Why don't you take a picture? Itll last longer!

The day was August 19th, 2009 when I stepped foot into a college classroom to once again pursue my love of photography. Thats right! Most of you know already, but I'm going to talk about it a little more and show you what Ive done! So this year I was able to purchase a fabulous Nikon D90. I stinkin love Nikon and their awesome lenses. I was also able to purchase two college classes as well. The first being Beginning Photography, and the second Introduction to computer Graphics. Now back in 2003 I took both of these classes, the difference in taking them? First, I am all digital now, no more film. Dont get me wrong, film has an art to it that most of the kids today wont know about. Its sad but im glad I learned how to use it and devlope film. Second, my comp graphics teacher wasnt boring and monotone. This year Patrick Mermel was really awesome. Third and Final reason, I didnt get bored and drop out.
So I took Beginning photo again to relearn everything, but in digital format of course. I can't believe the endless possibilities that are within just the camera itself!! holy moly! I cant' wait to go back to Intermediate photo next semester. I plan getting my associates in Photography, and who knows where that will take me. For now enjoy the photos of this semester!

These first ones were an assignment to learn our cameras light settings, shutter, and other options. It was a lot of fun remembering what you can do with speed and light.






These next two were from our window lighting assignment. We had to use window light only, and the sun couldnt be directly on our subject. I woke up early and did my nieces hair and make up, then made her get dressed up and pose with her bass. Yes she really does play that.






These next three were my least favorite assignment. SELF PORTRAIT. Now usually its easy to snap a shot of your self, but to set up the lighting and try to aim the camera just right... ugg its a pain!! Not only that but I had to use a prop or something to tell others about myself. So, as usual I shocked most classmates with a picture of my pointing a gun directly at the camera. Dont worry, It was UNLOADED, safety on and I had a very trusting friend help me. Thank you Christy!! I set up the shot and had her push the shutter. Thats all the help we were allowed. IT was hard and frustrating and embarrassing... Not a huge fan of myself ya know? But here is the out come.





Thats all for now. I need to locate my jump drive with the rest of my assignments!

Turkey Lurkey Dooo and Turkey Lurkey Dat

I eat dat turkey and I take a nap.

Thanksgiving!!! Yum yum yum! This year we traveled to Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving not only with Eric's family, but on Saturday! In your face traditions! Ok I'm big on traditions, but because Momma Clarke was making the big dolla dolla bills, we waited for her and Eric to be there. I left the Wednesday before and drove by my self. I wanted to make sure Alice and Marty did something fun on Thanksgiving. Eric flew in on Friday night after work. Thursday we hung out and went to see New moon.... mmmmm I'm glad I waited to see it with Alice. We had fun making jokes about each of the boys and such. She like Jacob and I like Edward... so fun.


This next one is for Alice.

After the movie, we headed to Eric's sister Amanda's soon to be in-laws place for some dinner. They had some killer Turkey! We hung out played some rock band, the drummer was one handed.... which was interesting to play. and then we went home and vegged out. It was a relaxing day.

The next day we all had out happy butts up at 4:30 heading to Walmart. Attention people, the Electronics cashier has a short line! It was in a very weird way fun to see all these sleepy eyed people rushing to destroy a store just to get that one toy or one shirt! haha. Even though I missed sitting in my sisters van with the seat heaters on staring at the Toys r us line that wrapped around the store, I still had fun rushing around with my mother in law and the kids.

Around Halloween time, the Clarke Residence had added a new member, no we aren't pregnant, I'm talking about this cute, fuzzy little ball of TERROR! Properly named, Grim, after the Grim reaper. This thing DOES NOT WANT TO CUDDLE on your watch. It will cuddle if and when it is ready. Its teeth and claws are sharper than anything Ive come in contact with! But the cute "mews" and playfulness with just melt your heart.


Saturday we hung out and relaxed. Amanda and scott came over. Amanda got a new camera... its a NIKON!! Good job! Im a nikon girl. All but one of my cameras have been Nikon. The day was filled with Video Games, Movies, Food, and Rummikub! We had a lot of fun just hanging out.





Sunday Eric and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa Kennedys. They took us to a cool bar almost in the middle of nowhere... so we'll say its the middle of somewhere. Its called the Wild horse or something wild. Their cheeseburgers are Amazing! It was about a 15-20min wait but Dang worth it. After that we headed home and didnt even touch Grand Avenue!

Turkey Shoot!!!

The men in my church get together and go shooting for an event. This has been happening for as long as I can remember. Growing up I would BEG to go, but nooooooo its men only. A while back the men planned an outing for such event and invited me. I out shot most of them and of course made my dad proud once again. I was given the name shooter, which most of them men know me by now. Well This November they planned a Turkey shoot, winner gets a Frozen Turkey. On the invites... I kid you not.. It said "Help us defeat the Egbert Family" For those of you who dont know Egbert is my maiden name. We are that "terrifying" hahah! We all packed up our guns and ammo and headed out towards Nelson Nevada. It was my dad, Eric, My brother Cory and his wife Anya, My brother Denny and nephew Noah, and me. We travel in packs! We played around, I guess the men had to "warm up" haha

Then we got into the comp. There were 3 round of elimination. 4-5 people each round and the winner of each round shot in the final round. If shooter 1 missed and shooter 2 hit, one is out. If one and two miss, and 3 hits it, both one and two are out. Pretty cut throat.
So the first round, My father won. The second round, Eric won, and the Third round, I won. So the final was My father, husband and me. Sure enough, miss, miss, BAM!! I win!!!
The following Sunday one of the men had to walk in where the women meet and Deliver my prize! I think it truly SHOCKED all those ladies and at the same time, made them laugh.
The Small Turkey in my hand is Eric's trophy and mine is the big fat bird, which I took to Arizona and on Thanksgiving with my in-laws.

How did this week go by so fast?

Yay for me! Im posting again! This week has been crazy. Just about something each night. But first, a little more updating. When we moved in with my parents, I worked and Eric had just gotten laid off. Lucky us our neighbor came over and put a bug in his ear about a job. He pursued it for weeks and got it. He delivers home oxygen machines to people who need it. Mostly in the Pahrump area, sometimes Beatty, and often "The middle of nowhere Nevada". Each day is about min. 12hours. Driving to and from and being on call each night of the week. He is a trooper for working and not complaining. I love him!

Monday I had school, Beg. Photography.
Tuesday I had my Comp Graphics class. MIDTERM DUE!!! Lucky us we got a 10 out of 10. and No I don't enjoy working in teams. I felt I had to pull teeth to get it right.
Here is our final product...

Not the greatest but hey, Im still learning.

Wednesday I had my nephew Sheldon all day. His mom Shelly is PTA President and sometimes has to be at the school all day. This kid is the most chill kid ever! We played rockband, watched cartoons, and gardened. Before we moved in with my parents I had planted some basil, chives, pumpkins :( and cilantro... the puny basil plant is the only one that survived... its a giant mutant now! So we plucked the leaves and Sheldon had so much fun "helping". Now I have tons of Basil and no Mozzarella!

Later that night I went to my first Lia Sophia party. Its a Jewelry party, yes they have nice stuff but are they over priced? You betcha! I couldn't believe some of the necklaces and their prices! It was insane!!!!

Thursday I worked on my sisters invitations for her Holidy Open House! check these sweet babies out!
Awww for cute!!! I mean come on! Would you not just go to the show just to meet the Awesome lady who made these and buy some Pampered Chef Products from her? I know I would... wink wink.
I have been doing invitations for my Aunt and sister. Mostly my aunt, and I think Im going to do them on the side now. Its fun.
Later that night I went to see one of my favorite bands, The Creepshow! I first saw them in Washington and have loved them since.

*Thanks to the lady smoking for the theatrics...*
A quick lesson on what type of music they play... Some may have heard the term Rock-a-billy, which is based off music around the 1950's to 1960's. Most bands have stand up bass' and a lead singer that just has that "old" voice. Now there is a spin off rockabilly called psychobilly, same sounds, maybe more guitars? but they sing about Zombies, monsters, and dead things. The Creepshow is psychobilly. I have an undying love for Halloween, Frankenstein and bride, and other creepy things, just keep the clowns in the closet please... bleh. So there you have it...
I went with my friend Char to see them, and it was fun. It was a small intimate show, but still glad I got to see them.
That same night Eric got a call at about 10:30pm for work. Poor guy had to go out to Pahrump to give someone a new machine. He didn't make it home until 1:30am and had to get up at 6am to get ready for work and drive back out there... Maybe we should look into Blue Diamond homes... sigh.
Needless to say he and I got home about the same time, and wow we were beat. Most of the time we are in bed by 10:00.
Friday morning he makes it to work and I tumble out of bed to an empty house. Mom and Dad are gone and so is Eric. I continue working on my sisters invites and she comes over! Mind you Shelly is some odd months pregnant... and of course it doesnt stop her. I find out she has her Fall Carnival at the school and needs some help. I send her on her way to run a couple errands while I get dressed, She picks me up and we head to a few more stores then to the school. *Note to self, NEVER join PTA* I don't know how she doesn't High Five some peoples faces! I know I could have... After all the set up and once it started I head over to the Karaoke booth to help my brother Cory. I cant tell you how many times Best of both worlds was requested and sung... Attention Elementary kids... there is more music out there!!! Please find it! After all was said and done it was a success. I came home beat and so did Eric.
Saturday, we get up and Eric is all dressed and tells me to get ready. I ask him for what and he says a surprise.... So I get ready, do my hair and makeup... and we're on our way... we headed towards the mall and Im thinking aww he's taking my to breakfast... about half way there, he looks at me and says "By the way we're going to Target for underwear and socks"... Seriously!!! Punk! He had a friend in town that he knows from the Navy and wanted to meet up and grab some grub, so we walked the mall just window shopping until we heard from his friend. I convinced him to walk into Bath and Body works with me. I haven't been in there in forever. They had their big soaps on sale for $3 each, so I picked two fall scents and then a lady hands me a coupon that says Spend $15 and get an item up to $13 for free! so I picked up 2 of their lip glosses that are awesome each for $5 and noticed a sign buy two get one free... so I grabbed another and then headed to find my free thing. I picked up a double refill pack for the air fresheners for $12.50. I paid $20.04 total for over $40 worth of stuff. it made my day! We headed to IHOP and had Breakfast/Lunch with his friends and then showed them our favorite store Cash 4 Chaos. Its like a hot topic but better and hidden. They sell more local stuff and you can always find some unique things there.
Eric bought me a book bag for school, It matches my wallet, and a necklace. He bought himself a new button up that just looks sweet on him! His friends were really glad we showed them that store. After that we dropped them off and headed home to veg for a few hours. I took a cat nap and Eric played games. Then we were off to our friends Ben and Rachel's for dinner and pumpkin carving. They invited us over since I decided not to do the Halloween dinner this year :( We had some awesome steak and roasted potatoes with special cheese, peas, and home made tortilla chips that were soo good. Then Banana bread for dessert.
Ben and Rachel went to a local orchid and picked out pumpkins for us. Goodness they were THICK!!! tons of scraping so we could get a good design. Ben didn't carve one because he had creative person block, so he looked up some crazy pumpkins on line. Rachel did a sweet possessed PAC Man, Eric did Satan... I was just corrected, I thought it was a mean ram... ahha and I did the skull from The Horrorpops, another psychobilly band I love. We played with the lights and shadows for a while and then headed home.
That has been our busy week.... or mine? Now enjoy our pumpkins...
This is part of the mess we created!


Me with my arm half way of the pumpkin!

Eric Carving his pumpkin

Rachel's Scary Pac Man!!

Rachel's Shadow, pretty cool huh?

My Pumpkin, and check out the stars on the wall and ceiling!



I cut stars out on the back so when its lit and next to a wall they will show!

This is Eric's Pumpkin!!

Rachel and her pumpkin... I liked the picture.

Eric felt the need to stab his pumpkin with every carving tool


Ben's Pumpkin... God Job???

IT'S ALIIIIVE!!!

and so are we... right Eric?... Eric? Oh right he's at work.
Since I havent been on this since April, I am sorry to say I am not going to recap every stinkin event.... I know... you wanna know it all, but seriously I know you've got that pile of laundry staring at you from the corner... go ahead and look, cry if you need to... *Waiting* Ok, feel better?

Welcome back to the ever changing world of Clarkes. In April, Eric was laid off and to save ourselves from falling deeper into debt, we decided to find some roommates and cut down costs. We moved in with my parents! We arrived beginning of June and here we are in October. We have been out of town left and right, and we have passed on going out of town a couple times. We did make it to our Gifford Family reunion, and yes... I did win 1st place AGAIN!

Gifford Reunion recap
Theme: Olympics
Sheldon Gifford Family: Team Jamaica
Colors:Green Yellow and Black
Choice Event: Skeet Shooting (Jamaica we have a skeet shoot team!)


This year we made our own shirts for team Jamaica. The famous"Annoying" green shirts as all the other teams called them. hahah they only become annoying when you dont get to wear one! and when there are soo many of us.

Team Jamaica place 1st 2nd and 3rd in both Mens and Womens Skeet Shoot and we took 2nd in both Boys and Girls. Woooo!!!
Everytime we go camping, Eric looks forward to riding quads around, and the kids look forward to it too!


Right after this glorious 3 day weekend, I make it back to work to get laid off... Super... I've had one hell of a time gettin my unemployment correct. It's funny how it all happened, but bottom line, Im glad to be out. The job stressed me out, well more the people than anything. A few weeks before, I took a big step back and saw that no matter how well I did my job, that message wouldnt get through to the right people. There are some people in the world, who can't or don't like to be out shown. Whether its a joke you tell them and they take credit for, or a drawing you found or something you've done right. I knew I would never be able to move up and so my prayers were answered and the lord found a way out for me.
Since then I have been working on my schooling. I finally made it back! Its a huge accomplishment just clicking on that "Pay now" button! Im taking Beginning Photography and Intro to Computer Graphics... both for the second time. My Beg. Photo is all digital. Before I used film which we all know is out dated, and hard on the pockets. I have a deep respect for those who still use film and use it right, its a lost art and true talent.
My comp graphics class is a BLAST! If you ever take it at CSN make sure you get Patrick Mermel! He is awesome! I dropped out of my class before cause the teacher was soooo boooring... and blah blah blah. Not this guy, he has been soo helpful with photoshop. Although Ill say poop on him for making us do our midterm in teams. Bleh!
Over all Im loving school. So glad I was able to go back.

On September 22nd, Eric and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with me going to school and him working late! LOL we did go out the following weekend for dinner and a small show. We ate at our favorite spot, The Melting Pot, and then watch a friends band play at a record store. It was fun just knowing we can still have an awesome time.

In other news, I have been working more on my spiritual side. For those of you who are LDS, I went through the Temple on October 17th. For those that arent, Ill try to explain. To enter the Temple, an individual must be clean and worthy. There are guidelines we follow, a few for example, keeping the word of wisdom, no smoking, no drinking coffee or tea. Attending church each week, saying your prayers each day and having faith in it all. For further information go to www.mormon.org There you can chat with missionaries and ask them any questions you may have. You can also request a free copy of the Book of Mormon.
Once an individual is worthy and your Bishop and Stake President find you worthy, you receive a Temple recommend. It is like a pass to get in. In the temple we perform Sacred, not secret, ordinances for ourselves and others.
How neat that in a city full of sin there is an escape. A house of beauty and peace. Just being on the temple grounds is peaceful and calming.
The experience was overwhelming, the presence of past loved ones was so strong there and I just knew it was the right thing for me to do. I look forward to making it back there each week and being able to have that time to dismiss the world and just listen to the spirit. *From Left to Right-Anya (Cory's wife) Cory, Tiffany(Kevins wife) Kevin,Denny, Eric, Me, My mom, My Dad, Adam (Shellys Husband), Shelly and baby #5, Myrinda, and Chris (Myrindas husband)*
This is all who went. Eric surprised me by being outside when we were done. It made me tear up seeing him out there. I love him for all his support through this.

If you've never been to a temple, I recommend finding one in your area and visiting the grounds. You are welcome to walk around the outside, and I know you'll find the spirit there.

I was able to go through with most of my family. My brother Kevin was home for his R&R and it just made it that much more important to me. I loved seeing my family gather there knowing we are together forever.

I hope to post more, not just of our lives, but of some of the pictures Ive been working on. I'm very excited about them, so here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend of Oct 11th.

Enjoy.


My niece I love her squishy cheeks!




My nephew who never fails to make me laugh!


My niece again. This little girl was feeding her some of my mini carrot cake treats, it was too fun to watch!

Is this thing on?

Let me dust the webs off my blog….

Alright. It’s been a while. I haven’t done a real post since Novemeber? How sad is that?
Well to sum it up I will throw out a few or a ton of one liners… here we go.

Thanksgiving- We drove down to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with Eric’s family. We had some rad food, but its thanksgiving, who doesn’t have really good food? It was nice to see a thanksgiving inside a different family. This was my first away from home, yes I was a little home sick but it is something I have to get used to. It was nice to hang with his family and like ours, pick at the food whenever.

Dec. 10th was my first pampered chef show. Oh how nerve racking! I felt like I was tripping over myself again and again. Thanks to my sister Myrinda who helped me through it. WEW!

December in general was crazy! Girls had the cookie exchange, 100 mile Family Progressive dinner (done in record time) I made some awesome “Snow Flake Cocoa” and burnt everyone’s mouth. We had my mom’s side Christmas dinner and program, where we re-enact the nativity with the kids. I am so glad we are still doing that. I can remember being a sheep or an angel, this year, I played the voice of an angel. Haha. Christmas we woke up and Eric drug me to the tree, eager for presents. We did our gift exchange and went to IHOP(2nd year tradition) Then headed over to my moms to hang with the family.

For New Years we hung out with Kevin and Tiffany, had dinner and 1 minute to count down, we ran to my sisters house to see the LAME beyond belief fireworks on the strip. Budget cuts?

Jan is the special month that holds my birthday! A day when all your lives were blessed. Right? We went to dinner with some of the family to Joes crab shack, now I guess I should add that my niece/mini me shares the same birthday as me, so double blessing that day. And this was her dinner too. She had never been to Joes for a birthday, that’s why it was chosen! When it came time for the birthday song, It was me, my niece, my sister and my brother in law, all Jan Birthdays. It was nice to have 3 others blushing. Eric bought me some shoes, Hot pink and black Zebra Striped shoes. They are amazing! I feel like magic when I wear them. Haha.

Valentines was a mutual agreement to do nothing, get nothing. And we’re ok with that.

March was a busy month it seemed like there was something each weekend or we were sick. We both go these lovely colds and Im still trying to get rid of my weezy cough. Eric kicked his of course.

April should be eventful as well. Kevin is home for now which is exciting. Im still trying to work out a plan to break his leg or something so he won’t be able to go to Afghanistan but so far nothing is coming to mind. This weekend we will be trying to go to a car show, family Easter picnic, and a concert all in one day. With rain on the forecast, this should be interesting.

Well now, I feel a lot better and I feel caught up. Although Im sure there are a thousand events or funny things I left out, but that’s what you get when I slack. HA!

For Tiff... Oh Nao! Gawd Ziwra!!!

So here we lay in bed. Eric updates his contacts and I blog. What a friday night! Its been a while since I have blogged about anythign other than food savings. Not even holidays or my Birthday! Things get busy and I get lazy or just really tired at the end of the day. Sitting in front of a computer all day makes my laptop the last thing I want to see. Things have been crazy and not what we expected, but we are alive, well and still putting up a good fight! But for now the battle against my eyes and my eye lids is taking its toll. To be contrude... Hahaha

I do believe that money goes in my pocket...

So I've attended two Shop Smart/Coupon shows. The first I said hey this is cool... and then I looked at the web site a few times... It was always in the back of my head and I wanted to be able to get great deals at places other than costco or sams club. I never did anythign about it. I've heard stories and seen the final product of those stories but it still was never enough to really get me going. Well my sister and sister in law hosted a show the other night. I bought my RJ subscription for I can get the coupons from those instead of hoping for the massive pile in the mail. Well yesterday I got on line and went to the site. I saw Albertsons had a ton of deals going on. so without a newspaper I clicked the links to the online coupons. I put them all in order and made sure I knew how many to get. I took my friend Rachel and we went at about 10:30pm or so. The store was empty and quiet and we just did our thing... well I did my thing. She made jokes like "are you going underground?" or "Diana has her food storage" Cause realy it looked as if I was stocking up for the end of the world. We strolled through each isle and sometimes more than 4 times. haha. but I got it all. I was nervous for sure. the what ifs were kicking in... what if they wont take em... I shook it off and we hit the counter. I asked the cashier if she'd like the coupons first. It didnt matter so I loaded my goods onto the counter and tore off the last few coupons I didnt get to cutting. My total was up there for sure... 240.49 was the totatl. then I entered my prefered savings number and the numbers were going down. It was like gamblings but obviously the opposite way. I wanted it low..... Then she added all the coupons and it kept going down. My out of pocket cost was 106.39. I saved 134.10! INSANE! PLUS the little coupon machine started kicking out 5 dollars off your next purchase and those totaled up to 60 bucks, but thats not all! I didnt notice at first but at the bottom it said you have earned .25 cents off per gallon of gas, up to 20 gallons. Total SCORE! There is an Albertsons gas station right by my house so guess who will be paying less than 1.50 for gas next time, ME! I was so excited. Even though there was a TON of stuff I wanted that I needed Newspaper coupons for, I still made out.

Here are some pictures of my winnings! (and I know... that IS a ton of hamburger helper, but guess who wont need some soon...)



And these are the golden tickets!


I am so glad I did this. It really did help light a fire under my butt. Too often I don't go shopping at the grocery stores because I can save with bulk buying, but really bulk buy is limited... and "who wants to be eating chimini-changas all year? not me."

Oh and did I meantion 2 of the Progresso soups were not only FREE but I made .20 off of them?

Helllooooo out there!

Wow!! I can't believe I've put this off for over a month. Of course holidays are busy busy and when you find a moment to yourself the last thing you think of is your blog.
So this will be quick and I will post pictures of it all this weekend, I hope.

Thanksgiving was an adventure. It was my first time away from my family and I admit I got a bit homesick. I guess I never thought it would affect me but Im glad I got to see how others celebrate Thanksgiving. Bottom line it was GREAT food. We hung out in AZ for 3 whole days. It was nice to not have to turn back for hom on the 2nd day.

December was VERY eventful. We had the girls cookie exchange a whole 13 dozen = 156 cookies plus the rolls still in my freezer. I think Im just cookied out. Its always fun to see the different shapes and decorations.
We had our family progressive dinner which went by quick. This year was the first time my house was included. As small as it was we fit everyone in there. I served EXTREMELY hot Snow Flake cocoa... I guess the on LOW for 2 hours would have been fine.... hahah I paniced at the time frame and turned that sucker on high. I think I left a lasting impression on the adult tongues. meaning burnt! Sorry! But once is cooled down it was a huge hit.
The Gifford Family Christmas Dinner/Theatre was held at mom's this year. The kids acted out the nativity story and I got the roll of the ANGEL with the angelic voice. hahah I love that we are still carrying on traditions from our childhood. I hope that my kids will be able to participate in them one day. Last year my aunt had her kids make a video. She called each of us and gave us a line from a holiday song. Last year was Up on the house top. This year we did two, I saw mommy kissing santa claus, and The Christmas song. Its so fun to see everyones different ideas of how to act out everything. One of ours was "everybody knows a turkey..." so I entered A. Turkey on my cell phone and took a picture of it. Clever huh? There were some other funny ones and some cute ones. Christmas Day we woke up and for someone who says he doesnt like christmas or the holidays, he sure is fast to get to those presents! We opened presents from each other and then hung out for a bit played games. I was lookin to whopp some butt on XBOX live cause I know some kids got games for christmas that they havent played. haha Then we dressed and went to Ihop. We went last year and this year we dubbed it a tradition until we have another mouth to feed. Then we went over to mom's house for all day snacking and hanging out. we wateched Wall-e a few times, played Rock Band, and I made a watch that's pretty rad. I think we got home about 10 pm and I believe we just crashed. It was a draining week and month.
New years... isnt new years. Its weird. Usually you get way excited about staying up... but seems these days 9pm feels like midnight. I called Little Caesars abotu 4pm and placed an early order for 7. Boy am I glad I did. That place had the longest line when I got there! But I walked in and then right out with our stuff. We headed to Kevin and Tiffany's house to eat and hang out. tiffany made some rad jalapeno poppers which were like Fire but still good. The fire came 40 seconds after it hit your tongue. My niece Crystal was there too and she came home with us to spend the night and hang out. We hung out a bit and then the boys fell asleep pretty much so us 4 (Maeve too) watch a poor version of Twilight. It ended about 15 minutes before midnight. We went in and woke up the guys to go to Shelly's house. by the time we walked out the door we had 2 minutes. As we walked into Shelly's house her tv showed 30 seconds. so we ran out back to see the fireworks and wow... how lame. Fireworks havent been fireworks since we did those 4th of July shows at the stadium here. Where the bombs felt so close you always ducked a little from the sparks, which were far away, but they were so huge and you could feel them pounding on your chest. the closest thing I've seen since then was over the lake/river in Washington. The rich people were shooting off HUGE bombs from their lovely lake side homes and we sat on the other side enjoying a free show.
But new years was good. It was fun to spend it with Kevin, Tiff, Maeve, Crystal, Shelly and Adam and their sleeping kids.

Oh and in the middle of this all, I had my first Pampered Chef show! I was sooo nervous but I did ok. I'm so glad I had my sisters there and I had a much better turn out than I planned for. I look forward to doing more shows and getting a better feel of the system. (HINT HINT)

Like I said it's been a while and Im sorry for the long post. but hey... its done now.