HI, MY LITTLE BLOG!

Yes folks, I'm still here, I'm still alive and kicking. Its been nearly 5 months since my last post. I'm sorry. Life got away from me in a sense. But i also procrastinated a lot. ;)

So, Klaire turned 7, and entered into 1st grade. All in the same month. That was a *HUGE* adjustment having her gone for 8ish hours a day. My baby, is gone. Next thing i know she will be graduating, and as i type this i am in total awe that half of the school year has passed already! The drive has been brutal for us. But we deal because the school is outstanding. We found a housing development that we are totally in love with near her school, but the prices are outrageous. We will get there one day i hope.

Then i got a temporary job, at the State Fair. It was full of awesomeness and fun. I'm addicted, kinda like when you work at the airport, it just gets into your blood and your there. For good.lol When i was told that in August by my cousin, i kinda laughed a little because i didn't believe it, how could *THE FAIR* be that much fun?! And now, here we are in January and I'm kinda itching to go back.LOL!!! I cant wait to get the new manual and get back to work.
I ended up working for my cousin whom i totally admire and adore. Shes simply wonderful in every way. We had a lot of really great laughs and she helped me like i was a 2 year old. I met some of the greatest people and my aunt was the big boss over us all. Working for her was a real blast as well. She is the oil that keeps it all going there, and it was a privilege to be a part of that.

After the fair was over i decided to go back to work for good, if the right job came along. My back was doing really well the first part of the year and i felt like timing was perfect with Klaire in school all day.
I found a job, and WHAM!!! A month or so into it, my back totally pooped out on me. But ill get into that later.lol
So by Thanksgiving i had to quit my job because i could no longer lift, bend, or move, let alone walk any distance without being in tears and severe pain.

In October, we went to Disneyland. We only get the opportunity to take trips like this every few years. Kreg's work doesn't allow for a lot of free time for family stuff. So when we do this sort of thing, it takes LOADS of planning and even then, there's no guarantee it will really happen. He took a week off total, we drove down and back. The jeep was amazing, it was great to have a reliable vehicle for once!lol We overnighted in Vegas both legs to and from.
It was a blast to go back and have Klaire ride more rides. We want to go back, hopefully in a few years. There was alot we really wanted to do but wasnt able to. Everything was so rushed, i have yet to be able to take it all in and fully enjoy it. By the end of the trip we were ready to come home though.
On the way home Klaire ended up getting a really nasty bug. While overnighting in Vegas she spiked a super high fever and woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air and choking on snot.
The poor kid was so tired from the trip and then got sick on top of it all. Here we are in January and shes just now getting back to normal from it. It really scarred us with her getting that sick, its been years since its been that bad.

November came upon us super fast and before we knew it it was Thanksgiving! As we usually do, we smoked our turkey again. It was full of wonderful and rich flavor and the smoke on it was fantastic! I can honestly say that i can no longer eat baked turkey, its just not the same.lol The other food was wonderful as well, Kreg did an amazing job helping me because of my back, i just cant handle standing and kneeling for 3 days cooking and smoking the turkey. So it was nice that it was a joint effort. And i have to admit, it was great being just the 3 of us. We could sit down and eat, get full, leave our plate, and come back to it later. We could eat the pies the next day if we wanted. I didnt have to make Green Bean Cassarole if i didnt want to. It was just so relaxed. We weren't on someone elses schedule eating someone elses food in someone elses house. It was so nice.

After Thanksgiving, Christmas was fast approaching. It was a good year for us, it was a super fun year as well. We were able to have a live tree, which is totally awesome! Kreg's poor arms though, they don't fair to well with the needles and pollens. I think next year I'll have to dose him up on Benedryl really good before he puts on the lights.lol
This year for Christmas we broke from tradition and celebrated with both sides of the family. It was interesting.
In the last few years Kreg and i have taken the approach to the holidays that "if family wants to see us, then they need to come to us". We grew extremely tired of catering and appeasing other family members on the holidays, and then having to deal with the fall out of an overtired and cranky kid. And feeling like all we did on the holiday was drive around. People took it for granted and expected us to be there no matter what every holiday, and it made us miss out on time with the other side of the family. It took all of the fun and enjoyment out of it for us, it felt like a chore, it distracted from the season for us.
For my family, we went to my dads house which was totally fun. It was loads of fun watching them all open presents. Klaire has *NEVER* been able to open presents with her cousins from my side of the family on Christmas Day for one reason or another. She totally enjoyed it. It was great to see my dad in the comfort of his own home and seeing his kids and grandkids enjoy the day.
Then we drove down to spend the rest of the evening with Kregs mom. The dinner was nice. Afterwards we played a math game with Klaire, Dont Break The Ice, and then 2-3 rounds of Uno. It was awesome to be able to spend that much time with them and to have everyone be involved and having fun! We had some great laughs. We hope to be able to spend more time like that with them, it was honestly one of the highlights of the year for us. We learned that my Father In Law is a really good player at Uno! I look forward to the next game with him.

Then we drug home, tired and worn out. We spent the next few days recovering and getting ourselves back into sorts. Even though we had so much fun and spent that time with family, Kreg and i still feel the same way about holidays. Next year we look forward to it being the 3 of us, relaxed, at our own pace, with our own traditions. I dont know how we will work out seeing both sides, but we'll figure somthing out im sure.

Its past my bedtime now! I have more updates about my back, my R.E. and the infertility treatments, and how the first part of 2010 i turning out to be!

Much love to all!