I have a colllld.

(insert whining voice here)

I have no idea who that kid is, but she looks like I feel. My stupid right eye won't quit watering..I'm sneezing like crazy. My head is like Violet's body when she turns into the huge blueberry in Willy Wonka. It's likely to explode with snot. Waah. Poor me. ;) Corinne, MaryBeth, Claire, Courtney and I all have it..which makes work fun. We're a bunch of snotty buckets..but we're still having fun. Well, MaryBeth and Claire stayed home today.

Anyway, I just wanted to whine. Have a good night! Love ya

P.S. I just got the call from Dr. Rogers office..tests came back on the moles (even the name of them is gross) and I'm still cancer free! :)

Got my stitches out today! Woohoo :) It was extremely painful to have them removed because of the kind of stitches he did. He did them in such a way that there will be no stitch marks on my skin so he had to pull them out from the inside. HOLY GOD. I asked him multiple times if he was killing me. He insisted he wasn't and offered numbing agents which I refused, of course, b/c they cost money. He was extremely pleased with the results as am I! I haven't seen the actual scar yet b/c he covered it back up with pieces of tape, but I can see everything but that. There's barely a dip at all and no bumpy-ness in the incision whatsoever. Doc Rogers was overwhelmingly pleased with the results. Said they were above and beyond what even he expected. Hey, who says prayer doesn't work! :) So, he put tape back on it, like I said. He'd like me to keep going back every few weeks to get new tape put on for the next few months. If I do this I guess the scar will be extremely minimal. He said it's just up to me how far I go with it. We'll see..I don't much care if I have a scar, but if all it takes is tape to make it "less" then maybe I'll stick with it for awhile.

While I was there, he also took off the 3 moles that I hate most on this ol' body of mine! The one on my neck hurts most at the moment. I get the tape and stitches off of the two that required it on Tuesday, the other one he just cauterized after cutting it off. He'll of course send them in for the ol cancer tests, too..prayerfully they will come back all clear.

To top off this amazing day, the sun came out!! I was grinning from ear to ear all day, just couldn't stop myself. When I looked outside this morning as the sun was making it's glorious appearance I instantly felt a 1000 lb weight being lifted off of me. I could breathe again. Amazing how sun can change your whole life. I must have sun!! I'm not a cloudy day girl. More than that, I'm not an inversion girl. I thought about going up the mountain to see the sun last week but told Chris I couldn't handle knowing I would have to come back down into the filth of the valley. So, I stuck it out.

We had a few hours yesterday between church and drama practices (4 hours) to have our little Thanksgiving dinner here at the house! Chris has been wanting to have it since Thanksgiving, just never had the time. But, I wanted to make Chris a special dinner to thank him for everything he's done for me and the family after my surgery. Of course he ended up having to help a lot since I spaced the fact that I can't cut potatoes or lift crap! But we made it a joint effort and I made the pumpkin pie. We had a great time. Then I took him down for his first drama practice. Later the kids and I went down so Ash could begin her drama practice and so we could attend the membership class at church. J and I decided to stay for the rest of drama practice. J played with all the kids in the game room and I watched the Drama kids do their thing. They are so funny. They had me laughin all night. Then we came home and with bleary eyes watched one of our Friday Night Lights shows and then passed out.

Chris did the taxes last night when we got home, too. I know, he never stops. Anyway, we should get the return soon and then hopefully the ground will be thawed enough that we can hire someone to come plant the beautiful trees and bushes (huge) that my Dad gave to me!

Oh, on Saturday Ash did awesome at her TBQ match in Nyssa. She almost quizzed out a few times. They had a great day and from what I hear a FABULOUS lasagna lunch served there, too. I was going to go but we all decided I shouldn't chance going on such a long trip right now, so I stayed home with J. It was a gloriously quiet day. The phone didn't ring, the doorbell didn't ring. We just hid, and loved it. We watched The Hunchback of Notre Dam, and played Ziggity (a card game) and had a special breakfast. I even got to take a little nap! Then we went out when Chris and Ash got home for a bite to eat and to get Dave's bday present and a few things for our Thanksgiving dinner the next day.

It was another busy weekend but we had a great time and made lots of memories. :)

This weekend looks to be another fun packed weekend. We've got game nights planned with friends on Fri and Sat and then Sunday, well..Sunday is a day all it's own, but I'm gonna hope to have time to go down and visit with my Gramma and parents, we'll see. And, I have to go grocery shopping sometime in there. Hmm. Ash has a bday party on Saturday, too. Ok, I'm gonna stop thinking about the weekend right now b4 I get too overwhelmed!

Well..both kids are doin great, we're doin great, the animals are doin great. :) But, now I'm super sleep(ier) so I'm gonna go to bed. Have a great night. Love ya!

Feeling much better with every day, thank goodness! I still got teary last night after my "bath" and hair washing..it's just freaking exhausting I tell you! But I even got to drive myself to work today :) I ended up having to jerk the door open to the office though and that my friends did not feel too hot. But, on the good side, I'm wearing jeans that I can now button/take off/take on withouth pain, & I'm wearing a bra that I put on by myself! YES! I'm even wearing a vest today, it doesn't feel the best to get it on but I can do it dangit! It's not taking me 5 minutes to go pee and wash my hands anymore (as if you want to know that). So, things are getting back to normal. I've yet to be able to wear tennis shoes but, that's no big sacrifice considering I hate shoes. And I'm slowly beginning to be able to feed myself without looking like a freak.

Tonight Ash and I are goin out to Olive Garden for DeAnna's birthday. Laura wanted to plan a surprise get together for her, so Mom and DeAnna's Mom are going to go "kidnap" her and then Ash and I will wait at Olive Garden for the table. Laura ended up not being able to go b/c she has class tonight, but oh well. We'll get to see her sooner or later! It should be fun. I'm not too terribly excited to sit on the wooden benches for that long waiting for the table but hopefully it won't be too long and hopefully there will be comfortable chairs at the tables. At any rate, I'm sure it will be a great night. And then I will come home and go straight to bed. While we are at dinner (Chris is driving us there), Chris and J are gonna go out for their own little dinner and probably Toys R Us time.

Well, have a great night. Just thought I'd update ya on what we're doin real quick like b4 we run out again. Love you :) And, as Jerry Springer would say: Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Today was my first day back at work. It was a lonnnng day but good. I was really ready to be home. I came upstairs and went straight to bed. Haven't been out for more than a pee break since then. WORN OUT!! I'm thankful that I work in an environment where if I need to lay down on the couch or rest or go home that it is REALLY ok. My boss bought me thai food for lunch and told me to go upstairs and eat and rest for awhile. So, I did. But u know how that goes. The instant your body thinks you're letting it rest, it REALLY doesn't want to get up and cooperate again!

My friend Kim brought over some delicious homemade chicken lasagna for us last night. I will post the recipe for you when I get it. I'd never had it before. Wow. The yum factor was off the charts. Then Chris brought me up a surprise dessert of lava cakes with whipped cream. Good God I love him. Tonight we had left overs and then he made me some of our favorite brownies with a fudgy icing and then some cookies and cream ice cream on the side. He loves me. He loves my ever growing backside. Hey as long as he's happy, I'm happy! Bring Momma the brownies!

Took a washcloth "bath" last night, between that and the time it took Chris to wash my hair over the sink and dry it, it took an hour. I started crying not long after that. He again reminds me that I've just had surgery and it's ok not to be able to do things. Doesn't make me feel better but it's nice that he tries :) Better than hearing your man tell u to get your lazy butt up, right? I am the kind of person that reallllly is used to doing everything on my own and enjoys not having to rely on others for things. I do ask for help when I need it but I try to be as self sufficient as I can. So this is very very hard for me. It's worse than the pain. Just emotionally draining. But I'm so thankful for my family and friends. And I'm so aware that my struggles are teeny tiny compared to those of others. But, whether they are small or large, they are mine and I have to deal with them. The results came back on the lipoma and there were no signs of cancer, so that was great! I had completely forgotten about the whole cancer issue. Once I got prayed over and the MRI showed opposite results of the ultrasound I just gave it to God and praised Him for the healing and moved on I guess! LOL When the nurse called and started telling me about it I was totally clueless. She thought I was crazy. Maybe she doesn't know how big my God is :)

Chris had to take me to work this morning b/c I can't drive yet. He had to open the door to work for me and then push on it so I could lock it after he left. I was feeling SO FREAKIN useless. I just sat in the dark of the office (the lights take awhile to warm up and fully turn on) and cried and cried. Continued to tear up all day. I can hardly even write. I know, pity party. Get over it! I annoy myself.

So I've watched a ton of Lifetime movies in the past few days :) And Hallmark movies..and any other girl movies I can find. Also watched National Velvet, which I guess classifies as a girl movie. I've watched hours upon hours of home shows..my pup has been by my side for nearly the whole time. She walks with me when I get up, she sits lovingly looking at me, she rests her head on my legs and looks up at me. She kisses me. I just adore that sweetie. She's even refrained from laying in doorways in the dark! So for now, her attempts at murdering me are on hold. haha

J did great at his JBQ quiz last Sat. He got 4th place overall and the team took 2nd in the group. Proud of our little kidlets. Chris has been filling in for me while I've been out. The kids adore him. Of course, what's not to love!

Today is DeAnna's bday..Happy Bday DeAnna!

I was so excited that both kids had the day off from school yesterday in rememberence of the great Dr. King. I've always had to take them out of school for that day. Not only that but J brought home work they'd done on him. Maybe America hasn't completely gone down the crapper just yet. We'll see.

Well it hurts to type this long so I'm gonna go. Love you guys

Surgery is fun.

Post-op isn't as fun.

The drugs were ok for Thursday and then for part of Friday. Started feeling not so right when I increased to 2 pills on Friday night. But by Saturday they started doing horrible things to my body and heart and by mid morning on Saturday, I wasn't peeing more than 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time (about every 4 hours) and was all swollen in water gain. This was weird since I was drinking a ton of water. I started really going downhill by around noon, of course this is also when Chris and J are in Twin Falls. Didn't wanna scare Ash so I just went in to bed with my body in serious pain (shoulder was totally fine) and lights flashing everywhere (it was dark, no lights on) and prayed hard. My mouth was totally dried out and my lips were totally dried up and nasty. At this point I hadn't peed since I could remember and my stomach hurt to the touch. The back of my neck if I touched it made me feel like vomiting and sent my eyes into a dark fuzzy haze. My head was in the worst pain of my life and I couldn't focus on anything. I had decided not to take any more pain pills (was set to take them at 12:30) felt that "still small voice" not so still and small telling me NOOO MORE NORCO. I kept praying and fell asleep. I slept most of the day and by the time Chris got home I was doing much better, thank God. AND, I was finally peeing! I would drink water and could feel it travel all the way down and had to pee within 30 seconds. Not kidding! I was half wondering if there was a hole in my stomach. So anyway, I don't know what the Norco was doin to me,but I know it wasn't good. I told Chris that no matter how bad I'm in pain I will never take it again. EVER. I took one tylenol last night before bed. Because of my hips, not because of my shoulder. I haven't taken anything today except for the antibiotic and my trusty stool softeners. FUN. :)

ANYWAY, my shoulder really feels fine. I try to stay still. If I move my arm it doesn't feel so hot. I can't hardly even wash my hands b/c I cant rub them together! Weird. This typing is the most I've done besides wash my hair this morning, well I washed the right half and tried to wash the left half. I didn't want to wait for Chris so I tried to do it on my own. Probably should have waited! haha, he was down making my breakfast :) The washing of my hair wore me out and I slept for a few hours. But otherwise the only pain I've had is feeling like it's really bruised (go figure!) and it itches from time to time. Like I said..it hurts if I move so I don't move. I'm taking my own advice..when the kids say, "My foot hurts when I move it". I say, "Then don't move it!" I'm finding that is very good advice. :) So far no oozing or bleeding that we can see from the bandages. We aren't allowed to take them off. Which is driving me nuts. I can't shower till I get the bandage off which is on the 26th, which is 11 days post op. Which is disgusting. I can take a very very shallow bath. Hmm..not sure what good that would do me. I've been using wash clothes and wetwipe type things.

My hips are on fire. Thank you Mundy family genes! I slept for about 30 hours in a 36 hour time period when I got home and my hips have been crying ever since. I'm able to sit up for longer periods of time now, and lay almost on my back so that is helping.

It's amazing how completely worn out I am even though the parts of me that are supposed to hurt, don't really hurt (unless I move)! Mentally draining I suppose.

I don't think I'm goin in to work tomorrow. If I feel well enough I might try a few hours, but probably not. Will definitely go in on Tuesday though. Not sure if I will be able to drive since I can't really move my arm. But Chris can take me if need be.

Thanks to those of you who brought meals, and for the prayers and concern and texts. I've answered them as best I could. Today's the first day I've been able to type! YAY! Anyway, I've really enjoyed the quiet and privacy. We're doing great here, no worries. Today we've all been able to rest and have time together which has been the best part of all of this. Thanks for being understanding in our having the phones off, etc. In times like these I find that quiet is the best "medicine".

OH, I didn't have to get the drainage tube thing so that was great :)

Chris & I will continue to keep you updated as we have time..maybe even take pics when the bandage comes off for your viewing pleasure :) But anyway, just wanted to write and let you know that all is well, that we are all doin fine and are well taken care of.

Love to you all

OK, first blog of the new year..pardon me for being a few weeks late with it :)

Seems every day has been filled to the top with something to do. Fun things, not so fun things. Enjoyable things, not so enjoyable things..u know, the usual!

Ash decided to try the charter school because that's where all of her church friends are. She couldn't decide if she wanted home school or the charter school (it only goes through 8th grade) but after her Mom ordered mandatory "think about it for 2 days" time period, she decided to go Charter school. She's loving it. Its the same school I used to clean, if you'll recall. Anyway, it's much more strict and the work is much harder so it actually makes her think! It's actually right at her level instead of being so far below as it is in the regular public schools. J is on the waiting list and can't wait to get in. We're hoping that there will be a spot for him in 2nd grade this fall. He's at the top of the waiting list right now. But, anyway, A will do the charter school deal through 8th grade and then move on to home school. We're excited, but more importantly, she's excited. She's also enjoying learning spanish in the charter school. They start teaching spanish there in I think 3rd grade or so. Maybe earlier.

My surgery is on Thursday. Thanks for all of the concern and offers to help! We have great friends and family and church family. I am positive we will be just fine and have all of our needs more than taken care of. But if we should need any of you, we will most definitely call! I promise! I'm looking very much forward to this all being over so I can get back to my life. I don't like being kept down against my will! Then again, it will be FABULOUS to sleep for 4 days in a drug induced haze of la la land. :) No worries..hopefully no pain (please?)..just sleep. Oh, and possibly emptying a drainage tube thing. *PUKE*

Ash will most likely be getting braces in February, Dr. Haws says he wants to take films and everything but that her case looks extremely simple and should take only 6 mos to a year to complete. Possibly only having to do the top teeth.

I can't think of much else. We've had birthdays up the wazoo and they're not stopping anytime soon. But, it's so nice to be a part of every one's day. Being born is important you know!

Speaking of birthdays, A's 13th bday party went of without a hitch, except for maybe those pesky candles. My brother and I were both choking back the swear words I think, trying to light those suckers! I promise to post pictures soon. My goodness I can't believe I'm so behind!!!

Well, dinner is ready so I better go. Have a great night and I promise to try to be better at blogging :)

Love you!

It's cold in the ol' office.


Here's a pic I took of my Sadie in the snow yesterday..or maybe the day before. Yeah, that one. Hmm..actually I think it was on Saturday. Time is slipping away..

Isn't she precious :) She loves to pounce on, dig in and eat the snow. In this pic she had just gotten done digging and eating with her snout. The snow was up to her belly in certain areas of the yard this day. It was fun to see her galloping through it.

I can't remember when I last wrote but it was probably well before Christmas. Well, we had 6 Christmas' in all. Each lovely in their own way. Having every celebration separate was tiring but so much more enjoyable. Then we had Chris' birthday with his buds on Saturday night. The kiddos and I spent that night at Walmart so they could spend all their cash that they got from Christmas. They had a blast. Then we came back home, I made cakes for the next day. Sunday was Chris' family birthday party. The house was full, and we're good with that. Nice to have people over. Even though I usually find myself shoved into a corner somewhere b/c the noise starts to push me inward. But, I did pretty well and really enjoyed the time. Oh, and Chris did too :) Then after everyone left we went out and did some more shopping..came home, ate and collapsed.

Then Monday it was back to work for me and back to sleeping in for Chris and the kids. ;) My day was SOOOOOOOO busy. But, it went by fast. Today was pretty busy, too. I find myself very worn out. In the mornings I'm so tired I find the tears coming quickly to my eyes. But, I'm thankful for my job and for the home and food it provides. A few days of solid sleep would be swell :) Funny, whenever I get the chance to sleep in I can't. Danged inner clock never goes on snooze until the work days return.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I can hardly believe it. I'm just barely feeling that it's time for Thanksgiving! Wow am I behind. Anyway, after I get home from work we are goin over to some church friends' house who also happen to live a block down from us (my fellow jbq coach). Gonna play games and eat our hearts out and just enjoy a nice evening. Our kiddos all get along great and we don't have to worry about what they're hearing/seeing, etc. I'm just hoping I can stay up till midnight. I will do my best, scouts honor.

New Years Day will be our ONE day out of the entire Christmas vacation and Chris' vacation of which will belong solely to Chris, Sarah, Ashley and Jaden. It will be freaking marvelous. I am SO anticipating this special day. Then Friday I go back to work. Saturday we have my bro Jon's birthday and Sunday is always busy.

Oh, did I show you the awesome picture of my niece Monet with Santa? DeAnna took it and then I made it all fuzzy and glowy..

I gotta tell you, I am not a Santa fan in the least. But, this picture is priceless. He's the Santa that Terry & Lana (our friends who let my fam board their horses at their house, etc..) hire every year. He shows up towards the end of the Christmas get together and gives all the kiddos presents.

Yesterday was my Grandpa's birthday, as you know he's passed away. It's always strange to have that day without him. But, I'm sure he was up playing a round of golf in heaven ;)

Well, I guess I'll let you all get back to your lives now. Love you and thank you so much for the cards and gifts and time given over the Christmas holiday. Your presence blesses us. We are working on thank you cards, but until then remember we love you and appreciate you.

Nighty night

The blog is still showing up strangely to me. I thought maybe I just had too much stuff on there so I went and took almost all of my graphics down, etc. Still looks weird but less exciting :( I hope you folk can see what we're writing about. Cuz when I open the page I see pretty much nothing on the left hand side.

Anyway, it was a long week. I'm glad it's the weekend, not that it's brought any rest. But, it's the weekend regardless and that's nice. In the very near future I would really like a day where from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep there is not one place we have to go or one thing we have to do. Where all 4 of us are home. I NEED IT & I WANT IT. And, I'm fighting off throwing an infantile fit most of the time b/c I can't seem to have it. But, I'll try to put my big girl panties on and get over it.

Yesterday I had to work for a few hours, it was nice and quiet. Not even one phone call! The kids went with me and Chris went out to exchange a few gifts we had bought for the kids. He came back and helped by labeling things. Aww what a sweetie :) Then we went to Mom n Dad's to put our Christmas ornaments up and ate lots of yummy lunch. Then we laid around and chatted for awhile by the fire. Then it was time to go to my Gramma's house to get all the info from Uncle Don about the CAR HE JUST GAVE ME!!! Can you believe that? He said that families with children need 2 cars and that he was giving me his. WOW. Thank you Jesus was all I could think. We don't need 2 cars 90% of the time but there are those times when only having one car creates problems. Also, not having to come all the way out and pick the rest of the family up b4 we go somewhere will be nice. Now we can just meet if need be. Will also save me lots of gas once winter's over b/c then I can drive it to work and get great gas mileage. It was a total blessing, we are just so very thankful. Anyhoo, then we came home, I squeezed in a 30 min nap (which as u know only makes a person MORE tired) and then got up and ready and went to Terry & Lana's for the annual Christmas party. It was fun. Loud. But fun. By that time I was soo overstimulated, I just wanted to go home. Everything inside of me was begging to go home. I looked at Chris and he said, "Are you ready?" YES. I told him I just wanted to go home, to be at my home. And, of course, my eyes start flooding. He tells me to turn off the waterworks, he'll go round up the kids. haha About 30 min later we got to go home. I can't tell you how much I LOVE BEING AT HOME. You probably know this already. As soon as I get here it's like all the weight comes off and I can just "be".

This morning we got up to snowy conditions. Nothing too bad. An inch or two. Went off to church and had a nice time. It started snowing while we were there and is still snowing now. But, the roads are good, and even I have to admit that it's pretty. Chris will take Ash back over later for her TBQ practice and then join her this evening for his/her drama practice. J and I will just hang out at home and relax. :) I have a project to work on for one of Chris' Christmas presents so this will be a good time to do that.

Tomorrow starts another week, it's supposed to snow all week long. But with it staying so cold it's really made my drives great. No slipping or slush or filthy streets. Everyone seems to be doing well, at least on our end of town. I pray it stays that way.

Christmas is in just a few short days and then Chris' birthday is in just a few short(ER) days after that! Then we'll have Jon's, Ashley's, DeAnna's and Dave's Birthdays in January as well, oh and Barbara's birthday is on Chris' birthday (or vice versa). I'm probably forgetting someone elses, forgive me. Ash has a big 2 days planned for her 13th birthday. Chris is planning a night with his buddies and then cake n ice cream with family the next day. Not sure what anyone else has planned. But, rest assured, we will be happy to show up for cake! :) We like cake.

Well, I'm gonna cut this "short" (haha). Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Find time to rest and time to smile and time to enjoy. Love you :)

Happy Saturday :)

We just got home from the TBQ match. WOW, LONG DAY. Didn't make it to Gabe's party. Considering it ended at 4, we would have only been able to get to the last 10 minutes of it, if we were lucky! Oh well, I'm sure he had a fabulous time.

The meet was great, Ash got THREE, count 'em, THREE quiz outs!!! We were all so excited. I was working the buzzer machine (the thing that counts all the time and such) so I couldn't be outwardly excited. Had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. She's still there now. Meridian invited our team (and I think the other ones, too) to stay after and have root beer floats and play board games. What a fun way to end the day!

I got my "wish" and my fam IS coming over for lunch after church tomorrow!!! Makes my heart happy. Well, actually, I haven't heard back from Matt & Laura yet. But Mom n Dad and Jon n DeAnna & Monet are coming! I'm making chicken enchiladas. Mom's bringin over some homemade guac and chips n salsa. Can hardly wait to eat! I guess I better get the chicken in the pot tonight so all I have to do tomorrow is assemble and put it in the oven. I'd assemble tonight but then the tortillas get soggy and that's just gross.

I've been grinding my teeth at night, which is why my jaw is in such pain. I had suspected as much, but it was confirmed the other night when Chris woke me up and said, "Honey, I think you're starting to grind your teeth!" It was an exciting moment. We've got an answer!! LOL Anyhoo, I think maybe in grinding I've knocked part of my filling loose or that there was a little extra filling "stuff" on the side of my tooth b/c there's an edge to it. Feels like there's a popcorn kernel there, but there isn't! I took a nail file to it today on the way home. It didn't do anything but rub my poor lip raw. LOL Chris knocked the file out of my hand and told me to quit it. Sheesh. Pushy, pushy. We swung by to see if Dr. Haws was still at the office but he was gone already. I'm not in any pain so I can't see calling him for an "emergency". Will just go in on Monday. In the mean time I've got to stop grinding my teeth! And in order to do that, life needs to slow down. haha, right.

I was asked today what we are doing on Christmas day. I didn't realize anyone cares, but you must! heehee And now I see on quite a few other blogs that folk are sharing their Christmas plans. So, I'll follow suit! Christmas Eve I have to work until at least 3 (unless I don't..which, I do) and then we'll go out to Caldwell for the annual tamale feed and time with Chris' Dads side of the family. Then we'll, after shoving our bellies full of goodness and laughter, drive home bleary eyed and cozy up in our beds. Then Thursday morning we will wake up and have our little family Christmas time together here at home, maybe have some toast n coffee/tea/hot chocolate..then get ready (which means put slippers on and brush teeth) and drive down to Mom n Dads. I say around 10 or 11..but if things happen as they usually do, we'll probably be up and opening gifts by 8 and out the door by 9. And, considering we have, I think, 8 gifts to open (which I'm NOT complaining about in the least, mind you!)..leaving at 9am is being generous! Anyhoo, then we get to spend the whole day/evening down there with them and my Gramma. Chris' Gramma Edens decided to celebrate with family on the day after Christmas so we won't be driving around everywhere on the 25th! We are excited to be able to have our own separate time with each part of the family..no rushing. Mendiolas...Mundys...Edens. ahhhh peace. So anyhoo, the day after Christmas I have to again work all day (till 5 unless I don't..which, I do) and then the Edens Grandparents are having a Christmas "Open House dinner" from 5-7. So we'll go over there and visit and exchange gifts. Chris' Aunt Teresa will be there, too, so we'll get to chat with her. I'm so excited! This will be the first year we aren't trying to cram everything into one day. We'll just get to relax. Then I think for the weekend we will just stay home and do nothing. I don't get any vacation time like Chris and the kids do, so it will really be our only family time during their break. Ok, so that's our day(s)! If you haven't already blogged about your festivities, please do! Now I'm all into knowing your business! HAHA

It's absolutely freezing here today and windy, too. If you walk outside you are instantly a popsicle and then when you get inside it takes a long time to warm back up again, even if you were only outside for 20 seconds! (which we did a lot of today, that's how I know!) It's snowing now, and has been for awhile but the flakes are soooo teensy weensy tiny winy that you can hardly see them!

Tomorrow is the kids' Christmas performances at church. YAY!! I know I've mentioned it probably one too many times so I won't mention it again..today.

Wow, I better get that chicken in the crockpot for tomorrow. Time is slipping away!!

Ok my brain just left my body. I was gonna tell you about something else and have no clue what it was. hmm Well, anyway, my buddy Kim's birthday was yesterday. She's livin in Texas now. Sure miss you Kim!! Hope you had a great day. Love you!

Thanks to all of you who have sent us Christmas cards. They are lovely, and so are you! I promise to get ours out soon. Maybe even this coming week!

Take care :)

Not sure why some of my blogs are shortened in the viewing area. Are they showing short for you, too? For instance, my last blog is only showin me a picture of Chris and J..nothing else. If I refresh the page then more of the blog shows up. Sometimes I have to refresh it 3 times!!


Oh well. It was another long busy week. Glad it's over. Realllly glad. I love my job but I love my home, too. We've got A's TBQ meet tomorrow and then have to go out to Nampa for Gabe's birthday party. Then on Sunday, we have the big drama performance on Sunday during church. I'm hoping to have my family over for lunch after church on Sunday but Mom's been sick so I don't know if she'll be up to it. I hope they can, I sure miss our "Mundy Family Dinners". We used to have them once a week but now with everyone's schedules (and how far away we live) we mostly just see eachother together on holidays. Lame. Anyhoo, we'll see how it goes. If they can't come over, fine. I'll just go take a nap instead! :)


J had his Christmas play on Wednesday. It was great. I couldn't help but think about Presley during the performance. How cute she would have been, and wondering what lines she would have had. Ash said she saw her Mom there (she has another daughter who goes to Crimson). Must be such a sad time for them. Anyway, J was a total ham and loved every second of the play. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleeeeeaaaasure.





And here are some pics from A's drama performance last week in Wilder! They are SO AMAZING!!!!! In case you can't tell, in the second picture the kids have created a human throne (the 3 girls on the bottom are not part of the throne) and Keeton is sitting in it. They do things like this all the time. In another part of one of their performances they create a human boat, barn, beds, chairs, cross, etc...





I finally finished the Christmas newsletter last night and am almost done addressing envelopes. I kept forgetting folk who I wanted to send cards to until I was done with the ones I had! HAd to have Chis get another package of cards the other night.


Well, I'm gonna go relax and enjoy the evening with my family. Hope you do the same! Love you :)

J just had his JBQ meet, we took 2nd place!!  Ash has her meet this Saturday, I'll be sure to take lots of pics for ya. Also, tomorrow Jaden has his Christmas play at school, did I mention he's gonna be Santa? We're gonna video tape it. I don't have an external microphone so the sound most likely will leave a lot to be desired but hopefully not too horrible!

This last Sunday we travelled with the Drama team to Wilder to perform for the Crossroads Assembly church there. They did all 3 of their dramas and did an amazing job. I have a few pics from it, will post them later. Had the church in tears at points and up on their feet jumping & clapping at others! Sign of a good show if you ask me.

My right shift key isn't working when I try to use it in order to make an exclamation point. How annoying to try to retrain myself to use the left shift key!!! >:(

My jaw has been really hurtin for about 2 weeks now. Been awhile since this has happened. I think it was this summer the last time. Anyway it's painful, gets worse at night. I must be grinding my teeth again while I sleep. Told Chris to punch me if he hears me doing it. It's mostly annoying b/c it's interfering with my eating. ;)

Well, I'm sleepy and don't want to be on the computer anymore. So I'm gonna go for now. Have a great night. Love to you all.

((hugs))

FIRST BLOG OF DECEMBER! WOOHOO!!!!

I really thought that Sarah would have blogged by now but I guess we've both just been so gosh darn busy lately. Anyway, I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd toss one out there. Some of you may remember me from blogs back in the day. For those that don't know me I am that wonderful man that Sarah is always gushing about. :D

So I cannot believe its December already. Almost one week down. We are so completely busy this month its unreal. The holidays are always a bustling time for us but this year we've got the added joys of the kids' drama and bible quiz. They have a blast and its so fun to watch them practice and perform/compete. It definately adds to the schedule but we're happy to do it. I'm glad they both found some activities they enjoy that let them get more involved at church and help them meet some great new people.

This weekend (Saturday) is the JBQ match for Jaden and his goal is a quiz out. He is determined after coming so close last time and narrowly missing it due to an equipment malfunction. He's gonna do great. On Sunday we'll be heading out to Wilder for Ashley's drama team performance. This is an advance performance of the one they'll be putting on for our church on the 14th. They've all been working hard and I can tell you its looking really good. If you can make it out to Kuna on the 14th you definately should. If not there should be a video coming out with all the performances on it, but nothing beats seeing it live.

Sarah and I have both been completely busy with work lately. Sarah's job is in the middle of moving to a new building so there's been lots of transition lately. She worked super late on Monday to help them finish getting everything over but most of it should be done now. The new building is closer to us which is good and cuts down on her driving time. I've been working hard getting everything done before we shut down for the holidays. Lots of projects to wrap up and whatnot. Still going through yet another re-org as well which probably won't be finalized until sometime after the first of the year, but for the time being we all still have jobs and we're told there are no changes (aka layoffs) being planned for anytime in the near future so that's good. So far we've weathered everything pretty well and even managed to post the best earnings in years. Our organization in particular did very well and we're actually looking at getting some bonuses/raises for the first time in 8 years! Praise the Lord!!!

In the midst of all this busyness, Sarah and I managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done! We actually finished it last weekend so we were done BEFORE December! Feels good to have that finished and not have to fight crowds at the stores and rush to finish. We've even got all our decorations up and the tree out. Just need to wrap everything and get x-mas cards out and then we can relax the rest of the month....well, one less thing to worry about anyway.

Jaden and I got our haircuts yesterday, FINALLY! We were some seriously shaggy beasts. Our good friend Kristi jazzed us up real good though and now we're back to our dapper, well-groomed selves. Thanks again Kristi, you're the best!

Well, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the season. We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can during the holidays and for those we don't see, know that you're always in our hearts and thoughts. Until next time, adios amigos!

Just sittin here enjoying the happy silence. Well except for the music playing. But it's my music so it is still classified as happy silence :)

It's been cold here but I'm realizing that it must be a milder climate than normal b/c Bogus isn't even TRYING to open by Thanksgiving! Do they even have a flake of snow up there yet? I guess I haven't looked at the mountain lately. Ok I just checked their website..yup, no snow folks.

Talked with one of my church buddies about homeschool tonight. We had 2 hours of info and chatting n fighting back mommy tears with each other. I've been wanting to start doing that for forever now. More seriously looking into it as of late. Ash will start first and then J will probably do it in 3rd grade. Maybe sooner depending on how things go. Anyway it's super exciting, and Chris is supporting it too so that's a big thing. The kids have so many activities and friends that they won't be "hermits" by any means. Plus, they'll get to learn about our views on creation instead of only the other views. Why every view except for ours gets to be discussed in school is beyond me. I'm not asking for it to only be taught according to our belief, I'm just asking for our belief to be discussed as well as the others. If you have a chance to watch Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, we highly recommend it. Chris and I watched it last week and were just appalled at how far (or how backwards) things have gone.

Anyhoo..We move offices starting this weekend. So don't want to move. But it will be good once it's done. Other than that stock is low b/c we're getting it down to where we don't have to move as much. By we I mean the movers. ;) We have to do stuff too but no heavy lifting.

I love Jason Upton. Worship at it's best. Listening to Wait Upon The Wind right now. Barbara, if you have time u might wanna listen to it. I think u'd like it right now :) It kinda goes along with what u were writing about. (in my playlist towards the top of the list)

Getting excited-ish about Thanksgiving. I always have a hard time around holidays. Why, not sure. Thanksgiving and Christmas both in particular seem to be so centered around self and not on what they are supposed to be centered on and that always really REALLY bothers me. I guess I just don't understand why it is so hard for "us" to take our eyes off of ourselves. But, that's human nature I suppose. I am determined to enjoy Thanksgiving and be thankful for another year with my family, and my beautiful Grandma. Thank you, Jesus, for my Grandma. Thank you for not making me say "goodbye" just yet. I know, I always say, "Just one more holiday with her Lord." But I realize that it won't always be. And, that's ok. I'll just be thankful for today and "let" You worry about the rest.

The kiddos are so ready to put the Christmas decorations up. Have I mentioned this already? Feeling very de ja vu-ish. ANyway, at this point I'm thinking it will be late next week if at all b4 we get stuff out. There's just never enough time. Every time I think we have time, something else comes up and our time is taken away. Yes, we could say "no"..but it's just never that simple if u catch my drift. And, we do say "NO" to more things than you might think. At any rate, the decorations will be put up and I so look forward to a quiet day with my lil family to get that done. It's always so much fun. And, I love watching the kids put their decorations up.

Chris made a wonderful dinner both last night and tonight. Last night was shredded beef tacos. Then tonight he used the left over beef for nachos. My man is amazing. Truly blessed. He makes my heart leap for joy and warms my spirit with his embrace. I love you honey. I love you, I love you, I love you.

I dreamed of Fiji again today. Daydreamed that is. One day..one day. I'm pretty sure that my lil corner of Heaven will have a Fijian beach. :) And there I will sit in my Father's lap in complete peace with tears of joy streaming down my face..napping in His arms. Listening to stories and feeling His love like never before.

Well, I suppose I'll go now :) Here's a video for u to watch! Love you

Have you ever wanted to read the Bible in chronological order? I HAVE! And I’m finding more and more people who do, too. They sell Bibles in this format, but you I've found that you can also get a chart online for FREE!

Here is the link to a chart that shows you what to read for 61 days in order to cover all of the "key" stories of the Bible.

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/chronological.php

And then this link (below) takes you to a page where you can read the entire Bible in chronological order:

http://70030.netministry.com/articles_view.asp?articleid=31608&columnid=3801


We are joining with our buddies to read the key stories in 61 days (FIRST link) and then will go back and read the entire Bible in chron. order (second link) after that. Wanna join with us? We are starting today.

It is said that our relationship with our spouses and those around us reflect our relationship with the Lord. So, let's understand and love The Word more so that we can then in turn understand and love those around us better. Especially in this day and age, we really really need to be at a place in our walk with the Lord where we can reach out and touch and understand others as He would have us understand them. The world likes to confuse and water down the Truth, so let's get back to the MEAT of The Word and the TRUTH that it holds! Everyone is lovable, so let's learn how to love them better, together. Also, we expect that in the end we will learn to love ourselves more..it's impossible to truly love yourself (or anyone else) until you know your true identity in HIM.

We hope you will all join us on this great adventure of walking through the Bible as it happened! We plan on keeping in touch with everyone by email who is doing this, so feel free to "reply to all" when you want to share something or ask a question to the group. We're all "brothers & sisters" here, no question is stupid! We look forward to learning with you and growing closer together with you in the coming weeks. Sometimes it's confusing to understand how and why things happened in the Bible, but reading it this way will most likely help put the puzzle pieces together.

Please email and let us know if you are joining us so we can put together an address book for the emails. We are starting today, Sunday November 23rd. If you get this email late, no worries! You can catch up without too much extra reading if you start "now".


~Chris & Sarah


SOME PEOPLE ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE LINK TO THE 61 DAY READING PLAN. IF YOU ARE ALSO HAVING TROUBLE, FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

Go to:

www.biblegateway.com

On the left hand side, click on:

Additional Resources

At the bottom of the page, click on:

Reading Plans

At the bottom of the page, click on:

Chronological Reading Plan (61 Days)

Please follow this link. It will tell you all about how to print off and send a Christmas card to our Service men and women. It is free and well worth your time!

Cards must be postmarked by December 1oth, so don't delay!


http://www.redcross.org/email/saf/

Thank goodness the weekend is here. I need a BREAK! Worked 6 days last week, had Sunday "off" although Sundays are never really relaxing! Then back to work I went! It was a very long and draining week. And, we are now packing to move to a new warehouse, started doing that this afternoon. I'm so tired. Chris said I looked like I was going to fall asleep at any second when I got home. A full day of sleep would be MARVELOUS! Speaking of sleep, I had a horrible week of sleep..I fall asleep just fine but then start waking up around 4 off and on till it's time to get up. ANNOYING. But, at least I have a cozy bed to sleep in and a wonderful man to sleep next to! I just keep thinking my house is so messy. I haven't vacuumed in nearly 3 weeks which makes me want to hurl. The dog hair is filthy. The bathrooms have been quick cleaned but need a deep clean, in my opinion. Laundry needs to be done, floors mopped, everything else dusted..ugh..save me.

I made a huge pot of chili last night for Chris & the kids. It was yummy. While they were enjoying that, I went out to dinner with Kristi & Kim. Actually, I think they finished before I went out. It's blurry, but no matter. The girls and I went to El Gallo Giro so they could experience the magnificence of the Gallo. They LOVED IT!! Please be prayin for Kim, though, she's having a lot of serious medical issues right now and they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with her. She's had 2 MRI's in a week. A new born baby at home and a toddler. EEK!

Tomorrow we are goin out with Matt & Laura to hang out and also to go to a farm and pick out our Thanksgiving turkey! We might pick out a pig, too. See how much they are. But we're gonna try to split one.

Jess is gonna meet me on Wednesday on our way to Mom n Dads to give me the new Jason Upton CD..I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. Makes my whole being leap for joy!! Ecstatic to listen to it while I bake with my Momma. Well, I guess really it will be me baking with Chris since Momma will still be at work. Maybe I'll be napping by the time she gets home. I just love thanksgiving and being with my family. We have so much to be thankful for.

Well, we've gotta get Ash to her Drama meeting so I'll chat with yall later. I LOVE YOU!!!!!! Have a beautiful weekend. The SON is shining!!

So last weekend my Mom n Dad (lovely people that they are) took the kiddos for the weekend. AHH YESS!! NO BICKERING!! It was great. Truth be told, I think they needed a break from us, too. ;) Anyway, we had a super fun time. Got some Christmas shopping done (and groceries), went out to lunch one day and also went to see the new James Bond movie. The first night (Friday) we were in bed and snoring by 8:30. TIRED!! OK I was snoring, I think Chris made it till closer to 10 before he passed out.

Then it was back to work on Monday, it was a very busy day. Today wasn't so bad, I got caught up on a lot of work that had been piling up with us being so busy. So that was nice. Even one day without being able to tend to my emails creates a lot of havoc! I still have over 100 emails to check for on time deliveries.

Well, I guess that's all I have to share for now! Love ya

Got this from Jenn tonight. Thought I would pass it on to you all so you could hear it from her mouth! They are so very thankful for each and every one of you.

"Hey everyone, just wanted to spread the good news about Joshua. We got the test results back on his bone marrow and biopsy and he is definitely in remission. It has been a long week here in Savannah, but we should be going home tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for all your phone calls, emails, texts, and especially all the prayers. They are very uplifting to us all. We can now close the book on chapter one ( having the Leukemia in his body) and start on "chapter two" (keeping it from coming back)!!! We still have a lot of treatments ahead, but I know GOD will have a hand in it and knows what we have in store! Please know that we have truly been blessed with the news of his remission but there will still be times when he struggles and has his down days. I hope you know what a blessing each and every one of you are in Joshua's life.

Be blessed,
Jennifer"

I've got awesome news to share with you tonight :) Joshua got his preliminary test results back today and they show him being leukemia free! He's had a really hard week with treatments and his port so this was such needed and welcomed news. Please continue to pray for him as he keeps walking out this journey. They've got 4 years total of different treatments and things that they will need to do, but for today we all got WONDERFUL news. Praise the Lord, He is ever faithful. Thank you for all of your continued prayers!

In other news, it's Veteran's Day! Thank you to all of our Vets and their families..without you there would be no us. Love you, love you

Smitty does it again..another awesome worship song!! It's amazing what God can and will do with a willing heart. Enjoy :)