Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Goodbye, 2008

The end of this year has me thinking about so many things. I had a rough fall this year and will be glad to put that time behind me, but I made it through and, in the end, I know I am happier with the changes that have come my way. So many good times as well, as more birthdays passed, children grew older (Jeffery is 15!), and I grew older myself. Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the holidays of 2008 were so great and so much so because of Ryan, who with his young age brings the magic back into those days. I never thought I would have a child so young when I was this age, and he makes me feel simultaneously older and younger, which is strange yet delightful. Jeffery, too, has brought me so much joy. I have been able to watch him blossom into a young man, and he is such an honest and good person. I'm so proud of him. Matt and I reached 9 years of marriage in November, and a total of about 14 years together! We have survived some tough times and have shared so many special moments together. I am so proud to be his wife.

Ali Edwards, an artist and scrapbooker, encourages people to choose a word to represent and guide them through their new year. I am pondering my word, but I really like the idea of having a sort of theme for the year. Her word for 2009 is "nurture." I'm thinking about "energy" as I never have any and I want to start exercising.

Here are some year-in-review pictures. I'm kind of doing this out of order. Because I still have to post about Christmas, but oh well, I'm in the mood to do this right now.

Jeffery reading to Ryan.



Jeffery with cousin Christian.



Jeffery doing what he constantly does . . . skating



Ryan turned 4.




Jeffery turned 15!



My cousin Kathy with Ryan and her son Reed.



Matt carving the pumpkin.



My mom with my boys.



Jeffery helping Ryan put the star on our tree.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Comeback

Well, I was going through a kind of rough patch so I wasn't posting and was a very bad blogger!! I'm doing so much better now and feeling so happy. Plus I'm on vacation and I still have a week to go!!

So, to update . . .

I'll start with Thanksgiving. We camped, as usual, with Matt's sister Cindy and her family, and sister Melanie and her husband Les. Melanie's son Christian didn't show, much to the dismay of Jeffery, who in turn had no one to hang with.

We had the usual fare, but Les cooked one of the turkeys in an unusual way. He made "Trash Can Turkey." You put foil on the ground, the turkey on a stake in the ground over the foil, and a metal trash can over the turkey, top down. Then, spread coals around the bottom and on the top. I guess this somehow creates a vacuum, or convection-type effect, and cooks the turkey in about 2 hours! Here are the pics:

The turkey as it was cooking:



Taking the turkey out:









The turkey fell off the stake at some point, but it still turned out perfectly! Everyone raved about how good it was!!



OK, that's all for now, I will catch you up on December/Christmas soon.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Sadness . . .



I lost my litte cockatiel, Edward, on Sunday. He liked to ride around on my head. He was on my head when I went into the garage to do some laundry. My husband was washing a car and had the garage door open . . . something spooked Edward and he just flew away.

We had a couple of sightings of him that day in the tree in our backyard. But when I would call to him the other birds would fly away and he would get spooked and fly away with them.

I left food out for him in our tree, but I don't think he has eaten any . . . I'm still hoping he'll turn up, but it's probably not likely at this point. I've had him since February of 2003. I will miss him a lot. :-(

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Kathy Leonard's Album

I finally finished the album of Kathy Leonard's retirement party. About time--the party was on June 13th. LOL. Because I took pictures of the pages and then cropped the photos, some of the pages look crooked, but they're not.

Anyway, here it is:

































































































Friday, November 7, 2008

Randomness . . .

Ryan decided that he wanted to be a vampire AFTER Halloween was over . . .


So cute!


I was feeling a bit down the past couple of days, but this little guy always makes me feel better when I'm down:



I just love the look on his face in that picture!


I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving so we can finally go camping and I'll have some time to spend with family and for fun.


Happy Weekend!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Election Day!

Well it's finally here. View an important message from dogs here. I'm so happy I won't have to listen to any more ads on the radio or watch any more ads on t.v. Be sure to go to Starbucks today after you vote--you get a free coffee when you show your "I Voted Today" sticker! If you voted by absentee ballot, well, too bad for you. I have to vote at 6 PM (after tutoring) yuck! Happy voting!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Hello November--Inspiration Monday

It's November and finally getting cooler here in the desert. I almost needed a jacket this morning!

Yesterday I was looking for something fall-y to take a picture of, but all the leaves on the trees are still green, so I failed . . . I should have taken a picture of all of our doors and windows open. We didn't have to turn on our air conditioner for the first time in months!

You may have noticed my new blog banner . . . Scrapbook artist Heidi Swapp posted this cool blurb about gratitude on her blog. She includes a link to the graphics I used and a cool graphic you can use to make a clock--all for only $1.69!

Have a great Monday everyone . . .

Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

Ryan went trick-or-treating tonight! Here's Matt helping him get ready to go:

What a cute Thomas the Train!


Check out this smile!




Checking out some of the booty:


Sure looks good!



I hope you had a great Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Matt carved our pumpkin Wednesday night:

Ryan wanted a "happy pumpkin"


The finished product:




Happy Halloween everyone!