Merry Christmas

This year Christmas was celebrated at home. It made it nice having Christmas morning at our house since most of the presents were for Holly and Carson-that way I didn't have to haul anything home. The kids got so much stuff and had a great Christmas thanks to all their family near and far that love them. Of course Santa brought everything they wanted. It was a lot of fun to watch them open presents. Carson wasn't interested in opening presents once he got his Monster jam truck-he spent most of the time pushing that around. Holly had so much fun opening all of her gifts and kept asking for more. I had to keep reminding her that Christmas is about giving. Chris got me a ring-that was a total surprise-a nice one. I surprised him too with the toolbox he's been eyeing for the past two years. We had a great Christmas here in Oregon and it even snowed a little bit while we were opening presents-that was neat. Thank you to all our friends and family and we love you very much. Happy Holidays to you and Happy New Year!

Oh Christmas Tree

We bought a tree and decorated it that night. Holly had so much fun getting out the ornaments and decorating. She started putting all the ornaments in the front of the tree-I had to keep reminding her to put them around the tree. Carson just had fun crawling underneath the tree. Holly took the picture of me and Carson together.

Black Friday

I don't have any pictures of shopping on Friday, but I should have taken a picture of my Honda after I got home. I stuffed a bag in every spot-filled up the trunk and then the back seat and behind my seat. I was crazy this year to get the good sales. I started at 3:30 AM and waited in line at JCPENNY-since they opened at 4am. I did get my free Disney globe there. Then it was SEARS at 5AM. K-MART at 6AM. Amy and Soozee were also out shopping and we met for breakfast. Then after breakfast more shopping. Then we met for lunch with the kids and guys and then more shopping. I finished about 3:30PM. But now I have done all my shopping since it was mainly for the kids. I got all the things I was looking for and got killer deals!! I was exhausted though-but it was fun!! I still haven't fully recovered-HAHA.

Thanksgiving Day

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Rusty's dad's house in Roseburg. He has a cute retro house. We each brought a dish and had a feast. We spent the whole afternoon cooking, eating, and reading the adds for BLACK FRIDAY. We were planning our shopping for Friday. We all went home fat and happy Thanksgiving day.

Twilight movie night

The night finally came to see Twilight the movie!!!! I have been so excited about tonight and just had to share it with everyone right away. After making shirts and talking about the movie for months we finally got to go. Even in Roseburg tickets were sold out for Twilight. Luckily I bought tickets earlier this week. I even made my Twilight playlist to listen to on the way down to Roseburg. Yes-I am a true fan! I really liked the movie-what girl wouldn't with all the hot guys in it! However, it is not as good as the book that is for sure! The book was way more enjoyable, but what book isn't better then the movie? I had a fun night out with "the girls." Can't wait for the next movie!! I hope Stephenie Meyer decides to finish Midnight Sun. In the meantime, I'm going to start reading Harry Potter since I haven't read any yet and it sounds like I'm missing out!!! I hope I can read them all before the next Harry Potter movie comes out!

All BOY

Carson loves Monster Jam trucks. He is so funny when he watches Monster Jam or other car shows. I thought it was pretty funny so I thought I would share these videos of him acting like a car crazy boy. His expressions are so funny when he is playing with his trucks. Carson calls his Monster trucks "A-G-V". I don't know where he got that, but we go along with it. He's so cute when he plays cars or Monster jam. Sometimes he will even line up his Hot Wheel cars and have his monster trucks jump over them-it's so cute! I'll have to video when he watches PINKS-he is so funny during that show too.

Halloween

Halloween

Halloween was Chris' last day of his monthly Interferon treatment in Eugene. The office gave him a balloon and basket of candy to congratulate him. After getting back from Chris' appointment, we got Holly and Carson ready for the ward trunk-or-treat. Holly was Liana (princess from Diamond Castle Barbie movie) and Carson was a biker baby. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat/chilli cook off. Chris made some really good chilli. I took the kids around the parking lot and then I took Holly trick-or-treating down Amy and Rusty's street. It was a short night, but fun for the kids!

My Little MAN

I finally got a picture of Carson doing this. Sometimes he will climb up in the Recliner and grab the remote and start flipping through channels. It is so funny. He knows he isn't suppost to touch the remote, but of course he always does. I wonder who he learned this from?

Carson-19mo. old

Here are the latest pictures of Carson. Chris cut his hair for the 2nd time this last Sat.-he did much better the 2nd time and Carson didn't freak out. Doesn't Carson look sooo cute, like a little man? Carson is growing up so much. He sings his ABCs all the time and recognizes letters and numbers. He loves to watch monster jam on TV (that actually relaxes him), he sits in the recliner and holds the remote (turning into a typical MAN). I don't know where he learned that from!! He loves to watch PINKS, Monster Jam, and anything else with cars, motorcycles, etc.-he likes to sit with his Daddy. It's so cute.

Bathroom Remodeled!

Of course I started a house project right at the same time Chris was going to have surgery. I made him do as much as he could before the surgery-which was the walls and floor (that way it kept his mind off things). Then after his surgery-I took over a bit and finished mudding and sanding the walls, painting, installing the toilet, and installing the faucets. I felt pretty handy-even though I don't like plumbing! It took me an entire day to install a toilet because I kept getting leaks! Then while Chris was off he finished the bathroom plumbing. We are excited that it is done and so are the kids because now they have their bathroom back! We went with a tiki/surfer/modern look. If you can see the picture above the window, the one on the left side (silhouette of a surfer) that is Jack Johnson!!! The tiki by the shower is actually from Hawaii-Amy and Rusty got it for us when they were there. Cool huh!! Well-it's a lot better then the 70's style bathroom we had.

Crater Lake-Labor day weekend

We went to Crater Lake the weekend after Chris had surgery. I think it was a little much for Chris, but I didn't want to ruin our plans for everyone-so Chris was so good about coming along. We went with Chris' parents and Amy and Rusty. It was a great experience to see Crater Lake-it is so beautiful.

Chris had Surgery

Sorry this picture might gross some of you out! Chris had surgery on Thurs. 8/28 to remove a 5cm diameter from where he had melanoma. He had two weeks off to recover and is doing great now. He is cancer-free right now, however the Oncologist is concerned with the chance of reoccurance, so Chris is going to go through an Interferon treatment which will be a month of treatments at the Doctor's office and then shots 3x a week for a year. This treatment will hopefully prevent the chance of a reoccurance of melanoma. We are so grateful for family and friends that supported us during this trial in our lives. We love our family and this was defiently a trial that has brought us closer as husband and wife and as a family. A trial like this opens your eyes to what is important in life and makes you realize what you need to change in your life to be more Christlike. I am grateful for the gospel in my life and how it has made facing difficult challenges like this a little bit easier. We love all of you.

Jack Johnson Concert

I took Chris to a Jack Johnson concert for his Birthday on 8/20 at the Columbia Meadows Ampitheatre in St. Helens. It was awesome!!! The Ampitheatre is a big open field and it's first come seating. We got a really good spot for getting there an hour before Jack came on stage. Then towards the end everyone started leaving so we got to stand closer. It was a great concert!

Shopping

1st Haircut

Carson's 1st haircut was not a good experience! He looks happy before Chris took the clippers to his head and Carson freaked out!!! I had to hold him down while Chris cut his hair. We were only able to get the back cut so for awhile he had "George McFly" hair-(long on top).

Harleys

Chris' Uncle Steve got a Harley first and then the other guys couldn't resist either. Rusty bought a Harley next, soon after Chris' dad John bought one. They ride all the time and Carson now knows the sound of a Harley and says "Cycle" everytime they come over or go by. Of course Chris wants a Harley next since he is the only one now that doesn't have one, but I put my foot down on that!!! So- for now (and always) Chris gets to ride theirs off and on.

Family day at the park

We went to the Park in Roseburg and there was a small car show, blow up slides, face painting, sidewalk chalk contest, and they were giving out free salmon! It was a lot of fun and Chris actually won the sidewalk chalk contest.

Updates

I know it has been a long time since I posted anything on my Blog. So-I am trying to catch up. Here are a few updated pictures of some of the things we have been doing. I will try to be better about posting-but you know I said that before.

Santa Monica

LA Temple

Disneyland

Our California Trip

We went to California from Thursday April 24th-28th for Chris and My 10 year Anniversary, which was on Friday (25th). We drove all day Thursday and got down to Anaheim that night. Where Holly figured out we were going to Disneyland! We kept it a secret until we got down there. Friday we spent all day at Disneyland and California Adventure. Friday was very busy and we were very tired after such a long day of fun. Holly had lots of fun meeting the Disney Princesses and seeing the Parades and going on all the rides. Holly went on Space Mountain, Thunder Mt., Splash Mt, Pirates, and more. Holly didn't really like Space Mt., but all the other bigger rides she did good. She would tell us afterwards "That wasn't that bad, I was just a little bit scared." She loved to wave to the Princesses during the Parade. Chris and I had fun just seeing how much fun Holly was having.


Saturday we spent the day site seeing. We went to the LA Temple to show Holly where her mom and dad got married 10 years ago. Then we went to Santa Monica where we walked on the Pier. Holly wanted to go in the water so we walked on the hot sand and went to touch the water. She liked the beach- it is a lot different from the Oregon Coast. Then we went and had lunch at one of Chris' favorite sandwich places in Burbank. Saturday night we had dinner with Aaron, Elizabeth, and Noelle (which I didn't take pics of-I had my camera too). Holly wanted Noelle to come back to the Hotel and play. Sunday morning we spent visiting with Jason and got to see his Condo (very cute-good job Kate!). Sunday Afternoon Chris got to visit with his friend Craig while Holly and I went to the mall (I know shopping on Sunday-but I'm on vacation). We shopped till we dropped from the Mall and Kohls. Kate met up with me and Holly while we were shopping and we had dinner together. Sunday night we visited with the Peterson family and went to bed very late. Monday it was back on the road back home-we drove 12 hours. It was a quick trip, but it was lots of fun. I miss California and the great weather, when we got back to Oregon it was raining-great huh! Santa Clarita has sure changed and I miss friends and family, but we needed to get home to our baby Carson. Chris' parents watched Carson for us while we celebrated our 10 year Anniversary and got to take Holly to Disneyland. Carson was mad at us when we got home. Right away when I picked him up he waived bye-bye to Chris' parents-that was pretty funny! We had lots of fun!!!

Holly fades!

Easter Fun!!

Easter was lots of fun for Holly and Carson. Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt in the Park and Holly got to hunt for easter eggs. It was a sponsored easter egg hunt and the Easter Bunny was there too. Sunday we got all dressed up in our Easter Sunday Best and went to church. Right after church we got together with the whole Hickman family and Holly and Carson got there own Easter egg hunt in the backyard at John and Soozee's. Then we had dinner and had some fun. Both Holly and Carson were wiped out and went to bed early. So-I thought I might as well get the pictures up on my blog since they are in bed!
I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday!

Our new truck!

We got a new truck! It's an '83 Chevy. Chris calls it "Jimmy"-we name all of our trucks. We now have a Chevy truck like Amy and Rusty (their truck is "Bob") and John and Soozee (their truck is "Rodo"). Chris saw our new truck in town and the guy that owned it took really good care of it- a newer motor was put in. I like that it runs, drives, has power windows, power locks. There is a catch-I made a promise with Chris if we bought this truck he needs to sell all his other trucks. That means sell 3 trucks that don't run (and have been sitting in our field for 3 years) and sell 3 trucks that do run and drive. So, I have been bugging him every day since we got our new truck to see if he has done anything to sell the 6 that we have already. He is working on it. The whole idea behind "jimmy" is now we have a truck to haul and go to the dump and Chris doesn't have to do much work to it-since Chris has little time and too many projects already. So, Chris is finally taking my advise and getting rid of project cars and only focusing on one old car (like his '73 Duster). It will be nice to see our "junk yard" in our field cleaned up and finally sell all the trucks we have been meaning to sell. It will take some time, but believe me it will get done!!!! Or else- I told Chris I will start auctioning things off. I sound mean-but really I do spoil him with his car stuff-don't you think?