Travel during holidays

Who knew that travel was terrible during Christmas?
Everyone, but me. I feel certain that I will not be making many trips to Colorado during the holiday season.
It all started with our Arctic Blast 2008! that lead to a packed airport. Packed with stranded families that include young children at their wits end. Not to mention, I spent about 8 hours tracking my flight to make sure it would even depart. Thanks goes out to Harold and Bryce for taking me to the airport in the best red sled in the world.
It was great to see all my family during Christmas, but with so many important moments to share throughout the days, scheduling was tricky. Not to mention fun family dynamics. The excited children opening presents and play time actually made my trip AWESOME. I built about 10 towers of blocks with Ella, dragged Addy around in her new sleeping bag and put together her Dora puzzle about 15 times. Poor Ben was sick, but at least he was feeling better by the time I departed for home. We even got to play with his truck puzzle and read a truck story before nap. I can't help but love my adorable nieces and nephew.
I'd also like to thank the Yancey family and the Britton family for being my host during the travels. It was interesting to go between houses and observe the differences in daily life.
Ah, my return flight. I was ready to get back home, and braced myself for more airport stress. Surprisingly, the stress only occured once I boarded the plane. Nothing like getting stuck in a plane for an hour before take-off with a very tired two year old. I had picked out a window seat, only to be asked if I would take the aisle so that a young boy could be a bit more confined by sitting by the window. Made sense to me, and I was happy to have a proactive parent to my left. I understand how difficult such youngins can be, and how much control (or lack thereof) parents have. This little boy (never caught his name) started throwing a fit once the flight attendants enforced that he needed to sit in his own seat with the seat belt. The screaming fit lasted about an hour, since we were stuck on the ground for whatever mysterious reason. He fell asleep, and woke up every 45 minutes to yell a bit more. His mother was trying so hard, and I felt very badly for her. Needless to say, it was a terrible 2.5 hour flight, but at least we landed safely.

It was SO nice to be home, enjoying my un-planned time. I even treated myself to a set of micro-fleece bedsheets that were 1/2 off at Fred Meyers. Very cozy sleeping...yet I could not sleep in since I had become accustomed to waking at 7 or 8am everyday of my trip. The upside of that, Monday morning was easy. That was the delayed present my nieces and nephew gave me. Love them!

Arctic blast 2008!

I dont know if raising my windshield wipers was a good thing, as they are covered in a coat of ice. As I walked around this neighborhood, I realized it was a good idea. Everyone else has wipers frozen to their windshield and then a good coat of ice on top.

Tree branches all covered in ice

Side view of my car

Believe it or not, this bush has frozen berries on it!

Good time to stay warm by the fire!!

This is what freezing rain does to the snow. Vineaux is standing on 8 inches of snow!

The final reading was 8 inches, so this reading was an hour early. The snow was coming down so fast, and it is like Colorado snow..all fluffy!

Doggie likes the snow. Rain is yucky.

Look from my bedroom porch, mid-day Saturday. These pictures are actually posted in reverse order, so the ones at the top are from Sunday.

So the concept of freezing rain was hard for me to grasp at first. Basically, we have 20 degree temperatures for a couple hundred feet from the ground. Then warm, moist air is on top of it (from the ocean) and when the rain falls, it quickly freezes. Doesnt actually turn into snow. We had about 1 week of snow (at least some everyday) and then we got dumped on in the weekend. The city is not equiped for this, with our 4 snow plows, but they have been good at putting sand down. Everyone bought all the chains in the state of Oregon, so if you dont have any, or 4wd, or an awesome subaru, you stay at home. Since I have the awesome subaru, I'm driving all around :)

HGTV addict

I cut up a picture and put in on canvas, spread it out, and put it on the wall!

This I stole straight from HGTV. Wrapped old wood with batting and fabric. Repeat 3 times and hang on wall for headboard.

Picture hanging devices hold them up very easily

Currently working on bathroom so more pics to come! Thanks for the motivation Sister! :)

kids, horses, and hoa

Oh yeah, Ben is very cute. Just making a silly face.

Group picture after the horseback ride

Ben didnt want to face forward. I was more padded than the saddle. He LOVED the horses. Just giggled at them, and got mad when they went away

Mom and Addy

This is how it started. Addy on her little saddle and me holding Ben. Sure, I have not riden a horse in ten years. Give me the most precious items of my brother and Kirsta. This only lasted bout 15 minutes.

Trampoline fun at mom's neighbors. This is how we baby sat. They played with the neighbor kids in their big yard. Easy!

Fresh from my trip to Colorado, here are the fun pictures! Here is a summary of events....
Tuesday night 7pm: Hit the road! Drove until around 11:30 to Baker City, Or and slept in the car in a hotel parking lot for 4 hours.
Wednesday night 7pm: Almost got a speeding ticket in Laramie. Escaped with a warning!! Arrived at mom's house about an hour later - exhausted.
Thursday: Took Vineaux to Blue Sky for her wellness exam, had lunch with mom, visited grandma (showed her what the blogs look like), picked up kids and stayed the night at Dustin and Kirsta's. I brought Addy and Ben a pop-up book, and proceeded to read read read many books.
Friday: woke up to Addy yelling "Aunt Fer come read me another book!!" 7am, but how can you turn that down? Spent the afternoon with Colette in Fort Collins (mmmm Easy Street Wheat) and picked up the kids so we could spend the night at grammies (my mom's).
Saturday: Horseback riding! Big grandma (my grandma, not so big)! Naps! BBQ at a small lake in Windsor! TIRED! But....time to go play with Jessica in downtown Loveland. Exciting stuff there.
Sunday: Hit the road...with a small stop in Ft.Collins to see Jesse Wayne. He's the best.


HOA meeting today. I'm voted President. No, really. Have I been on an HOA board before? No! But apparently I am comfortable with this anyway. It's just a grown-up version of a 4-H club. Seriously. The board of directors makes all the decisions and I just run the meetings. Oh, and everything goes in my name. Sweet. Looks good on resume too (no one needs to know it is only 16 units). My co-worker that lives by me is the secretary and we have already decided to move the accounts to First Tech Credit Union. No surprise there!

Is this my doggie's relative?

I've always wondered who Vineaux is related to...turns out she may be a German Pinscher...based on the pics above and of the actual one of Vineaux (look at first post if needed) ...I may have figured it out!!
When I got her from the shelter, her name was Gretta, and I thought "My dog isnt German!!" I was wrong...oh well. Her breed according to the shelter is Venetian Pinscher...a name Jen and I created :)
Apparently white is undesirable color with this breed...but I like her little white hairs. She never got her ears cropped and her tail stayed long, but I like her just the way she is :)

bathroom fun

Blue, green, brown (butterscotch). The butterscotch color is the same as most of my other walls, but looks orange in some pictures. I had this grand idea of separating the brown and blue with some green bamboo stencils. Looked terrible, hence the green stripe, which I love! This is my 1/2 bath downstairs, that I couldnt do all brown (like the living room) or all blue (like the odd triangle counter top - soon to be pedestal sink). 

Green shelves, and I kept thinking "there has to be something blue and green in my collection. Later, I found my old Colo license plate from my 4runner. Perfect

Mirror shot, which still needs to be mounted back up

Ok, I watch A LOT of HGTV. This basic mirror was taken down and I was thinking about etching it until I found "webbing" paint. Has great texture and makes my old mirror look trendy. Only $5!!!!

On a different note, I am sad to report I do not get to go to Colo for mommy's day weekend. My boss told me that it was bad timing, and that the mortgage training I have been working on could not wait. Basically, I am too important. I wanted to cry, because I miss the wee Brittons in Colo. But I was in the middle of a 9 hour training course - that I facilitate - so I had to remain professional. Looks like making yourself "invaluable" is not all that great for your personal life.

But I will see the wee Brittons ASAP!!!

Car!!

Yes, a different car! I had Fancy (the bmw) for 2 years, and that is about as long as I can last with a car. So I got an '06 Outback sport!  Love the AWD and hatchback - can anyone say camp-mobile?

I spent about 6 hours at the dealership, and drove there without Fancy. A good trick. I got them to payoff Fancy (they paid retail bluebook price, about $4K more than trade-in) and bring the price down of the car so that I could stay in a low payment. So they never even saw my trade-in and paid the same amount  they can sell her for. I think I did learn something from my Dad with all those trips to the dealership!

Hairs

I had a request for pics of my new 'do, so, here :)

Pillow Post

Thanks to Judy's help, I made some pillows and curtains. Velvet-type material = very hard to sew! Especially since my last sewing experience involved scrunchies...eek! Judy and Evie even placed velcro on the sides of some pillows so I can wash them! I LOVE my curtains, the perfect mix of brown and light blue!

Ooh! That middle pillow might just match the curtains :) I have some cozzzzy couches!

Doggie's pillow. She at least understands "go lay down." She didn't really understand why momma was sitting on her bed though. I hate that I see my speaker wire back there... I need some ideas on how to hide those.

Figured I should include shots of myself, not all landscape :)

Bad kitty! NO kitties in the room allowed, but I didn't close the door when taking pics. OOPS

Just settling in here! Thinking about adding a roommate (short term) just so I can fly to see my family in Colorado and landscape the yard. Without the roommate, I am a bit limited, as expected.

Nothing new to report really. Started working with our 1st Mortgage department about a training program that will cross train consumer loan officers (auto, visas, etc) into 1st Mortgages. Not that I actually know much about mortgages, but I am quickly learning! Really, this is a chance for me to utilize my instruction design skills (love to make new training programs). Speaking of skills, I have one more class before I have my Master's Certificate in Training and Development. To sum it up, I am making myself invaluable to my organization :)

Whew! moved

Kitchen, almost done, to the untrained eye. Still need to paint fridge black (yes, you can do that, and I am going to do it in chalkboard paint), and trim.

View from back door, so you see my dining room and living room. Will paint that table black and red (Same red as cabinets). Yes, I said paint. I loathe that word, but the results are...worth it.

Closer look at living room. Two kitties on blue couch. I was worried about getting a blue couch, because we all remember the 80's couches. But in person, you will see that these can always fit into the right decor.

Blue, again. My house is summed up in 4 words: blue, black, red, brown. This is the initial look. With my free cable (knock on wood) and HGTV I plan on using stencils to make detail stand out on the walls. I have decided paint is the poor girls guide to decorating. Oh... and i have been sewing with Judy so I have some fabulous window treatments and pillows in stock!!! Kirsta, I learned from your decorating!

Alright, I've procrastinated once again. These are pics from the home, officially looking nice. I procrastinated cleaning up until it was "survivor night" aka "have friends over for an excuse."

There is a TREE in my backyard! ! ! ! !

Hmm, strange, what is this tree doing in my backyard !?!
Thanks Mr. HOA for cutting some of it out of my yard!

Only a little bit of it touched the house, no damage to roof!

So here is the story, about 3am on Friday, apparently there was wind strong enough to knock over this tree. It is a big ol Oregon tree, which fell ACROSS the property owner's yard and the top part of the tree landed in my yard. Anyone else's yard damaged? Nope, just mine!

So the previous owner of the townhomes (aka Mr HOA) was nice enough to cut some of it out of my yard. The property owner's insurance is set to take care of removal and fixing my fence. Everything should work out fine, but I cant help exclaiming "THERE IS A TREE IN MY BACKYARD!"

So last night I took my dog out on her leash, in our new back yard. A little ironic for me.

Cabinet color #1 - decided to go darker, see below

That is the color I want! You can see I have the fridge pulled out so I can paint behind it. I also got to do that with the washer and dryer. FUN.

Painting status: almost done with kitchen. Official word. Need to do my texture paint on the cabinet doors and install hardware. Then, I can move in. I should be able to complete the kitchen this week, to move in this weekend, but I also need to start packing boxes. Oh, and I have school on Monday and Wednesday night. So I dont think I can get everything ready in time, but we shall see.

Hawaii

Pretty sunset from the house

These pics load funny. This is the last day, and I am saying goodbye to the water and sun. I stayed at the Marriot for 5 hours and hitched a free ride to the airport - ever the resourceful one :)

Getting ready to go ziplining! See video below...way below...

Do we look like we are having fun? It was cold and windy at Wailai Canyon. I prolly did not spell that right but I am too lazy to look it up right now :)

Here's the group, from left: Charlie holding Eamon, Kristen, Kate, Alex holding Ella, Me, Holly, and Dan

Sitting on my balcony that overlooked the pool

walking on the beach will Ella. She's all grown up, almost ready for her car.

I'm the white dot about to jump off the waterfall. No worries, I've jumped off higher cliffs in Glendo (Wyo). 

Flying through the air off the rope swing. You have to jump off the cliff to get to the rope swing, or chance walking along slippery rocks. I'm not very coordinated, so I just jumped.

This video is of the zipline. These pictures load funny, otherwise it would have been up at the top by the pic of Kate and I.

Fun in the sun...well fun even without it. I'm not complaining, just telling you that it wasnt sunny everyday like we would have hoped. I did get freckly and pink by the end.  We spent most mornings chasing the sun (south end of the island was the best), and returned home for nap time. I didnt need naps because I managed to sleep about 11 hours each night - even with babies waking up. Thank goodness for whitenoise.

There really are too many pictures and stories to tell from this trip. You can probably see more if you check out the Yancey blog (link at top). I can say the most memorable moments were: Ella's b-day, watching Ella advance her walking skills, watching Ella learn "uh-oh!", waterfall jumps, zipline, beating Kate and Alex at hearts (swear I didnt play much before!), and meeting some fun Alaskans!