Good bye Gus Gus

A new obsession began this winter. The field mice have become braver and ventured to new territory, right outside of our back sliding door. I think one little mouse, named Gus Gus, enjoys teasing the dogs stuck behind the glass door. They will sit for hours waiting for Gus Gus to appear. When we let them out they will sniff everywhere looking to find him.

being teased

He looks like a ball of fuzz.

The other morning after the dogs had gone out and come back in. Jake heard Sage growling in the bedroom. So he went in and told them to knock it off. They all ran away. So he flipped the light on to see what they were growling about and Gus Gus was lifeless on the bedroom floor! Apparently the mice will tunnel through the snow and the dogs can hear them. They will pounce on the snow in hopes to catch them. It grosses me out so much. The other day Belle tossed one in the air! I tried to save it but he was gone.

This is the only reason I can't wait for spring!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was simply beautiful

and

beautifully simple

Bitter Sweet . . .

. . . this phrase will always sum up the feelings when you are released from a church calling. We've been the Activities Chair for the last year. I've loved it. Actually, I love it just as much as when we were the Activities Chair in the North Las Vegas Stake. I love spending hours on the little details on posters, hand outs, and sign ups. Then there was shopping! Who doesn't like to shop for a party? Then setting things up and making sure they were in the right spot. When people started arriving we would be running around making sure food was stocked, drinks were filled, trash was tossed, and things were running smoothly. I'm not sure anyone even saw all the behind the scenes.

Which is why there is that "sweet" feeling. No more last minute (literally) runs to the store. No more phone calls and emails to the committee and not getting a response. No more putting together and running Christmas Programs and dinners by ourselves. No more early correlation meetings. Oh I could go on!

After every activity Jake and I would get in the car to leave and say, "well, that was a success". We talked about the "next time" and what to do differently. Although I never really sat and ate at one function the food must have been good because it was always gone. People always stayed way passed the expected end time so they must have enjoyed themselves. Best of all we had zero injuries. That just itself is a success.

After a couple years of this it's still hard to list my favorite activity. Pioneer Day would be at the top. Even though we didn't have the funding that the North Las Vegas Stake had, we still had a killer party up here. It was a combined ward activity and we were amazed at the turnout, the food, the games, and the weather! Success. Movie Night is definitely up on the list. Success. Easy and super fun! For my third choice I would have to say the Taco Bar with Broom Hockey after. Everyone ate and so many people played. Loved it!

Last night was our last activity, Christmas dinner. A bitter sweet.

So even though the Activities Committee is no more I will still keep my binder of activities and wait for our next church calling.

Favorite Things

Although I do love cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

these are some of my favorite things . . .

The story of the Three Trees

The Nativity

Different nick-nacks that remind the reason of Christmas!

Our simple little Christmas tree.

We've had this for years and set it up in a corner even when we have a real one.

And most of all friends and family!

(I'll have to find a good picture for here)

2010 Thankful Tree

Our tree looks rather squarish this year. We missed about five days and I think that would have "rounded" it out.

(in no particular order)

We are thankful for:

Patience

Remote start on the car

Friends & Family

Vicks Vapo Rub and grapefruit juice

The new WalMart

Jason & Andrea

Massages every week

Missionary moments

Temples

Homemade PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps

The weather (experiencing 4 seasons)

Taste buds

Nyquil

Our home

Good appropriate humor

Home and visiting teachers

FHE

All the many birthday gifts and wishes

Emily

Good neighbors

Buster, Belle, and Sage

Journals

Jesus Christ

Jacob's laugh

Jobs

Eyes

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Ears

A happy marriage

Tithing

Puppy breath

A new car

and

The Thankful Tree!

Testosterone Day

When men get together with A LOT of guns . . .

This is a 50. cal sniper rifle. Apparently it has a loud bang and a big kickback.

Jake's friend, Jake, holding a tactical shotgun brand new just out of the box.

Jake's favorite gun.

Too many guns not enough shooters!

Click here to see video

. . . they come home happy!

Wow it has been awhile.

It's been too long. Here's a quick update of our lives.

I'm working graveyard this rotation at work. It's not as bad as I thought it would be but not something I could do more then 4 months out of the year. It's a busier time of year during grave because of the football games and Halloween. Come January the only adjustment I'll have to make is sharing the bed! Right now when I come home from work Jake is getting up. I jump in bed and when he gets home from school I get up. We spend the day together and then I'll head off to work and he heads for bed. The sun hits our window at all hours of sunlight. I woke up a couple of times with the biggest headache. I felt like my eyes were staring straight into a light for 7 hours. The solution: an eye mask. I never thought I would be able to sleep wearing it. Surprisingly when you're so tired you really don't care and your eyes love you when you wake up. Apparently Jake doesn't have a problem wearing it either. I came home from a Dr. appointment to find him wearing the eye mask napping.

We went to the only WSU football game they won. We ended up nabbing some great seats away from the Student Section. We were under the press box with older Alumni, which was nice because in the Student Section you end up standing the entire time! It was fun but probably because they won. We haven't gone to another game since and they haven't won since.

The day was perfect and there was only a slight breeze!

It's very rare that WSU has the ball this close to their end zone!

It's a Kodak moment when the score looks like this!

Showing school support!

We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and herbs. We had plenty of tomatoes. Because of the chilly weather we had to pick them red or not. We have a box of green tomatoes that slowly change to red. It will probably hold us over until Spring. We planted the bell peppers and the jalapenos in the same bucket. We think they cross bread! Ha! Our bell peppers were spicy. We didn't get very many bell peppers but we made out like a bandit with jalapenos. The herbs grew well too. Our spices are well stocked. We had a frog family living in our pepper plants. They had cute babies.

As the Activities Leaders for our ward this is our "busy" season. We had a great Halloween Party but now begins the adventure of Christmas. We didn't carve anything fancy in the pumpkins this year.

Fall is officially here and we love it! I love finding the perfect leaf.

Our newest addition came in the color of red. As an early birthday present we finally gave up on the Honda and bought a new car. I feel a little more comfortable driving on the two lane highway to Spokane, Lewiston/Clarkston, or the Tri-cities with functioning airbags.

We have a lot to look forward to in November. The Thankful Tree, Harry Potter, snow, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday.