Look what came back home today!
After 6 long months we are back to being a two car family!
No more relying on family for rides or being stranded at home while the other person has the truck.
Now if it could magically turn into a new Ford Flex or a Toyota Sienna, with no payments, I would be over the moon.
I'm just glad it's back and in relatively the same condition as when I loaned it out.

This morning while I was at work and Nina had the kids my little terror, you know who, managed to find a pair of scissors and cut a hole in her shirt!

Tonight the kids spent some of their Christmas money and bought Mega mind and Beverly hills Chihuahua 2. Right now the family is watching Mega mind. I'll join them soon after I finish my update.
Chelsea is changing so fast, her speech is clearer and she is saying the darnedest things.
Wyatt is getting more into scouts and going on adventures. Kelly, she's my tough nut. We are still struggling with her attitude and her commandeering ways. Example; no matter whose toy it really is Kelly will sneakily incorporate it into her stash.
I should probably write down the interesting things the kids say but they are usually said while driving and my mind sometimes can't remember by the next stoplight.

In the last week we have either bought or inherited more orchids. I'll have to take a picture of our windowsill and individuals of all the new flowers. Some are very pretty and Rob has a way of making them bloom where most of our family has a black thumb with orchids.
*Carrie*

I'm still dreaming about this camera. I'm still trying to find a way to purchase this camera.
I talked to Rob last week and asked if I could save my paychecks and buy my 7D.
After much talking, where he never said no, I'm squirreling away my paychecks.
I'm praying that by the end of March I will have this sweet baby in my arms.
So pray for me please.
Anyone who knows me knows that I want this camera desperately.

I have been getting into sync at work and things are going really well so far. For the most part I'm enjoying myself but I miss having La Donna to talk to and crack up laughing with.
The good news is that she had her baby Sunday night and they came home from the hospital today. I get to meet the little guy tomorrow.
Work keeps me busy, so much so that I have my days sort of planned out by what time of day it is. I almost don't even think about what time the kids get out of school and when Chelsea gets picked up. There is just so many little details that I have to take care of daily that it's all I focus on so as not to forget.

Sunday was also the day we held our family dinner. This time around we went to my brothers house and had tacos. Oh yum, a family favorite.
What was even better was what occurred before and after dinner.
While we were snacking on baby shit dip and cooking the meat, we all, meaning Mike, Rob and my mom bring out their cell phones and we discuss games and apps.
This turned into me asking about the game Angry Birds.
OMG! I was hooked
 It was so bad that Rob made me put his phone down to eat dinner but afterward I started right up again.
At one point during our "family" dinner or our evening together it was Mikey playing Angry birds on his phone with Kelly and Clayton watching, me on Rob's phone with Chelsea and occasionally Clayton stopping by, Rob was on Amanda's phone playing too. Wyatt was on the stairs playing a different video game. Donovan would watch Mikey and then check out Rob. So basically we have 3 adults on our phones playing games with almost all the kids watching us.
Just sitting here writing about it makes me want to play. Sadly for me, Rob is at Boy Scouts with Wyatt and so is Rob's phone. Hmmm... maybe when he gets home.

I was writing in my journal this morning about just how content I am at this moment. I'm not really sure why I feel this way but overall I'm happy. Tired but happy.
The kids have adjusted well with me not being home when they get home, Chelsea is doing better at daycare and is learning cool new things. The only one who really misses me is Rob. Maybe that is a good thing :)
I miss being home because of all the freedom I had to do anything I really wanted. Now everything is either before work or after work and scheduling it all in.
I have some appointments for the kids to make, Chelsea is due for her eye exam and we've already picked out her next set of eye glasses.
I need to make an appointment for Wyatt at the dentist and I'm going to have to make myself one too since I broke a tooth a while back.
So that's my update in an condensed nutshell.
I'll let you know when or if I'll be able to get the camera.
Also, maybe now that my computer is fixed I will update more.
*Carrie*

On Tuesday morning in the wee hours we lost power for about an hour. When I went to turn on the computer last night it wouldn't fire up. It seems the power supply cord went bad.
Thus my computer is down, minus all my photos, links, how to's and everything!!!! ARGH!!
I'm typing from Robs laptop, or should say stealing time while he steps away. He is researching new towers. It is about time we upgraded and we have talked about it, but with the current issue it moved up the priority list.
Once, someday, in the future, pretty soon, one day when I get a new camera I'm going to need a better computer. I mean seriously, my computer is 5 years old and a 256k.
I need to get into the new millennium.
So hopefully by next week I'll be back on a computer whether it is this one or a new one. My hope is a new one.
No matter what we need a power cord to get files off the old computer, but once that is done we are thinking of giving it to the kids.

*Carrie*

Do you miss me?
Did you even know I was gone? Humph
I've thought about you? Seriously, I have.
I've just been too tired to do anything about it.
I went back to work full time this week and my brain is fried. On top of all that the truck broke down on my way to the auto shop.

I didn't get a photo of it because I didn't have my camera so I'm using this old photo of when the engine blew.
Any whoo, we put a new battery in Sunday and my battery indicator light stayed on. Today the truck went nuts, idiot lights flashing on and off, the radio turning off and on and all the gages weren't working.
I tried to drive it down to a new auto shop and a couple miles down the road the whole truck started moving v.e.r.y s.l.o.w.i.n.g I barely made it into a parking lot before everything shut down and I rolled into a spot.
Thankfully my co worker was following behind and gave me a ride back to the office where I called a tow truck to take my girl Betsy (my truck) to the mechanic.
Yes, I name my cars, big blue Betsy
Come to find out I needed an alternator.
My truck was fixed by the time I got off work and my mom picked me up and drove me out to get her.
I hate the feeling of not having a vehicle and knowing that I'm at the mercy of the auto shop. But I'm over it now that the bill wasn't outrageous and I have the truck back.
One of the few perks I get from this new job is auto parts at cost and a discount on labor. That I can handle.
I'm adjusting to working full time and balancing home, kids and all that extra stuff.
I've pretty much wanted to cry at least once a day, whether it was Chelsea's difficulty adjusting to day care or all the little details I have to remember and do while my co worker is on maternity leave, heck even the problems with the truck.
I'm hoping the rest of this week goes a bit better, things at work are becoming more routine and easier and today Chelsea had a better day at day care. Sad part is that I'm forgetting simple stuff and questioning myself on almost everything.
I'm hoping once things settle down my brain will start to function properly, kind of like it used to be before I had kids.
*Carrie*

Yesterday was the coldest day in Tucson since 1956. I think we ended up at 28 degrees, with the wind even chillier.
Yep.
Lots of our friends are either without heat or water and some are both.
We were fine until mid morning when I ran to Joann's and came back to this gusher in the back yard.
It's my fault too.
When we were getting ready i asked Rob to water the yard to help with the dog pee smell.

Weeeelllll, Rob didn't blow out the line for the irrigation again and that's what blew.
It shot out the side into our freezer and all over the bag of dog food.
20 lbs of dog food gone.
I called my handy husband who came home and cut the PVC and capped it off until we can replace all the PVC pipes.
Funny story, I called Rob to ask what I needed to do to turn off the water. Rob told be to turn the red knob. Now I hadn't looked where the pipe split and I wasn't sure if turning the red shut off valve would help because the crack I was looking at was right by the valve.
So, I turned the valve and got a face full of water! The pipe had split all the way up!
Anyway everything is fixed, the pipes are wrapped for tonight because we expect another hard freeze and we are snug as a bug.
This weekend is cookie booths and the SUPER BOWL!!!
I love both teams but I would like the Packers to win this one just for Aaron Rodgers. Big Ben has enough rings.
*Carrie*

Rob hits the big 40-0!

Oh what a good time we had.
Now granted the hour before the party was a little stressing but once people showed up and the food was uncovered and the beer bottles opened, it was all good.
I've said it before we have a small house and it stresses me thinking about shoving 20+ people into it. I had set things up outside so people could head out there if they wanted. 

 It was just chilling enough that no one really wanted to hang out there.
So at one point there were 4 people sitting on the couch and three snuggled on the love seat. All extra chairs are taken.
But you know what? It was all good. People relax and just talk and not that usual trying to talk louder over people or five conversations at once. The atmosphere was a little bit more intimate.

We had 200 chicken wings, 2 types of dip, 5 types of chips, 3 different types of cakes and 2 flavors of ice cream. Of course I also had some of Rob's favorite candy, dark chocolate dove, dark chocolate peanut butter cups, jelly belly's, Reese's pieces, almond joy and butterfingers.
Major sugar overload.
When I went into planning the party I didn't want to go the "over the hill" route. The plan was to include all of Rob's                                              favorite things.

I think everyone had a great time, we laughed,we watched you tube videos, don't ask, and we just enjoyed each others company.
We are a goofy bunch when we all get together and by the end of the evening, which was early, 10pm, the birthday boy and I were sitting out in the back yard with the fire pit going and just relaxing.
Now his birthday didn't end there. We had a child free night on Saturday where we stayed home and watched a movie  and on Sunday Rob had his race.

It doesn't matter what I didn't get done cause I really think no one would have cared, but it was the stage I was trying to set. I had all these ideas from the blog hostess with the mostess.
With working I just ran out of time. But those ideas will percolate just a little bit longer and who knows, those ideas may show up later this year.
*Carrie*

Wow, what a busy but great weekend. Last week did not go as I had expected, which isn't a bad thing just threw a wrench in my planning.

I went into work on Friday morning completely thinking that I would be done by work at 12:30 at the latest. Do you have any idea when I actually got off work?...

5:15!!!

I had a party starting at at 6:30 and I had finished decorating or anything else that was on my list. Thankfully Rob had cleaned up the yard enough that nobody was going to care and I had already cleaned the house so it was just the decorating that was stressing me out.

When the first people arrived I had pretty much finished what I could on the decorating and they helped me to start setting out the food.

A

Any way I'll get to the party in another post. Today is recap on the Tour DE Cookie race that was on Sunday and the Salon opening that I shot on Saturday afternoon.

I didn't know what to expect from the cookie race. This is only the third year that the promoters have put it on.

The object is to ride from cookie booth to cookie booth and then get to the  finish line.

Well, there were only 6 cookie booths and roughly 26 miles in the race. It was fun for me because I could drive from stop to stop ahead of the guys and take photos of them. This was very different from El Tour. The Tour is so huge that it shuts down roads and creates mayhem. This is a fun ride around town.

It starts and stops at the U of A and there are maybe 600 people riding.

The promoters don't use the chips to keep track of the riders so basically they are on their own. For the riders that completed the whole course, without cutting out parts of the course my guys are in the top 5.

We found out after the race that the course map given to each rider is basically a guideline and the safest route. What we didn't understand is that you could cut the course wherever you wanted as long as you hit every cookie booth and got marked off.

So instead of my guys getting in the top 5 they were in the top 15, still pretty awesome and we all had a lot of fun until we found out how lax the rules were. Now we are better prepared for next year. 

We have even talked about supporting a booth next year so that the riders we feel cheated the course will actually have to complete the whole thing because our booth will be in the area they skipped. Which is actually really close to our house anyway so we kill two birds with one big ol' stone. Riding the route with the guys was fun. Knowing what I know now I either needed someone else to drive so I could hang out the window or I need to have power windows so I can shoot from the drivers side out through the passenger.

With only me driving I missed the guys at the first booth and I missed them crossing the finish line. I had to deal with traffic and parking around the U of A. If the guys choose to do this next year we have already discussed having James' wife Lara at the start/finish line and I can get stuff in between. Sounds like a plan, huh?

Saturday Afternoon was spent with these lovely ladies at the official grand opening of Melissa's new salon, Beauty is.

I spent about four hours shooting everything I thought the girls would want to remember. I still have a little bit of editing to do but my wonderful children broke my track ball and now I can't right click and can barely scroll through a page. Once I can get this fixed I can get their photos done and on disc to give to Melissa.

So Rob just came home with a new trackball and it's completely different from our last so this is going to take some getting used to.

Any way now I can begin working on the photos.

*Carrie*