Grandma Ruthe's and the Voyle's

We visited Joel's mom Ruthe for lunch. She fattened us up with her famous lasagna and chocolate chip cookies. Later her friend Linda stopped by with a homemade lemon meringue pie

Ethan entertained himself by dragging grandma Ruthe's hiking shoe around the house

We had a lot to celebrate: Ethan got to open his Christmas gift (Evie opened hers before we left for Taiwan - you may have seen her in her little pink ballerina outfit) and Joel and Ethan had birthday gifts to open. Grandma Ruthe even got Evie a little something so she wouldn't feel left out when the boys were opening their gifts.

Ethan's first Big Wheel. Ruthe had a few fun stories to tell about Joel on his.

Thanks Grandma

Evie couldn't wait for her chocolate chip cookie

She finished and quickly asked for another

Ruthe's house is in a beautiful location and it was the perfect day for a walk. She rents the guest house from the Gunther's who own a 32 acre Christmas Tree Farm and Apple Orchard. The land is against the National Forest and a Christian Camp so it's very remote and peaceful. Winter has been hard this year though - Ruthe has been snowed in a few times.

Evie, daddy, Grandma Ruthe and Louise

Ethan and mommy with Grandma Ruthe, Evie and daddy

Evie had fun walking on the fallen tree

Ethan being the curious kid he is had to touch the snow...

...and of course didn't like how cold it was...

Evie however didn't mind getting pounded in the face with snowballs and even took her shoes off so she could walk barefoot in the snow.

Okay, so she's getting a little smarter - luckily she has her new pony, Fiesta to protect her.

Evie had fun feeding daddy snow

Ethan kept kicking his shoes off. This is about the 10th time I have put them back on.

Joel, packing a snowball headed for Evie

It's hard to see Evie but she is standing by the tree - waiting for a snowball to hit her. She kept getting lucky, the tree branches would break the snowball before hitting her. Not that Joel didn't try about 10 times.

One of the cool old barns on the Gunther's property

An old sign Ruthe has on her garage

Ethan had fun playing in the wood pile

From Crestline (Grandma Ruthes) we drove to Pasadena to meet our friends Lance and Janet Voyles and their kids Aiden and Ashley. The last time we saw them was almost two years ago, before they had Ashley. Lance is from Lincoln, NE and moved to CA years ago to work for Answer Products (he now works for Giant Bicycles). Lance and Janet recently visited Lincoln but unfortunately we were in Taiwan. It was nice to finally catch up with them and meet little Ashley and see how much Aiden had changed.

Ethan is sooo aggressive, yanking the steering wheel back and forth - he's pretty excitable.

It is amazing to watch Ethan look at what Evie is doing and then copy her - he is quick to pick up on her bad habits too...

Ashley and Ethan - meeting for the first time

Ashley, Aiden and Ethan

Ashley was cute as Lance made her giggle.

Okay, I don't know what's more crazy...that Evie can fit into Ethan's pants or that she had an accident and had to wear Ethan's pants. She hasn't had an accident in so long that we didn't think to bring a change of clothes for her. Joel and I just looked at her and then looked at each other and shook our heads...anyway, here's Evie sporting Ethan's pants, that are almost too small for him.

Janet and Lance - thanks again for meeting us, we had a great time.

Evie and Aiden playing (by the fire station) as we said our goodbyes.