Snow Play

but first, my birthday... :)

and now... for the snow.

Snow!? Again!... Whoo Hoo!!!

Look at this little stinker! Oh, and Evan. :)

Birthdays

So, my birthday is Sunday, the 7th. I will be 36 which I don't mind, age doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that, up until this year, I feel very overwhelmingly depressed on my birthday. It's usually been awhile since I've seen my California family and my Mom (who I love so much and am very close to...), who's birthday is the 8th. All my life, I've celebrated my birthday together with my mom and in my family, whomever is home (and we would make an effort) by having a big yummy cake and singing happy birthday with the lights off, candles blazing. :) We did this for Evan's 1st birthday too and I have decided it's what I want to do for my birthday in Tennessee also. I am happy to report that since I just saw my family in December/January and because I have the dream of my baby to distract me, I feel GREAT this year! :) I also feel happy that I've decided to just have cake/cupcakes again. It feels right and I will invite family and even friends if I want to come, if they can make it. So, along with my more upbeat feeling about my birthday this year, I've decided to think about what 'gifts' I want but they are really more like goals so... here goes in no particular order:

Money (for all the the following)
Someone to come help me organize my WHOLE house, one room at a time.
Get someone organized to help me make an office/craft space out of our guest bedroom ASAP
Renew our Adoption paperwork so we can add to our family
Work towards a bigger house (But make sure the Jones still live nearby. they are the best neighbors!) with larger living room, kitchen, master bath and laundry. I would also like a bonus room.
Deep clean the Chop Shop
Get my own hair done. It's been since the summer that I've let anyone else trim it.
Dream of a housekeeper to come to my house 2 times a month.
Eat better, Sleep more, take better care of myself mentally and physically.
Dates with Michael
Study the scriptures better and more.
Magnify my calling. Be ok that I can't do everything for my calling.
Be a better Visiting Teacher and serve others more.
Write my brother on his mission every month and send him packages every 3 months, even if it's just a bag of candy.
A massage from Jason at Tangerine.
Read more.

That about does it, Happy Birthday to me. :)

Snow/Ice Storm 2010

We had Snow on Friday and in our neck of the woods, that means the town shuts down. Since it's rare enough, people here aren't as savvy when it comes to smart driving, plus we get lots of ice and black ice, that you can't see all the time. Anyway, Michael was in town fixing my new phone at Verizon when I was finished early at work so, we picked up Evan from Rachel's. Next stop... Evan's first trip to Hooters! I must say, he enjoyed it and the waitress was very generous to give him his own plate with orange slices and crackers (free, already a ladies man, lol!). Once home, Evan was exhausted so he took a late nap and since it Iced overnight, no snowman unfortunately :(. It's ok, as you can see, we still had fun outside. Enjoy...

CUTENESS!

I WANT OUT MOMMIE!!! WHAAAAAAA!

The snowy ground in Nashville, broke up like an icy sea. So strange but really stunning.

On our way home from Nashville visiting Michael's brother's family, the sun was coming down and making all the ice on the trees glimmer. It was so beautiful. I don't have a nice enough camera to have captured it but, still you can see how 'heavenly' it looked to us. Kudos to Michael for setting up this shot. Good job honey!

back to our backyard and etc...

Oooooo, can I go outside today mom?

I'm FREE!

and the videos....

I can't get the kid out of the snow today! :) he's having so much fun. I couldn't find his gloves so his little hands are frozen but he doesn't care. He just wants to walk all over the snow and ride his quad. I'll try to post more of this later...

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Winter Beauty

Our church was cancelled today, due to the ice and snow storm we received here this weekend. So Saturday, we decided that we would invite ourselves over to Mike's brother's house in Nashville to play games with our beautiful nieces and fun Sister in law. They said yes so we packed up the car with Smokey and stuff for parents and toddler, for an overnight trip. We braved the icy roads and made it safely in good time. North of us, Nashville got a couple more inches of snow but we got more ice. After our fun sleep over filled with movie watching, board & video game playing, cousin bath time, spaghetti dinner and pancake breakfast, we were ready to return home (well, maybe not Michael, he could play Nazi Zombies all week if I let him) to our guard cat Oliver. :) The snow is rare for us and we think it is so beautiful but on the way home the trees, weeds and bushes started twinkling from the ice still frozen on the limbs. It was so beautiful, especially with the sun shining behind it. Finally we actually pulled off the road and stopped to try to capture it and whether you can see it or not in this picture (taken by me on Michael's cell phone! wow!). We are grateful we were able to see this and appreciate it. We are grateful for the peace in our lives.

We have people we are aware of who are suffering in one way or another and we definitely try not to take for granted that peace we currently enjoy. God bless you and your families that you are prospering and healthy. We think about our friends and family often, praying for your welfare.

Winter weather is finally here!

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Happy Birthday Cousin Liam! :)

Today is on of Evan's cousins birthday, in California. Since we don't get to see him in person, here is your HAPPY BIRTHDAY message LIAM! :)

stunts and 'stache's

We went to dinner saturday in honor of Grandma Jennie. Afterwards, there was a gumball/toy machine section that you could buy a felt mustache. We scored this black Tom Selleck-esq one that is... amazing!

Our Stunt Man. Hold on to your seat, it's going to be a 'bumpy' ride.

(no cuties were hurt in the making of this film. professionals performing only)

simple pleasures

I just love these shoes. they were bought at gap for $20.00 and it's the THE BEST MONEY I'VE SPENT! I would like to wear them every day and sleep in them. Can you marry shoes? I would if I could. (just thought you'd like to know)

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Can you help? Know someone who can?

This is a plea from a wonderful family related to me through marriage. Ryan Hess is my sister-in-law's brother, who I have met before and have supported through prayers and fasting during his chemo and bone marrow transplant (from his brother!). I am so grateful he is getting healthier and want to do whatever I am able so he can spend every moment he can with his sweet wife and beautiful children. Please read below to see if there is something you can do to help. Just read please. :)

My name is Ryan Hess and I was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Over the past 7 months I have received enough donated leave from federal employees to help me keep a paycheck and health insurance throughout 3 rounds of chemotherapy and most recently, a bone marrow transplant. After meeting with my Dr. last week (1/12/10), he said that I could possibly be back to work in July.I have finished one year of residency at the Veteran's Hospital in Tucson, Arizona. All of your generosity with donating leave and spreading the word has kept food on our table and kept a lot of stress out of our lives during this time. I am now doing well enough to watch our two children so that my wife can work part time to help with the bills. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time so that we can keep our health insurance and so that I can hopefully continue with work later this year. Thank you so far for your help and prayers. We are beating this together!We were told that any federal employee (ie: civilian military- not active duty, Border Patrol, DEA, FBI, IRS, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees and active duty military) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee.We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate.Thank you so much.How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave)Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:Brenda Joy - Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 4409Fax # : (520) 629-1849 attn: Brenda JoyE-Mail : Brenda.Joy@va.govALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook, e-mail...whatever you can think of.Visit:http://teamryanhess.blogspot.com/

Family Photo

(you can click on the picture to see us bigger)

While in California, we took a family picture. ALL siblings and grandchildren were present! wow! My efforts at securing a professional photographer failed so we were forced to fend for ourselves. We did the best we could with what we had, but, you get the point. It is Parents, every sibling, all in-laws, every grandchild and even two aunts and two uncles! I was hoping my grandmother (only surviving grandparent) would be well enough to come but she was not though we were thinking of her. By the way, this is at LEAST what it looks like every Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter or every first Sunday of the month for Break the Fast because sometimes extended family even comes. :)

"Reading"

first, this is two days ago when evan is still not feeling well with his, super cool, "i'm not looking at you" look. definately james dean-esq. (btw, thanks aunt heather for this pull over WE LOVE IT and wear it every other day it seems)

Ok, for the real story. Evan was playing in his room while I was folding laundry and watching T.V. He was being so good, you can tell he's feeling better finally, playing quietly. Then I realized he was 'talking' a lot, so I listened more carefully to see if he was happy or complaining. Upon closer inspection, I saw that he was turning the pages of his book and looking from left to right on the pages as he turned them, "READING" the book! :) He's really trying hard lately to talk. A lot of it sounds like Hebrew, which I think is extra genius personally. Luckily I was ready with the camera to capture it for ALL to enjoy. ;)

you'll have to turn your volume up to hear the 'reading'. sorry, i didn't want to risk him stopping if he heard me get up and get closer.

Four Wheelin'

My parents helped Mike and I pay for this 4 wheeler for Evan for Christmas. I had originally not planned on getting anything for Evan, since he just had his Birthday and didn't need anything but then... I saw this car. "I" had to have it (maybe 'someone' loved their big wheel when they were a little girl and this is something she would have liked too.... hmmm hmmmm hmm hmm hmmm...). Of course I saw it too late and it was out of stock but here it is, finally at our house and the kid loves it... can't you tell? :) Merry Christmas Lil' guy. :)

psst... happy 15 month birthday baby! ;) xoxo

Time-Zoneitis

So I have diagnosed our baby with 'Time Zoneitis". He had teething (4 new teeth coming in right now) or a little cold or something before we left for California for Christmas. Once we got there he had a really hard time for the first 2 days adjusting to the 2 hour earlier time change from Tennessee. Add dry warm weather, runny noses and excitement and that sweet baby started getting a horrible cough and runny nose. Once home, he got worse and even had a fever on top of it. We took him to our Pediatrician today for his 15mo check up and he was still not well so it turned into a wellness visit. The poor kid has a pretty bad Ear Infection. ;( So he's on an antibiotic now and hopefully he will get better quickly. Good news... he's still adorable even though he doesn't feel 100%. He jumps up and down every morning with a smile on his face and for that we are grateful. What a joy.