For Christmas, we had the whole crew up at the ranch. We had... Josh, Nicole, & Ollie, Bruce & Cindy, Jolly & Cherie, Nathan, Dad, Gail & Val, Grandma Betty, & Uncle Bill. It was so fun getting to celebrate with everyone! We even got a white Christmas!!
Ryan & his dreamy new fly reel. 
We went up into the mountains for a couple of days to celebrate Jolly's 28th birthday. Here is pic of us celebrating at Breckenridge Brewery.
Last weekend, we watched Ollie for 4 days while Josh & Nicole were out of town. Cindy did most of the work and Ryan & I entertained. Ollie is hilarious. He had some crazed moments including the one below. He was running up and down the hall squealing.
It has been snowing off and on for a couple days now, transforming the Ranch into snowy paradise. Everything is covered in frosty crystals. It was whopping 15˚ outside this morning.
With the recent snow, we've had a lot of vistors to our bird feeder including a Downy Woodpecker. He rotates between the feeder and the tree. Others pictured below are the House Finch, a 'winterized' American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, and Gray-headed & Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco.
This sunset was crazy. The sky started glowing and then darkened to reveal an ominous storm-like cloud. 
Last Saturday, Ryan & went up to Redfeather Lakes to cut down our Christmas tree! Halfway through our search it began to snow sideways. Then, last night we got into the Christmas spirit, turned on some holiday music, and decorated.
As you can tell from the pictures below... we had an unbelievable time visiting Bruce & Cindy in San Francisco. 
On our last day in San Francisco we went to see the redwoods at Muir Woods. Amazingly enough, the stream running through Muir Woods is a salmon & stealhead trout spawning ground. We actually spotted several fingerlings swimming in the water.
We also went to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. It was amazing... a succulent paradise.
On Saturday, we drove up through the rain to Napa Valley. The first winery that we visited was Chateau Montelena. They grew their grapes using older methods without the use of irrigation. We tasted $100 bottles of wine and I must say that I have never tasted wine that amazing! It was extremely complex and well balanced. They had a traditional Chinese water garden in the back. That afternoon we moved on to Sterling, a large corporate winery. They had a great self-guided tour and a tram ride to view the vineyard.
On Friday, we drove the 17 Mile Drive - stopping to view some tide pools and the famous Lone Cypress. We also visited the Pebble Beach Golf Course 18th hole. The view was absolutely breathtaking. I can't imagine playing golf here! From there we drove to Carmel for some shop browsing. Carmel reminded me of a quaint little English village.
Of the many places that we stopped on Friday, Lover's Point was one of my favorites. We were able to enjoy the views and the wildlife. Pictured below is a sea otter feeding in the kelp forest and a harbor seal who ventured up toward us curiously.
