Yesterday was Jimmy's 11th birthday and we got the suprise of our lives. My mom gifted him (and us) with a one night stay at the Holiday Inn Express, which is attached to TriplePlay waterpark. The package included:
~dinner for 4 at an awesome Italian restraunt,
~movie tickets for 4 at the Hayden Cinemas,
~4 tickets for all day waterpass at Triple Play waterpark and
~a one night stay at the hotel.
So we got off work, ran home, packed everything up, took the puppy to Mamaw and Papaws house, cause they so graciously offered to watch the pup, and headed for Hayden, Holiday Inn Express. Since it was kinda late we just checked into our room and went to dinner and had an AWESOME dinner at Ciao Mambo's. We did our usual, go around the table and tell your highs and lows of the day... of course everyones highs was this awesome gift. We ate way too much and went back to our room and watched a movie and went to sleep.

Here is the kids anticipating the day to come...

But then the next morning we woke up to another 10 inches of snow and Jim had to go home to get our other truck, ol blue, because it is 4wheel drive. Plus he had to let Buddy out of the garage. The kids and I went down to have an awesome continental breakfast of biscuits & gravy and scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, bagels, fruit & juice. Then Jim got back and the waterpark opened at 10... we were there waiting like the Macy's commercial... "Open, Open, Open". We had such a blast of a time. Jimmy kept saying over and over and over again... "this is the best birthday ever"!

Here is the birthday boy and sissy having the time of their lives, he does indeed have swimming trunks on...

Jim and the kids enjoying the spa. BTW it is snowing like a mad dog just on the other side of that wall...

We went down every waterslide there was, and then did it again, and again.

Here are a few videos of all of us having the best time ever...

First we have daddy and Amber coming down the slide together...

Then we have Jimmy and mommy together, yes folks, I did get in the water...

The kids wore themselves out so much that finally we had to leave :(

But the day wasn't over, we went straight to the movie theatre and watched 'Bedtime Stories'. It was such a cute movie & very clean. When our day was over, we got home to another 16 inches of snow... here we go again... but this time it is a very wet snow, which means very heavy. That took us a good while to shovel.

Super pup to the rescue...

We finally got into the house by 7:30 and are running out of places to put the snow. The Lord heard our cry (of pain) when he gave us rain today which washed away a ton of our fresh fallen snow. And now we have a place to put the snow from the next storm, cause we know itsa coming. Yay, we can drive safely again too! Thank you Jesus!

It has been a very cold and snowy few weeks. Good grief, we can barely keep up with the shoveling. But I wanted to share a little about Christmas. It was a great day. In the morning (mind you, Jimmy woke everyone up at 5:30, YAWN) we did the usual, read the story of our Lord & Savior, Jesus' birth, drank our coffee & opened stockings and presents.

Then at about 6:30 we looked outside. Lo and behold there were another 18 inches of snow on the ground and we had family coming over at noon. And to top it all off the weather was calling for another storm to come in, a wet storm that would weigh down all of the snow we already had, which was about 3 feet. Soooo, Jim hopped up on the roof and started shoveling.

Here is Jim with a brief message...

Jimmy was up there for a short time too. Then he decided to go down and make a snow fort instead.

I was down below shoveling off the sidewalk and driveway what Jim was throwing off of the roof. What a beautiful way to start off Christmas. The best part was that when Jim was up on the roof, he was sweating so bad that we had to get him another shirt to wear, so I went to the door and asked Amber to bring another shirt for daddy. When I threw it up to him, he noticed that she had accidentally grabbed one of my shirts, which is too small for him. So he is standing on the roof with no shirt on, waiting for one that fits. During this time of waiting so patiently(lol), a huge gust of wind came by and blew all the snow that was in the huge pine tree at our neighbors house straight onto Jim (half naked), so much snow that when I came out to give him the other shirt, I couldn't even see him through the white out of snow. Haaaah.... God does have a sense of humor. Jim forbid me to put the picture of him half naked in the snow on the roof on our blog, but it was a really good one if you ask me. Tee, hee, hee...

So anyways, at about 11:30 we finally got done shoveling the roof, driveway and sidewalk for our family that was coming at noon.

I didn't do such a bad job if I do say so myself...

We jumped in the shower and got ready as fast as we could. I threw some yummy food on the stove and in the oven and we (believe it or not) were ready for my family before they got there. I still believe in miracles!

We had a great time with family. My dad, Sandra, Ashley(sis) and Kaiya(niece) came over and we had such a nice time. We ate yummy food, had great conversation and of course played Chicken Foot (a dominos game). It was a blast!

Here is Mamaw with her two granddaughters...

And Papaw with his one and only grandson...

Here we are playing Chicken Foot... By the way, Amber won and I am thinking by the look on that face that she cheated...

Kaiya was totally zonked out by 5:30...

After everyone left, we were all so pooped... even the puppy...

I hope everyones Christmas was as joyous as ours,

Merry Christmas to all!

Tonight Amber made Christmas cookies by herself for the very first time and they turned out delicious! yummy yum yum!!!

Kinda reminds me of when I was about 12 and my mom gave me, and my sister Jill, who was about 13, free reign of the kitchen to make peanut butter cookies. (remember this one mom?) The recipe called for 1/2 tsp of salt, so we put in 1/2 cup of salt by mistake. Those cookies were by far the most hideous tasting cookies ever known to man. If I remember correctly, (and mom, you can correct me if I am wrong) they tasted something like peanut butter play-doh. Our little hearts were pretty crushed, cause we worked so hard on them together. But my mom must have felt sorry for us because she let us open up a Christmas present early that night. I even remember what I got. It was a miniature sized wooden school desk for my cabbage patch dolls. I will never forget the horrified looks of forced enjoyment on everyones faces when they bit into those peanut butter cookies. So, there I go, you just caught me reminiscing. Hope your Christmas memories are as good as mine!

There are a lot more where this one came from!

BTW, I had to add a new pic of the pup. She just looked so cute when Amber was baking. She curled up on Buddy's bed and went to sleep. This is uncommon for her, cause usually she is begging to get into her crate when she is sleepy, but her crate is in our bedroom and Jim was in there with the door shut, taking a nap, so I guess she decided to just make do with what she had available.

So the last couple of weeks has been horrendous (sp?) weather. It all started with sub-zero temperatures and high winds. Then yesterday we totally shattered the record snowfall in a 24 hour period. We got 30 inches of snow at our house and it actually caused our whole town to pretty much shut down. The plows couldn't keep up and so all county offices were closed yesterday and today. Yippee for me!! Well actually yesterday Jimmy and I were both sick as a dog with the stomach flu, but today we are back in business!! Not so fun for Jim. Because he works for the District Court, they do not answer to the county commissioners and so he had to work both days. Fortunately it was pretty slow because a lot of the judges called off their court sessions due to having no jury members being able to make it in to the courthouse.

Anyways here are some pics from the last couple of days.

Here are a few of our new addition,

her and Buddy are finally becoming friends, YAY...

Here is a weird shot of doodle bug and Tink

Amber thinks that her and Tink are sisters, they even kennel up together

Oh, you think you are hiding... do you? Well you are always being watched... ALWAYS!!!


I just love this picture of Amber. She got this dress from our friend Maella for her birthday and she looks soooo beautiful in it!

Here are a couple of Jimmy with Tink...

This is what we woke up to this morning, SNOW, and lots of it, notice Jimmy is pointing to the snowballs that he threw at Amber in her bedroom...

Here is doodle bug shoveling the driveway

Needless to say, this is a great start to a long winter... BRING IT!!!

I wanted to share some new pics since it has been a little while...

Here is Ash and Kaiya...



Sisters with Kaiya...



Here is proud auntie with baby neice Kaiya, big eyes....


We got our first snow on 12/6, but it went away as fast as it came, good thing I got these pics while I could. The kids took advantage of it as soon as it fell...

Amber built a snow fort and Jimmy built a snowman...


On our anniversary date, we went to see Fireproof, WOW, for those who haven't seen that one... it is a must see for all married couples.
Okay, so anyways, people wonder why there are not many pics of Jim and I together? Someone, I won't mention any names, can't make a straight face long enough for a decent picture, so this is what we get... I love this guy, it is a good thing, cause these short 12 years are quickly turning into 90 years.



Finally.... he smiles....

I had to share Ambers special moment...

The kids had a contest at school for a poster drawing of their favorite book. Amber drew a picture of a fox in a hole, from a National Geographic Book. She WON 3rd place in the whole school. They posted her poster at the Rathdrum Library and hung it on the wall for all to see.

Here is the winner with her poster...

They had a big open house type day there a couple of weeks ago with a pirate theme and we went over there and had to get a pic with Doodle next to her poster.

They had a fake "plank", that the kids walked across and of course since Jimmy and Amber are a little older, they had to be blindfolded. But when they got across, they got to choose a book to take home to keep.

Ambers 9th birthday was on the 3rd and my family was here from Anacortes to celebrate this year. It was fun having them here, GG actually beat us all at Texas hold 'em. Gee, could that be cause she is a native texan? Anyways, Jimmy gave her a good run for her money, but she still beat us all in the end. Way to go GG!!

Both the kids got to open birthday presents from Nana & Gramps & GG, while they were here. Lucky for Jimmy, cause his birthday isn't til the 27th of this month. But then yesterday I took them to Wal-Mart to spend their birthday money and both of them got MP3 players. I was so proud of them getting something they will enjoy, rather than a bunch of little nic nacks that will just fall to the bottom of the toybox.

Here is Nana reading to Doodle on her birthday, or was it the other way around???...

Nana & Gramps also took the kids to their old house and the people that live their now, have horses. Amber, of course, loves horses, so she and Jimmy went over there and got to ride them. (Jimmy actually was bribed to get on the horse, he is a weenie sometimes, but I am proud that he tried it anyways).