Just another beautiful sunrise

Snapped this real quick the other morning as I was leaving for work, it had been storming all night.

Just a week in the life of our crazy kids

The other night we watched Percy Jackson, at the end they had me rewind it so they could rock out to the Lady Gaga music in the casino scene, 9 times...including a water break. heehee

Aiden has decided that Beyla's kennel is a great place to hide. Ewww.

Do I really even need to say anything about this one?

Our backyard

Man I love looking out our back windows. So many beautiful views all through the year. Makes me smile every time, sometimes I just stand there for a minute to soak it all in.

Aint' she perty?

Aint' she just a beaut???? Comin' along right nicely now, got that nice meaty look to it.

silly Erin......

Would you believe I'm actually not even totally sure how I did this? Something along the lines of sitting in my boss' office barefoot a few days ago.

Typically when I do things like this Rick just laughs at me and shakes his head....

I love trees!

Bought a new picture to hang above our bed.

LOVE it!

I just love trees, old gnarly trees with soul. They make me happy and remind me of home:

So, we went for a drive....

So last weekend we went for a drive as a family. Well, we started out trying to go hike some caves but we couldn't actually find the caves (minor detail).
As we were headed back to town this gorgeous storm was blowing in & I was able to get these awesome pictures of the fields with the mountains in the distance. Personally, I love the way the clouds look.

The kiddos all crashed on the drive back, Trevor always falls asleep on Aiden's lap & then gets beat up the whole time.

"Feeling Good"

Oh my goodness! A million thanks to my sister-in-law, Jaime, for showing me this new Michael Bublé video on You Tube... I'd never even hear this song of his.
Ever since she showed it to me a few nights ago I've been totally hooked addicted to it.

Eeek.... enjoy!

(click here for the link)

Clean house!

I LOVE having a clean house, I'm one of those that has a hard time relaxing if it's not clean, but with our crazy 2-working-parent-schedules it doesn't always happen. This pic is actually from last weekend but it symbolizes how awesome my family is. This morning we all got up, ate breakfast, rolled up our sleeves & got the place shining.... with plenty of time to spare after lunch for fun family stuff.
I love you guys!

Flip flops anyone?

If come summer you're an Old Navy flip flop junkie like me then my friends, now is the time to buy!
I was just browsing on their website & they still have tons of colors on clearance for $2.50/ pair when you buy 2 or more.
At these prices you can afford to get all those fun colors you'd normally reason yourself out of during summer.... like "hot coral pink" and "Robbie red" and "beansprout"... or whatever, instead of just tan & black to cover the basics.
So ladies, click here to start shopping!

Gotta love Craigslist

Holy freaking cow... hilarious.
I just saw this posting on the Boise Craiglist's employment section, wow.

Gee, wonder why they didn't get the job, I sure would've interviewed him.

Re: CNA OR CAREGIVERS NEEDED ! (BOISE AREA) (Boise)

---

Date: 2009-10-07, 1:51PM MDT
Reply to: see below

---

You obviously don't want to hire anyone THAT bad. I have over 14 years of experience, have sent you my resume, called 3 times and left messages with no call back. The least you could do is call me back and tell me I'm wasting my time or that you're just a piece of #*@! that has no intention of hiring anyone. Idiot. Progressive Nursing SUCKS!

• Location: Boise
• Compensation: not worth my time.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

~click here for the link~

It's a bird, it's a plane! Really.... it's a plane.

The other night there was a crop duster spraying the corn field across the road from the back of our house. The plane would fly low right over us to turn around & the kids just loved it. They were out there for almost an hour just watching it.
Ah, the little joys of childhood summers...

and the rain just keeps coming....

Silly me.
I thought it was the middle of June.
Apparently over here in the Boise area we're still stuck in April.
I love the rain, it's good for my flowers & garden.
Except they need the sun too.

Here's a pic out my back door after one of the showers... love it.

We're all good around here

Just some random pictures from the past week or so.

Rick finally got some time off from work & we've been having fun spending time together as a family.
Trevor & Olivia started swimming lessons again yesterday & of course, are loving it.

We had our first date (thanks for the babysitting Dennis & Evlyn) since our 10th Anniversary (9 months ago). Let me just say that it was LONG overdue. We went to go see Wolverine & loved it.

Oh yeah, I know this is an older picture but I just have to point something out:
Aiden has RED hair.... not blonde (nice try Rick)

Aha! My genes have finally broken through & shown up in our children. It makes me so very happy.

(ok, so he doesn't have much hair but it's red... click on the pic to see it bigger)

Barbie's defense:

I played with Barbies... my brothers played with Barbies with me (sorry guys, you know it's true)...my daughter plays with Barbies & I think it's great.

My current personal favorite: Scotland Barbie

(way to go lass!)

So, I'm completely stealing (as in literal cut & paste) from one of my best friend in the entire world's blog.

Thank you Kristen, no way could I have said it better than this:

The Case for Barbie

(image found here)

Recently in the news and magazines, articles have been popping up about Barbie's 50th birthday; which is being celebrated this year by Mattel and by collectors everywhere. However, her birthday does not come without it's share of opposition. For years now people have railed against Barbie as an unhealthy and unrealistic role model for our daughters.

Mothers and psychiatrists alike came out against the impossibly-curvy-while-being-impossibly-slim (according to sources, her real life measurements would be 39-21-33) doll, stating that she was largely to blame for the rise in eating disorders and heightened sexual awareness in young children.

(Image)

I have to disagree. My mother, single until I was 8 years old, allowed me to play with Barbies. My mom is not a girly girl. Sure she likes herself some fancy heels and she curls her hair before she goes out, but she's more likely to be seen in cotton and flannel in her free time and I could probably count on my fingers the number of times she has allowed makeup to touch her face. She has caught her own fish, killed her own deer, changed her own tires and helped build her new house after she got married.

I am a girly girl. I love makeup and fashion and the one time my dad took me hunting I humiliated him beyond description. I had several Barbies and boxes full of clothes and a Ken doll for all of them to fight over. My 3 younger sisters also played with Barbies. They range from "almost as girly as me" to "touch me with that curling iron and you die".

(image)

Last Christmas my friend, who had previously been opposed to letting her daughter play with Barbies, allowed us to buy her one as a present. Her husband had decided it was high time his little girl get some fashion sense. (heh) My sons picked out "Barbie for President" Barbie. Score one for females around the world, I say. Barbie now has had so many uniforms and held so many positions, a young girl can hold this doll and see before herself a world full of possibilities.

And about those eating disorders: What has happened to women, teens, and young girls since Barbie began to be ostracized a couple of decades ago? We have gotten fat. The term "muffin top" has been coined and it does not refer to anything so warm and delicious as a freshly baked blueberry breakfast food.

The last time I saw a Barbie with workout clothes on, it was 1984. Is it possible that having an impossibly beautiful and curvaceous icon to look up to (down upon?) helps us to see the possibilities in ourselves? Helps us to make goals of beauty and health that have been tossed aside in favor of a milkshake and french fries?

Happy Birthday, Barbie. May your youth, beauty, and impossible curves last another 50 years!

Pay it Forward

Here's a TAG game that I'm willing to play!

Pay it FORWARD
--How it works: The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me.What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO!
Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions).Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy! Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify.
Good luck!

Yes, Mom, we're still alive....

Sorry about the lack of posting & pictures lately.... been a tad bit busy.
Everyone keeps asking for pictures of the house so I went around with my camera before church. You won't however, see any of the living room (clean w/ boxes of DVD's in the corner) , garage (still working on it), or master bedroom (Rick was sleeping off his headache).

So, guess those areas will wait for later.

Ooooh, aaaaah, the pretty master bath.

Cherry on top: our wicked awesome closet.
It makes me happy every morning.

Cute kids in their room that they simply LOVE.

One of my other favorite places in the house, I love my laundry room/ food storage!

.... and my kitchen is so fun, *sigh*

And, of course.... pics of the kids for the Grandparents:

Trevor trying to do the one-eyebrow-thing w/ Rick

Livvy just posing (as usual).

#@%*#&*!!!!!

Arrrgh!

So yesterday SO was not my day. Rick ended up throwing up all night so I decided to be a good wife & go out & shovel the 12" of snow we had on our porch, sidewalk, driveway, & all around the cars. (Of course, it was snowing so quickly that two hours later it didn't really do that much good since there was another 4")

Anyways..... I got the kids bundeled up, they went out to play while I shoveled. I came back inside & saw that my laptop was on the couch. I figured that wasn't the best spot for it so I picked it up to move it onto the kitchen table.

WELL.... apparently my hands were still a little shaky from being outside & about 2" from the table

I dropped it.

Yeah, really, BAM on the floor.

Now it won't start. At all. Both Rick & Kade say I did something to the hardrive.

Nice.

Good thing the waranty ran out two months ago.

I'm off to bribe the computer shop guys this morning with cookies. Because, of course, none of my recent pictures or documents were backed up.

Genius.

Awesomely hilarious pic

No idea who this guy is...

So I'm working on a presentation for one of my classes & came across this photo. It reminds me of the scene in Signs where JoaquinPhoenix is sitting on the couch with his niece & nephew wearing the tin foil hats to protect them from the aliens.

I thought it was friggin' hilarious & wanted to share.

(In case anyone cares, I got it here.)

Sweetie post

So apparently I've been tagged a few times for this (sorry, been a little Blogger AWOL).

So here it is:

Each person answers questions about their sweethearts. At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.
What is your husbands name? Patrick Dean Davis
How long have you guys been married? 10 years 2 months
How long did you date? Um, 4 months I think & then engaged for 6. But we'd known each other for years.
How old is he? No one would ever guess it but he's 33... he only looks 19.
Who is taller? Him, by nearly a foot, I like 'em tall.
Who can sing best? Um, we can both carry a tune but I like to sing more.
Who is smarter? We're both super-genuses.... I do medical & he does all the math-y stuff.
Who does laundry? Usually me, unless I ask him or if he needs clothes.
Who pays the bills? That would be me. If I died he would be clueless.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Quite the story on this one. For the past 10 YEARS I've slept on the right (when you look at the bed) but about three months ago Rick decided that was now his side & took it over. Grrrr.....
Who mows the lawn? Rick, unless he's way too busy then I'll do it.
Who cooks dinner? Me, if you could call it cooking these days. But he has no problem doing it if needed.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We both are way too stubborn, we both usually think we're right. I'm trying to get better though.
Who kissed who first? Rick did, the sweetest little smooch & then I ruined it by freaking him out by mentioning that I was still 17 for a week (oops). A few months later he broke out the big guns.
Who wears the pants? Um, depends on the situation???

I tag: Kristen, Amber, April, Jenny, Leslie, & Annikan