Vacation and Catch Up!

Well this may be a long post. So go grab a cup of coffee, a donut and sit back, relax and enjoy our Blog!

Well last week we headed out Aberdeen SD. We arrived on Thursday when it was -40. Yes that is not a typo. We were glad to have finely arrived after a long night in the ariport. Shall I elaborate? Good glad you would like to hear.

So we landed in MPLS and all was good. WE had checked into hotels before we left and I was CONFIDENT that I could find a REASONABLE hotel for us to spend the night. But a bazillion phone calls later there was no such luck. The average room would be $120 and for 5 hours I was JUST NOT GOING to spend that!! So off to pick up our bag, have the US AIR folks lock them up and hunker down in the airport. We foudn our place to sleep and we settled in. Well a young man, who shall remain nameless, decided that he was ready to explore and be UP!! While the rest of us wanted to get at least a few hours of shut eye. Well FINELY at 3 am that little stinker fell asleep. So mama got some shut eye then too.

We then woke up with the kinks in our necks and headed off to collect our bags and check into our flight to Aberdeen. All looked well and we should be on the plane no probelm. We ended up arriving at about 10:45 to the above -40 degrees. So we gather our bags and load up the van and head out.

Friday I spent part of my day buying supplies for the big PARTY!! Jackson you know was turning 2. I picked up everything I needed and we headed back to nan's. But wait. Another funny story. Would you like me to elbaorate? Good I am so glad!!

So checking out in Wal-Mart and I get RAMMED by somthing. I see out of the corner of my eye that is was a DORA 4 wheeler. You know one of those cars the kids drive. I am thinking to myself, who is NOT watching there kid! My goodness can't they see I have a cart full of STUFF!!! Well the boy who was ridining, again shall remain nameless along with his father. Purely to protect them. He had gotten on this DORA thing and had a foot on the gas and one leg in the air as if he just wanted to sit on it. But ub known to him the side he placed his foot was the GAS so he ran into his mama!! NOTE TO SELF: Don't EVER buy one of those.

So Saturday was the big party day. My family had arrived the night before and I was anxious to get over there and say hi. So Jamie, Jack and I bundled up and went over to the super 8 to see them. We ate some waffles and headed out. By the afternoon I had picked up the balloons and headed to the hotel.

We got all set up and we were ready for our guests to arrive! Jackson cake was SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!! It was a nemo cake that my sister Chris made. She TOTALLY out did herself and it was the best stinkin cake EVER!!! I have like a bazillion pictures and those will just have to be posted later. So we swam and opened up presents and really just had a good time hanging out with family. Poor Jackson was exhausted.

Sunday we said goodbye to my family and simply hung out. The rest of our trip was just relaxing, sleeping in and EATING WAY TOOOO MUCH!!! I did enjoy one night out with my sister in law Shanda and we had a great time. $20 can buy you A LOT of Limo and cokes. I got hit on my some dude in his hunting gear and one other strange dude. Made for a good laugh for us.

But we have now returned to the wonderful warm AZ weather. I will take this over the -25 we left on Tuesday. So it was back to work for me..

Speaking of work. I only have 60 more days left after today. (this does include the weekends folks) so I am anxious to be done and close this work chapter of my life. Its been one rollercoaster ride but I have met some WONDERFUL people along the way. I have been looking for a new job, but nothing that fits me has popped up. But I KNOW that HE has it allplanned out for me. So I shall not worry about it. My path has already been decided. So I will see what happens.

I willpost pictures of the party as soon as I dump my cards from the camera. I hope everyone is well. I am not quite sure if anyone even reads this, but I certainly enjoy writing it.

PS: Please lift up my friend Sharon. She is recovering from an illness and could use your prayers.

Rest in his Hands,
Jenny

Upcoming Trip

Yes because we are completly crazy we are going North for our vacation!! LOL We are headed to Aberdeen for Jackson's birthday. It should be so much to see all of Jamie's family. I have not been back to Aberdeen since we moved to AZ almost 3 years ago. So I am excited.

Other than that things are steady eddie. I have trained in my replacements at work, attempting to get my scrapping organized and become more active my my BizEmoms networking group.

That is my quick update!!!

Jenny

Thoughts on 2007....

Ok so I took this from Mama's on a Play date blog. Thought it was cool!! So Enjoy!

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

Hmmm….I am not sure… Nothing comes to mind.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t believe I kept my resolution. This year my goal is to keep up on my 1 year bible reading. So far I am one day ahead.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my sister Sarah. She had a very cute bundle of Joy, Alex Glen. My best friend Jane became a foster mother to Kori.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My Uncles partner for many years, Brandy. She died in Jan of last year.

5. What countries did you visit?

I went to Boston over the 4th. No countries in 2007.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

More Scrapbooking time.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Jackson’s first birthday. We had so much fun with family in town to celebrate his big day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I got to go to 2, yes I said TWO Celebrate events. (this is a HUGE scrapbooing event. Yes this was my biggest thing!)

9. What was your biggest failure?

Missing out on time with my family.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Hmmm….I didn’t really buy anything that was “fun”. Maybe it would be …yep, nothing comes to mind.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Taylor – For the most part after Springboard she has done fairly well. Still not 100% but better than she was before..

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Oh, I would rather not say. This is a very public blog. :)

14. Where did most of your money go?

Jackson! The Munchie is expensive for sure!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Heading to MN for my Celebrate scrapping event!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

The group Tree 63. Christian band. I am totally addicted.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder?

Much happier. Very content.

b) thinner or fatter?

I think maybe just a wee bit thinner…..

c) richer or poorer?

I wouldn't say richer by any means, but financially doing better.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Cooked and scrapbooked more!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Driving to work.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas Eve was at home with just the four of us. .

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?

A little more with him each and every day.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

The Office and Hero's.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

While there are certainly people that make me nuts, I can't think of anyone I would use the word hate on.

24. What was the best book you read?

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evonvich.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Tree 63

26. What did you want and get?

More college prints of my little man and family.

27. What did you want and not get?

Balance in my life.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

The Borne Ultimatum. I have seen it now about 10 times and LOVE IT every time I watch it!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

32—Sad thing is I can’t even remember….

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Chasing Jackson Around.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

What fashion concept? This is why Annette and I are going shopping on Saturday!

32. What kept you sane?

Jackson. He makes me laugh on the worst of days.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I don’t’ really care about celebrities…

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Not Sure... Childhood Cancer Awareness. The Lack of Support for the Loneliness road Campaign.

35. Who did you miss?

My Grandma Sophie.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Mr. Alex Glen my Nephew.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

I shouldn’t try and do things all myself ( Even though I think I can). Don’t be too serious, it can only make you miserable sometimes…

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I don’t know if it is a quote…But my thought is that even when you are having the what you think is the worst time of your life. Your family will be there to support and understand. They are always there, even when you think you are alone.

GoodBye to 2007!!! Hello 2008

Well I am glad to see 2007 year close. It has been a quite a year and one I will be glad to forget many parts of it. Ok I guess I will never forget it, but I will be glad when the year is behind us. We had many ups and downs, and some days it felt like more downs than ups. So being able to "look back" will be nice. Hence the reason for no Christmas letter this year. It was hard to know what to write about!

But we hope that 2008 will bring many things for us. We are hoping for continued success with Jamie's photography business, continued growth for Taylor, Jackson staying healthy and me to find a good job, close to home. We also hope to bring another little one into our family if that is in God's plan for us. (No I am not pregnant..yet)

So I wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope and pray that 2008 is a wonderful year for you all!

Blessings,
The Hines Family.

Christmas

Greeting! I hope everyone enjoyed the birth of Jesus yesterday! It is always such an exciting time of year.

Well Christmas Eve we went to 4:30 services. The Mama of the house was afraid that it just wouldn't feel like Christmas because the service wouldn't be full. Boy was I wrong. And my loving husband was able to point this out. We had a wonderful service and it is always so wonderful. We went home and I had baked a ham with a few fixings. We were instructed to eat fast so the kids could get to presents.

Taylor of course made out like banchie!! New clothes, gift cards, some cash, a new "jump suite" (AKA a sweat suit), new books (which she was going to have a hard deciding which one to read first), and so much more.

Jackson too made out like a banchie. We opened up the new Little tykes T-ball set from Nanny. Big mistake. A ball crazed boy with a bat on Christmas... Note to self, that next year we open these type of presents LAST!!! But he loved his trucks from his auntie and he LOVED the new little people circus from his other auntie. He got some new clothes and a train from grammie and countless other presents!

And to think....This was my kids SECOND round of opening presents!!! When Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Andy were down that was round ONE! And to think Taylor flew home to her moms yesterday and she is heading for round THREE! Crazy I say. Crazy!!

Not to leave us parents out because I got treated pretty well as always. A new MP 3 player, lotion, a new "jump suit" beautiful house decorations, jewelry, clothes and shoes and so much more. I am lucky because I have TWO great mother in laws that spoil me rotten!!! So thanks to them for all the wonderful gifts!

Jamie made out good too. We were blessed to get some really cool pictures of his Dad from his step mom. They were very neat. He too got an MP3 player, socks clothes etc... But he was most excited about the new MP3 player.


Christmas morning Santa arrived with a pirate ship for Jackson and stockings filled to the brim. Taylor opened hers before she left and Jack and I waited for daddy to get home from the airport to open ours. Santa gave Jamie too many Starbucks gift cards... So mommy might have to "acquire" those. LOL Just kidding!!!

Well I will add pictures as soon as I have them downloaded!!! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!! I am sure the Lord has bless you all.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

Jesus is the reason for the season!!

Christmas Blessings to all!

May we all celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior!

From our home to yours, Christmas Blessings to all! We love you!