MAJOR catch up and more to come!!!

K, i know, i said i would be better at posting more often, but here i am, mass producing my posts for the last three months!!! Sheesh!

There are several new posts here, starting with our anniversary...but there are more to come so stay tuned and then i will start to journal more regularly so i can do one of those blurb books or something!!! hope you and enjoy and can't wait to read all of your updates too!

This is how it starts...red, and itchy, REALLY REALLY ITCHY!!! Then it starts looking like this...


...well, this pic doesn't show the detail...but, they get raised into hives and then it starts to spread up my legs and torso and on my neck and arms too...

What you ask? Or maybe WHY? WEll, we are still puzzled...but i will give you the story.

It all started with Baby J's pregnancy. I would have to get in the tub with the hottest water i could stand at least 3x a day, sometimes several more just to get the itching to STOP!!! It would always start with my feet and spread upwords, very quickly too, i mean, within a few minutes. My WHOLE pregnancy, it was miserable! I tried benadryl, benadryl creams, zyrtec, hydrocortizone cream, etc. Where i was prego, we were limited to what i could use. The dr. couldn't figure it out, i wasn't eating anything new that would cause this allergic reaction...

so, we were doing 12 days of Christmas to kids cousins and so i got dressed up in dark clothes with them to walk it down...by the time i got home, i was ripping everything off to hop in the tub, I was itching like CRAZY!!! I took my coat and hat and gloves off and brad said, "stop". Then he just looked at me...my entire neck was covered in hives! Only my neck, the ONLY Area of my that had been exposed to the COLD outside!!! So, i was reacting to the cold!!! I am allergic to COLD weather!

So, we started experimenting, and sure enough, any of my skin exposed to the cold would break out! It was the most odd, annoying thing i think i have experienced with a pregnancy! I figured i would just tough it out for the 9m and all would go back to normal. WRONG!!! It never went away! Of course, it is not as severe or often, but it still happens a few times a week in the winter. Here it is, 5 years later and it is still happening!!! I do not wish this on anyone!!!

And that is the end of my sad story!

thanksgiving break continued...

I don't have a pic of dad's "look of horror" because my camera died, but this is him getting ready to take the plunge and try it. I think he liked it cause he went more than once!


This kiddo does not like rapelling he says, so we rig him up with the works and he "hikes up" the mountain using all the gear...it's cute. Then, he has to come back down anyway, so he is kind of rapelling down the not so steap spot we all go on...he will slowly warm up to it the more he tries it.

The both of us rapelling at the same time. I did not like it! Because instead of my rope being anchored to the SOLID rock, we are "sharing" the same rope, so if i go one way, it pulls on his and visa versa...i kept feeling like i was going to fall to my death. So, i tried it and it will take some getting used to. Maybe when i am in better shape i will feel more confident in trying it that way again...MAYBE!

Our fancy table setting for Thanksgiving Day! The kids made the "nut" cups and so some ended up with three eyes and some with no eyes, or some with tons of feathers then a few with just one sad little feather!

The kiddos and C wearing his pilgrim hat he made in school

This is the best Thanksgiving meal we have ever done on our own! SOOOOO yummy and pretty and perfect!

These are out of order, this was supposed to go before the thanksgiving pics...Dalton woke up early on our anniversary and was trying to make pancakes for us. Brad went in there to see what he was doing and he had like flour, an egg, and water or something in the bowl...but let's just say nothing close to the right amounts! So brad made it work and sent him back to our room while he made it. It was really cute and he was determined to do it by himself!

This is dad after we filled our tummy's with all that yummy food for Thanksgiving! He napped, Brad was doing something on computer and the kids were all the couch reading with grandma. It was a wonderful Day and we are so THANKFUL that my mom and dad came down to see us....after plans changed for us going up to see them. I was soooooo homesick and they drove down so we could still see them. None of our cars were working...at least the ones that fit us all, so we debated driving two cars up, but then the cars that needed help needed money to fix them, which ate up our gas money for the trip and then everything started going wrong etc, etc, etc. Dad saved the day by saying they would come down and just have thanksgiving here. It was wonderful and so fun! The next day of their visit we took them rapelling at the sand dunes close to our house and my dad actually went!!!! It was so fun and a beautiful, warm, sunny day and just a great visit and again, so surprised that dad went....he even went a few times! Even with his "look of horror"! It was great!