the one about... well... lots of stuff!

Why have I been such a slacker blogger lately? I feel like I just go and go and go and life is so busy and hectic, and sadly, some of the things I love the most get neglected. Blogging is one of the big ones. Also reading, scrapbooking and if you ask Brett, he thinks he is getting neglected lately. Sorry honey.

Anyway, I am pretty excited this evening because tomorrow I am going to SLC with Tara. We have to go to a training thing for work. It's pretty cool. We get paid to go, plus our room is paid for, food and mileage. Tara and I always have so much fun together, so I know the laughs will be abundant! When I was telling my mom about our big adventure, she said, "Oh no. That will be trouble." I was so confused. Trouble? Like did she think we were going to fight or something. I don't think Tara and I have ever had a fight of any kind. My mom was like, "Duh. Because you guys will have so much fun." Oh. I get it. I will give a full update when I get home. Anyway....

Our Thanksgiving was nice. My sweet little grandma was able to come home the day before so we were able to have dinner with her. She is still in pretty rough shape. She probably shouldn't have come home quite yet, but she was determined to be home for Thanksgiving. I had to work that evening so I missed dinner with Brett's family. Brett fixed me a plate and he and Quayd brought it to me at the hotel. Then we decided to spend the night there in a nice king suite. It was awesome. Quayd loved being right in between us in that huge bed. Brett and I always wish for a king sized bed but I know that Quayd would make himself right at home in the middle every night. And he is such a little snuggler it is hard to say no. Of course, I have many things to be thankful for. My husband, my beautiful son, my family, my home and great friends. Really though, this year, I was just thankful to have my grandma home.

In our town, the Friday after Thanksgiving is a huge celebration. It's called Holly Days. There are activities all day, a parade of lights in the evening, more activities and it all ends with a fireworks display. Every year, my brother makes a float for the parade. (Remember, my Grandma was supposed to be the Grand Marshal? She didn't get to do it, but they said they would ask her again.) Brandon turned his four-wheeler into Santa's sleigh. As he was constructing his float on Friday, Quayd decided that he wanted to be in the parade too. So he and Brett made a float for his four-wheeler. It was so cute. I was working so I didn't even really know what was going on with it, but when I got home I was so excited!! I wish Brett would have taken pictures of the construction, but we did get a few as we were getting it to main street. The floats were so big and awkward we couldn't load them in the truck, so they had to drive them. And of course, the other two wouldn't ride in the car with us, they had to go on the four-wheelers!



Here are a few pictures from the parade. Not very good pictures, but pictures, nonetheless.
Here are the boys riding the Christmas train thing after the parade. This is from the fireworks show. View from the car, of course. Burrrrr...
Ok, enough of that.

Saturday morning/afternoon, I got to hang with my old buddies Janice and Kandice. Janice was in town for the holiday and I was so excited to see her and hang with her. I have missed her a lot since she ran away to Kentucky. I have missed her beautiful little girls too and I was so excited to get to see them. And Morgan remembered me!!! The three of us went to the local craft fair, lunch at Don Pedros, shopping and to Lee nails for pedicures.
It was great fun. We also went to Arby's and had one of their new shakes. YUM-O!!! You oughta try one.

So....... if you know me at all, you know what a freak I am about Christmas decorating. I really like to have my tree up by Thanksgiving and I don't like anyone to help me. I really freak out about it, so I stayed up until 3:00 am the night before Thanksgiving so I could get it perfect. Speaking of my weird tree obsession, this is a funny story about me, but I don't want to type it... so if you are interested, go to Tara's blog to read all about it. Anyway, I love my tree. It is just how I wanted it and I am glad I was freaky and got it all done. Everyone knows not to touch it or try to move anything around. Just look, and enjoy. Itty Bitty is still learning this, so she has really been working me the last few days as she climbs up the middle and pulls out my sparkly red sticks!!! Errrrrrr...... Maybe the pound isn't sounding so bad after all.....I know I sound like a big ogre for not letting my family help, but seriously... Brett wouldn't help if I begged him too, and Quayd has his own tree in his room that he gets to do all by himself. So there. Here are a few pictures of my home decor. These are the baskets on either side of my "Proclamation to the World/Picture of Christ/The Living Christ" picture in my living room. I change them with every season.
Here is my favorite decoration in the world, my nativity set. I got it last year, and I was so excited to get it out again this year. It's hard to see in the picture, but I have lights behind it so it really makes it glow. It looks so awesome. This is another one of my favorite things. Jamie gave it to me a couple of years ago for Christmas and I just love it. It lights up. It is so cute. And of course.... my beautiful tree. Drumroll please............................ The picture doesn't do it much justice. Oh! And this is Quayd's calendar that he gets each year. (I still have a couple gifts to put on it.) Starting December 1st he gets a small gift a day. Usually school supplies, and dollar items. He loves it and I love doing it for him. I start buying stuff way early, looking for cheap, small items that will fit. I love it. He is always so grateful and looks forward to it all year. I am glad we are able to do that for him. See... having one child isn't all bad.

Well, I think that is all for this blog entry. Thanks for sticking it out. I know it was a long one. :)

the one about my new friend and some old ones

I totally made a new friend today and I am super excited about it. Let me tell you a little bit about her. Her name is Kim and this is her blog. http://berezay.blogspot.com/ which is super fun and cute, by the way. It's a must see. Now I have 3 friends and an Uncle named Kim. Kim, her husband and 4 children just moved to town and into our ward. Jason works for Lowe's and he is here to open the new Lowe's store that is coming to town! Yippee! I love Lowe's and I am super excited about it. Their four kids have made a GREAT addition to our primary and I have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few weeks. I don't have any of them in my Sunbeams class, but they do have a daughter in Quayd's class. I don't really know much more about these guys, but I am excited to get to know them better. Kim was tons of fun!

Anyway, I went to Janice's today to rescue her from her "Christmas Hell." Bless her sweet heart, she really struggles with Christmas. I know she has lots of personal reasons that I won't broadcast, but she has been super down this holiday season and I knew I needed to step in and help. I gathered my creativity ammo and went right over. Actually, we went to lunch first and had some delicious chineese food. Then we went to this was cool home decor store and got a few things. Janice was coloring Holly's hair today and while she was working, I was decorating. And my new friend Kim was there to offer her creative eye. Tari even stopped by for a second, then Kandice came too. Our kids are drawing names for Christmas gifts and we are going to have a little Christmas Praty for them in a few weeks. So we took care of the drawing names thing today. Janice's tree turned out great, if I do say so myself. I hope it helped her through her little "rut." I wish I knew what to do for her, but I don't. I love her to death. I try to listen and be there for her but I know I am not very good at it. It's hard. Janice, please know that I am ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS here for you. I love you!

We are going to have a girls night out on Friday. We are planning to go have pedicures, then to dinner and a movie. FUN HUH?!?!? I can't wait. I need it, bad. While Janice and I were going through her closet 'O' decorations, she found something that she had bought for me for my Birthday and forgot about it. So she gave it to me today! Cool huh! I told her to just save it for Christmas, but secretly, I hoped she would give it to me today! ;) It is a cute sign that says "Friends become our chosen family." I love it. It is so cute! Thanks Janice. Again, I love you! Aren't friends great? Mine are. I need a bumper sticker that says, "My friends aren't Honor Students, but they are better than your friends!"

the one about my gosh dang Christmas decorations

Well, it took an insane amount of time, but I finally finished decorating my house and cleaning up the mess. phhewwwww...

Maybe you don't understand. I am a FREAK about my decorations. My tree is a huge deal to me. It has to be PERFECT! It went up pretty fast, but the rest... I really struggled with. I love Christmas and all, but I am just not feeling it as much this year. Maybe because there is no snow and the weather has been decent. I don't know. Everything is beautiful now and I am so pleased. Now I can start reading my Christmas books then hopefully the holiday spirit will take over. I have 4 Christmas trees. One is Quayd's. I let him do his own because I am such a terrible mother, I won't let him help with mine. I told you, I am a freak! Here are a few pictures of my decor. The photos really don't do it justice, so pretend they are like 10 times prettier.

This is tree #1. the main one, in my living room.

Tree #2, Quayd's tree in his room.

Tree #3, also in my living room, but a smaller, more "outdoors-ey" version.


And finally, my 4th tree in my kitchen.
Definately a bad picture. But you get the point.

My dorky husband came home tonight as I was fixing dinner and he said, "So when do all of the people come?" I couldn't figure out what he was saying. He asked again, "When do all of the people get here?" I was puzzled. He finally, with a huge grin on his face, said, "You know, for the Festival of Trees!" Ha ha. He thinks he is so funny. After nine years he is still shocked every Christmas to see the insane amount of time and work I put into my decor. It is one of my "things." I can't help it. We usually do lots of lights outside too, but we are Bah-Humbug-ing them this year. I did a few but nothing like years past. It always turns into a huge fight between Brett and I, so I gave him the option to skip out. He agreed. We argue because I like them a certain way, and he likes them another, he usually falls off the roof, I laugh at him and we end up not speaking for a week. And yes, he has fallen off the roof more than once! If you know him, you know how accident prone he is. So was his dad and so are his brothers. I can't stop myself though. When he gets hurt, it is funny. Here is another story of him getting mad at me for laughing at his pain. You need to know that I am already giggling as I prepare to tell this story. He was taking the swamp cooler out of the window about 2 years ago. He was standing on a lawn chair that had a metal frame and canvas strips across it. It was a very nice and sturdy chair. So we thought. Suddenly, the canvas gave, and his feet broke through the chair. He was holding the swamp cooler and he just fell right through. He landed perfectly on his feet as if nothing had happened, but it was so funny. I know that when his feet hit the ground, it jarred his legs a little and I am sure it hurt, but it was HYSTERICAL! My brother happened to be watching too and we still laugh about it. I am laughing out loud now. Ok, time for another story about Brett. We have Sky Chairs. If you don't know what they are, here is a picture from their website. They are super cool. So a few years ago, Brett was sitting in his sky chair on the patio with our sweet 2 year old son in his lap. Suddenly the hook holding the chair broke and he fell right on his butt. He was totally relaxed and can you imagine how much it had to hurt? In those chairs you are kind of, almost reclined so he hit right on his tail bone. He didn't even know it had happened until he heard the sound and hit the ground. He describes the sound of it breaking as an ear piercing "PING!" I am terrible, but that is FUNNY! Quayd was fine. But there was a nice cushion between him and the ground! Poor Brett. I could go on and on, but I won't. I am still giggling picturing him standing there holding that swamp cooler in the middle of the broken chair. he he he he he

Tomorrow, I help in Quayd's class then I am going over to my grandma's to decorate her tree. Then on Thursday, I am decorating Kandice's mom's tree. Yippee! I am super excited. But I should probably get moving so I can get to bed and go to Curves early in the morning. I usually go after I take Quayd to school if I don't have anything going, but tomorrow I have a busy day. I love you all! thanks for sharing a laugh about my poor husband!