Present Unwrapping (Dog Version)

At my California house Christmas is always for everybody...including the pets. This is our dog Kozmo who has always loved opening his presents. Once they are open he usually prances around and shows off his toy to everybody he can find, unfortunately he is too old to move around well enough to show his "family" but you could tell that he still enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas!!

We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!!!

I wanted to share these two things with you to help celebrate Christmas and the joyful event of the birth of Jesus. In bible class on Wednesday night Carter asked the teens to write out the Christmas story and these were two of my favorites that made both of us laugh. I wish I could have the teens read them for here because they were so dynamic as they read them but this will have to do!


From Ross 15 years old...

"Push Mary push, you can do it" then out popped Jesus. OMG he is the son of God, then rays of light shined down into the manure filled barn and the savior had been born."


From Jonathan 15 years old...

"Mary and Joseph were strutting through a town knocking on doors saying 'Rowg I NEED TO GIVE BIRTH!' but people wouldn't let them in until they came across this barn...I think, and Mary gave birth to Jesus. Afterward some Angel came over to three kings and they were freaked out but the angel said 'chill out guys, Jesus is born!' So the kings said awesome, let's go give him presents so they found Jesus and gave him gifts of awesomeness."

But now, I will leave you with the true Christmas story from Luke 2:1-20 (NIV). You can also find more  information on the Christmas story in Matthew.

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

 ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Tis' the Season

The past week has been full of Christmas parties, I had mine at work, we had one at church for underprivileged children and their families, and then we had a progressive dinner last night with the youth group which is sorta like a Christmas party.

My work is split into 3 different sites in town and the girls in our office decided to wear "ugly Christmas sweaters" and surprise all of our co-workers with our awesomeness!! I found a sweater at goodwill that has over 50 tiny bells sewed on so that I jingled everywhere I went and I even found a mistletoe turtleneck to go underneath it (yep I'm that cool!) Our sweaters were a hit and we all had fun laughing at ourselves!

Christmas Presents

Tis the season all right. The season to try and figure out gifts for everybody and who gets what and will they even like it?

However, something that Carter and I both had fun with was buying gifts for kids for the Christmas party our church hosts every year. The church invites selected underprivileged families and we serve them a turkey dinner and Santa comes and brings them all presents. Carter and myself both picked a child to provide something for and we both had fun doing the shopping.

Carter picked a 4 year old boy who loves trucks and things with wheels and he got them a Monster Jam track and some trucks like the ones below (but different types) along with a few other things.

I had tons of fun picking out clothes for a 5 year old girl who likes the color pink. I got 3 different outfits but my favorite is the one below. I hope I have a girl one day to buy tons of cute clothes like this for because shopping for her was too much fun.

Those are pink tights to go with the outfit!

Thanksgiving

We drove up to Tacoma Wednesday in order to spend Thankgsiving with Carter's family. We came home Sunday night tired from a fantastic visit with his family full of eating, shopping, catching up, and some more shopping.  Wednesday night after Church was spent with the guys prepping the turkey to be fried the next morning. Frying turkey's is Darrell's (carter's dad) specialty and he took pride in delegating the preparation to his boys so he can pass on the tradition. 

 How many men does it take to prep a turkey?

One turkey for us, another for family friends. Carter and Clay go the job of pulling out all the parts.

The frying process Thansgiving morning. (snow on thanksgiving is odd)

 Don't worry, that's just apple cider on the table!

Gotta love the timer on the camera...hence the awkward angle.

Black Friday shopping was crazy. I joined Paula and her friend and friend's daughter for their traditional shopping by starting out at Fred Meyer for their socks. We ended up being out and about for 11 hours (ridiculous I know!!!) and we came home with a bunch of stuff. Here is my pile which got a little bigger after going out Saturday as well. I'm a sucker for a good deal and our wardrobes desperately needed updating!

Friday night Darrell and Paula took us to a Japanese Steakhouse where they prepare your food in front of you on a hibachi grill. The experience was incredibly entertaining and the food was delicious and we left stuffed!! I would recommend it to anybody!

I asked for the kid chopsticks so they were specially wrapped so I could use them properly. It was great!

There's gonna be a Davis baby!

Carter and I are proud to announce.........










That we are going to be a Uncle and Aunt!!! (fooled ya didn't I)

Clayton (Carter's brother) and Sarah announced that they are 3 months pregnant the day before Thanksgiving. All I have to say is let the spoiling begin!!!!!!!!!!!

Family Visit

My (Amber's) mom and sister came to visit on Thursday and left Monday morning. It was such a fun visit of just hanging out, playing games, and taking a day trip to Florence to visit their old town! Thanks mom and Shan for coming an hanging out with us!!!!!!!!

In Florence

 Can you see the lighthouse? It is the Hacieta Head Lighthouse.

HP @ Midnight

I am dragging Carter to the Midnight showing of this next Thursday (technically Friday) with some friends. We already have our tickets and I'm excited to do something out of the norm for us! However, the tough part will be going to work on Friday but I suppose that's what coffee is for!!

Carter has never read the books so we will be spending the next week and a half watching all the movies so he has a general idea of what is going on so he won't ask me every 2 seconds. 

Let's try a Grapple!

So I've seen these for a while at the grocery store but then they were featured on "Unwrapped" and Carter decided that it was a must try item. On one of my grocery runs I found them and we were super excited to try them and then we bit into them and we were utterly disappointed. The apples had a semi-grape flavor but they were soft which is not enjoyable in an apple. If you don't believe me, try one yourself and let us know what you think!

Funny things kids say.

So the other day I was at a girls house doing skills training with her as part of my job and we were playing a game. I invited her brother (10) and his two neighborhood friends (7) and (5) to play with us as well. As we were playing the game the 10 year old kept saying inappropriate things and hitting himself in his privates with the skateboard and yelling "oh my nuts" and then the younger boys would say inappropriate things as well. I kept reminding the boys that the things they were saying were not okay and that they needed to change their words. The 10 year old said something else and I reminded him again and then the 7 year old looks at the 10 year old and says, "yeah, don't say those things while the girl is here. Wait until she leaves okay."  I was fighting back laughter as I tried to tell them that it didn't matter if I was there or not, they needed to be careful of their words.

However, it was another example of how hard my job can be sometimes. It breaks my heart that these kids are running around the neighborhood, talking about inappropriate things, watching things that aren't okay for their age, and their parents don't care...I sometimes doubt that their parents even know where their kids are.

Today

Today, Saturday, October 9th 2010 has been the perfect day!!

*We slept in!!!!
*While I was still in bed Carter went to our new bakery in town and got us some goodies for breakfast!
*We watched a movie together this morning and I started a puzzle
*Football and baseball have been switching back and forth as I continue the puzzle
*The house is now semi-clean
*Carter and I have gotten to spend all day together (so not the norm now-a-days)
*It is a dreary day outside, so spending it inside is very cozy.
*We had steak and sweet potatoes for dinner

Luckily today has been mellow, because tomorrow will be busy with obligations. But, for now I will take a deep breathe and appreciate today.

A new snake skin scarf!

Oh did I not mention that it is a live snake skin????

One of our foster parents has 2 of these girl pythons at their home. The one I'm holding is 9ft long and the one at home is around 13 feet I believe. They were driving around town with the snake (in it's own purse mind you) and decided to stop by so we could see it and touch it. I've seen it before in it's cage but this is way up close and person. 

I like this picture of our office manager because you get the feel of how big this snake actually is. It was ridiculous how mellow the snake was, even when it's owners were shoving their hands in his face and everything.

SHS @ Autzen Stadium

SHS is Sutter High School, the high school that both myself and my sister graduated from and now my brother is a Junior there. My brother decided this year that he wanted to play football (basically his first time ever) and as soon as we looked at the schedule and saw that his football team (from nor cal) was coming to Eugene (a little over 2 hours away from us) we knew we would be there. The game was last weekend on Saturday the 28th and they played an Oregon team from Klamath Falls HS. 

We met my mom, dad, and sister on Friday night for dinner in Eugene and all stayed in the same hotel room. Fun Right!?! Well it would have been except for the fact that my dad snores like a freight train and kept us all from sleeping most of the night. 

Saturday we lounged around and then got to Autzen stadium (which is the home of the Oregon Ducks) where the big game was! It was so cool getting to go inside the stadium, but it was sooo empty!! Both teams sat on one side divided by a row up the middle but it was cool because the sound is so great in the stadium it still sounded as if it was full!!

After the game we met up with my brother and had lunch at Red Robin (yum) then walked the mall (YAY) and we said goodbye to come back home. 

My sister and I were cheerleaders so we are posing like the old days with our Poms!It was fun remembering the cheers as the cheerleaders did them and cheering away from the stands!!

Had to get a pic together!!

#12 is my brother Logan! Since this is his first year playing ever he is second string cornerback so we knew we wouldn't get to see him play, but it was fun cheering him on anyways.

Wait...is that #12 on the field? IT IS!!!!! Sutter was beating the other team by so much that I got to watch my brother play around 6 plays and he rocked!! (I won't tell you the ball never came his way). Doesn't he look ready for action though?

 

Final Score!! "You wish you were a husky, Woof Woof"

Back in the Swing of things...

With the close of Summer comes a new schedule for the two of us. Carter is slipping back into routine and my work schedule is getting a bit hectic but hopefully it will calm down soon.

Part of this new routine is trying to maintain a clean, organized home while sometimes working late days and being pooped upon return home. Luckily I have a husband who is completely understanding and pitches in around the apartment in the areas needed. I also have to work on picking up after myself daily to contain the mess (something I've always struggled with, right mom!?!). I don't know how career woman who are also moms do it so I'm giving them a big round of applause and lots of praise right now because I'm tired and we don't even have kids!!

Another part of this new schedule is both of us resuming working out. Carter has resumed an at home workout routine and I'm resuming Zumba on Tuesday and Thursday nights. As much as we both dislike working out we realize the importance, me especially since I have a sometimes stressful job it is nice to work some of it out and off!!

If you still don't know what Zumba is, here is a video taken from Coos Cardio Party where I Zumba at.

Click here to see Zumba Video!!!! 

OCD Much

So Carter does most of our laundry as his way to help out around the house. One day I came home from work and found this...

This picture doesn't exactly accurately portray the piles but do you see what's funny about it? Carter stacked each pile so they were all the same height, and then since I had 3 pairs of socks he had to put one  pair of socks on each pile. I came in to put my clothes away and it cracked me up!! The funny thing about Carter is that he is only OCD about certain things such as the sheets and comforter lining up, his junk corner has to be just right, all his hangers have to be the same type, and his closet in general has a particular order. There are a few other things he is particular about but I can't think of them at the moment. 

Minute to Win It- YG Style

On Wednesday night Carter put together a youth group event based after the NBC t.v show "Minute to Win It". It was the most attended youth event of the Summer a long time. 14 Teens participated in this hour long event that was made up of a multitude of events where each teen kept track of how long it took them to do the event and then added up all their times to compare times for the prizes!


Breakfast Scramble
Assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into 16 even pieces.

BACKFLIP

1) Pencils are placed on playing surface in increments of 2, with all erasers facing the same direction.

2) When the clock starts, player picks up first set of 2 pencils and places them on the back of his/her hand.

3) Player must flip pencils into the air, then catch them together. Player adds two more pencils with each turn, building to a final set of 12.

4) Player cannot add the next set of 2 pencils until the previous set has been caught.

5) To complete the game, player must catch sets of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and finally 12 pencils in succession within the 60-second time limit.

Elephant March 

Knock over bottles with a baseball hanging from panty hose worn on the head.

Face the Cookie

Using only the face, move cookies from the forehead to the mouth.

Carter finished the night by tying in the sense of urgency the teens had to complete the task in a minute to the sense of urgency we need to feel as Christians. Carter shared that we need to have a sense of urgency to tell others about God and let as many people know about him as possible because we don't know when he will be returning. Short and sweet....

Life Lately

I know there hasn't been much going on with the blog lately but we haven't been doing too much to report on. Let's see........

- Last week Carter took two youth group boys to meet up with a few youth group guys and his old Youth Minister from WA and they took a week long hike in the olympic mountains. I would have posted about this sooner but something scares me about letting the world know that I'm home alone for a week. Anyways, they survived and weren't eaten by bears or anything wild so that's good. It sounds like they had a fantastic time and I'm glad that Carter is home now!!!

-Speaking of Carter being home, that was his 3rd week away this summer and I'm selfishly happy that he isn't going anywhere anytime soon!!

- Work has been going well for me, I like some aspects of it more than others but isn't that life?

- We had our annual clothing drive at church on Sunday and in 5 hours around 560 people came in to get clothes.

- We are so ready for our fall shows to start back up again!!

- Nothing else new to report so take care for now readers!!!!

Fine day for a White Wedding

Two Saturdays ago, August 7th to be exact I was honored to be in my best friend from high school's wedding. In high school we were always together and our cheerleading friends called us each others "other hip". We met sophomore year and our friendship just grew through the next 3 years. Unfortunately moving  far apart from each other we didn't stay in touch as well as we could. 3 years ago she was in my wedding and to my delight she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids over a year and a half ago. 

So, Noelle and Mike got married in Rocklin, CA in a beautiful ceremony and had a fantastic reception at a golf club nearby. It was so much fun getting to catch up with Noelle during my 3 days with her as well as getting to spend time with some of her family who I haven't seen in years! It is amazing how many stories a person can forget until they are reminded!!!

The Night of her Bachelorette Party

Her Gourgeous Dress

Had to get cute toes!!

Diana was having some "issues"

Noelle's bouquet was so pretty and the handerchief and pin on her bouquet were used during her grandma's wedding. 

I was glad that my sister and mom were able to come to the wedding. It was so much fun dancing with my sister and all her "cool moves".