Family & Fireworks

I haven't hung out with my cousin Mendi in years. YEARS! We were close as kids and extremely close as young adults. We were like Thelma & Louise(Ok, without the guns and thievery)....taking Chico by storm. She was in my wedding. I love her to pieces. She understood me during my years of rebellion and confusion. What people don't realize, because they tend to judge from the surface, is that I am a person who NEEDS a person to understand me and love me for me. Someone that sees my weaknesses and my strengths and loves me because of them. She was that person. She didn't personally believe some of the things that I did, but she always encouraged me to be whatever made me happy...One day I figured it out on my own. I decided to be committed to my faith.

And here I am now, living it the best that I can. I moved on and she supported me in that. None of my other friends did. It says alot about her. (BTW, I really did mean for this to be a post about all the fun we had on the 4th. I guess I've been needing to get this out.)

I saw Mendi at my Grandpa's funeral. We talked about plans for the 4th of July. I admit, I was hesitant to commit for various reasons. But, any prior commitments or apprehensions were second to the overwhelming excitement I felt to reconnect with my dear cousin.

So, we packed up the trailer. Loaded the kids, the 2 dogs(we got Ramsey the night before we left), the toad's and their tank, the tree frogs and their tank, a bunch of crickets and fruit flies and headed up to my old stomping ground....the beautiful Lake Almanor. My body hasn't seen so much sun in 12 years. I love being tan again. I forgot how amazing it feels. We swam in the lake. We laid on the beach. We ate way too much junk food. We watched the fireworks off the peninsula. It was amazing.





The kids had so much fun playing with their 2nd cousins that they hardly knew. They connected like they had grown up together. It warmed my heart to see this. It reminded me of my younger years when I played the same way with my cousins. We shared our holidays. We were ALL together. Time, distance, and maybe a few other differences eroded this. It's always left me a little disheartened. This weekend meant so much to me. And it was SO SO SO fun!! I think our new tradition will be to spend the 4th up at Lake Almanor....but, next year I will make sure my air mattress doesn't have a hole.

Lucky Me

Another St. Patty's Day gone. Monday I made the cake for our Irish tradition of eating the green cake w/ the phrase, "Lucky Us, We Have Each Other" written in frosting. Unfortunately, those awful little leprechauns got into it while I was sleeping. Hmmm, was it the dog, Bruce, or maybe the leprechauns really do exist? Spencer constructed the trap for the critters. They got away again. I think it might have been the sugar from the cake that spun them into overdrive and helped with the getaway! The cake destruction was a real bummer. I don't like to bake as it is. I'm certainly not going to bake the same cake twice. Plus, I had piano lessons at the house yesterday. No time for that amidst all the cleaning and stuff. Taylor & I ran to trusty Bel Air. They always have there bakery loaded with the holiday essentials. Nope. Not this time. I had to settle for cupcakes w/ white frosting & green sprinkles. Slightly festive in my opinion. But, it saved me from baking the second cake...and that is great! I roasted a corned beef brisket. Served it up with some cabbage, carrots & potatoes. It was good! I was looking forward to eating our Irish meal together once Bruce was back with the kids from baseball practice & my lessons were done. Nope. Bruce snuck in the kitchen, carved up my brisket & had the kids eat it in the car. So, I ate my celebratory feast alone. The cupcakes were a hit with the kids. I tried with all my might to get a great picture of us for my St. Patrick's Day album (& of course my blog). The picture wouldn't turn out with the timer on. Bruce was getting grouchier by the second waiting for me to figure it out. So, to save us all from certain mayhem, I let Bruce stretch is arm out for the good ole' do it yourself pose. I really want these things to go smooth so my family can have a wonderful memory of the holidays. How quickly I forget that when I married Bruce, I chose the life of luxury- Griswold style!! After the picture fiasco, we had a few minutes of pleasant conversation while we went around the table to tell why we are lucky to have our family. Here were the responses:

Cameron-(kept smiling and giggling) then said , "like Daddy to tickle me."
Taylor- "I like tickles too"
Spencer- "We have lots of toys." (He doesn't have that many....And usually complains about it!)
Mom- I always have someone to cuddle with.
Dad- Because there is so much love. ( I know he means this but I sure felt the sarcasm.)

Sometimes I wonder is I am the only wife & mother that has no control of her family. There is a constant whirlwind of chaos & mess. It's difficult while in the middle of the insanity to keep your sense of gratitude. Sometimes I have to force myself to pull back and quiet my mind so that I can feel the magnitude of all I'm blessed with. I am blessed to have this family. My kids are amazing little people. I love them more than I could ever describe. I'm even grateful for my simple husband. He is a wonderful person. My family is my life. And it is a life I am SO lucky to have.

New Years Eve-What a Night!

This was probably the funnest night EVER! And believe me, I've had some fun nights in my life. We had dinner at Chili's with friends and a few hours a RURU LALA...There is no better way to ring in the New Year. All I can say is that I wish everyone I love could come to this place with me. I love Felisha & Ashley(my friends with me) because they, like me, can perform like a blitzed hair band...but we're really stone cold sober. I love you, girls! I can't wait for next time!!
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What can I say? It rocked!! If you aren't convinced...check out this video!

Santa Made it After All!

For the past 10 years we've maintained a strict Christmas schedule. Christmas Eve is with Bruce's family. As soon as we're done, we load up our stuff, dogs and now Kids, too and drive in the nasty fog to Red Bluff. We get there around 1am. Wake up around 6am to check stockings with the little kids. And just when we're ready to crawl back in bed for a few more hours, the whole family is up and ready to go. I've been adamant about doing this for a few reasons. Well, 2 really. 1- Bruce has a hard time getting up in the morning for anything other than work or hunting. 2- I have brothers and sisters that are so much younger than me and I want them to have memories of me being a part of their Christmas morning. I'm afraid they won't think of me as there sister if we don't have shared memories like that. So, we continue to do this...All my friends tell me I'm crazy for doing it this way. I've never cared. Until this year. It might have been that Magnum has become horribly nuts without Buddy and I don't want to deal with him at my parents. It could be because I really want a chance of losing the Christmas morning bags under the eyes...A little of both I guess. I decided that this year we would sleep in our own beds, have Santa come to our house and then go to Red Bluff. It figures that once I decide to change this of my own free will I am forced into it due to car trouble. Whatever way it happened is fine. I loved having my first Christmas morning alone with Bruce and our kids. I'm so happy to have my own family to share these traditions with. Bruce borrowed his mom's car so that we could go to Red Bluff Christmas Day and be with my family. That was so wonderful of her. As it turned out, we were able to have a great Christmas after all!
P.S. I did get a really great hot chocolate maker with lots of yummy gourmet chocolate. THAT was fabulous!

Christmas Eve at the Anderson's

The Anderson's is always our spot for Christmas Eve. It's the place where you never know what may happen. So, I come armed with stilettos and a large purse. (I'm joking, it just came to me and sounded so Godfatherish I had to say it.) This year was no exception. When it came time to leave, still having been uneventful...we thought, "What a wonderful holiday it was." That feeling lasted about 2 seconds after Bruce went to start the car and it sounded like a gun went off under our hood and smoke came out and once again...I related the Anderson's family Christmas to a mafia movie. The kids instantly burst into tears..."Now we'll have no Christmas!! Santa will skip our house...This sucks, Mom!" I'm thinking to myself, they have no idea how badly this sucks...Merry Christmas, Tanja. Santa didn't get you you're IPod or the make-up or anything fabulous...Just a broken down car, a fat bill to pay because of it and 3 crabby, crying kids. Now we've come full circle, right smack into a Griswold family Christmas. We caught a ride home awhile later from Bruce's sister. I put the kids to bed around 11:30pm, got ready for Santa and made to bed around 12:45. Not bad.

Christmas Happenings

So what if I'm behind in my posting....I've got stuff going on. I do have alot I want to post...not much time to do it in. So, this may come in increments...I'll start with the Eve of Christmas Eve. Bruce & I have a tradition that we go look at Christmas lights the night before Christmas Eve. Growing up this was something I loved doing with my dad & my siblings. We can't do it on the actual Christmas Eve now because that is the Anderson Family Christmas. The same way, Christmas Day is to my family(the Boone's). Hence, we do it on the Eve of Christmas Eve. We all are geared up in our PJ's...we pack a thermos of hot chocolate. We load the CD changer with Christmas tunes and we're off for one of the greatest nights of the year.