I know, I know, it's been quite awhile since I last blogged about what is happening in our neck of the woods. I have had it on my to-do list for a couple weeks but I just keep running out of time to do, so tonight I'm making the time to do it even if I have to stay half the night.
I've still been pretty stingy with my time with Jarom. We go just about everwhere with each other, that is if we even leave the house. Together, we have been playing on the Wii and the WiiFit, working on puzzles, reading and playing games.
Personally, I've been working on some cross-stitch gifts and various other crafts, running errands, reading my books and magazines, chores around the house and getting things set up to start working again.
I will start working again soon, from home as a virtual assistant. I'm very excited. I'm just starting out with the basic project and if all goes well I will move up to individual projects where I can earn even more money. I will start with basic data entry and memos and I can move up reports, research, presentations, etc. I am very excited about. I want to work again, but I'm not quite ready to enter the outside work force. This job will allow me to create my own work schedule and therefore work around vacations and holidays so that we can see our families more. It will also allow me the time I need to study and get my teaching certification so that when the economy is steady again there is a much greater need for teachers than I can finally do what I love-my dream job as a teacher.
We had a great long weekend with my family here. My parents and an aunt and uncle came down from Oregon on Thursday evening. Friday, the guys just stayed home chatting while us girls went shopping at Bath & Body Works, Costco and Safeway. Saturday afternoon Jarom and I took them to the Charles Spinetta Winery to taste some of my favorite sweet wines and brwse the gallery. We had fun and I took the camera but forgot all about it when we got there. I love there three sweet wines and their two dessert wines. Saturday evening, my cousin Nicole and Aunt Teresa and Uncle Paylor drove up from Watsonville. Sunday was when the main activities occurred. In the morning all the men went with Jarom to go shooting behine Beale AFB, while all of us girls went to JoAnn's. In the afternoon, we worked on a family quilt. We all designed a square or two about ourselves or something that reminds us of the weekend. Coley also had a special traveling embroidery project for all of us to add too with our name and where we live and a design/picture that represents us.

It will travel to her family and special friends. When she is all done, she will frame it. Aunt Val did her and Uncle Stu's and I did mine and Jarom's then sent it home with Mom to do hers and forward to the next person.
One all that was done we started the games and activities I had planned. The first game was the multi-wrapped gift, as always it proved to be a lot of fun! Dad won the prize of a neat book I found at Jamba Juice and $5 Jamba Juice giftcard.
Once we finished I set up for our next game the Ice Cube Race.
You compete with another individual to be ther first to get your ice cube from one bowl to the next-only using two toothpicks. Uncle Paylor won this game and got some fun thumbtacks, pens, a Wizard of Oz magnet and a $10 Jamba Juice card. Following the race we went our back to take a swing at the pinata.
Mom was the first to take a turn at it and she did good breaking a pretty good sized hole in the top. Coley was the second and last person to take a whack at it. She would get a feel for it and stop it from swinging and then really whack at it! It broke open after her third swing I think and everthing came spilling out. I filled it with candy, magnets, pens, Wooly Willy, suction cup balls, six varieties of pleasure condoms, six varieties of lubricants, amongst other things. Afterward while Mom and Jarom prepared dinner, I snapped pictures of Coley and Aunt Teresa wearing the cone of the pinata and Coley wearing the ice cream part and then switching. They are so cute!

After dinner, even after a long debate to do so, I decided to follow through with my plan to do a drawing for the quilt. I wanted to be selfish and keep it, but I got pictures of all the squares and everyone creating them, so it is almost at good as having the actual thing.

I wrote everyone's names on a piece of paper and put them in a bowl that I shook and had Aunt Teresa draw the winner. Uncle Paylor won the quilt. Dad was really bummed because he really wanted it. The quilt was really cool. I got it at JoAnn's already assembled, with 16 blank white squares and some oil type pentel pastels. We each did our squares and then some of us did a few more to complete it. Once all the squares were complete I had to make our art permanent by placing a clean piece of white paper over our drawing and ironing with a hot dry iron for 5 seconds. It turned out really cool! I plan to get another one. i was thinking of doing one for our 10 year anniversary with some of our greatest memories.
Also after dinner the Wii became a HUGE hit! They raced on MarioKart, bowled, played tennis and hoola hooped on the WiiFit. There was so much laughter and hooping and hollaring as everyone cheered on the players.

About 9:30pm, Aunt Teresa, Uncle Paylor and Coley headed home. After a leasurely morning on Sunday, Mom, Dad, Uncle Stu and Aunt Val packed up the Tahoe and headed home. It is always sad once everyone leaves...and so quiet. Jarom and I didn't do much that day we just relaxed and spent it together.

Miss and Gus, of course, LOVED having everyone here to visit and love them. You know, everyone was just there for them not us. :o) Hope was quite friendly, allowing people to give her a few pets. She even spent most of the time everyone was here in the same room with everyone.
We finally got Minnie fixed and she is much less skittish, at least around us, now. She lets us come and pet her for a minute or two and she comes to sleep on my pillow once or twice a week. Hope is sleeping with us all the time now on the bed. if she is not at my feet she is squeezed between us. There have been a few times this past week that I've had all four animals with me in the same room while I read or cross-stitch.
I'm still having quite a hard time with our stairs. I've sprained my ankle again and just this evening, I was three steps from reaching the bottom and I slid down them, catching myself on the railings. My back is sore-it was almost immediate. I don't know what is going on with me. I'm not running up or down them. Other than that, I LOVE our home and being back in Elk Grove. We are still unpacking. We are taking our time as we decide what to keep, what to donate and what to throw away. I'm such a pack rat that I have binders of papers from high school. Most everything is being donated, although I have done my fair share of shredding documents. Once all that is done we will take the donations to the donation spot and then we can finally move in the pool table. I love having all the space, but also with all the donating and throwing away, everything is so clutter free. I absolutely love it!
So that is what has been happening with us. hope you enjoy the few pictures in this post of our activities. I have over 100 of our family weekend, so I just put in one of the main activities.
Have a happy and safe Labor Day!!