comings & goings...

Whew...my life feels like a whirlwind these days! I feel like (and look like too I'm sure) a chicken running around with my head cut off. But in a good way...

I decided I would way rather be busy working on files and learning insurance instead of being busy causing myself an anxiety ulcer. At least this kind of busy might produce something good in the end!

Here we are in Portland eating at the Chart House restaurant on Valentines night. Nina and Joe (sitting next to me) are the amazing people who are giving of their time and talents to help get this little office off the ground. I can't even begin to tell you how much they are helping us...on and WAY beyond anything we could have hoped for! This restaurant they treated us to (at an 11:00pm reservation) was AMAZING! The food was delicious, the company was delightful and the view of Portland was amazing. Sometimes a simple "thank you" just doesn't quite express the gratitude you feel in your heart...

We were even lucky enough to still be at the restaurant after midnight...which meant it was February 15th...which meant it was our 13th anniversary! I remember the day like it was yesterday! Oh how I love this guy (even though he finds joy in causing me anxiety ulcers :) and I look forward to 13 more and then 13 more and then 13 more after that!

And just for documentation purposes...what would you do if you had to hang out at "THE OFFICE" day after day, hour after hour?

Would you play a little computer?

Would you write a few Valentines?

Would you play Littlest Pet Shop on the floor?

Would you sit around letting your brain turn into Jell-o while you watched TV?

The possibilites are endless :) But...look on the bright side, 14 NEW patients next week alone! And yes Adrie...I do feel like doing the "happy dance"! Then again, maybe I'll wait until we actually get a check from the insurance before I begin...but I'll start getting ready to dance!

sometimes...

sometimes...just sometimes...if you have enough people praying for you (who have more faith than you do yourself), the Lord sees fit to send a miracle, as a very direct answer to all of those prayers. We have been extremely blessed to get in contact with an office in Portland that is a limited practice in the treatment of sleep apnea through oral appliances, just like Dan's office. They came to visit our office this weekend...and we will go to their office in Portland next weekend.

I want to send a gigantic 'THANK YOU' to my friend Stephanie for flying down to my house to keep track of the girlies so we could really focus on all of the information these people had to teach us about the correct way to run an office like this one. It was such a blessing to know that my girls were in good hands while we spent many long hours with these kind people from Portland. This morning, Stephanie asked Syd if she was going to miss her. Syd said, "Yeah...but I'm REALLY going to miss Isaac."

Meet Isaac...Stephanie's 6 month old little sweetie that my girls were totally smitten by. He was extremely cooperative during our little 10 minute photo shoot out in the rainy, cold weather.

We have been truly blessed...thanks for your prayers in our behalf!

One Word...

Holy macro...I just scrolled through my blog forever trying to find a picture of myself to put on this post. You can tell who takes the pictures in our family! This is the best I could find...

Anyway...I was vacuuming today and I thought of an email that went around long ago that said something to the effect: how would you describe me in one word. I never passed the email along because very rarely do I forward anything, but for some reason today (probably a year after I got that email) I'm curious how people would describe me in one word.

Leave me a comment...and it can't be the same "word" that someone else used! Also, if it's going to be a mean word (which I can handle) make sure and do it anonymously :)

Phoenix...

Let me begin by making a little list of all the sad, torturous things my girls were subjected to by being forced to stay with Diane for 5 days- NOT! Ha- they were the opposite of tortured...they were Spoiled (with a capital "S"). They went for a nice sunny bike ride every morning, they made amazing princess dresses (they picked pattern, fabric, trim, etc.), they made jewelry, they made purses, they played Wii and watched movies, and even made their own TOAST...and LOTS of it! They had so much fun in Phoenix & we will be eternally grateful to Diane (& family) for saving my girlies from 5 long days hanging out at the office!

On Saturday we all packed up and headed to the Phoenix Zoo. I can't even tell you how beautiful the day was! The weather made you want to sit on a blanket on the grass and eat a yummy picnic lunch while staring at the fluffy clouds in the blue sky...yes it was truly that lovely. Aside from the fact that our children thought we were trying to starve them to death right around lunch time, we had mounds of fun!

Sometimes we forget it's winter in other places...

screaming because they are about to get eaten by a giant oyster...aaaahhhh!

I love that this little girl was saying, "mom- take my picture here", "mom- take my picture by this". I've trained this little turtle well!

This elephant was AMAZING! I can't get over how realistic it looks.

Love this one...we need a baby at our house!

Nothing better than a secret cave in the middle of a couple of gigantic hairy palm trees!

Proud member of the FFA!

And of course the petting zoo (can't fully appreciate these w/o imagining the smell that goes along with it).

Mom, pleeeeease can we get a goat?!

Samuel...

The only time the twins held still ALL day. They were TERRIFIED of the goats (however, they were NOT terrified of putting one of the goat brushes in their mouth and sucking on it...gag!)

A little blurry, but still a keeper!

After the zoo, Diane had to take her car in to get the tires balanced. I was a little tired so I laid down on Samuel's bed for a minute. Then my brain got thinking about a comment Diane had made about getting built-ins on either side of her fireplace. My little brain thought, "she doesn't need built-ins, she can use those nice bookcases she got from Costco...then she can move her dining room table into the other room and then she can shuffle the couches and the piano and the computer...etc...you get the idea. I mentioned my thought to her and the rest is history (much to both of our husband's dismay at having to move pieces of heavy furniture again & again until we found just the right spot). They helped move the piano and computer armoire and then we made them go to a movie while we did the rest. It was so much fun...I loved it and I loved how it turned out. The true test is whether the new set-up will function for their family or will everything get put back in its original spot next time I visit?!? Here are some of the before pictures...Diane will send after photos when all pictures are hanging and accessories are in place. Do our husbands still love us after this...that is yet to be determined!

We love the Jensen family...thanks a million-bazillion!

Happy Birthday Grandma Sellers!

On Wednesday night Dan and I had the BEST time visiting Grandma Sellers to celebrate her 87th birthday (one day early)! Woo-Hoo! I made sure I had my camera, but failed to make sure (like many times in the past) that the battery was charged. Thank goodness for iPhone photography!

What an awesome and beautiful grandma she is and we are all amazed at how she keeps track of and send birthday cards to all of her grandkids and to her ever-increasing number of great-grandkids! She was SO happy to be celebrating her birthday and she was such a joy to be around...she even had a SECOND bowl of ice cream! Grandma Sellers has lived in Las Vegas for LONG time and we are THRILLED to live close to her and look forward to being with her for many more happy birthdays to come! WE love you Grandma Sellers!

Visitors & Random Thoughts...

I know what you're thinking..."All of Carrie's thoughts are RANDOM." Yes, it's true!

But before I share my random thoughts/photos, I had to announce the arrival of our first over-night guests! YAY! Diane and the kiddos arrived Thursday night and were welcomed by a gourmet cake (aka cake mix) and beeeeeautiful home-made sign by Kallie Ann. Look close and you will notice that the paper is the paper they put under the instruments on the tray at the dental office. Yup! She made this while hanging out in a treatment room at Dan's office while we saw a patient. I think it turned out lovely! Maybe you should try shutting your child in a small examination room and see what they come up with :)

"Welcome to Las Vegas"

Little depth-of-field issue I know...let's say I did that on purpose just for effect. Diane always wanted to be the fuzzy person in the background right?!? Oh how I love, LOVE these people! And Diane (being the saintly aunt that she is) took Kallie & Syd home to Phoenix with her for the week since they are officially "OFF TRACK". Yes, we are now enrolled in a year-round school and my girls are now enjoying a week full of no homework, babies, projects with Diane, Wii and much, much more (followed by 2 MORE weeks of freedom when they come back home). Dan and I will head down in a few days to pick them up.

Now for the randomness...

look closely at the middle picture. Notice anything a little off? Yes...it's upside down! When we moved, the plate came unglued and fell off. I, being my brilliant self, glued it back on UPSIDE down! What to do? The hanger on the back is now at the bottom of the picture. I'm afraid to move the hanger because I don't want to break the plate. So what should I do? Just hang it up upside down just to remind myself of the brain cells that I lost somewhere between St. George and Henderson!

Our TV is set back in this little section of the wall that is obviously intended for an entertainment center. Well, we don't have an entertainment center so we put our TV on this little bench that used to be in our dining room. I had the hardest time deciding what to hang above the TV and finally decided on these "Sun Valley" suns. What do you think? Do they sorta look like boobs?

I always have the hardest time knowing what to do with all these cute cards after Christmas. This year especially I couldn't BEAR the thought of getting rid of them because I am seriously lacking in the friend department since we moved. I wanted to remind myself that there ARE people who I know and love, even if I don't live by them :(. So I hung them up on my magnet board and I must say that they bring me such joy everytime I walk by...I'm pretty sure they're going to stay there until next Christmas when you send me new ones to take their place! If you're NOT on this board...send me a picture and I'll hang you up too! (got yours Kelli G...you're now on the board :)

Last and probably least, the stairway that looks like it's leading to the second floor of an insane assylum. I told you this house is WHITE! What happy/colorful thing can I hang going up this staircase that is el-cheapo or even better...free! Give me ideas please!

ok...one more...Bear on "Man vs Wild". Does anyone else have a secret crush on him?

Is it just Vegas???

I really want answers to these questions by the way...

Is it just Vegas or are ALL teenage females wearing jeans that are so skin tight they can't breathe and are tapered so tight at the bottom that I have NO idea how they got them over their feet?

Is it just Vegas or is there always a drunk homeless man passed out at the table across from you at Wendy's? (hmmm...Syd now has diarrhea, beware of Wendy's)

Is it just Vegas or is milk really $3.98 a gallon everywhere else?

Is it just Vegas or are there active (admitted) members of the mob calling your husband's office too?

Is it just Vegas or did everyone's car insurance double? (one of the highest priced places for car insurance in the nation...excuse me?)

Is it just Vegas or does every third grader come home from school deciding to be a vegetarian because her teacher is and they had a class discussion about it?

Is it just Vegas or is everywhere 65 degrees and sunny this time of year?

No seriously...tell me the truth, is it just Vegas???

Hey baby let's go to Vegas!

Sorry these have been forever in coming...not much hanging around the house going on these days. To clear things up a bit...I am now working FULL TIME at Dan's office. Too hard to pay employees the big $$$ while just starting up. My day goes something like this: get ready, get everybody else ready (except Dan, he can do that himself), out the door by 8:30, drop Kallie off at school, head to the office, Syd hangs out with us there all morning, leave about 11:45, go home to let the pooch out, get Syd some lunch, drop Syd off at pm kindergarten, back to the office, leave at 2:40 to pick kids up from school, back to the office, kids stay in a treatment room (with toys, snacks and a tv), while Dan see's a 4:00 patient (which is his busiest appointment time), home (in the dark) for dinner, homework, baths, bedtime. Wake up tomorrow...do it again.

Facts about the house:
*60 sq ft bigger than our Bellevue house
*gated community
*houses squashed in like sardines...but not attached (like the townhouse- thank goodness)
*equipped w/ garage to protect our vehicles from neighborly car bombings
*white, white, white...if this house was mine I can't tell you how fast I'd be heading to Home Depot for MANY gallons of paint. Very institutional feeling this one...
*Beau goes out every morning to do his thing and bark at the pigeons, and every morning my neighbor whips up her blinds and shuts her window that she leaves cracked all night. I try to make him be quiet...I follow him around going, "shhhhhh"...but the dog's gotta bark. (sorry neighhbor)
*HUGE ward, and I'm sure many potential friends if I only had time for them.
(I emailed contact info, but I know I don't have everyone's email addresses updated...if you want our address/phone etc email me (norrisbunch@yahoo.com))

The tour begins at the front...

Just inside is a den/formal living room...

Next, tv room/family room...

At the back of the house is the dining room and kitchen. We can even fit our BIG table in here...I'm sure we'll grab it next time we're at Dan's parent's house.

Kitchen, dirty dishes and all. Wouldn't some curtains be nice, but Dan says, "No drilling in the rental, only nails."

Up the stairs is a nice loft, perfect for toys and the couch that I dropped on my leg.

To the left is the girls' room (nicely decorated, I know) and a guest bedroom (w/ a queen size bed just waiting for you to come visit us and sleep in it).

To the right is the master with a closet about 3x as big as the one at the townhouse :)!

And last but not least...the backyard (once again, sorry neighbor). For those of you buried in snow right now...just think, you could have ROCKS instead!

So there you have it home sweet home for at least 12 months. Keep praying (please) that Dan's office will continue to grow...

I am surprised how well the girlies are adjusting. Different house, different school, different friends...BUT the same mama and daddy, the same doggie, the same toys, the same dishes, the same furniture, the same bedtime song. It's those things that stay the same that help us get through.

I must add how SERIOUSLY MUCH I am missing Idaho and all my friends right now. I know everyone goes through this when they move to a new place, but I called Amy L. on my way to work, left her a message (probably better that she didn't answer) and cried the rest of the way there. (geeez, sorry for being so depressing) Anyone want to come visit....I'll watch your kids while you go gamble?!?

Facebook???

To Facebook...or not to Facebook...that is the question???

honest feedback please...

worth the time...waste of time...

First things first...

Yes...we've officially arrived in Sin City. Yes...we're still alive (barely). Yes...I have a saintly sister who endured the whole move with us. Yes...I have a huge bruise on my leg from dropping a couch on it. Yes...the girls went to their first day of school today. Yes...I'm now a working mother (not sure how I feel about that one yet). And Yes...I'm going to post pictures of Christmas before I show you photos of the new place (mostly because there are boxes everywhere). Ha...you're going to have to wait!


Sydney opening the Barbie cash register that she found hidden oh-so-carefully under the stairs...that one was from Mom & Dad (wink, wink).

Doesn't he look cozy...I surprised him with tickets to go see the 'Body Worlds Exhibit'. He loved it...I knew he would!

Love this!

I know I look old and tired but I had sent kids back to bed 3 times during the night, the excitement is just too much! I wanted to include this picture because Kallie (w/ Dan's help) used ALL of her allowance money to buy me a necklace and some earrings. She hid them away in her suitcase with her snow boots and managed to keep them a secret...what a sweet girl!

Can I even tell you how much I love Christmas jammies...they wore them ALL day!

Did I promise Kamie I wouldn't post this one??? I lied...what a cute donkey she is!

And...last but not least! The ONLY picture I took during the big move. Look close, can you see all those little heads buried in boxes enjoying their last few minutes of cartoons before the TV got loaded in the car. I didn't take more pictures because I sort of want to forget the last few weeks of my life...I'm exhausted!