"Home for the Holidays"

A friend wanted to do a service project this holiday season. She chose Gary's parents as her lucky/blessed recipients. Her plan was to makeover the house! She asked Gary and I to keep it a secret and try to get supporters to help. She ended up letting Kent and Jeanette in on it knowing we'd need their help and knowing that Jeanette would like to help pick the materials.

We (mostly Kent and Jeanette) spent weeks selling furniture and packing up their whole house for this big makeover! By time it was finally time to do the makeover I was seriously worn out. Or so I though. We spent the first day redoing the kitchen counters. I loved getting my hands dirty and learning how to install Formica. 

The second day was filled with paining! We had help from many friends! The third day we ripped out flooring and put in a tile entry way and back splash in the kitchen! We also did some paint touch ups.

Day four was spent placing wooden floor boards in areas where the linoleum would be laid. We also put it in the kitchen and dinning room and front bathroom. They brought in the new toilets and new vanity and sinks in the bathrooms.

Day 5 we installed the carpeting, faucet installations and final touch ups.When all was done and everyone had left, Kent and Jeanette returned home from their mountain retreat in Estes Park.

I learned a lot and most importantly I loved the experience. I got to know the sweet lady who put this all together as we worked together through out the week. I felt bad now and then for following her around but I wanted to help and enjoyed doing so.  The construction workers were the best! They were so kind, funny, smart and experienced. I felt lucky to be in their presence as they worked.

It was a wonderful experience and the final results and the joy it brought to Kent and Jeanette are priceless!

Thankful For...

I love and enjoy the season of Thanksgiving. I enjoy that we get to take a few days off, spend time with family and ponder all of our blessings. It's been a wonderful five day weekend!

Here are some things I'm grateful for:

• My family (my parents, grandparents, husband, in-laws)
• My job! The kids I watch are so fun to be with!
• The plan of salvation and the knowledge that that I will be with my loved ones for time and all eternity!
• The temple and the peace it brings when you attend.
• My husband who is so patient with me and tries to give me the best!
• Modern technology and transportation.

Not to complain but...

We're experiencing some difficulties. I've been without a car for 5 months now. We're poor (and I mean Poor!) and we've even had to move back in with my in-laws (who I'm very thankful for).

Like I said, not to complain... Life's just throwing us a ton of lemons. It's ok though. We're saving up to make some delicious lemonade to go alone with our humble pie.
 

October

October is my favorite month of the year. Not just because it's my birthday, but because of the beautiful fall colors, the cozyness that comes when you first turn on the heater and put the down comforter back on the bed, the crisp fresh air and Halloween!

I had a great, simple birthday this year. I didn't have to work since that family I nanny for had the flu that day. Sad for them, Happy Birthday to me!!!

We had Panda Express for dinner and just watched chick flicks. I have the sweetest husband. He also surprised me with an Ice-Cream Maker! Oh, its so good! We've made so much ice-cream already it's just amazing. The cool thing is, we make it was 2% milk and no cream so it's pretty much healthy, especially when we use our sugar free vanilla syrup vs sugar.

For Halloween we obviously went to church since it was Sunday. We came home, took a nice nap and carved our pumpkin. It was great team work. I gutted it and roasted the seeds. I also picked out the design and Gary carved it with his manly skills.

We had a grand total of 2 trick-or-treaters! I wish I had given them a handful of candy each but it was only 6:30... I assumed we'd get more kids! Oh well, more candy for me! Oh darn.

Biggest news of all! The house sold. Yep. It's bitter sweet. I'm sad to leave it. It's beautiful and cozy. It's good to have it gone now though, after being on the market for 2 years! We'll be moving into Gary's parent's in 12 days. Off we go to the next phase in our life. I'm looking forward for the things to come!

My Favorite Time of the Year!

I love Fall. It's so cozy, warm and happy. I love the colors of the trees. I love eating pumpkin everything. I love baking and being able to eat hot food again. I love that I celebrate my birthday and get to watch General Conference while enjoying home made cinnamon rolls in PJ's.  I love that feeling of a new beginning as everyone heads back to school and focus more on work than play. Most of all, I love the rain!

This year I love the fact that Fall brings me a new job! I have something to do again and it's wonderful! I have been working for about a month now and I love just about every moment of it. There are times of course, like today, that I wonder why I'm putting myself through this. Then there are moments immediately following that remind me of how blessed I am to spend my days with precious little kids!

Today for the first time, I had to put my 3 year old friend in time out. She was in tears and I was close to shedding one for her. She has been getting comfortable with the word "NO" lately and I've been trying to set it aside assuming she's just tired or she's just adjusting to all the changes or worst of all  thinking every kid says no, who really wants to put their toys away.

It's a good thing I get to nanny so many children. By time I have my own I'll have some great experience! Today I learned that time out followed by a big hug and quick chat result in glorious outcomes. She went from telling me yelling "NO" to saying "ok" or her other acceptable responses I taught her "one minute please" or "ok but can you help me".  Being polite and respectful became a fun thing!

It's ok, I know what your thinking. I understand that every child has their own quirks. I know that what works for my little buddies now won't necessarily work with my own kids but see... this too has been shown to me as I get to work with unique children.

I can't wait to see what else I have in store to learn as I continue to watch my 3 and 1 year old friends.

Wow! Holy Changes!

Gary and I are moving soon. Whether it be a few blocks from where we are now, in Arvada... we don't know! Heck, we don't even know if we'll be moving next week or in 6 months. Fun, huh?

Ugh! So now I need a car AND I don't know where I'll be living in 2 weeks. I work 2 blocks from where we currently live and I love that. I hope I can get a car soon. That would make life easier.

This has been by far the toughest month of my life! We've had our fair share of trials but it's sad yet comforting to know that millions of other people are struggling just as hard if not harder with this recession.

There are some good things to be learned from it all though. Here is my list of optimism and things I have learned:

• We can live off of $100 in groceries a month!
• ATT doesn't assess late fees!
• I've learned how to use chop sticks due to boredom!
• Walking is not only a great way to stay fit but it also results in a great tan!
• King Soopers is only a mile away! Easy walk!
• I've found great ways to earn Amazon gift cards so I can still do some fun shopping!
• Olive Garden offers all you can eat soup, salad and bread sticks and are kind enough to box up extras of it all for leftovers! All for $5!
• It'll only get better from here!

See, even when times are tough financially you can still be 100% happy, healthy and have fun! Life is good.

The Best 2 Years

This Sunday is our second anniversary. Since we're having such a tough month financially and we don't have a car, we're celebrating it simply this year.

With our hardest month yet, Gary and I have certainly grown closer this past month than any other. It's been hard but in the end I will have learned so much about him, me and us as a couple. I already have learned a new depth of love and I know that we have even tougher challenges to come.

I'm so thankful for Gary and all he does for me and our family. He is always praying for guidance in what's best for our family and I appreciate that. I'm grateful for his deep faith that everything will always be okay.

This week I had a break down. I was mad, stressed, depressed and felt hopeless. Gary kept telling me everything will be okay and I just kept pushing him away telling him he needs to stop with all the "happy ever after fluffy stuff". I later learned that he is just as stressed as I am but puts on his happy face to keep me calm and at peace. I'm so thankful for that because he's right, his happy face does keep me calm.

I am grateful that he is so gifted in his entrepreneurial ways. He can make money doing what he loves and that is a blessing and a gift. I love that he can be home with me every day and provide for us too.

I love how happy that boy is. He has such an innocent, childlike happiness and I LOVE it! I love how much he loves me and I get weepy every time I think about how deeply he loves me. My favorite quote from him is "If you knew how amazing you are you wouldn't doubt how much I love you".

 I'm in love with that boy and I'm extremely grateful that we get to spend the rest of eternity together!! I'm so blessed!

Healthy!

Gary loves telling people about the first three months we were married. He brags that I made a new meal every day, never repeating a dish. Well, that was good but the side effects were a bit more than he expected. In the first year he gained about 30 pounds. Ouch! I have held on to my weight a little better but still gained about 7 pounds since our wedding.

We saved up our money and bought a treadmill in May. Gary said it was what he wanted for his birthday but we all know he was just making that up because he knew I wanted one. He does that a lot. Anyway, he convinced me that's what he really wanted for his birthday and that's what he got!

We've made a rule. If you want to watch Hulu, you need to be walking on the treadmill. It's been great! Gary walks about 2 miles a day and I average 1.5 jogging/speed walking. 

On top of that, summer is hot. We don't cook or have a desire to eat warm foods since it's so stinkin' hot! As a result we've found beauty in eating a practically vegetarian diet! When we do eat meat it's turkey burger rather than beef. We have also found that black beans, seasoned like taco meat, is just as good as hamburger. We've substituted our Orange Julius' with fruit smoothies, holding the sugar and adding a bit of spinach.  It's been so fun and it feels great!!!

Results:

Gary has lost 20 pounds!

I have lost 7.5 lbs

  I haven't lost much, but I now weigh less than I have since I was about 12. 

And we still enjoy treats when we feel like it!

GO US!

Before.... After!

I've been stuck in the house all summer (minus my very lovely 2 week vacation to Idaho and Utah). I just sit here, clean and do nothing. The highlight of my week is usually grocery shopping. Sad right?

So I made a bit of a stick about it. Gary was so sweet and decided we'd make Saturday special. 

We went to the Cheery Creek farmers market. It was fun to walk through and see all the silly vendors. Gary knows I LOVE shopping so he took me into the Cheery Creek mall after and pulled me into stores to look at things. It was so cool of him! He hates shopping but he just sucked it up and had fun with me! It was so incredibly sweet. Part of the deal was that he'd get a special drink as a reward, an Orange Julius or something. Well we forgot. We were almost home and turned around to go head to Sonic for a drink. We ordered one of their Cream Slushes and a Cream Chiller, both strawberry. We were headed home and I reminded him that we were going to go to Home Depot to look at gravel for the fish tanks. He asked if I wanted to turn around. I said "I don't care but if I think we're going somewhere and you take me home, I get disappointed". So he did a little U turn and....

BANG CRASH CRASH. In slow motion I saw a truck hit us, our bumper and other parts our my precious beautiful car fly around in the street.  UGH! Are you kidding me!?

I was horrible. I was the worst wife in the whole planet. My sweet husband had done everything he could to make my day special and perfect and I yelled at him. "What on Earth were you thinking? Why wont you just pay attention when you drive? I am so TICKED at you right now." I was mean. I was so mean. I would do anything to take that back and just hug him instead. I'd tell him "I'm so sorry!" it's not like he wanted to or meant to get in an accident and I knew that.

I was mad almost all day. He kept saying "What can I do for you? I'll do anything. I'll go get a second job and buy you a new car. I'll get a bus pass. I'll walk the 3 miles and back to the store for you". I just replied "I just want my car".

Well it's amazing how Heavenly Father works. A little knock came from the front door. Surprise! It was the missionaries. They were in the area and wanted to stop by. I grabbed them ice water and Popsicles thinking they needed refreshing.I later realized that they didn't come for themselves. They came to talk to me. 

They didn't know we had been in an accident that day, they didn't know that I was angry. They didn't know that I was upset and frustrated that Heavenly Father would let something bad happen to us after we've been doing everything right.

The new missionary asked if he could share a thought with us.  He went on to tell us a story of a member in his last area who went in for a meeting with the Steak President. The President asked "what commandment are you struggling with the most?" at which the man replied "happiness". The missionary then told us that you are always being worked on by either the Lord, or Satan. Obviously if your unhappy, Satan is winning. If you are happy, Heavenly Father is winning. Heavenly Father knows when trials come upon you and all he asks is that you have faith and stay happy.

I knew as he was speaking he was inspired to stop by and share that message with me. It was great. They left and I changed my attitude. I hugged Gary, sobbed and told him how sorry I am that I was mean to him. I told him sorry that he got in an accident and that I knew he didn't mean to. I know it'll be ok. I don't know how we'll get to church or go shopping. I don't know how we'll ever afford to get our car fixed but I know it'll work out. I just need to stay happy and have faith. 

I'm so grateful that we are safe and healthy. I am the luckiest girl in the whole world to have a sweet husband who made yesterday special for me. He's the love of my life and I'm so thankful for all that he does for me!

Before:

After:

1,500 Miles!

So far this month we have traveled though 4 states and driven 1,500 miles. We have attended 4 family reunions, camped at a camp ground in Heber, visited Preston ID, stayed at a nice condo on the lake in Huntsville UT,  and stayed with family in Mapleton. I toured UVU, BYU and sat so close to a firework show that I felt debris falling on me (ouch). I loved every second of our long trip and enjoyed meeting some amazing family members!

Huntsville Utah

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend Tanya came to visit us! I was SO excited to have her and her friend Rachel come stay with us for Memorial Day weekend and even more excited that they wanted to spend their time here shopping and exploring Colorado.

They rode in on a train on Friday. I picked them up from Union Station at 8:00 pm then we went home and just chatted.

On Saturday we went down to Castle Rock to visit the outlet mall. I tried my first caramel apple. It was amazing! Oh, I have been missing out. It was so sweet, juicy, healthy and unhealthy all in one! Tanya was one lucky shopper! She found cute stuff in quite a few of the stores. Rachel and I walked away with a single bag.

After Castle Rock we came back up and visited Cheery Creek Mall. It was fun to check out the mall in Colorado's richest neighborhood but it sure was hard to find an item under $600. We did find some yummy frozen yogurt though!

After our extravagant trip to C.C mall we ended up at very favorite store in the whole world. Super Target. I am so ridiculously in love with Target. I didn't buy anything fun really, but I did find some sweet deals in the clearance sections.

When we got home we whipped together a Tortellini salad for dinner. Then we watched the Fantastic Mr. Fox while Gary continued to entertain himself in the office.

Sunday started off with church, just like any other Sunday. We came home, changed and headed out to Red Rocks! We took some pictures there, walked around a bit and headed over to Kent and Jeanette's since Rachelle was also in town for the weekend.

We had Chicken Bundles and fruit. So yummy!!! After dinner we played Quelf. It's a silly game but I enjoy playing it. I don't think Tanya or Rachel enjoyed it much, but I sure did!

We left just in time to drive up to Boulder to show Tanya it's majestic view! I love the drive up, with the green luscious mountains and the green fields. It was pretty. I also enjoy roaming Boulder. There are some pretty unique folks up there but everyone is so kind and welcoming! It's the perfect little tourist, college town. We walked through Pearl Street Mall and watched the performers. That's my favorite part!

Finally we went home and got a few hours of sleep. We got up early Monday morning so we could go check out an "AM eatery" that I've been wanted to try. Kent, Jeanette, Mark and Rachelle all met us at our house and we headed over to Snooze. After our delicious breakfast Gary and I drove Tanya and Rachele back to Union Station to say our goodbyes. I was sad to see them go but we had a great time visiting with them.

Rachelle wanted to go see Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time so we went from Union Station up to Westminster to see it with them. We were thrilled that morning movies are so cheap! I'll admit, I slept through half the movie but I was dead tired from my amazing weekend and early morning.

After the movie Gary was so kind in allowing me to shop TJ Maxx while he sat in the car. It was my first time in there so I took a good hour! Though I was looking for shirts for myself, I came away with a whole new outfit for Gary for just $15! I'm a fan! Oh, and don't worry. I found myself a new outfit later at Old Navy and Target PLUS I got 2 new pairs of flip flops also all under $15!

It was certainly the best Memorial  Day weekend I've ever had!

Gary Gary Gary!

Click on any of the pictures to view full size!

Gary turned one year older yesterday morning. After making him his favorite muffins (orange cranberry) for breakfast we sat to enjoy our meal and he opened his presents. I gave him his gift (Mass Effect 2) the day I bought it because he thinks "If I buy it, why would I then wrap it up and wait to use it"? Good point I guess, though I like the anticipation.

Anyway, he received a nice pair of sunglasses from my parents along with a wireless XBox 360 controller. He was pretty excited!!!

He played Xbox for a while while I read about Gary's childhood. His mother has a detailed journal of what he did practically every day his first year. Then it tapers off to a couple times a week then to a few times a month til he's in middle school. I of course didn't read all of it, but enjoyed reading about his first year.

Then we went to Boulder and spent some time enjoying the Pearl Street Mall. I loved watching the street performers. We also had reservations to eat at a fancy restaurant called Med. I was excited that we got to order half off Tapas rather than a whole meal. We got to try about 6 of their dishes which filled us up for pretty cheap. I loved the lamb meatballs and the shrimp.

Then we went to Glacier Homemade Ice-Cream to try some of their most popular flavors. I was in Heaven!! My favorite was the lemon raspberry gelato! Yum!

Then we went home, watched a movie and waited to hang out with some of Gary's friends that were in town for the weekend. At 12:30 we figured they weren't coming over so we went to bed. Around 1:30 we got a text from them asking if we wanted to hang out. Gary jumped right out of bed and got ready to go! At 2:00 AM we pulled into Denny's for a midnight party! It was fun! We loved seeing some all of them!

Finally at 5:00 we got back into bed again and decided that we'd skip our church which starts at 9:00 and go to the noon one so we could at least get 6 hours of sleep. It was a great day!

Pics of the cool street performances!

Bad luck everywhere but smiles on our faces!

Today alone, I survived off of little to no sleep, I found that one of my favorite shirts has a huge hole in the arm pit and had a water bottle leak in my purse causing all sorts of messes! Luckily Gary's birthday package from my family contained chocolate. Gary kindly donated a piece to me and I'm as happy as can be! I also got to spend my day with two cute kids. We had fun singing silly songs, reading books, played outside avoiding the bees and even did hide and seek!

Yesterday I started off my day by running to Walmart for a couple of items. When I came back Gary said he was about to call the police due to a very offensive, obscene and threatening voice mail from a random guy in LA. Whatever. I handed him my phone since I happen to have Denver police non emergency on my call list. The police said they would come by to see if we needed to file a report. After the officer listened to the message he said we could file a report since it wasn't just harassment but a few threats were thrown in there too.

He said he'd turn it in to the detectives to start an investigation to find the guy and what not. I had little faith that they could or would do anything about it. I am 99% sure the phone number he used to call us was a fake since there are handfuls of reports online of pranks from the same number but from different people. Today however, we got a call back from the officer. He said that the case has been handed over to the FBI because this guy has called some government officials as well. The good news is that when threats are thrown at government, they do everything they can to find the suspect and as a result, I feel safe again.

My life is a secret!

Just to be safe, I’m finally setting my blog to private. If you would like to be a reader, send me an email and I’ll be sure you are on my allowed list! I’d love to share my life with all of my friends and family. I just don’t want those crazies out there to be in on it too.

Thank you!!! And please don't stop reading!

email me at:
laurabdora AT hotmail DOT com

Spring!

Well, Spring is here! I have never been so excited for this time of year! The sun is out, the rain is pouring and tax season is over. We survived!

I was expecting to be working 15-17 hours a day last week to get all the processing/auditing done the last few days of tax season. Luckily, the longest day I put in was 15 hours. It really wasn't that bad either. I loved it! I enjoy having purpose to life.

I have been enjoying my lazy week though! It's nice to have some down time. Gary has a bit of a cold so we've been sleeping and taking things slow. We are spending a little time in helping Gary's dad move offices this week and next. He's moving just across the street practically. It'll be nice to be in a busy, more visible location and I LOVE moving into new places! I can't wait to unpack and get things all settled.

I've been babysitting a bit and was thrilled to schedule about 10 future dates to sit for friends in the ward. I love spending time with kids and having something to do now and then. Other than that, I've mostly been cooking, cleaning and shopping!!!!

My new red purse! Though you can't see all of it....

Speaking of shopping, Tanya and her friend are coming to visit me next month! I'm really excited to spend some time with girls and do some shopping with them. I'll be setting aside that babysitting money to splurge when they arrive!

Well, I'm off to go cook dinner and get ready to go sit! Oh! and I also wanted to mention that this week, we tried Filipino food! We even tried oxtail and tripe. I wouldn't really recommend the tripe but Filipino food is pretty awesome!

Easter Eggs!

Gary's siblings act a little different than my family....

 I guess they just REALLY love eachother!

Boring March

^The fish in December, only 2 months old!

^Little fish in Decebmer

^The fish in March, 5 months old

Gary sold 37 Angelfish he raised! That was a big event. We drove to Centenial which is about 30 minutes away. Tricky thing is, we headed there right before a big snow storm. Right about when we arrived the snow started coming down hard! It just kept going and going. We ended up driving back in the middle of it all. It wasn’t too exciting other than the four car accidents we passed and the fact that it took us about 2 hours to drive home.

These are 4 of the 6 that we kept.

My little brother turned 12 this week. That’s scary to think about. He’s apparently five foot six inches which is about a foot larger than I remember him.

Taxes are still going well. I’m sometimes impressed with how much I know considering I knew nothing as of December. I’m a little afraid of running the office the last week of the year. I guess that will be a true test of my knowledge. Only about 3 weeks left till tax season is over! Then I’m going to organize my house in a detailed manor.

Speaking of house, the house is back on the market. That’s good and bad. We hope it sells for Kent’s sake but the showings can be annoying. I clean like crazy every morning making sure it’s spotless. Then agents leave lights on, doors unlocked, mud on the floor. Of course the messy rude ones are also the ones who don’t leave cards. But, we don’t mind the showings when we are already gone and I love showing off my cute house!

 Gary and I holding the 7lb burrito from Jack N Grill! It fed 4 of us 3 times!

Spring is Near!!!

Oh goodness, I'm excited! It's been so nice around here! This week has been a sunny and warm one. My flowers are even starting to bloom again and now that it's warm, we get to bring out the motorcycle!

Today Gary drove me around downtown Denver on the bike. It was spectacular! I LOVE being free, living in Denver and I especially love this warm weather. I'm sure it's not here to stay though, since March is Denver's snowiest month of the year. You know though? For being a snowy state it sure didn't snow much this winter. I think I can handle this Colorado stuff. In fact, I'm seriously in love.

Speaking of love, we bought a love sac with our tax refund money! You may have heard, we can't fit a couch through the living room door so, a beanbag has to do the trick for now. I'm excited though. These things are so huge and comfortable that even after we move and get older, we can still put the bean bag to good use. Guests can sleep on it, we can throw it in the office as a nice reading spot. It's just so unbelievably cozy! Here is a picture of Gary (as we speak) enjoying it as he plays a video game. As you may be able to see, it easily fits 2 adults or 4 very close friends (Gary's family wouldn't hesitate to all get cozy on that thing)!

 

Other than that, life is still the same. Tax season is still moving along. I'm far from as fearful about taxes now though. In fact, I'm not afraid of this whole tax thing at all! Gary has been busy helping with taxes as well but he's still managing to get some web stuff done for his own business as well. He's a hardworking guy!

My restaurant blog is picking up! It's now Colorado's 6th/7th (depending on the day) most popular blog (out of 41) according to Urbanspoon. It's becoming quite a bit of fun. In fact, this Tuesday, we are attending a VIP event in Boulder as a celebration of Smashburger's first location in Boulder. We'll be mingling among the Smashburger executives and other foodie people trying the new menu (on the house) the day before the store's grand opening. I'm thrilled!

There you have it! That's all that's happening around here as of late. Thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate it!

Happy Love Day!

I love Valentines day. I think most of you know that already though. I don't love it because of the huge commercialism it has brought to our nation. I love it because of the colors! The decorations. I just love it! Growing up, my mom always made the day special by giving us special little treats. One year she make a huge heart shaped chocolate chip cookie for me with my name on it! It's just special!

This year Gary and I started a new tradition. Well, I suppose I started a new tradition and Gary participated. I've decided to make crème brulée! It's a fancy, French dessert and it just shouts "Valentines Day"! I also wanted to make a special dinner so I threw some things together and ended up with pecan crusted salmon with steamed asparagus. It was simply amazing!

As I was out purchasing my ingredients for the crème brulée Gary decided his gift to me would be an Orchid. I've wanted an Orchid for about a year now and was so excited to finally have an excuse to get one! 

So our Valentines Day was simple, but fun! I look forward to making our new special treat each year!

Gary's Sick....

Well, this past week I did about 8 tax returns! I finally feel comfortable doing a simple return. If it's too complicated I hand it off to someone else and go back to processing. It's really not so bad. I really don't mind all the assembling and calling and the taxes themselves.

Gary and I went to one of his friends houses last night for the first time. He name is Wendy. They are Evony buddies and since they both live in the Denver area and are LDS Wendy suggested we come over for dinner. It was wonderful! She made probably the best tasting soup I've ever had! It was a creamy enchilada soup. Oh how divine! I was practically full once I was done with the soup but to my surprise, the soup was just the beginning. Next she brought out plates served with salad with a cilantro dressing and chicken enchiladas. It was an amazing dinner!! As if the dinner wasn't amazing enough she finished the meal off with home made Crème brûlée. If only I could share with you, the glorious, amazing deliciousness. It was amazing! 

Taxes and.... Phyco Me!

Since the year has started Gary and I have started helping his dad out with his Liberty Tax offices. Gary volunteers his time from 9:00 to 11:00 to run the store that he works at. When there are no customers Gary carries on about his normal day, running his buissness in the back of the office.

I was asked to go to the other office to learn how to process the tax returns. It's been an interesting experience so far. I've learned how to process (double check or audit returns and assemble them) and have that part of the job pretty much mastered. Preparing the taxes is another story. I can do it, but first of all I don't want to and second of all... I don't know as much about taxes as the other preparers so I ask them to take the returns when possible. I have so far, done 1 return myself and started 2 past year returns. So far I've found that I really dislike taxes with a passion. When people come in and say "Yeah I just don't want to deal with taxes so I bring them to someone else" I have to hold back from saying "Oh me too! I don't do my own taxes". Ha ha ha. Sad huh? I can do taxes just fine, I just really don't enjoy it.

I'm happy I can help family though! I sign out when I don't have a task to save Kent money which helps cut costs. I luckly have been able to leave at 3:00 too which has kept my sanity. I need my free time or I go phyco. I found that out last week. Wow, I had a break down! With the holidays and a new schedual and being told what to do left and right I seriously lost it! I thought I was going to have to be put in a padded room! Gary is pretty amazing though and really calmed me down. He's the sweetest husband. It's amazing how he knows whats going on with me so much better than I do! I'm thankful for that. Anyway, I realized I need more time in a day. A life consisting of "working", getting home at 5:45-6:00, cooking, cleaning, getting a little sleep and starting over again was really not ok with me. The house was not clean and that alone makes me upset. Add lack of sleep to that and I'm really ticked. Then! Top it off with no alone time and apparently I go crazy. But hey, at least we figured that out!

Now we either get home at 4:00 or I go shopping and run errands before I get Gary at 5:00.Then I go home cook, Gary helps clean because he's the greatest and we relax for a couple hours and get a full nine hours of sleep. That equation equals happy me. And there you have, my life.

New Year!

Wow! Want to know what we did to celibrate the new year?! Nothing! We sat at home, alone, and watched the ball drop. It was nice. In the past it's always been a big deal... party at home or somewhere else... a dance... This year, nothing. It was fun though and really, my favorite part is watching the ball drop so it was perfect.

I do have some resalutions though. This is kind of  a new thing for me. I don't really make resalutions but I had some goals in mind. Here they are:

1. Drink 72 oz of water a day! (so far, I have not met that goal but it's a goal... I'm working on it)
2. Get down to 135 lbs. and stay there. Not a hard goal, but an important one.
3. Get back into school!

There you have my New Year resolutions! They are realistic and should be easy to concor!

Happy New Year!

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas season. We enjoyed time spent with Gary's parents and siblings. I was excited for Rachelle and Ryan to come home from Idaho!!

On Christmas Eve we went to Gary's parents to drive around town to look for Christmas lights, It's pretty much their only tradition to to that while listening to the nativity story on tape. Sadly, all 4 of the kids really strongly dislike this tradition... I thought it was fun.

On Christmas Gary and I woke up and had a yummy breakfast. I cooked eggs with sausage and bell peppers and onion. Gary LOVES this breakfast because he can pile on the salsa! After breakfast we headed over to his parents. When we got their they were just sitting down to their own breakfast! Once they were finished we took the Color Code test to see what color Rachelle was. Mother was sure she was blue and Gary and I thought for sure she was Yellow. Turns out she is Yellow!

Since all the "kids" are older (youngest is 16) opening gifts was not the top priority. Since we just wanted to spend time together we went to the movie theater in our PJ's with the thought that it would be pretty empty on Christmas. WRONG! I've never ever seen so many people at the movie theater. Honestly! The parkinglot was packed, the lines were long. We had to sit in the front of the theater since most of the seats were taken. It was crazy! We watched Avitar in 3D which was amazing. I'm glad we went.

Next we went home and cooked dinner. While it was cooking we opened some gifts. I was supprised at how many gifts I got! I knew I was getting a nice camera but I expected that to be it since it's a pricy gift. I was thrilled to also recieve a nice pot set, cookbooks... candy!It was fun to spend the day with the family and just really enjoy time together. It was a wonderful, white Christmas!