One benefit of working 12 hour shifts at the hospital is that I frequently have 3 to 6 days off in a row. This week I had 6. It was a good chance to get a little fun in and relax. I took Miyah with me to the dump. Quite a fun date. She doesn't care where we go, as long as she gets to ride in Dad's truck.
Today I caught my first bass. Having lived in Utah and Idaho, I grew up fishing for trout. I was pretty clueless as to what to use or where to go for bass. A friend of mine from work took me to Lake Berryessa, about 15 miles from St. Helena. He has a little boat with all the gadgets. I now can relate to those guys on TV who wear the goofy jump suits and rave about catching the wiley bass. I caught 4 spotted bass, a type of Largemouth. They were fun to catch. I even brought a couple home and filleted them for tonight's dinner. Pretty tasty. Who knows, I may have to go pro and get me one of those jump suits.

Shane had his first field trip with his preschool class. They went to the post office, the fire station and the park. The weather was nice and he had a blast. As you can see, the thing he loved the most was spraying the fire hose.

This last week we went from one extreme to the other. On Monday, for family home evening, we went to the beach. We went to a sandy spot called Salmon Creek. We got to play in the water for a change, because the wind was absent and the sun was warm. The temperatures that day were around 70. Contrast that with the temp in Reno Thursday night (4). Brrr. We decided to throw some clothes in the car and drive to Utah to see the Thompson gang. We stayed the weekend and got to do a lot of fun stuff. We got to go to the new Cabellas store. It was huge. The kids got to play in the snow a little. Luckily it melted enough for a dry drive home on Monday. One highlight of the trip, that meant a lot to our family, was visiting Gramp. He is such a fun person to be around. We got to visit, hear stories and watch him play his drumsticks on his bedside table. I don't know if that was funnier or watching him eat a chili dog (he can't see too well). He loves his great grandkids. All in all, the trip was great. We love going back to Utah and being around the "Mormon culture". It makes me smile to be at a restaurant and see all of these young families with a million kids everywhere. Seeing the Thompsons was wonderful. They are a lot of fun. Ben, Nick and Joel were all there and so were the dogs. Shane and Miyah love the dogs. They love Grandma and Grandpa too. But after 24 hours of total drive time, we were glad to get back home.

After 2 weeks of rain, we finally got some sunshine this week. Today it got up to 70 degrees. It does wonders for the soul. We have been taking advantage of it. We took Shane down to the church parking lot to practice riding his bike. Miyah had a blast in the sandbox- with no jacket! The valley is beautiful right now. The mustard is coming up in the vineyards. There are miles of yellow flowers contrasted with the new green after all the rain. I wish we had time to just sit and take pictures and picnic. Actually we have been quite busy. We had the annual crab feed on the 19th of January. I was one of those in charge, as it was a fundraiser for the young men and young women of the branch. It went well and we made enough to send all the kids to camp this summer. We invited Michelle and Stephanie, our next door neighbors to come as guests. Stephanie babysits our kids. They had fun. That same day, we met up with Mary and Lynsey, some friends from Idaho. Lynsey graduate nursing school with me. She and her husband live in Georgia. Mary worked at EIRMC with me for 3-4 years. She currently lives in San Francisco. Small world.

Happy New Year!

This New Year's Eve was definitely memorable this year. Late, the night before, the napa river and all it's tributaries crested at several feet above the flood mark. The result was a heck of a lot of water up and down the valley. It had been raining all week, but we had no clue how bad it was until we tried to get Bob and Nancy to the airport Saturday morning. We got to the bottom of the mountain and the intersection of Deerpark road and the Silverado Trail was covered in 2 feet of water. I got brave and drove through that one. The next road was Highway 29. It had 3 ft. and the water was moving. Cars were being washed down the road. I decided the Expidition was not that tough and turned back. We spent the next 6 hours trying to find an open road to the airport in Sacramento. We were just minutes too late on most of them. I even tried a couple of little back roads to sneak past the blockaids. No such luck. One little scary road had several washed out places. I crossed 2 of them and chickened out on the third. We turned back again. Finally I had to go to work that night. I anguished while Heather took her parents to the airport that night. They had found 1 open road. It was open, but still treacherous. Needless to say, a lot of prayers were offered. Thankfully she was able to drop them off at a hotel that night and make it back home before all the drunk drivers came out from their parties. They say this place floods every 10 years. A big reason is because the environmentalists won't let them clean out the river bed. Something about endangered shrimp. I am just glad we are high up on the mountain. A lot of damage was done to Napa and some to Saint Helena. Fortunately no damage was done to the church buildings. The movie theater got a little soggy though. Guess we'll stay home and watch DVD's.

Another Christmas come and gone. Of course there were the usual goodies and decorations. We had lots of presents and the like. But this Christmas was different too. It was special. First of all, it was on Sunday. I think that really helped us remember what Christmas is all about. It is ok to say words like God, and Savior. Heaven forbid we might offend someone. The other reason this was special for us is that Bob and Nancy, Heather's parents flew in from Idaho to visit. I always like to remind them how cold it is there and how nice it is here. Well, they decided to find out for themselves. They got here on the 23d and will stay for a week. It has been a lot of fun. They got to meet the people we have come to love here in our branch. Sacrament meeting was wonderful. And no Bob, lightning didn't strike! Thanks for coming to church with us. We love you.


This week we will see some sights. We went to the Winchester Mansion yesterday. What a weird place. They built it for a 4'10" widow. I could barely get my shoulders through the first stairway. It was creepy and interesting. We saw doors that open to a 4 story drop. Others that opened on a brick wall. There were something like 160 rooms that she had built 7 days a week for 38 years until she died. I guess she did it to appease the spirits of people who had been killed by the Winchester rifles. Today we will make a treck to San Francisco and eat some clam chowder. We will also stop in Oakland and look at the temple while the lights are on. I will post a picture later. We might also drive around Samuel Merritt College, one of the anesthesia schools I am looking at. Well, take care and Merry Christmas. See you next Year!

This morning we had breakfast with Santa at the church in St. Helena. The kids loved it. Miyah was flirting with Santa. Shane was shy and didn't want to talk to the fat man. He's more of a letter writer. I thought he would love a chance to give his rapid fire speech about how he wants a "Fantastic Four mask and gloves with missile launch and a belt". This part of the holidays I love. I do not, however, like the last minute holiday shopping. Every year we say we are going to get it done early and skip the crowds and the traffic. Every year we miscalculated or procrastinate. Oh well. Yesterday we went to several stores in Santa Rosa. It was a mad house. I was threatened by some big heffers at walmart and continue my streak of choosing the longest line and the slowest checkers. Traffic in Northern California is usually not too bad. This week it was horrible. We drove to Oakland a few days ago, and I swear it gave me an ulcer. While I am griping, I just want to touch on my newest pet peeve. That is the quaint cultural trait of the Mexican population regarding shopping carts. Mexico must be littered with shopping carts. Here, they go to the market, load up a cart with groceries, walk home and leave the cart in their front yard. Every yard has 2 or 3. No kidding. Yesterday I watched a lady come out of Sunshine Foods, load the groceries in her car, and instead of taking the cart 100 feet to the cart coral, she walks 2 cars over and wedges her cart between a couple of suv's. Give me a break. Anyway, let us love one another and be tolerant during this holiday season. God bless you all.

Wednesday Dec. 7th was a day to remember Pearl Harbor. It was also a day to wear a silly had and open lots of presents. Especially if you name happens to be Shane Thompson. Shane turned 5 this week. He had what he describes as the "best day I ever had". He got a cool new bike. We went to his favorite restaurant, The Red Hen. He got to eat his favorites, chips and salsa and a cheese enchillada. They gave him a free desert, put the big sombrero on his head, and sang to him. He loved it. Afterwards we had a little party with a few friends and had cake and icecream. He had a madagascar cake.

I cant resist posting a picture of the salmon I caught today. I fought it for 20 minutes or so. When I finally got it in, I was disapointed to see that It was a bit worse for wear. It looked a bit mangy. I would have released it, but it was trying to do the back stroke. I was counciled not to eat it. Apparently a lot of the fish that get this far up the Napa river are pretty burned out and not too tasty. Bummer. Oh well. Besides, how many times in my life am I going to get the chance to land a 16lb fish?

Well, I turned 30 this last Sunday. We had just returned from vacation and we decided to veg out. Everyone keeps telling me how old I am. I don't feel old. No viagra for this stallion. This week the salmon are running up the Napa River. Due to the heavy rains, they made it all the way up to St. Helena. I am going to try and catch one this week. Bought me a big walmart rod and reel and some big ugly lures. Hopefully the 12lb test line I have on holds. Shane and I did some recon today and saw some huge Kings jumping out of the water below the zinfandel Bridge. Oh, it finally got cold around here. It got down to 36 last night and the highs are in the upper 50's. Beats the cold in Idaho and Utah right now. I got pounded in fantasy football this week. Thanks Eli Manning. I just hope I make the playoffs. I have a phone interview with the director of the anesthesia program in Akron Ohio this week. Hope that goes well. We are seriously looking at going back to school. We could move as soon as this summer. We'll see.

This Thaksgiving we decided to do something different. Like the Kranks, we decided to skip a holiday and use the money for a little vaccation. We decided to go down to Disneyland with the Dribnaks (our friends here in the St. Helena Branch). We first stopped in Monterey, Ca. and went to the big aquarium there. We saw giant tuna, sharks, penguins, and even an octopus. On Thursday, we spent Thanksgiving in the park. No turkey or stuffing. Just overpriced sandwiches and $3.00 cokes. We discovered that Shane had grown about 6 inches in the last 6 months and could now ride almost every ride. We watched the fantasmic water show and the fireworks that night. Friday and Saturday were fun too, but the park was extremely crowded. After the parade, you couldn't even walk down mainstreet. I don't know if I would go to Disneyland over this particular weekend again, but we had a good time. Happy Thanksgiving!