Aloha!

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to be in Hawaii when it's snowing at home? Well, it is! My poor brother (Ryan) is STILL sitting on his plane -- on the ground -- in Portland trying to get here. He was supposed to leave PDX at 8:50 this morning, it's now almost 12 hours later and he's still waiting. Poor kid. Meanwhile, today was our first day of sun here. The last few days have been overcast, but still nice and warm. We have spent a lot of time at the beach and it was kind of nice not having to worry too much about the kids getting sunburned. Today we woke up to sun and everyone (Ben) wanted to go to the beach ASAP to get the most of his tanning experience. For those of you who don't know this about Ben, he's got magical skin that tans beautifully and if it burns, the next day it fades into a dark brown glow. I do not have this magical gift. I was cursed with pasty pale skin that does not tan, only burns. When my burn starts to heal, it peels and I look like a leper. Yeah, it's rad. Anyway, I'm super jealous of Ben because his skin looks so nice and I look like a giant lobster with funny lines. I thought about taking a picture of my awesome sunburn lines, but to get the full effect, you'd have to see me naked. Don't worry, I won't make you do that. Just know that I look and feel pretty ridiculous.

Christmas Decorations

We love decorating for Christmas at our house. It's kind of a big deal. We have been known to decorate BEFORE Thanksgiving in years past, but this year we held out for a few days and didn't decorate until the Sunday following Thanksgiving. That's a long time to wait for us. We pretty much transform the whole house. I haven't actually counted, but I think there are only 5 or 6 things in my house that AREN'T specifically Christmas or Winter themed -- that includes house plants and family pictures. Anyway, I thought I'd share some pictures of our house for those of you that I don't get to see this holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone!

My Finger

Okay, here's the story: My dad loves tacos. It's his favorite food in the world, so today at work, they had a taco party for lunch. Everyone was supposed to bring something. Ben was assigned guacamole and ketchup. I make a killer guacamole. He left for basketball after the kids went to bed and I decided to get started making it. I was dumb and cut off the side of my finger whilst chopping jalapenos. It hurt like the devil and didn't stop bleeding until the next day, but I'm feeling much better. Several people have asked me what it looks like. I have it all bandaged up and I'm not about to take it all apart whenever someone wants to see it, so I took a picture of it when I was changing bandages. So, if you get grossed out easily, don't look!














It was bleeding A LOT last night and throbbing terribly, so I had to sleep with my finger elevated. Ben got me all set up :-) I know, I LOOK comfortable, but I didn't sleep well and woke up with my hand totally numb and a kink in my neck. By the way, I'm not crying, I was just making my "I'm in pain" face.

You want to know what's really awkward? I got a paper cut later today on the same hand and got onion juices in the cut! The universe hates me! Oh, and just so you know, I managed to find the severed chunk of flesh before it ended up in the guacamole.

Greatest Christmas Ever!

Can I tell you all how excited I am for Christmas this year? First of all, I love Christmas every year, but how much more fun is it when you get to escape the winter rains and go to HAWAII!?!?!?! That was the big gift from my parents this year. My parents, brothers, sister-in-law, husband,and my kids are all going! I kinda wish I had a little more notice so I would have been more motivated to exercise and get rid of the last little bit of baby fat, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. Besides, it's not like I'm going to see anyone I know there. My plan is to spend the entire week on the beach. I want to come home warmed through to the core, bottle up some sunshine in my soul, and make everyone jealous that I have a tan in the middle of winter. Of course, my tan will only last for 3 or 4 days, so by the time I see any of you, it'll be gone, but the peeling that is sure to follow will make you less jealous of me. :-) So, thanks again Mom and Dad and a special "Happy Birthday" shout out to my dad. We love you, thanks for everything, hopefully your party tonight will be even better because of the delicious German Chocolate Cake I made for you (from scratch).

p.s. If you want to see something funny, go to David & Sara's blog (link on the left) and watch the video of Sara finding out about the Hawaii trip. She's never been and she has always wanted to go. I love this video! It makes me laugh every time!

Yay for new pictures!!

Ben's dad took some great pictures of the kids while they were here for Thanksgiving. I don't have time to delve into details right now, but just to sum up:
The food was delicious.
The company was wonderful.
The kids behaved (mostly).
I saw Twilight (again) and Quantum of Solace thanks to built in babysitters.
Now my house is covered in Christmas decorations.