Merry Christmas to all...

Hello All! Your Christmas wish DID come true- you are getting another BLOG from yours truly! I was way too busy working the two jobs and getting ready for Christmas this year that I did not get any cards out. I apologize many times for this :( So- here's an "E-wish" from me to you wishing you a Happy Holidays!
Things are looking up a bit in our neck of the woods- Ben has gotten a job with Megalife Insurance and recently passed his licensing exam for the state- hallelujah! It was the most nerve racking test he's ever taken- and most expensive I might add- but he pulled through and passed both two hour long exams. He will be hitting it hard the first of the year trying to make that money! It is commission based which stinks, but our area here has been booming so they needed more representatives and that is a good thing! Wish him luck!
I might also add he has had his taste of being a "stay-at-home Dad" and has decided it wasn't as he expected and finally admitted that taking care of the kids IS a hard job, and IS a JOB, and they can really wear you out! FINALLY he understands why the house wasn't spotless, dinner wasn't cooked, laundry wasn't done, etc. while I was "just home with the kids all day!" He even apologized for thinking at times I just sat at home and did nothing!! WOWWWEE! Maybe this job lay off was a good thing after all....ok not really but it has opened his eyes to a lot of things!
Anyway- the girls are great and we had a good Christmas with Ben's family here in Jerome. Macee didn't quite get what she wanted from Santa ( A new house with stairs)but she did get a Barbie movie and a Barbie styling head that she can practice doing hair on to get even better she said! She can already do her own hair and others as well, but braids is her next challenge she wants to accomplish! Little miss Jadyn got an adorable rocking horse that actually neighs and wiggles it's head and tail- she loves it and looks so cute with it. This was definatly the most fun Christmas yet with the kids as they really got into it!
Thank you all for your warm wishes and Christmas cheer sent- it has been needed and was well received! We will be in IF this weekend through New Years Day so I hope to see some of you then if you are in town! I miss and love you all and thanks for all your wonderful blogging that I read every day, namely Samantha and the Anderson- well used to be Anderson sisters!! I

I'm a dysfunctional computer person...

Ok -so I don't know why but my pictures I added are totally turned sideways- what the heck is up with that all you smarty pants bloggers of the world! I hate that all of your blog sites are so dainty and perfect and cute and yeah all of that other fancy stuff, and I can't even put a picture on the right way!!! I do love admiring your beautiful work though- especially Sam and the Anderson ( or used to be Anderson before they all got married) sisters! I only wish I had half the talent! Now I'm getting angry and depressed so it must be my bed time and I am signing off for real now. Hope you don't get a crook in your neck trying to look at these photos- mayeb someday I will be smarter than the machine! Sorry and good night! :)

Anyone in the mood for Ice Cream...

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I had my first attempt at being semi- sewing craft with Macee's Halloween costume this year. Well, ok my mom did most of it once again- but I did help! There actually wasn't too much sewing invovled , but definitly craftiness! Leave it to Brenda to pull off this one that I saw in a magazine! Doesn't she look adorable! Jadyn's isn't homemade, but she looked so dang cute I had to post her too! Looking forward to seeing all your kiddos costumes too!! Happy Halloweenie!!

I'm still alive...

So I bet you're wondering if I still exist, since I havn't blogged in oh...3 months!! I know it's awful, but those of you who know me well enough it's no surprise! Sad, but true. So amazingly everyone is asleep and I am still awake so I thought I would re-cap 3 months in a few minutes. Let's see...I don't really remember much of August other than Ben doing a lot of curb work which I will post a picture of so you all can see his marvelous work! We took our first trip alone ever without the kids since we've been married- WOW! We went to visit some friends in sunny San Diego and boy was it nice! A bit too hot and humid but we had a blast. We hit up a Padres game, went deep sea fishing, and ate a wondrous seafood meal at an awesome place right on the oceanfront! Then let's see September brought Macee's 4th birthday-yikes! Ben's 30th..I mean 29th birthday- bigger yikes for him!! Macee started soccer which is going umm...well.. it's really hard to say but she is improving. She is starting to kick the ball every now and then and not just stand there or keep running off to me on the sidelines. It's amazing how you have to remember that they are only 3 or 4 years old and not in high school sports and have NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING! It's rather frustrating, and hard for me to watch at times- but I have tried to be the proud parent who is just happy their child is getting somewhat involved in something (even if she does just stand there and kind of freak out when the ball comes near her with the crowd of crazy youngsters chasing after it....who wouldn't be afraid of that right?!)
Anyway- let's see pre-school is going well, Macee is still doing great. She actually asked me the other day if she could just be 6 so that she could go to kindergarten with the big kids. She was pretty upset when I told her I couldn't just say she was six and she would become six! Ahh their sweet little minds work in the funniest ways! Jadyn is moving right along too- getting lots of teeth, starting to talk, and blowing kisses to everyone in sight. They are definitly growing up too fast, but it's also fun to go on to the next stages of parenting and see what I have to deal with next! Listen to me babbling about parenting- who would have thought! I'm such a nut and just as big of a kid at times too, but I do admit it's pretty creepy when you become a parent and you start to realize what it may have been like for your folks! I wouldn't change it for the world though- my girls are my sunshine every day:)
Well, speaking of girls I think I hear Jadyn crying so I must be off...I know I know let her cry herself back to sleep....but I just can't help but cuddle and rock ehr sometimes-it's the best! Hope you all are well- hope you've enjoyed a day in the life of Melissa in a FLASH! I would say I will try harder to do this, but I think I do every time and it never happens, so enjoy what you get when you get it:)

Long Time No Blog.....

Sooo.. it's been a while and I've only got a few minutes so I'll make this quick. We've been having a great time in good old Jerome lately. It's a smeltering 100 degrees outside, but we havn't melted yet! We just got back from a great vacation to Montana for Ben's Grandma's 90th birthday celebration/Family Reunion and it was a great getaway! The mountains were quite a refresher, and it was fun to kick back and realx with the relatives for a few days. We only had one major catastrophe amongst 80 people, our 11 year old nephew went diving playing touch football and ran right into a barbed wire fence. Not a pretty sight! 73 stitches later though he was fine and didn't shed one tear through the whole evnt! What a trooper!
Then we came back to reality and back to work for me, but Ben has been enjoying the whole week off doing house and yard work. He has fully curbed our front yard now and I must day it is beautiful (pictures will follow when it's all done). Our little Jadyn had her first b-day on Monday...and we did nothing :( Bad mommy bad mommy!! We just were a bit worn out from travelling, sick of cake from the seven different ones we had to eat during the reunion, and you know, I don't think she even noticed. Luckily Grandma Brenda took care of her though by baking yummy cupcakes and wrapping a gift for when we stopped in IF on the way back home. Thank goodness for Grandmas! I can't believe my little munchikin is one already! Time has really flown by this year! She is almost walking and has two teeth..keep it up Jadyn!!
The fourth was...well.. quite boring since we didn't make it to IF this year like we usually do. Jerome is too cool for parades, and by the time got situated on the grass for the fireworks they were over. YIPEE! OH well, maybe next year will be more exciting!! Anywho, that's the long and reallly short of my life for now- I promise to try and be a better blogger and write more soon- I still love reading all your stuff fellow bloggers!!
TTFN!!!

Cute Kids...

I decided that my last blog was too depressing and awful so I had to cheer up myself and anyone else who happened to read it. How do I cheer myself up? I look back at cute pictures of my kids that make me smile and laugh and bring back fun memories of what makes life worth while. Please enjoy these photos as much as I did!

A string of bad luck...

Do you ever feel like things keep getting worse and your luck has just run out? Not that I had real good luck or anything to begin with, but these past few weeks have been nothing but bad.

About two weeks ago my husband's uncle passed away of a sudden unexpected heart attack. We couldn't make it to the funeral because it was in Portland so it was tough not getting to say goodbye.

About the same time we ran into another problem, this time the death of a vehicle. Ben has started a busines recently with a friend doing custom colored and stamped concrete curbing as landscaping. They started out using his truck to pull the trailer but they could tell it wasn't strong enough and the transmission was going to go out, so they began the search for a new one. After much searching they traded in the old one for a bigger truck and thought all was great! Well, four days later the transmission went out on the newly purchased used truck. Luckily the vehicle can be brought back to life, but business had to slow down and got behind without a truck to pull the trailer to do jobs and we have nice new bill to pay!

Then just a week ago a dear friend of our's that Ben grew up with was killed in a car accident. It happened just down the road from where Ben works so going there has been extremely hard. It's especially hard to deal with death again when you don't have the chance to say goodbye, but we carry on.

Well, on Thursday Ben got a huge opporunity for the business to pour 400 feet of curb for a neighbor down the street from his folks house who had seent eh work they had done. This was their biggest job yet and they were pumped! They worked hard from 6 in the morning until about 10 that night getting the job done. He finally got home around 11pm, barely able to walk through the door and get into his pj's (this partly because of exhaustion and partly because of the 1st degree sunburn all over his arms and neck from LACK OF SUNSCREEN!!!) May I note I tried to warn him but he did not listen!! Anyway, he finally fell into bed around midnight and was out.

Well, about 5AM I awoke to go feed Jadyn a nightly snack and noticed some pain in my lower left back. I sat there for a few minutes wondering what I had done and then went on down to her room. It continued to get worse but I thought it would subside eventually. Well it didn't and conintued on and I went back into the room to wake my poor tired husband up to hold Jadyn while I winced in pain on the floor. After about 15 minutes we decided somethin may be wrong and called the ER. They told us to come in after I started throwing up and so we threw on clothes grabbed the poor sleeping kiddos and headed in. They pain was awful, along with the nurse taking care of me who had no sympathy whatsoever for a poor crying woman obvuiosly in a lot of pain! You would think that would be a requirment or somrthing in the medical field!!

Anyway after 4, yes 4 attempts to insert an IV they finally got one started and gave me some drugs to ease the pain...and oh did it feel good. After a catscan they confirmed I was suffering from the infamous KIDNEY STONES! Yes, every man's worst nightmare being as it is labeled the closest thing they can experience to childbirth for a woman! So once again we ended up with a fun trip to the hospital, Ben living off of about 4 hours of sleep in two days. The poor guy was so looking forward to sleeping in but I had to go and get kidney stones! Well, all is well now, I have no idea wether they have passed or not, but all I know is I am home and feeling much better. For those of you who have had them, Sam I think, they are the strangest unexplained things, yet so painful.

So, hopefully this is the end of a little string of bad luck. I usually like to blog or read blogs about happy life things so sorry this one is so depressing to read, but hey, life's not always a box of chocolates right! I am thankful my experience didn't end in a worse matter though, that may be our only good luck for the week, but I will take it anyday! Hope all of your days are going better than mine!

Much love to all!

Sometimes you just feel like an...IDIOT!

So, if you read my last blog entry, I made note of my dear Grandpa and his birthday on May 1st. Well, as I was cleaning out my file cupboard today, which needed it a long time ago, I came across my "Remember Date Calendar". It is a cute little hanging calendar type thing that my oldest sister made for me that has lines next to every day in each month where you write down birthdays and anniversaries of everyone you know and love and more! It was set still clear back to January and I began feeling awful as I flipped through the months and noticed all the birthdays I had forgotten:(

Well, sure enough as I turned to May...BOOM! I saw that I had also missed one of my dearest friends from high school's birthday which was also May 1st!!! She even commented on my thoughts about my Grandpa!! AHHH! As Napoleon Dynamite would say...."Freakin' Idiot!" At this time I would like to tell this dear friend how sorry I am for not remembering her and wish her the happiest Belated Greetings EVER in the history of Belated birthdays!!!

LINDSEY ZUFELT.... can you find it in your heart to forgive me??? I hope your day was wonderful and I love and miss you tons! Even though we have grown our separate ways and rarely see each other any more, I will never forget what a great friend you are and always have been. You are one of a kind and were always such a great friend who we could all count on...even when your friends didn't back you up against a weaselly sophomore!!! I won't mention any names there! My memories of you and the CATS... I mean girls and fun times at your house blowing hairballs across the kitchen table (oh man did I say that out loud- we really weren't always that lame) were some of the best and will always make me laugh and smile! Some days I wish we could all go back in time to the good old days - and then I quickly snap out of it ! Yikes! Anyway, Happy Belated and I love you tons!

Gotta Love Grandpa...

Yesterday was my Grandpa Ralph's 87th birthday and it brings back a lot of memories from when I was little. The way he tickled my face with his scruffy whiskers, taking my cousins and I floating in the river (amazingly we all eight of us girls made it out alive!) , seeing him half awake in his Lazy Boy recliner watching Jeopardy ( I think these were invented for Grandpas), and of course learning how to play cards from good old Grandpa! There are so many more fun things I remember about going to visit Grandpa and all of them so special and dear to my heart still.

Why is it that Grandparents are SO SPECIAL! They just seem to have this auora about them that always makes it so exciting to see them! My parents are now grandparents and for their grandkids it seems the same way...they are soo excited to go visit Granpma and Grandpa! To me they are just my parents though- but to them they are superheroes or something! Maybe it's the fact that they usually get spoiled with yummy treats and food, or get fun presents, or go to fun places. I do all of that for my kids too, but maybe just not quite like Grandma does!! Don't get me wrong- I love this feeling that I remember from my Grandparents and I love to see it in my own kids too. Yes, Grandparents really are super special... and I thank them for that. Thank You Grandpa for being the wonderful man that you are and being such a strong foundation for the future families to come! We love you so much!

Go Blake Go Blake!

Ok, I must admit, I am an American Idol Fan! I just got into it the past few seasons, but it is so fun and entertaining, and one of the ONLY tv shows Ben and I will BOTH sit down to watch and like!! Anyway- I just wanted to give a shout out (don't i sound like a contestant!) to my man BLAKE LEWIS who gave an outstanding performance last night! Not to mention he is a major hottie! C'mon I know all you girls out there agree!! Even us married ones can agree! Anyway, I think he's fresh and original and he's won my vote in the books! Great job Blake! Oh, but I must say I wasn't thrilled with the new hair color- he's better a blonde!!

Yahoo- I think I did it. Let's try another- I thank you all, mainly my wonderful friend Samantha for convincing me to join all you creative and computer savvy geeks...I mean computer whizzos and create a blog for myself. I really have enjoyed creeping into your lives through my computer screen ( I hope you don't mind) and seeing all of the fun things you are up to and laughing at your fun adventures and stories of everyday life. I really like seeing what old friends are up to these days since I am not the best at keeping in touch through phone calls and e-mails as many of you know and for that I apologize. As I will apologize prematurely for not keeping up with my blog either because it will probably not stay very current- soory! Anywho, gotta run but this will be fun and interesting as I figure out how everything works, bear with me. Hopefully I can put a smile on someone;s face to or make someone laugh as many of you have done for me. If not, at least I can post pictures of my cute little girls right! Ta ta for now..I'm going to go hunt for some chocolate!

Welcome new blogger

So, I am trying to figure this whole blog thing out and I wrote a whole new posting officially welcomg myself to the world of boogers, I mean bloggers,but it would not publish my stinking message. It kept giving me an ERROR message saying it would not accept 'exclamation points'. So i took all of them out- yes there were a lot, i am a very emotional and exuberant (is that even a word) person. But no, it would not publish. I do not likie this thing already. What gives? Fellow bloggers, help me out.

Help how does this work