Conner's 1st Birthday

Conner Chadd's first birthday was on February 14, 2009. He was sick, so the birthday party was postponed to the 28th. We had a great time. Rosslyn had girlscouts but Grandson Stewart was able to go with us. We rode up to Bakersfield with Matt, Jenny & Mikaela. THE BIRTHDAY BOY!

He looks so much like his Daddy! Chris doesn't see it, but we do!

Conner's Grandpa, Joe - Yep, Jill's baby bro Joe is getting older!!

Stewart & Mikaela enjoyed the cupcakes!

Silly Bill -- Bouncin's for kids.

Pictured here with his grandson, Stewart.

SAL Rally - Valentines Day weekend

Doing Bill things, like making crafts with the grandkids. Way to go Bill!

And, doing a puzzle with buddy Ray too!

BILLY-BOB and RAY-BOB

Their wives agree, they should be brothers!!

BILL AT PISMO

Checking out the sandrails. We also enjoyed carsurfing with Bill's truck. Yee-haw!

LUMBERJACK BILL

Bill loves his Oak tree and keeps it groomed. He also cuts up our Christmas tree so it can be put out for pickup by the sanitation engineers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BILL and Jill!!

and our grandchildren who proved (once again) that it isn't the gift or the toy - it's the box!!

BILL SUPERVISES

Together, they figure out that the kegarator has frozen the keg. No wonder the beer wouldn't flow (and it wasn't quite empty). Oh darn, guess we'll just have to concentrate on the margaritas!!

TAMALES BY BILL (& family)

Grandpa makes tamales with Grandma this year.



Stewart says he wants to help - so he makes a couple too. (When told to go get a spoon, he got his favorite eating spoon - a Winnie the Pooh child's spoon!)



Rosslyn is there helping too, it is a family activity. Bill's daughter, Julianna, manned the camera so no picture is available of her....

Christmas Tree Decorating - BILL STYLE

Bill demonstrates how to hang a heavy ornament on his own special hook which will distribute the weight over several branches when he is finished. Way to go Bill!!

He also demonstrated how NOT to hang ornaments - all of the same type clustered together (this photo opportunity found by daughter Wendy who had a good laugh then took a photo so we could remember and laugh again. Thanks Wen!!) They are kind of hard to see, but there are 5 misty white bubbles in the top there. When it was pointed out, Bill got out the ladder again and moved them. What a guy!!

OUR DECORATED TREE (taken Christmas Eve):

BILL IS A MUDDY BUDDY RACE FAN

On November 2, Bill attended the Muddy Buddy race to cheer on the Matt & Andy team. In the first picture the boys are quite clean - that's Bill's son, Matt, on the left. This is a 1-bike/run race where the participants trade off the bike at different hazards during the race. See them low crawl through the mud in the second picture - this hazard was at the end of the race, and they had to go through it together:

It looks like they are having fun crawling in the mud, doesn't it?
The spectators had a lot of fun watching also. The teams had different costumes. Memorable ones included full-blown Easter bunnies from the top of their furry ears to the bottoms of their white-clad, furry feet! (Bet that got heavy when it sucked up the mud!) There were also baseball uniforms, fatigues, and some serious participants in running gear.

Grandpa and Mikaela had fun watching her Daddy get dirty. Next year we will take the motorhome so we can enjoy the after race festivities and ribbon ceremony.

Ok guys, time to hit the showers - good luck!! Did you bring something clean to drive home in? Lovely kilts, by the way!! The Matt & Andy show -- never ceases to entertain us!