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!

Here we go again...

nomad

(nō'măd') n.

1. A member of a group of people who have no fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.
2. A person with no fixed residence who roams about; a wanderer.

Gypsy

(jĭp'sē)

1. A person who moves from place to place as required for employment, especially:
   1. A part-time or temporary member of a college faculty.
   2. A member of the chorus line in a theater production.

wander (wŏn'dər)

v., -dered, -der·ing, -ders. v.intr.

1. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
2. To go by an indirect route or at no set pace; amble: wander toward town.
3. To proceed in an irregular course; meander.
4. To go astray: wander from the path of righteousness.
5. To lose clarity or coherence of thought or expression.

Which one do you think we are?

We (as a family) decided that we need our daddy around so we have decided that even though the whole city is going straight to he## (just ask Amy L.) we are going to relocate to Vegas...SOON!

We LOVE St. George, I could stay here the rest of my life...but as we all know it's not all up to me. This will be a good thing in the long run because we will see Dan WAY more, I will be able to help out at the office, Dan won't have to commute forever, and because it is important for us to be together as a family. Hopefully (please cross your fingers for us) this will be the last move for a LONG while...yes Kallie is in 3rd grade and this will be her 4th elementary school!

I'll email updated contact info soon...like two weeks soon!

Change of plans...

This year we were planning on hanging out at home Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and then heading up to grandpa & grandma's in the afternoon. We've never really been home Christmas morning since we've had kids...it's just what comes with living far away! So, that was our plan until yesterday's CRAZY snowstorm up north, with another one scheduled for Christmas Eve night. So...do we head out tomorrow morning (earlier than planned) or do we take the risk of not going at all. Yup...you guessed it, we're heading out early!

My original plan for Christmas Eve (since I didn't want to be home feeling sad) was that we would make gingerbread houses. I guess the right word would be 'assemble' gingerbread houses since I bought the kit from Costco (totally worth the money by the way, these things were AWESOME)! So we decided to pull them out tonight and have ourselves some good ol' Christmas fun! We turned on the Mo Tab Christmas DVD and ate candy until our bellies ached!

Kallie's quote of the night: 'This is really the Christmas Spirit mom...can you feel it?!'

Sydney's quote of the night: (referring to her dollar store glasses) 'These got frosting on them, I guess they'll have to be licked!'

Look at the determination on that little face! This frosting was thick stuff...but that's a good thing because that candy wasn't going anywhere!

I was 'attempting' to have an artistic moment and get a cool picture of the colorful candy...when this hand swooped in at the last minute to steal some of the loot!

Attempt #2...by the way (for any who care) these pictures were all taken at 2500 ISO! WOW! Isn't technology amazing...I love NOT using my flash!

Syd's final masterpiece...

Kallie's creation!

Merry Christmas to you all! And PLEASE, PLEASE forgive me for being the loser who didn't send out Christmas Cards this year! Next year...I pinky promise!

Dear Grandma..

Dear Grandma,

We know you really want some vertical pictures of us for the wall in your living room, and the other day my mom tried to take some of us. Unfortunately, it was really cold and we were being uncooperative. We didn't really want to get our pictures taken even though our mom had bribed us with a lollipop from Pizza Factory. For some reason, we thought it would be best if we made faces and smiled the cheesiest (big teeth) smiles we could muster. By the end we were whining and complaining and begging to go into the visitor center of the temple to warm up. My mom was pretty frustrated with us. So, dear grandma, if you don't like any of these pictures, it is not our mom's fault...we take full responsibility. We could always try again in the spring! If there are any pictures you like (which we hope so we don't have to endure another painful photo session with our mother) just let us know and we will tell our mom which ones you want. We are really sorry grandma, and we are just hoping that Santa doesn't leave a lump of coal in our stockings because we were being sorta naughty.

Love you lots and lots...Kallie & Sydney

My kinda snow day...

St. George has my kind of snow days...no school because of 4" of snow! Mostly melted by the afternoon with 30 degree temps. We had a GREAT day...thanks for lunch Lindsey!

These girlies were outside playing (in their jammies) at 8:00 am.

Perfect, perfect little storm to get us in the Christmas spirit!