Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Mari Johnson April 7th, 1983-December 29th, 2009

This morning my cousin Mari was killed by a vehicle that ran her car off the road and into a tree. The driver of the vehicle has yet to be caught. Such a shame, she was a beautiful person inside and out. The world is a better place from her being in it, and it is a loss to us all that she is gone. Rest in peace Mari. We all love you.

A Good Hike

Today is 6 months that Derek and I have been married! Horray! Nothing special planned...he works today. This morning I took my sister and Jackson hiking. It was so much fun, and Lacy seemed to have fun too. It gave me a chance to really test out the new camera that we got for Christmas, and I think it did an excellent job! Well now I'm off to tear out a stump at my Mother-In-Laws house.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Jackson's Special Playdate!

Today I got to spend time with a good friend of mine that was in town all the way from Maryland. She brought her dog Mera with her, so it seemed only natural that we set up a playdate between her and Jackson. Katie and I watched "Land of the Lost" while the two canine companions wrestled eachother. It was so nice seeing Katie and knowing that she's doing so well. I hope to keep in contact with her more often

Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Jarvi Family Christmas Party

I worked this morning, it wasn't super eventful, and I was able to get off early to make it to the Jarvis family event. We met up at Derek's Dads house, where the whole Jarvi clan was gathered, and Morris's rocket was pulled out and on display. There was a professional photographer there, and it was god awful trying to pose for those pictures. I hope they turned out nice though. It was so nice to see all the people that don't live out here. Like Derek's dad who lives in Ireland, his uncle that lives in Switzerland, one of his aunts who lives in Texas, and the other aunt who lives in California (whom it was also announced tonight, is expecting her first baby!) Congratulations Shana and Eddy!!! We went to the party and ate and socialized (though not for long) some of (ok alot of) his family is so crazy and not fun to be around. After the party we headed back to his grandparents house with his aunt and uncles to play a game of Farkle. It was so much fun!! Sorry, no pictures from tonight yet.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Today we had a great Christmas! This morning we took the time to open Jackson and Tiger's stockings with them. Tiger wasn't exactly thrilled, but she has already taken to playing with some of her mice. Jackson was super excited! He completely understood the concept of a stocking and jumped around every time we reached into his stocking. He loves the snail toy that we gave him, who now has been named Mortimer, (don't ask me why, it just fits.) And we also gave him some REI Ruff Wear booties and socks to replace his trashed Muttlucks. I can't wait to use them! He spent the rest of the morning in his "Snowboarder Pup" Sweatshirt that he loves to curl up in.After that we went to Derek's dads house for a couple minutes to give them the present we made them. An "Emergency Weather Kit" that was a cheeky little chest filled with a puzzle, crosswords, sudoku, popcorn and cocoa. A perfect assortment for a lazy rainy day. They gave us our stocking, and it had cute little knick-knacks in it.

Then we went to Derek's mom's house to celebrate Christmas. Paige loved her pottery wheel, and Dante will be thrilled with his Build-A-Bear gift card. Sarah and Preston gave us a gift eerily similar to the one we gave them. Basically a date night with gift cards to favorite restaurants and a movie. Derek's little brother, Quinton gave us shelving for the garage, which admittedly we just finished assembling. I love it!!!! I'll be taking a bunch of empty boxes from the garage to the trash compactor at work tomorrow.

After the festivities at his mom's we headed over to my dad's. He had a delicious dinner ready for us, or at least his fiance, Lisa does. I love those two goofballs so much. Lacy was there too and we all opened up our Stockings....we always get such good treats! I was glad to see so much of the family on positive terms today.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

Today we had Christmas with both my mom, and my step dad. We went to my mom's house early in the afternoon, and took Lacy with us. Actually we went to Steve's house, which I guess is where she lives a couple days a week now. It was really nice. We gave her the Christmas card we made for her, and she seemed to really like it. Mocha seemed to be enjoying the sweater we gave her a couple weeks ago to match Jackson. My mom gave me a nice wooden spoon (which I had been wanting for quite some time now), and nice cold weather hiking clothes! She gave Derek a nice long sleeved polo shirt, but we'll be exchanging it, simply because he doesn't wear long sleeves. Otherwise it's a really nice shirt. Steve gave us a gift card, and we really appreciated it. We had more fun than we expected to have, but I think it's because we went into it with an optimistic cheery attitude.After a couple hours there we left so we could take Lacy back to Kevin's house so she could start preparing the dinner for that night. Kevin's dad and stepmom came. So did Bonnie and her daughter Elizabeth. A surprise guest, was my step brother Jeff, whom I thought had already moved to Quebec. Oh well. Overall it was a nice night, and a good meal. Kevin got me a nice mixer to replace the Kitchen-Aide one that he took back for Lacy. Jim and Sandy got us Harkins stuff. Poor Jackson was alone pretty much all day, but he'll get special treatment in the morning.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Horray AKC CGC!

I know that's alot of letters, but I'm so excited because Jackson's AKC certificate came in the mail today! I am so proud of him!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

A Day To Recover

Yesterday I got my wisdom teeth removed. But I don't feel too bad. I was able to eat some chicken noodle soup last night, I must say, it was about the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had in my life. LOL. Today I've had soggy Ramen, mashed potatoes, and ice cream. AWESOME! I got bored so I did a photo shoot with Jackson and Tiger for our yearly handmade Christmas card, and assembled the 60 cards we were sending out!The photo I used for the front of the cards.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Wisdom Teeth

I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed a little over 4 hours ago. The whole procedure took about 25 minutes, and I was able to walk out of the dentist office on my own, and was texting people right away. I am still having some trouble getting my gums to clot, so I'm biting down on a tea bag right now. It's a yummy vanilla caramel one! Hopefully they clot soon so I can eat something, I'm starving! Not in much pain at all. They gave me pain killers, but I'm not going to take them. Just the Ibuprofen and antibiotics. All should be well in a couple days! At least I get the day off tomorrow to rest.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Happy Birthday Jackson!

So today is our puppy Jackson's 1st Birthday. They grow up so fast! LOL. Seriously though, it seems like only yesterday we picked him up from Petsmart when he was 8 weeks old. I worked this morning, but as soon as I got off I went home and grabbed him and Tiger to get their picture taken with Santa.Then I came home and spent some time with Derek. I baked Jackson a Peanut Butter and Banana birthday cake, and he loved it.
He licked his name off first, then went to town and ate about 2/3 of it.
Then we gave him his present, a Kong Giraffe toy that is affectionately named Geoffrey. Jackson was very excited to have another Geoffrey since his last one got thrown away because it was falling apart.
He fell asleep with it in his arms.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Snow Day!

Yesterday Derek took the day off work and we headed up to Flagstaff for a snow day. It was amazing. We left around 10am and got there around 1pm. It was 29 degrees when we got there, and 24" of snow. The roads were nice a clear (at least on the way there). We stopped at a nice area that was full of trees and snow banks and clean snow. Jackson hopped around like a bunny and had the time of his life. He was eating snowballs left and right! Thank goodness we bought a heated drink mug! We were able to heat up water and make hot chocolate while we were up there. Jackson looked so at home in the snow, and I hope we get to take him to see it again someday. Overall I think it was one of the funnest days we've had in a long time.

Monday, December 7, 2009

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Today I went to Lowe's and picked up our Christmas tree! It's a perfect little 6 footer, but I hope it doesn't die and dry up before Christmas comes along. After I set the tree up in the holder and picked the perfect spot in the living room for it, I sorted through all the Christmas boxes and pulled out the strands of lights that worked. I decided this year I was going to decorate the tree with eggs, so I bought 3 dozen and blew the yolk out and painted them. I think the tree turned out really nice, and the house smells amazing!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Day After Thanksgiving

I had to work the day after Thanksgiving, but in the morning before I had to go into work, Derek's aunt and uncle stopped by with their dog to visit. We hadn't seen Karalee or any of them in quite some time. It was the first time that Kili ever met Jackson. Unfortunately they didn't play much, due to the fact that Kili only knows how to mount. Oh well.