Happy Christmas

We celebrated Christmas eve with Ryan's side of the family up at his parents house. We had so much food you would have thought we were feeding an army. We sat around the tree and opened all the gifts. we got lift tickets from stacey and her family to go snowboarding on Mt Hood, Ryan got a bunch of Coke collectable stuff to add to his ever growing stash. He got some new Saw horse's, i got some cloths. We gave Every one framed family pictures from the wedding (that i finally got printed). after the gift opening we all grab a copy of the night before christmas and follow along as it is read. We had a great time and its so good to have family close at the holidays. 

Ready to read the Night Before Christmas

Christmas morning Ryan and i woke up and exchanged gifts with just us, it was great, I got ryan some shirts and new jammies, he practically lives in comfy pants if he isn't at work. Ryan got me a pair of super comfy and warm slippers, they are amazing! and some cook books, and new snowboarding cloths. 

Ryan looking so excited with his gift.

Me showin off the new slippers. Yeah!

Ry loves funny shirts from AE.

We then headed to my dad's house where we had breakfast with Dad and Brady and opened more gifts. Brady brought up all the gifts from my family and we had tons to opne. Daddy made an awesome pancake eggs and bacon breakfast...it was delicious. 

Brady ready for a nap.

Opening more presents.

Showing off the gifts.  Ryan got dirty jobs, and NCIS. We got a little dirt devil vaccum, and family pictures in a super cute frame. Ry got a new Football, and brady got a yard of Bubble Gum...yes thats right a yard. The kid loves candy.   We all went to see Sherlock Holmes at the theater later that afternoon, and it was great. Loved it.  

We went to Mt Hood snowboarding the next day with dad, brady and Ryan's friend Ross and his girlfriend. We had such a good day, it was beautiful weather. Sunny and not to cold. Ryan hadn't been up on the mountain in 6 years, my dad hadn't been up skiing in 17 years! it was crazy. I did lots of falling down. my sad little body has been sore ever since. we had a great time. It was a great christmas and we are so thankful for the friends and family that were there both in person and in spirit.

Christmas came with a BANG

SO im starting off this blog with some nice pictures of our christmas at our house. the Redneck tree and the beautiful flower we got that finally bloomed.

Take extra care to notice that there are really pretty white lights on the top. Its our snow.

The front of the flowers, there are now 4 blooms. they are so pretty and guess what, They are PINK!

So, on my way to work on Wednesday morning i had just left the house, i was just mindin my own business and driving slow cause it was icey out, well on the first s curve to get me off the hill and on my way to work i hit a bad patch of ice and slide around the corner and into the ditch. it was so scary.  The crazy thing is that a guy driving a white ford explorer had done the exact same thing about a half hour before i came down the hill and he was already in the ditch.  I smashed into the back of him when i went into the ditch.

I have some pictures but because it was so foggy the camera tried to focus on that.  my car is the black one, and the ditch is about 3 feet deep so the angles of the cars are a little werid.

And after all that, this is the only damage done to my car. Just a little crack in the plastic bumber.

I am very thankful that things didn't turn out worse. I am blessed and know that i was being protected and guided to the side of the road as safely as possible. I am grateful for my husband who i woke up with a hysterical phone call that he came to my rescue and helped me and let me know that everything was going to be ok.  It was not the start to the holidays we were looking for, but it could have been so much worse.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!

The weeks before Christmas

Last weekend we discovered that our littlest family members, the kittens, were sick. *graphic kitty sickness alert*  when ryan came home from work on thursday night little dexter puked on the kitchen floor.  Being the ever inquizitive man that he his, ryan decided to poke around in it to find out what made him sick.  He found a piece of really pretty green ribbon and a really nasty, still alive, WORM!!  Glad i was sound asleep for the discovery.  We called the vet first thing friday morning and had to take the poor dude in.  Apparently cats get worms all the time and because these two kittens were outside in a garage when they were born until we took them home the vet seems to think they have had worms the whole time!  GROSS. anyways, the nice vet lady showed us how to use the pill giver thing that shoves the pill down their throat so they can't spit it out. We had to treat both cats so they don't keep passing it back and forth.  

Once we got back home and had given stella her medication i decided that both cats needed a bath. they were smelly and shedding a ton and dexter had a bad case of dandruf.  so into the kitchen sink they went.
You probably think im crazy for bathing 1 cat let alone 2, but the aftermath and having to very clean kittnes was so worth the bath ryan and i got attempting this.  Here are some pictures of our poor kittens gettin a bath.

We fnally got our christmas tree up and lights on it. it only took us a little more than a week. Ryan's mom and dad gave us a bunch of boxes from ryan's childhood full of handmade school ornaments and it was fun to go through them with ry. We picked our favorites and we put them up on the tree.

We ran out of green clear twinkly lights about 2/3rds of the way up the tree, so redneck as my husband is we decided to have a snow topped christmas tree and used white lights for the top.  its silly i know, but I love it. Its Our first tree and i couldn't be happier.

Ryan's nephew Dawson turned 5 on saturday Dec 12 and we had a little family party for him at Players Bowling.  Grandparents from both sides and stacey's whole family and us were there. It was a lot of fun. I hate to admit it, but it turns out that i am the worst bowler in the family. Even compared to the 5 year old.  we had a blast and Dawson got a ton of cool things for his birthday. here are some pictures of our adventures at Players

Dawson showing off his game card for his birthday.

Ryan, Nanna and Pappa and baby Nixon

Pappa showing Dawson which ball to pick

Cowboy Ryan, to bad you can't see the super awesome bowling shoes

Dawson opening his presents

Cant wait for christmas, lots of last minute shopping and a good stand in line at the UPS store to mail them all home. hope you have a great week before christmas!

Thanks Giving Family Fun

We celebrated Thanks Giving with Ryans family on Thrusday. We brought my dad along for the feast and we had a really great day.  There were about 10 adults and 5 or 6 little kidlets running around.  Baby Nixon walking all over the house just as happy as can be, and Dawson excited to have cousins close to his age to play with from his dad's side of the family.  Here are a few pictures of the family and feast.

Nixon ready for some grub

Don ready to carve the roast beast (turkey actually)

The family picture that will soon be on a christmas card i bet.

My daddy

This picture is a veiw from the top of the hill we live on looking down at the vineyard and the nursery. The yellow is the vines from the grapes and the red and other colors are from the nursery, its beautiful to drive around right now if you can catch a day without rain.

My husband seems to have an obsession with finding free things off the intrenet from craigslist or ebay or somewhere and going to get them and turning them into something amazing.   Well he found his next project and spent the weekend at the coast in Lincoln city tearing apart an old 5th wheel trailer.  His plan is to turn it into a flat bed trailer he can eventually use to haul cars or lumber or the tractor.  This is an idea of what it used to look like

So Ross and Ryan went crazy and ripped apart this old 5th wheel. Ry took down his truck and his big trailor that is like 24 feet long.  When they got to the coast to look at this trailor and start working on it they found out that it is really 32 feet long. this trailor hung off ryan's trailor by 12 feet! Thats longer than my car.  I didn't go with him to do all this and he forgot to take the camera so they only pictures i have are of the whole set up when he finally got it home. 

Close up of the trailor on top of the trailor. what a redneck thing to do.

The tires of the 5th wheel thing are on the very edge of the big trailor and it still hangs off 12 feet!

We also went this weekend to pick out our christmas tree.  We decided that for our frist christmas together, since we don't have very much decoration stuff and no tree yet, that we would get a real one this year and go to the after christmas sells and buy a pre-light fake tree.  Off we went to a you-cut place where you wonder around in the mud and cold and find a tree you like and chop it down.  My redneck husband decideds that the little hand saw's aren't good enough...he needed his chain saw.

This is the tree we picked out.  a 7ish foot tall Noble fur tree. its so pretty. 

Ry and Ross chopping down our christmas tree.

And then my HE-Man of a husband decided that instead of waiting for the guy in the little 4-wheeler trailor to come get our tree he would just carry it back up the hill.  crazy dude.   The tree is now safely inside the garage "drying off" says ryan.  Hopefully we can bring it in the house and get it all cute and holidayish tonight.  im so excited!  Happy Holidays friends and Family!

This week is Thanksgiving. And as it just so happens, i have a lot to be thankful for. 
Two Fridays ago Ryan, my amazing husband, planned a big suprise for me.  He usually works every friday night and has to be there about 530. well, on this particular friday night he told me that we had other plans and was not needed at work until later that night. I was suspicious, but didn't let it take away from the surprise.  Ryan took me down town to a tiny little whole in the wall Sushi place where we met up with a group of friends and an awesome diner. Ryan doesn't even like sushi.  The things that man would do for me because he loves me. Excellent gyoza and everything. man oh man it was yummy....  from there we headed to the Memorial collesum where we magically had tickets for JEFF DUNHAM!

 it was amazing. I was totally taken by surprise.  I was the only one in our group that had no idea what was happening or where we were going.  We had such a good time. At the end of the concert Jef Fa Fa brought out the CEO of the Oregon food banks and gave her a check for 25,000 dollars! it was amazing. He got a standing Ovation. Ryan is an amazingly thoughtful guy and would do anything for me. Im so glad that he got to have a friday night off where we could hang out with friends and not be at the bar.

We are in the process of picking out paint and carpet colors...what a chore that is truning out to be. We get a bunch of colors we think we like and bring them home and lay them on the floor...and nothing is what we expected it to be.  This color is to purple, this color looks green, this is to fluffy of carpet, this is to hard.Trying to figure out what kind of carpet to get let alone a color is a whole other job.  We are hoping to close on the sale of the house in the next 2 or 3 weeks.  The holidays fast approching make the schedule a little harder to work with.  We also have a wood burning fireplace in the front room that is red brick. we had to have the chimney swept.  kind of fun to watch.  lots of soot and charcoal. good thing that kittnes were at the vet getting fixed or we would have charcoal all over the house. 

This year Ryan and I decided to spend the holidays here in Oregon so i will not be seeing my mom or that side of the family in Utah for christmas.  Im trying to be brave about it and enjoy the family i have here.  We are having Thanksgiving at Stacey's house with Ryan's mom and dad, stacey's husbands side of the family and my Dad.  16 people in her house should help me keep my mind off of missing the big thanksgiving dinner in Utah.  It will be Ryan and I's first thanksgiving and christmas as a married couple and I cant wait to do things like get a chirstmas tree and hang the lights.  I love this time of year and i am bursting at the seams to get out the mannheim steamroller cd's.  

This is not our tree as we don't have on yet, i just couldn't resist.  I am hoping that i will have pictures of our house and its decorated glory in the next week or so.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

bad bad blogger

SO i've kind of been procrastinating the blog thing because i wanted to post pictures. but unfortunately, we have lost the charger cord for the camera so it no longer will turn on. tragic news I know. We are turning our house sideways trying to find the said cord so pictures will be posted soon.  Since the last post not a whole lot of fun has been had, but life continues as always.

We celebrated Stacey's birthday at our house with some pizza and ice cream and cake. it was a great time to have the whole family up at the house after all the work that has been put into the house.  Nice to be able to show it off.  Baby Nixon spent the time keeping us laughing while he tried to chase the kittens around the house and climb every set of stairs he could find. 

Ryan and his dad have moved the renovations inside and they are fixing up the little things that need a quick repair.  We are hoping to have the inspection done and paperwork ready to sign before Thanks giving.  Wish us lots of luck. 

There was a concert at Bushwhackers on the the 29th. the local radio station has taken to sponsoring Thursday nights and they call it Cowgirl Round Up. they brought in Whitney Duncan who sings the song Skinny Dippin'.  It was a pretty slow night but those that were there had a great time. she did a great job.

On Friday night we were lucky enough to go to the Rascal Flatts concert. Darius Rucker opened for them and it was the last night of the tour. So they were playing practicall jokes on each other and teasing each other. It was so much fun.  Darius rucker used to be Hootie from Hootie and the blow fish, and he even played a few Hootie songs. It was a great night and one that rarely happens for ryan and i. to get time together not at the bar or where ryan doesn't have to go to work. we really enjoyed it.

Halloween is always a great night at the bar. best people watching ever.  The costumes are always excellent. There is a costume contest with the top 3 getting cash prizes. The big winners this year were a group girls dressed as The Wizard of Oz people, a group of Hillbillies, and top prize went to chain saw guy. There were a ton of great costumes and the winners were voted on by the crowd so its always interesting to see who wins.  

And then there was my cute little farmer.  Ry.  I dressed up as Rosie the Riviter but apparently no one took any pictures of me. sad i know.

Ryan's best friend Ross who just got a house a few miles from us stayed home on halloween to give candy to the trick or treaters. they had over a 100 little kids.  crazy how a few miles will bring such a huge difference in kids because we didn't get any at our house.    off on another busy week and hopfully we will get the camera up and working again soon. 

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. The snow hasn't started to fall yet, its cool but not cold, and the leaves of the trees make it so pretty outside.  Lately at our house it has been really foggy at night and in the morning which gives the neighborhood this cool, scary horror film feel.  Ryan and I finally got to spend some time together this weekend. it was great. The list of projects that have to be finished on the house is getting smaller and that is a very good thing. On Saturday we just did the "have to do" things like cleaning and grocery shopping. and we made a homemade salsa for a family birthday thing on sunday.  We went to the Roloff farms pumpkin patch to pick us out the PERFECT pumpkin. The Roloff family is from the TLC show "Little people BIG World".  We took the senic tour of the property which basically takes you around the outside of the property where you can see all the things the family does, all the barns and cars. the boys paintball tree huts, and the Cowboy Town, which is kind of like pioneer village in lagoon if ya ask me. Just a bunch of small buildings set up to look like a town. they do have this giant tree house that is 3 levels, that is not screwed or bolted to the tree so every few years they have a guy come make adjustments because the tree keeps growing.

Ryan was pretty happy about this picture. This is Matt's rally VW Bug which he takes to the Portland Internation Raceway every now and then and races.

This big window used to be the front door to the house until the Roloff family had it totally redone

The back of the house.

They have a pirate ship, and a castle that took them 4 years to build.   We also got to see the soccer filed and the house.  They are filming a movie with one of the sons so there was tons of security and people everywhere.  most of the family was at the farm, but there were so many people I couldn't really get a good picture of any of them without standing in huges line.

This is the Pirate ship behind the big tree house.

And here is Amy's Castle, complete with draw bridge and Queen and King quarters inside.

This picture shows 2 of the 3 barns and a part of the soccer field.  The front ground of the picture is the actual pumpkin patch where they grow all the pumpkins.

They had these 2 huges pumpkins that had to be brough in by truck for the movie they are filming. They were to big not to take a picture.

 Ryan and i were just not that interested. So we picked out our favortie pumpkin and home we went.

On Sunday Stacey, Ryan's sister, had a birthday party for baby Nixon, who turns 1 on Oct 21.  It was a Halloween party and the kids came in costume.  Sad news was big brother Dawson had come down with some sickness and had to spend the day at Nanna and Pappa DeClercks house so he missed the party.  We had excellent mexican food, which is why Ryan and I made the yummy salsa.  I totally recomend making the salsa at least once just to try it. Its a sweeter kind than most and it was full of yummy healthy veggies. I think I'll post the recipe at the bottom just in case.

Nixon got his own cupcake which he promptly smashed all over himself while managing to eat almost all of it.

Trying to convince him that the magnets in his hand are not nearly as cool as the cupcake and candle.

Big hand full of cupcake...

Super Cute Nixon

Tired of the cake, he needed to rest a second... Ha ha so funny

Sharing cake with everyone who got close enough for him to reach

Happy Birthday Nixon, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ally Love you very MUCH!

A little frosting in the hair and ears never really hurt anyone. And he was so stinking adorable.  Cutest little kid ever.  After making a mess and the amazing sugar rush crash he was to tired to do presents so that will happen with family on his real birthday.   So happy to have some family so close and that Ry and I were able to be there for his party. 

Stacey's birthday is this week as well, so Happy Birthday to Stacey on Friday!

Sweet Bean Salsa Recipe

1 can white corn (shoe peg) -drained
1 can Black eyed peas- drained
1 red onion (chopped)
1 Green pepper (chopped)
1 Avacado (chopped)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinager
1/2 cup Canola Oil (do not sub other oils)
1 Tablespoon Tiger Sauce ( found by the A1 and Hot sauces in the store)

Mix all ingredients and chill. Best to make the night before (without avacado) and let marinate overnight. ENJOY!