NFR

We had an awesome time at the NFR this year!

I guess this was one of Brad's highlights. The brunch at which he ordered half a cow for breakfast. He was admired my family and strangers alike. One (middle-aged) man even commented, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!"

Ah, Brad, I'm so proud.

But the real highlight was the NFR. We all went as a family on Friday night, and had a fantastic time. I love this sport! It's the only sport I'll really watch on TV or be actually interested when I attend the event.
On Saturday night, the family--including Brad and I--split up. I went with Doug, Carol, Leslie and Justin to see Mystere. As always, Cirque Du Solie is so amazingly weird! What insane talent this strange people have!

Brad went with Brian and Kami to get tickets for the NFR. They got Mad Dash tickets. These tickets don't have assigned seating. Your supposed to wait till everyone has taken their seats, then you find an empty one. If you get kicked out, then go find another seat. Interesting, huh? Well, they got 5TH ROW SEATS!!! Right above the roping cutes! Brad was in heaven! "Probably the coolest thing I've ever done," he said. Though I loved Mystere...I was a little jealous of their seats.
During the day time we went to Cowboy Christmas and Bass Pro Shops, a favorite for us. Of course, we had to stay up all night playing. We don't have much interest in gambling, but our hotel had tons of stuff to do, like go bowling, watch movies, eat ice cream and our favorite, listen to the live band and watch way-to-drunk-guy try to dance with all the women! We loved having the time to spend together!

Can't wait for the NFR next year!!

Christmas Cheer (and a little Baa Hum Bug!)

So, I’m not a Scrooge. . . I swear! But I do have some Christmas thoughts both grumpy and cheery that I want to share.

I HATE that “the powers that be” (aka the stores) have pushed Christmas way beyond December. I love Thanksgiving and all that it means, and now it feels that it’s not it’s own holiday anymore, but more of a feast to start off Christmas. And don’t get me started on Christmas during Halloween!! So, yes. Anytime before Thanksgiving, I am a scrooge about Christmas. I don’t want to see it, don’t want to hear it. I want to enjoy the Holiday’s and all that they offer.

But once Thanksgiving is over, I’m not such a scrooge, I’m just “picky” about Christmas.

I hate Christmas shopping. It’s not the crowds, or the bustle. I really don’t mind that. It’s the stress. From the start of the holidays, I feel so stressed and anxious about buying presents. It’s like an alarm clock in my head, blaring every five minutes: Buy Presents. Buy Presents. Buy Presents. And not just presents, GREAT presents. The BEST presents. The stress almost overwhelms the real spirit of Christmas that I want to feel.

Because there are a lot of things I love about Christmas.

I love decorating my house. I love that the top of my entertainment center looks like a picture in a magazine. It’s the one place in my house that I’m really proud of; my house isn’t very decoratable. I mean, how many cute and darlings can you put on the kitchen counters before it starts looking stupid? (answer: 2)

I love putting up the Christmas tree, (even though the whole bottom section doesn’t light up. Who cares, you can’t see it from the window.) I love the way the lights glitter off the gold, and enhance the deep red against the green. I love pulling out my favorite ornaments, and remembering why I bought them. Like the star for Leah’s first Christmas, or the big, huge hand painted ball Dennis (my East coast Dad) brought be back from India, or the bears I bought with my best nanny friend, Leslee. I love the fake enthusiasm I get from Brad as he’s acts so happy to be a part of our family Christmas bonding time. I love that he covers his mouth when he nearly swears as he brings the Christmas tree up the stairs. And the big fake smile he gives me when I’m decorating the tree and singing Christmas songs, and begging him to join me. He does it, and I don’t care that he fakes enjoying it. All I care is that he’s there.

I love Christmas goodies! I love the candy, cookies, ice cream, hot chocolate and every other sweet thing that I feel morally obligated to eat. It’s Christmas, and what kind of neighbor would I be if I didn’t eat every single cookie on the plate the moment it was dropped off at my house? (My pants are screaming in protest already!)

I love Christmas lights, and I fully appreciate those who work hard (or pay someone to work hard) to put them all over their house. But you won’t find lights on my house. Neither Brad nor I care enough to deal with the big huge pain that it is to put them up. I have a glowing Christmas tree in the window. If that’s not enough for you, then don’t look at my house. Drive down the road and see my two neighbors whose self esteem is apparently dictated by having brighter, bigger, and more obnoxious decorations than the other. Honestly, they are using up so much electricity that I feel that it is my duty to keep my house dim, just to compensate. I’m not a scrooge, I’m just saving the planet.

I love spending time at family parties. I really do enjoy it. Honestly. Okay, maybe if there weren’t so many of them! Brad & I both have large families on every side. And they all live within a 15 mile radius. We have no excuse but to go to every party and get together. So we go to one, eat a ton of food, see family members and enjoy the chaos. Then we rush to another, eat a ton of food, mingle with our family members–even that crazy cousin that’s always awkward–and deal with the chaos. By the time we’ve hit our fifth party that week (or day) we have to purge just to make room for all the food, we’re avoiding those family members that we really don’t want to talk to, but we can’t because it’s so crowded, and the chaos is so much that we really just want to say Merry Freakin Christmas and go home and watch T.V. But, we love our big, loud, crazy (and sometimes awkward) families. So we go to each, push aside all the above mentioned feelings and enjoy it!

I love Christmas Music, but once again, I’m extremely picky. I refuse to listen to radio Christmas music. First off, it’s all music about, shopping, Santa and snow, and very rarely, if ever , music about the birth of our savior. And secondly, they take the same exact 27 songs and repeat them over and over. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Jingle bell, jingle bell Rocking around the Chestnuts roasting on a Grandma got run over by a Frosty the Snow Baby” AHHHH!!! Play something good!!! So, I don’t even dignify their music by turning on their stations. ( Not to mention that my radio is broken, but that’s beside the point.) I’ve compiled my favorite Christmas music and will only listen to my own chosen songs. Some of my favorites are: *O Holy Night. My all time favorite, particularly the Josh Groban or Celine Dion version *What Child is this *Breath of Heaven (the best) *Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High (pretty much everything in the hymn book.) *Carol of the Bells *I Wonder as I Wander (not sure if that’s the real title) *Still Still Still* There is a Rose That’s Blooming* Almost anything from my high school choir’s Christmas songs* Any thing on the Josh Groban Noel album or the SheDaisy’s Christmas album. So many good songs, and yet the radios won’t play them. What a waste.

Yes, there are so many things I love about Christmas, and so many great Christmas memories.

I think my all time favorite Christmas Season was my senior year of high school. It was the busiest, most hectic December I’ve ever had. I don’t remember what I got that year, in fact I’m not sure I even remember Christmas Day. What I loved about it was that I spent all season long singing. My Trouvers group had 5-8 performances every week. We went all over singing for parties and schools. I think all my fellow Trouvers can say that there isn’t a better feeling than spending the holidays sharing our talents and bringing in the Christmas spirit through song. I’ll always remember the songs we sang that year, and they will always have a special place in my heart.

One of my other favorite Christmases was the year that I lived in Virginia and came home for the holidays. It was the first time that I’d ever lived away from my family and I really felt the words of the song: “I’ll be home for Christmas.” It was really special to come home and be with my family, who I’d missed so much. It might also have something to do with the fact that that was the Christmas that I met Brad, fell in love with him, and knew in my heart of hearts that I was going to marry him. *Maybe*

I’m so excited about this season though. Leah is finally old enough that she’s really excited about Christmas. It’s so fun for me to teach her about Santa, and stockings and reindeer, and watch her eyes light up. I love helping her understand the Nativity story and learn about baby Jesus. Through her, the magic of Christmas is renewing in our home, and I hope I can get caught up in her wonder and excitement and it can chase away the Christmas grumpys that I *occasionally* I feel.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Christmas! Relish in the things that you love, and if there are things that bug you, its okay to say “Baa Hum Bug!” Just don’t let your little grumpys chase away all thats good and magical about Christmas.

Merry Freakin Christmas!

Tahsha

Fall Wonderland

I've been sucking at blogging lately. I won't go on and on about lack of time and whatever, (I've already done that) But lets just say that things have gotten crazier since the holidays began. I've just got too many things that are taking up my time, my energy and basically every waking thought.

ANYWAYS

On to fall!

Once great thing about our yard, is the awesome leaves! We have a long line of poplar trees, and in the autumn, we get a thick blanket of leaves, leaving our lawn more orange than green.

This year, with Leah being older and the warm weather, we've had a great time! We've spent lots of afternoons outside by ourselves or with friends.

I love the fall, and this year has been picture perfect!

Pheasant Hunting

This year's pheasant hunts were great. The whole family got together for a little fun. It was so neat to watch our dogs work, I've always been fascinated with it. Casey did great!

I look like a hunter, don't I? Yeah , I know, I've got it down.

Leah had fun, and was the messiest, cutest little pheasant hunter ever.

Grandma Margie had a famous pheasant fry that I'd heard all about, but never got to experience while she was with us. But from shear memory, Brad was able to recreated it, and it was delicious!!

Halloween

I know, I know I'm really late at posting this . . . but alas, such is my life lately.

We had a great time at Halloween. Leah has been excited about being a mermaid for months! She loved showing of her costume, and we dressed her up every chance we got.
We had fun at the family Halloween party! Keynan and Sara had my favorite costume of the night. They came as themselves . . . exhausted new parents!
I was originally going to be a roller derby girl, but I couldn't find roller skates, so I was just a "punk" as Leah called me.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! We had a fantastic time this year!

Hank is alive!!

I guess my overly cheesy tribute to him was unnecessary, eh?

Blog Overload!

Check out all our new posts below!

Lake Shore Baby!!!

Brad & I have been thinking about this for a long time. Every Sunday afternoon, we could be found stalking out in the county, looking the perfect piece of property. Finally everything fell into place.

We recently bought property in Lake Shore!!!

Right now, it's a cornfield. But once it's cut we'll plant hay on it.

One day, we'll live here!!!

It probably won't be anytime soon though. Brad's so anxious, he really wants to live here now. and I have to admit, so do I, but we'll just have to see how things go!

This will be my view! Isn't it gorgeous? I love a Lake Shore sunset!

One thing we want to do soon is get some trees going. Brad and I are both tree people, we want trees everywhere! So, Brad got us a tree and we went down and planted it, hoping that it will take root and start growing this spring.

We can't wait to be a part of Lake Shore. There are already so many people that we know and like there! We are so grateful for those who gave us the opportunity to get this property. We love it so much!!

Cornbelly's

Cornbelly's was so fun. Have you ever been there? It's hecka expensive..I mean taking a whole family would really ring up the bell...but it was worth it.



We dared to take the girls through this "scary dragon." Leah hasn't stopped talking about it.

"Moma, I went in the scary dragon. I was brave like piglet."

It was a great Halloween activity! I love the fall!

Baking Cookies

Toby came over the other day and I decided the girls needed some Halloween fun, and that my kitchen really needed some flour thrown all over it! So, my and two two years olds made Halloween cookies! They did great, and we had a great time.

These girls love each other, just like sisters, and they fight-just like sisters! They are best friends!

Deer Hunt

We had a great time on the deer hunt this year. My Dad was the only one who got anything this year. A nice 4 point. But we love being at the cabin, and we had a great time. I love my cabin. Being there is so much fun, and so many things just fade away when I'm there...like caring about doing my makeup or if Leah is covered in dirt.

One of my favorite signs that's hidden in the screen porch. I wanted to steal it and take it home, but I'm pretty sure that my Aunts and Uncles would hunt me down, hog tie me and punch me in the neck if I did! (Just kidding guys, I love ya)
We love riding four wheelers there! Brad and Leah took a nap and I went on a great hour long ride by myself. I just love being up in the mountains away from everyone and everything!

Good times!!! Hopefully we can have better luck next time!

Baby Wyatt

My sweet baby Wyatt is finally here! . 

This is my little brother Keynan & his wife Sara's new son.  He's perfect. He has the sweetest cry, and he can open his mouth so big! I love him and his extremely long feet! I'm so glad that he's here and that everything went so well and that we have a little baby boy to snuggle!   

What we've been up to...

Ever feel overwhelmed?

 That's how I feel most of the time. Now I know that I don't have the craziest, busiest life. In fact, compared to most people, my life is pretty laid back. But I feel constantly bombarded by all the things I want and need to do. 

Paint the basement. Rearrange the kitchen cupboards. Make a bed skirt. File all my paper work. Finish the flower bed that's been half done for 6 months. Teach Leah to read. Finish my scrapbook. Potty train Leah. Decorate the front room. Write a book. Get a 3 month supply of food. Find money. Go clothes shopping with said money......AHHHHH!!! But these things hardly ever get my time.

Instead I'm doing things like: do the dishes, pay the 

bills, clean the house, make food, clean the house, get the paper work done, clean the house, play with Leah, and oh, clean the house. 

Do you ever feel this way? I hope I'm not alone.

Anyways. Blogging has been one thing thats been on the back burner. But here's a few pictures of what we've been up to lately. 

Brad's been hunting a lot. His brother Brian had a big bull tag, and Brad helped him out. He brought this big guy down. Everyone was excited! 

We went on a beautiful sunday afternoon hike to the grotto. 

Spent time at the cabin with some friends. We went on great four wheeler rides and heard some elk. 
Played with my cutest baby niece, Ellie. 
Took Leah fishing. We haven't caught her anything yet though. 

So, I'm trying to make time for the important things, it's often at the expense of all that other stuff. But sometimes that what life is all about, right? I love my family, and my sweet baby girl!! 

Dear Hank the crosswalk guard,

I'm sorry that we've never taken the time to learn your real name. We call you Hank because it seems like a good name for a kind, cheery old man such as you. We missed you all summer long and looked forward to the beginning of the school year when we would be cheered by your friendly face. But the school year came, and you weren't there. Instead, there is a frizzy haired girl, who, I'm sure does an acceptable job, but she doesn't brighten my day like you. Every morning and afternoon, we drove by and you had a special wave just for us. Leah had to roll down the window and wave back. Even in bad weather, we could see you in the car, waving at each and every driver. I don't know where you are. You've faithfully manned this cross walk for years. I hope that you have retired to a comfortable home with a large porch where you can sit on the swing, sip lemonade and watch the grand-babies play. If your absence is more of the lasting kind, I hope that you are happy there. Where ever you are, know that you are missed, and that your bright smile and your never-ending wave will always be appreciated. 

XOXOXO Tahsha and Leah 

Jake Ransom and the Skull Kings Shadow

Okay, I promise this will be more of a book review than the last one. I found this book in Target, and the cover sold me. A young boy climbing a giant mayan pyramid? Yeah you’ve got my interest. All you have to say is Mayan and I’ll sit up straight and listen. It’s a secret nerdy obsession of mine, any ancient history that is. But for some reason I’ve always had a soft spot for the Mayan.  I needed a book to listen to on the banks of Alaskan rivers, {don’t laugh Dad} so I thought this was perfect. 

Jake Ransom’s parents mysteriously disappeared while on a dig in Mesoamerica. Three years later, Jake and his sister Katy are dealing with the loss of their parents. Things get weirder when an invitation comes to attend a museum exibxit in London. But through an ancient artifact and conjoining necklaces left to them by their parents, Jake and Katy are transported to an ancient world where it seems that people from every time and place have converged. Mayans, Romans, Chinese, Africans, cave men and even dinosaurs live together in a valley, protected from the evil clutches of the Skull King. Jake and Katy have to emerge themselves in this world while they find a way to get back home. But unexpected clues lead them to their parents: did they know of this place? Are they alive? But they are running out of time to discover all their answers. The Skull King awaits on the border of the city, and what he wants most: Jake. 

There are a lot of good and bad things about this book, in my opinion. 

The Bad. James Rollins is great with his descriptions, thats the problem, he’s TOO great with his descriptions. Everything is so over described and superfluous that I was getting annoyed. I was listening to in on my iPod, so I couldn’t just skim over the descriptions like I would have in a book. It really almost killed the good plot he had going. Even a character spoke using an insane over intense description! I mean, can’t the sun just shine? Does it always have to break across the  horizon in a glorious greeting to the new day, gently illuminating the valley below, and caressing the shadows with it’s soft golden rays of hope, till they give way to the light? {HA! That was pretty good, I should be an author :) } Don’t get me wrong, vivid and beautiful descriptions are a part of any good writing, but when you get something like that every other sentence, it gets old-fast. 

He can’t say: Jake sat in his classroom, watching the minutes pass by on the clock. Instead it’s: 

The inky black arrows, frozen on the clock taunted Jake. He stared at them, as if his will alone would make them move. And when they finally inched passed, it seemed not enough. He would be stuck in this forever, and the arrows would mock him for all eternity. {I made that up, incase anyone wants to get mad at me for making fun of published writing} 

Sure, that might sound good. But every little, non important things was described that way, and I really wanted more plot. It was a good thing I didn’t have anything to do, or I would have put the book down forever. {I guess I could have got out of the boat and fished for Alaskan Salmon. But hey, I’d already caught {and released} more than my limit of fish that day. }

Okay, can you tell that bugged me? On to other things.

I was a little unsure if I like the whole multi-cultural thing at first. But I soon became okay with that. But the dinosaurs? I don’t know why, but dinos spell one thing to me: C-H-E-E-S-Y. He could have ditched the dinos, and I’d be fine. 

And lastly, The Skull King. {another personal rant here} I dislike villains for the sake of villainy.  And the Skull King was like so many other villains: Evil and scary, almost non human. Bent on evil and taking over the world. But what they lack is personality. Why do they want to take over the world? What are they going to do once they get it? What happened to this once innocent infant to make them so bad? To paraphrase something I read: A character who acts without real motivation is by definition melodramatic, doing outrageous things for the sake of the thrill it gives the reader--not because it makes sense for the character to do so

The Skull King was melodramatic. A great villain, and so much like many others before him. 

The Good. {You were hoping I’d get to that?} 

There is some great mystery here that’s keeping me up at night, awaiting the sequel. Jake’s parents, the company they work for, the world itself. I can’t wait to find out the answers. James Rollins has done a great job of working up the suspense. 

Like I said, I’m an ancient history dork. So this was really fun for me to get thrown into a world where all the worlds history lives at one place. The way they live, the “alchemy” that is their technology. It was all very exciting and interesting, and something I’d never read before. Yeah for new ideas!!! 

And his characters. Jake is smart and mature, determined to follow in his parents shoes. He makes friends in the city that are great supporters to his character. While his sister Katy brings some light heartedness and “teenage” into the story. 

I really liked this book, and I will read the next one, but I really hope that James can tone down the over dramatization, or I might just have to puke my way through it. 

Far World

I’ve recently read a book that I would like to review. But before I do, I would like to go on a personal tangent, if that’s okay. What am I talking about? This is my blog I’m going to write all the personal tangents I want! Tee heee!

I normally don’t read books like this: Middle Grade Fantasy. I still like many YA {Young Adults} books, but Middle Grade is a bit young for me. Maybe its because, like my maturing taste in food {I hate box macaroni and hot dogs, but love my vegetables} my taste in books have matured...hmmm. That can’t be it! 

I think my reasons are two fold. 

One I HATE copy cats. Have you ever noticed that since the Twilight explosion, Vampires are everywhere? It’s as if authors and screen writers only care about tapping in to a money making market then writing their own creativity. They know that young adults are in to vamps, so they give them more vamps than they can handle. Sure, its a good “ka-ching, ka-ching” idea, but to me its uncreative and shallow. They try to steal what one woman has created, slap a different cover on it, and think they’ve done something amazing. Get an original thought, people! Admittedly, those might be hard to come by, {vampires were around long before Stephanie Meyer} but at least try! Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Twilight and Vampires as much as the next chick {Okay, I dream of Edward finding me, biting me and making me his undead wife–just kidding Brad, I love you the most.} But I refuse to watch or read anything about Vampires. I will only support those who are working hard on sharing their own creative ideas. 

The second reason hinges on the first. I’m just really sick and tired of the same old fantasy! Traditional fantasy has been around forever, {Hans Christen Anderson, The Grimm Brothers?} and it is one of the most popular genres. But it seems that everything has been done over and over again. Wizards, wands, magic, dragons, elves, fairies... When the world got “Harry Potterified” we found a book that took the same old fantasy to a new level and restored our interest. So every other fantasy author has tried to do the same thing. I have read A LOT of middle grade and YA fantasy. It feels kinda like I’m chewing the same piece of old gum. And every time I try a new piece, it tastes the same. Old, stale and hard. But I keep searching, looking for a fresh piece that will clear up my stagnant breath. And now, I’ve just given up. {okay off of the disgusting gum theory, but you get the idea.} 

So with all that in mind, coupled with the fact that, yes, maybe I have matured a little bit, I normally wouldn’t pick up a book like Far World. So, why did I? 

Well, Jeff Savage is a close, personal friend of mine. {LIAR! Okay. But why is it that when know someone who has done something remarkable, we feel remarkable?} I do know him, I took a few classes from him, and he spoke often of Far World, which he was writing at the time. 

So when I found the book in a book store, I felt compelled to pick it up. {Deep breath, if you’re still with me}

Normally when I review a book, I talk about my opinions as an adult reader; what I liked and disliked about it. But considering all the above mentions rants, I feel that wouldn’t be fair to a book that was not indented for me. So, I’d like to talk about his book as if I were recommending it to a reader from its intended audience: kids maybe 8-14 years old.

I loved the characters in Far World. Marcus, a 13 year old, wheelchair bound orphan, who lives on earth, and Kyjia, a 13 year old girl who can’t do any magic, though she lives in Far World, where magic is common place. What misfits, right? Kids love misfits, because all kids -heck even adults- feel like they don’t fit in at one point or another. It’s very relatable. 

Jeff Savage has a great sense of humor, and that really pulls the book along. He did a good job creating new creatures. Most were some that I’d never seen before, so that was a relief. I especially loved the way that he described water keep, as a city that appeared with the crashing of the waves. The back and forth between earth and Far World was entertaining, and I have to admit, I enjoyed the scenes that were on earth more than the Far World scenes. It was interesting to see for the first time, something I find completely normal.  I like how Marcus and Kyjia learned to use their ability to move back and forth to their advantage. 

The things that I didn’t like about the story was mostly shouted about above. It was more of the same. Young kids destined to save the world. A quest to find the answers and help. Evil powers that want to kill the heros and take over the world. (Don’t worry, I have more to say on that later) Does it sound familiar? 

But---Maybe that doesn’t bug you. And it probably doesn’t bother an elementary age kid who hasn’t read enough yet to know what been done before. 

So I think young kids would really like Far World, and the sequels that are coming out soon. And, Jeff is a local Author, so thats cool. If you or your child is looking for a fun new book to read, pick up Far World. 

More New Scrapbook Pages!!!!

I've been going at the pages once again! I feel like I'm finally getting caught up! Hope you like them!