Some photos

Thought I'd post some photos of our trip to Idaho.

This is my mom's tree. I don't know if you can see, but the large round ornaments are actually photos of her grandkids. She doesn't always decorate with these, but this is Chelsea's and my favorite. It is fun to look at the photos of when the kids were little.



This is Carrie, Chelsea, Mikaela and Samantha.



These are my parents' grandkids:
Jennifer, Carrie, Chelsea, Mikaela, Samantha, Justin, and Amanda. What a great looking group. Must take after their parents!








Here are my parents. They love having their whole family for Christmas Eve!











Here I am with the love of my life! It was our first Christmas together and it was wonderful! I am so lucky that he and everyone in my family get along.







It's a tradition for our family to have homemade egg noodles the day after Christmas. The last two years Chelsea and Samantha mixed, rolled and cut the noodles. Mom cooks them in chicken broth with canned whole chicken. They are sooooo good! They are really simple to make so I don't know why nobody makes them any other time of the year. Maybe because this is a special occasion and another excuse to have most of the family together again before we all get on with our busy lives.


There was so much snow in N. Idaho while we were there! This is a photo of dad's windmill. Its amazing how the snow curled around it. There was over 50 inches of snow when we left on Dec. 27th. And it's snowed several times since then!


As you can see, we had a great Christmas. I hope it continues into the new year!

We're home

We made it home safely even though the roads were treacherous. It was a long drive and we are all glad to be back home.

Great news! I was looking through the mail and found a letter from the University of Utah. I was just notified that I was accepted to attend graduate school there in the accelerated master's degree program for Social Work! I am so excited! I graduate from Weber State in May with my bachelors degree and start at the University of Utah the middle of July!

Well it's getting late so I am off to bed! Just had to share!

And it continues to snow!

I cannot believe how much snow is falling here! They are predicting 6-10 inches of new snow today! That will put us at about 5 feet of snow for the month of December! I sure hope we aren't getting this much snow at home!

We went to Kellog and bought Mike's new truck. What a nice, easy car buying experience! No haggle price, a fair price for a trade in, no pressure to buy extended warranty, etc. We saved several thousands of dollars by buying through Dave Smith over buying from a local dealer in Utah. So all in all a very productive deal. He got the inferno red 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Cab. It is a beautiful truck! Hopefully he'll be happy with this for a few years!

Today is our big day for Christmas celebrations. Our whole family will be here later this afternoon and evening. We'll have a big meal, lots of laughter and fun and then presents from my parents. This is a day I look forward to all year. It's just family and we have so much fun together!

Well, I need to get in the shower and get ready for the day to start! Merry Christmas!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

After 12 hours of white knuckle driving we finally made it over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house! The passes were tretcherous but Mike is a very safe driver so we made it fine. I do have to say that isn't true of many people who ended up in the ditch. We saw several very bad accidents on the way. We were supposed to go pick up Mike's new truck today, but that would mean going back over one of the passes and it is still snowing so we won't be making that trip today. It is supposed to stop snowing later today so we'll see about going over tomorrow afternoon when it is a little warmer and the plows have had a chance to do their job.

Mike has a really bad cold so that didn't make traveling any easier. I slipped and fell at a gas station in Dillon, MT and now my neck and back hurt. I am really hoping it is just pulled muscles. Chelsea is the only one doing okay I think! Dad and Mike are out pulling one of my nieces out. She got stuck on the main street of Coeur d' Alene!

It is nice to be home for Christmas and to have Mike here enjoying it with my whole family. I am going to be lazy, take naps, do a little scrapbooking and probably eat too much. Since I put on several pounds in the last week due to meds. I figure one or two more won't hurt! It sucks that I was able to keep the weight off for two years and now I'm almost back where I started. I looked back at my weight and I was exactly 10 lbs lighter on Nov. 21st of this year! Crazy!

I was hoping to get some running in while I was here and even bought some Yaktrak's which go on running shoes to get a grip in the snow, but with so much snow right now I don't think that's going to happen. I don't want to risk really doing something bad to my neck!

I need to take Chelsea to the mall later so I may just do a couple of laps while I am there. At least it will be warm!

Well, I need to go spend some time with my wonderful mother. I'll post later, hopefully with photos of the new truck!

Life is Crazy!

School is over for this semester, thank God! I have also completed all of my internship hours for the semester. I've spent the last few days making 75 Christmas cards. Next year I'm sending store bought!

Tonight we are hosting an open house and expect about 150 people! We are making it a fundraiser for Sub for Santa because so many people are struggling this year and they are so low on donations.

I've spent the last week working on appetizers, etc. for the party. Should be a great time!

Lucky for me my cousin Robin is coming down from Twin Falls, ID and she will be a big help!

I am trying to finish a few last minute Christmas gifts as well. We cut way back this year, but I think the girls will really appreciate their gifts more.

We cut back on the girls, but Mike is another story. We are picking up a brand new 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab truck while we are in N. Idaho. We got such a good deal that it is worth going there to pick it up. Plus we are going to be there anyway for the holidays. Our attempt at stimulating the economy!

Life is so good for us and we just hope it continues. So many people are having a hard time that we feel guilty for having such a good year.

On a bad note, I have another herniated disc in my neck. Yes, the third one. I had one fused in 2000 and one in 2002. The dr. says I won't find a neurosurgeon who will fuse a 3rd because it really just becomes a vicious circle. Once they fix one the risk of another one going dramatically increases, and I'm living proof of that. Unfortunately there's not much they can do non-surgically. I am now on prednisone which has actually helped. The bad thing, though, is that it really packs the pounds on me! I put on about 3 lbs over Thanksgiving, just from eating too much, and now another 7 lbs. since I started the meds. And on a 5' 1" frame 10 lbs is a lot of weight. Oh well, at least I don't have shooting pains down my right arm!

And I will aggressively work to get rid of the extra weight after the New Year. I am back to running again and go myself the Wii Fit. I will probably lose 5 lbs just by quitting the meds, which run out tomorrow. Then the rest will be up to me!

Well, I've got to get busy getting ready for tonight.

If I don't post again before Christmas I hope you have a wonderful, Christ-filled Christmas.