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Archive for the 'holidays' Category
Badda bing, badda boom. It’s Christmas!!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Much love.
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As everyone leaves from their holiday vacation, please remember to focus while driving and to travel safely. There are way too many accidents that happen over the dumbest things and it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment of that conversation. If you are too drowsy, then pull over and let someone else take the wheel. Especially when you have kids in the car, please travel with safety in mind, always with the kids in their car-seats, if they need to be. And please don’t distract the driver of the car.
photo credit: controltheweb
Hopefully as you are reading this, I will be happily in Arizona with my family for Thanksgiving. My family is the number 1 reason to be thankful this year. I am thankful that I get to spend this holiday with most of my family, even some of my extended family. And Arizona is the perfect place to visit when there is snow all over the ground here in Utah.
I have been dating my boyfriend, Butch, now for almost two and a half years and it really hits home for me how thankful I should be for family. He practically has none. His real dad died when he was about age 2 (he was murdered) and his mom committed suicide when he was 14 years old. His step-dad officially adopted him so his last name changed but he never bonded with his step-dad enough to continue to call him a father. His step-dad wasn’t a positive influence in his life whatsoever, to the extreme (but I’ll skip the gory details), so Butch disowns his step-dad now. Butch’s real dad had another daughter after Butch so he has one half-sister there. And his mom had another daughter with his step-dad so he has another half-sister there too. He only keeps contact with the older sister though. All of his grandparents have died, except for one step-grandma that lives nearby but he only sees her about once a year. A ton of his really good (best) friends have passed away as well throughout the years. He does have three beautiful daughters though. The oldest doesn’t keep in contact with him and the younger two he talks to every single day. So that is the closest family he has left – his own daughters.
I think we all take our families for granted sometimes. I remember growing up and having disagreements with my siblings or tattle-telling on them to my parents. I also distinctly remember the anger I felt for my parents during my teenage years and exactly what I put them through. For some reason, they still love me. It baffles me, but they do still care. They have unconditional love for me. ME! (I confess, it’s hard to admit to myself that people love me.) But they show it all the time. During this past year, I have had to rely on unemployment. While it’s barely paid the bills, I’ve continued to look for side jobs to bring in extra cash. And guess who stepped up to the plate in that regard? My family. I have been able to make some money with babysitting for my brother and his wife and also make some money from my dad getting a rental house ready for new renters recently. I am lucky that they step in to help me in my times of need. Very lucky.
I am very thankful for my boyfriend’s great job that he has had for a year now. This job has given him reason to feel good about himself, to feel like a good father and paying his child support for his kids. He has been there for me when my unemployment ran out for a few weeks before our President passed the emergency extension. I owe a lot of gratitude and appreciation to Butch for what he has done for me.
Please don’t take your family for granted. They love you and want to spend time with you and love being around you. Cut them some slack. Be thankful for your immediate family as well as your extended family. They might not always be in your life. Spend your time with them wisely.
photo credit: Dryad & Sprite Photography
Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween over the weekend! I didn’t dress up this year, but I want to show off all the photos I have of my nephew and friends from Halloweens past and present. Take a look.
This is my nephew last year, 2009, and I put on this glasses disguise and snapped a photo before he could rip them off.
This is my boyfriend, Butch, wearing a funny hat when we went to the store. Lol!
This is Butch again, but in 2008 when he was living in Wendover, Nevada and his cousin put on a Halloween haunted house. Butch was one of the people who scared kids walking by.
Here is another of Butch from that same year with a different look.
Here is my friend and roommate at the time, Joshu – originally from Nepal, who tried on this funky wig in a store once.
One thing I did do for this 2010 Halloween was paint my nails in fun patterns though, so here they are.
That’s my entire Halloween collection right there. Hope you enjoyed it.
Wow, I skipped a year in celebrating my half-birthdays. LOL. What was I thinking?!
So today I am officially 28 AND A HALF. Check me out! Yeah I’m climbin that age ladder alright. You betcha!
I’m still working for the same company, doing SEO, been here over 3 years, actually closer to the 4 year mark, live in the basement of my house still, alone, have created about 9 websites total, 6 are mine, have learned in leaps and bounds in the world of SEO and am thankful for my challenging job.
My sisters and brother are all married and have at least 3 kids each. My oldest sister has 2 more than 3. 
In fact, she has a daughter in college now! My parents still live in California. Um, seeing babies makes me feel baby hungry. My brother and his wife and 3 boys live in the same city that I live in so I’m thankful to be able to spend time with their family often! And they have a baby boy, who makes me baby hungry. He’s got such a huge smile and he smiles with his eyes. And my 2nd oldest sister has 2 daughters and 1 baby boy who is as cute as can be! The memorable thing about him is that while he’s in the stroller and mommy is pushing it, he’ll just sit and stare at his mommy and just smile! It’s so adorable!
I still have a deep love for music and all things creative. I haven’t played the piano in over 2-3 months and I’m getting really rusty. My house is chaos from all the Provo zoning requirements they’re throwing at us. I still care for my little hamster Olly who hides out in his house about 97% of the time. I’d really love to get either a puppy or a kitty so I can cuddle with an animal. I long for that companionship from a little furry one.
And that’s about it for my random post. I think I’ll end it with: Happy Veteran’s Day! 
And thanks for reading my randomness. I just wanted to announce my HALF birthday. LOL.
Alright, so I went with the fam to San Francisco this past Christmas. And I still haven’t uploaded pictures yet. I ended up taking about 300 just in SF and of Alcatraz! They turned out pretty, some of them. It was really neat to go to Alcatraz, this old island that used to house some of the biggest criminals. The buildings all seem worn out and ragged but the best part of the island is that there is beautiful plant life growing all around the treacherous buildings! I was so amazed by how beautiful some of the plants and flowers were there. They were among ruins and rubble but yet they grew proud, right in the middle of the damage. Those photos ended up being my favorite ones from the trip, so I’ll post those on here for you to see. It was really great to be with family, all my nieces and nephews! I have so many now, and the numbers are still growing. I’m very fortunate to have such a great family. They know how to give and how to love unconditionally. I don’t acknowledge that enough.
Anyway, here are some photos from our trip. Hope you enjoy.
Alcatraz, in its current state.
Supply area with bedding and sheets.
Bay Bridge.
Boats along the pier.
Beautiful calla lily.
A small jail cell on Alcatraz.
Always Coca-Cola. Love the old-style look to this photo.
Beloved Golden Gate.
Begin ‘Life among ruins’ set.
A personal favorite of mine.
A watchtower.
How would you like to talk with a loved one through this small hole?
This last Snowman Ice Family Star is my FAV photo of my mini red Christmas Tree!! It’s so cute and fun! I love it, I love it, I love it!! All of their faces are smiling happy with little dots of coal, they have scarves on cuz it’s cold outside, BRRR! And there’s a little mini candi-cane sweet hanging under their star, cute huh? I think it’s cute. Thanks for checking out my fun Christmas pictures from my little basement apartment. Comment on YOUR favorite pic. I’d love to hear from you guys! Merry Christmas, ciao!
I love it!! And the next is one of my fav’s, the present all snug with the tree in the background. Aw. Fun to get in the holiday spirit!
Visit ClassesAndCareers.com for more scary stories about college campuses, but here is the latest and greatest: College Ghost Hauntings. BOOO! happy halloween…