Clay creations

Last night Aaron and I got out the sculpting clay. We considered adding to our nativity scene, but we really aren't lacking any characters. We already have two inn keepers, for pete's sake! So we just made Christmas tree ornaments instead.
So, I took off my rings to keep them clean and we popped in a movie and got to work.
Aaron made the adorable snowman. You can't see the cute stick arms in the picture. Hmm, and I didn't get a good angle for the face either. :( Well, Aaron's ornament turned out super cute! It's hard having a husband more creative and artistic than me.
I made a reindeer. Rudolph. Wait, what?? Sigh. When I was most of the way through my creation I realized that I had made a cat, not a reindeer. A cat with four hind legs. So, I gave in and added whiskers and a reindeer headband, rather than actual antlers. But boy oh boy was this thing frustrating! There were times when I just wanted to throw it across the room and give up. It sounds like I have rage issues, right? Maybe. Maybe.

At one point Morgan came and stole the incomplete head of my reindeer-cat, which wasn't attached yet, and lost it. While searching for it I found my CTR ring on the ground. Not where I left it. That's when I noticed my wedding ring was gone too. So a search commenced. We found the head, but not the ring. Morgan's bedtime had approached so I went and put him down, then returned to finish my ornament.
We looked more for my ring. We looked under the couch, under the cushions, we got on our hands and knees and raked our fingers through every inch of carpet, (our carpet is great because you can't see where it's dirty, but you also can't find anything little in it!) we looked in the box of clay, on surfaces, under surfaces, everywhere. But we didn't find the ring. Maybe Morgan threw it into the Christmas tree. So we shook the tree, looked under it, among the presents, in the Christmas tree stand filled with water, but no luck. We got desperate, so we searched in the garbage can, in the bowl of soup that Morgan hadn't finished, in the toilet, in drawers and cupboards and backpacks.
And guess what? Still no ring. So we looked everywhere AGAIN. We don't have a very large living area, and we were certain Morgan didn't go upstairs. So it had to be in the living, kitchen or bathroom, all of which were thoroughly scoured. At 11:30 we decided to call it a night, confounded that Morgan had been able to hide the ring so professionally.
Earlier Aaron had asked if the ring could have been in Morgan's clothes somewhere. I had already changed him out of them and into pajamas and hadn't noticed anything, but when we went upstairs I snuck into Morgan's bedroom and found the clothes he had been wearing. I shook out his shirt, then checked the pants. They had pockets near the knee which were shut with a Velcro strip, and in the first pocket I checked I found my ring.

O' Christmas Tree!

Saturday night we went and got our Christmas tree. (I swear they weren't this expensive in Canyon County Idaho. Here they charge between $6-$9 per foot of tree, depending on it's fullness.) The first place we went you couldn't get a tree for less than $42, and we weren't too keen on that. So we drove a little further and found a place that had trees shorter than six feet tall, so making them a little more affordable with the pricing system.

Morgan wasn't feeling very well, making the experience a little less exciting for him. But he still had fun. Though, when we told him we were getting a Christmas tree I think he heard trick-or-treat. That may have been disappointing. :)

Brrr, it's cold!

Silly Morgan hiding from the camera!

Decorating the tree. Aaron feeling silly because he has to pose while stringing the Christmas lights.
Adding the tree topper.
Morgan likes the tree, and runs to look at it first thing in the morning. He also likes taking ornaments off so he can put them in different places. (Usually the ground.)

Here is the spot of tree that Morgan decorated. He didn't really understand how we were getting them to hang, so he just threw the little balls into the tree. There are at least three in one spot here. We dug more out. I bet some will be thrown away with the tree because we won't be able to find them.
And voila! The finished product. Note, there are already presents under the tree. I guess that I have no self control when it comes to that. I LOVE wrapping presents for reasons unknown, and once I am in possession of a gift that I will give, I have to wrap it immediately. And once they are wrapped, why not put them under the tree? Morgan is interested in them, and was excited when he first saw them, but when I tell him no, he can't unwrap it, he complains but actually listens. Phew!



P.S
They are finally removing the huge over-filled dumpsters that have been decreasing property values for months!

An account of my life

Back to the slopes. This is my second ski lesson of the three. I just explained how I fell during the lesson. Joseph, if you'll remember, is my cute ski instructor.

January 20 2002
Joseph came over and told me how to get back up. That was embarrassing. He is soo cute. I really like him. He is very nice though. Good teacher too.
I can’t wait for next week. I get to see Joseph again!

And here is the third and final ski trip. I explained how we went up the quad ski lift which took you to harder hills. This particular lift is called the quad because it holds four people at a time. My class was small, and since one person was missing, all four of us could go up at the same time. Here was a chance for me to use my skill in maneuvering to the right place to make it look natural for me to sit next to my crush.

January 26, 2002
We went up that 4 times for the lesson. Twice I sat by Joseph. ☺ (In the journal I have lots of hearts around his name here.)
Before I knew it the lesson was over and I had to say goodbye to Joseph. ☹
And, a funny story.
Once I was going down the one next to the bunny hill, and going side to side, like I do. I looked up the hill in time to see a snowboarder crash and slide right toward me. I couldn’t get out of the way, and he slid into me, causing me to fall…right on top of him, and we were sliding down together until we stopped. Here was our conversation afterwards. Me-“Sorry.” Him “No, I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I ran into you.” Me-“Yeah, well I got in your way,” Him “Here’s your ski” he hands me a ski that ended up on the other side of him. Him “I haven’t exactly mastered this yet.” Me- "Neither have I.” Then he left. He was really cute. I think he had an Australian accent.

I thought the conversation warranted a word-for-word accounting why? Oh, probably because it was with a cute boy, and I was a part of it. Something noteworthy indeed.

The Elusive Mater

For Christmas, we wanted to get Morgan some more character cars from Pixars movie, Cars. Specifically Mater. (I also wanted Sally and Doc.) In the toy isles of stores like, Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us, you will find a spot for the Pixar Cars. I have been to all of these isles in search of Mater, (and Sally and Doc) and have never found him! I have seen the version of Doc as he's painted up with the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, but I didn't want him that way.
At Target there were two other Mom's also rifling through the packages of Lightening McQueen, searching for Mater. Apparently he is a precious commodity. I thought I found him once, but it turned out to be Fred, a rusty truck who is very briefly in the movie.

All I want is Mater:

But all I can find is McQueen:


And McQueen with a tar spot:
Or McQueen with night vision goggles:
Or McQueen in Dinaco blue:
Or McQueen wrapped in barbed wire with tires on his eyes:


Or McQueen painted up all fancy by Ramone:
Or McQueen covered in cactus:
Or McQueen as he fantasized about himself in an action movie:
Or McQueen with his tongue out.
Or McQueen with dirty tires:


Gah! Morgan already has the normal McQueen, (which is like his security blanket. Post on that to come) and we don't want any other version of Lightening McQueen! So we figured we'd have to find Mater online. You could get him on Ebay for probably as low as $10, including shipping, (though he would be less than $3 in the stores) and we were ready to do that. But this morning I went straight to the source, (Disneyshopping.com) and found this gem of a collection:

Six cars, including the three I wanted most, plus Guido, whom Morgan loves, for only $8! With shipping and taxes it came to $13, but that's for six cars! We were ready to spend that on Mater alone. Yay. I'm excited. At least Mater wasn't in as high demand as Tickle Me Elmo or the Firby's.

Cookies and Friends

The other morning Morgan and I went to decorate cookies and play with friends. It was great doing something different for a change, for both Morgan and myself. Our neighbor Sara invited us over and provided all the cookies and frosting and sprinkles, so we just showed up and had fun. Morgan loved playing with other kids, (he needs a sibling so bad!) and even ate some cookies! That tells you how good they were, Morgan's not much of a sweet food fan. (Yet something else he didn't inherit from me.)
While the kids played I got to have some adult conversation. Thanks Sara, for inviting us over!

This picture would have been better if I had gotten it a second earlier. He was making a cute face. Probably one similar to those in my last post! :)

Here's Morgan, Katie, Mason and Sara.

Morgan's Cheese

I was looking through our photo library and made a discovery. Morgan pretty much uses the exact same expression in all of his planned pictures. Cheesy cheesy cheesy.

Chrismasified!

Oh the happy day when you get to decorate for Christmas! I did on Saturday. We won't get a tree yet, but everything else is up. So, this is what our house looks like decorated. (I kind of feel silly posting this, knowing how creative many of you lady readers are and how cute your houses must look come the holiday season. I'm so amateur!)

The first Christmas that Aaron and I were married we made our own nativity scene out of clay. Each year since we have both made an additional piece. So, here is our lowly nativity. But we love it.

So, Aaron made the cute sheep, as well as the two short dudes in the background. He originally planned to have them be shepherds, but we think they make better inn keepers. I made the young shepherd in front, and Aaron made the jolly fat one. The long armed angel was my creation, as well as baby Jesus and Joseph. Aaron did the Mary. The Arabic looking wise man and the donkey were mine and the other two wise men are Aaron's masterpieces.

Okay, so I know it's tacky, but hey, we have like, fifteen strands of these white lights leftover from our wedding reception and I like to use them! So over the blinds they go!