Our Family

October 2021 - December 2021 (most recent pictures first)

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The holidays in Northern Nevada were especially great this year because of all the snow we received. It was truly a White Christmas with at least three feet falling over the week. Bob took this picture of our home early on the morning of the 26th before the sun came up and the snow got tracked up. Our home was so beautiful with all the lights on it and the snow swirling off the eaves.	Our Nativity Scene seemed especially on point in the quiet newly fallen snow.
Our beautiful 2021 Christmas tree early in the morning the day after Christmas.	Our beautiful 2021 Christmas tree alongside Joseph and Mary as seen from outside.
Christmas morning before opening gifts.	Our first gift out was this huge rawhide "Candy Cane" for Chester. Lisa was a bit amazed/shocked. Chester thought it was great.
Chester's rawhide "Candy Cane" was a bit too big for him so Bob took it out to the garage and sawed it up into Chester sized pieces. He now has rawhide chews for the rest of the New Year.	The only thing that pulled Chester from his rawhide chewy was to quickly check out this very cute puppy tree ornament that Lisa got him.
Our amazing 18 year old son checking out what's in his Christmas stocking.	Our outdoor girl Hannah with her new Mud Dog, a rubber shower head that fits on a water bottle.
And Caleb with his first aftershave gift from his sister. Of course it had to be a bit goofy. What a fun time...	Hannah deeply touched when Dad gave her the old jean jacket he used to wear back in his Cowboy days.
Caleb really liking the Illustrated World of Tolkien book Lisa got him.	Lisa very pleased with her Tolkien gift too. Bob got her the World of Tolkien book set by David Day. It is a seven book series on his research of Tolkien's world including a dictionary, the battles, an atlas, the heroes, the ring legends, the dark powers and the Hobbits. This'll give Lisa something to do in the New Year.
Lisa gave Bob this red wine collection last year and it was such a hit that she did it again this year.	The big project for Bob over the holidays this year was to build himself a desk in the style of the handloading bench he built last year. With all the snow flying around outside, it was a great way for him to spend the holidays.
Bob's new desk from the front. It still needs to be sanded and finished, but it came out great.	Bob's new desk.
Bob and his Dad both enjoyed the sport of precision shooting and it actually worked out quite well even though they lived 850 miles apart. Bob's Dad had time to reload and Bob helped him work up the loads. It was a great hobby they shared together. After Bob's Dad passed away Bob picked up the hobby, built a reloading/handloading bench, added a bunch of his Dad's equipment and is now getting Hannah involved in the sport. This has become a multi-generational activity that would make "Grandpa" proud.	Hannah at the shooting range near our home shooting a .50 BMG. This is a large caliber military cartridge that is an awesome target rifle. It is extremely accurate at 1,000 yards and is often used on targets over a mile away. The cartridge is almost six inches long and if it weren't for a muzzle brake there would be no way Hannah would be able to shoot it. To be clear, this is not one of our rifles. Another group was at the range with this rifle and were very kind/happy to let us both have a go at shooting this amazing rifle. What fun...
On the 9th of November Bob was invited to be one of the panel speakers at an annual economic forum at the M Resort in Las Vegas for an audience of 500. As Lisa pointed out in this year's Christmas letter, "That’s a long way from his cowboy days when his nearest neighbor was sixteen miles away."	Two weeks before presenting in Las Vegas, Bob also made a presentation in Winnemucca. Winnemucca, Nevada and Las Vegas, Nevada are very different communities which means Bob has to be very accommodating when speaking to these diverse audiences. This variety is part of what he enjoys most about his job.
The summer of 2021 was very dry with a lot of fires and as a result the bears were foraging much lower than they usually do. This young black bear was in the parking lot of our church. There was an event going on and when we tried to shoo him away the first thing he tried to do was climb this tree which really wasn't big enough to support his weight. The fires this summer were hard for all of us...
On the 16th of September, Hannah and Bob had a great Dad and Daughter date seeing Styx in concert. Only a couple weeks later, on October 2nd, they got to see America in concert and had another wonderful evening together listening to a band they both really enjoy.	Bob had seen America back in the 70's and he thought they were as good or better today than they were back then. What a fun time for both of them.