Wii Love Christmas In California

We had the best Christmas!

Christmas in California was the way to go this year. We missed the worst of the crazy ice and snow storms, and lots of power outages. Instead we were dealing with sunny 50 degree days. It was pretty awesome. It was great to have my whole family together. This is really the only time of the year that it happens. So, we made the most of it, and boy was it a pretty action packed week.

We played my dad's new Wii. A lot.

Throw in a bowling trip, lots of shopping, playing games...

Having a dance party, playing with the kids...

Eating at the best Brazilian restaurant for Mark's Birthday...

and Christmas, and you have got yourself a really great week. I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had.

Santa was especially good to me this year. I was on the receiving end of several wonderful gifts. There was one in particular though...He must have seen how much fun we were having playing my Dad's Wii, that he managed to find one on Christmas Eve at Costco, and leave it for me under the tree Christmas morning.

Obviously, I must have been really good this year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that you were able to enjoy family, friends, and make a lot of fun memories.

What A Week

There has been a lot of celebrating going on lately. I don't think we could cram any more into one week if we'd try.

Celebration #1: Christmas...it was great. I'll probably post more about it once we get home. We were able to spend it with my entire family. They are crazy, super funny, total nerds and I wouldn't change a thing about them. There is something to be said about spending time with people who love you unconditionally. It is pretty funny when you get all of us kids together...we totally revert to acting like the super funny(annoying) kids we were when we were growing up and living at home together. My poor parents.

Celebration #2: December 27th....Mark's Birthday! He turns 31 this year. He's the coolest fella ever, and I am so lucky to be married to him. Even if he's old.

Celebration #3: December 28th...Our 8th Anniversary! Yup. We were one of those couples who decided to get married during Christmas break instead of waiting all the way until summer vacation. I mean really, a five month long engagement was plenty long. Why put it off any longer? Anyways, this is us way back when we were just a bit younger and a super cool newly married couple. Check out Mark with hair! I think I've practically forgotten what he looks like with it. Here we are now. A little older, but still way cool...Well, the week of celebrations has been awesome. It is a really hectic week with all that excitement. In reality though, we really don't celebrate our anniversary much. It is really hard to when we are always traveling to see family for the holidays. We are just going to have to dedicate some other day as our celebrate our anniversary day. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are able to enjoy family and friends this holiday week. May you experience much laughter, love and have tons of fun. Oh, and...I hope Santa brings you what you asked for this year.

Merry Christmas!

Just So Santa Will Know Where To Find Me...

♥

1 car

2 of us

2 crazy dogs

11 hour drive

9 days to see family

3 reasons to celebrate

All my wacky family members

Hanging out under the same roof
It's going to be the best Christmas.

Ever.

So long Oregon...today we are headed to California to celebrate Christmas. My whole family will be there. In case you couldn't tell...I AM SO EXCITED! I'm not looking forward to the drive with the two dogs going along for the ride, but I can't wait to get there and hang out with the family. They are such a funny bunch. I think that's one of the reasons why I like them so much.

California here we come!

Let It Snow

It snowed last night!

I can't believe it has stuck around all day. It is such a rare treat to have it stick here. It's crazy...all the schools closed down today, and it looks like they might again tomorrow. And let me tell you, so many people have no idea how to drive in the snow here. I'd rather be warm, but snow has been fun for a change. It sure made for a very cold, but fun time playing outside with the dogs...

It has been so cold out, that I just stayed home today working on these yummy goodies...

We made a ton of goodies to give away. My neighbors are so darn lucky!

Reflections

Now, I know a lot of people have seen this video by now, but if you haven't, you should. It's called the Reflections of Christ. It is a video depicting the life of Jesus Christ. The actors in this did an incredible job of visually making His life and all that He did so real. And the music...couldn't be more beautiful.

Tonight was our Relief Society Christmas dinner, and they showed us this video. Being the holiday season and all, it was a great reminder to focus on Christ and the many gifts he has given to all of us. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas...I do it all the time. I really appreciated this moment to take a step back and reflect on what this holiday is really about.

You can go to the Reflections of Christ website to see all sorts of behind the scenes pictures and to get more info.

Singing Christmas Tree

I got to hang out with the Young Women from our ward this weekend. We took a day trip up to Portland. It was actually a sunny and clear day. It couldn't have been better. We were able to walk around the temple. A security guard stopped us while we were taking pictures. He offered to take us around and explain to us the symbolism in several of the designs and patterns on the outside of the temple. It was so interesting. I love learning random little bits of information like that. Later, when I was telling Mark about it, I sounded so smart.

After leaving the temple grounds we went and saw a performance by The Singing Christmas Tree. Now, I don't know about you, but I have never seen a singing Christmas tree before. So in case you were wondering what one looks like, you've come to the right place. This is the largest choir in Oregon, and boy were they great. It was a fun performance with a lot of emphasis on the real meaning and purpose of Christmas. It was totally worth going. After the show was over we went to the Portland International Raceway for the Christmas light show. It is a giant light display that you drive through to see.

It was a fun to see the lights and listen to Christmas music. The displays were so cool. There were a few random ones, though....like mermaids and seahorses. Why did they have a whole mermaid display? Am I missing something? The story of the Christmas mermaid is escaping me. If anybody knows it, you'll have to fill me in.

It was such a fun day, with a funny group of women. I'm so glad they had some extra tickets and they let me tag along. I'm so there next year.

Today Was The Day

I am feeling an overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude tonight. Mark has been working for his new company since June. We were so excited to get out of the real estate industry, and to get into a reliable career with a steady income. With the real estate market being what it is, the thought of stability was heavenly. Anyways, we were told several weeks ago that this company was going to go through a restructuring process. Meaning...1000 jobs were being eliminated. Yup, bring on the worry, stress, and fear of what could be coming our way.

Were we going to be transferred somewhere new, would he be one of the many to be "De-Selected",would us being so new be a factor, or would we just stay right where we are? So, today was the day we found out what direction his career would take. And I am so happy to report:

Mark officially still has a job, and we don't have to move!

I can't even begin to describe how relieved I am about this. The changes that Mark has to make are extremely minimal.

He is in Pharmaceutical Sales, and he represents three drugs. He is only changing one of his drugs, and his territory is being realigned...in a good way. All of this means...way less overnight travel and a short training period for his new drug. Hooray.

While I am so happy and relieved, my heart goes out to the so many people who weren't as fortunate as we were. Things could have easily been so different for us.

I was so grateful when Mark got this job in the first place. It was a huge blessing. I feel that way again. Now, more than ever.

O Christmas Tree

Well, it only took all weekend, but it's finished. All of my major Christmas decorating is done. We've even decorated our Christmas tree! I love having our house all decked out for Christmas. It just puts me in a good mood. One of my favorite things to do once the tree is up is to hang out in our family room without any lights on except the Christmas lights. It's the best. So here is our tree in all it's Christmas glory...*Ok...so yeah it is a fake tree. Don't judge. I know we live in Oregon and it would seem like we don't have an excuse to not have a real tree. They are everywhere here...it's like the Christmas tree capital of the country. Every year we always go and get a real tree. In fact the last two years we've had two trees. Not this year. Our new house only has a great room and there's only room for one tree. So, we figured since we're leaving for Christmas in Cali on the 20th, we might as well just use our fake-o tree....just this once. I promise.

I'm Over Thanksgiving...

Bring on Christmas!

Maybe next year we could move Thanksgiving to August or September or something. There aren't any major holidays then, and we could enjoy Christmas longer. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. It's a great opportunity to really reflect on how much I really have in my life. That being said...I've moved on. I am so excited for Christmas. I always love getting the house decorated, but this year has been especially fun. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because we are in a new house, we're in a new town with new friends, or because we are going home to spend Christmas with my family in California. I'm sure it's a lot of things. We got a lot of the house decorated today, and tomorrow we are decorating the tree. I can't wait.

I have also been trying to think of good presents for some people on my shopping list. Yeah, I'm totally not one of those people who have all of their shopping finished and all of their presents wrapped already. Boring. Why miss out on all of that last minute Christmas shopping craziness. It makes the whole experience so much more fun. Or something. The other day I was reading the MMW blog and I saw this post. Pure Genius. What a great idea for all of those people who are really hard to buy for.

I'm thinking my parents might just need matching sets of these slippers. So, just in case my brother and sisters see this, I call dibs. You can't have this idea.

It's gonna be the best Christmas present ever.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I have so much to be grateful for. I can't even begin to list them all...if I tried this would be a crazy long post. I do feel very blessed and directed in my life. The Lord is looking out for us, which is probably one of my biggest blessings. Changes are coming. Big changes within my husband's company, which could mean major changes for us. Despite my worries about all of these changes, I'm not that worried. I am feeling really calm about everything, which really isn't like me. I know we'll be ok. We are being guided in our lives...that's how we got here in the first place. For that I am grateful.

So, I hope you all enjoy your family, friends, and eat lots of good food this Thanksgiving. I plan on doing exactly this. Have a happy day!

Tagged Again!

So, here we go kids. Shelby tagged me and I thought I might as well play along. This is a picture of my hubby, Mark. Yup. He's up in a tree. With a kite. We were at my parent's house, hanging out in the backyard. Their house is on several acres, most of which are full of walnut trees. So, we thought it would be fun to fly a kite. We thought we had plenty of room, but of course it had to go and get stuck in one of the trees. Darn kite. Stupid tree. Well, he climbed right up, and got the kite out...eventually.

Here are the rules: Rules are: go to your photos, take your 4th picture out of your 4th file, post and explain the photo.

See, it's so darn easy. In fact it's so easy, I tag Marge, Sarah...gotcha again, Cheyenne, and anyone else who wants something to blog about.

True Blue

I guess you could say that we are

True Blue Cougar Fans.

Since this was the biggest game of the season, we figured we might as well do it right and make a party out of it. So we cleaned house, decorated, and baked. All in honor of BYU football. I was joking with Mark as we were decorating this morning that I was channeling my inner Alicia. She's our sister-in-law and she throws the most amazing parties. Now, this was nothing like one of her parties, but it was fun. Despite our planning, decorating, and positive thinking, BYU lost to Utah. What the heck kind of game was that anyways. I mean, come on Max Hall...what's with throwing 5 interceptions?!? Anyways, despite the crappy loss, we had fun hanging out together. At least we had our party. Right?

It was so fun to hang out with these little future Cougars. They used to love to pretend to be monsters and dinosaurs, etc. Now when they jump on us and try to "get" us they are always Cougars. It's pretty funny.

*****

So...random story. Mark changed careers back in June and we moved in July. We ended up selling our house to a Utah football player (Steve Tate) and his family. They were just graduating and moving out to start his new job. We obviously aren't big Utah fans, but Steve and his wife are so nice. We have talked to them several times, and we wish we lived closer so we could watch some football games together. So, I guess you could say that after meeting them we weren't quite the anti-Utah people we were before. Anyways, my hubby was looking at our blog this morning and he saw the picture on my last post. He started laughing and he asked me if I knew who the Utah football player laying on the ground was. Of course, I didn't have a clue. I just thought it was a funny picture. He then tells me that it was Steve Tate. Yeah. Oops. So, just in case they come across my blog somehow from somebody in our old ward, I just wanted him to know...

Steve, I had no idea. I swear!

Blue

This weekend is it. It's finally here. No, I'm not talking about the Twilight movie. I'm talking about football. The game we've been waiting for all season!

BYU vs. UTAH

It's the biggest football game of the year at our house, and Mark is so excited. Crossing my fingers and toes that we can pull out a crazy huge win. Should be an exciting game!

GO COUGS!

A Happy Ending

This my Jeep.

I really love this car.

I like this car so much that every week or two...

I take it out and buy it a drink.

My treat.

Isn't that nice of me.

It can have all the unleaded gas it wants.

Unfortunately for me, it used to be so spendy!

Like to the tune of $85 or more to fill it up.

But the service, it was great.

You see...here in Oregon they pump your gas for you.

It's illegal to pump your own.

That comes in real handy with all the rain.

Now gas is way cheaper.

I filled up last week.

$35.00

And the guy topped it off for me.

The End

I Play Well With Others

Mark and I like to play a lot of games...especially with our families when we are all together. I love it. We all laugh. A lot. We poke fun. We sometimes fight. Ok, we usually fight. We also have been known to throw game pieces at each other. That's what makes it so fun right?

Scattergories is a game that we used to play quite a bit back in the day. You knew this was a game was worth playing when it would cause a really good fight amongst the family. You know, when voting over random answers, it would always end with someone challenging an answer. Then the person who gave that incredibly insightful and creative answer would have to defend her honor and her answer. Not that I know personally how this feels or anything. People then have to choose sides. Then before you know it you are fighting over a stupid word. Gotta love it. Maybe it's just our families that do that.

Anyways, I am really not great about doing tags, but this one brought back some good ol' family memories. So...why not.

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Katie
BOY NAME: Kiefer
4 LETTER WORD: Kilt
GIRL NAME: Klotid....yup it's real. I call dibs when we have kids.
OCCUPATION: King
COLOR: Khaki
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Knickers
BEVERAGE: Kiwi Strawberry Soda
FOOD: Key Lime Pie
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Kotex
A PLACE: Kansas City, Kansas...double points
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Kissing
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Keep your shirt on!

Well, there you have it. See, I do play well with others. Just don't challenge any of my answers and we'll get along just fine. I tag Jamie, Alicia, my super cool sisters, Sarah and Emily, and anyone who feels like doing this. Enjoy!

Together We So Rock

Well, it's officially just me and the dogs until Thursday. Mark is working in Bend for the next few days. So, here I am left totally unsupervised, and unproductive so far. I have been so lazy this morning. While I was catching up on blogs, I came across this cool poster. I love it. I want it. They have tons of different posters you can check out here. Made me think of my super cool hubby. He's the best, and I really appreciate him and how hard he works. We aren't perfect, but together we so rock! Well, time for me to get kind of productive and at least get a few things done today. I guess catching up on shows on the DVR shouldn't count. Bummer.

Gray Skies

We were lucky enough to enjoy this rainbow on our way up to Salem on Sunday. It was nice to enjoy the color, especially when our sky is usually so darn gray. I do love living in Oregon, but let's face it...I need blue skies every once and a while. Lucky for me, it looks like today might be one of those blue sky days. That makes me a happy girl.

Did You?

Today is such a big day for our country...good ol' election day! A chance for the American people to speak their minds and elect our next President. I for one consider it an honor to take part in this historic election.

So did you vote yet?

Oops...wrong election. I meant this one.

Well, Mark and I voted today. It is very interesting living in a very liberal part of Oregon when you are a pretty conservative person. It is hard to feel like my vote is going to make a difference in this election, but I am grateful that we have the right to vote and have a say in who is the President of our country. It should be an interesting and potentially long night. Crossing my fingers and toes that the guy I voted for wins.

Good Lookin'

Did someone call for a doctor?

Mark is loving Halloween this year. With his job in Pharmaceutical Sales, he visits doctors all day long. So for Halloween why not dress up as one, right? We hunted for hours yesterday to find him a wig. Of course we procrastinated, and boy there wasn't much to choose from. So we bought this one and just gave it a little trim. I know...all of that beautiful long curly hair is gone now. So sad. Happy Halloween!

Ice Cream

Ice cream was always the dessert on hand as I was growing up. It felt like we ate some almost every night. Now we probably didn't eat it that often, but I know we ate lots. We still do. Despite how much ice cream our family of seven ate, I don't think our freezer ever looked like this.

Yeah...so if you look closely you will find that there are NINE cartons of ice cream in our freezer! Who on earth ever has nine cartons of ice cream in there freezer. Ok, so maybe the Duggar family with 17 kids has had nine cartons of ice cream in their freezer. If they are even allowed to eat ice cream. But they are totally the exception. They don't count. In our defence, we did have a bunch of family over that day. I think they must have eaten most of it. I'm sure we hardly had any. Really, maybe just a bowl or two.

This happened a couple of years ago. I was randomly looking through our really old picture files and I came across this beauty. I just couldn't help but laugh. I love that we found this picture worthy, cuz really how often are you going to see a freezer looking like that?! In fact, I think I'm going to go eat some ice cream right now. Oh, and just in case you were wondering...we only have one carton of ice cream in our freezer!

Huge Waste of Time

So...say you're planning on being productive sometime soon...not anymore. Click here. This should keep you busy for a while. It's pointless. A total waste of time. Once you start, you can't stop. But I did it, and you know you'll do it too.