Last Day of 2008

WOW!!! I dunno bout anyone else, but 2008 went by SO fast!! Just a little over 12 hours and we'll be in a new year. Christmas was fun. Tayllor made out great, of course (he is the kid here) and having a 4 day weekend made it very relaxing. Tayllor got to go out to Cantwell with his dad to go snow machining. He was SO excited to get to go. Crappy part was, I had to drive out there to pick him up on Sunday. But the drive wasn't too bad cuz Christe went along with me. While T was gone, Christe and I played some Guitar Hero on the Wii, which Santa brought to us for a house gift (hehe). We also found this awesome new game called House of the Dead for the Wii and saved the world from zombies a LOT this weekend too, LOL!! Like I said, a very nice weekend. Now comes New Years, another 4 day, and hopefully (fingers crossed) Ramon makes it here by this weekend as well! Can't wait to see him :)

An actual good pic of T and I. God that kid is getting tall!!

LOL, he was REALLY cited about this, obviously!

And I was SUPER cited about this movie!

Another Photo Op with Santa

I had my company christmas party last night (always a blast) and Tayllor got to see Santa again. He got a plug and play hunting game that he couldn't wait to get home and try. He loves it!! Both Christe and Tayllor won door prizes as well (grrrr). Tayllor got a video camera and Christe got an ipod alarm clock (which she already has, grrr again). Food was good, as always, and we had a few laughs. It was a good time. Now comes the big days: Christmas, New Years and then Ramon gets home, YIPEE!!!

FOR TODAY December 16, 2008

Outside my window...its flippin cold (and I still think my window is broken cuz theres a draft)

I am thinking....how hard it is to be a parent

I am thankful for...Cozy blankets and warm fuzzy socks

From the kitchen...there ain't a peep cuz all are sleeping.

I am wearing...jammie pants, t-shirt and warm fuzzy socks LOL
I am creating...nada, its late mon!

I am going...to crash really soon

I am reading...*sigh* still flippin trying to finish this book so I can start the Twilight Series
I am hoping...Tayllor passes his social studies test tomorrow
I am hearing...cars driving by my house, my fan and my tv
Around the house...is dark, with only a Moose stirring (the dog, that is)

One of my favorite things...laying around the house doing nothing

A few plans for the rest of the week: Going Christmas shopping (thank you Xmas bonus)

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

"Dude, I'm trying to eat here. Would you hurry with the picture please!?"

After the hockey teams 9 to 0 win on Saturday night, Tayllor and I went with his teammate Camron and his mom Pam to Carl's Junior to get some LATE dinner and some ice cream.

This is a photo Camron took with his moms phone. Tayllor's a goof! :)

This is Camron playing with the camera again.
You can see the flash glowing off my tongue ring LOL

Future Magazine Cover?

A possibility? Hmmm, maybe :)

(For those of you that aren't sure, that is Tayllor facing
the camera hugging his teammate)

So, for a kid who just got to sit on Santa's lap, he sure looks pissy. He told me he was angry cuz Santa didn't ask him what he wanted for Christmas!! Seriously, red dude, ask the kiddos what they want!!

What is your Christmas like?

Did you believe in Santa Claus when you were a child? Of course, who didn't??

Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas? Never had a house but used to decorate my balcony with lights. Now that I live in a condo, it's against the stupid rules to put ANYTHING on the outside.

Do you eat a turkey dinner for your Christmas dinner? Depends, sometimes we have ham since we have turkey for Thanksgiving just a month prior. This year it will be turkey though.

Do you enjoy singing Christmas songs? Meh, yes and no

Do you go to church on Christmas day? Nope

Do you hang up a stocking? Yes, in fact, I ordered Tayllor and I some really pretty new velvety ones with our names embriodered on them!! Much better than the hand me downs I had from my mama

Do you have any plans to go to a Christmas party? My company Christmas party, as always, and the Arctic Lions get together. Nothing personal though

Do you remember when you found out that Santa Claus wasn't real/ or when your children found out? What was your/their reaction like? I don't remember when I found out about Santa but I'm sure it was becuase of one of my 3 older brothers. As for Tayllor, I've asked him if he believes and he says yes, but I'm not really sure if he says that to make me happy or if he really does. He does have an uncle who is only 5 yrs older than he is, so he may have told Tayllor the truth.

Do you see your relatives at Christmas time? I see my mama, my lil bro, and 1 of my older brothers and his wonderful family. Everyone else lives out of state.

Do you usually put up Christmas decorations in your house? A few things. My roomie is HUGE into Christmas. We have Christmas snow globes out we got from my company party last year, we have our "Christmas Countdown" that Tayllor loves and a few lights here and there.

How about at your school or the place where you work? Don't go to school and we have a miniature tree with small ornaments and some other cute little Christmasy plushies that sing when pressed.

Does your family have any special Christmas traditions? Not a huge tradition but Tayllor and I love to drive around and look at all the houses that are lit up. The bigger the better of course :)

Does your town get decorated at Christmas? Yes, there are wreaths with lights in them on the lamp posts and a lot of houses around town are all decked out.

Have you already finished your Christmas shopping? Nope, haven't even started yet :(

Have you ever celebrated Christmas in a foreign country? Never been out of this country, so no.

Have you ever made your own Christmas cards? No.

How do you usually spend New Year's Eve? Every other year I have Tayllor. When I have him, we usually try and get fireworks and light those off (or go to a friends house and light them off there) and on the years I don't have him, sometimes go to the bar, or stay at home with mom and watch the ball drop and drink there. Just depends on my mood. Last year we were on an airplane heading towards Disneyworld!! :)

How long do you keep your Christmas tree up after Christmas? HA! I kept it up until February one year!! But, usually by the week after New Years.

How many Christmas cards did you receive last year? 25 or so.

How many Christmas cards do you send? 60 to 70.

If you could go anywhere during Christmas vacation, where would you go? I don't think I'd go anywhere. Oooo, but I would LOVE to go to New York and see the BIG tree in Rockafeller Center!!

Is your Christmas tree a real tree or an artificial tree? Artificial

What do you eat on Christmas Day? Turkey (or ham), stuffing, taters, corn on the cob, homemade fruit salad, homemade macaroni salad, pumpkin and apple pies.

What is the weather like in your country around Christmas time? It can be friggin cold!! It's
Alaska.

What is your favorite Christmas song? All I want For Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth by Alvin and the Chipmunks :0)

What time do you wake up on Christmas day? About 7ish.

What time does your family open the presents? Not to long after we get up. Then we go to my moms house, open more presents and eat lunch/dinner.

When do you do your Christmas shopping? HA! The last minute, usually after the Christmas bonus gets passed out (fingers crossed it happens this year).

Will you have a Christmas party at your home? God I hope not, lol.

Do you give something to homeless people? I don't usually because I can't really afford it :/

Hockey Dreams

Dreaming of hat tricks and slapshots, all snuggled in his Red Wings blanket!

Outside my window...its friggin cold!!!
I am thinking...how in the world am I going to be able to pull off Christmas this year?!??!

I am thankful for...my very loving son Tayllor, and my ever supportive and loving family and friends

From the learning rooms...too late for learning, LOL

From the kitchen...nothing better be going on!! Earlier Tayllor was rummaging around for a snack b'cuz the kids going through a growth spurt and is eating me out of house and home!!

I am wearing...jammie shorts and a t-shirt

I am creating...a new blog for everyone to read :)

I am going...to bed very very soon...need to catch up on sleep from this weekend

I am reading...the newest In Death series book by JD Robb, hoping to finish that one soon so I can start my Twilight books :0)

I am hoping...that I raised enough money to cover all hockey travel, that Tayllor continues to improve his grades before the end of the quarter, that I might get a raise at work, that Ramon can make it here for leave in enough time to catch some of Tayllor's hockey games, plus a lot, LOT more!!

I am hearing...my tv, my fan and Tayllor moving around in his bed

Around the house...is semi-quiet (its after 10 pm) and fairly clean (for once)!

One of my favorite things...Tayllor's smile and his laugh....he can always pull a grin outta me

A few plans for the rest of the week: Hockey practice, hockey games, hopefully some sleeping, and getting back into some sort of exercise program (I NEED to drop some weight)

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Thanks Patty for sharing! Oh, on a side note: I was also a HUGE 90210 fan as well. Have you seen the new ones?!?! They are almost as good :0)

Random Sillyness

This is Tayllor trying on Joy's old hat (my friend's daughter). You can see her holding the top of the hat up in the background, so you can see the full effect of the hat :)

Thanksgiving Tournament

This weekend down in Anchorage didn't go too well. Our boys didn't get to walk away with a trophy of any kind, but I do feel they may have learned a few things during this tournament: 1) they are a "team" and not just individual players out there skating, 2) they CAN skate and most def'ly beat those Mat-Su Eagle punks, and 3) the Allstars are looking like just a name this year and can be beaten.

The boys won 1 game down there and that was on Thanksgiving against the Alaskan Wolves (Tayllor got 2 goals that game actually, hehe). They lost against the Allstars on Friday morning 3 to 1 but it really could have gone either way. They lost twice to Mat-Su, Fridays score was 2 to 3 and Saturdays was 2 to 1 in OT. But, for you to understand what I mean by point number 2 up above, I gotta explain the last 2 games the boys played.

The last time they played Mat-Su was on our last trip down to Anchorage (about 3 weeks ago) and they got KILLED 11 to 0!! It was a horrible way to end a weekend. So, they got the pleasure of playing them on Friday (sarcasm for those of you that couldn't tell). It ended up being tied 2 to 2 with about 21 seconds left in the game. The boys just dug down and played their hardest and their best and held off those pesky Mat-Su Eagles, but a shot from the blue line got past our goalie and they won the game with that!! By no means should our boys be down on themselves at all. They played fabulous!!

Saturday they had to play the same stupid team in the cross-overs for a chance to play in the championship game on Sunday. It was an even better game than Friday's: it went scoreless until 3 minutes left in the game!! Mat-Su scored first but our boys came back to tie it up with 45 seconds left in the game!! Now we are going into "sudden death overtime" (that was in my best hockey announcer voice). The boys hold off the Eagles for 2 minutes but they left a man on the post and that ended the game. BUT, forgot to mention this little tid bit: not only did they skate with the Eagles, our boys played with 2 men out due to the stomach flu!!!! Yeah, Mat-Su is SOOOO beatable!!

Well, Tayllor and I are off to Anchorage for some more hockey. His coach has entered the team in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Shoot Tournament for the 4 day holiday break. We leave today at noon to make that 358 mile drive south to Anchortown to spend our 1st (and probably not our last) Thanksgiving away from family.
Part of me is excited because I get to get away from the stress of every day life and I get to watch hockey while the other part of me is bummed because I won't get to take any leftovers home from mom's and snack on it for days and I gotta drive ALL that way.
But we chose this. I've heard from a lot of other hockey parents, "This is how the hockey life is, get used to it". We will miss holidays, Tayllor might even be gone by himself for some holidays, and either be celebrating it with the team or playing a game during it. Gotta start somewhere and get used to it, right?. But my question is, do you ever really get used to it? Does it ever become too much? I guess we'll see in the years to come.
For now, Tayllor and I will be having our Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant. It's not mom's turkey dinner, but we are together and for that I am happy.

Silly Army

Welp, got some pretty cool, but at the same time, kinda crappy news from Ramon today. He found out he HAS to take leave in December so, he'll be here next month!! Crappy part is he still has to go back and I gotta wait another 9 months until I see him again!!
I'm kinda torn on my feelings cuz I had it all planned out in my head that I would wait out the first 6 months or so, and then he could come here and then go back with about 4 months to go in the deployment. But NOOOOOO, the army wants to be silly and screw with my emotions and heart strings a little. Grrrr!! But, he is gonna be here next month for 2 weeks and I am excited about getting to see him. And yes, he still chose to come see lil old me over this mama (HUGE, I know).
Another cool thing is the man is NOT a big christmasy type person (neither am I, cept for the family part of it) but he did say he would come with me to my company christmas party, participate in the festivities at my house AND at my moms. He's so good to me :)

Sled Race

On Friday I had to help Tayllor and his hockey team at the Ice Dogs game selling tickets to help the team get money. Between the 1st and 2nd period, my friend Donnie grabs me by the arm and tells me, "Hurry, I need a partner for this sled race." and drags me down the stairs. Come to find out he had gotten picked to compete in a sled race....on the ice.....in front of everyone....with just our shoes on! Ok, I can do this, no problem. I get downstairs and find out my 31 yr old outta shape ass is going to go up against 2 top notch in shape high school and comp hockey players!! GRRRRRREAT!!

We get prepared and even get to pick our team names. The younger boys went with "Team Domination" and we decided on "Better Than You Times 2" (hehe). Get our helmets, get our sleds and head out on the ice. For the first half go around, I'm going to be pulling Donnie and then we'll switch for the second half to the finish. Thankfully, Donnie helped a LOT by using his hands on the ice to push and steer us around the corners some. Then, I jumped in the sled and we raced for the finish line. Regretfully, we didn't win BUT, heard from some "fans" that I was tied with the younger boys when I was pulling and had I not taken the corner too wide and/or my partner had better traction, we may have won. It was fun!!

Afterwards, my shaky legs take me back to where Tayllor was. He's still cheering for me and says "Good job mom"! Kinda made me beam a little more. Here are a few pictures my friend Patty (and the mom of one of the top notch hockey players!) took with her iphone. They turned out pretty good for a camera phone AND for her being pretty far away.

This is the start of the race. My legs were kinda shaky.

Here are the younger boys. Nice form Jared :)

Here is me in the sled and my partner Donnie not getting ANY traction

All in all, it was a lot of fun.

6 Things......

My wonderful friend Patty (grrr you) gave me a wonderful award which I am to pass onto 6 people after I declared 6 things that make me happy.

1. Tayllor makes me happy. I can always count on him to make me laugh with his quick wit and infectious laugh! His changing personality never ceases to amaze me. The kid gets more like his mama every day, lol

2. I love looking at pictures of Tayllor from just a few months ago all the way back to our first picture together in the hospital the day he was born. That makes me teary happy.

3. My family and friends for remembering the little things. They know how important it is to me that Tayllor remember mothers day or my birthday. While those days aren't a BIG deal to some, they are to me. Having my family and/or friends remember that day and remind Tayllor for me makes me very happy. It's never about the gifts, is ONLY the acknowledgement from my son, specially on mothers day.

4. Getting together with close friends and just hanging out. It's nice to get away from the daily grind of work and responsiblity and have a few drinks and laughs with the girls and/or the family.

5. Ramon makes me happy. I know, sounds cliche since he is the boyfriend and all and thats like his job. But, to be able to meet a man and within a few short weeks know you can tell him anything and its safe, well thats important to me. To know that if I am ever down, he knows jusy what to say or do to make it better. It makes me "happy" to know I've found someone like that.

6. Sleeping in on the weekends

Dahlia and Amber....your next. Can't get 4 more since I only have 3 people I "follow" and one of them already tagged me.

Groucho Tayllor

This picture is just further proof that my son is goofy....but oh how that kid cracks me up!!!

Our First Caribou...EVER!

Alright, some of you might think this is just the silliest thing ever but we saw our first ever caribou herd on the way down to Anchorage this weekend!! I had my Tayllor and one of his teammates Taylor in the car with us and both of them were in aww at the sight. Thankfully it was extremely bright outside and there were no accidents because of them. I didn't bring my camera along (and I totally heard it from my roomie, "I told you to bring your camera") but I was able to catch a few pics from my camera phone. Not the best quality but the experience was AWESOME!!

A little blurry but this was taken from behind my windshield

Tayllor took this one

I LOVE the mountains in the background

Look at that rack!! hehe

So, part of me wanted to get out and pet the animals. So purty. But, I'm not "that" blonde

I Have......

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. Happy discoveries!
I HAVE….
1. Started my own Blog-Yeah, about 3 of em now
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world-Both but only once at each park
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning-Yeah and don't wanna go through it again
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight-So much fun
22. Hitchhiked-Once when I was around 17, BAD memory
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill-Nah (yeah, lol)
24. Built a snow fort-With my older brothers
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping-hehe, yeah
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language-Spanish and Latin in HS
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Thats a funny one!!)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing-on one of those man made rock walls
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke-A LOT
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa-Disneyworld's Africa in Animal Kingdom :)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain-Yes *sigh*
53. Played in the mud-Def'ly!!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class-Self-defense my freshman year for gym class, count?
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check-yeah and it was the only time!
68. Flown in a helicopter-At the fair when I was younger with my dad
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy-my cabbage patch doll Cindy Melinda
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job-*sigh* yes
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle-Yeah at 40 degrees, BRR!!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car-semi-sorta new
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper-For Mothers Day about 7 years ago, they did a section on moms and interviewed different types of mom, I was interviewed for the "single mom" spot
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating-fish!
88. Had chickenpox-when I was a kid
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-In Vegas I met Bill Goldberg!!
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby-Just the 1
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone-Um, yeah
99. Been stung by a bee-When I was younger
100. Rode a elephant

Current Events

I'm not going to go into to much depth about me. If you are here checking out this blog, chances are you know me in real life and don't need a bio. I will tell you a little about my life as of late and update as much as I can.

I still live in the same town that I grew up in. I have never live anywhere else but I have thought a little about it. Honestly though, I have a wonderful family that supports me in everything I do and is always there for me, and friends who may as well be family because I can always count on them, so why would I want to live somewhere else without all that?! I just wish I could go on vacation more, hehe.

I am still a single mom of just one kid, Tayllor, and I'm extremely happy he wasn't twins!! The boy can run me ragged with all his energy!! He is my world, my light, my reason for it all. He is your typical tween boy. Loves to play video games, hang out with friends and play sports with the boys. But he can be the sweetest most loving kid out there, and not only when he wants something. I can count on him to do his share of the chores around the house with just a tad bit of groaning. He takes really good care of me and reminds me quite frequently what a good mom I am. I still get loves and hugs, just not so much in public anymore (hehe). He has BIG dreams of playing in the NHL some day and, as a good mom, I am going to do everything I can to make his dream come true. Of course the chance of it really happening are slim. I'll always be proud of him though.

I entered the dating world again and have met this wonderful man, Ramon. Unfortunatly, he is in Iraq for the next year so we are getting to know more about each other from afar. He makes me extremely happy and accepts all the things in my life, good and bad, hectic and simple. He doesn't care about my past or any mistakes I have made and gets along really well with Tayllor. He understands what my son means to me and has no problems cancelling a night alone because of my motherly duties. I can talk to him about anything, tell him everything, and know that what I tell him will stay between us and he won't pass judgement on me in anyway. This year long deployment will be a real test of our relationship but I honestly think we have a pretty good bond. He's a definite keeper!

There you have a current update on me and where my life is at this moment in time.

Another One

Well, here I go again. I'm creating a new blog (I think I have a few out there already). I owe this one to my sister-in-law's Dahlia and Amber and my friend Patty. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here creating yet another one. Funny thing is, I don't know if I should thank them or kick them, hehe. Hopefully I'll stay up the date with this one and everyone can enjoy the life of Tayllor and I.