2005 Yukon Denali

Well, I finally did it. After several weeks of thoughtful consideration, I decided to pull the trigger and buy a new car. But not just any car (or even a car for that matter). Today, I bought and drove home a 2005 GMC Yukon Denali. It has 40,000 miles, is loaded with a bose sound system, 20 inch chrome wheels, navigation system, heated leather seats, and a bunch of other features I have yet to discover.

I drove about an hour and a half to a dealership that had two SUV's that I liked. Ideally I would have bought something closer to home, but I was so specific about what I wanted that I really had to widen my search radius to find it. The salesman at the dealership that I bought the truck from was nice although I think he was a better negotiator than I was :)

I got it for $31,000 which, according to Kelley Blue Book, was a fair price. I wasn't really in a position to negotiate well since I drove so long to see it and wanted to buy it before the new year. It was originally listed for $33,990 and had been reduced to $31,990 when I looked at it. It is a GM Certified Pre-Owned vehicle so I felt comfortable buying it without a mechanic looking at it first and I purchased an extended warranty that covers me for 7 years or 100,000 miles.

I'm pretty excited and still in a bit of shock that it is sitting in my driveway right now. The pictures I posted were taken off of the dealer's website, so sorry for me not being in them yet. Anyway, I'm looking forward to driving it some more so that it starts to feel like mine and not someting that I'm borrowing. I have all of the owner's manuals to go through now so that I know how to use all of the buttons on the touch screen. VVVRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. We didn't have a white Christmas this year although it did snow for about an hour on Xmas day. The picture with the snow is from today in our backyard.
I wanted to include some pictures of the food we ate on Xmas eve and night. Bill who is Brooke's bro-in-law is in the picture above cutting the 18 lb. prime rib we ate for dinner on Xmas night. The evening before he made a pasta dish with lobster and shrimp, shrimp parmigian, and clam shells stuffed with stuffing and clam. It was all very good.



I was so busy taking pictures that I didn't get any of myself. I'll have to wait until I get other pictures downloaded. There were so many presents when we arrived at carolyn's house on Christmas morning. There literally wasn't enough room for everyone to sit. This made the kids happy though which was part of the fun.

I got some cool gifts this year; a new water and shock resistant watch to wear when I workout, an Apple iPod shuffle (about the size of a quarter), and two books that I really wanted. Brooke got a digital camera, dvd's and more Pottery Barn gift certificates. Yikes.

I'm already looking forward to next year's Xmas with Jon and the rest of the family in Ca.

Ready for Santa

Well, we've got things all set up for Santa's visit. We're glad to have the mirror finally hung over the fireplace. It makes it look SO much better. I also sanded and re-stained the mantle which is great because we hated the old stain that was on it.

When we got back from our Cali trip, we were happy to find our sign installed on a tree at the entrance to our driveway. I should explain its meaning really quick. I sell homes in two developments here in the community - Lake Naomi and Timber Trails. We live in LN and TT is the private gated section of the community. I thought that using our dog Timber's name in this play on words would be funny. He really does rule the roost at our home, so it's kind of fitting.


I also got crafty and decorated the outside of our home a little but. Go me. We also just finished painting the master bedroom last night so I'll get some shots of that up soon. It looks a lot better without the white walls and light blue trim. Ugh!

Last days in Cali

Near the end of our visit in CA, Brooke and I went to Stinson Beach for the day. It is a really nice beach. The weather was great and Timber seemed to have a good time during his first visit to the ocean. It was hilarious watching him run away from the waves each time they came in. We collected sand dollars and seashells and just enjoyed walking along the beach. The tide was out and there was a really thin layer of water where the ocean level normally is, so it was neat to walk that far out into the sea (see Brooke's picture). When we were odne, we et up with mom and dad for dinner and a movie. That was a nice day.

Birthday pizza at Rocco's

I celebrated my birthday this year at Rocco's pizza in Berkeley. The food was great but the happy birthday song was embarrassing. The waiter got everyone's attention (about 50 people) in the restuarant and had them all sing happy birthday to me. After that fun little parade was over, we had a nice dinner followed by ice cream sundaes at fenton's. "I'm gonna eat ya' - get in my belly!"

Brooke and I also bought Timber his XMas costume - reindeer antlers and a candy cane collar with bells. You can tell by the picture that he didn't find it as amusing as we did :)



It was a great 28th birthday...or as Brooke would say "almost 30th birthday which is half way to 60 - old man). Ugh! Happy birthday to me.

Thanksgiving at home

It was really nice to be with my family this year for turkey day. It was a great meal as you can see by dad carving the turkey and mom sitting on the recliner after eating too much (we all did). I wish that Jonny boy could have been there but I guess that just meant there was more food for me. Mom put a picture of him up on the hutch so it kind of looked like he was there. One of aunt Linda and uncle Lynn's friends, David, celebrated T-day with us and he shared one of his family traditions - making apple turkeys. It was really fun making them. Just an apple for a body, some skewers for legs, a toothpick with a marshmallow on it for a head, cloves for eyes, toothpick with raisins for the wattle (under the chin), and toothpicks with dots candy for feathers near the tail.
Brooke cooked two dishes this year; a green bean casserole and whipped sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on top. Both were a hit but everybody loved the sweet potatoes which became one of my favorites ever since my first Thanksgiving with Brooke's family.

















Gobble, gobble, gobble.