Well, it’s all over. The turkey is demolished and the wrapping paper is in shreds. All in all it went pretty well. On Christmas Eve, my grandparents aunts uncles cousin parents sister and bro in law all came over for Christmas dinner. I cooked my 26lb turkey and it was really yummy if I don’t say so myself. After dinner was eaten we had a small white elephant gift exchange which was really pretty fun. I ended up with a box of “gamble” chocolates ( which I re-gifted to my father) and John got a coffee set thing. There was also $10 in cash, a Sees Candies gift certificate, spam, coal, and scratch tickets galore. My 7 month pregnant cousin ended with a back massager and her boyfriend won the neck massager for her so she was really excited about that. It was a lot of fun and I loved being able to host Christmas in our house.

About 9 everyone filtered out and headed home. John and I had a plan to open our Christmas presents from each other at 12:01am but that didn’t happen. We snuggled in the big mink blanket on the couch and started to watch White Christmas but got about 20 minutes in before we both passed out. We decided to just get up earlier and open them before going to my parents house. So about 4:30am we awoke. I was excited to see what I got. I got a very sweet card worth one good car cleaning, Seahawk’s gear, a fancy cork screw, planet earth on Blu-ray, a new blue tooth for my car, golf tees, golf balls and more goodies. He was excited to get 4 new shirts, a new MP3 player ( precisely the one he wanted), snowboarding socks and a coupon book. We also opened the presents from his parents and sister, which got us Wii games, tools, a new purse a wallet, REI gift card, Victoria’s Secret gift card, and more goodies. However, there was one present from each of us that the other couldn’t open until we were at my parent’s house.

We loaded up the car and headed to Roy. We exchanged gift and I got very spoiled this year. In the big wood box from John I got a Coach purse. My sister also got one but it was from me. We also got a new microwave (with a browner), I gave John and Jeff NFL customized jerseys, and my sister and Jeff got me a set of brand new golf clubs. Leanne and Jeff made out pretty well because my mom and dad got then a new HDTV. It’s pretty awesome. After presents my dad made us all breakfast. It was fun. We had a good time.

I love Christmas because I get really spoiled but mostly because I get to spoil other people. Like my parents when the 4 of us “kids” got my them a night’s stay, breakfast, and 2 massages at the Salish Lodge. They seemed pretty excited.

Now the decorations are down and the Christmas music is faded and I get over my cold and prepare for work on Monday. I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas too!

The Whole Fam

“Whatever does not destroy me makes me stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzche

    This past year has been a roller coaster ride of events for our family. None of us could have foreseen what was in store for us this year.

    and Becky didn’t get the chance to race the dogs much at all last year. About a week before they had planned to leave for the Wyoming race, Jessica had to be taken in for emergency surgery. She was originally scheduled to have her gall bladder taken out in February. Her body didn’t seem to want to wait that long, so after many trips to the E.R., they decided to just get it out of her a.s.a.p. It took her a few months to get back to normal but she is doing much better now.

    Then, in March of this year, Joe hit the big one. That’s right, 50. We had the black balloons, black beads, and black cake to celebrate. We took him out mid-night bowling and he had a great time. Although he had received his present about 9 months before his actual birthday, he was still in good spirits. In case you didn’t hear about his big present, Becky bought him a 2007 Firefighter Special Edition Roadking Harley Davidson. I think it’s the best present he has ever received. He loves it and they take it out every chance they get.

    In April, Joe took a trip to the Doctor for a sore throat that would not go away. This led to many tests and the eventual prognosis of tonsillar cancer. He had the tonsil removed and was given 8 weeks of Radiation and Chemotherapy. It was hard on his body and he lost quite a bit of weight. It was a chore to try and eat. Unfortunately, the only thing he could eat with out too much pain was chicken noodle soup. The ordeal was hard on us all. This is the strongest man we know, the one who runs into burning buildings to save lives, so it was quite hard for us to see him in pain. A few months after the treatments he went back to the Dr. for another PET/CAT scan where he found the cancer had gone into remission. He is now on an amazing road to recovery – unfortunately for us, as he has begun to recover we have seen his appetite return in full effect – we can barely afford to feed him.

    September was a stressful yet exciting month for us all as well. On September 22, 2007 Leanne and Jeff were married. It was the event of the year. The wedding was beautiful and so was bridezilla, I mean the bride. We were all so happy to be part of that magical day. After the wedding they fled to Maui for 10 days. They loved it so much and had such an amazing time; they didn’t want to come home!   

All in all the year has been a test for us. It tested our strength as humans and as a family; however, it seemed to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. We had so many people who offered to help us in anyway they could. Thank you everyone for your support through the tough and joyous moments of this past year.

Happy Holidays everyone, and a wonderful New Year to you all.

All week long, I have been fighting on eBay to win tickets the this Sunday’s Seahawk’s game. John is a HUGE fan of Da Bears, so I thought this would be an amazing Christmas present. So, after finally after 3 days of battling it out on eBay, I found myself with 2 tickets to the game, but up in the nose bleed section. John didn’t care at all. He had never been to an NFL game, so he was EXTREMELY excited  that not only was he going but he was going to see Da Bears. I was a little stressed out because I was unsure of the tickets. They took forever to get to me and when they came in an email I wasn’t sure they were real. Saturday Morning we woke super early and headed out to the game. We walked for a while from our parking spot and entered Quest Field with no problems. It was wiggle stick day so we got a souvenir  and walked about the field for a while. John was very sweet and bought me a pink Seahawks  scarf, and I love it! We found our seats, section 303 row U. They were pretty far up there. We grabbed some food, and came back to our seats. We saw an add that said “Hey, text this word to this number and USAA might upgrade your seats”, so we texted and gave our them our email. Of course there were hecklers about John’s Bears stuff but we got past all that and enjoyed the game.

Bears Vs. Seahawks 

Our Seats in Section 303 row U 

After the first quarter John ran to the bathroom. Then I got a phone call, from John. He was very excited as he said “We won! We won!  We got upgraded tickets! Section 108, Row F!!!!”  It was AWESOME! We were in awe! The game was amazing and we had an awesome time! The only thing that could have gone better, John told me, was if Da Bears would have won, but hey it didn’t bother me at all!

New Seats Section 108 Row F 

You can check More of our Pictures here at my Flickr.