Christmas 2012

Since I am terrible at blogging these days you get the short version and everything smashed together type blogs for a while.

 (ok maybe not the short version)

James was on shift at the Fire station on Christmas. Santa came to visit the house early knowing dad had to work and we were so lucky we got to visit the Fire Station and he wasn't to busy so that was nice we got to spend a few hours showing his crew what Santa had brought the kids.

One night in December we went with my parents to see the Christmas lights downtown. 

We rode the train downtown and the kids thought that was awesome.

 I didn't have them convinced that it was the polar express though.

On the first day it snowed in December and the kids were dying to go outside. "Please, Please take us outside!"

 Since I am such a wimp when it comes to snow, I made my dad come over and build a snowman with the girls. I don't think he minded to much!

My mom bought tickets to go on a sleigh ride. That was so much fun! We took my friends daughter, Taylor because my dad had to work. She was so much fun to have with us. The horses pulling our sleigh names were Tex and Taylor.  Taylor the horse and Taylor the girl were both 8 years old! 

The horses on the sleigh ride took us to Santa's village. I could not believe Emma just went right up to Santa and told him she wanted a Baby and Beef Jerky! Bella on the other hand still was very shy with Santa and was nervous telling him she wanted a Monster High Barbie.

The cupcakes we made for Santa. We tried to make them look like North Pole cupcakes. 

The Reindeer also ate the food we left out for them. 

And wouldn't you know it.......

Santa visited our house!
The girls were so grateful of everything they received.

 I am so proud of both of them!

That sums up most of December!

Elf on the Shelf 2012

We started the tradition of the elf on the shelf. Don't know what that is, Google it! You will find millions of crazy moms out there telling their children that an Elf has come to visit their house. It actually is quite nice to have around. Who would have thought a little elf that moves while you are sleeping wouldn't be creepy and give your children nightmares? But the kids do behave very well and if they are not behaving, all you have to do is say, "ELF!" and they straighten up in 1.3 seconds. Works like magic! I didn't have to drag my 5 year old out of bed for school! She was just so excited to see him every morning. A bonus I wasn't expecting.
Problem is I would forget to move him before I went to bed and wake up at 2 AM in a sweat trying to figure out where he is going to hang out for that day.

Here is what our elf "Skylar" was up to.

This is the first night he came to our house and Bella sat by the tree for about 20 minutes trying to figure out where he came from.

The picture where he is in the wreath is where Emma touched him and he was sad. He had a splint on his arm and they never touched him again.

 I think these 4 were the girls favorite.

Oops double picture.... Deal! 

 zip lining

 He drew Rudolph noses on our pictures, Snow globe and playing on the computer.

 Skylar got tangled up into trying to hang lights in the girls bed. Don't try if your kids are light sleepers. This one by far took the most time and I was almost caught several times.

I dragged my feet getting the Elf because it is pretty expensive for a little creepy doll. But now that I have seen how excited my kids get, I am sooo glad we started this tradition. 

I'm no gardner.

My parents have decided to abandon their children this summer and go live in Colorado. So me and my niece are in charge of taking care of their garden. And when I say, "Me and Jerrica take care of the garden." I really mean, Jerrica does all the hard work and I really do very little.

But still it has been pretty fun having a garden. Let's just pretend it's mine!

 Bella has been so excited every time we go over there to see what new things are growing. She LOVES it! Here are a few things that I have got to reap the benefits of.

Apricots

One of Bella's most favorite things. She asks about the apricots all winter long.

but sadly they are almost all gone now.

Blackberries

Probably one of my most favorites. I've learned lots of recipes to use these little guys up. I made a delish Blackberry pie. First pie I've ever made and it turned out really good.

 Peppers

I think these peppers are different. I couldn't tell you what kind they are.

I'm 94% sure one is a Jalapeno.

 Tomato

Checked on them yesterday and they are starting to get red!

 Salsa is on my to do list.

Squash

I have squash coming out the eyeballs.

My neighbor gave me zucchini so I need to find a casserole or something I can use them both up.

 Pumpkins

Ok I lied, The pumpkins are totally my favorite!

You can't tell from the picture but the vines are actually growing out of the cracks of cement where we cut our pumpkins last year.

 Apparently we didn't clean up our mess that well. 

How crazy is that? They just decided to grow out of the cement!
We only have 2 pumpkins.
Maybe this year I will accidently NOT clean up my mess again. Get some more growing!

 Cucumbers

Not sure what to do with these. Hubby won't eat cucumbers. He does like pickles however.

 So if you parents could come back soon and either eat them or show me how to pickle them.

That would be great thanks!

Not sure what this is?

Kinda looks like a weed or cauliflower? Momma help!

What do I do with it? What ever it is, I think it's going to waste.

Grapes

They are just tiny little guys right now. Maybe next year?

 Or do they get bigger in the fall?

Pickins

This is what I picked the other day at your house mom!

I've picked a lot more and so has your other family members.

So thanks parents, for feeding and taking care of the family!

 Even when your not around,  you still manage to take care of us.

Your the best parents!

Your strawberries are doing good too (I didn't take a picture)

 But the raspberries, well let's just blame those on Jerrica!

You should come home and punish her for those!

Just kidding.... But seriously... We miss you! Come home.

Year Half Over

I was thinking the other day that this year is almost over! Have I done everything I wished I could this year? I was looking back at what I set for goals this year and this is what I said:

      

My wishes for 2012

1. Get Emma to sleep through the night. (Very first thing that needs to change)
I just barely accomplished this a few weeks ago. It's amazing how much better I feel all the time now!
2. Get more organized
I think this is an ongoing battle that will never end.
3. Loose more LBS
I've lost 10. Working on it. Slowly but surely. Do need to step it up a notch.
3. Run a race (maybe start with a 5k)
I did run a 5K with my friend Amanda. She is one of those friends that motivates me! She is always so positive. Everyone needs a friend like her.
4. Decorate our bedroom
Hasn't happened yet. Really hoping on a new bed set soon.
5. Eat healthier
I have been super good about not eating fast food! Go me!
6. Go on a vacation with just the hubby
Has happened. But only to Vegas. Las Vegas doesn't really count right? We have another in the works!
7. Go on a family vacation
Has happened. Lots! Just need my pictures from old computer.
8. Have fun
I think I've had fun... I LOVE being a S.A.H.M!

I think I have done everything on my list except get organized and decorate our bedroom. Our room will happen eventually. I can be patient. As far as the get Organized thing, well I am just going to have to come to terms with it that as long as I have kids in my house, I will always be unorganized.

Fire at the home front

So the first life event that's happened whilst I was with no computer that I want to talk about is,

The Great Fire of 2012!

 (Try it again but say that in a dark dreary voice)

THE GREAT FIRE of 2012!

I went to lunch with some friends and came back home only to find my house filled with smoke! I pounded on the neighbor's door and maybe not so politely told them to watch my kids. I ran back home called 911 and decided I had to go in and get my dog. I got a small taste of what my husband does when he goes into a smoke filled house. I decided to get out of the house and let the firefighters do what they do best.

What happened was the furnace caught on fire and burned the filter which pumped smoke through the entire house. Luckily the firefighter husband of mine always tells me not to put things near the furnace or things could have been much worse. Just a LOT of smoke damage.

Here is the old furnace that you can kinda sorta see where it caught fire.

 I'm used to seeing firefighters, just not at my house. They were all Sooo sooo soo nice. Of course it had to happen while my husband was at the fire station. Of course! Nothing goes wrong when he is home. He got to hear what was going on at our house on the radio. He did make it home after a while though.
Say, "Hi" to the nice firefighters who saved my home.

 The first night we stayed at my parent's. They also were super nice to let us stay at Hotel Harvey. But I figured we were going to be misplaced for quite some time so why not get a temporary home?

Say "Hi" to our temporary home.

This is our view for 21 days!

We got lazy taking Lily out for walks and let her run the halls of the hotel every once in a while. (dogs are hard when you don't have a backyard!)

 I have the funniest video's of the dog running the halls. I might post it sometime, if I ever get around to it. Don't hold me to it though.

The day we checked into the hotel we had tickets to go to Disney on Ice that just could not go wasted. My sweet friend Crystal made the girls Jesse tutu's. The theme for Disney on Ice was Toy Story 3. The girls seriously were the cutest kids in the packed arena.

 Not even biased one bit, true story!

 We also got to enjoy St. Patrick's Day in the hotel. I did what I could to make the day fun since it was cold and being in a hotel gets boring after a while. Shocking but true!

The clean up crew that worked so hard on our house was fantastic. It was like moving into a cleaner version of my home. I just wish I could have paid them to put all our clothes away for us too. It seriously took forever to go through all the boxes. I am so grateful for my parents and sisters that helped out whenever we needed. I would still be going through boxes if it were not for them. Ok truth? I still have one box left in my room that just stares at me, taunts me in fact. I figure I should just throw it away since I haven't needed the clothes out of it yet. Right? One day I will get around to it.

The girls enjoyed the boxes! I am enjoying the new furnace and new carpet that we got!

One last thing I want to mention about the fire is, my husband but I have to tell a secret about him first.
He spoils me!
 Often when he is working at the Fire Department, he will buy me flowers and bring them home in the morning when he is off shift. Just because he loves me!
Say "Hi,  Pretty just because flowers."

Well back to the fire day. He had been slacking on the flowers and he decided that he better buy me some BEFORE the fire happened! My parents got to keep them at their house but still, What are the odds that he just had the instinct that I was going to need some cheering up on that exact day?

Husbands are just the best aren't they? He has taken care of every detail from the fire. From the insurance to the hotels to the home clean up. He really has been such a rock through such a stressful time in our life.

I'm Alive!

What is that?

A new computer for momma?!? Yes Please!

*Sniff Sniff*

It still has that new computer smell!

I can finally catch up on my blog. Well I would like to anyway. I have lots to talk about!

 I am excited to force all of you to read my bad grammar and poor writing skills once more.

Get ready! More to come....some other day.

Fight for Air

My husband (and about 650 others) decided to climb 598 stairs to the 23rd floor of the Wells Fargo Center during the Fight for Air Climb. If that wasn't enough, they did it in 60 pounds of fire gear. Very impressive indeed!

Here is the beast they Conquered.

Here is the good looking group that ran with my husband!

(I put the picture in sepia because their uniforms were so reflective)

Here are a few of them after the race.

Sweating and still smiling....

Well at least 4 out of 5 cracked a smile for me!

A view from the top.

Although this picture sucks I still added it in so deal with it!

The girls enjoying the view.

My husband ran 23 FREAKING floors with his gear on in..........

..........wait for it.........

8 Mins and 17 seconds.

Strong, Strong work firefighters!