Cookies...Cookies...oh wait...more cookies!

Louie forgot his camera at home...where he took pictures of my 5 batches of sugar cookies. I am soooo over sugar cookies and thankful that I get the task of passing on the frosting to the weekend crew (AKA Matt)! I don't even want to look at them anymore...in which I even dropped them off at Dad's house this morning, so I didn't have to!

So that was my night...making cookie dough, rolling them out, cutting them, baking them...boxing them...from 4 pm to 9:30 pm...agh...

Today I got a hair cut...a much needed one. My hair stylist, Erin, and I realized that it had been before Brent's wedding in August, when I got my last hair cut. No wonder it took me 20 minutes to brush out my hair in the mornings! Crazy...

So here I am...

She curled my hair sooo pretty! I got about 4 inches cut off...amazing how long my hair was...is...

Tomorrow I head to NYC!!!! I am visiting Hana in the big city and will hopefully have some grand adventures! :) Wicked is DEFINITELY in the forecast!

See ya on Tuesday!

Louie's Birthday

Yesterday, Louie and I celebrated his 28th birthday, by taking the day off of work and having adventures! We walked down to Michael D's for an early breakfast. Great breakfast there! Walked back home and I gave Louie his birthday present...a new digital point and shoot camera! (which is why I don't have any pictures...cause he took them all!)

The afternoon was spent Geo caching on Tubbs Hill. We found 3.5 treasures! It was really fun! Bentley sure got his work out too, when we bush-whacked it up to the top of the hill...only to discover a Tupperware that clearly said on the bottom that it was NOT a geocash...hmmm...which is the .5 treasure!

Dinner was celebrated at the White House Grill...with lots of garlic! Home-made cupcakes and a rootbeer float for dessert! Overall...a great day!

Happy Birthday Louie!

Tonight is the time to bust out all 5 batches of sugar cookies! OMG...

Happy Turkey Day!

I had another 5-day weekend and it was fabulous!  Wednesday, Louie, Dad, Buzz, and I went up to get the elusive Ponderosa Pine tree that had been in dad's sites for a long time!  This was a HUGE tree that needed several trucks...plus a u-haul to get all the wood!

Louie's dad's saw broke, Buzz's saw was dull...so it went back to dad's trusty home-lite chain saw to chunk up this wood.  Right after loading wood...and unloading wood...it was off to Mom's house for the pre-thanksgiving ritual of prep cooking.  We were pretty tired at the end of this day!  Kyla, Rob and the Kid arrived and helped with the prep cooking!

Turkey day was filled with lots of people, good eats, and some Gonzaga basketball, and Rook playing!  Lots and Lots of fun!  Little T was a bundle of joy...for most of it!

5:30 am came too early for Friday's shopping expedition and I did NOT want to wake up.  Louie jumped out of bed to hit his one store...so I decided to get up too.  I amazingly got all the main things that I was looking for!  Kohls and Target were packed and I had to wait in line for over 20 mins in both stores!  AGH!  By 7 am, I picked up Kyla, and we did the rest of our shopping!  The only person I have left to buy for is Brent!  Woo hoo!  We ate lunch with Rob, Gma Mary, Louie and Baby T at Chili's...and relaxed for a few hours until we headed to the Woods' house for left over turkey dinner!  The lighting of Cd'A was not as exciting this year, due to the dense fog...and the horrible rain/show mixture!  It was still fun to walk down there and experience it with a baby!  The next couple of years will be a lot more fun...to see the parade and fireworks through a little kids eyes and see her get excited about Christmas! 

Saturday...a lazy day until dinner at Sushi.com for Casey's 42nd birthday!  By this time the kid and I have bonded...and it is really really fun to play with her!  I entertained the kid during dinner and had a blast chatting it up with people I hadn't seen for a long time!  Casey and Matt surprised me with a 3 night trip to San Fran in January!  Wow...I still don't believe it!

Sunday...saying goodbye to the Walters with bfast at mom's house!  It was awesome to have them in town...and I REALLY wish that we lived closer to each other!  BOLT in 3D was watched with Louie...and a surprise 60th birthday party at Mike Woods' house that night!  WOW...no wonder I was warn out last night!  It was a busy busy busy 5 days!  The holidays are always busy though...and I love it!

Tomorrow is Louie's birthday!  All wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ya old fart!!!  28....ooo...approaching 30 very very fast!

Work..."tis the season...hmmm

Congrats to Matt and Casey! I can't wait to welcome these two beautiful little twin girls into this world!

Today was a very weird day at work. Two more people got laid off-full time...while they are trying to bring in a small crew that will become the new "leaders" and the new full time crew. I am kind of stuck in the middle of all this...a lost soul trying to find their nitch. They want me to be full time - so they don't loose me, but then again...they also can't afford me. So, they have multiple ideas running around...where I will do engineering work, when I have it...and then also get trained in the shop, welding, kitting, assembling, shipping...when I don't have work. One boss says I will work 3 days a week...the other says 5 days a week. So, lets just say they are confused and so am I!

This whole economy thing is a little scary. I am ready for a change...and stable economy, stable job, and keep the fuel prices this low!! Sometimes it is hard to see the "bright" future when the current day is so "dull". Hmm...gotta live one day at a time.

I am doing better at keeping my 30 dollar limits on Christmas presents...but everyday I have to slap my hand and not click the "check out" button to buy this perfect gift for someone. In a way...it is kind of nice to be more thoughtful on the gift and creative...rather than buy something expensive or random. A Lot of people will be receiving home-mades...or a small boughten gift with a home-made supplement. I remember doing this for my family when I went away to Central America. I believe that everyone loved it..I know that I sure do.

I keep hearing about how needy the country is this holiday season. I was very proud to hear that my brother volunteered on his day off, to go to the Women's Shelter to help put together gift baskets. This shocked me. How can I give back? I know that I am not in the means to donate my money...but I can use my other talents to give back...this is the new thought of the day.

So, I'm not sure if I will be working full time, or part time...or what I will be doing...but I am going to try to keep up the arts and crafts...because I do really love to do them!

Oh...and I think I am in love with Edward Cullen...The Twilight movie was pretty good! Worth watching it for that boy!

My 5-day Weekend

Oh Bentley and I had a great 5 days off!  I was stuck doing chores for all the workers out there.  It seemed to me that I was more busy when I wasn't at work...then when I do work.  People like to pawn all their tasks onto me.  Oh well...

Bentley and I headed to the dog park two days in a row...and then a nice bath into Lake Coeur d' Alene. 

I was bored at the dog park...and I started playing with my phone camera...and found all these features...so I used my fancy muckers as a photography tool...This is the B&W feature...but I don't want to bore you all with my boots...and the multiple shots I took! 

Now off to the BEACH!  Bentley is obsessed with his duck...

  Bentley has a problem looking at the camera...for some reason he doesn't like to do it!  We had a good time at the beach...but it was FREEZING! 

Let see...oh my 3 days off...I gathered wood with dad on Wednesday...

Again, Bentley won't look at the camera!  We had quite the adventure getting this tree loaded into the pick-ups...5 rounds rolled on the "cliff" side of the road...and dad and I had to haul it back up.  It was a lot of work, and I've decided that I never want to be a logger!  I was TIRED after this day...

You already got to see Thursday and Friday's fun of dog parks, beaches...and some shopping...

This weekend...Louie and I headed to Libby, Montana, so share an early Thanksgiving with his family.  It was a lot of fun.  We drove in Louie's mom's new car to Kalispell on Saturday.  I've never been to Kalispell...so it was an adventure!  We did some shopping and looked around!  Sunday, we had lunch with Louie's extended family.  I took Bentley for a little walk down to the river.

Last night, we went to the Banff Film Festival in Spokane.  I love going to this event!  We saw a lot of films of crazy people doing crazy things.  It motivated us to go out and try out our mild "extreme sports".  Louie and his mountain biking, and me and my kayaking/climbing...I'm ready!

Weekend Surprises

Hello fellow blogger readers.  I have been slacking on my posts, and I feel like they are going to be less and less...or more and more...I'm not sure.  Since I am down to working part-time (two days this week, three days next week), I will have more time to be at home, but I have a feeling less time on the net.  (I tend to hate to be on the computer when I am at home).  So, I'm not sure how the blogging is going to continue. 

This weekend was amazingly fun!  Kyla flew into town to surprise my mom and her grandma!  Mom was in utter shock at 10:30 pm on Friday night when Kyla was the one who entered the house, and not me.  It was fun to see that reaction.  The weekend was planned to be a "girls" weekend, and I was already planning on spending the night at my mom's house for the entire weekend.  So it was perfect! 

Saturday was our shopping day. 

Mom is in the hunt for a new car, so we went to Parker Toyota to check things out.  The car salesman sneakily brought this Acura TL out, and mom instantly fell in love with the black leather interior and all the fancy bells and whistles.  I do have to admit that this car is pretty sweet.  It just doesn't seem like "mom".  Kyla and I had to talk her out of buying it on the spot and to look around. 

We then drove into Spokane to do some Christmas shopping, and went to PF Changs for a later lunch.  Mom ended up having this crazy fortune cookie!  Maybe it IS a sign she should buy that car. 

After some hours of shopping downtown, we went to The Secret Life of Bee's.  It was a great movie, and followed the book fairly well.  My plan for the day didn't quite happen as I was hoping it would...but sometimes you just can't make plans for have expectations.  I was wanting to head to Northtown, to get mom's Christmas shopping done, and we didn't have the time to do that.  But she then reminded me that I will have the week day to go shopping...

We went back to Coeur d' Alene, and headed to Target for some more shopping.  By now it is close to 9 o'clock.  We went to Chili's to have some appetizers and of course the infamous MOULTAN dessert!  Oh wait...the shopping never stops!  We headed into Fred Meyers and shopped until 11 pm!  WOW!  We were tired!

Sunday, we met Dad and Grandma Mary for breakfast and Old European!  Grandma still didn't know that Kyla was in town, so we surprised her!  It was hilarious to see her reaction!  Kyla, Mom and I were sitting down when they entered the restaurant.  Grandma went around the table and said good morning, and when she got to kyla...and said good morning, not realizing who it was...and then did a double take.  I think she was speechless for a good 5 minutes! 

The rest of the day we went out and took some pictures!  Thats right...you are looking at America's Next Top Model!  Hopefully Kyla will post some of the good shots soon!  I am looking forward to seeing them!

We went to this mural...and tried to get some pictures...but it was a bit hard and busy....

This week I am only working on Monday and Tuesday.  I have the rest of the week to um...I'm not sure...

Sunday Traditions

The weekend was filled with Jason Mraz on Friday, Wood Gathering with Dad and Louie on Saturday, and Sunday Brunch at Matt and Casey's house.  Ashley came over on Monday to do arts and crafts day!  It was her first time driving to Coeur d Alene by herself in her new car!  WOO HOO!

I love Sunday Morning Brunch at Matt and Casey's House.  We always laugh and catch up on each other's extremely busy lives...

 

Ashley driving me to Costco...where I taught her how to fill up her gas tank!  We had a blast with arts and crafts day...I am now on day 4  of scrap booking last week's "week in the life" project. 

I have pics of wood gathering and Jason Mraz...but alas it is stuck on my point and shoot camera, which is at home :(...

But today...the best thing that has happened so far is this conversation with Kyla on the chat...

"mom and i are going shopping this weekend
so i should get brent's  [xmas present] done...
and hopefully get ideas for mom
she wants/needs new thongs (smaller size ones)" -Kristen
11:56 AM

"you're getting your mom thongs!?" -Kyla
12:01 PM

"TONGS
I MEANT....HAHAHAHA

that is hilarious!!! "-Kristen
12:02 PM

"OMG
i was wondering!!!!!!!" -Kyla

Good times!