Happy Holidays!

I wanted to write one more entry before I leave tomorrow to say: MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday vacation! Tomorrow I'm on my way to Texas and of course very excited to see Austin and spend Christmas/New years with him and his family! Just the fact that it's Christmas time is exciting enough. It looks like quite a few people might get a white Christmas even. It seems like everyone is getting snow. I had a near heart attack when I found out McCarren (Las Vegas) airport was closed due to snow, but recovered when I figured out I probably and most definitely hopefully won't be affected. A lot of flights were canceled, but today things have gotten a lot better so I hopefully will be ok. All day today I've been trying to get things ready to go (as you can tell I'm accomplishing great things at the moment) and attempting to fit everything into one suitcase...gonna have to squeeze! Anyways once again, have a great holiday!

we were told that you're never too old to sit on Santas lap

Us girls in front of the bridge

Me and Britney

Ciara and Daniel

the three of us again

We had a great idea to set the camera on the steps and use the self timer...it worked! After a few tries...

Coffee and cold winter nights go together

Ciara did my hair and I thought it was really cute

The before...

and the after.

The Hightower girls (Britney and Ciara) came up to Havasu and spent the weekend with us. We go down there (Blythe, CA) for union meeting and have endlessly talked about getting together other than union meeting...finally it happened, and for the most part we had a blast! Friday night we had pizza and played games...Saturday morning we went shopping and than in the evening we went down to the bridge, which is becoming quite regular for me. Of course it was fun to once again be down there...the atmosphere is great! We even got to sit on Santa's lap, haha. Then we warmed back up with some starbucks...believe it or not it gets pretty chilly here at night! Sunday we had meeting and lunch and a couple games...then the not so fortunate event happened. Britney long-boarded down our hill and crashed (I did the same thing on a skate-board one time, except I didn't get hurt as bad...I think we've come to the conclusion that it's not a very good idea). She scraped up here arms and legs and tore her shirt open, but the worst of it was on her face...she got some bruises, a big bump on her forehead and a chunk out of her nose (not sure how else to put it)...there was lots of blood and needless to say we were pretty worried for awhile...We cleaned her up and put ice on her head and had her rest for a long while and she looked and felt considerably better...Anyways she's ok and we all learned our lesson. We ended the weekend at cold stone to try and end on a happier note. Sorry to go into detail, but that was a big event of the weekend...just glad she's ok and they insisted they STILL had lots of fun.

Boating in December

Kirk let Daniel back the boat in and park...all went smoothly =)

Cruisin'

We fed the ducks wheat thins...they started to get pretty comfortable with us and would snatch them out of your hand.

Thursday, Kirk Shroyer took me and Daniel out for a spin on his boat. It was a gorgeous day...a bit chilly when you're cruising, but laying out and soaking up the sun on the lake was wonderful! We ate lunch on the boat and had some nice chats...over all it was a great afternoon!

Weight Watchers

Today I reached two of my goals...My first goal I reached was my weight watchers goal (the weight they say I should be) which is 130, and my second goal was to be in the 120's before Christmas break and today I was 129.4! So I'm very happy and excited...i've lost a total of 57 pounds and have approximately 15 lbs to my personal goal. It seems like it's taking a very long time, but it has definitely been worth and I feel so much better...I just can't wait to reach my goal. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me along the way...it's a big help!

Gorgeous sunset

The other night we had this gorgeous sunset (actually lots of nights we have gorgeous sunsets) so I ran and got my camera and took a couple pictures. Sooooo pretty...right from our back yard too! I want to live somewhere with seasons, but I would sure miss awesome sunsets and palm tree silhouettes.

Christmas boats

Me and Daniel

Daniel built himself a little mound to lay on

Me and mama

Boats getting ready...these aren't the 'real' boats...they just follow at the end

The other night Daniel, mom and I went down to the lake to watch the Christmas boats, a tradition in Havasu. Anybody can enter it and basically you decorate your boat with Christmas lights and decorations...some of the boats even play music...and there are prizes for the best. There were some very creative and fun boats...it was entertaining to watch. I unfortunately didn't get pictures of any of the boats because my camera was having issues, except for the couple on here.

2 weeks from tomorrow until I get to see my...

Sweet

Silly

Handsome boy!

I am so excited as the time is getting nearer that I get to see Austin and the rest of the family to spend Christmas together! Been doing some Christmas shopping, but ideas are welcome =)

Down to the Bridge again

View of the village from on top of the bridge

A sweet old man offered to take our picture...turned out a bit blurry but thats ok

And the English village again

just having fun =)

Me

Emilee

"The" London Bridge...all prettied up for Christmas

So pretty...pictures don't fully capture it though

The other night Emilee and I went to the Bridge just for something fun to do...It was great just to walk around and listen to the Christmas music and look at the lights and take pictures! It seems crazy we're already into December!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Taking pictures

Down by the bridge

Ta da!


Winner of the polar bear swim turning on the village Christmas lights


Mom and I went down to the Bridge and watched the polar bear swim...where abunch of crazy people swim across the lake in the freezing cold...and the winner turns on the Christmas lights at the Europeon village. Swimmers were from age 10-58...fairly entertaining...maybe Austin and I will do it one year, ha =) Anyways I love Christmas time and the lights are sooooooo pretty! It was a very fun, wintery atmosphere!

White chicken enchiladas

2 whole chicken breasts cooked and shredded or cut up
1 lb Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 can of chopped green chilies (I used mild, approximately 3/4 of a 6 oz can...you can add or take away as many as you like)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pt of sour cream
grated mozzarella cheese (this goes on top so you can put as much on as you like...you can also use cheddar cheese)
1 dozen flour tortillas

Mix together the chicken, jack cheese, and chilies. Mix together cream of chicken soup and sour cream in separate bowl. You can fry the tortillas very quickly on each side if you like...you don't have to...it's good either way. Put approximately 1/4 cup of chicken filling in center of tortilla. Add 1 tablespoon of soup mixture to that. Fold the sides in and then roll. Place in oblong baking dish with the seam down. Repeat with each tortilla and then spread the remainder of the soup on top. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes at 350.

This dish is soooo yummy so I had to share it for anyone who is interested. Me and Austin (yes, he's an awesome cook - learned it from his mama) made it this summer, than I made it again last night for my family. Everyone in my family (that is here of course) thoroughly enjoyed it...except well Daniel picked out the green chilies, haha...no surprises there, but the chilies give it awesome flavor. It's not the most dietetic, but thats why I made it on Thursday, the day after weight watchers so I would have all week to work it off ;) Anyways, enjoy!

Jacket

I know this is just a picture of me, but the point isn't me...it's the jacket i'm wearing. It's exciting because around a year and a half ago (and a whole lot more pounds ago) I found this jacket at value village and fell in love with it...I thought it was adorable and couldn't not get it even though it was much too small for me at the time...it was brand new, in perfect condition, still had the tags on it and everything! So I got it in hopes of fitting into it one day...and tried it on every so often over the time of my weightloss to see if it fit yet...each time it didn't...until the other night when I had not put it on in quite some time so I decided to put it on...and it fit! With room to spare at that! It is soooo warm and cozy too...the fur that you can see in the hood, is throughout the entire inside of the jacket. Anyways to some people it might not seem like a big deal, but needless to say - I was quite happy =)

Soon it will be Christmas day...

Austin (one handsome man...namely mine ;))

Plus all the rest of the family

Plus Christmas time (it's absolutely impossible to find one photo to represent Christmas so this will have to do even though it nowhere near suffices)

Plus Texas (I've never been there so anywhere new has to be exciting)


Equal the reasons I am very excited! I bought a plane ticket today to spend Christmas in Texas with Austin and his family! I forgot to include a picture of New years in there, but I'll be there over new years too. So, even though I will miss having Christmas in Seattle with my family I'm very happy! Anyways, thats my latest exciting news! On the downside I found out (the airlines I'm traveling on at least) are charging for any checked bags...not just the second one - blah

Landon!

He loves playing with tractors...especially green ones

He and Jack became pals...kind of

Jack was not interested when he tried feeding him flip flops

He loved playing on the computer

He wanted to take a bath in that little bucket, hence the reason he has his pants down

He thought my shoes were pretty awesome

Dad teaching him how to do two thumbs up, which he thought was pretty cool

One of my favorite pictures of him!

The stallings came to visit us so we got to spend some time with Landon...he is absolutely adorable...so full of personality and life! He loves to laugh and smile as long as things are going his way =] At one point he walked into the kitchen and burst into tears because Daniel was sitting on 'his stool'...and he was also very upset when he had couldn't sit in the back of the prowler (side by side) to go for a ride. He loves to pretend to strum the guitar while listening to music, he loves to play meeting, he loves bath time (except for the part where he has to get washed), he loves pringles and brings them with him everywhere (one of the few foods he will eat), he loves pressing buttons of any kind - phones, computer, radio, cars, quads etc., he loves tractors, cars, quads, trains etc., he is very independent and loves to do everything by himself, he stutters when he gets excited, he has a very short attention span unless of course it comes to something really important like videos of himself...he laughs and laughs when he can see and hear himself...anyways I could go on and on, but those are just a few things about him. He is so much fun and I promise he can melt your heart =)