the one about the fire station

Brett has been a very busy boy the last few months. He is the assistant chief of the Jensen Fire Department. He has weekly meetings, monthly meetings, district meetings and recently, new fire station planning meetings. They broke ground on their new fire station this fall and it was completed this month. They had a big open house and celebration called, "Christmas at the Fire House" on December 12th. They had a flag raising ceremony, "hose" cutting, dedicatory prayer and they honored past fire chiefs and officers. They also had a really nice dinner and games for the kids. It was really awesome.







Sometimes Brett's constant meetings drive me CRAZY, but really, deep down, I am really proud of him. It was cool to see him in his element at the fire station. He organized, took charge and he made his wife very proud!

the one about an ice cream cone

Tonight, we had the funniest thing happen. Of course, with Quayd around, every moment is a laugh waiting to happen. I was in a super rauncher mood tonight and I was totally on edge. I don't know why, I was just grouchy. Well when all of this happened, i couldn't help but laugh, then Brett decided to type the whole thing in his words. So here it is. Brett's version......

Quayd has a new favorite treat. It is home style ice cream cones. It seems like every time I turnaround he is asking me to make him one. They are a huge pain in the butt to make because the ice cream is at least negative 20 degrees and its like carving stone. Any way he asked me to make him one tonight and I flat out refused. He whined to Mandy until she gave in and went to make him one. She no more than got into kitchen and I heard her say “If you don't like the way I do it, then go have your DAD make the damn thing for you.” This was followed by her stomping into the living room and sitting down. I couldn't help but laugh. I asked Quayd to come and tell me what happened. His words were ”I was just standing there watching her make my ice cream cone, and she was digging for the ice cream scooper. I told her that is not how Dad makes it, he just uses a spoon.” While he was telling me this story he is looking at me with that confused look that all men get. You know the one when we are thinking "What the hell am I in trouble for now?" So I tell him that he really can’t say stuff like that to his mom. Girls don't like to hear stuff like that. I then told him that when he got married that it is not a good idea to say things like, "Well my mom makes it this way." Then I told him, "I don’t get it Quayd. Girls are just weird. I then I asked Mandy if she was going to go finish making it and she said, "Hell no!" I told Quayd to go say he was sorry. So he says to her “I am sorry mom, I was not judging you or anything like that.” Well what else could she do but go make his ice cream cone? Morals of the story: it is easier to have dad make the cones, and ALL women (even moms) are impossible to understand!!!!!


So that is Brett's version. That was a total father/son "man" moment. We have laughed about it all night. It did put me in a better mood, I must admit. I realize that women are difficult to understand. I don't really get myself sometimes. So how sad that poor Quayd was just trying to help, but actually said something that burns me to the core. I will never forget, as newlyweds, Brett told me that He liked the way his mom made spaghetti better than the way I did. Well, I bet you can guess just how many times I have made spaghetti since that day!!! I still tease him about that!

the one about Quayd and Santa

Wednesday night was the Fire District Christmas Party. It is a big party for all of the fire fighters and their families in all of the fire departments in our county. It is a pretty fun party. They had AMAZING food! It was all dutch oven food. SO GOOD! Anyway, Santa was able to stop by and Quayd was pretty stoked! We have been asking Quayd for weeks what he wanted for Christmas and he would never really give us a clear answer. It was always things like, "toys for my puppy," or "I don't care." So when we found out Santa was going to be there, we told him he better get thinking because this would probably be his only chance to tell him. Right before Santa showed up, Quayd told me he was going to tell him that he wanted an AirSoft gun. It is similar to a BB Gun, but it shoots little plastic pellets. YIKES! Brett and I were surprised that he even knew what it was. I didn't know, I had to ask Brett! Anyway, before we had time to tell him to rethink his wish list, Santa walked in the door and Quayd ran to get in line. We were kind of dumbfounded. When it was Quayd's turn, I took this very high quality picture with my cell phone, then we couln't wait to hear about the visit he had with Santa. Get ready..... this is FUNNY!

us: "Quayd, how was Santa?"

Quayd: "good."

us: "What did you tell him you wanted?"

Quayd: "An AirSoft gun."

us: "And what did Santa say?"

Quayd: (looking very defeated) "He said, 'You'll shoot your eye out.'"




BaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a GREAT and very funny Santa!!! Gotta love Santa, and you gotta love 'A Christmas Story'! We will have to see what Santa really comes up with.

the one about SNOW!

I love snow. I am so glad it has been snowing for the last couple of days. I love that it is so fresh, white, clean and makes everything seem so peaceful and beautiful. Nothing gives me Christmas spirit like SNOW!

This is my front window from the outside.


When I got out of bed this morning (at 10:30!) I could see that I needed to shovel some more. Brett cleared it all last night, but it needed some more work after snowing all night. My cute little Grandpa was out shoveling too so I went over and helped him. I took Finny with me and he had so much fun playing in the snow! It snowed the whole time I was shoveling and I couldn't believe how beautiful the snow flakes were today. Even more so that I remember. They were perfect and looked like something I would work for hours trying to cut out of paper. I just stood there for several minutes looking at the snow and enjoying the beauty. Here are a few flakes that landed on my coat. Beautiful!!!

the one about the golf tee candy

Oh my heck, Quayd is the funniest kid ever!!!

Last week at school was "Santa's Secret Shop." If you have school aged children, you know that this is a little store at school that the kids can buy gifts for their family members all by themselves, wrap them and keep it a surprise. Quayd came home with an envelope for money and a list to fill out. I wrote on the list that he could spend 3-5 dollars on Brett and I, buy something for his puppy and get something for himself. I put $13 dollars in the envelope. He came home with his little wrapped gifts and asked if he could open the one for himself. I said "yes." He was sitting by me, but I wasn't paying total attention to what he was doing, however, he was saying how excited he was to open and eat this gift. He tore it open and pulled the item out of its box. The next thing I hear was, "Ewwwwwww!!! This isn't CANDY!" He had pulled one of the tees out and tried to bite it. Of course, he had me attention now. I looked at it. Examined it. Then asked him why he thought it was candy. He said, "Well that is what the box said and I have been excited all day to eat it." Still puzzled, I pull the box out of the trash and this is what I saw. How cute is that!?!?!