230 posts tagged “travel”

The kids aren't allowed to get up before 6:30 on Christmas Day.  The boys were standing by our beds watching the clock at 6:27. 

Lily is not an early riser and nobody's allowed to wake her up when unnecessary or she's a BEAR!  She was up by about 7:30.

Our plans got crimped a little due to a blizzard.  My grandma stayed out at my aunt & uncle's and they were stuck at their place out of town.  My brother and Amy did brave it and come in the 40 mile drive from the ranch.

We had a superb dinner of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn pie, salad, and double pumpkin cheesecake.  Since Amy's a chef, she baked TONS of goodies that we got to munch on all day.

Before opening presents, Lily sang us several Christmas songs.

Grandpa & Grandma got the boys these chairs to coordinate with their new rooms.

I've been eyeing these boots for a few months.

I've wanted a stove-top egg poacher for several years.  Poached are my favorite type of eggs and my mom always used to make them.  She's been spoiling us with lots of poached eggs at breakfast while we've been living with them but now I'll be able to make my own!

When Ray & I were married, my aunt made us a cookbook composed of recipes that she obtained from everyone who we invited to our wedding.  It was a tremendous treasure.

In honor of our 15 year anniversary in 2010, she revised and updated the cookbook for everyone's Christmas gifts.  The cover is composed of tons of tiny family pictures from several generations and there are other pictures throughout the cookbook.  It truly is a treasure!

I hardly had the chance to take any landscape photos this year so I made calendars from family photos.

The rest of the day was spent doing puzzles and playing cards.

Now, we're packing as we're off on our annual ski trip to Bozeman in the morning.  Our good friends from Jamestown will meet us there as well as 2 families from here and my brother and his girlfriend.  It should be a blast!

 

 

Bah Humbug:

1. The Steelers football season is basically over for this year.  They have to give another team a turn ;)  We have so many injured players that it's just pretty hopeless.
2. It causes me great stress to just be mailing my Christmas cards.  I know that's probably odd but I like to have them out at the beginning of Dec.  Dumb computer crash!

Merry Christmas:

1. A friend and I made a shopping trip today to buy Christmas presents for a family whose having a rough December.  It's a single mom of 5 and she crushed her wrist in a 4-wheeling accident so is unable to work.  I have to say it finally got me in the holiday spirit!
2. Our entire house is carpeted!  Well, except for the theater which we don't plan to finish for a year or two.  By the end of Monday, the rest of the flooring will be finished as well as the kitchen counter.  We have 2 working toilets, too!  (I'll post some more pictures soon).
3. We've made plans to go back to Jamestown January 1-3 to move the rest of our furniture.  Could still use some prayers for that house to sell.  Anytime now would be just perfect!!
4. We'll be moving in after we get our things.  There will still be little stuff to do but we can do that while living there.  I finally feel like I can get excited!!
5. My grandma, aunt & uncle, brother & girlfriend, parents, and cousin's family will all be here for Christmas.  I love a big Christmas!  Ray is thrilled to not have to pack up every single present and travel this year.

Cody had a wrestling tournament yesterday so we took the whole family along.  Cody had his best meet of the season winning all 4 of his matches to earn 1st place. 

Lily brought along her new Nintendo DS and 2 games for it that she got for her birthday.  First, she dropped one of the stylus pens beside the bleachers and it rolled underneath.  There was just enough room to get an arm through and see where the stylus was located but it had rolled out of reach.  Ray made several attempts to retrieve it without any success.  He consulted with another dad and they decided to borrow one of the wrestler's crutches.  Then, they wrapped tape around the end of the crutch so the stylus would stick to it so they could pull it out.  This is Jace, Lily, and the other dad making the last attempt to get the stylus.

It worked!

Lily met some other sisters at the meet who also had DS's and they were playing with them together.  When Ray and I went to the concessions, she decided to run and join us while leaving her DS with her 2 new friends.  When we returned, the girls were gone and the game was missing from Lily's DS.  Lily asked the girls who claimed to know nothing about it and then Ray talked to one of the parents who checked their daughter's things but didn't find it.  Personally, I think they should've checked the girl's pockets!  I guess Lily learned a valuable lesson.  I hope she takes better care of her DS in the future.

 

What's the worst vacation you've ever taken?

Growing up, we took a vacation every Labor Day weekend to the Black Hills in South Dakota.  On one of those trips, I got the stomach flu plus an asthma episode.  My friend, Michelle, came with who also has asthma and she ended up with the same thing.  We spent the weekend together on the floor in the bathroom thinking we were going to die!

Help! I've been arrested and will be put in jail for the March of Dimes Sidney Jail & Bail. I've been charged with aiding and abetting the March of Dimes mission of saving babies. I have to raise my bail of $500 prior to Oct. 7 and t...hey'll go easy on me. I need your financial assistance to post my bond. Your 100% tax-deductible donation will help to fund important research, grants and education to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. You can make your donation online at http://jailandbail.marchofdimes.com/jacolily . Thanks for your help!

We had such a wonderful weekend.  We spent Saturday morning shopping for house stuff while my brother took the kids out to breakfast, swimming, and to the Farmer's Market.  The tile for the main and master bathrooms is now purchased!  We're getting close to the end of picking stuff out for the new house, thank goodness!

Next, we headed to the Indoor Football Championship with the Billings Outlaws vs. River City Rage (think they're from Missouri).  We had awesome seats about 10 rows up.

Jace got a tshirt, Cody a hat, and Lily a megaphone.  The mascot is a horse named Gunsmoke.  Instead of cheerleaders, they have a dance team who entered on the back of Harley motorcycles.  They also have 3 "outlaws" that fire their guns whenever there's a score.  This is the quarterback making his entrance.  It was super neat that several of the players came out with their children. 

The game got off to an amazing start.  The Outlaws were kicking off and did an onside kick right off the bat and got it!  The next play was a flea flicker for a TD!!  The crowd went wild.  Arena football is done on a smaller field and there are no sidelines.  The coach actually stands out on the field and fans could reach over the barrier and break up plays which happened once.  Another time, a catch was made but the player ended up going head first over the barrier into someone's seat!  I was blown away by the fantastic catches that were made.  There's very little running game.  Because of the smaller field, there's a lot more scoring which makes it very exciting.  The Outlaws led the entire game but the Rage came within one TD a few times during the 2nd half which made it scary.  The mascot, Gunsmoke, came around and Cody got his autograph and Lily gave him a hug.

The final score was Outlaws 71 and Rage 62!  The Outlaws quarterback was awarded the Best Offensive Player and MVP for the Indoor Football League. 

We topped it off with a superb supper at the Samurai where they cook the food in front of you.  My very favorite!

Not only are the kids now clothed for school but I just might be, too!  My mom totally spoiled me with a great sale at Dillard's.  I got 2 new dresses, 5 shirts, 2 jackets, and a pair of jeans!  Nothing like some new clothes to make you feel like a million bucks. 

 

 

As you know, the kids and I went to Jamestown for a few days to visit before school starts.  We spent 3 nights there and Lily spent all 3 nights with friends and the boys spent 2 of the nights with friends.  Good thing Rascal went with or I would've been completely alone!  We got to see just about everyone that we wanted to see but, of course, it wasn't long enough.  We even went to church on Sunday.  I was hoping AWE would be singing so I could join them but it was their Sunday off.  Directors haven't been found to replace me with AWE or the kids' choirs which really concerns me since time is running short.  Our Pastor tends to procrastinate a bit much and I'd hate to see the programs fail.

A few photos from our trip. 

Bluebird's daughters with Jace & Lily.

Our house didn't sell from any of the 2nd showings last week.  I'm afraid we're going to have to drop the price again because we really need to unload it.

The last night was the best for me.  I had supper with Deb & Cory and then we sat on their deck and visited in the gorgeous weather.  Afterward, Kristi came over and we had a cup of Chai tea and visited before bed.

 

 

Thumbs Down:

1. Two funerals in one week.
2. Having a hard time picking out our granite.  Everytime I find one I like, there either isn't enough or its too soft.

Thumbs Up:

1. We had 3 showings on our house this week.  Two were really positive and we haven't heard back on the third.  Sure hoping something comes of it.
2. We've made plans to go visit our friends in ND in 2 weeks.  Can't wait!
3. The pancakes my husband made for breakfast.
4. The stucco process has started on our house.  We're in the process of ordering flooring and cabinets.

Friday night we went to the opening ceremony.  There were activity and food booths.  The kids all got autographs from the Billings Outlaw arena football players.  They also had fun with the dunking booth.  There was continuous entertainment and the the kids got to walk the track.  They are in the maroon shirts and you can see Jace.

The most exciting part was when 5 skydivers jumped out of a plane over the field and then all landed right in the center.  I was amazed by the accuracy of their landings!  The USA women's fencer who won the gold lit the torch at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The first game was early on Saturday.  The team was really tough and we lost 0-10.

The next game was against another Billings team.  We were the only out of town team so knew it was going to be tough.  Ray's dad and family arrived in time for the 2nd game.  They picked a good game to watch because we won 10-0 and Cody scored 4 goals. 

After watching a 15 yr old team last spring, Cody's been practicing a flip throw-in.  I didn't think he was confident enough yet to try it in a game but he did it in the first two games really well.  Unfortunately, the 3rd game is the one I tried to get on camera and it didn't go as well.

The 3rd game was against an all girl team.  They were big, rough, and tough!  It was also about 95 degrees and miserable.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie even though they outplayed us a lot.  I think we were saved by our goalie and a penalty kick that scored a goal for us.  Because both teams had won and lost 1 game each, it came down to total goals to see who would play in the championship game.  We beat them by 1 point!!

After the game, the kids spent time at the pool while we played pinochle with Ray's dad and Amy.

I was a little shocked that we were the only adults present at the pool and most of Cody's team was there.  We were extra glad with our decision when the fire alarm went off.  We hearded the 20+ kids out onto the patio.  Apparently, some teens pulled all the fire alarms so it went off 5 different times.  The kids swam some more Sunday morning before we went to the championship game.  Unfortunately, we were playing the same team that we'd lost to Saturday morning.  I thought Jace did a great job keeping up with all those older boys since most of them were 11 and 12.

We lost 0-12 but still won the silver medal.

 

 

 

We are off to Billings this morning for the Big Sky State Games.  It's kind of like the Olympics for Montana and there's even an opening ceremony tonight.  The boys are playing on the soccer team.  It's mainly 11 and 12 yr olds but Jace made the team as a 9 yr old and is actually one of the starters!  He and Cody are 2 of the 3 forwards.  Ray's dad and family will be meeting us there to see the boys play for the first time and my cousin from AZ is there whom I haven't seen in several years.

We're also going to some places to see granite countertops today which I'm very excited about!

P.S.  (Am I the only one who can't insert another bloggers name anymore)?