Foxy Loxy

We have a new pet. Well, not "technically" our "PET", but we can enjoy him/her. This is our little fox visitor. Isn't it ADORABLE?? We enjoyed watching him/her eating peanuts and sweet potatoes (leftovers from dinner). Our little friend sat there for a long time letting us admire him/her. I love it's markings. Hopefully if we keep food out there, it won't eat our bunnies. yikes.

10 year old mom

Yep, I was 10 when I gave birth! hahahaha ok, not really, but I can't believe my baby is 18!!!! Her birthday was yesterday. We were busy all day, so I had to wait til today to post pics. Isn't she beautiful??!! We're so proud of our girl. She's turned out to be such a wonderful person. Yeah, she has her quirks that drive me up the wall, but don't we all. :) Here are some pics of the birthday girl.

One of the perks to living in a small town, is they will put personal messages on signs. Take this one, for example. :) It's wierd having an "adult" child. Even tho she'll always be my baby. :)

-27?

-27 was our coldest wind chill reading today. Of course, now it's warmed up to 2 degrees air temp and -13 wind chill. School was cancelled today because of the temps. That's what happens here. They don't really call "snow days", they call "extreme cold days". Did you know bare skin can get frostbite in about 10 minutes in temps that cold? Yeah, you learn new things all the time! :) If you live in a house with windows and doors that don't have excellent seals you might have frozen doors like we do. I had to use a hair dryer to melt the ice to open the door to feed the birds and squirrels.









Speaking of squirrels, I haven't posted on our obese squirrels lately. They have their winter blubber and fur, luckily. I still worry about them even tho they are like little balls of fat and fur. Most of the day, they must stay in their cubbies, holes or wherever they live since they don't come around too much when it's THIS cold.







I thought it would be fun to see how my hair would freeze in 2 minutes. Here are the results. :) Ah, boredom makes you do silly things. :)

Birthday girls

Well, I've been home now for 8 days, but I went to California for 4.5 days to celebrate my Grandma Lopez's 80th birthday. My mom, 2 aunts and cousin put this big surprise party together for her. I told everyone I couldn't come since we have all kinds of stuff coming up to spend money on...the move, Anisa's college, a trip in August to CA for my mom's birthday... Travis and I were talking about the party a couple of weeks before and he asked if I was going to go, I could just use airline miles. So, for giggles, I called the special 800 number and it turned out we had plenty of miles and so I booked my tickets, without telling anyone. :) I got an email from my cousin about her not going (she lives in NY), so I had to tell her I was going. She borrowed some money and got a ticket, too.

Friday evening, I arrived in Orange County, go to get my "economy car" and got a Mustang with a V8 instead! :) I truly love my van, but I really, really liked that V8. Anyway, I drove over the Ortega mountains to my mom's house. I called Sara and was talking to her as I rang the doorbell. Mom answered the door and screamed!! She was so surprised. We visited for a while, then I told her I needed brown pumps for the party, so off to the mall we went. I found some shoes and it was time to head over to my aunt Jennifer's for the last minute planning. When we got there, of course, everyone was shocked. Jennifer and Uncle Marty cried, they were so happy.

My niece, Justine's birthday is the same day as Grandma's and traditionally they go to Denny's in their jammies really, super early in the a.m. for breakfast. We got up at 5:30 a.m. and headed to Denny's. My mom, Danny (little bro) and I got there first - we were going to go somewhere else, but the other place was closed. Steenie Bean walked in and I was slouched down in the booth. She saw my mom, then my leg and asked who that was...I stood up and she was so surprised. Then my little sis, Sandra and her honey Jean and their new baby bug Chloe came in and got shocked. :)

After breakfast, we all headed home to shower and get ready for the day. I wasn't totally satisfied with the shoes I had found the night before, so I headed to the outlet mall and mom headed to the restraunt to set up (didn't find any other shoes, but the shoes I found turned out to be very comfy). We met at home, got all pretty and went to meet and greet guests. I saw cousins I hadn't seen in years, and MET cousins I only knew about. I hadn't seen my cousin April (from NY) in about 10 years! This is us, proof that I got dressed up in big people clothes with HEELS. :)

Grandma came in with Aunt Jennifer after her hair appt. She was so surprised to see everyone. There were 52 guests! We ate, visited, laughed, ate some more and when it was time to leave the restraunt, we headed to Grandma's house to party some more. Here are the 2 birthday girls. Aren't they cute? Grandma is 80 and Steenie is 17. Holy smokes! Shortly after the party started, I went outside to call my sis, Wendy (who was running late because of stinky work), and they just happened to pull in and see me. I could hear Wendy scream from inside the truck. That was pretty funny.

Here are my sisters, Wendy and Sandra and brother Danny and me.













Here I am with my mom.













Here is Grandma with her 3 babies...my mom, Aunt Joanne and Aunt Jennifer.












Sunday was Mom's day. We went to her church, then to lunch, shopping with Sandra, Steen and Chloe then headed to Mom's house for a BBQ with Danny, Wendy's family and Aunts Joanne and Jennifer, Uncle Marty and the cousins. Mom and I stayed up late talking and watching tv. It was fun to just visit.

Monday I headed to my Dad's house. I told him I was coming since I was asking wierd questions the day before about Peg (my stepmom) and work. I got to the house and I called Peg at work and surprised her. We went to lunch with her, then hung out visiting til she got home. We got to go to Vince's for spaghetti. I grew up on Vince's Spaghetti and every time I go to CA I have to go there. :) It was DEEElicious.

Tuesday I went to Grandma and Grampa H's house. I knocked on the door, but they didn't hear it so I called and Grandma said she was just waiting for my dad to come over after his haircut. That was the lie my dad told her the day before so they wouldn't make plans and they'd be home when I got there. I told her we lied and to come to the door. She was very surprised! We went to Ikea for lunch of swedish meatballs, then just wandered through the store. After visiting for a while and a trip to the mall we went to In N Out for burgers for dinner. Oh, Yum! :)

Wednesday was the day I came back home. It was a whirlwind trip, but very fun. It was even a little chilly while I was there. I packed shorts to wear in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, and it was in the 50s and low 60s. I wore shorts anyway. :) I got home to snow and temps in the teens. Oh well. I missed my honey and my girlies so I didn't mind the weather.