Bahumbug STAR WARS

Ba Humbug Star Wars? Really? Why did I title that when we love Scrooge and Star Wars? The kids got out of school on Friday and we wanted to start the Holiday Festivities right away.

 

Saturday we got up, had a good breakfast and got ready to brave the snow to drive 2 hours to go see a play at the Redding Civic Center. Mind you we live in a small town of only 250 people and off a 15 mile dirt road just to get to that little town center. So everything is far away. You get used to it and don’t even realize it anymore.

We had to pile into two cars as there was 7 of us but we were on our way. Once we got there MIL treated us to lunch and we headed to the show.

I loved the show. I love seeing actors act and right in front of you. It was full of laughter and joy just like a show should be. I was happy we decided to take the kids and MIL because hopefully it’s something they will remember later on in life. My parents used to take me to them and I always want to share that with my four kids too. It was a cute love story of Scrooge and I highly recommend it. One of those ones you can go if you’re single but hold hands to if you are not.

 

 

 

We made it home safely which was good as no one got stuck this time. Just wait as it does happen lol.

Sunday we went to a grand 50^th party for a good friend of mine. I am thankful that we made it as it snowed even more. It was good to see my friends and be able to celebrate and have a surprise party for herJ That evening we watched a couple episodes of Star Wars as we were going the next day as a family.

The next day my husband woke up the kids with the loudest Star Wars Music. It rang through the whole house as today was Star Wars Movie Day. It was so hilarious to see some kids all excited and others looking at him like he had lost his mind. We watched one more episode and then left early as we had a 2 hour trip to go to the movies in Redding again. This time as we left in two cars we didn’t arrive at the same time as we got stuck for an hour on our driveway and had to get another car lol. AHH the wonders of living out on a ranch.

We did however make it to stand in line with our already bought tickets. Everyone got their popcorn and drinks. Ryan and I got our Storm Trooper 3D glasses and we were ready! I am thankful we all got to sit together!

The movie was Awesome! Let’s just say….actually I will not say anything as you have to go see it yourself! We all loved it and the 3D part was ultra-cool. Thought it was cool the kids all wore their Star Wars shirts also. Next time we have to get MIL one too!

It was a fun 3 day weekend that is still continuing as the kids don’t have school this week. Mil is here with us through the holidays which is an extra special part too. I miss my family at Christmas time. We will be seeing my Dad and Stepmom right after Christmas though. I finally got our Christmas Cards out also which is way late but I can’t be on top of everything all the time right? J

We have many more days of Christmas festivities but this is a good start!!!

 

 

Venice, Freakshow, Cassie 17th Bday

Freak show, Sushi, Venice and lots of fun. Today was my daughter Cassies 17th Birthday. I had to come to Santa Monica for my one month testing after Surgery and since it was her Birthday we thought what fun lets bring her down here!!

Our day started off with sleeping in which none of us have done in forever. We got a vacation rental near the ocean as they are inexpensive compared to staying at the hotels. Check out Airbnb if interested. You can find homes all over the world to stay at. So fun. Our place is a cute 2 bedroom apartment one block from the Venice Boardwalk! So we made the treak out.

On Venice boardwalk we looked for some breakfast. Walking along the Ocean and people watching is so much fun. Found a good place to eat and Cassie was excited we let her have a RedBull. Hey why not...its her birthday. We loved watching the people as they go by and all the "characters" of Venice.

Ryan and I have been to Venice before as I had my surgery in the neighboring town. We got to know it pretty well since we were here for almost 3 weeks a month ago. We wanted to show Cassie the sites on the walkway like the famous skatepark, muscle beach, all the shops and lets not forget the Famous Venice Freak Show that is on AMC and Netflix all the time. As we were walking to show her the skatepark....we were walking along the actual bike lanes (its hard for me to walk in grass or sand right now) we saw the singer PINK and her husband Cary Hart and their daughter. Its not like we were watching for famous people. I saw the little girl first because i thought oh how cute she is on front of bike with pink helmet. Then I looked up and it was Cary Hart (dirt biker) and before my mind could register to grab my camera PINK was right behind them! I was like OMG and told Ryan and Cassie to look look look as they peddled right next to us but then by us. By the time we got camera out. This is the shot we got haha! We were starstruck probably because we all love her music so much! So talented! Thank goodness for recovering from Surgery or we might not have seen that.

PINK!

We went to the skate park to show cassie as all her brothers called to say happy birthday to her. She was telling them about this cool Batman Character she saw and how their were rollar blade guys dancing in front of her. It was pretty fun to see so many things. was happy boys called her as they are with MIL back at that house. They were happy because they said they could do "man things" haha.

Taking Call from her Brother

Our next adventure was going to Venice Freak Show were you see oddities and two headed animals. You also see Larry the Wolfman, The smallest man in the USA, Bob the Bubble Boy, Sword Swallowing and other interesting things inside the Museum. This is something Cassie really wanted to go see. It actually changed our lives in a positive way but I am going to write about that in my next blog as want it to be a feature. Lets just say it was amazing and we met the most fantastic person in the world. Make sure to subscribe as I will be writing it tomorrow with tons of pictures! We had a great time there. Its been featured on AMC and its on Netflix also. Cassie was amazed and we even went back to retalk to some of the people later. AMAZING so stay tuned tomorrow. You will be so thrilled.

This took a couple hours of our time. Even though the show is maybe 15-20 minutes. Here is a sneak peak though....

Morgue is amazing

Larry The Wolfman

It was a good day. We saw a lot of acts on the walkway. A 17 year old boy flipping over 4 people, glass walkers and saw tons of artwork and shops. It was a fun walk for sure. We went out for breakfast and it was already almost 5pm. Had to rush to get to our massage appointments. Love Venice as they are only 35 dollar an hour!

To end our night we took Cassie to her favorite food of all time. All you can eat Sushi! I think she loved it as we left super full and she got sang to by the whole restuarant. Got that on video it was so funny! Love Embarrasing our kids.

All in all I would say she had an amazing birthday. I cannot believe my only daughter is already 17. As of today I now have two 17 and two 15 year olds. For couple months it will stay this way and then bam we end up with 18,17,16 and 15 year old. Crazy how that works out. Cassie is growing up to be a strong, independent, fun, smart, beautiful young lady and we are so proud of her! Happy Birthday Cassandra!

To Subscribe to this blog you can do it several ways. By going to the top of the page and putting your email in. Then check your email and confirm. By google plus or by bloglovin. Its up to you but remember tomorrow I am writing the amazing events and people of the Venice Freak Show. You WONT want to miss that!

Our Crazy Week!!

How much can you pack into a week? With four teenagers and moving from one Ranch to the other….You can pack a lot in. I might actually sleep a little while I write this blog to catch up ha. ZZZZZ…okay back! I am awake. What was I saying again? Oh yes! We had a crazy fun week.

 We have had two baseball games with Jason. They won both games and he was able to steal home. I love watching him play especially because he enjoys it so much.

 Joshua turned 15! I still can’t believe I have a 15 year old that is 6’2’’. He is by far the tallest in our household. He has outgrown Ryan and I by the time he was 14 ha! I still can’t believe he is already 15. He had a great time with his friends the weekend before with a slumber party. He was beyond excited when he got his present of his headphones that he has been wanting forever. On his ACTUAL birthday we were moving and let me tell you he used that to his advantage ha! Plus that got all the kids more snacks and soda which we don’t normally have in the house. The other kids were grateful for that too. Right now is the only time of the year that I have a 17, 16, 15 and then 14 year old. At different times of the year it ends up being two 17 year olds and two 15 year olds. That’s what happens when you have an amazing blended family.

 Side note! Four teenagers. In just one week we will have a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. What was I ever thinking? In four years it’s going to be so quiet. I am SO NOT looking forward to that.

 Then we had the FFA event. Future Farmers of America where Cassie and Joshua both won awards. It was a nice Tri tip Dinner and seeing what they have been doing this year. It was a good event. Jackson was in FFA last year and Jason is in 4H this year. It will be interesting which kids decide to do it next year. Joshua won his Greenhand Degree and Parliamentary Procedure Career Development Event Award. Cassie received her Chapter FFA degree. I was very proud of those two.

 The kids had a field trip couple hours away to an Aquatics Center also. They had a lot of fun with their friends. Pretty neat to be a small school so everyone could all go. Love how they do this at the end of the year.

 Then on top of all of this we were moving. Yep! We moved a whole house of stuff from one ranch to another. I am so grateful for my husband and kids. I have to give extra kudos to my oldest Jackson because he really used a lot of strength. We got a HUGE U-Haul, loaded it in one day and unloaded it the next.  Then had to bring all the animals up also. It was just the 6 of us and Jackson’s good friend Mateo.  Thankfully it was a three day weekend. We were all beat. The kids set up their rooms and I worked on the rest of the house while also feeding them every 5 minutes it seemed. You know teenagers get…they are NEVER full.

 I absolutely love this house. Love Love Love it! Its beautiful inside and out but the views are glorious for as far as the eye can see. This was one crazy week! Next week is even more. 8^th grade trip, Baseball games, Academic Awards Ceremony, Ortho Appointments and Maybe a Bull riding event if the double header gets done in time. Oh and did I mention Finals and Graduations? Man this time of year is crazy busy but its so worth it. I really should stop beating myself up for not blogging this week huh? Now that we are all set up in the new house I will be more on top of it. Its hard to blog when your stuff is in a box. J

39.....a weird comical birthday.

This Birthday was so not a typical birthday to me. Usually its full of fun and lots of activities etc. I just turned 39. That means I am almost 40....FORTY! Actually to be honest I am not someone who cares about how old they are getting. I figure having four teenagers is either keeping me young or I am so old the number really doesn't matter ha! I think probably old but maybe it will make me young eventually right ha!

My birthday was Monday. The weekend before we went to a memorial for Ryan's Grandma. It was a bittersweet moment where we got to pay our respects...grieve...share stories. She is going to missed so much! My husband, my MIL and my husbands siblings are still grieving a lot so I am being respectful and not posting about it. It was really good to see all his family and have all the cousins together.

Driving home....

On the way home however after two days there we decided to stop at Cattlemen's Steakhouse for dinner. This was going to be my family birthday dinner since on my birthday we had a lot to do like sports awards for two of the kids. We don't normally do this but this time we told the kids they can order whatever they wanted. Happy birthday to me.....not happy bday to our bank account:) Its good to really treat everyone every once in awhile. Josh and Jack decided that they were going to have a whole rack of ribs. I asked if they would actually be able to eat it because I didn't think they would be able too. Jason and I had steak and shrimp scampi. Cassie had shrimp and Ryan got a big ol steak. All I have to say is the strawberry lemonade there is to die for!!! I am literally drooling thinking about it. Hold on...be right back. Need to clean off my keyboard.

Josh and Jack....one rack each

yummy

Jason and I had shrimp scampi and Steak

Its my strawberry lemonade.....it was the BEST

Josh couldn't finish

Jack swore his stomach got bigger

We had a good dinner and I was really happy we did that even though we ended up getting home at midnight from our weekend trip to his grandmas memorial. I had to hurry and sleep because I would be getting up on my birthday at 445am to leave by 515 to drive two hours to a doctors appointment. I really should of taken a different day but I wanted to get it done with.

As most of you know I am in remission from Cushing's Disease. I had a tumor removed from my brain (in my pituitary). It messes with your immune system. Messes with a lot of things. 11 hormones to be exact. So you gain a lot of weight, have low immune system, bruise, stretch marks, insomnia, brain fog etc....  lets just say its no fun! If you want to know more about it check out www.cushingstories.com. Its a site that my friend Rachel and I co-founded to help others.

Anyways...I had to go to a pulmonologist to get my airways checked. I have been having problems breathing. It wasn't the best way to start the day but it needed to be done. I would of driven 2 hours anyways because I was able to get Starbucks! Do you hear the heavens opening and angels singing? I do when I think of my iced coffee drink! ahhhhhhhhhhh....*angelic singing*

Breathing tests

I hate plugging my nose but it was still thumbs up

Once I got home I found out that my favorite lamb passed away:( I was so sad. I always love my underdog animals. Then for all of  you guys who think you have had a crappy day (no pun intended) I walked outside barefoot to grab something out of the car and stepped in some doo-doo. YEP you hear me! I screamed! I jumped up and down screaming ehw ehw ehw! I hopped all the way back in and didn't care about what it was I was going to retrieve from the car. I hopped to the shower and that was that! Then my mind kept going to how was that even in the yard...the dogs cant even get there. EHW! I am grossing myself out again ~! Strawberry lemonade.....just think about strawberry lemonade.....ahhh. Ok now I am better!

So the day wasn't going as planned but I still had a good day! We went to Josh and Jacksons sports awards. They did a really good job and won different awards for Basketball! Very proud of those two. Josh is in JV and Jackson is in Varsity. It was a good ending my night.

So proud of my boys

I had tons of phone calls and birthday wishes from friends, family etc. I opened up some fabulous presents. I did chuckle to myself because my dad, my sister and mother in law know me well. They got me exactly what I asked for...more kitchen stuff. I am going to bake and cook everything! Ryan got me some snazzy stuff too and also some dresses I have been wanting from Ross. Hey I shop at Lane Bryant and Torrid but Ross is definitely my go to store. Why pay full price if I don't have too!

I obsessed with Green and Live Love Laugh things

My friends and family got me great gifts also and I really felt loved. It was a good ending to the day.....

39! Its going to be a good year! Watch out world! Rae-Rae is getting older! I never said more mature....just older!:)

Please subscribe by going to the top of the blog and putting your email in. You will get an email every time I blog. I cant see who is subscribing but you can unsubscribe at anytime. We have a giveaway at the middle of each month. At the beginning we will tell you what it is. Love giving away stuff! Have a blessed day!