Christmas is here!!

I can't believe how fast the past month has gone. Things at work have been so busy that it is really making the time go too fast. We had some friends over last night who were talking about their Christmas wish list. They asked me what I asked for and I couldn't really give them an answer. There isn't any one thing this year that I have been wanting, but the best present that I am going to have is to wake up in my own house on Christmas Morning. Since we have moved to Boise, and even before, the holidays have always been very busy. When we lived in Pocatello, we had many different people that we needed to go see, so even though we were home we didn't spend much time there. Ever since moving to Boise, the holiday's have been spent packing the car with presents, clothes and the dogs; fighting the bad weather and hoping for just two days of repreve so that we can drive there and back without incident. I have not put up a Christmas Tree for 4 years, nor have I ever had Christmas lights on my house. When you aren't home for the holidays, it hardly seems worth the mess and stress to just take it down the day you come back home and before you go back to work.

I am excited to say that this year, I have put up my Christmas Decorations both inside and out. My plans for Christmas morning are to wake up late, make some hot chocolate and listen to some Christmas music. James and I will exchange a few small gifts and then will await the arrival of my parents, my sisters and their kids to come over and open their gifts. After the gift opening, we will do our annual Christmas Breakfast Feast (sorry dad, you are still going to have to help cook) and enjoy the time with each other.

I have also decided to test my craft ability this year and made a few gifts. I decided that it was such a momentus occasion that I would post a few pictures of our "Griswold Christmas". While I know that this really isn't to the extent that Clark Griswold went, it feels like a lot with years of nothing! We thought we had all of the lights up that we were going to use when I received a call from my brother Jason. His wife has decided to change their decorating theme, so he sent me about 10 set of Icycle Lights. Since we live on a corner lot, we now have lights down the side of our house on our fence. I love coming home every night and turning the corner to see my house. No matter how bad of a day I may have had at work, all of the stress goes away when I see my house lit up. It is hard to describe the feeling, but I'm sure many of you have been experiencing it longer than I have as this is the first year for outside lights for us.

First, pictures of the outside of my house. James likes to joke that as you come into my subdivision and turn the corner, that our house is the new North Star. He mentioned to our friends last night that if they got lost looking for our house on their way over, to just look to the sky and follow the beam that would be radiating from our lights.

You can't really tell from the decorations, but the two figures on the lawn are dogs. We saw them at Home Depot, and decided they would look even better in our yard. The first store that we went to only had one and it was their display model. When we asked if we could buy that one, they said yes and that they'd give us $10 off the price because it was the display model. Who was I to turn down a lawn decoration, already put together at a discount??? Then we went to a different Home Depot, and the only one they had was the display model so they gave us the same deal.

Now to the inside of my house....my Christmas Tree. I have used the same decorations (although they haven't seen the light of day for 4 years) since James and I got married (8 1/2 years ago). The bulbs are also my attempt at being crafty. I took clear bulbs and poured a little bit of paint inside them to create a marbeled look. Simple process, but I like to think they don't look simple. We also don't have a fireplace in our house to hang our stockings on, so I have improvised with that as well.

A few years ago, I received a gift in a gift exchange that I thought was very creative. It was a glas block with a whole drilled in the back of it. It had a string of lights fed into it and a hand painted snowman on the front of it. Now let me be clear about something.....I am not an artist. If it's a sticker, I can handle it but cannot hand paint anything unless it involves a paint by number kit! But, I have managed to put together my own version of the Christmas Gift that I had received. I was in a craft store the other day and saw the glass bricks that had been used for my gift exchange. I decided I wanted to put some together that spelled out NOEL. I can't tell you how hard it was to find 1" letter vinyl stickers that I could use for this project. I found some in a font that I ddin't really like so decided that it was up to me to create my own. I got out my scrapbook stencils (which I forgot I had and needed to dust them off a little bit) and started to work. After about an hour and a half of getting it just right, finished my project. Here is the final result.

I'll post again after Christmas, but hope that you are all able to peacefully enjoy the holidays. In economic times like we are living in, please remember that Christmas is not about the gifts, but instead about enjoying the time with your family. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a long time since I've made the time to sit down and catch up. Is it really November already? I can't believe how fast the past couple of months has gone. It seems like it was just the other day that we got back from Australia. October brought James's 35th Birthday, a trip to Ketchum and Halloween. For James's birthday, I had about 20 people come over and surprise James after a day of golfing. We had a barbecue and had a great night. The weather turned out perfect. We then went to spend the weekend in Ketchum with James's family and enjoyed another perfect weather weekend. It is always so beautiful up there that going for a walk in the morning is probably one of my favorite things to do. We took the dogs with us and walked along a small creek. We kept the dogs on a leash until we got a way from the creek a little bit, but as soon as we took them off they headed right back to the creek and went for a swim. We can't seem to keep them out of the water. We thought that Halloween was going to be a cold night, but it wasn't too bad. We brought our fire pit into the driveway and handed out candy while sipping on hot chocolate. The kids were able to warm their hands by the fire and we didn't have to keep getting up and down to hand out candy. It was a great night watching the kids and visiting with our neighbors. Next weekend we will be going to Pocatello to watch my nieces basketball games. They play every Saturday, but this is the first Saturday that they don't play at the same time so we will actually be able to watch all three play. We haven't been to Pocatello since May, so I guess we are due for a visit. We plan on going home for Thanksgiving, but I am really looking forward to waking up in my own bed on Christmas morning. Every year we have gone back to Pocatello, but this year decided to stay home. We will miss visiting with everyone, but won't miss the packing of the car, the dogs, and the gifts. I also won't miss traveling that stretch of road from Burley to to Twin Falls. It gets really ugly sometimes and I am thankful that we won't have that stress. Thanksgiving will be a little busy as usual. We will start the day by heading to Twin Falls to have Thanksgiving at my aunts house. She is an excellent cook and I am really looking forward to her turkey and home made rolls. From there we will head to Pocatello and spend the rest of the day with James's family. I have made arrangements to work from Pocatello the day after Thanksgiving so James will be able to spend the day with his family and I won't have to use a vacation day for the trip. James continues to do his Substitute Teaching and is enjoying himself. Although he would much rather have his own classroom that he went to everyday, he is thankful that he is able to work in a field that he enjoys. We are hoping that January brings some job opportunities for him, but will wait and see. We are doing well and are hopeful that the layoffs that are happening in Boise won't hinder his search too much. Either way, we are thankful for those teachers that are currently taking days off so that James can keep working. He has had a job just about every day for the last couple of weeks and has been making some great contacts. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Catch Up

It's been a long time since my last bog. The last 4 weeks have been busy but we finally had a second to breathe today. James has started subsitute teaching and is excited about getting out into the schools. He is meeting teachers and introducing himselves to principals so that he can get his name out. He is also making a good name for himself with the district offices as he is calling to check in with them and getting to know them better. He is really enjoying his time in the classroom and hasn't ran into too many subsitute teaching problems. We are lucky to have good friends that keep us in mind when positions are posted. The last couple of weeks have taken us to a Sheryl Crow Concert and a Stone Temple Pilots concert. We had a good time at both, but it took me a while to remember why I liked Stone Temple Pilots. They were about an hour late for the concert and the first half of songs that they started out with weren't anything that I usually listed to. By the end of the concert I remembered why I liked them. Things at work are a little crazy for me now. With the announcement of the WAMU purchase, the already fearful consumers are even more scared about leaving their money in banks. Thanksfully, so far the bank that I work for is stable and has already raised capital this year so that we are not in the need of additional capital. The problem comes in when everyone freaks out and starts pulling their money out of banks. More to come later.....

Friday - Friday - Friday

Friday was great!!!!! James woke up in the morning, refreshed and ready to go. He went down to the kitchen, made his cup of coffee and came to talk to me about all of the jobs he was going to apply for that day. I don't want to say too much about the jobs until one works out, but for now let me just say that we are surrounded by the best friends, family and co-workers ever. We had many people offering help to us and putting us in touch with other people that my have some leads. It's amazing hown an ironed a shirt and pair of slacks can increase confidence and self worth. Friday proved to be a very good day and brought with it 3 strong leads for jobs that James is qualified for and would do a great job with. The best part is, that these aren't just jobs....they are careers. There is a positive outlook for the future and we are excited that this unfortunate turn of events has resulted in James being able to make a better career move. More to come, hopefully good news.

Thursday

Thursday brought the depression. I left for work in the morning (which is usually after James) while James was getting his game plan for the day. I talked to him throughout the day and it didn't appear that he was having much luck with the tasks on his list. The list started with job hunting on the Internet. This is where the list was held up. In looking at the jobs that were posted, James became depressed. He will be 35 in October this year and he was dealing with the fact that he was having to start over....again. This was when the realization came for him. This was not just a vacation, he was unemployed. This again brought emotions onto both of us. James is never depressed and is very rarely in a bad mood. How do I motivate him without having him feel like I am on his case to get a job. It was a quiet night, but I decided to give James his space for the day. Friday should be better.

Wednesday

While the week started out relatively well with the normal stuff, I am finding myself very behind at work. Just when I feel like I am getting ahead, I get buried again. I have worked from home every night this week and again in the mornings before leaving the house to put in another 8 hours actually in the office. I am very fortunate for having a very good boss that allows me a little flexibility with my work (because he knows that I work on average 50 hours a week). He has given me a laptop and Blackberry, both for work use that I find myself using ALL OF THE TIME....I admit, I have become a member of the crackberry club. I am addicted and I love it. While I feel like I have too much to do, James has been feeling like he doesn't have enough to do. He worked (more to come) for a company called Ferguson Ent. They sell the in-ground plumbing and irrigation supplies to contractors for commercial and residential building. Well, obviously things have changed in that industry and his company has not been billing any jobs. About 3 months ago they laid off 3 people. We were worried, but they reassured us that they cut deep so that they wouldn't have to lay more off again later. We decided to go ahead and get the remaining credits that James needed to renew his teaching certificate for another 5 years just in case. While has not taught since receiving it (due to the significant difference in salaries between the job he had and the teachers salary) we have made sure that he would always have that option to fall back on if needed. Two weeks ago, James was called into his boss's office and was given a raise. This brought with it, more than the money a sense of calmness that things must be picking up in the industry for them to hand out raises. And not only that, it reaffirmed that they wanted to keep James on the team and valued his hard work. Wednesday brought with it a call that I was not expecting. James called and told me that he had bad, bad news. I'm thinking that he's gotten another speeding ticket, lost the keys to the car (again), or lost his wallet. I was not prepared for him to tell me that he had been laid off. We knew it was possible with the economy the way it was, but after receiving the raise were feeling better about our chances of avoiding it. That is when I was hit with so many different emotions. Frustration, anxiety, stress, regret, thankfulness, anger, angst, remorse, and more. Frustration and anger that his company would give us the false sense of security in his job by giving him a raise. Anger that I fractured my ankle this year, the year that I changed my health plan to a low premium, high deductible plan because I never got sick and never went to the doctor. Anxiety of what was to come. Regret that we had purchased new vehicles (new to us) and a motorcycle in the last year and a half. Regret that we had just used money from savings to go to Australia this year. Thankfulness that we were able to go on the trip this year, because now next year's not looking so good. Thankfulness that I still have a job and that we kept James's teaching credentials up to date. Thankfulness that he was laid off on Wed. and not Thurs. because that is when the workers were coming in to pull up our carpet in a few rooms and lay more hardwood. Remorse for the man who was also laid off that is 55 years old and has worked for the company for 22 years. Stress and pressure of not letting my husband see my upset or worried so that it didn't add more pressure and stress on him. The sad thing is that with all of the emotions that I was feeling, I know that my husbands were twice as intense as mine.

Bam Jam Boise 2008

This weekend brought with it the first annual Bam Jam Boise 3 0n 3 Basketball Tournament. This is a spin off of the Hoop Fest that takes place in Spokane, WA and is a fund raiser for the Boys and Girls Club Of Ada County, Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Southwest Idaho, The Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, Idaho Select Basketball. They shut down a couple of streets in BoDo (Downtown Boise) both Friday night and all day Saturday for the event. The teams varied form kids under 12, women, co-ed, men under 6' ft. and then three other men's brackets. They had elite, competitive and recreational.

James asked three of his friends from Pocatello if they wanted to come over and play in the competitive league. After a disappointing loss on Friday night, they had to come back on Saturday and play 5 games in 6 1/2 hours. The games were 25 minutes long with only 1 time out per team. Our team consisted of Brandon Pieper, Chris Pieper and Ryan Zweigert. They started at 9:00 am and won each game on their way back until 3:00. It was their 3:00 game that was their second loss, leaving them to take third (out of 20 teams) in their bracket. At 2:00, they held a dunk competition. One of our players, Ryan wanted to enter, but they had a game at 2. As soon as the game was over, they headed down to see if he could still enter the contest. They begrudgingly let him enter telling him that he had better show some good dunks. They had already completed one round of dunks but still let him take take two dunks. I was still three blocks down as I was volunteering as a score keeper for another team and I could hear the crowd roar. I was so surprised to find out that they were cheering for Ryan as he won the contest at only 6'0" tall. They were so exhausted for their 3:00 game that I don't think they could have played another one if they had won. I was so excited to see how well they all did and especially to see Ryan win the dunk contest. Here are a few pictures from the event. Our Offense..... Ryan Zweigert & Chris Pieper Our Defense..... James Lambert & Brandon Pieper Our Slam Dunk Champion (With the windmill dunk)

Catch Up

Well, I have a little catching up to do, because a lot has happened in the last week. I guess first I should start by letting you know that I took last week off of work (for the most part, I worked a little from home in the mornings) to babysit my nieces while my older sister Janelle went to Oregon. It was definitely an experience and while we had a good time, I learned that I will never have more kids than I have adults to take care of them. So unless I get another husband, we will be having at most two kids! (No mom, I'm not pregnant, just looking into the future).

Anyway, the first night they were here, I thought it would be fun to take them to the Movie In the Park here in Meridian. I had heard about it before but thought we'd check it out. Cableone inflates this large screen and plays a movie in one of the parks every Friday night. The movie that is played changes but is always a kid / family friendly movie. Here are some pics of the event.

The night was starting out to be a good night. The girls were excited for the show and were dancing with Uncle James listening to the music they were playing. There were probably 100 kids running around this park waiting for dusk to come so the movie would start. The park had a play area, so while we were waiting my niece Kristen (pictured in the center above) and her friend Alexia (on her right in the picture above) decided to go play on the toys. It wasn't 15 minutes later and they came running back to us crying in hysterics. It took 5 minutes to even calm Kristen down enough that we could find out what was going on. What we were told blew my mind away. They told us that one of the teenage boys came up and asked them if they "wanted to touch his baby maker".... I just about died.....I took one look at my husband and he knew what was coming next. I said "you need to go handle that" and before I could even finish my sentence he was walking over with Alexia to have her point the kid out. We were thinking this "teenage boy" was going to be about 16 or 17 and just being dumb. We soon found out that this kid was 13 years old!!!

What in the hell is happening in this world that a 13 year old would approach a couple of 9 year olds and ask them a question like that. My husband was successful in getting the boys attention (I think he may have scared the SH*T out of him) and after listening to him deny it, let the police officer that was patrolling know what had occurred. The rest of the night was filled with Kristen clinging to me as if she was terrified for her life. As angry as I was, the boy should have been terrified for his....

my name is abbey

Well hello everybody looking at this posting right now. You are looking at the coolest thing in the world>

yep that's me Abbeygail Christine Armstrong

I am one of the neice's of jolie and james lambert.

I am 11 years(and 3 quarters)now i am going to tell you a little bit a bought myself.

1.favorite sports

basketball

soccer

tumbling

football

flagfootball

2.favorite animals.

dogs

horses

cats

3.favorite colors

pink

green

blue

purpel

4.favorite star

emaily osmen

5.favorit desighners.

american eagel

aeropostle

abercromby and fitch

and that is all my thing i like and today (8/1/08) my aunt jolie got me some chalk that looks 3 d it is awsome!!!!!!well that is all i have to tell you and remeber me by the pic that I put up!!!!!!!!!!!!bye

New Video

You have to check out the new You Tube Video I posted to the left, Nature Untamed. It's a little long but you have to watch it all of the way through...

My guilty pleasures

The first step to healing is confronting your problems.....so today, I thought I would confess my problem and current addictions. I confess to being a REALITY TV JUNKY! It's tough because some of the shows I watch I know are completely and totally ridiculous, but I can't take my eyes off of the damn TV. Here are my top 10 Reality TV guilty pleasures in order from least to most ridiculous. 10 - American Idol I know that I'm not alone on this one!! But unlike a lot of people, I don't like to watch until they have their Top 10 selected. 9 - Big Brother Everyone has dreamed about being the fly on the wall in someones house. This show gives you the chance to do that. 8 - Amazing Race It's great to see the different countries and cultures. 7 - Top Chef I like to check out the different recipes and what people can come up with. I can't cook myself but have a dream of being able to. Sorry James. 6 - Project Runway Along with not being able to cook, I have never claimed to be very fashion savy. But then again, some of the things they make on this show I wouldn't have worn in the 80's....and that says something. 5 - Shear Genius I just started watching this one, but the episode that got me was when they were creating hairstyles on wigs for chemotherapy patients. 4 - Real Housewives of Orange County Not much to say about this one except that I like seeing how the other half lives... 3 - Real World / Gauntlett Challenges Just another "fly on the wall" show... that and I like to watch the competitions. 2 - The Hills I can't come up with a good reason except that I got hooked from The Real OC on MTV a few years ago..... 1 - Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood OK, it's THE most ridiculous of them all but I can't help but get taken back to my 90210 days. You can admit it, I know you watched it too!!! Give me your input and let me know if I am the only one that is hooked on these or if you watch them too. I can't be the only one out there or else these stupid shows wouldn't still be on.

Pioneer Day Rodeo

This weekend was a busy weekend full of craziness, laughter, and the occasional bi-polar moods most commonly referred to as MY FAMILY. My dad grew up in Carey, ID which is where we spent many summers with Grandma and Grandpa Rudd. Many of these included going up for the Pioneer Day Rodeo and Parade. For those that don't know, the 24th of July is known as Pioneer Day. While the Rodeo isn't one of the bigger Rodeos's you can watch, it is a big event for this small town of 581 people. We decided that it would be fun to head up this weekend for the festivities. Dad and James decided to ride their motorcycles up and the rest of us (Mom, Jana (my sister), Hunter (her son), Jordan (Janelles daughter) and my two labs (Kendall and Sadie) drove up.

Friday was a crazy day to begin with. It was decided that morning that we would leave about 4 hours earlier than we had originally planned. That presented a little stress in itself because not everyone was ready to go (OK, I had procrastinated and wasn't ready). We finally got out of town but had forgotten to call Jason (my brother) to let him know that we were about 2 hours behind schedule. That left him in this busy town of Carey with Easton (his son) waiting for us. Janelle (my sister) also came over with her girls for the festivities. By the time that we all got there it was time for the Rodeo. It was a quick Rodeo and I think that either I am much older or the rodeo festivities are dwindling.

We decided to drive into Ketchum, ID to stay the night with much thanks to James's Mom and her husband Bruce for letting us stay the night there. We woke up the next morning to drive back to Carey for the parade. We arrived just as they were shutting down Main St for the "floats" to come through. There were about 15 floats in all besides a few fire trucks and a carriage for the "Grand Marshalls" of the parade. Grandma and Grandpa once held this title and I remember watching them drive down the strip in a convertible Ford Mustang waiving at the crowds.

We decided to have lunch at the Fairgrounds, (there is only 1 restaurant in town, so you don't have a lot to choose from). It was then time to head over to the cemetary to visit the graves of Grandma and Grandpa Rudd. Time has gone so fast, I can hardly believe it. Their head stones were a reminder that Grandma has been gone for four years now and Grandpa for 10 years. Carey might not be a big city, but it always brings back great memories for us and will always be the place where it is easiest to remember Grandma and Grandpa.

The Project List

Today is a day of celebration! I have had a few items on my "Project List" for almost 6 months that are just now getting completed! One of these items, my roof has actually been on my list for about a year. Our house is about 10 years old, however we have had a big problem with losing shingles during wind storms. We were told it was something to do with the way that they were installed, but either way we have had neighbors return shingles back to us that have ended up in their yard. James has attempted to repair the roof, but when my roof started looking like a patch work quilt, we decided to call in the professionals. Today they came and started the repairs. What a relief! Tomorrow I will finally be able to cross off two more items from my "Project List". While our house is plumbed for central vac, the previous home owners that built the home never installed a tank. After trying to find a really good vaccum (with two dogs and two cats it's got to be a great one) we finally decided to go with central vac. I am so excited because installation day is tomorrow. Along with installing the tank in the garage, they are going to cutout a small part of my wall and install a floor vent so that when I sweep my kitchen floors, I can just suck it up! The last item that I'll be able to cross off my list is our new water softener. I came home from the gym one Saturday afternoon to find a solid stream of water shooting out about 6 feet into my garage originating at my water softener. Needless to say it was time for a new one. The best part of these last two repairs is that we have someone that is going to install both the water softener and the central vac for just $250.00. I'm not sure if James is more excited to get the projects done, or to get me off of his back about getting the projects done. Now if he can just get the cabinets in the garage built, life would be fantastic! I have to laught at myself sometimes because I am often reminded of just how old I am, because I get excited about getting my central vac installed. Even worse, I can hardly wait to sweep my kitchen into my new floor vent! UGH, I'M OLD. I remember when James and I got married and we bought our first washer and dryer. I could hardly wait to call one of my friends, Jill and tell her about our new domestic purchase. I can picture her now shaking her head and calling me a dork. Hey, I'll admit it, I get excited about buying things for our house. OK, you can all agree with Jill, I am a dork.

Happy 4th of July!!

Today was a beautiful day in Boise. I think that our high temperature, while high at 98 degrees, there was a soft wind that took the sting of the sun off a little bit. As I mentioned earlier, James and I have started golfing. I am a member of a Ladies Golf League that golfs once a week. Unfortunately due to my ankle fracture, I have been unable to golf since the end of April. I am scheduled to go back in to the doctor because it doesn't appear to be healing. After two months, I am still dealing with the swelling and stiffness and now believe that the bone chip may have gotten into my ankle joint.

Well, I decided yesterday that it might be a good idea to test out the ankle. Today James and I met up with my dad and mom and my aunt and her friend to go golfing. I am still terrible at the sport, but hope to improve each time I go out. While that is the goal, it is not happening as fast as I would like it to. The ankle held up OK, but mainly because I had my tennis shoes on all day so the swelling had to stay in my ankle, and couldn't escape to my foot. My dad is a great golfer and while I feel bad for holding up his golf game, I appreciate the advice he gives to me on the game. Well, now that I'm a little caught up I am going to go to bed but will update more later. I hope you all have a Happy 4th of July.

A few more items to catch up on....

June 30th was a special day for James and I. This was our 8 year wedding anniversay (which means we have officially made it past the 7 year itch, woo hoo). James had to go back to work which meant that I got a day to myself (thanks for that present James) to do whatever I needed to do. I had thought about going back to work as well, but one of the great benefits to working for the bank I do is the vacation time we are given.

If any of you have suggestions for anniversay presents for your husbands or significant others I would really appreciate the advice. James is quite possibly one of the hardest people that I have ever shopped for. This year, I decided that I was going to make it easy on myself and ordered him an Edible Arrangements bouquet. Before you start to question my decision to put that in the blog, you should check out the website.

My husband loves fruits and vegetables, so I thought that a fruit bouquet would be a good gift for him. Well, needless to say it didn't go off as well as I would have liked. We are just getting into golf, but I had already bought him a golf bag and he already has a set of clubs so that didn't help my cause much. Again, gift suggestions are appreciated.

Now, a quick note about my husband. I often listen to the girls at work, complain about their husbands and their habits. "He leaves his clothes on the floor all over the house" or "He doesn't know how to wash a dirty dish". I am able to reply that my husband does neither of those things. James pretty much takes care of the whole house both inside and out. It is not uncommon for him to load the dishes before leaving for work in the morning or to take care of all of the laundry. James also works very hard. He puts in about 50-60 hours a week and then comes home and takes care of the yard and things around the house. The people that he works with know that if he has given his word to do something, that it will get done.

While these are fantastic qualities there are many other things about James that I love. I often joke with James that I must be crazy because I have now been with him for a total of one-third of my life but I think the opposite is more true. I at times wonder how he has put up with me for so long. I will admit that I am not the easiest person to live with and appreciate his patience and support that he gives me.

Probably one of the best attributes that James has is the way he is with kids. Ny nieces and nephews love the chance to play with uncle James as he is as much a big kid as they are little kids). It is apparent how much he loves them whenever he is around them. I know that when the time comes for us to have kids, that he will be a fantastic father. He is eager to play with kids, teach them all that he knows and support them in their future. I love you James and am looking forward to enjoying what ever the future brings.

Just playing catch up...

Things have been a little crazy since getting home from Australia. We have FINALLY gotten our sleeping patterns back on track and are very thankful for that. The weekend was spent catching up on some yard work. James paid a neighbor boy to mow the lawn, but there was a power outage while we were gone and the sprinkler box didn't have a back up battery in it. You know what that means.....dead grass over the whole lawn when we got back. We are fortunate because our sprinkler water is hooked up to our irrigation line. That means that we can water our lawn for about $150 / year. That is of course unless you come back from vacation and have large dead spots all over and a leak in your sprinkler line. We had to hook the hose up to the house and water the lawn off of city water, which means that next months bill is going to be really ugly. The subdivision that we live in is very different from that in Pocatello. Back in Poky, we were the youngest couple on the street. Not only were we the youngest couple, but because we had bought the house I grew up in, all of my neighbors had been my neighbors for about 20 years. Many of them picked me up from school when I was sick, babysat us when needed or just helped mom with the 5 brats that she was putting up with. While the street was busy with cars...(with ISU and AMI traffic) there wasn't much else that happened unless one of us Rudd kids were chasing a basketball that had bounced off of the backboard out into the road. In our subdivision in Meridian, there are kids riding their bikes, ATV's, or scooters down the road all day long. Times have changed a little more now though as the 10 year old girls walk in their usual packs but talk on their cell phones to their "boyfriends", giggling all the way. We have many neighbors that are in their 30's and 40's (yes we now have to be classified in that group, ugh). For Halloween, James and I took the fire pit out into the driveway and handed out candy from there. It was a great way to meet the neighbors while keeping warm and avoid running to the door every 4 minutes. The neighbors in both cities have been great and always willing to help. Back to the point of my dead lawn. We have a neighbor that used to work for Core Barton Homes (the builder that was used when abc's Extreme Home Makeover came to the Boise area). I don't personally like his homes as they all look the same and have about 4 feet in between houses with little to no yard. Albert, however gained a lot of experience working for him and came to help us with our sprinklers. Thank heaven for nice neighbors!!!

Home safe and sound

Well, we've made it home. It was an extremely long flight! It was so much worse than the ride over there it made me really sick. From Boise to LA was 3 hours, from LA to Auckland was 12 hours and then from Auckland to Cairns was another 6 hours. The flight was the same on the way back except that I got sick on the trip from Auckland to LA. It was an amazing trip but it is so good to be home. The Mazur family that we stayed with in Australia were so gracious and went out of their way to take care of us. They took us to see so many amazing things and went out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable and that we had what we needed. The time change is really throwing me for a loop. I lost all sense of time and day and am still trying to figure it out. It is now 8:00 am on Thursday and I am sitting here dazed because I have been unable to sleep since 11:00 am yesterday morning. I sat up all night long wishing I could go back to sleep but not able to. Part of that could be because I am having a minor procedure today to have two small bumps removed off of my chest. After an ultrasound, it was decided that they were fibroid tumors and that while they wouldn't cause me any harm, I should probably get them removed. Since I am off work anyway, I thought I would go ahead and take care of it. Back to the fun stuff! I will be posting some updates about my trip along with some pictures but thought I would show the highlights first. James was an adrenaline junky and found himself doing all kinds of things. He scuba dived, went bungy jumping and then jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet to sky dive. I hope you enjoy the videos....

It's half way over

Well, the trips almost over and so far we have been able to mark several items off of our list that we have wanted to do. Bungy Jumping, the Kuranda Train, the Zoo, etc. We are scheduled to go out on a Reef Tour this Friday. James will scuba dive in the morning and then my Mom, Dad, James and myself are going to do something called a scuba drift. The guide take us to one part of the reef and we drift with the current for about an hour back to the boat checking out the reef and it's inhabitants. We are all really excited for it and are looking forward to the adventure. Hopefully my ankle will hold up and Dad won't dislocate his shoulder. They also have submersables that take you down into the water so that you can see what's deep down in without scuba diving. We have had a few clouds and rain the past couple of days but today was gorgeous and we should have similar weather for Friday. We are still trying to get used to the lingo they use hear. Words like fortnight, fairdinkum, chuck and others all take getting used to. James has been practicing using them in his everyday speech so don't be surprised if you hear him say "No worries mate" when we get back to the states. We are amazed everyday at the number of people that we see walking bare foot around town. Their feet are like leather but are as black as can be. The gravel of the roads or the rocks on the sidewalk don't seem to bother them a bit. We have done a little shopping and when looking at the cost of shoes, we now understand why so many people walk around with out them. A standard pair of Nike's is selling for about $180.00. With the exchange rate being almost dollar for dollar, I can't imagine paying that much money for a pair of basic tennis shoes. I know, I may be cheap but that is just too much money. I have been learning a lot about their culture, government and day to day living. It is mind blowing to think of how an average person could live over here with the price of things. Everything seems to be really inflated compared to what you can purchase similar items for in the states. But, we are enjoying our time here and trying to make the most of our holiday (vacation - holiday is another australian term).

We made it and are having a blast!!

We haven't been able to post for a little while so now that we have the opportunity we wanted to update you on what we've been up to for the last couple of days. After a 20 hour flight to Cairns, we made it at 11:00 on the 11th of June, (which to confuse you is the 10th in the USA). We have been struggling trying to figure out the time changes, and realized that the best way we are going to be able to figure out what time it is there is to look at the cell phone which did not change times. The best we can figure is that it is about a 16 hour time difference and that you are all a day behind us. Fathers day for us was yesterday, while it is today for you. We have been pretty busy since we got here. The day after our arrival, we took the train through the rain forest to Kuranda. It was a beautiful ride up but the sky rail back was even better. It was amazing to ride over the top of the rain forest and see the amazing waterfalls and lush forest. James decided to go ahead and bungy jump, so we took him to the world famous AJ Hackett Bungy Site and he jumped 50 meters (about 150 feet). I had mixed feelings about this one, but decided that he is a grown man (kid at heart) and that he should be able to decide this one for himself. Naturally he was going to jump.

Not a lot can top that adventure, but other than that we have gone to the Cairns Zoo, went to a CableSki Water Park which when I win the lottery we will be opening in the US. Remember, you heard it here first so you can't steal my idea!!! We went down the coast a little bit to a township called Charters Towers which is where my dad started his mission in Australia. It was really awesome to see the people that he hadn't seen for about 40 years remember him and welcome us into their homes. Later this week, we will head to the Great Barrier Reef where James will be scuba diving. My ankle has created a little bit more of a problem for me than I would have liked, so it has limited some of the activities that I can participate in. I am going to attempt to snorkel hoping that the flipping motion won't bother my ankle too much. More to come later now that we have been able to get to the blog, but remember you can post comments here if you want and we will be able to read them. We hope all is well with everyone at home and will write more soon!

G'Day Mate!!

It's 10:33 pm on the night before we leave for our big vacation. I have stressed myself out so much that I sat down tonight to finish up some work before I leave and can't seem to figure out my wireless connection for my work laptop. So, here I am using time that I should be working....updating my blog. I guess that means that I'll be working a bit tomorrow before we go. For those that we haven't talked to, James and I are leaving for Australia tomorrow!!!! We have been talking about this trip since we got married 8 years ago and finally decided it was time to go. We are traveling with my parents and are really excited to go. THE ITINERARY: We fly out of Boise at 5:30 pm to LA. We then leave LA at 9:30pm for our 14 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We have a 1 hour layover there and then get back on another plane to fly to Cairns, Australia. That is where we will be spending a lot of our time. We have the opportunity to spend 2 1/2 weeks in this beautiful country and are hoping to take advantage of it all! Whether it's scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, riding a train through the Rain Forest to a city on the top of a mountain or Bungee Jumping...we plan on doing as much as we can. OK, James might be Bungee Jumping but I don't think I'll be participating, because I'm a chicken. I am going to have to wear my air cast while we are there, but it's better than not being able to go. THE PREPARATION: Oh my hell!!!! Between the work stuff, to the house stuff to the financial planning, getting ready for this trip was stressful. Maybe I am a little over cautious but I am making sure that every t is crossed and i dotted. My siblings often make fun of me for my Anal Retentiveness and OCD issues. It reminds me of those damn times tables tests I used to take in the third grade. I was so worried about getting a perfect score on those tests that I often found myself throwing up before every single one of them!!! I just want everything to be done so that nothing goes wrong while we are gone and that if something does happen, it will be easy for someone to pick up the pieces (depressing, I know but none the less realistic). The hardest part of the trip, dropping off the dogs at a friends. (Thanks again Mike and Amanda for taking care of our kids). I'll admit it, I cried the whole way back to my house. We have never left them for that long, and they tend to get a little stressed out when they are away from us. I have had to stop myself from calling to check on them about 5 times and haven't even left town yet. Heaven help us when we do have kids! I am going to try and update my blog while we are gone, so stay tuned and I'll let you know what happens!!! Hopefully I'll get good enough that I can upload some of the pictures we take!!!

Updates

Well, a few more days have passed than I wanted to before I updated my next blog. So I thought I'd update you on a few events.... Tuesday 26th: I went to the Orthopaedic surgeon to get my ankle checked out. For those that don't know, I was playing in a City League Volleyball Game when I came down on my ankle wrong. I thought it was a sprain, and the Parks and Rec guy has some kind of magic in a bottle that numbed my ankle so that I could play in the second game. For a little over a week, I hobbled around on my ankle, ignoring everyones advice to go to the doctor and get it looked at. My response, "Why do I want to pay someone to tell me that I sprained my ankle and to ice and elevate it". Well, I finally gave in and went to a doc in the box who proceeded to take XRays. To my chagrin, he reported back that I had been walking on a fractured ankle (an Avulsion Fracture). So after 2 weeks of crutches (OK, I didn't last the full 2 weeks with the crutches) and a walking boot I went in for a follow up appointment. Happily I accepted the upgraded diagnosis that I was healing and that I could now go to an air cast. The worst case scenario was that I had to have surgery to remove the chipped bone if it wasn't healing back. With my trip to Australia coming up on June 9th, I just didn't have time for surgery so I was very glad to just receive an air cast. That night, my city league volleyball team was coming to the end of our tournament. Thankfully we won that game to send us into finals on Wednesday. Wednesday 27th: Well, we put up a hell of a fight, and let me tell you how frustrating it was to sit and watch as the girls played as hard as they did. It looked like way too much fun. Unfortuntaley we missed the 1st place ranking in the tournament by 2 points in the fifth game to take 2nd place. At least we lost to a really good team and didn't lose it to someone from the losers bracket making their way up. Thursday 29th: I am home from work today, trying to reply to a couple of emails in between naps. I sound like a fog horn and feel like a storm is brewing inside of my head so I'm going to end this blog and take some more drugs....(medicine mom!)

Concert Bound

This year, James and I have decided to enjoy life a little more and add a little more entertainment into our rapidly passing days. Tonight we are going to the Carrie Underwood concert. Neither one of us are necessarily country music fans but both have different reasons for attending tonight. There are a few songs that we both enjoy, however, I think James is more looking forward to seeing her in person. I can't blame him, and have to admit, she's hot.... We can now add Carrie Underwood to our concerts attended list... Billy Joel Def Leppard Styx REO Speedwagon Elton John Neil Diamond Trace Adkins Boys 2 Men You can obviously see that the range of music in our home is very broad. We are not picky, as long as it is a tune that we both enjoy. Cirque Du Soleil also came to Boise this week, so we went to the performance with some friends yesterday. I was very surprised at the level that we enjoyed this event and am very happy we decided to go. James and I do not make reference to ourselves as being cultured or artistic people, but we can appreciate the talent and beauty in a performance like that. If you get the opportunity to attend, I highly recommend you do so! I am going to try and include some Hot Topics into my blogs. With that in mind, I could not help but mention that an Idaho legend has died today. JR Simplot and his business empire has played an important part in my family history. My father has worked for his company for almost 30 years and at one point my father, brother, husband, brother-in-law and uncle-in-law were all employed by the company. They are one of the major employers in Pocatello, so there are many people that depend on his legacy to provide for their families. His passing will be discussed widely in Boise this week, so if you are curious, I am attaching a link to the news article.

The Beginning

After a few months of reading other peoples blogs, I have decided to go ahead and start my own. I debated for a long time wondering what types of things I would say and finally decided that it was time. I have found myself reminiscing a lot recently and thought it would be a good time to start putting some if it down on paper. Both James and I have a lot of family that we don't get to visit with as often as we would like. This is my attempt at letting everyone know what we are up to. I am turning 30 in 8 Days, and don't seem to be handling it too well. Many of the people that I work with (and my husband included) are over 30, so I don't get much sympathy when talking about having discomfort with my birthday this year. More to come on that subject later.....