So last night Chad and I went to the movies along with a billion other people! We saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets and loved it! I don't know what the critics are saying about it, all i know is that we liked the first National Treasure movie and we liked the second one too. There might even be a third!!!! Yippee!
FYI: TGI Fridays is open on Christmas Day.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
chad and tommy dancing!!!
During the last dinner on our cruise the wait staff encouraged the guests to dance with them! Here's some video of Chad and Tommy's cool dance moves!
The video isn't working right now...sorry :( Trust me, it was really funny!
The video isn't working right now...sorry :( Trust me, it was really funny!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas!
My Christmas prayers:
I pray that everyone takes a moment to slow down and pray for someone else in need.
I pray that we all remember the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.
I pray for my loving husband as he is a God loving man!
I pray for anyone who doesn't know the saving grace of God. Specifically that they (whoever they are) accept Jesus as their savior and invite him into thier lives to have a real relationship with such an awesome and merciful God. No matter the sins of the past..he will forgive you when you except Jesus as your savior.
I pray God gives me the words to say to be a becon of light to all who don't know Jesus.
I pray for my Nana health as she is in the hospital again tonight.
I pray for my sisters and their familes...precious Godly children they are.
I pray for chad's family's health and spirt...such wonderful people they are!
I praise God for EVERYTHING I have. I know it's not what this life is about, but God has given it to us for a reason. Thank you oh Lord for I am not worthy of your gifts. I sinned before, but now I'm saved and feel your love in many different ways. You give and take away: you provide just what we need to do your will. I praise you for sending your son to spend time on this earth existing as fully human and fully God. I recognize his birth as holy. I recognize, but cannot even begin to describe the amount of love you have for me to allow your precious son to die for all my many sins. Lord you are a great God and a God of wonders. I love you always and forever. Although tomorrow may not be Jesus' actual birthday...Christmas is a symbol of the birth of our savior. I encourage everyone to accept the good news of Jesus and become saved by his blood. I fully declare that without Jesus Christ I will not go to heaven, instead I will go to Hell. I choose God and heaven because he loves me unconditionally and chose to save me and anyone esle who would like to be saved. What do you choose? Who do you choose?
I pray that everyone takes a moment to slow down and pray for someone else in need.
I pray that we all remember the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.
I pray for my loving husband as he is a God loving man!
I pray for anyone who doesn't know the saving grace of God. Specifically that they (whoever they are) accept Jesus as their savior and invite him into thier lives to have a real relationship with such an awesome and merciful God. No matter the sins of the past..he will forgive you when you except Jesus as your savior.
I pray God gives me the words to say to be a becon of light to all who don't know Jesus.
I pray for my Nana health as she is in the hospital again tonight.
I pray for my sisters and their familes...precious Godly children they are.
I pray for chad's family's health and spirt...such wonderful people they are!
I praise God for EVERYTHING I have. I know it's not what this life is about, but God has given it to us for a reason. Thank you oh Lord for I am not worthy of your gifts. I sinned before, but now I'm saved and feel your love in many different ways. You give and take away: you provide just what we need to do your will. I praise you for sending your son to spend time on this earth existing as fully human and fully God. I recognize his birth as holy. I recognize, but cannot even begin to describe the amount of love you have for me to allow your precious son to die for all my many sins. Lord you are a great God and a God of wonders. I love you always and forever. Although tomorrow may not be Jesus' actual birthday...Christmas is a symbol of the birth of our savior. I encourage everyone to accept the good news of Jesus and become saved by his blood. I fully declare that without Jesus Christ I will not go to heaven, instead I will go to Hell. I choose God and heaven because he loves me unconditionally and chose to save me and anyone esle who would like to be saved. What do you choose? Who do you choose?
Semi Functional Rest Stop
Okay, so on the 10 hour ride home from LA, we made many stops. One stop to gas up, and about a bazillion restroom stops! Yesterday (sunday)Chad and I had detox massage and we are only guessing that it contributed to our need to stop every 30 miles (okay so I'm exaggerating a bit...but we did stop a lot) Also, to be honest, we stopped for a couple hours at the outlets too!
Anyways, 99% of the rest stations were standard in functionality and cleanliness. They had working toilets and were resonably clean considering the heavy traffic. However, we weren't so fortunate at one "cafe" rest stop. Because we really couldn't wait any longer, we had no choice but to stop at what seemed like an abandoned town..almost ghost-townish! There were a whopping 2 cars in the dirt parking lot and maybe 5 tables inside. You'd think it were quaint from my description...and it was...until I entered the womens restroom.
Imagine my surprise when I saw in the first of 4 stalls: a dirty toilet, well soiled and almost overflowing. The 2nd stall spared me the mental image of the toilet as it had a sign declaring "out of order". No biggy right..there were still 2 more stalls; I was bound to find a functioning stall. The 3rd stall proved to be manageable even though there was a hand written note on the toilet tank's lid requesting the user to "Hold down to flush-Thank you." Hey, no problem...I use my foot anyways and I have pretty good balance so I could manage in this stall. My curiosity got the best of me because like a train wreck I just had to see what was behind door number 4. I don't think words could actually describe the image or the smell. So, I'll let you look at the pics yourself. Yep, I toop pictures of it because I know people might think I was exagerating. Oh, and to make it even more of a memorable moment the sink was also "out of order" I just had to laugh! Hand sanitizer came in handy after this stop! Don't worry...there are no poopy pictures, I didn't snap a picture of stall #1.
Anyways, 99% of the rest stations were standard in functionality and cleanliness. They had working toilets and were resonably clean considering the heavy traffic. However, we weren't so fortunate at one "cafe" rest stop. Because we really couldn't wait any longer, we had no choice but to stop at what seemed like an abandoned town..almost ghost-townish! There were a whopping 2 cars in the dirt parking lot and maybe 5 tables inside. You'd think it were quaint from my description...and it was...until I entered the womens restroom.
Imagine my surprise when I saw in the first of 4 stalls: a dirty toilet, well soiled and almost overflowing. The 2nd stall spared me the mental image of the toilet as it had a sign declaring "out of order". No biggy right..there were still 2 more stalls; I was bound to find a functioning stall. The 3rd stall proved to be manageable even though there was a hand written note on the toilet tank's lid requesting the user to "Hold down to flush-Thank you." Hey, no problem...I use my foot anyways and I have pretty good balance so I could manage in this stall. My curiosity got the best of me because like a train wreck I just had to see what was behind door number 4. I don't think words could actually describe the image or the smell. So, I'll let you look at the pics yourself. Yep, I toop pictures of it because I know people might think I was exagerating. Oh, and to make it even more of a memorable moment the sink was also "out of order" I just had to laugh! Hand sanitizer came in handy after this stop! Don't worry...there are no poopy pictures, I didn't snap a picture of stall #1.
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| rest stop restroom |
Christmas Cruise
So our present to our McDonald family was to spend time together! What better way than a cruise!
Day 1: Drive 8 hours to L.A We stopped a bagillion times for gas, food, restrooms etc. There was so much wind our SUV only got 16 miles to the gallon! Yeah, crazy huh! After wating in the long line (even though we pre-registered online...it still took us 30 minutes) we boarded the boat. Then participated in a mandatory munster drill....that was fun! You'll see some awesome photos of us in our fashionable vests! Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed (quick, what movie is that line from!?). We explored the boat...grabbed a bite to eat before our 8:30pm dinner. This is where we were introduced to some pretty cool boat movement as demonstrated by a migrating ketchup bottle landing nearly in Chad's lap! Yeah, it vibrated right off the table...good catch Chad!
Day 2: Sleep in, work out with Julie (we did a yogalates class: mix between pilates and yoga) Then we got off the boat and toured Ensenada and La Bufadora (the blow hole). Oh, and we ate like a zillion churros! Did I mention that is one of the main reasons Chad and I keep taking the same cruize over and over again! They are soooo yummy! We got back in time for formal dinner. After little show by our wait staff (they sang an italian love song), we walked around the boat, listened to some Karaoke.
Day 3: Sea Day! Chad and I got massages (they covered us in sea weed, then wrapped us in a shear tin foil material (all you space people think MLI) and left us alone (wrapped up, unable to move) for about 20 minutes! Then we washed as much of the green goup off and came back for the massage! On the way back to the room, we noticed we still had some green stuff on us! Imagine the Hulk...that's wat Chad looked like! To kill some time, we won bingo, played a game of "What's in the bag/purse?" and then watched the Christmas show where all the little kids on the boat sang Christmas songs! So cute! We weren't allowed to take pictures of it though...copyright law or something. Then we caught another show a couple hours later...Rock n' Roll show...Lynn got pulled up on stage to do the Macarena! At dinner, the waiters invited the guests to dance with them! I have a great little video of Chad and his brother, Tommy dancing!
Day 4: Got up way too early, lugged our luggage off the boat (saved us oodles of time doing it ourselves rather that putting it outside our door the night before so that the crew could pick it up, haul it off the boat, then call off sections of the boat to disembark...this would have taken up the 3 hours!
Overall, we all laughed at (and with) each other...making it a great family vacation! Thank you, Julie, Tom, Tommy, and Ryan for those good times! We're ready for another!
Believe it or not, I did this whole blog during the car ride home. I'm tellin' you, those sea sickness patches work, otherwise I would have been really sick reading and typing! Gotta go...almost home! Enjoy the pics!
Day 1: Drive 8 hours to L.A We stopped a bagillion times for gas, food, restrooms etc. There was so much wind our SUV only got 16 miles to the gallon! Yeah, crazy huh! After wating in the long line (even though we pre-registered online...it still took us 30 minutes) we boarded the boat. Then participated in a mandatory munster drill....that was fun! You'll see some awesome photos of us in our fashionable vests! Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed (quick, what movie is that line from!?). We explored the boat...grabbed a bite to eat before our 8:30pm dinner. This is where we were introduced to some pretty cool boat movement as demonstrated by a migrating ketchup bottle landing nearly in Chad's lap! Yeah, it vibrated right off the table...good catch Chad!
Day 2: Sleep in, work out with Julie (we did a yogalates class: mix between pilates and yoga) Then we got off the boat and toured Ensenada and La Bufadora (the blow hole). Oh, and we ate like a zillion churros! Did I mention that is one of the main reasons Chad and I keep taking the same cruize over and over again! They are soooo yummy! We got back in time for formal dinner. After little show by our wait staff (they sang an italian love song), we walked around the boat, listened to some Karaoke.
Day 3: Sea Day! Chad and I got massages (they covered us in sea weed, then wrapped us in a shear tin foil material (all you space people think MLI) and left us alone (wrapped up, unable to move) for about 20 minutes! Then we washed as much of the green goup off and came back for the massage! On the way back to the room, we noticed we still had some green stuff on us! Imagine the Hulk...that's wat Chad looked like! To kill some time, we won bingo, played a game of "What's in the bag/purse?" and then watched the Christmas show where all the little kids on the boat sang Christmas songs! So cute! We weren't allowed to take pictures of it though...copyright law or something. Then we caught another show a couple hours later...Rock n' Roll show...Lynn got pulled up on stage to do the Macarena! At dinner, the waiters invited the guests to dance with them! I have a great little video of Chad and his brother, Tommy dancing!
Day 4: Got up way too early, lugged our luggage off the boat (saved us oodles of time doing it ourselves rather that putting it outside our door the night before so that the crew could pick it up, haul it off the boat, then call off sections of the boat to disembark...this would have taken up the 3 hours!
Overall, we all laughed at (and with) each other...making it a great family vacation! Thank you, Julie, Tom, Tommy, and Ryan for those good times! We're ready for another!
Believe it or not, I did this whole blog during the car ride home. I'm tellin' you, those sea sickness patches work, otherwise I would have been really sick reading and typing! Gotta go...almost home! Enjoy the pics!
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| McDonald Christmas Cruise |
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Today we took Melissa to The Farm! It's a small (10 acre) little pecan grove that organically grows all the veggetables used in deliciously quaint recipes in the three restaurants on site. It's located just south of Southern and 32nd St. They even bring the food in picnic baskets and you eat outside in the fresh air on old fashioned picnic tables. Being that it was such a beautiful day today, we met Chad for lunch!
I'm waiting on Melissa to send me the pic of us together with the veggie gardens behind us!
We saw this guy picking carrots! So cool! Melissa took a picture with here handy dandy camera! Then we walked around pointing to all the different kinds of lettuce (wow...there's a lot!).
How cute is this basket-o-food! Love it!
I'm waiting on Melissa to send me the pic of us together with the veggie gardens behind us!
We saw this guy picking carrots! So cool! Melissa took a picture with here handy dandy camera! Then we walked around pointing to all the different kinds of lettuce (wow...there's a lot!). 
How cute is this basket-o-food! Love it! Christmas Party with Melissa and Friends
On Friday (Dec. 16), my friend Melissa came into town to visit family and friends. We had a party in the evening where she invited lots of old friends to get together, eat great food and drink fantasticly yummy apple cider punch while sharing laughs and stories. We all had a really great time and of course they are all welcome at the McDonald's anytime...such a great group!
Jen laughing at Ryan :)
Ryan with lots-o-popcorn in his mouth!
from left: Sussy, Paula, Kristi, Melissa, Pam, Ashley
Sussy and Ashley in the kitchen bein' goofy!
Melissa made the punch so pretty! Bravo!
Jen and Ryan were also able to make it! Yeah! Ryan gave us all great photography tips and Jen showed off her new car! By the way, I love the roominess of her car and the surround sound too!
Jen laughing at Ryan :) Ryan with lots-o-popcorn in his mouth!
from left: Sussy, Paula, Kristi, Melissa, Pam, Ashley Sussy and Ashley in the kitchen bein' goofy!We did a gift exchange and had a blast! I ended up with this really cute belly dancing kit (symbals included). They all insisted I show them what I learned! Modestly, of course!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Beautiful Day!
When I walked outside this morning around 8am...there it was....fog!!!!! It was beautiful. What a beautiful day that God has given me. Because of the hectic-ness of the season and my uneasy tummy for the past week, each night I've been reminding myself of God's greatness for each day by saying, "the day is done, the day was a gift from God." I tend to go to bed thinking of the things I didn't get done or what I have yet to do. A nice relaxing bath and a simple prayer asking God to help me see the his loving and merciful gifts has really helped me! Then to walk outside and see such an awesome sight...I just wanted to praise and thank God for everything!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Thanksgiving at Lynn's parents
We all ate an early dinner at my parents house in Cave Creek. There was home-made bread to go around for all!
Because Lynn works with pre-school kids...
Although I'm not a fan of Halloween, I dressed up minimally this year...for the kids! On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the week of Halloween all the coaches dressed up and made the kids smile! On Monday I was an angel, on Tuesday the kids laughed at my kitty cat face (shown above), and then on Wednesday, I was a ladybug...antenna and wings included! Good clean fun!
Chad didn't know that I had painted my face so when he saw me he started laughing...he loves me sooo much!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Victory Day 2007
Every year, Aspire Kid Sports Center hosts a Victory Day for children ages 3-6yrs. It is a time to show off all the gymnastics skills and tricks they have learned in class. All the instructors attend making it an event geared towards making the children smile! Here are the pics from this years Victory Day (Dec. 1st)
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| Victory Day 2007 |
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