Oh Christmas Card, Oh Christmas Card...How difficult you are...

Every year I send out a Christmas card. I absolutely love receiving Christmas cards and I know that as technology slowly takes over our lives the annual Christmas card will probably become a thing of the past but this is my attempt to keep the tradition alive. For some people the Christmas card (like those of you who won't be reading this because you don't blog) is the only time you see an updated picture of my family. And somehow every year my mom convinces me to send them to all of her relatives that I haven't seen in 15 years. This is of course because she doesn't have the time to send out her own card but seeing how she does a TON for us I don't really mind. But I am getting off track...

The original plan was to have Stevie, my fabulous photographer friend, take our Christmas pics BUT... that just wasn't in the cards (pun intended) this year. Somehow it was either too cold, Rod had to work, or the lighting just wasn't good. So I was stuck taking the photos myself like every year which means they are
A) mediocre at best and
B) I am not in them

but here is what trying to get a picture of a 6 year old, a 4 year old and an 8 month old gets you..

In fairness to my kids I told them to stick out there tongues because by the time Jackson had the sock in his mouth I had pretty much tried everything to get them to all just look at the camera, not squint, and smile. Which is impossible.

Oh, well. The point is there cute, right? Hopefully someone will notice the coordinating outfits. Happy Thanksgiving Friends!

And here is the best one I got...

The Last 10 days

Well, the last 10 days have been pretty crazy for me. I am trying to organize my thoughts so I can write about it but that is easier said than done. But I am going to try. Starting with my trip to see Sara...

Okay, so it's Tuesday November 1st and I am taking a 6:20 flight out of Pocatello to Salt Lake and then flying from Salt Lake into Seattle. Yes, it would have been much easier to fly out of Idaho Falls but the tickets are at least DOUBLE what it is to fly out of Pocatello so that is what I chose. So we head out to Pocatello, stopping by Carsten's bakery on the way out of town to pick up a cream cheese brownie for Sara. (if you have never been to Carsten's bakery I highly recommend you go) We get there with time to spare but I of course forget the brownies when I am getting all my stuff and they sit in the car for the next 4 days. But moving along...
If any of you have ever flown alone with a baby you know what it's like for me. I have Jackson, the car seat, the stroller, the diaper bag and last of all my carry on. Now let me tell you something about carry on luggage. It is only convenient to carry on your luggage if you are flying alone. But the stinking airlines charge $25 to check you bag now which I refuse to pay! So I am shlepping all my crap with me.
As a disclaimer I would like to state that I am an experienced flyer. I have flown for years. Since I was a baby and I have taken many of my children on airplanes by myself. I am great on a plane as long as it isn't a puddle jumper that is probably like 30 years old... And we get the seat right next to the propeller. And it vibrates and shakes the whole way there. That along with the lovely turbulence and the fact that I had to change Jackson's clothes because he peed all over himself make it one heck of a 35 minute flight.
By the time we arrive in Salt Lake I am so grateful to be on the ground I wonder how I am ever going to get back on a plane to go to Seattle...which is already boarding TWO concourses over!
I get ahead of myself here.
In Pocatello they gate check all of my stuff. Which means they put a tag on it and let you check it under the plane as you are boarding. Hey Airlines- this is a dumb policy. Why can't you let me just check all this stuff when I get my ticket because you end up putting it under the plane for free anyway!! Thanks for making me carry it around the airport with me! It makes no sense- as you will see later.
Anyway, in the rush to get all of my things and make it from E concourse over to C concourse I grab the stroller and car seat and run like mad. Oh No! you're thinking. Because you realize way before me that I have left my bag. I of course don't realize this until I am almost to my gate to Seattle. By the time I start talking to the gate agent about my forgotten bag I am crying. Sobbing actually. Because I am so nauseous from the Pocatello flight and I just can't believe I would make such a stupid mistake. But it felt like I had everything because I already had half my house with me without even adding on my stupid luggage. You can tell they all feel bad for me but there is really nothing they can do since once it is in the bag handlers area the gate agents have no idea where it's gone. This is where I could go off on a tangent about why I dislike unions but I will refrain.

So... I have to board the plane with only the shirt on my back. I was out of clothes that weren't covered in pee for Jackson and I had only the formula or diapers that were in my diaper bag. Thankfully, this is where my experience in flying had paid off and I have way more stuff than I thought I would need. Thank goodness. The flight is a long 2+ hours but I get there and we survived. Barely.

Now to the good part. While in Seattle I have the most fabulous time. After all the trouble of getting there we get to Sara's house and it is pretty much identical to her home in Idaho.
Like creepy similar.
I see why she instantly liked the place. It looked like home. And once I got Jackson put to sleep then Tev made me eggs and homemade guacamole. And sitting there at their kitchen table felt like home. It felt like a sigh of relief. It's funny how life is like that. I have missed Sara so much since she left and sitting their with her at the kitchen table while Tev made us a late night snack was probably my favorite memory of the trip. Because it's exactly what it's always been like and there is comfort in the familiar. In friends who are like family. And in guacamole. :)

The next few days went by like a whirlwind. On Wednesday we took Adelaide on a hike to school. Seriously, could there be more hills?? Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous there. Everything is green and alive and just looks like you are almost in the mountains in Colorado but I felt like I was hiking.
Then once Adelaide got home we headed to the airport to get my luggage that had arrived on a flight that morning. (Which by the way, the airline dose not charge you for. Again, all this inconvenience make me almost want to pay the stupid $25...almost) Then I change into clean clothes in the airport bathroom. There is really nothing more spectacular than clean underwear and clothes that don't smell like spit up.

Then we headed into Seattle and took a ferry out to Bainbridge Island. This was super fun and I wish we could have had all day just to explore this cute little island. We looked in the shops and we tried some fudge. Sara had her first taste of Seafoam and it was a lovely time. By the time we got back to Sara's van we were all pretty tired though because again their are like a million hills here and I am pushing a stroller. That night Sara and I went out to eat and I got some delicious lobster. It was a fun and exhausting day!!

On Thursday we had to recover from our day of fun so we pretty much hung out at the house. Sara made us delicious food for every meal and it was fun to just relax and talk. We even went to this place called Value Village that was like a Desert Industries but better! I wish I could have bought more but I found gifts for both the kids there and I only spent $9!!
We also went to Top Pot Doughnuts which if you follow the OBB Blog you will know what I am talking about!!

On Friday we went to the Pike Place Market. It is an amazingly cool place. All of the delicious food!! I just wanted to take pictures of all the beautiful fruits and vegetables!! I got to have Beecher's famous Mac and cheese and I tried a pistachio macaron at this little french bakery that was divine! It seemed like I had just gotten there and now it was time to leave.
Thankfully, the flight home was much easier than the flight there. And the best news is that I managed to get an earlier flight home from Salt Lake that put me into Idaho Falls rather than Pocatello. I was sooo grateful!!

When I got home my house was a mess and once I finally got it put back together this cold that I have been fighting off for a few weeks finally took hold. But this post is becoming incredibly long so I will try to finish up with just the important stuff I have wanted to tell someone...

* I found my first grey hair this week. It was kinda surprising. I am only 28 after all. I, of course, pulled it promptly out of my head and went to show Rod who was less than impressed.

* Thatcher said the funniest thing to Jackson the other morning. They were both sitting at the table and Jackson was jabbering quite loudly and Thatch turns to him and says "Can you keep it down so I can eat" It was hysterical!

* I hate being sick. I hate that people think I am not allowed to be sick. Sorry if I seem like I have been sick for the past several weeks but I am trying here. Really, who does it suck for? You or me? If you aren't going to be nice just leave me alone. I am really not sick that often.


Okay, I am done. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload some of my pictures of Seattle from my phone. And I hope that sort of explained what my last 10 days were like. It's been crazy.

Salsa

Some days are easy and some days are hard. Ironically, yesterday was easy and I accomplished a lot. Today, not so much and I pretty much got nothing done..at least not in comparison.

It is 7:37pm and I am sitting here super tired. I got less than 4 hours of sleep last night so I was running on nothing more than fumes today. All I want is a hot bath and some salsa.
Yep, that's right.

A hot bath....and SALSA!

And not just any salsa.

Puerta Vallarta's salsa.

If you have never had it you are missing out. Seriously. No, really. I mean it.

But...Rod isn't home yet. My kids need put to bed. And let's face it- do I really need to go out when he does get home (which probably won't be until after 8:30) just to make a salsa run? Hmmm...I think this is a great example of my emotional affair with food. So maybe not tonight.

Definitely tomorrow though... and hopefully tomorrow will be easier.
If for no other reason than the fact that it will have salsa in it.

Chase Family Fun...

So, since last Thursday we had Nathan, Camber and their three boys staying with us. Now anyone who knows me knows I have a tendency to "say it like it is". With that said these are hands down my FAVORITE people in the world that I call family. They are the reason that I can handle the rest of the Chase clan. We all had so much fun. Like always we stayed up way too late, the kids got up way too early and as soon as I finished cleaning up the kids were hungry again. That's all ok though because I have a feeling that years from now this is the stuff my kids are actually going to remember. Unfortunately, I didn't really remember to take any pictures though and I am kicking myself for it! I really need to be better about this. Especially since we did so many fun things. Here are a few of my favorites...

*Several games of "Split", Pinochle and Hand and Foot

* We had Low Boil- which they had never had before. If you have never had it you've got to try it! Pretty much the gist is that you cook a bunch of stuff in a big pot and then you spread it on a tablecloth in the middle of your table and everyone just digs in. Kids love it! (Let me know if you want the recipe)

* For once my plans actually came to fruition. I went all Martha Stewart (literally, I took it off her site) and made a fun craft with the kids. Button wreath ornaments. This is what they are supposed to look like... ours were something like that...


The kids had a lot of fun doing it.

* We went out to Rod's parents and the ALL of the siblings and all but one of the spouses played a game together. This is pretty much unheard of. The fact that no ones feelings got hurt and everyone got along was amazing. It made me feel like maybe someday we all might get along...

* It reaffirmed my faith in family. Camber really is the closest thing I am ever going to have to a sister and thankfully she makes me feel like we are the real thing. Many times over the years I have felt like God knew I needed her since I would never have a biological sister.

It was all so much fun that I can't wait to do it again. Soon.

Today was AWESOME.
Awesome for all the right reasons. Today my dear sweet friends, Teri and Cody, found out they are adopting 2 siblings, a little boy and girl. It has been a long road for them with so many hiccups along the way but now it is all over and they are getting their children.

THEIR children.

I have just felt happy all day ever since Teri called with the news. It just felt for a moment like things were right in the world. That prayers were heard and answered. That life is hard and imperfect and we all have a lot that weighs us down but for a moment today none of that mattered. Today their joy was my gift. Thank you Fry family. You made my day... and it was amazing.

Catching up

I thought I would try and catch up and do some back blogging. This seemed a tad overwhelming to try and put everything in the correct order and to remember details of whats been happening so I decided to just lump it all together and give everyone a taste of our fabulous summer in a snapshot or two...


We had some parties...

Isabelle's BirthdaySara's Birthday/Harry Potter PartyThatcher's BirthdayMy son ie. Batman

There is more to come...

I can do this...

Okay friends... here it is. I feel guilty and my lovely husband made me feel even more guilty for not updating my blog. Especially when I am constantly harassing Sara to update hers. Now I have used the age old excuse for years that I don't know what I am doing- this is true....BUT, it's time to just be a big girl and figure it out on my own.

First off I would like to say how great all of your blogs are. Conveniently, the last time I worked on my blog was during the Halloween season so my background was already good to go. I think this also corresponds with the fact that this is hands down my favorite time of year.

AND... because I am still figuring this whole thing out is the reason the stinking picture is before my writing and I am too annoyed to try and move it... bear with me people. This is my hoosier (sp?) cupboard that is decorated with my fall decor... and now here is my piano... which was supposed to follow me writing it but I don't know how to do that. Okay, done for today before I throw the computer...
Chelsea