2009

Well this has been an interesting year. We moved Doug here the day after Christmas in 08. Doug started his new job in January as Site Manager for Air Products at the Intel in New Mexico. Doug loves his job and is doing well. We bought a new house. Moved the kids here at Spring Break in March and said some tearful goodbyes. I am so allergic to the trees here and had a bad beginning but have figured it out. Sadie had a rough go at it too but is now adjusted and has some good friends in the ward. Derrik loves all the hunting and camping trips he gets to go on with his Dad and Kamryn is happy Kamryn. I am in the Relief Society Presidency and Doug is in Scouts.  We get to see a lot of missionary work being done here and it is great. We miss home but we are OK.  2009 was a tough year for a lot of people. So many with out jobs. We still are at war in Afghanistan. People are loosing their homes. Familys are breaking up. It is a yucky world we live. I am so grateful that I know the bigger picture. It will all be OK. Hopefully 2010 will be a new year of good things.

Christmas 2009

We did our tradition on Christmas Eve of opening PJ's, reading the Christmas Story, looking as Christmas lights, and enjoying the Spirit of Christmas. We also continued with our 12 days of Christmas and giving out 1 piece of the nativity with the last piece given on Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve it is all about Christ and then on Christmas Day we do the Santa thing.

Crazy as it may seem Santa found us this year again. Even though we moved. Can you believe it? This year the kids had an alarm clock (the one Sadie got last year) and all slept in Sadie's room. I thought 5AM would be good until it came. This was the first year they woke us up and not us waking them up. Dang technology. Sadie thought it was cool that we had a real fireplace this year and not the fake one on TV. We needed it too because I was really cold outside.

This year the kids were very thoughtful in their gift giving. They each got everyone something. That is my favorite part of Christmas the giving part. It is nice to see your children enjoy that part as well.

We got Sadie a Video MP3 Player. She wanted an IPod Touch but that wasn't going to happen. She was pretty excited. (It was broken though and we had to take it back and get another one the next day.)

Derrik got a bow. He had been saving his money for one and went to buy it himself and found out that Walmart takes them off the shelves for Christmas because of a lawsuit or something. Good thing for him we got it a really long time ago. He also got a plaque for his deer horns that we hung up above his head.

Kamryn got a kids video camera. It worked a whole day before she dropped and broke it. Didn't have the receipt for that one. I wasn't going to get her anything else because she wasn't careful, but caved. She wanted a racket-ball racket so we got her one. It ended up being a tennis racket but she doesn't care.

I got Doug an electric meat grinder. He got right to work and made some Brauts. Boy were they good. I had to go all over town looking for meat casings but I found them and it was worth it.

My sweet husband got me a TV for our room. He even tricked me and put it in a TV box from a TV we already had so I won't guess. Unfortunately it was to big for our cabinet so I decided I wanted a Cricket. I ordered it and I can't wait to use it. You can make all sorts of stuff with it like vinyl lettering.

Santa brought the kids a basketball hoop, a unicycle, and a large pogo stick to share.

The kids have had a lot of fun trying to figure out the unicycle.

First getting on.

Then staying on. It is so cold they are learning in the house.

Kamryn says that the pogo stick is a Master Brand because she is a Master Pogo Sticker. It is too big for her and she is so light that she practically has to jump on it to spring.

Granny and Grandad Nelson got the kids a snow sled. Hopefully they will have some snow soon to use it.

Grannie Slade made a 7 hour drive on Christmas Day to deliver our presents.  Wish I would have gotten a  picture. They were all nice and very thoughtful. We were glad to see her. Grandad wasn't feeling well.

This was the first year we didn't go somewhere after we open presents. It was nice just to hang out and do nothing for the weekend.

Catholics and Hanukkah

This is from Sadie

It was the funniest thing, my sister and i saw some of those paper bag lights in one of our neighbors yard last night.and i said "oo look at those,i wonder if they have them on all night?"and she said"probably,they must be catholics because only catholics put those out, when they celebrate hanukkah....... then i had to explain to her she was really wrong! haha thats my kamryn!

Our Bed

This morning was like every morning. I wake up choking on a sheet that has been wrapped around my throat. I am freezing because I have no blankets on my body just my head. I was thinking why does our bed look like this

when we go to bed. It takes me 15 minutes to make our bed each morning. When Doug was in Israel each morning I would wake up to our bed looking like this...

All I had to do was pull back the covers and I was done. Literally 30 seconds to make. Now when I wake up it looks like this....

Doug is a crazy sleeper. It is a wonder I get any sleep at all.

I guess when you love someone waking up to sheets around your neck is a price worth paying.

Our Run In With The Law

We were on our way to Eagar on a Friday night for Great Grandma's 80th Birthday Party. It is normally a 3 hour drive but since Doug got his first ticket since we were married on Thanksgiving weekend he didn't want another one so he drove the speed limit. That makes for a long trip on those long straight roads. He did great until got to Springerville (connected to Eagar). He didn't see the sign (probably been there our whole lives) that the speed limit goes from 45 down to 25. Stupid place too by the way. We were so tired and ready to get there. It was getting late. Doug got pulled over but the cop was nice. He said he would just give him a warning and told him he would be right back. Well 20 minutes later (I figured this was a way for him to make us realize that speeding doesn't pay and that it will take longer in the long run.. like in the rabbit and turtle cartoon). We were getting a bit upset and the kids were getting hungry. I know 20 minutes can really make a person hungry. He tells us that we have a suspended licence plate and he had to take it off our truck!! He said that the insurance had said we hadn't paid, which we always do and had the card to prove it, so the DMV has suspended our plate. So we ask him how are we suppose to get home and he says, "Well I won't pull you over again and the Eagar cops are all busy with something so you should be able to get where you are going fine". So we say "That's all great but what about the 3 and half hour drive back to our house?" He said he was sorry but he didn't have an answer. We asked if we had the insurance call him if he could just give us the plate back. He said that once he had it we would have to get it back from DMV. Everything was closed for the weekend and to top it off Doug got a court date to be in Eagar Jan 5th. Between then and Jan 5th there are 2 holidays. So we get to Grandma Childers's house where we were staying and I called State Farm's 800 number and they verify that I had paid and he didn't know what the problem was but that was all he could do.

Luckily I have had my insurance with the same people in Eagar since I was 15 and by chance they were open on Saturday for a few hours. Needless to say I was there bright and early. My mom drove me there (my Grandma was also in a wreck (not her fault, no one was hurt) and she needed to go too to take care of that. The young girl there didn't know what to do and finally she decides to call the owner. She didn't want to bother him because his kids were all in town and they had plans but I told her that I didn't care and if they had to they would rent us a car and ship our truck back to us. Our agent's name is Todd Bosen. He is a great guy and very honest. He doesn't even hesitate when she calls and says he will call us after he fixes it.

So Todd goes to Springerville and  pulls over all the Springerville Cops (I have no idea how you pullover a cop) until he finds the one that has our plate. We could not read the handwriting on the ticket so we didn't know which one it was. I could not believe he was still working from the night before. He gives the plate back some how and gets him to rip up the ticket too. That is what I call service. When we got the plate he showed us on the computer where it shows they had submitted our information to the DMV showing we had insurance. He was not sure why they were saying we didn't pay. He gave us a signed and dated letter just in case we got pulled over again over the weekend.

By Monday they had it all worked out. That is what I call great insurance. And that was our run in with the law.

Grandma Slade's 80th Birthday Weekend

(waiting on another picture. Will insert here)

On December 27th, 80 years ago a great women was born. Mamie Etheline Sanders Slade. We were able to go and celebrate this great day in Eagar this past weekend. Great Grandma Slade is such a great lady and we sure do love her. 2 of her brothers from Texas came along with a fraction of her extended family. All her kids were there with a lot of their families.

I remember when I was pregnant with Derrik we lived in Eagar. It was just after Valenitnes Day when I found out I was going to have to go into the hospital because of pre-term labor. Derrik wasn't due until the end of May. The hospital for 45 minutes away and Doug was working very long hours at Sierra Propane as their Gas Technician.

Grandma and Grandad Slade watched Sadie for us every day. Doug would drop her off and they would take care of her. I got so lonely over there being alone with no one to talk to and missing my baby. At least 3 times a week they would drive her over to see me. Grandma would always have her all fixed up, usually with a new outfit. I appreciated it so much. I truly love Doug's Grandparents as my own. Happy Birthday Grandma.

Girl's Week

My bestest friends in the whole world came to see me. They got cheap tickets on Southwest. 25 bucks each way. They came Wed and got to stay until Saturday. Thanks dads for letting them come and for Doug letting me take a vacation even though I was home. I needed it.

Everything revolved around food. We started off with some good ol fashioned Green Chili Navajo Tacos at Hot Tamales. They both were sweating when they got done but they loved it.

Thursday we went on the Sandia Tramway. It is the longest Tram in the world.

I am deathly afraid of heights so I decided to hold tight on the pole. The girls said I would make a terrific pole dancer. I even had an audience.

It was so cold. Only 14 degrees and the wind made it much colder. Jen had on like 5 layers and Andi wanted to wear her flip flops.

The restaurant was practically empty and so we got a great seat with a view. Jen had Green Chili Stew, I had Green Chile Alfredo, and Andi had a Green Chili Turkey Sandwich.

Jen didn't remember her sunglasses. We sure laughed a lot this week.

One side of the mountain had no snow and the other had a ski run. Doug says it is because all the snow blows over the mountain to the other side.

This is where we took off from.

This is halfway.

Afterwards we went and got pedicures at the local beauty college for cheap.

Then we went to Walmart to get groceries for dinner. We wore our cute matching flip flops until Andi busted hers and had to buy some at the store. She got her wish of wearing flip flops.

For our appetizer Jen made onion rings. They were so good we ate them all before we even finished making dinner.

For dinner Andi made my favorite dish of Cornbread Salad. She use to make this for her family and then bring me the leftovers. I love it. This is a picture she made me promise to crop her out of.

For dessert I made with Doug some Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream. Cookies and Cream.

On Friday my friend Isela came over and helped us get stared with our Tamale making. We made some good masa and red chili pork.

We made about 5 dozen. I have to say we are pretty good Green Go Tamale Makers.

Jen and Andi took Doug and I out to eat on Friday night. We had yet again Green Chili. They can't say they didn't experience New Mexico to it's fullest.

(picture goes here)

I have another picture but Andi won't send it to me so when I blackmail her into sending me the picture I will post it here. I guess I could post the rest of that picture I cut her out of. That might do it.

We ended our trip with a morning at the temple. It was so nice to be together in a session again with them. Andi and I use to go each week together. Afterwards I took them to a place called Flying Star. Jen decided to stick the theme of the week and go with some more Green Chili Soup and Andi went on and on about her weird sandwich that I would never eat. She can't wait to come back just to eat that sandwich again.

I cryed when I dropped them off at the airport. I miss them and everyone so much. This move had been the hardest on me I think. It is not evey day you get to have such great friends.

Ok girls. Who is next?

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Have a Merry Christmas
Love: Doug, Cherai, Sadie, Derrik & Kamryn

15 years of Bliss

Today Doug and I have another huge mile stone in our lives. We have been married for 15 years. Now a days that is a long time. I am so blessed that Doug is the one the Lord chose for me. I think we make a perfect match for each other. It seems to get easier the longer we are together.  I can't image how great it will be at our 50th.We have known each other well now since I was 15. I have known him longer than not knowing him. Those good ol life guarding days. I sure do love him. Happy Anniversary Doo Doo.

It's Always Fun When Grannie Comes

Judy was able to get some pretty cheap tickets to come and visit. We are so glad too. She put up all 3 Christmas Trees and her and the kids decorated the whole house. She got cookies, candy and hot cocoa to boot.

Sadie and Grannie Slade even decorated the banister. We have never had a banister before.

Now we just have to get use to not holding on when we go down and try not to fall. For me that is a tough one.

This is Doug's contribution. I am pretty sure those stockings were hung with care.

Sisters Fun

I have 4 sisters. When we were little we fought like cats and dogs. Now we have so much fun when we get together. Grandma Childers thought we needed some pictures together... things started out good and then we got a little more out of control as things progressed. Here is our little photo shoot from beginning to end. Too bad Amber and Krissy weren't in on it...

The "nice" pictures for posterity.

Making fun of people who pucker for pictures.

The uncontrollable laughing proceeds until we are just plain out of control.

Before you know it we are acting like total goofballs.

At least our kids and husbands always have a good show when we get together.

My Top Thankful List

1. My Savior Jesus Christ/ My Heavenly Father/Membership in The Church of Jesus Christ
2. My Patient Husband
3. My Healthy and For The Most Part Obedient Children
4. My Unwavering Parents, Sisters and Brother in Laws, and Slade Family Members
5. My Devoted Friends
6. This Amazing Free Country that I live in.
7. My Husband's Job and Income
8. My Beautiful Home
9. Modern Medicine
10. My Calling

Liquid Nitrogen

The Science Fair here in Rio Rancho is a HUGE deal. Intel puts it on and donates prizes and stuff so the kids go all out. Sadie decided to do an experiment on why there is thunder after lightening using liquid nitrogen to demonstrate. That is what Doug's work makes so they donated some for her project. It turned out great. Afterwards Doug showed the neighborhood kids how when you put a tennis ball in the Nitrogen it will freeze it so hard that when you bounce it it will shatter. They loved that! I wonder what they went home and told their parents they did at our house. That night we made the VERY BEST ICE CREAM I have EVER TASTED! It only took 5 minutes too. I even used low fat milk to make it.