and I didn't have any trouble. We popped a few everyday from then on and enjoyed the scent very much. Thanks, Jon and Steph.

Christmas day we started out at home, just the two of us. It was great having our first Christmas together. Being a Monday, Peter had to go into work for a few hours, and then we went to the Holladays' later in the day and spent time with the family. Peter's birthday is the 26th so we also celebrated that while we were there. It was a bit tough for Peter not being with his family the the 24th, and me not being with mine on the 25th. But it was all very joyful.

Our 1st tree

On December 1st, we all went to Green Thumb in Ventura to pick out Christmas trees. "This one's perfect, Honey! Hope, can you take our picture? We forgot our camera."

For many years, Peter has been the one who cuts the bottom of the tree just before it goes into the water, so it will last longer. First was Mom and Pop's, then Hope and Viktor, then Spring and Brian, and then we took ours home.

Brian and Peter 'unveiling' the tree at Mom and Pop's.

Peter by our first tree. It was just the right size.

This is one of the first ornaments we got. It is a bride and groom riding away in the get away car. It was on one of the packages Tracy opened at her bridal shower. She also got a Barbie ballerina, and a 2007 snowflake at the shower. On our honeymoon, we took a day trip to Virginia City and got a couple ornaments there, at a Christmas store that is open all year. We also got a couple in Tahoe. It was fun shopping for our first tree and all the trimmin's.

Honeymoon pics at Lake Tahoe

Cruisin' on the MS Dixie. It takes a trip across the lake to Emerald Cove and goes around Emerald Island where the Tea House is.

The Fireman Museum in Virginia City.

We went down into a Mark Twain Museum. He worked for this newspaper or magazine here in Virginia City before the great fire of 1875. Most of the town burned to the ground, but this underground printshop survived. It was here that he got his pen name, but he had to leave suddenly. He had written an article that wasn't too popular with some of the nobles since it had slanderous things to say about some of their wives....that's how the story goes.

Sweethearts behind bars...

If you click on the above pic, you may be able to read the history of the table below, and find out why it's called suicide table.

A beautiful view from the the balcony outside the Fox and Hound. A little place we went for a couple meals. It was pretty close to our Condo so when we didn't feel like going very far we would drive down there and bring the food back with us.

One fun thing to do was to take a carraige ride. We picked it up in town and they rode us all around the back streets of town we never would have seen otherwise. We saw Sonny Bono's former residence, and Joe Montana had a place built there. His was easy to identify with the statue of a football player in the yard.

"When you go to Tahoe, you gotta ride the Gondolahs." That's all we kept hearing and about how awesome they were...'what a view' they would say. Well they shut them down for 3 weeks... 3WEEKS during the year for 'scheduled' maintanance, and that's when we were there. We were so looking forward to going on them too.

Views of the lake. This is Emerald Island in the middle of Emerald bay.

Here we are with the island in the background.

This is the view from Zephyr Cove, just before we boarded the MS Dixie.

On Saturday, we took a tour around the lake. It began to get cloudy and look like rain so we had to hustle through.

Another attraction that is closed for the winter. I guess we will have to come back in the spring or summer to see all that Tahoehas to offer.

And just when you think you've seen it all...
It was raining when we went to bed that night. Al we heard all night was the patter of the rain. In the morning it finally seemed quite so Peter took a peak outside. This is the railing outside our room!!! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!

EH?!

I'll pose for one more picture, but you better hold me tight, 'cause it's cold out here.

Aaaaaahhh! much better cozied up by the fire. It was great to have a fireplace in our livingroom.

We went out a little later and played in the snow. We built a little snowman. There was plaenty for us to build a bigger one, but time was tickin'. It was Sunday and we had a long drive home.

This is the name of the resort we stayed at. Tracy's parents were generous enough to loan us their timeshare for the week.

A couple hours down the road and it's still snowing. Peter had only seen it snow a couple times before, so He REALLY didn't want to leave.

Had to get a picture of the snowplow. They were able to keep up with the snow, and didn't have to close any roads down...at least not before we made it out. ;)

The BIG Day: Nov 4th, 2007

Here are some wedding pics for those of you who have been waiting so patiently. They are somewhat in random order.

Please enjoy! Your comments are appreciated.
Mother-son dance to My Mother's Love.

Peter, with Mom and Pop.

Front row:Abigail, Gregory and Adam
Back row: Viktor, Hope and Alice, Faith, Levi, Pop, Mom, Peter, Spring and Brian, Lacey and John David, and Rob.

Is this straight Hope?

The men in black. Don't look too closely, I think Levi's eyes are closed.

Just the guys getting ready. Pop, I think you have a spot right here.

Levi getting pinned.

Dakota and Denise "passing the shoe". A new tradition to Tracy. Peter took off one of his shoes (we should have used both hehehe) and it got passed around to all those who wanted to contribute. It went around pretty fast, but we were very blessed by all the contributions. Thank you to all you who helped make our honeymoon so special.

Sarah Zellmer caught the bouquet. She is the daughter of Rose who baked our delicious wedding cake.

Our first dance, to When God Made You.

Father-daughter dance to Butterfly Kisses.

Peter's good friend Steve and his parents, John and Terri. We are glad they could make it.

Here is our Christmas Card picture!!!

We LOVE this one. Peter always opens his mouth when he gives me a bite of something. This is classic.

The cake was delicious!!! Thanks, Rose.

Some of our guests.

Cutting the cake.

More guests...

The proud papas.

...and even more guests. We were very blessed to have so many people share in our joy.

The first kiss. Peter and I decided that our first kiss would be at the altar. It was such a special moment for us both.

The presentation of the prayer rock. What a wonderful tradition! A piece of wood from the stump where Pop asked Mom to marry him, and a rock from where his great grandpa used to go to pray. His granpa carried on the tradition and they would get a rock from nearby and made an altar there. Pop has gathered several rocks from there to pass them on to his kids. A reminder to pray together every night before we go to bed. We actually started doing this before we were married. After Peter or Tracy would get home, we would call and pray on the phone together.

Didn't everything look beautiful?!

Ah! How precious!!!

Grandpa, I wanna see my mommy sing.

Taking time to smell the roses. Or orchids...as the case may be.

The bridal party: Ellie (in front), Jeanette, Sharlene, Tracy, Molly, Valerie.

Sharlene putting on Tracy's tiara. That almost looks like it hurts.

The father of the Bride invited everyone to IHOP for breakfast. Grandam Pat, John, Steph and the kids, Peter and Tracy, Shar, Val, Molly and Jeanette were all there, and Hope and Viktor came a little later with the girls (I think by accident).

As you can see Tracy is getting her hair done for the wedding. Alice Rossiter drove up from Pasadena to do her hair, and her mom's. She always does a fantastic job!

Too bad the 4th one is blurry. I love the way Alice did our hair. Front and back views are fabulous! As she was packing up, Valerie and the rest of the girls came down to get ready, and Alice stayed to help Val with her hair too. She truly was a blessing.