Post Christmas Musings

So there it is. 30 days in pictures (yeah, well I missed a few days but I got all 30, right?). I'm happy I did the challenge and I'm happy it's over. Now I can blog freely about other stuff that is on my mind.

Today, two days after Christmas, Courtney came walking in with her brand new camera that she got as her big present from us complaining that it wouldn't turn on. Well, the whole bottom part where the battery goes in was broken off. Of course the silly thing wasn't going to turn on! She claims that Jacob grabbed it from her and dropped it. Needless to say, she now has no camera. Tough lesson to learn, I guess. It's not like we're going to run out and buy her a new one anytime soon. Her birthday is in two months. Maybe . . .

Brian's girlfriend, Megan, flies in tonight to spend a week with us before we head back to Idaho to take them to school. Of course, he doesn't know this 411 and is furious right now with her because she isn't answering his texts (she's flying as I type this). We are going to show up at a restaurant and surprise him. Should be good. Skip's kind of worried that it'll all backfire in our faces and he'll be super angry. Oh well . . . just another day in Paradise. Right?

Christmas day started off as the biggest Weltz disaster EVER! The boys were mad because I decided to change tradition up a bit. They ended up launching into full out fury and completely and absolutely ruined Christmas morning with their tempers. Fortunately, my husband was able to salvage the day with his cool head and calm words. I just had to step away from the scene.

Went up to San Andreas to visit Demariea yesterday. I feel bad that he's made some really poor choices to land himself there. It sucks. It sucks that Christmas was spent with a bunch of kids that are rough. Him and I played my favorite game, Rummikub, for like three hours as we talked and he ate (I packed sushi and Diet Coke as per his request). I'm pretty confident that it's finally beginning to sink in with that boy.

Robbie is off snowboarding with his friends for a couple of days. Should be kind of quiet here. Kind of looking forward to a lot less tension in my home. He was in good spirits and why shouldn't he be? It's his 17th birthday next Monday and I'm guessing he's hoping that we will pull through with a couple of cool gifts for him. We'll see . . . (like my momma always said, "wait and see pudding!" Don't know what that really meant but she always said it, lol).

So there is the post Christmas life at our crib. Super excited for a new year to poke it's pretty head into my life and have everything rosy and fun again.

An Unforgettable Time

Day #30: a photo of you when you were happy

I searched and searched for a recent picture of me when I was blissfully happy. I'm not going to say that I'm never happy anymore, but those days are kind of few and far between. I'm confident that things are going to get better soon - really soon - but right now I'm struggling. However, it did say a photo of when I was happy - not a "recent" photo of when I was happy. Right? Besides, it's my blog and I can do with it as I please. So here is a photo of a day when I know that I was so happy. So much has changed in the past 10 years since this photo was taken (actually 11 years and 3 months). This is our family (minus Danielle), the Watterson family and the Wells family. The Wattersons had just moved to Nebraska and Nikki (their youngest - yellow dress in the front) was being baptized. Since we are all such close friends, the Wells and us flew out there to attend the baptism. It was a beautiful day. We then all went on to tour the vistors center at Winter Quarters (I believe the temple wasn't built yet but the visitors center had been there for quite some time).

This was a wonderful outing for all of us. It would be the last time EVER that we would all be together. A little over a year later three members of the Watterson family would return home to Heavenly Father. I know I've mentioned them before (I've even mentioned Terri in this 30 day challenge on day #13) but this family has had a HUGE impact on me and on my family. I love them all so much and miss my friend terribly. The Wells family and us have grown to be very close in the years since. I value Kaylene's friendship so much and consider her one of my absolute besties EVER!

Yes, this was a very happy day. My children were young (not teens) and life was good. Life was so good that I took it for granted. I would be taught to appreciate everything I hold dear by having so much of it taken away from me very soon after this.

A Most Gorgeous Man

Day #29: a photo of someone you find attractive

I know, you're thinking I'm going to post a picture of that pretty hot man I'm married to. Right? Well, guess again. There's another man in my life that I find pretty attractive too. I absolutely LOVE this guy and think he is hotter than hot:

Yup, that's right. That's Black Horse at a show a couple of years ago. I totally am in love with this animal. I adore all of his good behavior as well as the bad. I love it when he is feeling frisky and wants to buck and cut out like a silly little school boy and I'm in heaven when he is "on task" and gets all of his distances and lead changes without me having to encourage him much.

Yes, this guy is amazing. He's good looking, he's fun to be with and he makes me happier than happy. You really can't top that.

Scrooge

Yes, I know I need to get back and finish my last two entries of the 30-day photo challenge and I WILL do that as soon as I have a quick minute. However . . . I have a thought that I just want to put out there for myself to read later and ponder. I saw someone's post on Facebook yesterday that has me thinking quite a bit:

What was Christmas like before the presents?

Enough said? Yeah, well I was in complete and absolute denial about Christmas all year. I was determined that it was NOT going to happen in my home. Money, time and just plain being disgusted with some of my offspring had brought me to that point.

Then, something really yucky happened. I, once again, had a recurring nightmare where it was Christmas morning and there were NO presents. Of course, this time I was laughing to myself as the children had walked out on Christmas morning to find nothing. I was so happy that they had astonished looks on their faces as if there had been some cruel joke played on them. I was just so gleeful. Then, this old Grinch actually started to feel kind of bad. Yeah, the cold heart started to melt and warm up. Nnnnoooo!!! No, no NO! I want them to be miserable! I want them to hurt like they hurt me this year! This can't be happening!

Of course, there are a couple of my children that haven't hurt me at all. Actually they've been a complete and absolute blessing in my life. How could I be doing this cruel evil thing to them? Then I woke up and realized that, yes, I actually DO have to do this Christmas thing. But, wait! It's like December 9th and I haven't done squat! Holy crap!

Then I went on my annual visit to see my mommy and my sister up north. They definitely got me in the Christmas mode. Especially when Gail was online ordering her presents and then clicked off her computer saying "Wow! Good thing I got all my Christmas shopping finished. It's like only two more days before the guaranteed shipping for Christmas is cut off."

Say what? Did I hear you correctly? OMG! I jumped online and started frantically trying to figure out this whole ordeal. I came home and Heavenly Father sent me a wonderful blessing named Brandilyn. Yup, that girl has kicked my shopping butt for the last three days. We've pretty much got the whole deal signed, sealed and delivered.

So that brings me to this . . .

Yeah, there I am sitting at my desk with a pile of bills, Christmas cards and list upon list upon list of things to do before the BIG day. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you . . . Miss Scrooge here actually hosted the party for our barn friends last night and had a great time in spite of myself. Go figure.

But really, wouldn't this holiday be a lot more meaningful without all the presents?

Princess Grub

Day #28: a photo of what you ate today



I know that today isn't Day #28 anymore. That day happened quite awhile ago. I just got all caught up in the Christmas garb and didn't get around to finishing my 30 day challenge. I will finish it - just gotta do it now instead of then.
This is my breakfast. I make a smoothie out of all of these good things every morning. Kale, spinach, lemon, berries and whatever else looks good lying around the kitchen. What made this day and this breakfast special is that I was at my sister's house and I was privileged to partake of her wonderful homegrown, organic veggies. Yum! My morning shake is definitely a great highlight that starts my day off just right!
For lunch Gail (my sister) made us these stellar sandwiches which she prepared in her pannini maker that she got for her birthday last month. OMG! These were to die for! I'm not supposed to be eating bread but this was way too good to resist. We also had salads with my mom's home made dressing. Wow!
For dinner, my sister made beans - VEGAN beans. Holy crap they were so great. I'd say that going to my sister's would make me fat but, nope not so! I actually lost weight and ate like a stinkin Princess (wait, I AM a princess, lol). This food is all good for your body and your body just loves to love it!


So, thank you Gail and Mom. I had a great time and enjoyed the great food. I even came home and made her butternut squash soup for dinner tonight. The twins thought it was pretty stellar.

Flyin!

Day #27: a photo of you last summer

This was an easy one for me. I love this picture: Nope, it's not that great of a picture of me. I don't care. What I love about this picture is that as I look at myself flying over a wave on my boogie board at the beach in San Diego I remember the rush that went along with it. I fricking LOVE riding the waves. What's more is that I was actually pretty dang good. I was out there - way out there - with Rob, Craig, Dave, Brian, yeah, you know, the BIG boys! The ones who rode with NO fear! Robbie showed me how to "drop in" and that was an awesome ride! I was flying through the air and then just touched down on the water and flew, and I mean FLEW, right in! Yeah baby YEAH!!

I really don't tire of going to San Diego on our vacation. I always try to book the condo whenever I can for spring break or during the summer if they have a week open when I know that our family doesn't have other plans. As soon as we get ourselves unpacked I'm ready to grab my boogie board and head to the beach. Anyone care to join me?

Fun, Sun and LOVE

Day #26: a photo of your favorite weekend

You see, favorite times of my life seem to be when I'm spending time with Skip in a non-stressed situation. We actually do have a lot of fun together - just not lately, I guess. One of the greatest things that I learned in church several (many) years ago was that we need to consistently be having "mini-moons" throughout our marriage to keep it strong. I so agree. When we go on these excursions we become more connected and can be a better, stronger parenting team. Lately, we can't really leave together because of issues we seem to be having with our children (mostly the teenagers and their ability to annihilate everying they possible in our absence). That said, here's another picture of a vacation that was soooo enjoyable:

We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and had a wonderful week. We ended up buying into another timeshare that we have since used as a family a couple of years ago. I love this place. Actually, this picture is when we went out on the sand in these dune buggies. They were excellent fun!

I love the ocean. I love the sand. I love the beach. I LOVE (adore) the sun. Yes, these things combined with the love of my life are the perfect combination for heaven on earth for me (well, you could throw in my horses and that'd just be the icing on the cake, lol.)

Happy Day

Day #25: a photo of a night you loved

When Skip turned 50 he retired (or so he thought) from his position at Walters & Wolf Glass Company. I threw a big surprise party for him (I'll never know how I pulled that one off considering how inquisitive my husband is) and the kids gave him and I a cruise to the Carribean. It was our first experience on a cruise. Of course, we took advantage of all the photo opps that were available.
This picture was obviously taken on the evening we were supposed to wear formal wear to dinner. Neither of us is very good at the whole dressing up gig so when there is a time we dress up, I so need a picture of that. To say that this was a night I loved is an understatement. Of course, ALL the nights on the cruise were nights I loved. We were many miles away from all of our worries and it was rather difficult to get in touch with us. This was definitely one of my happiest times.

What beautiful hair you have, my dear!

Day #24: a photo of you that your hair looks nice in

What the heck? You mean like there's actually a time when my hair DOESN'T look nice? What is the implication here? Lol. Well, in all reality, I'm not happy with most photos taken of me and it really doesn't have much to do with my hair. It would be a bit south of there but then that's another story. So, for today, here's the picture I have chosen:

This is Courtney's adoption day. We adopted Courtney officially in the spring of 2005. She came into our life and family in August of 2004. Adjusting to a new member of our family was not an easy task. Robbie, who was the baby FOREVER, had the most difficult time (still does, I think). Not long after we took Courtney into our home, we were allowed to meet and then eventually adopt her twin brother, Jacob.

For the most part, this has been a positive thing for our family. Our children have had the opportunity to learn how to share with someone who didn't have anything. They have had to learn to adapt to new personalities on a day to day basis. Regrets? Yeah, of course there are. There are regrets in a lot of things we do. Am I grateful to have the twins in our family? Yes, I am. On days when I feel like the whole family is against me, it is always Jacob and sometimes Courtney that is there to give me a hug and make me feel like I'm the bestest mom ever. How can you top that?

And, if all else fails . . . my hair looked pretty dang good on this adoption day!! Right?

Babykins

Day #23: a photo of your friend as a baby

Like who has that? I guess if you are young (like I used to be) and have been friends with your friend since you were little (which I haven't) then you would have something like this just lying around on your hard drive (which I don't). So, I've decided to exercise my creative license and post this picture:

Yes, this is a picture of my baby (Robbie) when he was young (like 8) on board his trusty steed, Shorty (whom we gave the show name "Goliath"). Why do I post this picture? Because this picture makes me happy/sad. Happy because I remember what a wonderful young man this boy of mine used to be (and will be again someday, I hope). Happy because he was such a talented rider and had such great potential as such. Sad because things change and so do people. My sweet young boy has turned into a teenager and . . . well . . . what more can I say? Once he discovered gasoline and perfume it was all over!

However, because I'm his momma (and a proud one at that) I can post this picture on my blog and brag. Yes, this is my boy and I love him. Just the way he is and just the way he isn't.

Such a Beautiful Town

Day #22: a photo of your town

I just never managed to get myself downtown to snap a shot. Of course, I like the photo that Brandilyn posted on her challenge of our windy road. That was awesome. So, I won't copy her but I will post the following:

Yes, this is our drill team during the Livermore Rodeo Parade. I think our town looks simply wonderful with a drill team marching down the middle of it. I'm proud of our drill team and I was especially proud of us on this day back in June of this year.

Livermore was a much smaller community when we moved here 14 years ago. There were a lot less people and a lot less stop lights. One of the main reasons I was happy to leave Pleasanton was because it was getting so crowded and it took stinkin FOREVER to get from one side of town to the other. It appears that Livermore has become the same but this town will forever hold a special place in my heart.

The Morning After

So you remember the picture I posted of Brian during his whole wisdom teeth extraction ordeal? Yeah, the one where he's the happiest dude on the face of the earth? Well, here we have the same lad several hours later.

All iced up and no place to go!! Lol. Actually, this is after some intense medication and me nagging him to ice that bad boy up or he's gonna swell up like a chipmunk like Brandilyn did. So this is what I came up with to strong arm him into compliance.

Yes, I'm enjoying the down time with this boy of mine. He's home. He's mellow. He's occupied with something other than chipping away at my self esteem. Life is good.

Good Times

Day #21: a photo of you standing up

I was going to post a picture of me standing in Thailand by a colorful wall with my hat that I had just purchased on. I LOVE that picture of me. However, I've already posted it on my Thailand trip post and it would be redundant to re-post the same picture (even though I'm sure that I've posted several pictures multiple times - B-O-R-I-N-G!!). So, I decided to post this never-before-seen-picture of me standing up instead: This picture was taken back in 2006. Skip and I were on a cruise in the Carribean (a trip from our, ahem, kids for Skip's 50th birthday present - lucky guy!). If I could do this cruise over again, I would have postponed the trip until I felt better. It was my first experience with a cruise and my/our first experience with the Carribean.

I had broken my finger and gotten a bone infection as a result just about a month before. A week before the cruise I was in the hospital for a week and had had surgery on said finger. It was this big drawn out dramatic deal. Anyway, I went on this cruise and was not allowed to get that finger wet. Somehow, I think the meds I was on limited me to the sun as well but I'm not really clear on that one (I'm not clear on a lot of things, lol).

Okay, so you can tell by the burn on my chest that I had NOT had any sun for quite some time (as I mentioned before, I'm a HUGE sun worshipper so burning is not something I do often). In addition, I'm wearing clothing that I distinctly remember as being extremely uncomfortable. I'm sure that I thought I looked good or something. Whatever.

Bottom line . . . things change. Nowadays -

I don't wear clothing that I'm not comfortable in any more. Not even to go out for a special occasion and I would NEVER waste good time and money on a trip that wasn't going to be the time of my life. Life and money are short Why waste any of it?

What I do like about this picture is that I was blissfully happy and didn't even know it. Things were so great for us then and we (okay, I, because I know that Skip NEVER takes things for granted) just really didn't appreciate what we had. The kids were all pretty well behaved and our financial situation was comfortable. Well, like I said . . . things change and change is good because it forces us to appreciate the good times even more.

Gassed Up

Okay, I couldn't resist this post.

Today was the big day for Brian. He was scheduled to have his bottom wisdom teeth out. The doc warned that this was going to be a big deal because of the position of the roots of the teeth, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, Brian was pretty stressed out about the whole ordeal.

This morning I went in and woke the little tike up (he's 20). He was very cute the way he was muttering in his sleepy voice that he wanted me to reschedule the event and have it scheduled at the surgical center so that he could be knocked out. I, of course, said "not on your life, Buddy. We got a BIG day planned and you're the main event!" (Well, actually I might have used a little different verbage but you get the idea).

Brian was pretty ticked off about my lack of compliance in his seemingly reasonable request. As soon as I walked out of his bedroom to finish getting myself ready, I could hear him loudly exclaiming his displeasure with my "attitude" (ahem, you get the picture if you know me and my family dynamic at all). I politely ignored him and calmly walked out to the car. He followed a bit later slamming doors and informing me that I was not a nice mom (once again, I've changed the verbage up a bit to sound a bit more poetic, lol).

We got to the dental office and he had calmed down somewhat (I think the McDonald's breakfast might have softened him up a bit). I smiled, patted him on the back and told him I'd see him in just a bit. This is what took place next:

Yeah, the Brian that I picked up 3-1/2 hours later was still laughing and thinking the whole ordeal was great fun! I guess he was laughing at everything the dentist and his assistant were saying and, at one point, he was asked to quit laughing so that the dentist could cut through the tooth! (Are you freakin kidding me?).

Funny how a little gas can change your whole perspective on life!

Stuff I Dig

Day #20: a photo of something you enjoy doing

That's not hard. Right? Well, I guess it is if you are diverse in your enjoyable indulgences like I am. I couldn't just post one picture (big surprise) so I'm putting three different things here that I enjoy. In no particular order . . .

This is me riding Ellie in drill. I love riding. I love riding Ellie (I love riding Black Horse more, though) and I love drill. Horses is definitely right on top of my list of obsessive passions.

This is in Belize. Nan and I are doing a side stretch pose together. We are feeling pretty accomplished right about now because we rocked this pose! The only thing better would be if we were able to do it with the sun setting over the ocean right between us. Oh well, we ran right out and ate some delicious grub right after this practice so it was all great.

Yup, those are my hands. Nope that's not my foot. That's me zoning someone's foot. I LOVE working on feet and I LOVE being able to feel different imbalances (and balances) in the body through the signals on the feet and I really get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to help people. I haven't practiced foot zoning in like a month or so and DANG I miss it.

However, this Saturday I hopefully will get that opportunity again at Danielle's house. She's hosting a holiday boutique and I'm going to display my herbs, oils and talk to anyone who will listen about the magic of the feet. Anyone interested in coming? Well, contact me for the address, time and I'll give you all the 411.

So there it is. The things that make this girl giddy with excitement. The things that definitely remind me that life is wonderful and worth living.