Happy Fall!!!

You can pull the girl from her garden like an unwanted weed, but where ever you drop her she will grow like a seed ~ Alisha N.

Dan and Lish, Lake Tahoe in the Background. Another fun Labor Day weekend in Genoa, Nevada. Thanks cousin Aaron...we love crashing at your place!!!!

Heavenly at Lake Tahoe in the Summer...its very quite in the summer, not a lot of action...I like it here in the summer. Its amazing to think of how packed it gets in the winter time.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe, it's a good thing they decided to keep this thing blue...I see all those bumper stickers that say, "keep tahoe blue" really paid off. Seriously, its beautiful!

Cousin Aaron lives down there, his house is the one with the light on...ha!

Peace from Genoa, Nevada...Nevada's first Settlement. I was in Genoa Labor Day of 2006, now I'm in Genoa on Labor Day of 2007...two differences, one year older, 30 lbs. lighter...no kidding!!!!!

Alisha and Aaron...I love this picture although I wish my right arm were a little more relaxed and I wish Dan would have gotten Lake Tahoe in the background as I had hoped for...picky picky. Hella cute picture though...for those who don't know, that's our cousin Aaron.

Alisha and Dan in Heaven, I mean Heavenly Lake Tahoe...LOL

Alisha with her "baby" cousins, they grow up so quickly. Sweet cudly Trevor to the left and growing way to quickly for me to handle, Bryson on the right. I cannot believe I held Bryson in my arms when he was just a baby and named him Bry Bry Pat Pat Tay Tay, and he remembered...aaahhhh. Its short for Bryson Patrick Taylor.

My mom, me and Grandma in Quincy...Grandma must be laughing...she did a lot of laughing and a lot of crying, we all did.

Mommy and Alisha - look, we have a matching saggy boob...LOL

O.K., this picture might trip out a few people, this is my aunt Roo Roo, I mean Laurinda. Yes, again, this is Aunt Laurinda. I cried hysterically when I saw her...she looks so healthy, so happy, so tiny, it is truly amazing. I love my aunt Roo Roo!!!

And here we are again...the Millers are looking good!!!!

Grandma Miller, Mary Louise Miller and I. What a special time this was. My Grandma is nearly blind, she can see shapes and some shades, but she does not have full vision like you and I. She resides in an elderly home, the one my Grandma Marge lived her last days in. My Grandma Miller is blessed in that she has loving family members who visit her on a regular basis and she is in Quincy, she is home. My visit with Grandma revealed some special things. I have my Grandma's hands, from every line, every crease, each finger is exactly the same, age being the only difference. We held hands for several hours, she felt each finger over and over as if to feel what I saw. She called me wee wee, that sound was sweet. I love you Grandma.

I planned my first company picnic and it was a success or at least I had a good time! Dan and I both gave it two thumbs up. We enjoyed a catered BBQ at the Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore, California. Tastey Burgers grilled to order on the lake, perfect lake weather, lakeside activities and oh yeah, a lake. This was the first Northern California company event for all locations to meet up after the RHFS merge and my very first event. Del Valle is just beautiful and a perfect location for camping, hiking, fishing and swimming...we plan to make it a local hot spot.

Went to the Circus, bought a big hat...

Dan and I went to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus Act in San Jose, CA., the Greatest Show on Earth. The hat was filled with yummy cotton candy.

We had really good seats! You know the random 2 seater spots you see at arena's?
That is where we sat, no one to the left of us, no one to the right of us. Like I said, they were great seats.

Things got a little scary, no nets on most of the acts.

At one point there were over 12 elephants in the arena, I had never seen so many Gentle Giants.

Asian Acrobat Team

Royal Bengals and White Tigers get-together

August 17, 2007 was our One Year Anniversary back in California. What an awesome year it has been. To celebrate, we took the day off of work and went to the beach at Santa Cruz. We walked through the Boardwalk briefly but spent most of our time on the outskirts. We enjoyed a fish filled meal at Aldo's Restaurant, paid for by Dan's employer...what a sweet surprise that was! The restaurant has a great view, pictured to the right.

We enjoyed an appetizer plate of mussells. Best eaten if you don't look at them.

Ah a peaceful beach, where are all the people?. O.k., there were about 10 people in this awesome cove, very peaceful. I love the sound of the waves. And for the first time in 6 years, we were able to jump into comfortable water temperatures.

Historic Light House in Santa Cruz.

Side note: Its been an amazing year for Dan and I. We would like to thank everyone of our friends and family members for all of the support we receive from you. It is because of the love and support we have received from each of you that our dreams have come true.

We accomplished our first 18 holes of golf at a beautiful course, The Dublin Ranch Golf Course. What a treat!

Dublin, California





By far the best part, the golf cart. There is no way I can walk an entire 18 holes, maybe someday but not today. Besides, I needed something to hold the beer!

Hole 1, its going to be a long day....

Not a cloud in the sky...

A scenic picture with Mt. Diablo...

Golfing in the sky above. I imagine this must be what Heaven is like.







Hole 18...I thought we would never make it, and then I saw it was a par 5. This is about the time Dan started to play really good. I had some descent shots but they only happened when no one was looking.

If I were a character on the Simpsons, I would look like this! Try it as simpsonizeme.com. We actually have a local Kwik-E-Mart, I hope to make an appearance before it goes "bye bye" or rather, (cue Apu voice over) "Thank you come again". Stepping into a Kwik-E-Mart would truly be a dream come true, no seriously, I have had that dream. I have watched the Simpsons since their original appearance on the Tracey Ullman Show so a Squishee in one hand and a pink donut with sprinkles (hmmm, pink is a fruit) at the Kwik-E-Mart would surely be a trip for me. Whoever came up with that Marketing concept deserves a day off with pay, Kudos! I do wonder though if some Kwik-E-Mart personnel are not to pleased by this obvious stereo type...I hope not because I do love Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Jr. (yes there was a senior), his wife Anjula and his beautiful octuplets Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi, and Gheet. Apu is by far my favorite character other than Maggie of course and Dan loves little Lisa!

Birthday for nine please. There is no better way to celebrate the Birthdays in one fell swoop. We had more gifts than at Christmas. Good times indeed. While yes its true, Lisa and I are November Birthdays, there was just no reason to exclude anyone from the celebration. We had a combination of fun including a Tropical Paradise theme, Italian Pasta, Tequila and a dash of Greek, including salad and the breaking of shot glasses! Yeah, we know how to party!!!!

Girl Gone Golfing!!!!

As a reward to myself for losing all that weight, I got a new golf bag! Thats right people, I am playing golf...thanks to my cousin Aaron that is. Dan and I got some clubs from some family members and ever since, we have been enjoying the sport 1-2 times a week. These pictures are from the Pleasanton Fairgrounds Golf Course, its a simple 9-hole course that we enjoy after work. This has been awesome activity and will continue to help me lose more weight as long as I stay away from the golf carts. And I look super cute out there with my pretty pink bag! I love the Mary Kay pink!!!! And yes, my golf balls and glove are also pink...super cute!!!!

Me with my new bag!

Dan and Jim prepping for tee off. Dans first shot this evening was hilarious. He smacks the ball, perfect shot, except it hit a tree and came flying back. It landed not but a foot away from his starting position. Now that was a great way to start a game. You can see a bit of the race track in this picture, the course is in the middle of a horse race track.

A simple shot of the greens. This course is surrounded by a horse track. The entire outside parameter is used for horse racing. And no, we are not able to play when the horse races are on, but how fun that would be. I love palm trees!!!!! It was a beautiful night. I am really enjoying the sport, I can't wait till I actually get good...although I hear that can take years. I would like to join a league next year maybe, they have an all womens league in Livermore but I am not yet good enough, in time though.

OK, so I decided I would blog this picture because the wonderful comments have been flooding in. And to be perfectly honest, its the compliments that keep me in the game. So here I am, now 63 lbs. lighter and still going strong!

Yay! Another Dog Park has opened in Dublin, its called the Dougherty Dog Park. It comes equiped with a small and large dog park, Honey loves both sides. It is fully equiped with Dog agility equipment, tunnels and lots of tennis balls. This is the first week it has been opened with over a year of preparation, there were a lot of visitors. This park is less than a mile from our house, so we couldn't be happier...and Honey loves it too.

This is a funny story. Honeys first Dog Park experience was in Aloha, Oregon where she met a sweet mixed terrier that had a naughty habit of kicking water out of the dish bowls, but for some reason, it would only do this at the dog park. The owner told me that her dog had learned it from another dog at this same dog park. Well, wouldn't you know it, our sweet Honey also learned this trick and has carried on the tradition. Here she is caught in the action. It is truly hillarious how this habit was learned but we are trying to get her to stop as the other dogs don't find it to be all that nice.

Dog Park Entrance. We are facing the large Dog Park as we are hanging out in the smaller dog park.

Hey El Kabong, aka Dan Licon, these are for your viewing pleasures. Good time to snicker and laugh at all your old classmates. Mr. Licon and I agreed to go the next reunion, its our pact! Maybe Steff and Keri will join us!??? It took some scrambling but I managed to find a wide array of 10 year Reunion pictures. I'm kind of bummed I didn't go because I wanted to see Carol and Neil. But once I saw Harley was there, and a bunch of cowboy hats, I think I made the better decision of not going...LOL. Cowboys drive me nuts but not in the good way!

All I can say with this one is uuuuugggghhhh! Harley was so mean to me in High School!!!!

Marcy, Lisa, Jenee and Kaleene. Lisa was recently married.

Jenee and Matt Ellis

Jenee and Anne Schnouer

Rob St. Evans (I think) and Kaleene.

Robert Stone, Anthony and Geraldo Sandavol

My favorite two people from High School. I wish I could have seen this hug! I miss you both!

Mike Bass and his wife, Tina

The Schullers, Matt and the other girl, cant remember her name...they got married + a child.

The Shulls,

Billy Zuckerman

Yeah, this picture makes my stomach hurt, good ol' country boys are NOT my favorite!

Kaleene and Husband, now living in Germany. How cool is that???

Kerri, Nicole and Kaleene...they look the same to me!

Eric Whal and Zuheit. I miss Eric so much, I wish I could have seen him.

Justin, Amber and Billy Murray. Amber is Neil's younger sister...she is so pretty!

Anne with her husband and Byron Clark with his girlfriend.

I don't remember this guys name, but thats his wife, name also unknown.

Rogelio and Family, beautiful wife!

Roger and some line dancing, yes, there was line dancing at the reunion. I forget sometimes that we were all raised in farm country. I was terribly out of place.

High School Sweethearts, Sean Whitney and Zuheit Salas (now Whitney).

Stacy B. and Marcy

The Garcias, Matt and Cherie! Cherie Garcia, is that not a perfect match!?

The Spooners!