Wal-Mart Closed!!....

I can't believe it! Wal-mart closed at 6pm on Christmas Eve! What about all those really really last minute shoppers???? So we drove down the road...someone had to be open....not that one....not that one....I see cars, GO!!!! YIPPEE for Albertsons they don't close until 9pm! Now I have milk for my morning glass of chocolate milk, Christmas will be alright after all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! things are going good here, I am trying to take some pictures so I can do some posts! Hope everyone has a fun, safe, and loving Christmas.

Christmas Carol History....

I got this in an email, hope it's true!

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

Today, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.


-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.


So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.

Texas's Sister....

When they were puppies...

This was taken Feb.'07

Can you tell them apart?

That's right, Texas has a sister, her name is Annie and she lives with my in-laws, it is so fun to get them together because you can totally tell them apart! They have different personalities and coloring, Annie is a more lighter fawn color and her body is more narrow and longer. First two are Annie.



One of the biggest things is their tail, Texas has a half curly tail and Annie's is straight.


I kept trying to load more pictures (for two days now!) but it won't let me so I may need to do a part 2 but I will post this for now....

Good News....

How about some good news? I know for some of you this may not seem like good news but to me it is! I gained three pounds! in 2 1/2 weeks!!! I guess Thanksgiving dinner was good! Now I only have 15 more pounds to go, wish me luck!

I love this picture of me with my niece and nephew, we are playing tic-tac-toe, I miss them!

Snow Again...

One week later and it's a repeat! Except this fell in TWO HOURS! There was nothing but grass before I took a nap and then afterwards.....


Remember Chugs isn't as big a fan of snow as Texas, I took a video of Texas and I will try and load it.

It worked! Pay attention she likes to EAT the snow!!! I stopped it just as she started barking.

Naughty Puggle...

We sometimes take the dogs collars off when they play because they grab onto it and pull the other one around! Well we had their collars on the back of the sofa and this morning my husband found Texas chewing on Chugs!!! She totally chewed off the clippy part! We have bones all over the place why does she want to chew on plastic? Not only that this is the second time this happened (you think we would learn to put them someplace else!) last time she chewed her collar (not the plastic part, the material part, but clean through!) and it was my favorite collar, it had the state of Texas all around it! When my nephew was here I caught her chewing a toy car as well, and a bone was right next to her! I still love her to death:) How could you not love this?

My cute dogs...

It's been awhile since I posted some pictures of my cute, adorable, loving dogs. I love them so much and realized the other day that if I didn't have them I would be so lonely since my husband is at work and school for 10 hours a day, he takes the car so I am 'at home' literally all day every day! It's not human contact or talk but at least I don't feel lonely, and they love me so much, they always come over for cuddles when I sit down or when I take a nap they are curled up right next to me (need to get a picture of that). How could you not love these two?
They love to snuggle in blankets:



They hate taking baths, but are very good to hold still:

Sudoku...

I love numbers and when the craze of Sudoku came out I thought I could do it so easily! But NO! I tried over and over and could never get it, I was at the dollar store a month ago and thought I would pick up another book to try and do it yet again, they had the best book there! And for $1 (or course but it makes it that much more wonderful) it is spiral bound so easy to use, has a hard cover and 124 puzzles divided into three, beginner, intermed., advanced, and in those catagories it has five different levels of difficulty, you can also record your time. Well as you can see from the picture I am still in the beginning they still give me a lot of numbers but I have finally got the hang of it! I have done four in a row without help and in just a couple mins. each time!!! I can't believe I can do it now! I know that I am not a pro yet, only two more puzzles and then I'm in the intermediate but I feel like I was able to teach myself something new and that I am finally getting it! Just had to record this for me, go Ro!

The touch of a simple card...

I have had this card hanging by my computer since I got it from my parents, it is a simple card yet means the world to me, I know my parents love me and are thinking about me and worrying about me and will do anything for me, but my Mom still sent this card.

I think we underestimate the power a simple card can hold since being sick now over a year they mean so much more to me, I don't get to see friends or people like I use to (okay pretty much never!) and so a card means they are still thinking about me, I haven't been forgotten, I am missed. So please, send a card to any friends you haven't seen in awhile and to those you know that aren't doing too well, a simple little card can lift and brighten their entire day! (this is not a shout out for cards to be sent to me, please do not take it that way).

Snow is here!!!!!!

It finally snowed! And not just a little! Yippee!!!!





I like that it shows the snow still falling...


What is with her keeping her front paw up?


I like how the only prints in the snow are doggie prints!

Cookies...

That's right, I made some cookies!!!!!! I know I rarely cook nowadays but I watched 'Shrek the Hall's' last night and wanted to eat a gingerbread man soooo bad!(I know I am sad, I like the gingerbread man, but I was hungry for some treats!).

I made Gingersnaps and had to find a recipe that didn't call for cloves because I didn't have any! I found one on cooks.com
Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients

Mixed together

Ready for the oven

Finished!

They were good although a bit crunchy, I have a tendancy to over cook my cookies because I check on them and they are doing great and then I leave them in a min. too long. I think these would turn out crunchy anyways, any ideas to make them softer?

More Pictures...

I have a ton of pictures that are so darn cute so I need to share more!!!!!!
Jeremy loved to play with the kids, he's the kind that loves to rough house (sometimes I wonder if he rememebers that you don't play the same way with kids as you do dogs!!!)

This isn't very good but Zander loves spiderman and this is him doing the hand where the web stuff comes out, so cute:)

Watching a movie, he even sat like this after they got jammies one and eventually fell asleep like this!

Of course the park again, we got some really good pictures there.

Wonderful Family....

I have the best family in the whole world!!!!! On both sides! I never wrote my 'Thankful' post for Thanksgiving and so this is it.... Our families are the best, the love and support they have given to us is so great, beyond just little thank you cards, I feel like I wouldn't be able to express my thanks or write enough thank you cards, I hope they know that what they do for us never taken for granted, ever, we pray every single day grateful for a couple things our family does continually since I've been sick.....
1. We have a wonderful wonderful basement apt. that we are living in, three bedrooms, bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, living room, dining/extra room, without my in-laws help we would not be living here and we are grateful every single day to be living in such a great house and grateful that my in-laws are able to help us out.
2. My family has kept my freezer stocked with food, yummy food that I grew up with so it's comfort food and I know I will like it! It has been so nice to heat something up for lunch when I don't know what to eat. I am so grateful for them taking the time to cook the food instead of just buying some store bought freezer food.
3. Family visits, from both sides, far or near, just coming and visiting us, taking time out of their busy lives to come see us and how we are doing. Especially my sister, all the times she has come up and she cooked and cleaned, we are so thankful and will never forget.
4. Our ward family because they bring us dinner a couple days a week and it is so nice to have a hot dinner!
5. Of course our two children! Chugs and Texas, I love snuggling them all day long, they never tire of snuggling with me.

Again we do not take any of this for granted, please know everyone that we love you and appreciate all you do for us. This is a challenging time in our lives that we didn't think we would have to face right now and are truly grateful for all the love and support.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish everyone a great and happy thanksgiving day! We are having a ball here and now we are just hours away from the food!!!! and I didn't have to do anything this year!!!! We tried taking family photos outside yesterday, too cold! Here are some more of my fun and adorable niece and nephew...