Long or Short?

Winter Wonderland

After this Christmas I can tell you I am a Cali girl through and through. And a sunny, snow free, Cali girl. I loved having a white Christmas...but trying to get out of that white Christmas was the most frustrating thing! We drove up to Pinecrest on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, trying to make snowmen out of the fresh powder (impossible!) and playing pool.

Our attempt at a snowman...

Allen shoveling us out Christmas morning

Looking down the road from the cabin.

The craziness of Christmas started when we woke up to no power. We used the bbq on the deck to make oatmeal and grill some toast. It was still delicious - but very interesting.
After 2 hours of shoveling my car out of the fresh snow, my chains decided they wanted to break on me right in the middle of the road. After taking them off and my dad trying to fix them (Dad- you are the biggest lifesaver I know! Thank you so much for laying in the freezing snow for me for hours and hours and hours), my dad took one of his chains off his car to check and see if it would fit mine. No luck. After all this wonderfulness, my cousin ended up driving us down the hill to buy more chains. $146 & a hour later - I have a chain that fits! We got the chain on...got through about 50ft of thick snow, only to have it fall off. My poor dad helped us put it on again and we were on our way. On the way up to the cabin we hit some ice and spun out and both of us being "non-snow drivers" - it really scared the bejeez out of us so I had my dad drive my car down the hill. It was a slow, and still scary drive but we defineitly weren't driving sideways like we were on the way up!

All in all I was very happy to be up there and I was glad to be with my family since I was the only child with my parents this year. My dad and I talked about how we probably would never have the whole family together for Christmas again and that was pretty sad. I say we plan Christmas on the east coast next year...eh??

'Tis the season to give thanks

I stole this from Emily, but encourage you all to participate :)

I am thankful for...

A-Allen - he has such a sweet heart, he loves me and knows absolutely everything about me.
B-Brothers. I love hangin with my brothers.
C-Chocolate & Coke products...both are a must.
D-My dogs. All 3 can make my day every time I get to see them. They always know when you don't feel good.
E-Eating....haha. Right now I can't eat everything in site which is what you are supposed to do this holiday!
F-Family. Family is everything. I love my family more than anything!
G-Grandmas
H-Hugs. Have to have them!
I-Ice cream! It can make any day better.
J-Jars of fresh jam...nothing better than homemade strawberry jam
K-Kind-Hearted people. I wish I could be more like some people!
L-Laughing. Times are always good when everyone is laughing.
M-Money. It doesn't make you happy, but it keeps a roof over my head and a roof over my head.
N-News. I'm addicted.
O-Online ( I couldn't take away Ice cream haha ) - helps me keep connected with all my friends and family.
P-Prayer! It works!
Q-Quarters. They make me happy.
R- Restaurants. I love going out to eat.
S-Sundays. Always a fun day that I get to spend with Allen
T-Thanksgiving dinner...all my favorite foods. I eat Thanksgiving all year long!
U-Unbelievable stories of courage and love that once I started reading, couldn't put down. I love that I still get to see a little of the story continue on.
V-Vacations! Not laying in your bed trying to recover from surgery vacations either!
W-Work. As much as we all love working, I'm thankful to have a job especially during this hard time.
X-tended family =)
Y-Your blogs...I LOVE reading them.
Z-zzzz sleeping!! I like to sleep

It's funny all the things you think of when you are trying to think of the hard ones. I could go back and add so many more now. I hope you guys are having a good Thanksgiving week. I am so thankful for all of you and each little thing you do to influence my life! Happy Thanksgiving!

Amazing....

Well....most of you probably don't know, but I am slightly obsessed with reading the news. Mostly online - it's crazy all the things you can read. Anyway...California is going crazy with this Prop 8. I am so ready for it to end and so astonished at how many articles I read DAILY about Mormons & Prop 8. I have a horrible way with words most times, but an AWESOME woman I "blogger stalk" (well, I just told her so I guess it isn't stalking anymore) has a completly amazing way of expressing EXACTLY how I feel. If all of us could just understand one another, the world would be a much happier place. Go here and read this post and all the comments.

She's Baaack

Well...it's been a while! A long while! You can blame it on the Crackberry! =)I am completely addicted. I pretty much didn't even open my laptop for a good 4 months unless I really needed to. I can do everything on there!! Plus, I am on the computer all day at work! Anyway....I still read all yours post...it's just a little more difficult to comment! I thought since this really is a way for my family to find out what the heck I'm up to, I should probably update it more! A couple HUGE things have been going on!

I am living back in Sacramento and loving it. I will admit, I miss my parents a little (it was nice to be so close, always have good food etc.) but I still visit and of course see my dad on a daily basis!

This election was a huge one, and I wont get into how I feel about the outcome...but the most important part of the election for me, and why I voted for the first time, was Prop 8. I have to say it was a hard subject for me since a good portion of the people my age were voting No on 8. I am not a political person whatsoever, but this is something I knew everything about and knew it was 100% the right thing to do, so had to voice my opinion about it! I think we are extremely blessed that is has passed and hopefully *fingers crossed* it will not come up again!

Another huge thing is that I spent about 6 hours in the ER this weekend to find out I have gallstones! I woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain. We headed to the ER and after many questions, morphine and ultrasounds, they let me know I needed to get my gallbladder removed! This would explain why I feel horrible after every time I eat! So, I will be having surgery on the 21st of this month to remove my gallbladder! Yay, blogging time! I will be out of work for 10 days! yikes! The doctor suggested 2 weeks, but I just can't afford to take that much time off since I think I only have about 8 hours of paid time off right now. Bad timing!Thankfully I will be having the surgery above, where they only make 4 small incisions instead of one large one. That will make my recovery time a lot easier!

SUPER post - part THREE

We spent Mother's Day at our cousins Jeff & Elena's this year. They also had another family over to share in the festivities. It was really nice and relaxing. We bbq'd and lounged outside all day. The weather was so nice.

Ben's card to his Grandma Red. Super cute!

Elena & I

After eating, we had a huge putting contest which was really fun.

Daniel & I

SUPER post - part TWO

Second, I have to thank my friend Christine who has also been a big support for me. Last Saturday she took me the the Jo Dee Messina concert....which was amazing!!
She performed at the Dixon May Fair which is like hick town compared to where we live, but it made good for some serious people watching!

Jo Dee pretty much sang every song I ever needed to hear at that moment. She sounded exactly like her CD's which makes it soo much better. I am now addicted to all of her songs and sing them very loud in my car on the way to work. haha :)

We got there wayy too early as you can see, and by the time she got on stage it was freezing!

Thank goodness we could run back out to the car and get blankets and jackets. I definitly wasn't expecting the cold after the 90 degree afternoon!