Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

'Tis the season to be crazy- fa la la la la la la la la! Was that enough la's? I am lovin' this blog thing because it gives me an excuse to not send the cards that I didn't buy! I don't know if you have noticed, but I never send out cards! It's just not my thing! The truth is that I am too unorganized! So...here is my first card in years, blog style!

So, let's see, where do I start?

James still has his job. This seems to be the great accomplishment of the year! He is still working as the pharmacy manager at the hospital here. Our family is blessed to have such a good hard worker to support our family! We love and appreciate him so much! He is still the secretary of E.Q. at church which keeps him very busy too. He still play soccer when he can, and we are all looking forward to some winter sports soon. James helps me out so much! And last but not least, he is so dang cute and funny! I am constantly entertained by him.


I still have my job! As long as I have kids to take care of and clean up after, my job is pretty secure! I stay very busy herding my kids around from place to place. Since I am slightly unorganized, I tend to create extra unnecessary drama for myself on a daily basis. I love my job as a Mommy and Wife. I get to learn so many new things every day! I am actually not doing anything new to brag about at the moment. I am trying to simplify my life. I do have to brag about our basement finishing skills though. We worked so hard and we have a whole new outlook on life now.

Christian is 9 and in 4Th grade now. Christian is getting straight A's in school! He loves sports, music, reading and anything Star Wars. He is very helpful at home, and is starting to babysit for us sometimes. He is a very kind and generous boy who is very sensitive. He is also very curious, he is always asking us questions about everything.

Taylor Jo is 8 and in 2ND grade this year. She is also getting straight A's in school! She is in a Gifted and Talented program to help keep her from being bored in school. Taylor loves anything about animals! She also loves cheer leading, music, reading and socializing. She is our social butterfly! She is always happy and very generous! She is very artistic and likes to create things. She got baptized in October which was really fun for her and her dad.

Averi is in Kindergarten now. She is loving being in school every day. As always her favorite part of school is riding the bus. This year she has really gained a lot of skills. She knows her phone number, and address. She loves to spell and she really likes to have us quiz her on words and counting. She can count to 100 by 1's, 5's, and 10's. She of course loves the piano! She is still a little behind on some of her social and age appropriate stuff, but we are working on it. She is of course as sweet as ever!

We are just fat and happy here in our neck of the woods! We are actually looking forward to the new year because church starts at 11:00 instead of 9:00! We are excited to set new goals and hope that each new year brings us more success than the last!

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Here is a small glimpse of our daily life! (pause the music player)

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!!!!

So...here I go whining again! WHAT'S NEW?!? (before you read this I feel I need to mention that I just took a Lortab for my violent sore throat before writing this! Read at your own risk!)

There's nothing like having your fat rolls plastered on national television to help with the getting "healthy (aka. skinny)" motivation! I guess I know what my "resolution" will be in '09! The timing of filming Mystery Diagnosis show was perfect! I got to show off the 25 lbs. I had found that had been lost in the 12 months prior to us filming that show! Thank goodness I found them, my belly, butt and chin were feeling naked! The good news is that I think I am enjoying being a happy fat person more than I was enjoying being a "thinner mean, evil, starving, cranky woman"! I don't know if it's worth the humiliation though. I doubt that James enjoys the permanent PMS symptoms I experience when I am starving myself either-it's a "catch 22"! I always have the back up plan of eating milkshakes every meal until I'm eligible for lap band- that could be fun! I would be able to have my cake and eat it too-if you know what I mean-(wink wink)! JUST KIDDING! With my luck I would die of a sugar coma before I could get the lap band and I would be too embarrassed to attend my own funeral-how mortifying! NOT A GOOD PLAN!

Our T.V. debut tonight was overall pretty good! I was annoyed about some of the info. they changed and the weird stuff they made us say. They made me look like a cold hearted snake! Worst of all they plastered my hair to my forehead so I didn't have flyaways on film. COME ON PEOPLE! I sat in a directors chair for 6 HOURS and I could have really used a makeup person and a xanax, not a hairspray person! What ever happened to airbrushing?

HOWEVER...

I am so blessed to have spent that time with my family and it is wonderful that Averi's story is out there for other people to learn from! I thinkmy family did a great job, and I am so grateful for the time that everyone took to help with the show! I love seeing the video, and it is great family history stuff. Thanks a million to everyone again! We love ya! When I am dying, I won't remember my fat rolls, but I will cherish every second spent with my family. I AM TRULY BLESSED!

Sorry about whining! Dang it! It just comes SO natural! Does anyone want to join a "biggest loser" club with me? I promise I won't make you wear spandex and put your fat rolls on national television!

What did I do to deserve this?

I HAVE TO BLOG THIS!!!!!

Here is my day today:

1) Wake up feeling like a semi-truck hit me again!

2) Followed James to take the Armada to the "shop" cuz it's not working right.

3) Drove James to work in our Intrepid and started to drive home.

4) Put the window lock on because Averi was rolling down the window and it was too cold.

5) Got Averi ready for school and was excited to rest a little cuz I'm sick!!!!!

6) Drove Averi to the end of our road to catch her bus (it was too cold to walk,cuz I was sick) !

7) Got out of the car to get Averi out to catch her bus shut my door and hear a click!

8) Discovered that the click was the EVIL Intrepid that loves to lock itself when you get out of it for no reason! This has happened to me twice this month!

9) Freaked out because Averi and the keys were locked in!

10) Called James to tell him to bring home the keys and help me-then he told me he had no car to drive home in...DUH!!!

11) Felt like my head was going to explode while I was banging it on the car window!

12) Thought "OH-I will just have Averi roll down the window from the inside" then thought "Oh s***! I locked that too!"

12) Had to wait for James to borrow a car and come home, then I had to drive Averi to school looking like "death warmed over" (more like road kill warmed over)!

13) Mad as heck came home and decided to have raisin bran for lunch and inhaled a raisin! I started choking to death with my Mom and Sister on the phone. Luckily I saved myself somehow, but unfortunately peed my pants while I was choking (not that you want to know that part, but it really added to the story-this happens to women who have had babies when they sneeze, puke, cough, jump or almost choke to death, it's not my fault).

So...tomorrow should be better right!?! Yeah, we'll see!

I'm Baaaaa-aaaaack!

Hallefreakin'lujah! Is that disrespectful? Probably huh? Sorry! But it is really how I feel inside right now! I have been running a fever all night, so if I am incoherent, it is because I am incoherent! Anyway, I said the "aforementioned" Hallelujah because our basement is finally finished (well...mostly)! It is a dream come true!

We have had such a busy and quite crappy month actually. We have all been sick (and it feels like I am sick AGAIN), I have had kids home for 2 weeks while trying to finish up our basement before Thanksgiving (which I actually enjoyed some one-on-one time with them). We had been working until all hours of the mornings painting, tiling, and whatevering we started neglected our kids REALLY BAD! Taylor said to me one day, "mom, we don't even talk to you any more" sad huh? So...now we are veggin' out and being lazy with the kids enjoying our new house.

I need to send a "shout out" to our contractor James who did a fantastic job! He is really talented. And...to my mom and dad who helped us a ton! We are so grateful for all of the help we had. I am too tired to whine about all of the crud we encountered, but overall, everything came together surprisingly well. We are now experts at laying tile, chair railing, painting, hanging cabinets, and caulking and spackling. Well...maybe not experts, but we can do it and make it look alright I guess.

So...here are the big pictures: TA-DA....

Family room


bathroom (obviously)

Kids play room (I LOVE THIS)

reading room under the stairs in playroom

Jame's startling orange exercise room

My guestroom/office

Well, toodles for now! This won't be the last you hear from me!

P.S.-If you can read this you will find out that our Mystery Diagnosis show comes on Dec. 8th. We have previewed it, and just remember that the camera adds 30 lbs., and makes my hair look really weird. Funny huh?!