"The Office" Christmas quotes

"Presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It's like a tangible thing that you can point to and say, 'Hey man, I love you...this many dollars.'"--Michael

"It's a perfectly good mini-tree. So we are going to sell it to charity. That's what Christmas is all about."--Michael

"Phyllis is basically saying, 'Hey, Michael, I know you did so much to help the office this year, but I only care about you 'a homemade oven mitt's worth.''"--Michael

"First of all, Jesus' birthday. Sacred. Religious. Second, you can get drunk and no one can say anything. Third of all, giving presents. And what's better than giving presents? Number four, getting presents. So four things. Not bad for one day."--Michael

"You think Santa Claus has it hard? He's got elves to help him and he only has to work one day a year. And yes, the Dundies are only one day a year but I have no elves. No elves!"--Michael

"It's really the best day of all time. Although, I guess, if you're Jewish, it's just like 'Thursday.'"--Michael

Oh, The Office! Thanks Sue & Charles for another year of quotes on my day by day calendar!

Cookies from Claire

Claire brought cookies straight from her oven over to my mom's house for Christmas. One for each of us. At just seven years old, she is so sweet as she makes sure she has cookies to share for everyone. Thanks for the wonderful cookies, Claire!

Meet Gadget!

My sister has welcomed a Golden Doodle puppy into her family. Her name is Gadget! We spent a lot of time with her through Christmas and here's just one adorable photo of Gadget napping with her new brother, Winnie.

Once was Lost...

...but now am found! After a month-and-a-half long hiatus, Edward found my camera! It was in a place we never would have found.

Sitting on my desk, under a basket that we had looked IN but not UNDER. I blame Christmas decorations. The basket shifted to make room for Christmas decorations...apparently, right onto my camera.

Sorry to my friends and family who have searched their cars and homes for me! The camera is found! (and just for my family, I am GROVELING)

25 week ultrasound! It's a...

...healthy baby! We had another ultrasound today and were delighted to see a healthy kicking, punching baby. Yes, we looked AWAY from the screen when needed so that we can still be surprised when we have the baby and find out what it is!

Another update, Edward has felt the baby kick as well! We were so excited that we finally got the timing right and the baby said hi to dad.

The baby is waving!

20 Week Ultrasound!

Edward and I went to my 20-week ultrasound today! I had to drink a quart of water an hour before the appointment. That was the hard part. Otherwise, it was so fun to see our acrobatic baby. It's feet were all over the place including over it's head. The Ultrasound Technician had a hard time getting good photos because the baby wouldn't sit still long enough. The baby and I both checked out in great health!

This is the profile with a leg in view...I think the best shot we got!

These are more profile photos of the baby. Most have looked at the photos and said, "It's a boy." Funny because I was thinking it's a girl for some reason...time will tell!

I *think* if you look at the right side of this one you can see little feet and toes!

Oktoberfest part 2

One more photo and funny video from Oktoberfest weekend. I still had the camera on "movie" mode by accident when mom tried to take a photo of the 4 of us. I thought it was a pretty funny little clip.

Here's the video:

And...the final photo:

Kadie, Hahn, Edward, and me in front of Edward's "station"

Oktoberfest!

This weekend we went to Oktoberfest-one of the biggest weekends to see rockets launch in Northern Colorado. Edward and Hahn went out on Thursday night. Edward's parents joined them Friday, then Mom, Kadie & I drove out Saturday morning. Edward launched his rocket 3 times over the weekend but also had some joint projects with his friend, John. Then on Sunday, someone launched one of Edward's custom motors (alphahybrids.com) in his rocket. The video below is of this rocket taking off! It was a great weekend to camp on the Pawnee National Grasslands and to see Edward in his element, having a blast with his friends and rockets.

Mom watches as Edward and Hahn finish wrapping the parachute to put into the rocket.

Kadie helps by handing over the nose cone! Go Kadie!

Edward and Hahn are installing the ignitor and then we're ready to launch!
Notice the decal on the fin!

Edward and Hahn with the final product, ready to launch.

Mom and I are taking care of Smoochy and Legs the frogs while we watch rockets launch!

Finally complete!!

I finally completed the task of getting photos printed and placed in my jewelry box frame. The sad thing is, it only took me 9 months! I got the frame for Christmas last year and have stared at blank photo spaces for 9 months. Pathetic, I know.

Rocket Decals!

Edward had the graphics I made for his rocket made into nylon decals. Our friend, Elisa, has a side business where she can make the graphics into decals. I helped Edward stick them on tonight. We really stretched the capabilities of the machine on the Bunny Thumper graphic because of the small lines but it came through with shining colors. They look awesome!

Waffle Craving!!

So this evening I had quite the craving for a good, crisp, butter- and syrup-covered waffle. Edward was kind enough to whip them up for me. They were just about the best waffles I've had (and Edward's best batch ever!) He even brought them directly to the family room where I was settled in watching TV. It was like an evening version of breakfast in bed! Yum! Thank you, Edward!!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch today at the Fritzler Farm (south of Greeley) with Kadie & Hahn, and mom. We met there at noon for a picnic lunch (as Hahn pointed out, we had waaaay too much food for five of us, but I don't think he can be too embarrassed if you looked at the sandwich he made for himself!) We picked out a few pumpkins in the field. Then we did some of their various activities on the farm including: walking through "The Creature" (an inflatable trip through the creature), the barrel ride, Corn Cannon, the Pillow Jump, and Pedaling Go-Karts. Finally we made it to the actual Corn Maize where we successfully completed "Phase 1." We were hot, thristy, and tired by the end. It was a fun trip...not quite the fall weather I was looking for, though! (It was around 80 degrees today!)

Edward looks a little less than thrilled about this pumpkin. The next photo he smiled but he also blinked. And this one is more funny.

Our barrel ride...they were school chairs bolted into barrels with chains as belts! Classy! It was a fun little ride.

A Beautiful Fall Day!

Edward and I decided to take advantage of our rare free Saturday and drive up to Estes Park to see the fall colors and have lunch. We took a big loop by taking Highway 7 through Lyons and Allenspark then back on Highway 34. We had driven that way last year for a wedding we photographed around this time. It is a beautiful drive. We had lunch at Penelope's in Estes Park ("Estes Park's Best Burgers"). It started raining while we were eating so we sort of hurried back to our car. Here's a couple photos from the drive!

The "new" Veronica

Veronica has a project at work that she gets to be pictured in. The final product will be the SYM catalog with their employees "holding" signs and products throughout the catalog. After her photo shoot, we decided that we liked her body on one photo and her head on another. No problem for designers! I took both photos and merged them into the photo she wanted. Attached is the initial image on the right and the final image with the new head on the left. Sort of a fun, quick project. (Note: the lid she is holding in the original photo will eventually be an icon so for now, her hand is just floating in the final image on the left.)

Click image to see larger.

Bunnies and Rockets?

Edward requested a custom illustration to put on his rocket that he is flying at Octoberfest (Big Rocket weekend) coming up in October. I was commissioned to create it. Just thought I'd share the illustration-it was fun creating it.

Friendaversary!

Kadie and I were very excited to celebrate our 10-year "Friendaversary" as it's been 10 great years since we were assigned to live together in the dorms. Who would have thought that such a great friendship would form out of 113 Newsom Hall. I feel so blessed to have her as my friend. We have a blast together all the time; we see each other many times a week--especially for last minute dinners; and not to mention, our husbands are good friends as well, which makes the 4 of us hanging out together as comfortable as family. Thanks for an awesome 10 years Kadie, and more to come!
We spent a lot of Saturday together which started off with a successful morning of garage saleing. Later that day, we went to Sonic for our pregnancy snack, then off to Super Target and Babies R Us. Then to Chilis for a yummy dinner. And finally, back to Kadie's house to watch "So I Married an Ax Murderer" and look at old photos and scrapbooks. We had a blast and only remembered to take photos at the end of the night. There is a funny progression as we attempted to take them with the self timer. The best was when her dog, Stoli, stepped into the photo just in time. And by the last one, neither of us could stop laughing long enough to smile for the photo!

Here's the first photo of the two of us. Kadie's making sure I stick around for another 10 years.

Second attempt. I forgot to turn the self-timer back on.

Third attempt, Stoli stepped in front of the camera, stealing the show!

Final attempt. Both of us are laughing so hard that we can't stop to just smile. I think we'll go with the first one. :)

My husband and his hobby

Just thought I'd share a few photos from Edward's latest rocket launch. He went out to Hartsel, CO for the day and launched his friends rocket with his motor...that's about all I can describe. But it was a great flight and a beautiful day. He stopped off at Dorothy's Tamales with the guys to complete the day with some spicy tamales.

Veronica's Birthday!

My good friend, Veronica, and I share the same birthday month! We celebrated at her party at Beau Jo's in Old Town. We enjoyed seeing her family and eating good pizza! Happy Birthday, Von!

Me & Veronica

Veronica with her parents

Hahn & Kadie

Me & Edward

Veronica's birthday desert at Mimi's Cafe (at her birthday lunch with work)

My Unfortunate Week

This photo describes the week I had at work last week. With a combination of computer errors, pregnancy flakiness, and who knows what...it was one of my least favorite weeks ever at Group. Glad it's behind me!

My 28th Birthday!

This year we celebrated my birthday with a BBQ at our house in Fort Collins. We had an mix of awesome friends and family come. Besides the celebration of...me...it was the night of Michael Phelps last race in the Olympics so we all enjoyed watching him win his 8th gold medal there. Here's just a snap shot of the night. (Oh, and thanks to my husband for making me a scrumptious cheesecake for my birthday!!)

Tyson, Elisa, Kadie (& baby on the way!), Hahn, Brady, & Loryn (plus baby on the way!)

Veronica, me, and Blair

Brady, Edward, and Hahn...silly boys

Just Bunches!

They finally listened to Edward's emails and requests! They now make "Just Bunches Cereal!" It's the bunches from my favorite cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats! I have since found out that Just Bunches by itself, is a lot of bunches. However, I do love adding some extra bunches to my bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. :)