"candyland!!"

We got home on Saturday, and instead of taking it easy...............I had LeRoy get all the Christmas decorations out of the attic!!! He was thrilled............I got the inside done, he got the lights up outside and we got the tree yesterday. All decorated and festive for Christmas!
Nicole asked me to curl her hair for school this morning so I figured I would get a pic of her in front of the tree! Gorgeous.........(she really did look this cute for school today.) And I got my candy bar done!
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! Makes me smile and so happy. I had most of the jars and just randomly picked up candy. We aren't big candy eaters so we should be able to stay out of it. I told the kids it was for decoration and I have extra in the drawer they can eat.

I must be into glittery and silver this year.............Got this awesome disco wreath new at the Goodwill. And the balls=goodwill.......................Jar=Ross.........oh, I do love a bargain!

And the best bargain ever??? My new bling-glitter-disco-fabulous-purse!!! Goodwill=$4.99

On black friday we went to Goodwill in Bend and Redmond later in the day. Enjoyable........

"bye, bye snow and vacation....."

We had so much snow at Eagle Crest this year. Tyler played in it the entire time we had it. He is out there with his little green sled.......... I followed him out one day to get some pictures........

He was grumpy about it.........

"MOM................NO PICTURES!!!!!!" Couldn't even get him to crack a smile.

Or sled..........or do anything without a growl and a snarl.............

I gave up and left him alone...........

Nicole on the other hand was excited to DRIVE in the snow and ice. She needs the experience and I guess she has to learn sometime. She did well.

And again............."Mom.................NO pictures!" Because she hadn't showered or gotten properly dressed. She didn't plan on getting out of the car. So of coarse I thought it was funny she was wearing shorts so I made her get out for a pic......

Bye, bye snow.............Back to reality and rain..............

"Happy turkey day!!"

Well we didn't eat too much.
We went on a walk today.
Still snow on the ground.
We are letting (teaching) Nicole how to drive in the snow.
We have played raquetball and worked out.
Seen lots of wildlife. Deer. Bambi's.........

Tyler has been out sledding and playing in the snow for HOURS.....(I have lots of pics from my camera but forgot the dock!! will post when we get home. Phone pics will have to work for now).There are deer everywhere. The snow probably brought them down to look for food. The kids fed them some carrots. Safely off of our deck! We have never seen so many so close over here.

Tyler and I always play racquetball...................

I think I might have won :)

We laughed....................and laughed..............................and laughed........................

It started out as a friendly game.........................We worked out. Nicole ran again today after dinner. And we went on a walk outside today. Not the best idea. Still icy. Nothing got broken (like any bones). had a few "almost" falls............

Ate dinner earlier (food is over-rated, so dinner is dinner). Nicole drove us around. Gonna go look at the lights and head to Tollgate to see Sherri's house! Sounds like half my family is there. It's almost 8:00 pm but what else do we have to do? They will probably go shopping at midnight! We are going to go out tomorrow later. To goodwill and hit the stores later. No 3:00 am shopping for me...........Supposed to snow again tonight............

"let the adventures begin!!"

Well.............it only took us 4 hours to get here last night!! Santiam Pass was pretty bad. Zero visibility. Blizzard conditions. 13 degrees.....but we made it safely. Thanks to everyone who I asked to pray for us to safely get here.........We got over the pass just before dark. I worked until 2 pm (thanks to my awesome clients who came in early and allowed me to leave a little earlier.) Chains were required. LeRoy bought some and we did end up having to use them. Of coarse we were on top of the mountain. Blizzard. Freezing. And my studly man had to get out and chain up the Tahoe. Nicole and I took this as an opportunity to take pictures. Hahahahaaa......we always find the weirdest time for photo opportunitys...........And it looks like she is standing in the middle of the road with cars coming. She is not!!! Just looks like it because you can't see any lines on the road. We were pulled off way to the side.......................I promise................

I always feel safe when my man is driving..........we both grew up feeling comfortable in the snow. My only concern was oncoming traffic. Luckily we didn't see much until we were headed down the other side of the mountain......

Starting to get dark. Can't even see the road..........

Tyler has been her since Sunday with grandma and grandpa. He is loving the snow. We have never had this much when we are here. And especially before Thanksgiving. LOVE IT!!!!!

We really should have been helping LeRoy chain up the car. But what could we have done? I did offer....... So we took pics instead. But we got soaked the 2 minutes we were out of the car because it was snowing so hard...........

(this is a random picture that has nothing to do with this post. hahaaa.....but I want to do these cute jars with candy this year for Christmas...............I'm on the hunt for red and white candy. Hard to find........)

My mom made Nicole this cute hat last year. She looks so adorable.

So I'm officially on vacation for a few days. Much needed. Been working way too much.

I have never been somewhere that it is this cold!!!!!!! My weather-boy Tyler informed me that the low last night was 2 degrees..... Last night after we rolled in about 7:00 pm we went to birthday dinner with grandma and grandpa Mary for Ellen's birthday. Had wonderful steak, salad and wine. I was so tired after we got back to the condo I fell asleep in the chair. Today is sunny and clear. Lots of snow. Gorgeous. I was looking forward to sleeping in today. I'm an old lady now because I have been up since 7:00 am. I just made coffee and and admiring the beautiful snow on the golf coarse. My day is gonna be rough today.

Coffee.....workout......read..........play in the snow with the kids........maybe work out again....dinner....watch it snow......maybe take a nap...................more to come. Hope to take some pics but I may be enjoying myself too much to remember to get out the camera...........and I get my kids all to myself.............we usually have an extra kid or two...not this year......just our family......enjoyable.

And just as I was posting this I saw 5 deer run across the golf coarse......really???? I want to live here..........

"feels like snow......"

maybe we will have some at Eagle Crest this year???
I work until 7:oo pm tonight...........long day........need to pack.
Need to dig out coats, hats, boots, gloves. Wish I would have taken this entire week off.
What was I thinking???

"I feel like a hamster in a wheel...."

running, running, running around and around and getting nothing acomplished. Maybe I should lower my expectations.
Of what needs to get done. What has to get done. And what doesn't really matter.
I may just lower my expectations of people while I'm at it.
I get caught in the trap of letting others manipulate my time. Whether it be at work. Or when I do get some time off........
The holidays are very quickly approaching and I'm already starting to feel overwhelmed.
Time, money, work, expectations, obligations..................Tis the season.
Why can't it just be simple?