Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The One and Only (at least so far) December Post

Busy, busy, busy.

And tired, tired, tired.  And lazy, lazy, lazy.

The good news is I'm ready for the holidays.  Presents are all wrapped (except for my Dad's last minute ones for my Mom of course), even the ones from Santa, in Santa's special paper are done.  Presents are wrapped and ready for the stockings.  Oh, and I assure you the stockings are hung, and have been since Thanksgiving weekend.  I haven't even posted pictures of my decor.  But, it looks mostly the same as it did last year.  Check my archives if you are curious.

It's been one of those holiday seasons.  The second week into December, I took pictures of a friend's kids for her Christmas cards on Sunday, I had my Christmas bunco (hoping to find at least one picture of that) on that Tuesday, edited the pics from the shoot on Wednesday and made my cakes and fillings for a wedding cake due on Saturday, Riley's Christmas program for Preschool on Friday, my friend Crystal coming to stay with us that same Friday, and then on Saturday, we had a birthday party to go to, my very very last cake to deliver, and right after that, Tim's company party at The Queen Mary.

Why is everything wrapped up into one week?  Always!  Then we had our company party at my Mom's the following Monday.

I've been trying to catch myself up, and this blog.  But it is not on my To Do list.  Ever anymore.  It might just end up being a picture blog, or something.  I want to keep it up, but I don't want to keep it up.  That might change after the holidays.  We will see.

Almost all the pictures that you see will be straight out of the camera.  I don't have it in me to edit.  Editing is also not on my To Do list.  What is on my To Do list is to still take pictures of the girls for our Christmas New Years cards.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.  Or never.  Ugh, and I had such a good idea, and spent $80.00 on "outfits" for them.

Well, the pictures that you are seeing today are from the Company party.  I did not take my camera into dinner.  I thought that would be creepy.  What the pictures are of are from our room, the boat, and stuff like that.

Tim and I stayed the night on the boat (THANK YOU MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and enjoyed every minute of it.  We got down there around 4:30 pm and the party didn't start until 6:30-6:45.  So, I spread out my makeup, hair stuff, and clothes, took a nice shower and got to work primping myself.  Not before I took some pictures of the room though.

It was really cool, for my birthday we stayed in such a modern new room at Pechanga.  This room was old, and dated, and so stinkin' cool it's not even funny.  I love experiencing everything, and the history of this boat is so awesome.  Tim was my history buff.

So you walk into the room and right in front of you is a little desk built into the wall (no pictures, I had my 50 mm on and wow, that's just too close...so I quickly swapped my 50 for my 35...so much better).  To the left, was our bed and 3 portholes.  So cool!  That actually opened, and the fresh breeze was to die for.


From the entrance to the right, was a hallway, and another room.  With another bed, that I jokingly told Tim that if he didn't mind his manners, he'd be sleeping there...


Also in this room was a vanity (huge) that I sat at to do my makeup and hair.  I'm sorry, I totally take advantage of a hotel room.  I take my time getting ready with no little ones running around, and pretend like I'm rich.  Not like I need to be rich, but it's fun to pretend, even if I did sip my champagne from a plastic cup.  Okay, do I sound like a 16 year old?  I'll stop telling you my deep dark secrets.  Anyway, next to the vanity was the bathroom.


That's before I put all my goods out.

And check out the shower.  The knobs were labeled fresh cold, fresh hot, salt cold, and salt hot.  So cool right?  So I took a cold, salty shower.  Just kidding.  I took a fresh hot shower.  And it was awesome, before I saw the ghost.  Just kidding again.  But you know the ship is haunted right?


That was fun conversation.  I didn't get anyone to take a picture of us when we were all dressed up, so the iphone picture will just have to do...


What do you think?  I mean I'm wearing heels.  I don't wear heels that often because at six feet tall, I'm already considered an amazon chick.  Put heels on me and I'm 6'3".  Hmmmm.  And those really cute sexy heels that you see everywhere...yeah, I'd be 6'6"...right, wouldn't want to be that tall even if I was married to a six eight kinda guy.  Not my bag.  But it was so fun to get all dressed up and fancy.  And my man, looks super hot.  Love him.

We headed up to the party, and wow.  After meeting everyone that Tim works with, I am thoroughly impressed.  My gosh.  God couldn't have picked a better position for him.  Not only is he with a company that he can retire from, but he's working with amazing people, all who have faith, who had been praying themselves for the right guy to come along.  They couldn't stop telling me how excited they were to have Tim on board.  Amazing.  Thank you Jesus.  We are truly blessed, in so many ways, but this was the icing.  So proud of my hubby and all that he does for us.

The next day, we took our time, because check out wasn't until noon, hello!  Thank you!  So we packed up, rolled our bags out to the car and headed back onto the ship to take a look around.

This was the hallway down to some of the rooms.



It was so relaxing walking around the ship, holding hands.  We decided that we are ready for our honeymoon.  We never got one.  Boo Hoo. :)  We are thinking a cruise might be nice, or skiing for my birthday.  Hmmm, we will see.


Or Hawaii, Tim lived there for 2 years and would move back if I said okay.  I wanted to surprise him on our 5th Anniversary, but the funds were not there...another reason why I pretend in hotel rooms, that I'm rich.



We ended up having lunch on the ship.  And I wished we hadn't.  The only restaurant available was this one.  And the service was awful!  Like awful!

But my date was cute.


And our view was not to shabby.



But the food was bad.  Yeah.  Bad.  Not anything compared to the dinner we had served to us the night before.  That dinner was amazing.  This one...not so much.  All though, Tim chose better than I.


We tried on some hats.


Bought one (I'll give you a hint...we didn't buy mine.).  And took off back home, to relieve my mother of her babysitting duties.

It was a great evening.  So happy.  Life is so good right now.  We are free of stress (at the moment), negativity, and are surrounded by a beautiful family and friends.  It couldn't get much better than this!

Except if I would pick up my camera more often and take advantage of the unbelievable bokeh everywhere.  I'll work on that.  And if I don't get back on to wish you a Merry Christmas, than Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!


 


Friday, November 25, 2011

Thankful...

A couple days late, but here is my thankful post.  I'm posting some teaser pictures of my Mom's Festival of the Trees tree that she donated this year.  It turned out beautiful and if she gives me permission to post the whole tree, I will.  I don't know what her plans are for her blog, but I do miss it.  Hint.  Hint...

I'm thankful first and foremost for God.  For His love, For Him.  He has forgiven me for my sins, and through His word, I'm learning how to be a better person.  He knows that I'm not perfect, but accepts me anyway.  I'm eternally grateful for that and am trying to live each day better than the last.



I'm thankful for my husband, he is my best friend, my better half.  My shoulder to cry on, he lends his ear to listen to me.  He loves me through my faults.  He loves my cooking.  He always takes my side.  He's the best Dad in the world.  He inspires me.  He makes me a better person.  I'm thankful that I met him, and married him, and had babies with him.  And I also thank God for him.  Because he is one of the biggest gifts I've ever received.

I'm thankful for my girls.  They have changed my life forever.  I will never be the same again.  They test me, they teach me, they love me.  They snuggle up to me even after I yell at them for doing something wrong.  They have made me selfless.  I would do anything for those girls.  They are amazing and I never knew the love of a mother until I held Riley in my arms for the first time.  Thank you Lord, for my beautiful girls.

I'm thankful for my family.  Family is one of life's greatest blessings.  Family will always be there for you, no matter what you do.  They love unconditionally.  And my family kinda rocks the house.  We had a blast this Thanksgiving, and I'll post about that another day.




I'm thankful for my friends, old and new.  The ones that I can call once a month but we pick up like we talked yesterday, the friends that just know that you need a listening ear, and the friends that come over for a glass of wine or tea to talk girl talk.  They all bring something different to my life, and I love them all.

I'm thankful for Tim's new position.  It's a prayer that has been prayed a million times and has been finally answered.  He has put up with so many bad situations, not very nice people, and just plain crap for so many years.  And he has always stayed positive, and kind, and committed.  This job is perfect for him, and I'm so proud of him.  He was recruited for this position, and it's because of his hard work throughout the years, and his dedication.  It's so deserving.  And God has answered our prayers.  I'm so thankful, it's such a blessing and I want to remember how much of a blessing it is, forever.


I'm thankful for my inlaws being here for this Thanksgiving week.  They have kept me company while Tim works such long hours (they've been working 10-12 hour shifts since the 16th) and have been such a help with the kids...like they really mind that...!  But I love them, and have so enjoyed their company.  And I wish that they lived closer...hint...hint...


 I'm thankful for my strength, for my courage, for my own determination.  I'm thankful that I can humble myself.  I'm thankful that I can speak my own mind.  I'm thankful that I can hold the ones that I love near and dear to my heart.  I'm thankful that I know how to say I'm sorry.  I'm thankful that I'm not perfect, because I can learn from my mistakes.  I'm thankful that I'm a giving person.  I'm thankful for my mind, and my heart, and my health.  I'm thankful for being the person that I am, and not apologizing for it.  I'm thankful that I can speak the truth no matter what the consequence.  I'd rather be honest than a liar.  I'm thankful that God made me the person that I am and that He teaches me how to make myself better.


I'm thankful for our troops.  Just thankful for our troops.  And what they do for us, knowing and willing.  Each and everyone of them is a selfless individual and I wish them much love and happiness this holiday season.  Thank you for ALL that you do.




I'm thankful that KOST plays Christmas music before Thanksgiving so that I can get into the spirit earlier than December 1st.  I think we should be able to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ for as long as we want.  Whether that overlaps Thanksgiving or not, its our own choice.  I don't think that people that start decorating early and start listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving need to be hated on by people that don't.  You don't see those people hating on the people that don't start decorating until December 1st.  It's personal preference. 


I'm thankful that I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping :)


I'm thankful that even though I screamed mad things at the TV last weekend when the Ducks played USC (University of Spoiled Children....no hard feelings DP, I promise ;) and LOST...ugh, that I'm ready to watch them play again tomorrow.  USC did play pretty dang good, I'll give them that!  But I'm not promising that I won't yell at the TV again if they play liked they did last weekend.    I might have to go sulk upstairs if they play like that again.


Which brings me to my next thing.  I'm thankful that I have an upstairs and a house to call a home.  We were blessed almost exactly 3 years ago with our first home.  It's beautiful.  And I'm forever grateful for our first home.  Even though Tim told me when we are moving and having another baby.  Apparently he makes all the decisions now.  ;)  But, the good news is, that I'm on board.


I'm thankful for this season of the year.  It's my favorite, filled with family, and love, and thankfulness.  It's a beautiful time of the year.  Or some would say, "It's the most wonderful time....of the year."


I'm thankful for so many things, these are just a few.  I could bore you with the rest, but I'll just keep it to that.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and continue to have a wonderful holiday season.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Let's Catch Up

So I just went to upload all my pictures to the computer and they didn't upload, and then I thought they got deleted.  But they are still on my mem stick so I'll try again.

In the meantime, I'll just chat.

It's been a while since I've been on.  One reason is because I haven't been taking many pictures, the second is because of Tim's new hours, and the third is because I've been cheating on my blogging with reading.

My Mom gave me a series to read and it's fantastic.  I couldn't put the first book down and finished it quickly, then I picked up the second, got a little upset, and put it down for a minute.

I'm still a little ticked off so I'll pick up that second book when I'm feeling better about how it's going.  I'm 100 pages + in and still not happy.

Oh good, my pictures uploaded.  They aren't really about anything so I'll just post them along the way ;)

This first one is the only one that needs explaining.  Two weekends ago we were going to head to Disneyland on a Sunday.  The Sunday after a perfectly gorgeous Saturday, the Sunday where it was raining cats and dogs, and I thought we could go anyway.

Well, one mile on the freeway had me thinking otherwise.  So we headed to a movie.  Puss and Boots.

It was awful.  But the kids loved it.

Anywho, we've been kind of keeping a low profile around these parts.  The hours of the position Tim took recently are from 2:00 pm - 10:30 pm.  You'd think (as did I) that I would have a heck of a lot of time to blog.  But I really haven't been feeling it lately.

By the time the kids are in bed and the house is straightened, I just want to sit on my behind.  Maybe it's because I worked so hard for so long, I don't know.  What I also don't know is how I did as much as I did and stayed "sane".



I definitely don't miss doing cakes.  I miss sharing my creativity with people, but that's about it.  So instead, I'm being inspired by other people's creativity.  Some people are extremely talented.  It's so fun that we have the internet to share our creativity on.

Anyway, back to Tim's job.  It's amazing.  The hours suck, but they aren't forever.  I'm not going to name who he is working for, but it's a major corporation.  You know the type that comes with benefits up the butt?  And a W-2 wage.  And a please go to the doctor and I'll pay for your visit, almost, kind of health insurance?

A company that he can retire from.  Or also a company that might relocate us.  Who knows?

What I do know is that there are some massive perks to being employed by such a company, and I'll share a picture of what my next car might look like.  And I say might.  Because, I'm not a spendy girl.  But when the family discount is unbelievable....I'm not one to say no to a good deal you know?

lol, here she is...

Yep she's a beauty.  But, like I said.  We will see.  I think it's only fair to take advantage of the discount for Timmy first.  I mean, he is the one that got this great position.

I'm very excited about it, as is he.  He's doing really well and has been there for a month on the 30th.  It seems as though they have big plans for Mr. Rush there.  So I'm praying that that is the case.

Also praying that if they relocate (they are looking for a bigger facility, in a few different states), they relocate to another facility in Southern California.  I'd hate to move away from my family, to a place that has no family.  I grew up around my Grandparents, and I know that it would be so hard on us and my parents, if we moved away.  And Tim's parents if we moved even further away.

But, if I'm gonna look on the bright side, Southern California isn't my favorite place to live.  The weather is amazing, but most of the people aren't as nice as they are in other parts of our country.  The values are much different.  There are definitely some wonderful places to live in our country.

But the down side, no family, no friends.  Tim told me not to worry about it until something happens.  If something happens.

So, that's what I'll do.


It's been nice having Tim here in the mornings though.  The kids like it.  I like it.  We drink our coffee together.  It's fun.

But at night, it's hard.  I don't even get on my computer and either read, do laundry, straighten, or very rarely watch a show.

Speaking of, our DVR is filled with our recordings.  But I can't watch them without Tim.  It's our thing. :)

Nothing else has really been going on.  I've been helping my Grandma shop for Christmas (she's almost done and I'm very jealous of that!), and hanging out with the girls.

Tim's folks are actually on their way down to spend the week with us.  They get here right before the game (Go Ducks!) and stay for a week.

They are excited and I know 2 beautiful little girls that are extremely excited!



We are ready.  Just a stop at the grocery store tomorrow for some last minute things (went to crazy Costco today to get the big stuff...including some butternut squash that I will be making into a very healthy soup later on this week :)

I'm thinking burgers tomorrow...for the game, but not before some chips and dip and home made cheese sticks, and a beer.

Because you have to have a beer when you watch football.  It's the rule.  Didn't you know?

It's been nice "catching up".  I think I'll do a thankful post soon, because there is so much I am thankful for.  And our life is in such a great place.  I have only the Lord to thank for that.  He has answered our prayers and I am so grateful.  He is simply...amazing.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Smell My Feet

That's totally rude, I shouldn't have said that.

But Halloween is sooooo over and it's taken me a looooong time to post the pictures.  I'm disappointed in myself...not going to lie.

Halloween was awesome.  Riley and Madi loved hair and makeup.  Then Riley (Rapunzel) loved trick or treating.  And...Madi (Cinderella)  hated it.

But they looked so cute.





Sorry, after uploading the pictures, I realized I took no horizontal pictures.  Just vertical.  So just go with it.


Aren't they precious?  They were having a great time, until it got dark.  Then Madi got scared and Riley just couldn't wait to go trick or treating.



But we had to wait for the family to arrive.  And some arrived in "costume".  Gotta love it!


That's GiGi for you!  She knows a good time when she sees one.  That's why we invite her to everything!

The girls got a big kick out of that wig.  As did I. 

We kind of switched the adults in and out of candy duty.  Last year I set all the candy out hoping that kids would just take one.  But I don't think they did.  So this year I was going to sit and pass out candy, but my awesome fam let me trick or treat with the kids while they took turns.

Thank you family!  It was fun to see Riley have such a fun time.  Of course we only got like our street done and half of another one.


But that's okay.  We met this really cute bee on our travels.  Her name is Savannah, and she is a sweetheart!


We also were not scared of much.  And by we I mean Riley.  Madi had more fun handing out candy with my Mom.

Do you think Riley noticed anything spooky?  Or had a candy mission?

I'm going with candy mission....

But it was really cute after our one big street and half a street.  Riley just had too much candy.  She couldn't hold her basket any longer.  It was a dramatic end to a great night.


Sorry, not much love into this post.  I'm trying to adjust to Tim's new hours which I'll tell you about next time.  It's a good thing, but it's been kind of hard to get used to.

I know it's late, but I hope you ALL had an excellent Halloween.  I know not everyone loves it, enjoys it, or has fun with it...but for us, it's a fun night where we dress up, trick or treat for candy, and enjoy our sugar highs. 

And man oh man.  Did Cinderella have a sugar high. 

:)

Monday, October 31, 2011

Pumpkin Carving

Boo!
(sorry I couldn't help myself, it is Halloween you know.)

Boy am I glad we squeezed this in!  And I'm happy to say that after seeing everyone's pictures of their pumpkins on Facebook last night, we were not the only ones that "saved" it for the last minute!

Usually we have a pumpkin carving contest.  But we didn't have the usual faces in town to do that.  So it was just Tim, me and the girls.

We had a good time.

It almost didn't happen because Tim had to go to 3 different stores on his way home from work yesterday to find some.  I had asked for 4, and after store 2 I was thinking we'd be carving watermelons instead!

But he found us 4, and we got to work.

Riley picked Ariel for her pumpkin and Daddy helped.  I helped Madi with her choice, of Cinderella.


 Madi did a great job helping me carve, and Riley did a great job of cleaning off the top of her pumpkin.

Neither one wanted to clean out their pumpkins.  They get this from me.  I even tried this year to clean out my own.  The feeling of the pumpkin guts in my hands completely grosses me out, to the point of gagging.  I know, it's bad.


On a side note, I always hate editing pumpkin pictures.  There is just so much orange.  I like orange, but not that much orange.  Probably why I got sick of my Halloween background so quickly.
 
Back to the carving...

My choice was between Captain Hook and Malificent.  The girls wanted Captain Hook so that's what I did!

Tim did his own thing as usual.  Last year he did an "O" for the Ducks.  This year he did something a little different.  And if you are familiar with our little situation, you will get a big kick out of it.  Thank you everyone for your prayers!  His first day is today and he is super excited.  What a fabulous opportunity that God has given him.

Should I get right to it? 

Should I get to those pictures of our fabulous pumpkins?

Alright, you twisted my arm....



Happy Halloween everyone!  Be safe tonight and enjoy trick-or-treating with your families!  We'll be heading out around the neighborhood and the family is coming over to watch our little Rapunzel, and Cinderella have a great evening!



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Madison's 3rd Birthday Party

First, sorry if you came to the blog and it was in disarray.  I was changing the look of it.  Do you like the one column?  Sheryl, I copied you, and a few other people I might add.  I love the clean, organized look of it all.  I took off a lot that I had in my side column.  But you can find most of it down at the bottom of the page.

Now I just need to make a new header!

But let's get to Madi's birthday party.

We finally had it yesterday.  We have so many birthdays to celebrate that this was the first weekend that I was able to do it.  It wasn't a huge party, just family.  But I think it's nice to decorate, have cake, and dinner for all types of birthday parties.  Madi definitely felt special, and loved her cake!

Let's get to the pictures shall we?

Madi decided that she wanted a Cinderella birthday party (I tried to push Little Mermaid...under the sea...but she wasn't having it) so we headed to Party City to get a few things for decorations.

And I went to work on Saturday decorating. 



I made Madi a cake.  Everything else is from what I made for my Mom's bunco the night before that was leftover.
Desserts:

vanilla cake with chocolate chips and strawberry mousse
petit fours
pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
double dark chocolate cupcakes with either peanut butter whip or coconut whip
mascarpone cheesecake (for some special guests :)




 We started our party off with some

Appetizers:

little weenies wrapped in crescent rolls
Tomato and Basil bruschetta
Mozzarella sticks


And mingling...do these not look like some serious conversations?



Really quick story that I want to remember.  On Friday, we got to my Mom's house to help with her bunco and Madi saw BaBa in the driveway.  She said, "Oh look, there's my friend Baba!"  How sweet is that?

And this...


We quickly found ourselves watching Madi open up her gifts while we waited for dinner to get done.  I really had no choice but to have Madi open up her presents first.  I mean, it was either we did it officially, or she randomly grabbed presents out of bags while nobody was looking.

And who says you have to do presents after dinner? 

:)

PS.  Special shout out to my Mom who took all the pictures that follow this.  They turned out AMAZING!  Thank you Mommy, they are so perfect!  You captured every moment beautifully!



 It was really hard with Riley not having her birthday when Madi had hers.  Wowzers.  Hoping that is the last year for that.  Or at least that she will understand more and be patient for her own birthday.  But thank you for the gifts for Riley, family.  That helped a lot!

After presents, dinner was heated up and we sat down to eat.

Dinner: (easy peasy)

ziti
salad
garlic bread

Which we then followed immediately (kind of, I washed the dishes first, quickly) with cake!

We sang to the birthday girl...

Florabella Triptych Timeline

And she blew out her candles, in one try!



And then she was nice enough to let her sister take a shot at it...


Confession:  The candle is on the back of the cake and she only got one.  I was annoyed at this point because Riley still didn't get it through her head that it was her sister's birthday, and I was so sick of the whining.  In retrospect, I should have just gone with the flow.  Madi didn't seem to mind so why did I?  Ugh, you live and you learn.  At least I didn't say no to the candle all together right?

Poor Riley, it was so hard on her.  I had gone through 2 days of it already though.  I hit my breaking point.  Okay...confession over.  I feel better, sorry my sweet Riley!  I love you!


Time to dig in!



I can't believe my baby is 3 years old.  I don't know where the time went. 


Happy Birthday Ms. Madison Rush! 

Stay tuned for pumpkin carving, which we haven't done yet...oops...will be making it an event later this afternoon!
 

Me

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I'm Kristi, the wife of one very lucky and handsome husband, and mother to two beautiful little girls. I'm honest and sarcastic, funny and easy going. I love to eat and love to hate that I love butter. And wine. And did I mention butter? I'm always learning new things, happy to lend a hand, and love my life. This is a blog of my family and the day to day crazy that we call Rush Hour. I hope while you are here that you enjoy yourself and come back often!

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The Rush Family

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