Last of the 7 Days Run

I just realized that I never posted my day 7 of 7 Days picture. Probably because it wasn't blog worthy or all that creative. :) But here is my shot:


Waving goodbye to my fellow 7 Dayers.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fun With Good Friends

Yesterday we got to spend some time with our good friends Joe and Kassie! They were in town for Christmas and we were able to see them. And we had a great time- as always!We take lots of photos.


And chat and laugh! And maybe scare our guests a little with our rats. All in good fun though! I promise!


We may have even tried to do some magic...I don't think either Kassie or I will become magicians any time soon.


(psssst! Hey Joe- is this picture better? Can I continue to blog again? ;) ) Joe gave me some awesome and helpful advice on picture posting. I really do appreciate it. I just like giving him a hard time. Both Joe and Kassie have done 7 Days in the past. So I was excited to have them be in my 7 Days: Day 6 shot. Here is what I got:


That's talent right there folks! 7 people in one picture that I took holding my camera! Booya!!They are great friends and we can't wait until we are able to get together again! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Double- No Triple-Duty

I am participating in both 7 Days and a Reverb Broads daily blogging. They overlapped and I didn't want to both at the same time. That was overwhelming to me. But Christmas Day they kind of overlapped so this is a double blog! Wait! I am going to change it to a TRIPLE blog because I wanted to blog about our Christmas anyway. Plus things in threes are really the best! ;)Here is my 7 days: Day 5 shot. The theme was vanilla and that was a hard one. So it was overlooked a little. The ebleskiver looks vanillaish right?


This is our traditional Christmas breakfast. So yummy!The reverb broads prompt was a wordless Christmas. We were to post a picture that represents your day. Here's the picture that represented our Christmas day:


For me, it's all about my kids! This year the excitement was like no other! Alex was up at 5am. He came into our room and just stood at the edge of our bed and stared at us. That is a REALLY creepy way to wake up! Matt had the boys go sort presents so we could sleep a tad longer. And then at about 6:30 Alex told us "Mom, Dad, the presents are all sorted. You have 4 minutes to get down here!". It was hilarious! We quickly went downstairs! We didn't want to miss anything! The boys ripped through their gifts. They were very excited about them all! Then we played with them rest of the day. We also lazed around and watched movies, and ate and ate and ate. I love these types of days! I also want to note that the weather was sunny and warm! So odd but at the same time so great! We had our windows open part of the day! It was fantastic! Merry Christmas!!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Santa's Coming!

Santa is coming tonight so we needed to get ready for him! How? By making him cookies, of course!


We got out my grandma L's spritz recipe and got at it!


We ate almost as much cookie dough as we made actual cookies. But it's so yummy! Who can make cookies without eating the dough? Not me! Or my family!


Here is my 7 Days shot for the day:


Come on over Santa! We got delicious cookies for you! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's All About the Prep Today

Today is all about the prep for the holidays. Cleaning, cooking, wrapping, etc. Getting ready for the fun get togethers and the eating and the present openings!! One of the things I did was I took my boys to get their hairs done. I needed to get them all gussied up for the holidays, of course. Here is my day 3 shot:

Did Someone Say Chocolate?!?!

Today's theme is chocolate for my 7 days run. Could that be any more fun? Or delicious?!? Mmmmmmm chocolate!

Here is my day 2 shot:



There is nothing better than a mixture of peanut butter and chocolate! That is my idea of heaven. I may get a little crazy when I am around it...,



But they are so yummy! Ahhhhh..



Chocolate! How I love thee! Now I'm off to go eat some!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

7 Days Time!

It's that time of year again! 7 days begins today! I skipped last time. Just didn't feel creative. But I think I am ready to go this time. Get ready to be bombarded with daily posts- or just delete when you get them. :)

Here is my day 1 shot:


I love these hand ornaments! Look at how small Josh's hand was! These are my favorite ornaments! I make them every year. Matt's grandma made them for all her grandkids when Matt was little. It's fun to compare the size of his hand to the boys hands.

So that's what I got for Day 1.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

7 Days: Day 7

Last week the boys had golf. They love it! I love it too! Not only do I get to chat with my friends again, but it is fun watching them.

However this week the weather was cold and windy. Last year I got a nice tan....this year I was bundled up in jeans and a jacket! And almost every time after the lesson was over we drove through Starbucks on the way home just to warm up.
And some days it looked like it was going to rain on us, but luckily the rain waited until our lesson was over!
Each day they had a new skill to work on. Whether it was hitting long shots, or
putting....they learned a lot and I think they are ready to play a round of golf! Now the question is am I ready to play a round with them? :)

This is my day 7 of 7 Days shot:

7 Days: Day 6

Um....Anyone out there know what this is? Got another veggie from the farmer's market and I have no clue what it is or what to do with it! Well....other than making it my Day 6 of 7 days shot that is.

7 Days: Day 4

This is how I spent my night. The boys had Judo and I got to read the new Janet Evanovich book. Not a horrible way to spend the evening.

7 Days: Day 3

Today we had the pleasure of going to Woodcliff Lake for some boating, swimming and fun! And fun it is! We LOVE going! We always have a really great time!

Bill and Linda (the people who invited us out) fed us some delicious lunch of grilled burgers! Bill makes awesome burgers! So yummy! Then it was off in the boat we went. The weather was perfect today!

At the lake there is a sand hill that the boys love playing on.
So we stayed a while and "sledded" down it on a zip sled.

After awhile we got back on the boat to do some skiing and zip sledding. Zach and Josh did it last year. This year Zach,
Josh
AND Alex all did it.
They loved it!

Matthew (another kid out there- not my Matthew) went skiing for the first time! He did AWESOME!!

After boating around the lake for a while we went back to the beach and played around. Things like Swimming and burring each other....

It was so much fun!!

Here is my 7 Days, Day 3 shot:

7 Days: Day 2: Black

Today the theme was black. I tried to be creative. So I took a picture of myself in a shiny black TV. Here it is:
It's ok. Not my favorite. But it will do.

Today was also Father's Day. We had my parents and Matt's parents over for dinner. We munched on a few appetizers. And chatted away.
Matt wanted brats (ewe). So we boiled them in beer and onions then grilled them up. GROSS! I had a hot dog, as did the few of us who didn't like brats.
I think everyone had a decent time. It's nice to be able to get together.
The dad's in the picture are really wonderful and I feel blessed to have each of them in my life!

Flooding

7 Days is here again!! Woot!! Get ready for a snippet into our lives for the next 7 Days!

Last night Matt and I celebrated our 12 anniversary a day early since our actual anniversary falls on Father's Day this year. Ronna and Larry (Matt's parents) were nice enough to watch the boys for us while we went out to celebrate 12 great years of marriage!

We went out to dinner at Blue Agave. It is a new to us Mexican restaurant and it was yummy! They came to our table and made fresh guacamole that was really good! And their margaritas were pretty tasty too!!
Cheers!!

After dinner we decided to go to the casinos. Plus we wanted to check out the flooding of the big Mo. We checked it out a week or so ago and wanted to see where it was at this week. Plus we wanted to hit the JACKPOT at the casinos. We did see the floods....we did NOT hit the jackpot. Unless you call me winning $10 a jackpot. Yeah- me neither.

We went to Ameristar- and both decided we should have gone to Harrahs. However the flooding there was sad. This is the view going into the parking garage.

We parked on the second level of the parking garage because below it was flooded- like this:
This is looking out at the parking lot:

And this is my 7 Days: Day 1 shot:


It's so sad. I feel for all the people and businesses that are getting flooded! It's a big mess!!

Vacation is Over

What the heck Nebraska?!?!? I am clearly not in Arizona anymore. Sigh.

Today is also the last day of my 7 days run. It's been fun and I can't wait to do it again this summer!

Arizona: Day 6

Last vacation day. So sad! What better use of our last few hours than to do this? (also my 7 days shot for the day)



I read and swam. Relaxed as much as I could.


Josh and Zach went on one last desert hike with Linda.



Then they swam! I have a couple of fish on my hands!!!! Alex is still sick so he was in bed, but seemed to be doing better than the day before. Overall, it was relaxing and wonderful last few hours.

The trip home was....well it was horrible. We got to the airport and our flight was delayed. Annoying in the best of circumstances but add a sick kid and it makes it more so. We had a connecting flight and then there was worry that we would miss it. Southwest actually held the plane for us so we didn't miss it. That was a relief.

The first leg of the flight went ok. By the end of it Alex was getting worse. The flight landed, Matt grabbed all carry on luggage, coats, etc. I carried Alex and we ran through the terminal to get to our next flight. Alex moaning and crying the whole way and Matt and I yelling "keep up boys" to Zach and Josh.

We got to the plane and of course it was full and 5 seats were not together. Thankfully some really kind strangers moved around so we could all be near each other. I almost cried I was so thankful! People out there are still kind and its wonderful! The end of that flight Alex was throwing up and was miserable. It was a horrible flight. We landed about 10:30/11 pm so we were all tired.

After we landed we got off the plane. I carried Alex and Matt carried everything else and both of us yelling "keep up boys" to Josh and Zach. Larry was there to pick us up and we were off to get our luggage.

And then the airline lost part of our luggage. The boys booster seats are in the United States somewhere and so far no one has found them. Oh and did I mention that is was snowing? Yup. Vacation is clearly over! :)

The bright side is, we are all home safe and sound. Now if I could just get Alex to stop puking and fever free life would be good!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Arizona: Day 5

It's hard to describe this trip. I am having a good time, but am sad Alex is so sick. Alex woke up a little worse than the day before. Still running a fever and laying around. No puking though, so hopefully that is done with! So we weren't able to do things as a family like I had hoped.

First thing this morning Josh and Zach made Alex a get well card.

How sweet are they? I think they are missing Alex too!

Linda and I went on a walk. The cacti are just starting to bloom and I LOVE blooming cacti!! So I was excited to see a few of them.

After our walk, Matt stayed home with Alex and Bill, Linda, Josh, Zach and I went hiking up a mountain in the Sears Ruins in the Tonto National Forrest. We saw the Hohokum Native American ruins. It was beautiful! The weather was awesome! We didn't see much wildlife. However, Zach spotted a gecko lizard, so that was fun.

After our hike, we went out to lunch then came back to the house to swim the rest of the afternoon. It's been sad not having the whole family together, but we are making the best of it!!

Today for my 7 days shot the theme was up. So I thought what better shot than hiking UP a mountain. Here is my pic:

Tomorrow is our last day of vacation, and some of are already in tears about it! We heart Arizona!!! And we extra heart Bill and Linda!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Arizona: Day 4

Today didn't go as planned, but it wasn't horrible either. Yesterday we thought Alex got car sick. Turns out he wasn't car sick he seems to have the flu instead. Poor guy. No fun being sick and even worse when it's on vacation!!!

Due to this, plans were changed. Originally, the boys and I were going to go with Bill and Linda to go see Linda's parents and Matt was going to take a photo walk through the desert. Since Alex was sick, Bill and Linda took Josh and Zach for the day of fun. Then Matt and I stayed with Alex. This way Matt could still do a photo walk and we could both take care of Alex.

Alex was devastated that he missed out on all the fun. And fun they all had!!! They rode in the golf cart, picked up pine cones, visited neighbors, ate lunch, played putt putt and then boccie ball. They all had a blast!!

Once Alex had a little Tylenol in him, he perked up and wanted to go on the hike with daddy. So we all went on a hike with the understanding that Alex and I would head back when he tired out.

It was so much fun. The weather was awesome!! But after a little bit, Alex tired out and we headed back to the house and Matt continued on. And lookie what Matt found!!!

So glad I wasn't with him!! He said he almost stepped on it. Creepy!!

Alex slept for a few hours and I worked very hard on my tan and reading.

Such a hard day!! Yeah right! That afternoon Matt and the boys swam a while. After dinner we roasted marshmallows. You can tell by this picture Alex still isn't feeling good.

Then we finished the day with a little hot tubing. For having a sick kid, the day wasn't too horrible.

Today for my 7 days shot I took a pic of me on my hike in the desert. Here's my shot:


Here is hoping Alex feels better tomorrow and the rest of us don't start puking!! Fingers crossed!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad