My Beautiful Boys

Ryder "Speak!"

He CAN do it! :o)
He's so smart.
His grandma is a goooooood teacher!

With Mommy's Help

A Long Hard Thanksgiving

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

My new tree. Without all the decorations. SO pretty!

New ornament from Seaside. We call Simon "Nice" and Ryder "Naughty." This was our first trip with both dogs therefore our ornament to remember our trip with "Mr. Naughty" and "Mr. Nice"

Las Vegas 2009- One year anniversary

Wedding ornament 2008


My teacher ornament

Engagement ornament

FINISHED!

My decorated house....




Our tree at night

Our Boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving I am really missing my family a lot. I really miss traditional Thanksgiving with my family at our house. We would sleep in and wake up to the sound of a Thanksgiving Day Parade or a Thanksgiving Football game. We'd have special food like turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, candied yams, stuffing, my famous green bean casserole, olives to put on our fingers, angel eggs (also made by me) and of course pumpkin pie. We'd all eat wayyyyy too much and then have leftovers later. My mommy would make me turkey and rice soup the next day and we'd eat turkey sandwiches. We'd get up the next day and shop until we dropped. Then we'd come home and start a relay line from the garage to the house. Dad would crawl in the attic and then hand a box to mom, who then handed it to me, and I would hand it to Katie to take into the house. We'd put up our tree and decorate our house like crazy. Katie and I would have our own Christmas trees that we would put in our bedrooms. Momma had the living room tree, dad had a 3 or 4 foot tree in mom and dad's room, mine was 2 or 3 feet tall and Katie had the small one (she never escapes getting the smallest, oldest and hand me downs of everything!) My tree had beautiful glass and crystal ornaments and Katie's of course had no them whatsoever! :o) We'd make hot chocolate and all work outside putting up Christmas lights. Dad was always on the roof putting up the lights and me, mom and Katie worked on the fences and around the yard. We'd have Christmas music playing inside the house as we worked outside. Mom would always refill our hot chocolate and it was so much fun. I miss this. As I sit here with tears pouring down my face remembering how great our traditions were I hope I can create those same special memories for my kids someday.

ANXIOUS!

I have promised myself that I will NOT begin decorating for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. My wonderful Momma is coming to town to help me decorate my house inside and out since my sister can't this year. My plan is to set up my tree tomorrow night although I won't decorate it or anything until Friday! I can hardly waittttttttt!

Blazer Fever!

On last Thursday Alex and I woke up to an 8am knock on our front door. It was our neighbor lady coming to offer us 4 all inclusive tickets to the Portland Trailblazers home game on Saturday the 21st of November. Alex was scheduled to work his normal 3pm-12am shift, but was able to find someone to switch with him and he ended up working 8-4:30pm that day instead, which allowed us to go. On Saturday Alex and I along with his Dad and Suzanne went to the game.
We arrived just after 5:30 and got to eat at an all you can eat buffet. The food was awesome and it was catered in a beautiful room. After we ate we made our way to our seats which were pretty good! We sat on the suite level in super comfy chairs. Throughout the game we had free range of all the confession stands and all the food was FREE! I think Alex had about 6 meals! :o) There was ANYTHING you could imagine all at your finger tips! A few minutes into the first quarter we learned we were all actually sitting in the wrong section. We were sitting in 204, but were SUPPOSE to be in 203. So we had to move. Our real seats were actually better anyways! We won free McDonald breakfast sandwiches and free Taco Bell Chalupas too! Oh and of course the Blazers won so that is always a good thing! Toward the end of the game the announcer called out the winning section at the game that would win dvd players. Guess what section that was?!?!?! 204! Grrrrr.... the seats that we were at! Humph.... Oh well! We still had a really good time. I didn't get too many pictures that actually turned out! BOO! I need to get better at taking pictures! But here is what I do have...

We're Now Complete!

I've been wanting the matching ottoman to our couch set for awhile, but I've been waiting for it to go on sale so I could buy it. Welllllll..... it finally did! Hooray!
Alex went to pick it up today and it's so beautiful. It's an oversized ottoman so it's really big! Now I have a reason to change up the living room again to make room!

I need an electrician!

I need an electrician who can fix this corner of my bathroom without charging an arm and a leg! I need a plug in UNDER my tub, so I can turn on the jets without having to use an extension cord. I will never know why the builders did not do that when they built the house! Grrrrr
Also, I'm wanting to put in a mini 3 armed chandelier over my bathtub. I have had my heart set on it for a loooooong time! So when someone is running power around my tub they need to make space for a light above my bathtub! Here are the pictures of the one I picked out....


See now it's blahhhhhhh.....
It needs some sprucing up!


Day



Night


Now imagine....
dark... candles... a book.... wine (if I ever actually drank) and a chandelier.

Weirdo Ryder

New Moon

Okay...
So I had to brag a little bit. I was really lucky and I got to see New Moon a day early on the 19th and not the 20th.
Seriously, I have never seen a crazy mob of people lined up outside and inside a movie theater to see a movie. It was crazy the amount of people that were there. I arrived at 4:30 to see the 5 o'clock show and there were already people lined up outside. By the time I came out at 7:20 or so there was a million times more. Wow! I don't think you would ever catch me waiting outside in the cold to see a movie at midnight. The next evening works JUST fine for me! :o)
If you are not planning on seeing New Moon I think you should. It was really good! I would have to say that I will continue to side with "Team Edward" on this one. I mean, yes, Jacob Black is ummmm well very cute (I know... he's like 17 and I'm like 24'ish :o), but I like to think of myself not as a perv. but as a cougar. Thank you very much!) I really need to get my butt in gear and actually FINISH reading New Moon the BOOK! I know, I know. Don't judge me! I'm going to I promise. After the ending that this movie gave me I am DYING to see what happens next!

Milestones...

Ryder has lost 5 teeth!
He can SIT!
He can SHAKE!
And..... he's finally POTTY TRAINED!


Oh yeah....
And he is HUGE!


4 Months Old and 35 lbs.

My Baby

Ryder, little sweetie, you're four months old and I can't imagine life without you. In just a few short months, you have brought me enough joy and heartache for a lifetime. Now please don't grow so quick. Please don't lose your chubby, squishy little body. Never stop snuggling with Momma and trying to suck on my chin and bite my ears. Keep your sweet disposition, but at the same time keep your big brother on his toes. I love you. I love you. I LOVE YOU.

How Many More Days....

So since I am SO totally excited about Christmas this year (a little more than normal and I do not know why) I thought I would add a little countdown clock to my profile, so I can keep track of how many more days!
I am putting up my tree in just 13 days! I bought a new tree last week. I upgraded from a 7ft to a 7 1/2ft tree. I honestly thought I had a 6ft tree, so that is why I wanted a bigger one. I had my heart set on a 9ft pre-lit from Costco, but in the end I saved about $200 by getting the 7 1/2 pre-lit tree from Fred Meyer instead. I'm pretty sure that this new tree is a lot fuller than my last one, so it should work out great.
I finished about 90% of my Christmas shopping tonight! I have a few gifts to pick up after work tomorrow and then I will just have my dads left. Those always seem like the hardest gifts to buy. I have bought for 14 people and I have spent less than $175! I am trying to scale back a little this year. We own a home this time around and besides ourselves we have not one, but two animals to support and in the end it's just not necessary to spend a fortune. I mean Christmas is not about the gifts anyway, right? They are just the cherry on top of the very special day.
It looks as if Alex will be working on Chirstmas Eve most likely until about 6pm, so we'll probably be seeing his family that evening and then heading to Tacoma on Christmas morning. It's always tricky when you try to squeeze three families into one holiday and not hurt any feelings. This will be our 4th Christmas together and we've worked it out thus far, so I hope everyone can be understanding and continue to know we are doing the best that we can.

I'm a little bored on this Sunday night..... can you tell?!?!

1. What time did you get up this morning? - VERY late. 11:30 I think!

2. How do you like your steak? - Well Done... NO PINK!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Proposal

4. What is your favorite TV show? - I have about 12. Too Many to list.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? - Honestly I am happy where I live. I would like to retire somewhere very warm though!

6. What did you have for breakfast? - Chonga Bagel and Carmel Machattio

7. What is your favorite cuisine? - Italian

8. What foods do you dislike? -Seafood

9. Favorite Place to Eat? - Red Robin for super casual. Olive Garden....

10. Favorite dressing? - Honey Mustard

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? - Saturn Ion

12. What are your favorite clothes? - Jeans and Boots

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? - Fiji

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? - 1/2 empty.... I know, I know. I'm like that.

15. Where would you want to retire? - Hawaii or Ellensburg (I love that place!)

16. Favorite time of day? - Night

17. Where were you born? - Tacoma, WA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? -Football

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? - I don't really care

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? - see previous answer

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? - see previous two answers

22. Bird watcher? - Not so much

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? - Night person...

24. Do you have any pets? - Simon the nice 20 month old Sheltie and Ryder the 4 month old German Shepherd Mix Terror!!!

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? - Nah.... :o)

26. What did you want to be when you were little? - A Mommy and a Teacher

27. What is your best childhood memory? - All the vacations that we used to go on.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? - Dog. I don't like cats.

29. Are you married? - Yup!

30. Always wear your seat belt? - Always

31. Been in a car accident? - Yes. I was a kid.

32. Any pet peeves? - I probably have 25+.... I'm easily annoyed!

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? -Black olives, Sausage, Pepperoni

34. Favorite Flower? - Gerbs and Lilies.

Mary Kay Holiday Open House 2009

Tonight was my Mary Kay Holiday Open House. I invited about 80+ people. It was for tonight from 5-8pm..... as you can see I am posting this blog DURING the Open House. WHY?!?
Because NOBODY showed up! I began putting out invites and planning in September!
A few hundred dollars and about 10 hours of planning later I am sitting here all alone.... Bummer. This annual tradition is DONE. No more. Period.