Christmas Gifts from School

The girls brought home gifts on the last day of school. I think this year both of them are the neatest they have ever brought home. Kelsi had a hanging cloth with a handprint wreath w/ berries on it. Very cool! McKena had a set of note cards & envelopes that her teacher scanned a piece of their artwork from art class & made notecards with it. On the back of the card it says " Artwork by McKena Smith, December 2008"

Share your Holiday Food Drive!

Every Year Northern Nevada does this Food drive. They are in 4 different locations, 2 in Reno, 1 in Carson City & 1 in Gardnerville. Each location's food goes to a different agency. Carson City is Advocates to End Domestic Violence (for those of you that don't know, this is where I work.) From 6 am to 6 pm staff & volunteers make this happen! News Channel 2 plays a huge part in it by doing live coverage all day to promote it. We had over 70 volunteers helping throughout the day at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City. At 6 pm the total collected was 33,000 lbs. of food and that doesn't include the last truck of food. They also recieved $4,000 cash! Its the most ever collected at Advocates! :o) Throughout the day local elementary schools came to sing as well as the Carson City Choir. I had a short clipit on the news because Neda thought I needed to be next to Santa when she did her first interview with him. I am trying to find that clipit to see how terrible I looked..lol :o) What a great year and thanks to all the volunteers that came out to help.

The office had talked me into being the "Elf" that they had a costume for from a previous employee... I didn't see the costume till later or I would not have agreed to it. :o) We were able to go into the mansion & visit with first lady Dawn Gibbons. She is a really sweet person & visited throughout the day. Me, Terri, Mrs. Gibbons & TraciSorting the food before it goes out to our shelterOld Clock from England that was brought over I believe she said when the mansion was built 99 yrs ago!Mrs. Gibbons, Poochie & Neda

Huge Gingerbread house in the "Nevada Room"

Santa & I

Some of us from the office with our Jackets we got this year!

Carson City High School Choir (they were good!)

Update..

Lots to update.. Things have been crazy around here lately. Last week was the end of the semester for the girls, so of course it was Parent Teacher conference time. Kelsi did excellent she had all A's and the teacher had only great things to say about her. McKena apparently is a different child at school then at home because the teacher loves her & she also had all A's. She is reading at a begining 2nd grade level & is only in 1st grade. She is doing great as well. Last Sunday I was driving to Reno to do some pictures for a family when the transmission went out in our only vehicle. SO.. we are spending Xmas money on a transmisson so we have a vehicle again. A little complicated with every where we need to be and things we have to do to go without a car. Thankfully my Dad & Ben can do this themselves so we save a few thousand on labor. We did check at a local transmission shop & were quoted about $3,000 on the low end. This past Monday was the end of Semester for me & end of finals .. YAY! The only final I know my grade on I got a 96. Hoping the other grades are up soon. :o) I get a months vacation before starting all over again. :o) I'm sure there are other things to update on that I'm forgetting but those are the important ones for now!

Parade of Lights

Tonight was the annual Parade of Lights in Gardnerville. It wasn't extremely cold but not exactly warm either! We sat out there for over an hour I believe.. Ben's work had a sailboat with lights, GE had a float & were giving out glow necklaces and I think the BEST float was the " WE BELIEVE". They did an excellent job on it. The float had the theme "Field of Dreams" like the movie.. complete with corn stalks. This float & the "We Believe" slogan is overpowering the valley right now. A few weeks ago a 10 yr old boy from the girls school was in a tree cutting accident, it hit him on the head. He was careflighted to Reno & has been in a induced coma ever since. He is still in critical condition, they are doing tons of fundraisers for this family. Very sad story & the girls school has been hit with 4 tragedies in the last year, 3 of which were Kelsi's age.

GE Family Event

Tonight we went to my mom's work for their annual Xmas event. We stood in line to see Santa for 30 mins. Kody would not go near him & got mad if you tried to take him up there. Kati refused to sit on his lap or talk to him much, but the other 2 were good. :o) They got lots of goodies, had some food, got ornaments with their name on them and signed cards for soldiers. I attempted to get a picture of all 4 of them in front of our tree, but that is next to impossible!