2008 in Review...

I stole this idea from my fellow blogger friend Lisa. This is my 3rd year of doing it! I love to go back and look at what we've done over the past year. I should do it more often, but don't.

(Go back to the first post of each month in 2008 and copy the first sentence or two).

January:
Here's a picture of Roz and Rebecca in June '06. She passed away from cancer early this morning. I will miss her dearly.
February:
Thanks for the inspirtation 'Lisa Momma'. You're toy room looked so good, I had to go get an organizer for Rebecca's room.
March:
I am so proud of this picture. These guys not only fighting this battle in Iraq to make our world safer, but battleing this war against cancer too!
April:
Relay was great, but glad it's over!
May:
Well I thought I would update you all on my move to Bakersfield. For those who don't know, my husband is taking a new job because the company he is working for now filed Bankruptcy 2 years ago and is not going to continue building the power plants my husband engineers for.
June:
Finally. Things are getting unpacked slowly but surely. Starting to feel like home, somewhat. Trying to get the phone and internet hooked up but there's issues with the lines in the house.
July:
I haven't had a chance to download all these pictures and post them so here they are. Rebecca had a end of school year program and they did so well.
August:
I've been meaning to post these for a while for Grandma and Grandpa Gairing. Thanks for the violin!!! She's got it down and sounds good for not knowing how to play.
September:
Miss Lisa I can never thank you enough for fixing my blog and making it beautiful again. You are the best!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!
October:
Well we really don't know the real reason my brother died. They're saying it was 'Cardiac arrest with extinuating circumstances'. We're waiting an autopsy to find out.
November:
Halloween was fun and busy. It started off with a parade and party at Rebecca's school. All the Kindergarteners and first graders got to wear their costumes and have a parade for all the parents.
December:
Well it's that time of year again. Relay for Life of Hemet. I had a great year last year being the Event Chair. It was quite the responsibility, but one I will never regret.

Sin City...Here we come!

Headed to Vegas tomorrow to spend New Years Eve! I'm so excited to go since I've 'really' never been. I say that because we worked a job in Kingman, AZ. and we went to Vegas once for a concert to see Ted Nugent at the MGM Grand. So other than that Hotel, I didn't see the rest of the city. I've also driven through there...on the interstate, so that doesn't really count. And I've been to the airport and that's it. So tomorrow I'm considering it my 1st time.

We're going because Joe's mom is flying in for a week and we got a killer deal on airline tickets from Missoula, MT to Vegas ($71 One way on Allegiant Airlines). They had her coming in on the 1st, so why not go the day before and spend New Years Eve? This will only compare to the New Years we spent in Hawaii, so far that tops my list! I've had a few good ones too! LOL!

It's funny, because just last month I planned a Birthday weekend in Vegas for my Birthday in March, since I had never been and we're so close. Now what do I do? Ha! It's called our 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas Weekend!'. Ha ha! My girlfriends from down South and I are going to meet there. A few of the hubby's may come too...we'll see! Any of my Blogger friends wanna come???? You are more than welcome. I say the more the merrier!

I'm one of those rare married woman that LOVE her In-laws...all of them! (Hello...I know you're reading this...Ha! Ha!). Really, I love you guys...the Montana ones and the Houston ones!

See ya next year!

Happy Birthday Roz...

One year ago today...

Today you would've been 70. I am thinking of you today as I do everyday. Miss you.

Christmas Slideshow

Wanted to share & Wish you a Merry Christmas!

Take a look at this article on my Scrapbooking Club!

Merry Christmas all!

A night of Christmas Caroling!

One of the parents in Rebecca's class who lives right behind us, invited to go Christmas Caroling with them this year. This is the 4th year they've done it. And it was SO MUCH FUN!!! It's really too bad that neighborhoods don't do this more often. I remember doing it as a kid with the Church and we did it during the day. They had a trailer with bales of hay on it for the kids to ride one in between houses. They also had speakers in the back of the truck BLARING Christmas music. The trailer was even equipped with lights. It was really cute seeing the excitement in the kids faces. And it was funny when they got up there and started singing and only knew a little bit of the song. But for the most part they knew all the major songs like Frosty, Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. But when you got to I wish you a Merry Christmas, the song dwindled off after the first part. Ha ha! Too cute and way too much fun!
Enjoy the pictures. And if I don't blog before then, hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Be safe out on the roads! Love to you all!

Check it Out!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Scrapbook Layout...

Here's a layout I did today with the pictures I took yesterday. Just thought I'd share with you. Enjoy!

Rebecca's Christmas Pictures...

I hope this women is 'cursed' with Twins or Triplets...

...which would be a JOY or a miracle for most of us!

(Click on the picture to enlarge it!)

Need I say more????
Thanks Sarah for sending this to me!

A clean mouth is a happy mouth...

...as per Spongebob! Ha! It was funny. Last Wednesday I took Rebecca to the dentist and this was the show she watched before leaving. Spongebob going to the dentist. She thought it was great.
Rebecca got a clean bill of health at the dentist. No cavities and she did a great job of brushing because she had hardly no plaque around her teeth. She's already got her 2 bottom 6 year old molars popping through. So her top ones shouldn't be far behind. Her X-rays showed all her teeth coming in behind her baby teeth.



Ok, so me on the other hand, went the day before. I have 1 cavity that gets filled tomorrow. How does a 5 year old brush better than me? Go figure.

So my life just got easier...

So yesterday Rebecca made a mess with her crackers on the floor. I was in the kitchen and I just said "You should go get the vacuum and vacuum those up." The next thing I know I hear the vacuum on and she's actually doing it! I had NO idea she even knew what to do with the darn thing.

Slideshow

Last Tuesday the Kindergarteners got to have an American Indian Day. All November they were learning about the Indians and Pilgrims and why we have Thanksgiving. This is a cute thing the school has been doing for many year. Unfortunately, this may be last due to budget cuts. I was able to go in and help the week before with the cosutmes, so I made the dresses and vest the kids are wearing (for our class only). They're just died pillowcases. I cute fringe and beaded them up. Too cute. We also made the head bands and drums. Another parent helped with the papooses.

And here is a cute video of some of the program they did. I recorded it on my camera so the quality and the photographer aren't that good. Ha!

My Tree and Fireplace...

I painted this last week at the ceramic store. My mother had one.

My tree. I wished you could see the lights. They're red and white.

My fireplace. It's still a work in progress as I need to find another box out in the garage with other things in there.

Relay For Life 2009...Here we come!

Well it's that time of year again. Relay for Life of Hemet. I had a great year last year being the Event Chair. It was quite the responsibility, but one I will never regret. The only reason I didn't do again this year is because we moved. It really is a position where you have to be there. However, I'm the Online chair this year and keeping up with the website. It's something I dont' have to be there to do and I get to do my part and still be a part of the Relay that was my baby for over a year. We broke lots of 'records' with our Relay. I guess records isn't the exact word for it, but we were a great Relay. Last year I got the Rising Star Award (I couldn't have done it though without my committee...they deserved the recognition just as much), and just last month at this years ACS Summit in LA our Relay was given the 'Cirlce of Excellence' award. I wished I could've been there to accept it but since I went last year I couldn't. You can only go once. My Relay is even going to make it in a video the ACS is putting out on how we did it. I'm quite proud of it and hope the New Chair has just as much success. I'm helping out as much as I can and giving her pointers where I can.
Anyway, check out our website: www.relayforlife.org/hemetca. If you get the urge to donate to my team, check out Family of HOPE.

Christmas...Here I come!

So Thanksgiving was GREAT! My great friend Michelle and her kids came on Monday and stayed until Friday. It was a lot of fun having them here and were grateful she drove all the way up here to spend it with us. I wished I could say I took a lot of pictures but as it turns out I didn't take any at all.
It was an exhausting week or two to say the least. All last week I worked up at Rebecca's school sorting and organizing canned goods the students brought in for needy families. Then on Monday I delivered to all of them...by myself. I was suppose to have helpers but no one showed up. I was super tired by the end of the day...and bruised up. It was worth it to see the grateful families I delivered to.
Wednesday I put up the Christmas tree and holiday decorations inside. I usually do it on Thanksgiving day, but this year I wanted to get it over with since we had so much to do on Thursday.
I started working on the turkey that morning at 7 am and we cooked all day long and looked at black Friday ads. Rebecca hadn't been feeling well in a few days, complaining of stomach aches and this night it seemed to be worse. So at 10:30 we took her to the ER hoping it wasn't appendicitis or something more serious. So after 4 hours of waiting (we got in quickly, but then an old man came in that needed some serious help and we were glad to wait), peeing in a cup, 2 vials of blood drawn and a chest x-ray, it turned out to be nothing but Acid Reflux. We're grateful it was nothing more serious. Now she just has to take a Prilosec if her tummy starts to hurt.
We got up and went shopping on Black Friday at about 8:30 and hit a few stores and got 90% of Rebecca's shopping done. This is the first year I can say I did that and it makes me happy. Just a few more things to get and a bit of wrapping and I'm all done. Even got all my Christmas cards done and they're ready for stamps on Monday. I'm WAY ahead of the game this year and I love it.
Tonight we put the lights up outside and it's beautiful. Every year for a while now I've always put up Blue Icicle lights. But this year I got multi-colored icicles and put different color lights on all the bushes. I have one purple, one blue, one yellow and two green. I love it. I put my 2 white lighted spiral trees out front. I'll take a picture and post soon.
Wednesday Rebecca had an American Indian day at school. They (all the Kindergarteners) were so cute dressed up as Indians and going from craft center to craft center learning how the Indians did things. I worked the bead center and they got to make necklaces out of colored pasta. It was quite fun to watch. I'll post pictures and video of that too...tomorrow if I get around to it.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

So sad for her best Friend Michelle...

Please pray for my best Friend Michelle. She needs all the strength she can get to get through the loss of her dear son Blake (the very handsome young man in the red). I love you girl. I'm here for you if you need me.

OUCH!!!!! %$@#&*!!!!!!!!!

So I'm on my way down South today for a Birthday party tomorrow for my little Pumpkin who's turning 1! (Happy Birthday little man!). So Rebecca and I stop at Targe to get her the new Kung Foo Panda to watch on the 3 hour trip. While there I realized I forgot somthing and we went back home to get it and to potty one last time. So while I'm trying to open the stinking video (they wrap them up so tight and put a million peices of tape on it) with a knife. I was in a hurry to get on the road and I slipped and off goes the top of my thumb.



This is a picture from Joe's phone. You can't really tell how bad it is because I put the flap back on the finger instead of it hanging there. I tried to lift it back off for the picture, but I couldn't bring myself to do it and Joe couldn't take the picture...MR. Queezy! I had to send it to my girlfriend so she didn't think I was trying to get out of going...she knows how much I hate that drive. LOL.
So It wouldn't quit bleeding and I was afraid that the skin would die and fall off so I had better get to the Urgent Care.
Get there and it's empty...the Dr. is sitting there watching Football. Ha. It was nice to not have to wait since it hurt so friggin' bad.
He decided it needed a couple of stitches but couldn't get some debris out from under the flap. Debris??? Yes people, I used a dirty knife from the sink to open the video. So he couldn't get it out and had to take the flap off all together. So now I have this gapping hole on the end of my finger that hurts like hell!
So now the numbing solution is wearing off and the pain is setting in.

My Scrapbooking Blog...

So I became a Stampin' Up consultant recently. Mostly for personal use than anything else. But on the hopes I can get a few orders to help me reach my quarterly goal, I started another blog. Check it out! You can also click on the link on my sidebar to see it.

Also, I've decided to make 'Layouts' for others. So I'll be posting things on there for people to order and then I'll make it and send it. I can do special orders or they can send me a layout they like and I can replicate it. And I can make full books as well.

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but only just now finding the time to do it.

Anyway, instead of clogging up my personal blog with my scrapbooking layouts, I'll be putting them on there instead of on here.

Hope to see some subscribers to my Get to Stampin' blog even if you don't order!

Some scrapbook layouts I did this weekend

Some friends came up this weekend and we did some scrapbooking. Here's a couple of layouts I did.

Halloween...

Halloween was fun and busy. It started off with a parade and party at Rebecca's school. All the Kindergarteners and first graders got to wear their costumes and have a parade for all the parents. It was fun seeing all the kids so excited and cute! Then back to the classroom for a donut and juice before a quick recess then back for the party. The party was good. We had 4 stations of crafts, science experiments, cupcake decorating and a good ole game of Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin! The party was good! All the kids loved it.

Then obviously that night was Trick-or-Treating. Joe and Rebecca went while I stayed home and handed out candy...My favorite part.


The front of our house!

Check out our STINKY SKUNK! She knew she wanted to be a skunk this summer when we got her a 'WEBKINZ' skunk.

Pewwww Weeee! Our little skunk!

Me and our Trick-or-Treater

Her make-up. She reminds me of one of the Org's in 'Lord Of The Rings'...LOL!

Her little friends at the school parade that day.

Lily and Rebecca in class.

Then on Saturday, we took it easy and I let Rebecca make some homemade Peanut Butter cookies. I helped with the beating but she did most of it. And she was really proud. They turned out great and tasted wonderful!