Updates And Last Week Here!

Okay, y'all! It's late, but I wanted to say hi and just update you on a couple of details. We went to my son's final wrestling tournament of the year. The most important one. The one everybody in their conference, league, or whatever they call it wrestles against each other in their individual weight classes to see who the best wrestler's in each weight class are. Well, without too much fanfair (although I'm sure he would love some) my son, Jeremiah, beat everyone in his weight class (or at least beat those who'd beat others) and got 1st place, a golden trophy (yes, a trophy) and just the awesome feeling of being the best 120 lb junior high wrestler in our area! Yay, Jeremiah! He's totally hooked and his former wrestler daddy is pleasantly surprised, actually thrilled would be more like it! This is the first year he's shown any interest in wrestling. Josh and I agreed when we first got married, that even though we were both college athletes and obviously had had dreams of cheering our own children on in the sports we love, we would not push our children in any particular direction where extracurricular activities are concerned. We did mention to him several times, casually, when he was little, that Moscow has a pee wee wrestling club. Josh would have had him on the mat at 5 years old if he'd seemed at all interested. He was much more interesting in sports where you kicked, hit, or carried a ball in some way. Football, soccer, and of course, baseball! Many of you know my sports were Cross-Country and Track, which are basically the same thing, since all I ever did was run long distance. Okay, I tried the shorter distances as a junior high student, but I sucked as a sprinter! And that is an understatement, trust me!!! I'm of the impression, personally, that anyone who has the heart for it, can be successful as a runner. Obviously, some with certain body types will be more successful than others, but successful none-the-less. In other words, you might not take home trophies, but you won't be dead last either. I was usually somewhere in the average range, middle of the pack, when it came to running, though, I got better and won a few awards as time went on. I often wonder how far I could've gone if I hadn't let the loser I was dating before Josh talk me into quitting, but looking back does no good where that sort of thing is concerned. I made the choices I've made and I have 3 adorable children and an adorable husband to show for it, so I'd say I've done okay. I may not be the skinny little runner I used to be, but at least I can raise my children well. I must admit moving to Spokane has got me thinking about Bloomsday, which I always wanted to run in. I'm totally out of shape at the moment, but maybe I'll walk in it this year and then if that doesn't get me wanting to run again, I don't know what will! I love competition. I love having others to pace myself against! I love the crowds and the cheering and just all of it! I miss that and I think getting myself in that environment might just get me interested in running again, at least to get myself healthier. I'm not doing a very good job of taking care of God's temple as I did back then, when I didn't even think of it as God's temple! You know, except for the alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes! Those obviously weren't good for me! I was pretty good about staying off of that stuff during track and cross-country season, though, cause I was very focused during those times. My son is planning to go out for track at his new school, just like he was planning to do here this year as well. This will be his fourth sport this year. His health teacher, after checking his vitals, dubbed him a "sports addict" and an "elite athlete." I guess he has the resting heart rate of an elite athlete! The "sports addict" thing is kind of obvious! How many kids do you know who play 4 sports a year, are obsessed with football and baseball stats and win championships there first year wrestling? Yeah, that's what I thought! Not many! My son's a stud! It'll be interesting to see what the girl's will do. So far, Chloe wants to be a cheerleader and possibly a runner. That's going to be the girl after my own heart, I'm telling you! Then, there's Angela! All she mostly wants to do is act and sing! She's my little performer. The others are somewhat interested in that themselves, but not as much as she is. She is obsessed. She didn't get a part in the Missoula Children's Theatre production (which would have made this last Saturday insane, but we'd have figured it out! We've done it before! Three kids running in three different directions. We knew this would eventually happen when we decided to let our kids pursue their own interests instead of pushing them to do what we like to do.) and even Jeremiah said at lunch on Sunday after Angela saying that even the girls that did the auditions said this was their first year in professional theatre that it was "obviously a rookie mistake, not giving my sister a part." Yep, even Jeremiah admitted after last year that Angela's an acting genius! The girl loves the stage and the stage loves her, I'm telling you! We're actually thinking about getting her to the tryouts in Spokane that are happening right after we get there, so she'll have another shot at the Missoula Children's Theatre, plus they have year-round acting groups up there, so we'll definitely get her doing a lot more performance type things. That's what she loves, so that's what we're going to help her do. She would also love to play hockey, but that gets a little too crazy for our time and budget. I've heard much about many opportunities to be in the theatre at little or no cost in Spokane. It'll be exciting to see what God has in store for us up there!

Josh headed to Spokane tonight where he's going to camp out in our house that we're renting and get on a plane tomorrow morning to fly to Tucson, Arizona with some other scouters. There's going to be a conference and a lot of golf playing going on! He deserves it! It's good that he's getting some time to relax before the big move, even if it happens to be while I'm having to finish cleaning and packing without him! I'll get my chance this summer while the kids are all at camp with Josh! I know I'll be spending at least a week or two at home by myself, so it'll all work out. We'll each get our time of rest and relaxation, which is going to be much needed after this crazy year! I'm looking forward to it, but right now I need to get some sleep! I've got to get the Champion and his sisters up tomorrow morning for school by myself :)

Update, Family Reunion, and Counseling

Well, I am exhausted, and that is probably the understatement of the century. Last night after I finally got off of here at about 2o till 3, I got ready for bed. And then laid down to go to sleep, but I couldn't sleep. My mind was going a thousand miles an hour as always, but mostly only because I had heartburn to keep me awake, and for some reason, unlike my husband, if I'm awake I'm thinking. ALWAYS! Always thinking. Even if it's something totally insane and doesn't really matter at all, like whether or not greeks have weird sayings when they don't understand something, like when we say. "It's greek to me." I mean obviously that's not saying anything in Greece (Just an extra special glimpse into my odd mind:))! Anyway, since I had heartburn mostly I thought "this really hurts and I wish it would go away," "Please God, make it go away. I need sleep," and "this really sucks cause I actually do have to get up in the morning and be awake all day at a family reunion." I told God all about it, and got up to take a bath, cause that's what I do in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. I'm not sure why. Somehow bath's are just comforting to me. I do this a lot when I'm sick or in some sort of pain, whether it be emotional or physical. Seriously, when I'm upset and know I can't just cry a little and not talk to anyone outloud about it, I go take a bath and bawl my head off and cry out to God. He's been very faithful here as of late in comforting me. I'm sure He was before, too, but I've never really had my whole heart in it, like I have this summer. Mostly in the past I doubted whether or not He even really cared and found it necessary to help Him decide what I needed. I'm not helping Him anymore, I'm just letting Him do it, and to my amazement He's actually quite good at His job, without my help! That was truly shocking, to realize that He can handle me on His own, He really doesn't need my help. I don't think I even consciously realized I was trying to help Him do His job until this last week or so, and then started wondering what's so different about my time devoted entirely to Him (quiet time and other times that I set aside when necessary throughout the day) than ever before. And that's when I realized that the difference was quite simple actually. I quit sort of telling Him what He needed do with me, and just said, "Uh, help! I don't really know what I need exactly. Could you show me?" What a concept! Actually, in trying to help Him, I was only getting in the way! I do realize that I need to get out and seek out people to talk to and be friends with, and maybe a counselor, or something like that, but I don't need to fret about it. When I get a lead on a counselor, I'll contact them and let God take care of the rest. I actually have a couple of leads right now, but I'm waiting till school starts to deal with that. These last couple of weeks before school starts are just a little to crazy to be doing that right now.

I had a good time at the family reunion, but after only about 3 hours of sleep, I'm pretty tired this evening. Can hardly wait for bedtime, even though, knowing me I'll still stay up ridiculously late!:) I am a nightowl. Have been since I was a small child. My mom said even as young as early elementary school age, if she made me go to bed, she'd often find me staring at the ceiling until about 10 o'clock. I guess God just made me this way. Not really sure why. He just did. I finally met one of Josh's cousins that I've been talking with frequently on facebook. A really fantastic young woman, and I'm so happy to be related to her even if it is only as an outlaw :) Yes, this was my husband's family, not mine. No offense, but if it was mine, I would not be happy about it! I actually have met her before, but only formally, once every 2 years at the Judd family reunion. So, didn't really know her at all. Thanks to facebook, I feel like I know her a little, and that helped me to be much more relaxed at this reunion. I mean, obviously, I know Josh's siblings and his mom, but not the rest of them as much. Absolutely love my sis-in-law, Candy. She is one of the most amazing people I know, and I'm not just saying that because she happens to read this blog :) I really mean it! I've never met anyone who could be as content as she is, in such humble circumstances. I'm sometimes a little jealous of her enjoyment in such simplicity. I require sparkly things to be happy:) You know, very girly things. Make-up of all shorts of colors and varieties, in case I get bored with my normal shade. All sorts of wonderful, preferably sparkly nailpolish, of many colors and shades! I'm getting quite bored with having my natural haircolor, with no highlights, lowlights, streaks or anything! That is just WRONG!!! And of course, sparkly jewelry, duh!! And, I just love that even sparkly clothes are in fashion! I just love to sparkle! One can I say!? If I didn't know better, I might just light a sparkler and put it in my hair and walk around like that! LOL!

Wow! Well, I mentioned the counseling situation. This group, the NANC, is apparently quite legalistic. They do not deal with wounded hearts on any level, only sinful hearts. I had started to get that feeling. It seemed as if all of my pain was only do to my own, personal sin. None of it stemmed from my abusive childhood at all. That's why I completed believed my friend when she told me that she had found the group to be legalistic. I had not even told her of my experiences at that point. I had only been telling her about the ministries that my church was involved in and had not told her that I was in counseling at all! So, I had not prompted that in any way. In fact, I was being quite positive about how great it was that we would soon have trained, Biblical Counselors, in Moscow, again. (She was the only one, before.) But when I told her the group they were training through, she balked. She even expressed concern that people could actually be hurt even more deeply with this type of counseling. She had no idea, and still doesn't that I had experienced this exact thing. Somehow I felt too ashamed of myself, to admit to her how much I am still struggling, all these years after I had been seeing her as a counselor, before she moved away. Anyway, I'm hoping to find someone else, soon.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping: It's A Girl's Life!

Wow! The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity! Mostly with my darling girls! The Cub Scout weekend camp that is coming up this weekend is having a medieval theme, so Josh has decided to dress up as a king, since he is Camp Director, and therefore, in charge of the camp. (So, he is kinda king, if you think about it.) And, of course, as always, his girls are his princesses! And they are! I mean really, they don't need to dress the part. They KNOW they are!!!! That's one of many things I love about my man! But...he wants everyone else to know it, too. So we went shopping the last couple of days. For dresses and tiara's...and we just had to slip in a few other fun things :)

Yesterday, I got busy with some stuff I do for a little extra cash, online, so it was late in the evening before I was ready to shop. We went to the Dollar Tree first, to look for tiara's. They had really cheapy cardboard ones, which we didn't want, but I needed some other things like notebook paper and journals. Things like that, so we did buy a few things. We also bought some cheap, but very colorful and sparkly make-up for the girls for the weekend. They're so excited about getting to wear make-up that they've been playing around with it all day! We also got some pretty nail polish, which they also couldn't wait to experiment with! Girls! You gotta love 'em!

We then went to Claire's at the mall, because I knew they would have some fantastic tiara's. After all that I've been through, and even though I know I've got a long ways to go from here (who doesn't, really, if you think about it?) I thought it was only appropriate that I get one for myself, too. Angela and I got actual metal ones. I don't know if they're real silver or not, but who cares! They had what looked like probably cubic zirconia that sparkle! Wow! Do I ever love me some bling! Even if it is fake! (No excuses, Josh! I still prefer the real thing :)) Chloe got a plastic one with a pink poofy thing at the bottom. (Hey, did I ever claim to be sophisticated and know what these things are called? No judging!:)) She also insisted on a wand to go with. Okay, she didn't actually insist. I never would have put up with that, but she sure wanted one, and I was having so much fun, I wasn't about to argue! So we bought the wand as well! So much fun! I asked Angela if she thought it was bad that my tiara was more expensive and had more on it than there's. She said, no way! Mine should be bigger and fancier! After all, I'm mom, and therefore the queen, even though I'm God's princess, just like them! She said it shows my "authority" (such a big word for a little girl), so I went with it! Afterwards we went to the new frozen yogurt place, "Jamms," that just recently opened up in town. Angela and I've been dying to go. As soon as the sign went up indicating what they were building there, we were excited. Not as excited as we were when we were told, originally, that IHOP was looking to build there, but excited, none the less! It was delicious, and Chloe particularly like the spinning stools at the bar! (It's not a real bar. They don't sell alcohol there.) They were pretty cool! They had the little step thing like a hair stylist's chair and adjusted heights kind of like them, as well. So cool! Yes, we're easily amused. It was self-serve and you pay by the ounce, so that was fun! They had all sorts of toppings, candy ones, and fruit! Delicious!!!! Love it! Definitely going again sometime!

So, then, today we needed to get Angela a proper princess dress. Chloe already had one, but Angela needed one, so we took off again to shop this morning! First we went to our favorite thrift store, The Hope Center, and looked around just in case. No princess dresses, but we did find Angela a "new" bike, which we've been looking for forever! We also got the girls some barbies and we got some laundry baskets for their rooms! I also bought Chloe a pair of adorable shoes, she just had to have (you know how these things work, right?:)) and we found a small and very simple sewing machine for small projects! So, of course, we had to have that, too!!!! So, then, it was off to the mall again. This time, to Ross, where we found a very frilly, white dress for Angela. It was darling! We tried on the size 12, but it didn't seem like it was quite as long as it should be, so I found one in a size 14. It fit!!! (gasp) She's growing up so fast, I can hardly stand it!

Of course, after that, we had to have a "dining" experience to go with our shopping, so we did our traditional Orange Julius run. I didn't do it the day before, because I wanted to try the new fro-yo place instead! Of course, it was great, as usual! Then, we wandered up and down the mall, sipping our Orange Julius's. So much fun! (How many times have I said that now!?!) Then, we came home.

I do have to admit, Jeremiah seems to be a bit jealous, especially last night, when he discovered me and the girls spread out over my bed in our pj's settling in to sleep. He snagged my iPhone and said rather bitterly, I think is what I heard in his tone, "Since you guys are having yourselves a little party it seems, I think I should get this." I was fine with it, and I'd actually promised him earlier when he complained about the frozen yogurts (he complained about the Orange Julius's today, too) that he and I would have a mother-son date, just the two of us, soon. He was excited about that! How blessed am I, to have an almost 13-year-old son, who's excited about the possibility of some time alone with his mama?!! Now, I just have to figure out how I'm gonna make that happen, and what we're gonna do. I mean, after all, I'm obviously not going to buy him a tiara and a princess dress :)!!!!!! I'm thinking it will mostly have to be food, considering what he was most jealous of :) I was going to take him to Bumpers (the local arcade, if you can call it that) and spend some time in the batting cages, but we discovered today that they've gone out of business!!!!! So, unfair!!!! I was even going to attempt to hit a few balls myself, and let him laugh at me!!!! I'm sure he would have loved that! Now, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. And, of course, unlike him, the girls can't stay home by themselves, so what am I gonna do with them while I hang with Jeremiah. After all, recruiting season is about to begin for Josh after school starts back up again, so I won't hardly see him at all for a few months! Trust me, this is how this works! There are certain times of the year, where it just is sun-up to sun-down with his job, and fall is one of those times!!!!

My Own Personal "Shack" Part 12

Well, it rained here after a fairly hot day. I love rain, however, I am really hoping that the rumbling I'm hearing outside is not rumbling at Camp Grizzly as well, or that, if it is, my man is at the cabin with the girls, because I know how terrified they are of thunder! Of course, I just smiled to myself as I pictured in my head what the scene would look like if he's not there. I can see each girl on either side of Jeremiah squealing in fear and hanging on to him for dear life! And, of course, him just standing there straight as a pin, eyes as wide as saucers, with the look on his face, like "Oh, brother!" Yes, oh, brother is right! You are their brother and they love you dearly and need your protection as much as they do their daddy's. Well, maybe not quite as much, which is a good thing, because I can tell you that at almost 13 years of age, protecting his sisters isn't exactly at the top of his priority list, much to my dismay! But, I do know that when it comes right down to it, he will defend them. I know this, because I've seen him do it. Unfortunately, I've also seen him not defend them, because it was one of his friends teasing his sisters and then, it doesn't matter, apparently. Only if it's someone he doesn't like either. Personally, I think they shouldn't be friends with anyone who's mean to one of their siblings, but that's just me. I'm sure that either Josh or Jeremiah is making them feel safe right now.

Chief Kamiakin District Is A Quality District

This plaque represents all of the hard work Josh did in the first year and a half with the Boy Scouts of America in the Chief Kamiakin District. We sacrificed him a lot, especially towards the end of 2010 for him to accomplish this. And of course, he sacrificed as well. You can't even imagine the hours he put in for this to happen! I really appreciate the work that he does. I find that a lot of people do not understand his job and don't think it is healthy for a family. But I disagree. We just have to operate different hours than others. Most people assume that because he's not home for dinner most of the time that he's never home. That is not true. He often gets to take an hour or two off in the middle of the afternoon. Instead of dinner dates, we have lunch dates. Instead of being at the kids evening events where everyone else is, he can sometimes be found at the park with the kids right after school, helping Jeremiah with his baseball skills and playing witht the girls. He'll take them out for ice cream or whatever, in the middle of the afternoon. And, of course, occasionally, he is able to take an evening or weekend off and spend with us. He's pretty happy to realize that he is completely open this weekend for the start of Jeremiah's baseball season! Of course, we do have challenges, where the kids have to sacrifice as well. For instance, my girls would love to play softball this year, but they're season starts later than Jeremiah's and doesn't end until the end of July. We, unfortunately (or fortunately, however you choose to see it) have to go to Camp Grizzly in mid-June and will not be back until mid-August. Gas prices are just too high for me to be running them back and forth on an almost daily basis. Even once a week isn't possible. We survive the summer, because the camp feeds us, because we have to drop the second job for the summer, that provides our grocery budget. It's a sacrifice and many don't understand, but anyone could have a normal husband with a normal job, but I'm light years away from normal!!!!

More Pics Of Our Vacation

This picture to your left is not real good, but during part of our vacation we went to Colville so the kids could see where daddy grew up and this is them in front of the high school that houses so many of Josh's accomplishments as a wrestler. This building was brand new and had just opened up when Josh was a junior and senior in high school. He showed the kids the elementary school's and middle school and junior high he went to as well. Also the old high school building that he started high school in and later went to college in for one quarter as it got turned into a satellite campus for Spokane Falls Community College. After that he transferred to North Idaho College where he met me, and, as they say, the rest is history. And of course, below, is another picture of my oh, so happy little Chloe on the white elephant again.

An Update On How I'm Doing and Josh With Pie In The Face (OH, Yeah!)

I know I'm way behind on blogging, but this was the highlight of Jeremiah's Court of Honor and really the only reason I went. It was a bit of an overwhelming day with a meeting with my pastor, a phone call from LPM (long story, not telling....sorry), and coffee with a friend (that was really wonderful, but still more to take in after all my emotional trauma.) I told a friend there that after he had sent me chocolate, I got chocolate from a few other places to. That was after I said goodbye to all my friends on twitter and facebook. He asked me if next time I could just ask for chocolate. He said, "I'm sure we all would appreciate that." Problem is, I can't have chocolate anymore for a while. For thirty days, no sugar, no dairy, no corn products, and no wheat products. Yes, I caved. I'm sick of my pudge and I barely came in under the max weight that the Boy Scouts accept for camp. It was a wake-up call. I'm seriously addicted to food and I need help!!!! (In case you hadn't figured that out already) Except for the food addiction thing. The only acception I'm making is creamer and sugar in my coffee. Don't mess with a mom's coffee!!! A girl's got to have her limits. That is one addiction (besides God) that I have no intention of being cured of....EVER! So Don't. Even. Try. It!!!!! I get one cheat day a week after the first 30 days. So no Mexican food for 30 days!!!! This and the chocolate (and the coffee thing) were the reason I was never going to do this. Thirty days without Mexican food and no chocolate???? Why don't you just send me to the torture chamber now! But seriously, it's been eight and a half years since I last had a baby and I still look like I just gave birth! That is serious, people!!! I used to look like barbie. And I ate whatever I wanted. This figure is really hard for barbie to take. I'm not kidding either. I wish I had a picture to show you. When we got married, Josh could wrap his hands around me and touch his fingers in front and his thumbs in back! I don't want to get that skinny.....well, okay, I want to, but I was probably too skinny, and probably can't get that skinny no matter how hard I try. And I've been known to try. At one point in between having Jeremiah and Angela I was working out three times a day and not eating regularly (Did I mention that I have an addictive personality?) But no more. I'm going to do this right! You're going to help me, right? Okay, you don't have to. I have Celebrate Recovery and my counselor for that, but all the help I can get is good! Now, I've gone to the other extreme until last week, eat what I want whenever I want and LOTS of it! I'm beginning to wonder if all I am is extremes, seriously!!!! Extreme depression, extreme eating habits (or lack thereof), extreme drinking....maybe I shoud take up extreme sports? Ouch, never mind! I'm way too old for that and I don't have insurance!! Anyway, the counseling is going well. That's all I'm going to say for now. It's all a little too raw to talk about. I may never talk about it publicly! Well, maybe a little bit, generally speaking....VERY generally, but who knows. We'll see what God has in store, but for now it's for my counselor's ears only. I don't even like talking about with her, so don't even expect me to tell you what I'm dealing with right now anytime soon!!!! Heck, I don't even like thinking about it, so I'm not! Back to the pictures. Last fall Josh promised that if any of the Boy Scouts in Jeremiah's troop sold over 1500 dollars worth of popcorn he'd take a pie in the face so here he is! Is it mean that I went for the sole purpose of seeing this happen? Really, though, doesn't he look adorable with all that whip cream in his face (that's really all it was, not an actual pie)? And yes, he was on the diet at that time and he didn't lick any of this off! Now that is self-control people! He's my hero!!!! I'm not sure what that little girl was thinking! Maybe how she'd love to lick that stuff off his face (that's what I was thinking!) if only it wasn't on that big scary looking dude (I wasn't thinking that! He's just a big teddy bear really, but don't tell anyone. I kind of like everyone being scared of him!)

And I bet you can't guess which scout sold over 1500 dollars worth of popcorn?!?!

Oh, yeah!!!! His very own son!!!!!!!! The former salesman passed on his gift! I think it helps that he's adorable! I mean, if he asked you to buy ANYTHING, you know you would! Look at my last post! Could you resist that face?!.......Ummm, okay.....look at another post with him in it. It will be labelled Jeremiah or kids. You might be able to resist the kid in the last post! Why was he doing that anyway?!?!

My Second Miracle (After Receiving Christ)

I seriously married him?! Really?! I mean, he's seriously gorgeous, sweet, and treats me like a queen! Treats my girls like princesses! I never had any relationships with men who had any respect whatsoever for women before him! And he's smart! And (in case you hadn't noticed) he's a Boy Scout! Wow!!!! Thanks God!!!!!!

More PIctures And Counseling

This is my son not wanting to have his picture taken: GRRR! This is my darling daughter, Chloe.

This is my brother Dave with my darling daughter, Chloe.

This is Angela with her new peace sign hat she got for Christmas.

My Uncle Jeff sleeping next to brother Dave. They kind of look alike, don't you think?

A very handsome man with his tongue sticking out. Has anyone else noticed how often he does that?

Me and my sister-in-law, Sheila, decided to take pictures of each other taking pictures of each other! LOL

On a more personal note, it seems that Josh and Pastor Kim have decided without consulting me really, that Josh and I need marriage counseling. I wish he'd figure out that I don't need marriage counseling. I don't have a problem with Josh, I have a problem with me. I need personal, individual, FEMALE counseling. A healthy marriage starts with two healthy individuals. One of those individuals is not healthy: me. I think I tend to lash out at Josh, because when I get angry at myself I want to kill myself. That's a little hard to live with (no pun intended), so I lash out at the most convenient, nearby person. It's really me I hate, not him. I had a problem with me since long before there was ever an us.

More Christmas Pictures Part 2

I told some dear friends recently that I wasn't going to post my thoughts or talk about my thoughts at all anymore, only quote God's Word directly, but I lied. I can't help myself. It's what I do. Post my thoughts, I mean, not lying, although I might do that on occasion. I hope not. I try not to. I certainly wouldn't lie intentionally, but I guess that's called a "mistake" not a lie, right? Well, this is not the most attractive picture of me, but as my dear "friend" Beth Moore says, blogging is not for the perfect, it's for the honest, or something like that. It can't be any worse than my last post, right :) I don't really remember what was in this present, but since no one in my family who likes to buy me polyester in my family is living anymore, I can promise you I had no complaints about my Christmas presents, although my mom did get me a sweat suit which makes me wonder if she's hinting :) Of course, there was an X in front of the L and it fit, which definitely disturbed me!!! Um, I'm guessing this is me trying to figure out exactly how you open a present??? Really?? Had it been that long since I'd gotten a gift?!?!

Awww, her first boyfriend! Isn't that cute?! Next we'll be training her to look for her dates outside the family!! No looking for dates at the family reunion honey!

Well, from the smile on her face, she definitely approves of the packaging, now let's see if what's inside is just as good! Maybe even better!!!

I think my dad is yawning. That is the least disturbing of the options I'm considering here. I'm not even going to mention the other possibilities! On the left as you're looking at this is my brother-in-law, John, and on the right is my brother, Adam.

My kids with their cousins (my nephews) Cody and Chance.

Go ahead, choose whichever one you like best and stare at it for hours. I know they're beautiful!!!

Ummm, Santa lost a lot of weight and got a sex change?!!!

Again, the handsome man on the couch!....Oh, yeah, and then there's the tree. Totally fake by the way. All my family members cheat these days!

More Christmas Pictures

That interesting looking creature with no hair except on his face lounging on the couch would be my husband! He looks good lounging! With two jobs and a wife who can't work, he doesn't get to do that much. Again, my daughter. I'm thinking she must be standing on something. She can't be that tall, can she?! Actually, I'm not sure she is standing on anything! How did she get that tall?!

More Pics From Camp Grizzly

Charming Angela after a swim at Camp Grizzly!

Probably relaxing in the staff lounge!

I have no idea what Chloe was doing here! Maybe painting? I don't really remember painting while we were staying there. I know there was some painting that was done in the fall that she helped with.

Josh checking in the Troops!

More of Angela!

Chloe doing her schoolwork in the cabin. Yes, she does schoolwork in the summer! She went to summer school the year before, but with us being at Camp Grizzly it wasn't possible, so I had to be a homeschool mom for the summer with one kid at least. Besides she loves school! It's necessary to keep her from falling further behind.

Our cabin! Yes, all five of us lived in there for 2 months and survived!

It's very difficult to get him to keep his tongue in his mouth when we take his picture!

This is the view when you walk into the staff area!

Yes! There was work to be done when we arrived at Camp Grizzly!

They really do love each other! They often try to pretend they don't, but nobody's fooled! Except my side of the family. Of course, they really are mean to each other at my parents house, but then they're just following everyone else's lead! Ugh! I'm hoping this last visit for Christmas will be our last visit EVER to see my family!

You've probably seen this picture if you've visited Angela's blog. It's her favorite! She's daddy's little girl for sure! This is in the kitchen at Camp Grizzly, in case you couldn't tell!