Earth Day...Ok

I had a post half written for you. I had been working on it since this afternoon. I even looked up the word 'oppositional' in order to make sure I was using it in the right context and spelled it correctly. You're Welcome. Unfortunately, my dear sweet husband decided to commandeer my facebook account and write all about how much I love him in my status, then he closed down the internet so that I couldn't change it right away. That particular internet window also had blogger open... with the half written blog post... that I didn't save. Thanks honey. Love ya too.

So instead of the post I was going to share with you, I give you...

A celebration of earth day

with photo's of God's wonderful creation. I took these photo's today while James and I were out galavanting without children! So many times, I've wanted to stop along the highway on my way to work to take pictures. The sunrise this morning was breathtaking and it was everything I could do not to stop on the side of the road and pull out my camera. (Yes, I take my camera with me everywhere; even to work) The sunrise was just coming up over the mountains in the east. The sky was covered in billowing clouds. The suns rays hit the clouds and scattered them across across the sky. The tips of the mountains were ablaze in orange light and faded into pink as it reached the clouds. It was so beautiful and I wish I could have stopped for a picture. Or a 100.

Instead, James and I just happened to be driving along the same highway I travel to go to work, but I wasn't driving. I grabbed my camera and took these pictures. Enjoy

Queen

This is a poem my husband wrote for me last year on St. Patty's Day. I thought it was rather appropriate to post it today!

Happy St. Patricks Day

To the woman I love.

Our marriage is truly

A gift from above.

This day that is celebrated

By the wearing of green.

It’s one of your favorites,

So easily seen.

Green is your favorite,

And you are mine.

So I’ve worn a green shirt,

Your happiness sublime.

Have a great day

Enjoy all the green

I love you so much,

My Leprechaun Queen.

Have I mentioned that Green is my favorite color? No?! Well, it is! And I am in GREEN Heaven today!

Oh look! A....

Remember when I posted about the chickens? I suppose if you're new to my blog, you should go read that post first.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Wasn't that hilarious? I sure didn't think so at the time, but now that we are chicken free I can laugh at it. Oh wait, this post was going somewhere, I promise.

Since that fateful day, I've revised my saying. It's no longer "Oh look! A chicken". It's been revised to fit what I really want. "Oh look! A DSLR!"

I've said it so many times that I've often wondered just how many times I said "Oh look! A chicken" before I actually got the chickens and how many more times am I going to have to say "Oh look! A DSLR" before I actually get one. *Sigh*

I had begged for one for Christmas, I had hoped beyond hope when ever James came home and said he had a 'surprise' for me that it would be a DSLR, I searched for deals on craigslist and ebay and still nothing. I even commented on blogs who were giving away DSLR accessories that I'd like to have that and a DSLR to go with it! Still... I had finally resolved to saving up the money myself with any cash that I could get my hands on.

Now that you've had the prelude, you know where the rest of this post is going. Right? RIGHT!?! I mean, it is Valentines day afterall. What do you think my valentine surprised me with? That's right, he coersed me into giving him all the money I had saved up and bought me my DSLR. (Trust me, the money I had saved up would not have come close to what the camera cost so even though I did spend some of my own money on it, it still counts as a gift!) James had asked me to clean up some mess that was left on our bed and when I walked in, there it was. I was a little confused as first because the box looked like a shoe box. Then I read the box. NIKON D3000!!!!

I've spent the better part of my afternoon charging the battery, fixing the camera strap and playing around with the settings. Now, I just want to break it. I really want to know what all it does and how to do it, but I'm going to have to invest some time figuring it all out.

Ok, I'm off to learn. I'll see you all in about a million years. In the mean time, enjoy a picture I took of the snow.

Catching up

Ok, so I've been going through blogging withdrawls the past couple of days. It's very hard to write on the weekends, what with the kids and the husband, and the cleaning, and the laundry. Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking about it! But, my dear sweet husband has blessed me once again, with a few hours to blog or photoshop, or facebook or whatever I wanted to do.

So, without further ado:

I was trying to figure out how to spell 'adieu' to use in the above sentence and in the process discovered that 'adieu' is actually goodbye and not proper to use in the above statement. But 'ado' is the proper use in that statement. There, now you've had your vocabulary lesson for the day.

Our Christmas day was so much fun. John is finally at the age where he understands the concept of opening gifts. Every gift he opened was "SWEET!" It was so funny watching him enjoy Christmas. Gary was so excited over the letter Santa left for him and John. It said something like "you guys have been such good boys this year" and "it took 9 trips down the chimney to bring down all your toys" and "Please go wake up your parents before opening any presents".  Gary kept commenting on how Santa thought they were such good boys. I think he was a bit surprised by that.

I just 'love' the mess of Christmas morning! Don't you? Oh, and remember what happened to my camera? Well, James and his mom were discussing what a shutterbug I am and guess what Santa brought me? A new digital camera!! Not the DSLR I've been asking for, but a Kodak EasyShare MD41. I'm very happy with my new camera. I also got an 8gb SD card to go with it. I have to admit I was a little confused when I opened the SD card and then felt bad after realizing he bought the SD card before I dumped the camera in the toilet. I had been asking for a new SD card for months because my old one was deleting pictures before I could transfer them. But was super pleasantly surprised when I opened my new camera!

After gifts were opened the novelty of the new toys were starting to wear off (except for my camera, of course) it was off to grandma's house we went.

Where I continued to play with my new camera. Oh, the settings were so much fun. This camera has a white balance setting! I have been looking for the white balance setting in my old camera and could not find it.

I just love capturing all the moments from behind my camera lens!

Christmas evening was spent around our new fire pit. We made a stop at quick trip for some fire wood, CVS to look for items needed for s'mores, and finally Walgreens to successfully obtain all items needed for s'mores.

Oh, and I played with my camera some more!

****

On Saturday, I had my family over.

.

My mom

and Carla

My dad

and Sandy

My sister Rhiannon (who I just found out started her own blog, but don't have the address yet.)

Who's expecting baby #4 and says it's a girl.

Those not pictured, but did attend were my grandpa, my Aunt Nora and her husband Tom and the slew of little monsters children.

I do have 2 brothers who were not able to make it.

We enjoyed a lunch buffet and eachother's company very much. I have to admit, I was the reluctant hostess, but am so glad I did. That was so much fun and look forward to doing that at someone else's house next year! I'll bring the Xanax as my gift to the host(ess).

Later that night, we enjoyed more company around the fire pit.

Meet our friend Jim who did not know his picture was being taken, but was warned they were going on the blog. Hi Jim!

I think John was possessed as one point.

I have no idea what he was doing, but I think there was chanting involved. And yes, that is chocolate on his face. We were roasting more marshmellow's to make s'mores. Yum!

As you can tell, I played with my camera some more.

And today, I have to tell you about my new favorite store. I told James and his mom, and I'm telling you now that any gifts for Christmas, my birthday (April 18, just an FYI for you - this is the part in the blog post where I give you a few minutes to grab your date book or calendar to write down any important dates) or whatever can come from The Container Store. It doesn't matter what it is, I'm sure I'll LOVE it! James and I went to the Gun Club today, which was so much fun, by the way. I've never been a big fan of guns, but since James' new hobby is firearms I decided to go with him a few times. But afterwards, we went to The Container Store and I could hardly contain myself! Every aisle we went down, I found something I just had to have. Like this little slice of heaven. How awesome is that? Yes, I am now the proud owner of an 'on the go' cereal thingy. No, I am not being compensated to say any of these things. I did not receive anything from any store or company. I just love this store!!

Well, I think my time is up and it's definately time to get the kiddo's off to dreamland. Hoping all is well in blogland and you all are blessed. Time to get ready for a new week and the end of 2009.

Be Blessed

All things Christmas - in a random sort of way

I stare at the glowing green numbers on my alarm clock. It’s 4:06am. As I reach over and turn off the alarm buzzing in my ear, I continue to stare at the numbers until everything surrounding it turns black and all I can see are green numbers. As consciousness replaces the grogginess of sleep from my mind, I’m reminded that today is Christmas Eve.

I roll over on my back and look towards the ceiling of my bedroom and imagine Jesus there watching over me. I smile and once again, thank him for his wonderful Gift. As with previous days leading up to now, I play a game in my mind. One I’ve been playing with Gary on our way to and from the babysitters. I try to imagine what Mary and Joseph were doing right now 2009 years ago.

Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

It is 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem and Joseph didn’t own a car. By donkey, the trip could have taken 8-10 days. I imagine Mary riding on a donkey, 9 months pregnant with our Savior, and by now – on Christmas Eve, she’s probably exhausted and in pain. Looking for a place to stay, Joseph and Mary were turned away because all the inns were full.

At this time on Christmas Eve 2009 years ago, I imagine Mary and Joseph were just pulling into Bethlehem and starting their journey to find a place to rest.

***

On a completely random, but still Christmas side note – as promised, the cookies I made this week.

Thank you to Amanda for the icing recipe and Bridget for the cookie recipe and both of you on the decorating idea’s!

***

Additional side note and un Christmas related, but baking related (you like how I tie everything together?) - check out what I did to my baking supply shelf.

Before





















After






















Dear Friends,

I pray this Christmas will bring more then tangible gifts, but that you'll remember the gift from God that he gave us on this day. I pray for your health and happiness as you travel and spend time with loved ones. May God bless you today and always.

In Jesus Name
Amen

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Even though it's really the 5th of July as I write this, but I felt it necessary to wish a happy 4th to anybody who might be reading this. (Which at this point is not very many people) So I guess I'll have to wish most of my friends a happy 4th from my facebook page. But you'll have to be my friend in order to view my profile! I'm so excited, I learned a new HTML link trick!!

Ok, so back to my 4th of July weekend, which actually started on Thursday. My department is so cool about holiday's. The weekend of a holiday or the day before a holiday, they let us all leave 2 hours early. So my holiday actually started at 12:30 on Thursday afternoon. I picked up the kids from the sitter and came home to finish packing. After James got home, we finished up some tiles he was working on, we finished the rest of the packing and cleaned up a little, then we set off for Payson! Yippee! 3 whole days away from the blazing heat!

James loves to fish, so of course the first thing he wanted to do was, well, fish. Only problem is the one thing he loves more than fishing, is sleeping. So while he had these great intentions of getting up at 6 and setting out for the lake, the reality is that we didn't get up until about 7:30. So about 9am, our fishing stuff was packed, the boat was hitched and we were all in the car ready to go fish.

(Don't you just love my new photoshop skills? And yes, the boys are still sporting their mohawks)

This is where we spent the next 3 hours bating our hooks and dropping them in the water. James got a few bites, but none that took the bait. While I just sat and read my book holding my fishing pole. Nothing bit my line. Of course, I couldn't keep the bait on the hook to save my life, so that could have been part of the problem! I didn't realize this until I'd reel in my line and nothing would be there, but I'd have my line in the water for a good deal of time too. Oh well, I got a lot of reading done. I'm currently reading Karen Kingsbury's Baxter family "firstborn" series. These are great christian fiction books.

After fishing, we all got cleaned up and had lunch. John had a yummy PB&J sandwich. I think Gary skipped lunch. He hasn't been hungry much during lunch time lately.

The rest of the day, I spent reading my book, playing games with James, my mother in law, and her husband, and reading some more. John took a nap, Gary got to watch TV in the little room off the back of the house all by himself. He feels so grown up out there. It's like a little apartment room off the back of the house. You have to go out the back door to get to it!

Saturday, 4th of July, started off a little rough. I woke up about 3am to Gary coughing. Not just a little cough, but a crouping cough. Every so often, he gets this horrible cough that lasts a few hours in the morning and then he's fine. Not so this time. He wakes me up and asked if he can sleep with us. Well, John had all ready climbed into bed us and we've only got a queen sized bed. So I scootch over and much as I can and let him crawl in next to me. Between the 4 of us, I think we each had about an inch of space to sleep. So I decided to move into the spare room inside the house with Gary. Gary is coughing so bad, he asked for John's inhaler so he could breath. This is the point where I wake up my mother in law to see if there's any cough medicine in the house. She pulls out the adult strengh Nyquil that says for children 12 and over. So I give him a half a dose and he calms down. The next morning, I make a run to the store to get some children's cough medicine and grape juice. He also asked for flips crackers, but after tasting them he decided he didn't like them.

Ok, now for the fun part of the 4th of July. PICTURES. We went to a little park on Main street to watch fireworks. They predicted there would be over 10,000 people there, so we got there about 4 pm to secure our spot for the night. Right next to a grassy slope!

So, like any normal boys, they rolled down the grassy slope! I think if we do this again, we'll bring the wagon so they can sled (AZ style) down the slope!

The boys must have had a lot on there minds.

Cause they both looked very contemplative at one point.

John found himself a new friend, who completely ignored him. (So not nice)

The boys played in the grass for hours.

They had a live band, vendors selling food, drinks, and of course, glow in the dark necklaces. I don't think John liked being dressed like a warrior.

Ok, I think I've rambled on enough. I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July also!