Merry Christmas EVE!!!!!!!

The day has finally arrived! It's CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!! I am freakin' ecstatic! I am ready to party the night away with friends and family! I am super happy because I am all packed and ready to leave for our New Years trip too! That means I don't have to worry about packing or loading the trailer today! YAY!

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow sooooooo I am telling you early! =)

Pics from Tyler's 11th "Buuzz-day"

Here are a couple of pics from "T-Bone's" birthday celebration. I can't believe I didn't get any pics of all the crazy little boys running around the place! Sorry!

What a bad A$$ belt =)

He asked for this hat... really!

Megan, me and DIRTY FACE AKA Foster!

This kid rocks!!!!

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is getting so close and I am totally excited!

We did a little white elephant gift exchange with some of Craig's family last night! It was super fun and I am a selfish "bastard" and stole the gift I brought! What can I say? It was a 12 pack of Coors Light and a Starbucks card! Craig ended up with a basket of cookies AND a Casa Lupe gift certificate! That is a whole bunch of calories just waiting to happen =)

Friday night I went to have appetizers and cocktails with some people from work! My boss took us for "Christmas" =) I went home afterward and Craig didn't feel like going anywhere... which was fine with me. I changed into my jammies and he went and picked up mexican food for us. I had chips and salsa, a fish taco (the best ever) and a chicken taco. MMMMMM So freakin good! We sat around and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Saturday night (I have pics and I will post them later) we celebrated my cousin Tyler's 11th birthday! He had a BOY SLUMBER PARTY. It was crazy. I am so glad I didn't have all those boys staying the night at my house! We had carne asada tacos and partied for awhile! It was fun! I talked to my aunt yesterday and she told me they didn't get to bed until 4am! No thanks! haha I need to save my energy for CHRISTMAS EVE!

Made it through another week!

I cheated a little. I was off Monday and Tuesday but I was SUPER sick... they were still rough days. Ahhhhh but I am so glad it's Friday. Those two days off really made my week fly! Next week I work Mon/Tues and 1/2 day Wednesday (Christmas eve) then am off until Monday, Jan 5! Holy COW that's a long time! I can't wait!

I am super stoked because tonight my boss is taking me and a few other lucky employees out for appetizers and cocktails! Later Craig and I will probably get something to eat and I have no idea what else. MAYBE I can talk him into taking me to look at Christmas lights! I love driving around looking at the lights. Normally I am able to talk "the Grinch" (AKA Craig) into it every year! We'll see!

Having trouble typing

There is something wrong with my keyboard... I am having trouble getting to the keys. Can you help?

She is so freakin' cute!

I am going crazy!

I was off work for TWO days and I am swimming in an overflowing inbox and tons of inter-office envelopes. I have so much to get done before Christmas eve. This includes mailing my Christmas cards, last minute gifts, candy for the kiddos, grocery shopping for our new years trip, packing our trailer and all my clothes for our trip, etc. I have a feeling I am going to be running around the next week or so like a chicken w/ my head cut off! All of this on top of all the work I need to get done at my REAL job before we leave! YIKES! I better stop blogging about it and get it done! =)

I have a feeling this could be me soon!

Good half of the weekend!

Good morning... well here I am at home. That means I have called in SICK! I wish I could say I was just playing hookie but nope... I got hit with a mean cold! My throat, my head, runny nose, sneezing... the works. I was up all night wishing I had some Nyquil or something to just knock me out! I have definately felt better in my days than I do at this moment! Oh well... suck it up huh? I did call in sick which I hate doing. I like to save up my time off for funner things like camping or vacations in Cancun but here I am at home! It's so not a good time to get sick. I have a ton to do. Luckily I wasn't overly busy at work. With Christmas being right around the corner I have some last minute gifts I need to get and I really need to start wrapping presents. Maybe I can muster up the energy to get started on that. I HATE BEING SICK!

Rewind to Friday night. We went to our friends Brandon and Veronica's house for a Christmas party! We had a great time. Craig and I both drank WAY too much. Thank you Patty and Jose for giving us a ride home... otherwise Style Taxi would have been called =) Safety first! Here are a couple of pics!

Andrea and her "old fart" mug. No it wasn't her bday... Brandon made her drink her wine from this! Classy!

Me, Veronica and Andrea. This pic reminds me of Step Brothers. My hand on Veronica's shoulder! So funny!

Christmas shots!

My man and I

Veronica, Patty, Me and Andrea

Just Patty and I!

Saturday night my brother Spenser and our friends Brett and Tiffany came over and watched the Ultimate Fighter finale. We ordered pizza... I made a huge salad and we had a quiet night. It was nice because that was actually the same night as mine and Tiffany's (we work together) Christmas party. Can I just say that vegging all night in my sweats was actually WAY more fun than I probably would have had at the Christmas party? Saturday night, however, was the night this nasty cold hit me. I could feel it coming on and was so disappointed. Nobody likes being sick.

Sunday Craig and I laid around all day. My excuse was that I was sick =) Craigs excuse was that I was sick too LOL! Just kidding. He normally works on weekends but yesterday was rainy so he got to hang out w/ me. We baked cookies and I even made some banana bread. I am the type of person who can't stand sitting at home and doing nothing! Today is going to kill me! I will have to find something to keep myself busy.

Friday has finally arrived!

I soooooooooo live for Fridays! But you already knew that! It's finally here!!!!!

We have a Christmas party tonight. Our friends Brandon and Veronica are having some friends over for a little get together. I can't wait. I am making hot spinach-artichoke dip! I can't wait to see how it turns out. I have never made it before so we will see! Seems pretty easy... can't go wrong, right?

Saturday night we are having a few friends over to veg and have pizza. (Sounds kinda like last night but with friends haha).

Sunday I think I will stick with the recent tradition of doing nothing! I might try to get the last of my ChRiStMaS ShOpPiNg done!!!!! =) Hopefully my christmas cards get here today or tomorrow so I can get those sent out asap!

Let the Christmas shopping begin!

Ok I have officially started my Christmas shopping! I am so excited. I am finally getting into the holiday spirit! Things have been kinda blah lately and I am pretty sure it has to do w/ some of the family "issues" I have going on right now. It's very sad but I need to suck it up and realize people will be people and be happy and thankful for those who are there for me (and Craig). Those are the ones who are most important in the long run anyway! ANYWAY... enough mushy stuff. LOL! I finally got around to ordering my christmas cards yesterday (slacker... I know!) and they are going to be SUPER cute. I can't wait to get them and start sending them out. If you are lucky maybe YOU will get one =) I didn't have a picture that was "christmas card material" of all 4 of us (Craig, me and the "kids") so I ended up finding a cute one of Craig and I and added one of Roxy and one of Daisy on each side. I couldn't leave out the "kids" =)

I was totally bummed today because I set out to do some christmas shopping on my lunch hour and it didn't work out. I couldn't find one gift for one person! I got back to work and did a little web-surfing and found some REALLY good gifts for some of the guys in the family. That totally flipped my mood! Such a relief. I find the guys in my family are way harder to buy for than the girls. Even the younger ones! So I am glad that is out of the way! Ahhh let the madness begin!

A cold lazy weekend

This weekend was everything I hoped it would be! LOL! Which means we did almost nothing! It was great. We made dinner Friday night. Saturday I made breakfast (a whole wheat english muffin with tomato and mozzarella for me and an egg and chorizo burrito for Craig) and we cleaned a little. Nothing to strenuous... just enough to make our house look presentable! I made the BEST clam chowder Saturday night. I can't wait to have leftovers! We hung out and watched reality TV! HA HA! Sunday I made breakfast again (potato cakes with fried eggs and sausage patties). Then SHOCKINGLY Craig mentioned that "maybe" we should go to the movies. Anytime Craig wants to go to the movies I take him up on it... it's rare! We went and saw Four Christmases. It was really cute... and pretty funny. I have to admit I thought it would be funnier but it was still worth watching!

Ahhh I live for weekends like that!

Just a little something

I found this on another blog and it looked kinda fun. You just go in and BOLD all the things you HAVE done!
Well bold wasn't working for me so I changed the color!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with dolphins


03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said "I love you" and meant it (everyday!)


09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (the storm was at see but I as on shore... does that count?)


13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby's diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope


26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight


31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse


34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and didn't care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk


42. Had amazing friends


43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (we danced with lots of people in Mexico! Gotta love Carlos N Charlies!)

44. Watched whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach (so it wasn't midnight but it was night =)

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow


56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke


59. Lounged around in bed all day


60. Played touch football

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud


64. Played in the rain


65. Gone to a drive-in theatre

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married (best day ever!)

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on a television news program as an "expert"

83. Gotten flowers for no reason


84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas (NO... can you BELIEVE IT? Well I did fly into vegas TWICE as my final destination but didn't stay long!)

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Kissed on the first date

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children (currently raising)

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Passed out cold

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication  (Does Foodbuzz count??)

106. Lost over 100 pounds (no but 45 is a lot too!)

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Touched a stingray

110. Broken someone's heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild


118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi


128. Had your picture in the newspaper


129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (maybe)

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Touched a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes

134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey

135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions


138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident (not a bad one thank god!)

150. Saved someone's life

Wooooooohoooooooo It's Friday!!!!!!

Finally I made it to the end of the work week! Whew! It's been a long one. Especially after last week being so short!

Let me just tell you what I am up to this weekend...

NOTHING!!!!! =)

It's what I do best!

Things to do this weekend:

1. Spenser will probably come over tonight... I will make something yummy for dinner AND we will watch STEPBROTHERS!!!!!!!
2. Saturday I will wake up and have some coffee and probably do nothing.
3. Sunday... probably more of the same! I am gonna try to squeeze in an outside run or two but that's about it. Don't be jealous!

Week's halfway over!

I am happy it's already Wednesday! That means my work week is already halfway over... well almost I still have to get through today! It's been a crazy week. Work has been busy... my computer is in SLOW MOTION so it's been hard to get everything done. Oh well... I do what I can!
Craig's picking up his parents from the airport this afternoon. They were in NEW YORK! I am so JEALOUS! I would love to go back and check out NYC... I haven't been since I was a kid. I can't wait to hear all about their trip. I hope they took tons of pics! They went to visit Craig's uncle and his family on Long Island. (I have been there too) for Thanksgiving.
In other news... my hip is still SORE from my crash over the weekend. Hopefully it's healing. Weird... it hurt less than anything else the day of and a day or two after I wrecked but since I have been back to my workout routine and running I think it's irritating it. It hasn't been hurting while I am walking/running but afterwards. I will take it easy the next couple nights and see how it does!

Thanksgiving 2008 @ Stonyford

What a nice LONG weekend! I am happy to say we are HOME. I am SO exhausted but it was well worth it. I have to say the "company" was a little different (some not all!) but for the most part we had a great time camping, riding and partying! We camped with our friends Keith and Alicia. They knew one couple out of the ginormous group we camped with and that's about it. We made the best of it and enjoyed our holiday together. I had my two favorite men with me... Craig and Spenser and of course my favorite girls... Roxy and Daisy! =)

Stonyford is a lot different from where we normally camp. It's all dirt, rocks and trees... no soft sand. Which was kind of a bummer since I rolled my quad! YES I ROLLED IT (I do ride for those of you who may think I don't! LOL) I have never been so scared. I seriously thought I was going to have a broken rib or two. I hit a burm on the side of the trail and it pulled my tire and flipped me... I jumped off and landed on my stomach and the quad landed on my back. I have some "battle wounds". A few scrapes and bruises but thank GOD nothing was broken! Whew. My quad also has some scrapes and bruises! It was so pretty and "like new" now... not so much! It definately looks "loved". Oh well... better it than me =)

Me and my Man!

Alicia gettin' crazy on the turkey! It was SO GOOD.

Craig and I... just before my crash! My quad was still in good shape!

Spenser and I

Last but not least... the wreckage!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving a day early because I will be gone tomorrow! We are off on our Thanksgiving camping trip with friends. I just wanted to let you all know I love you and I hope you have a happy and safe holiday! Remember what you have and be thankful!

I am thankful for my family and friends. I don’t know what I would do without all of you! You make life worth living! And my “kids” of course =) XOXO!!!!!!

Slow weekend! (that's a good thing!)

What a nice, relaxing weekend. It felt so good to sit at home all day Saturday and Sunday and not have to leave! I did go grocery shopping Saturday morning (early) to beat the Thanksgiving rush. I am so glad I did! After that all I did was stay home clean a little (very little) and cook! Saturday night I made carne asada tacos… well Craig helped =) I can't take all the credit. I made homemade guac and pico de gallo! SO GOOD! Sunday I made breakfast for us and Spenser. Later I made lasagna for our Thanksgiving camping trip. We had to TEST it out to make sure it was ok to bring =) It’s perfect! Now we have a ton to get done before we leave! We are soooooo excited!

Here are a couple cute pics I took this weekend of our "kids"

DAISY!

ROXY!

 

Friday is finally here!

Can I just tell you how stoked I am that it's Friday! That's nothing new! I live for Fridays! I am off to have a cocktail after work with a friend then home to make carne asada tacos! Maybe I can get Craig to help me! I am sure he won't mind. And of course we can have more cocktails! Well... probably beer. I can't wait to have me a Sunset Wheat. I got them at BevMo last weekend and haven't even had ONE yet. It's so good. It's beer that tastes like it has blueberries in it! Maybe a girly beer but Craig liked it too... so there!

A lovely night together!

As you know, Craig and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last night. It was such a nice night. I got home to 2 red roses (one for each year!) and a really sweet card! We had a nice quiet dinner at our favorite… yep you guessed it CASA LUPE! We stopped and got a movie on the way home and relaxed for the rest of the night. It was very low key but we spent it together and that’s what it’s all about!

I am a lucky girl to have such an awesome husband!!!!

Happy 2 year anniversary to us!!!!

Wow… 2 years already? I can’t believe it! Time really does fly. Two years ago today we were probably still sleeping at this point (in tradition… Craig is probably still sleeping at this moment! LOL) but getting ready to say our vows and spend the rest of our lives together! A day we will never forget! We were married in South Lake Tahoe, CA on a gorgeous November day! The weather couldn’t have been better. We were afraid it might be cold and snowy but it was perfect! (See picture at the bottom of my page!) Craig and I are going to have dinner at our favorite place tonight. I can’t wait. I have to get my work out ON after work and head home to get all dolled up for my man! Do you think he will get “dolled up”? =) We’ll see!

We had such a nice weekend but it just wasn’t long enough for me. I could use a couple of extra days! I guess I will get those next week for Thanksgiving!
Friday night Craig and I stayed home and made some jerk chicken with pineapple salsa and Caribbean rice with pineapple chunks and black beans. MMM So good. I think it was even better because Craig helped! It’s nice to cook dinner together. Saturday I went to Roseville with Tiffany. We only stopped at the mall for lunch at Pluto’s (my fave!). We were on a mission and the mall wasn’t it (if you can believe that!) Our first stop was BevMo where they were having the “buy one get one for 5 cents” sale! We got some goodies. We had to make a quick stop at Target… that was interesting! Our next mission (after lunch) was Trader Joe’s. I have wanted to stop there for awhile now. I am always hearing what good stuff they have, so I made it a point to get there this weekend. That was the main purpose of the trip. I got some pre-made fondue, organic sour dough bread, fire roasted salsa, organic tortilla chips, almond butter and some organic wheat wraps. The salsa is so good… I haven’t gotten to try any of the other stuff but I will let you know!
We went to Jay and Andrea’s for UFC Saturday night and I am sad to say Randy Couture lost to Brock Lesner =( I heart Randy. Better luck next time. It was a good fight though. We had a great time!
Now it’s time to plan our anniversary (tomorrow) AND our annual Thanksgiving trip! Yippee!!!!!

Friday has arrived!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love a Friday. I love 5 O'Clock on Friday even more! So the day is finally here. We are going to kick back and relax tonight. Tomorrow we are going to Jay and Andrea's to watch the UFC 91. Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. Brock Lesner.
GO RANDY!!!!!!

What a morning... already!

Wow for a Tuesday morning... Veterans day I might add... it's already been a crazy one! Whew! Well at least that first hour flew by! Hopefully the rest of the day goes just as fast just maybe not as wild!
So yesterday was my dad's 51st birthday. The first birthday ever I haven't called or seen him. It's heartbreaking to say the least. I had the hardest time with it. I am sure I am the bad guy and I "ruined" his day and he is "disgusted" with me but I have my reasons. I just wish things could be different but something tells me that's not going to happen any time soon. I am just glad that day is over =(
On a lighter note... one week from today is my 2 year anniversary with my hubby! This is always a crazy time of year so I have no idea what we will do but to be honest I would be totally happy making a yummy dinner and vegging out for the night. We just had his birthday this past weekend (as you can read all about in my previous post) AND Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We will be spending that holiday camping with some friends. SO I have a lot to do to prepare for that!

Craig's 31st!!! Recovery required!

We had a great weekend! We had a surprise party for our friend JoAnn to go to at a local restaurant on Friday night. Saturday night was ALL about Craig! We went to the Happy Viking for dinner and way too many cocktails! The birthday boy had a little (a little is an understatement!) too much to drink! Between all of the different beers he tried (Happy Viking has 55 beers on tap) and the “birthday shots” people were buying for him he was hurting later that night and well into Sunday! I am happy to say Craig is feeling much better today! I don’t know if we will be visiting the Happy Viking any time soon! Craig wasn’t so “happy” LOL!
Here are some pics =)
Friday night first...

Me, The Birthday Girl... JoAnn and Cheri

Craig posing with a pretty flower LOL

The girls... housesitting Saturday night =)

Craig and Van

Jason got creative with Craig's gift!

Craig paid for this...

And this...

And this!

As you can see Craig was starting not to feel well about this point... on our way to ANOTHER bar. Poor guy! He's no spring chicken anymore =)

Craig's turning 31!

Craig is turning 31 this Saturday (November 8th to be exact!). This time last year I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to plan a surprise party for his 30th! (actually I had it the weekend before so that he wouldn't suspect anything!) It's hard to believe it's already been a year.

This year I think we will keep it low key and probably go to dinner with family and maybe I will surprise him with a confetti cake =) His fave! I got him a couple of lttle surprises but we just got a GINORMOUS 52" TV and Direct "HD" to go with it so he says that was his gift.

I can't wait to celebrate with him! We better not be out too late... he is getting old =)

Check out the cute cake I got him last year...


SURPRISE!!!!!

Bday cake anyone??

Halloween was a blast!

What a “HAPPY HALLOWEEN” LOL! Well we are back from our Halloween Weekend at Sand Mountain. We had such a good time! Lots of kids, dogs, candy, friends and family! Here are "a few" pics...

Family =)

Hulk-a-Mania

The girls...dressed up. Daisy was a Hooters girl and Roxy just had a pumpkin shirt!

Tiffany, Deidra and I

Hooter's anyone?

US!

Coolest pumpkin ever!

Roxy, Daisy and their friend Jax

Deidra and I

Tiffany and I

Tiffany, BIG ED, Me and Steve # something... there were at least 5 STEVES!

ME and some "trick or treaters"

I dunno!

I heart my brother!

The girlz!

TRIPLETS!

Off in the Rhino

Me and D at the top of Sand MT!

Craig and I at the top