december 8th

We got hit with quite the storm last night. Lots of wind and rain, but really I slept through most of it. Very unlike me. Several of my co-workers woke up to no power today, but lucky for us we were not effected.

All ready thinking ahead to the weekend. Saturday we have the Arizona Dirt & Sand expo....sounds like fun doesn't it?!? LOL! We are looking forward to it. Something to do. John also wants to start the Christmas shopping and get that done. Really, what's the hurry?? Yea, then I look at the calendar and CRAP it's coming up fast!!

Week 1 back on the program and I was down 5.6 lbs. Could have been better but I was very naughty over the weekend. Working hard again this week and I am sure I will see some good numbers again next week. Had to do this time of the year with all of the holiday goodies all over the place.

december 7th

Yesterday we stayed up to watch the 10pm news…well, all of us but Matty. He couldn’t make it, but asked to be woken up once our “Great Garage” segment came on. With the Cardinals winning their football game last night we really didn’t think we would make it on. They kept cutting into press conferences of the players, but at the VERY end of the news cast on came our garage!! I couldn’t even get Matt to wake up, so I quickly gave up. They did a great job putting it together, but man they left a lot out! LOL!

You can check it out here: Great Garages

The best is I finally get Matt up and to bed, when he says to me, “But I want to stay up and watch the news.” I had to tell him that he missed it, but we would watch it on Monday together. He was so upset that he missed it. LOL!

december 6

You know how sometimes you have your whole day planned out, but then your day just "happens" and you go with it? That was our yesterday. We planned on getting up and walking to Starbucks, but man it was cold out. So we opted for staying in bed and making some good coffee at home and just relax.

We had a great coupon for Cycle Gear and Matt was in need of some new riding boots and we figured it would make a nice Christmas gift. Matt found a pair of white boots that he really liked and would still give him some growing room also. Our next stop was to pick out a Christmas tree but while driving home we heard a radio commercial that Travis Pastrana was at the new Subaru dealership just minutes away from the house. Matt LOVES Travis and really wanted to get his new boot autographed, so this is where our day took a turn. We drove over and besides having Travis there they had all kind of things going on. I stood in line while everyone went to look around. Travis was there until 12:30 and we got there a little before noon. He was then going to take a break from 12:30 until 1:30 and as always....as soon as we got up to the door it was his break time! Well, Matt really wanted to see him and we didn't have anything that had to be done right that moment. I sat in line while John took the kids to have some free lunch they were serving up. We took turn staying in line so we could check everything out and the hour went by pretty quickly.

Once inside and it was our turn Travis thought it was pretty cool that Matt brought his brand new riding boots to have signed. He told Matt that he needed to go out and break those things in! LOL! We also had some photos taken, and then it was over. Very much well worth it. I guess Travis is doing some crazy jump on New Years Eve from a prier onto a floating barge in Long Beach!!

We still had time to drive over to Home Depot and pick out a tree. Didn't take us too long to find the perfect one and we were home and starting to decorate and clean! Busy, busy day!!

Tonight our garage is suppose to featured on Channel 12 News "Great Garage" segment!! We are looking forward to staying up until 10pm to watch!!

december 4th

Friday finally. It always seems like a long week after a holiday week of days off. My day improved yesterday and I’m feeling a little better. Really looking forward to this weekend.

Plans for the weekend; Saturday John and I are getting up and getting a good walk in. We will probably do a pit stop at Starbucks. I am dying for a Gingerbread Latte…a skinny Gingerbread latte of course. Only 200 calories for that, and I have a fabulous week and think it’s well deserved. I have dropped 7 lbs. this week!! There is just nothing like that holiday Starbucks cups…it’s a truly beautiful site. LOL!

Then it is time to shop for our family Christmas tree!! Woo-Hoo!! I have started, yes…started…working on my Christmas shopping list. Things are a little tight this year, but I’m sure it will be a lovely Christmas. John has been asking me what I would like, and really I would love a new iPod Touch, but only if it is adaptable to the NIKE + since mine isn’t. I need to stop by the Apple store and ask someone one of these days. The rest of Saturday will be spent cleaning and holiday decorating. Then maybe some chili and cornbread for dinner!!

Sunday is hopefully going to be a lazy football watching day at home. Really looking forward to it!!

december 3rd

Getting closer to the weekend and picking out our family Christmas tree! I could spend hours in the past looking at trees. Poor John has to hold them for me to look at, and then maybe spin it around so I can see the back…oh, wait let me see that one over there again. LOL! Trampling through the muddy lot, until we discovered Target. Man, they had some nice trees for some good prices the last couple of years. I noticed a week or so ago that our Target though has closed its outdoor department, so I’m not sure if that’s going to be an option or not this year. Anyway, looking forward to pulling out past years ornaments and decorating the tree.

Another of our favorite traditions is going down the street to our neighbor’s house who have the most amazing train display in their backyard! I’m not talking some little train going around a part of their backyard. I’m talking several trains, the WHOLE backyard, painted brick fence to look like the mountains, sound effects and miniature villages all throughout the display!! We love driving down there on the golf cart and watching the trains. I remember Matt being small and getting as close down to the grown as he could get to be in eye level with the track and the trains. He was such a little train freak when he was younger. I think opening weekend is this weekend and we are all really looking forward to it.

I have been back on the program and doing great. Matt has enjoyed bike riding with me in the evenings. I still can’t believe he doesn’t care if he’s seen with me on my pink bike. LOL! Last evening my legs were killing me by the time we got back home.

I have been feeling a bit frustrated with my job lately. Debating on what avenue to take next. I miss being creative and enjoying what I do. We will see what comes in the New Year.

december 2nd

I was hoping to blog yesterday being that it was December 1st and I have been running a little behind. I cannot believe December is here already and I need to get a Christmas tree already this weekend! Didn’t I just put up the fall decorations?? This year has just flown by, but it was a good year.

So, our Thanksgiving trip to the sand dunes is at the top of my list for one of my favorite Thanksgivings! We had pretty good weather, but even better dinner with awesome friends. This was the first time I have ever had Thanksgiving dinner in a trailer, but it kept from getting sand in our food. LOL! Our friend Tommy from California gave a beautiful grace before dinner and we all shared what we were thankful for. Then ate way too much food!! I created t-shirts for our group just for Thanksgiving Day and was thrilled that everyone liked them as much as they did. It was over all a great trip and we enjoyed both Meghan’s and Tommy’s birthday while there. Again, created a t-shirt just for Meghan to celebrate her big day!! Looking forward to creating an album of the trip….someday.

I am a LOT behind when it comes to creating. Need to take a month off of work just to have fun and create again. I get up so early, then work, home, workout, dinner and then I am just too tired to do anything. Really drives me crazy, because I have all of these creative ideas spinning around in my head. Lately all I do create is t-shirts for our trips. LOL!

If you live in the Phoenix area be sure to tune in on Sunday (12/6/09) to News Channel 12 to see OUR garage featured in their “Great Garages” segment!! The kids and I are really looking forward to it!! Notice I didn’t say “John”….LOL! He’s not to excited about seeing himself on TV. Can’t wait!! Heeheehee…

weekend recap

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everywhere we went this weekend there were Christmas decorations, Christmas music and lots of shoppers! I am actually in this weird Christmas mood where I am really looking forward to the holiday this year even though we are putting ourselves on a very strict budget. Maybe it’s the challenge of the budget that’s exciting me, not sure. Anyway, I’m ready…bring it on!!

This weekend was our “Girl’s Weekend” since the boys were all out of town. We started our weekend off with dinner at Outback with my mother-in-law. This also was a pre-birthday dinner for Meghan who is turning 13 this week!!! AAAahhh….I’m going to have a teenager!! We enjoyed a great dinner and Meghan left $50 richer and ready to go shopping!!

Saturday we picked up my mom and headed over to San Tan Mall for a day of shopping and lunch. Meghan scored at Forever 21 with some great buys and still had money left over. Actually, all three of us did a little damage. We had a yummy lunch and then headed over to the bookstore. I found a great new journal for after Thanksgiving when I get my butt back on the program. I have been slacking really, really bad and feeling pretty yucky. Next Monday back to it! I find it helpful to write down my food for the day and do some journaling. I was looking for something to inspire me to write in and luckily found a super cute journal that is small enough to keep in my purse. We left with my journal and three pieces of pumpkin cheesecake for later that night!! When dropping my mom off we were lucky enough to be there when my younger brother called from down under. It was nice chatting with him for a few minutes. We are all missing him not being here for the holidays, but hopefully next year he and Juliet will be here with us!

Meghan and I decided since we were seeing New Moon the next morning to watch Twilight to catch up in case we forgot anything….like that would have happened. I also worked on some cute tags that I am using for the tee-shirts I created for Thanksgiving Day.

Sunday Meghan and I were at the movie theaters bright and early to meet up with friends and see New Moon. No this movie isn’t going to win any Oscars or anything, but we loved it!! Man, Jacob takes off his shirt the first time and you should have heard the mom’s gasp…yes, I said moms. LOL! It was pretty funny. After the movie it was time to go home and bath Mazie and Avery. The new sink John put in the garage worked awesome!! So much easier than using the bathtub. We also took my mother-in-law out shopping for clothes later that day….that was enjoyable (not really), but we ended up getting Red Lobster for dinner! Meghan and I were both exhausted from our weekend and almost looking forward to Monday work/school and getting some rest! LOL!