The best Christmas present ever

I love Christmas time. My husband not so much. It seems that bad memories have overtaken his good one. We all have bad ones I am sure. Sometimes life just isn't fair. But for the last several years in my recollection; I have been very happy, content. Mostly because of the life I have made with my husband, and of coarse the boy, the dude, THE FLOYDINATOR!

This Christmas we got the greatest gift we could have hoped for...Floyd not requiring surgery on his kidney (See post from January 2008 for full details). He did have to go through a few tests to assure that he was cured, but he handled the vesicourethrogram like a champ.
Last Christmas was memorable for Floyd too. A new little spirit in our world. It was also memorable for our furnace konking out on Christmas Eve.

2006 Was memorable for Food Poisoning that was cured by my mom's stash of opium.

2005 Was my 30th year. We had a raging Karaoke birthday party.

2004 Intern Year Blues. The year of the Tsunami.

2003 my First Christmas as Dr. Mrs Dr. Bob Jones. I was so grateful for a quiet Christmas Eve with Rob watching the first

2002 Christmas in North Carolina.

Christmas 1982

Some of the best memories involve writing up Christmas lists on a daily basis with my best friend Jeffrey Rasmussen. We would rifle through the JC Penney catalog and decide what we both needed. We would call each other Christmas morning every year to tell of our score of gifts. One year we both got orange Nash skateboards. I still have the only gift I ever peaked on, a digital clock radio that Rob hates.

Christmas 1989

My mom worked hard to develop lasting memories and Christmas eve traditions, mostly centered around Christmas eve. She asked that Magan, Matt, and I write a Christmas story every year. Magan always had short simple morality tales, mine we always overly contemplative and allegorical, while Matt's were always about insects and warfare. "Christmas in Nam" was one of my personal Matt favorites.

Now with our traditional nontraditional family we have Christmas eve dinner, play some scrabble, get some pajamas, scream about Chistmas Monkeys, and sing-a-long with Amy Grant and Anne Murray Christmas albums. Literally albums, we crack out the record player baby.

All though its been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas.

the reason why bangs will never grace this head again.

I am sure we all have had bad hair moments. I am just secure enough to place mine in cyberspace. Dare you!

Aloha!

Well we had an amazing trip thanks to my dad and stepmom. We made it to Kauai on Saturday the 29th. Floyd survived the flight without much trouble. Well he has learned to vocalize quiet loudly actually, even scream just for fun, while on the plane and at dinner, which made for some added adventure. After a quick trip to Costco after getting off the plane, loading up on steak, shrimp, and bread, we had a little cook out that night. The next day we spent on the beach. FLoyd got reacquainted with the water very quickly...he loves it. We put him down in the sand about 20 yards from the beach break. He was digging in the sand, eating it, pointing at the ocean, smiling; then the rogue wave hit. It knocked him over. I am sure he felt that he was going to get washed out to see, but I was right next to him. He came up with a face and ears full of sand, but did not cry a bit. After that he stuck to the pool.

Rob and I were able to do some scuba diving thanks to our babysitters! We saw a bunch of sea turtles, eel, and colorful fish.

We toured the island with Mary's guide book, hitting all the best spots: Waimea, Jo Jo's shaved Ice, Kilaea Light House, and the North Shore. There was a huge swell while we were there, wave up to 2o feet. We watched some surfers being towed-in by jetski into the big waves.

Floyd loved cruising the island in the convertible. Mary thankfully had a bandana to help him look tough even though he was sporting a binkey.

Our last big adventure was a helicopter ride around the island. We finally were able to see the Napali coast after several failed attempts on this trip and the previous trip to Kauai. It was beautiful!

Mahalo!

We made it to Kauai without incident. Luckily we scored a empty row on the way over which allowed to dude to stretch it out! We have hit the beach, and done some scuba diving.

1 year and Counting

My little boy is all grown up! It seems like only yesterday he was learning to hold his head up, and now he is walking and need to learn to protect his head again.
We had a great birthday party with all of the Dude's peeps. Mom's cupcakes were a hit, I hear.
In honor of Mugs -my sister- I made Floyd a hat. I even bought sparkle paint. It said "The Dude Hits the Big #1." He was overwhelmed with all the people and gifts. But the best present was dads....200 ping pong balls in a box!

the Dude hits the Big #1

Yep, I busted it all domestic and ...... I was "guilted" into making cupcakes from my family. I thought about buying gourmet minicupcakes, but then reconsidered after I realized it would cost the same amount as a wedding cake. So instead I made Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate icing. Not bad eh? Who knew I had it in me. All of this in preparations for a birthday bash on Friday night. All are welcome. Let me know and I will give you the deets.  You  will be able to see the walkin'man ..."burning out his fuse out there alone."

Early Morning Phone Calls......

I have found that it is never a good thing when the phone rings early in the morning. This last Saturday was no exception. My sister called to tell me that my grandpa had died during the night. My Grandpa was 84 years old, and a wonderful man. These last few days the whole family gathered to share memories and the many one-liners my grandpa had for every occasion. My favorite was "If I was feeling any better, I would have to take something for it." 

I spent almost everyday in the summertime at my Grandpa's house. We would swim and run in and out of the house for frozen snickers bars and coke.  He would take us out to his shop and build us boats to float in the pool. 

Grandpa always had a smile on his face. I never saw him angry. Every time I saw him he would share the same stories again and again about how much our grandma loved us, and about how Grandma never hated anyone except for Mr MacGregor because he was so mean to Peter Rabbit. 

I remember christmas at grandpa, he  would nail the tree to the floor so it would not fall over. I loved watching him make a fire. He loved to sit in his yellow leather chair and watch all of us in the swimming pool.

My dad gave a life sketch for my grandpa during the funeral, and his closing will stay with me forever..."dad, it seems like I never said I love you near enough." 

Floydster and Margot up to no good.