My ideal job - NOT!!

I wrote this post and forgot about it! See what 3 kids does to you! (wrote Jan. 3rd)

So as I was driving around this morning at 3am I looked at the temperature reading in our rental car that we still have and it read -3 degrees...That is not a dash in front of the 3, it is a negative sign! So I got to thinking...Here I am at 3 am (sometimes earlier) and I am driving on sheets of ice to deliver papers to customers and it is -3 degrees (it warmed up to 1 degree when I got home) and although I am grateful for this job I really do not want to do it next winter...It has been nice having the subaru and we have to give it back Tuesday but on the other hand I would love to sleep through the night once in awhile...Reese sleeps through the night and I would love to join her! Another pet peeve is people not shoveling out their mailboxes and tubes! We have had so much snow here it is annoying...And we are supposed to get another storm Sunday night!

An update for today, Jan 9th, is everything is melting! YEAH! Lucky for us there is not much flooding but it is a bummer because the snow came so much at once the kids couldn't really play or I would have lost them! Then it has rained and melted so it is mega crunchy! We might try and go out later today since the sun is out! We still have 3 feet in our backyard...I asked Ryan when we were moving and he reminded me of his new job he starts on Monday!

I will try and post pictures later today!

Make it STOP!

So as most of you know this is the worst winter yet since I have lived here and the worst in a long time according to the news! So I know last winter we got hit but if I recall it wasn't this much in one shot and it didn't keep coming like it is this year! I like snow don't get me wrong but it is more like a love/hate relationship! I love to look at it and let the kids play in it especially since Cooper likes to have snowball fights! But I hate to drive in it and especially hate the way others drive in it like it isn't icy under all the snow! I was grateful to see lots of plows and tractors out this morning on my route around town removing snow and also plowing the corners of intersections so we can see better!!
Well I am bummed because we don't get to go to Connell today, Christmas Eve, because of the 8 inches of snow we are supposed to get and I think those of you in the Columbia Basin are expecting more snow also! We will see if we make it to Pinehurst on Christmas Day, the pass might be too bad...I must say I am impressed at how well our city, Hayden, is doing at snow removal but Coeur d'Alene on the other hand needs some work...I did feel a little more secure driving around in the Mazda until I realized I lost one of my chains off my front passenger side and have no idea where it is! I realized this one morning picking up my papers! Wish me luck finding some more! Right now I am grateful for the invention of the snowblower!
Ryan and I want to say sorry for not sending out Christmas cards this year...We are just slackers! We hope next year to be more on top of things! But we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and safe travels for you and your families!

Pictures of Ryan's TOTALLED Truck

So here are the pictures of Ryan's truck...He found out today that it is totalled and we have a rental car now which is nice! But this first picture is of the bed of the truck separated from the cab...So to tell you some more details, he was stopped in a long line of cars (along with four other separate accidents) from a semi truck jack-knifed in the road ahead (this is on Interstate 90 westbound) and the red Jeep Cherokee that hit him was going about 40 mph witnesses said so it seriously busted his canopy off the bed of the truck 50 yards behind his truck! Thank heavens it did not hit another car because then Ryan would have felt so bad even though it wasn't his fault to begin with! So this picture is funny, even though there is nothing funny about his accident but he has no idea where this dent came from! It wasn't there before and a kid in another accident who clipped the backside of a semi said he also hit Ryan but Ryan doesn't remember! He didn't remember much all day Wednesday when it happened but now he closes his eyes and sees the Jeep coming and then hears the boom!

So most of you know Ryan does oxygen sales and deliveries...He keeps all his tanks in a big heavy duty Rubbermaid in the back of his truck and it busted into 100 pieces...

This is a whole shot of his truck...So as you can tell it is missing the canopy and it was still snowing that whole day...This happened in the middle of the snow storm! So being there for 4 hours waiting for tow trucks didn't help either...HUGE Thanks to Jayson, his brother for picking him up and taking him up here to Hayden to a collision center where they took his truck!

What we have learned from this experience is that it completely sucks to be in an accident even being the ones who didn't cause it! So now we are in the process of looking for a new vehicle for him and since we just purchased our minivan from a great salesman we are contacting him to hook us up again!

Drive slowly is our advice and look out for crazy drivers!!!!

Heart Attack

Okay so probably half of you on our blog list or those of you who look at our blog know we are having a huge snow storm! Feels like it did this last March when we had all of that snow at once! So I was thinking about the paper route because this stuff is super powdery but gets compacted down from people driving on it, not me of course, so I am thinking I need to do a lot of praying before I leave this morning and get plenty of sleep so I feel somewhat awake because most of the time I am half asleep! Not only am I having a heart attack thinking about that but Ryan got rear ended today...He was the Interstate and a semi truck had jack knifed in the road ahead of him and everyone was slowing down and Ryan is cautious in this weather when he drives so he was slowing down and the guy behind him didn't and hit him really good...Sorry I don't have any pictures right now but we will! So we are down to three cars...But this has taken up his whole day because there at least 50 other accidents around here and he is out right now getting all of his work stuff out of his truck and will use one of other vehicles but he still needs to go to the doctor because he is starting to stiffin up...One of the witnesses said he got hit pretty hard...Maybe too hard!!
To top this crappy day off I went out to snowblow while the younger kids were sleeping and I couldn't get it to start so I shoveled almost the whole driveway before Chloe woke up!
Hope everyone is enjoying the snow storm and they said sun and a high of 6 on Sunday but tomorrow 23 degrees (warm) - weird weather!!

Funny - Cute Pictures

I felt so bad but we finally got snow this last Saturday and it was 22 degrees on the thermometer plus the wind chill so maybe 5 degrees outside and my kids were so mad that I brought them inside but after this picture of Chloe face planting into the snow I knew she was cold! I laughed so hard when she did it cause she was in complete shock of what had happened!

Cooper is such a good big brother!! This is him reading to Reese his new favorite book ,The Very Hungry Caterpillar! He is such a big helper if she is crying he will put her binky in and tell me if she is poopy or if he thinks she is hungry! He is my big helper during the day!!

Cooper has gotten really good at picking up and holding Reese properly and she loves it when she wants to be held! And he is obsessed with his Super Mario Galaxy pajamas so lately all his pictures are in pajamas!

Chloe can sleep anywhere!!I was cleaning the kitchen and she was mad cause I couldn't hold her so she laid down and next thing I knew she was asleep!

Cooper and Chloe cleaning the mixing bowl for me after making orange fondant for Ryan! Never make fondant without a Kitchen Aid or Bosch!! Again Cooper in his pajamas but these are his super smash brother pajamas...He really wants Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii from Santa but he can't quite play it himself so we told him Santa doesn't have anymore but Cooper knows Target and Costco have it!

This was after a long day of baking and this was Ryan's batch of orange fondant...I don't like fruit or even fruit flavored things mixed with Chocolate so I make peppermint dipped chocolates and Ryan still makes orange flavored! This is a family tradition in his family that he did growing up and we have continued to do it in our home and honestly we don't do it to eat them we give most of them away!

I figured since the last couple posts I hadn't done pictures I would do them now before it is Feb. and I have 100!!

SNOW!

So we are getting our first big snow storm right now and it will continue I guess through Saturday night! I should be excited but I am having more like an anxiety attack!! I do a paper route in the middle of the night so I am grateful that no one has to see me all over the road in these conditions but on the other hand I have an option of 2 hills I need to get up to deliver like 90% of my route! So I was thinking what if I take the curvey, steeper one and don't make it? Oh I will just slide into some mailboxes and into some lawns and get stuck right? Or I could take the wider road and pray even harder that I wont hit as much if I can't make it! This might sound funny but this is the one thing I don't like about living up here, I wish the roads were heated and I didn't have to deal with compact snow and ice! My husband on the other hand loves it! He might not like it as much, when I call and tell him I am stuck, wait that is what home teachers are for right? Well it just so happens that our home teacher is the one who gave us the route cause they wanted to quit! So he just might be the person I call! Other than these two darn hills I am fine...

The other thing I wanted to write about is Alan Scheenstra passing away this week...I was looking at his pictures that his wife, Debi, posted and it made me happy! He looks like he really enjoyed life! He was such a good guy in high school and I am sure in college also but since I was a horrible friend and didn't keep in touch I don't know but I am pretty sure about it! I get the opportunity to teach 14 and 15 year old girls at church and I tell them all the time to befriend everyone at school...You never know if you are touching someones life for some reason that you may never know! I am so excited about our 10 year reunion next to see everyone especially those who I have not kept in contact with....It was fun to look at pictures of those who remained friends with Alan since high school and even though I wasn't one of them I still feel a loss of a friend because there were a few times I hung out with Alan and I only have great memories of him! I wish I could go to his service but I know prayers are always appreciated!

I hope everyone around here enjoys the snow!

Christmas Family Picture

I thought I write a little post about our new family picture! I am realizing that it is getting harder and harder to take CUTE family pictures - with everyone smiling! First THANKS to Val my sister-in-law for taking our picture she is always game for it! And since I ask a couple of times a year she is used to it and still hasn't charged me yet! So I got this crazy idea Thanksgiving night on our way home from Pinehurst at like 8pm - we should do our family picture in our pajamas! I knew I had wanted to do it in front of my mother-in-laws new fireplace but not sure what everyone was going to wear and it seems like dressy clothes this time of year only come in certain colors and I hate it! I love the other colors, blue and silver and brown and purple but no there is red and black and green! So I thought how cute would it be if we read a Santa book while she just snapped some photos so here is one and she is going to get me a CD of all of the pictures so I might put more up and of course I had to put this one up of Reese!!

I found a santa hat and onesie that said, My First Christmas, from the $1 bin @ Target, and she is actually smiling - in all the others she was mad and crying!

5-4-3-2-1

So Ryan and I have been married for 5 years now! It was actually on the 29th and thanks to Jayson and Natalie for watching our kids so we could go out to dinner all by ourselves! Weird! We went to Chili's where we got engaged,I know weird but at least we can always go there!
I wanted to point out something for each year we are married and since we have moved 7 times I can't include that yet!

5 - We own 5 couches, for some reason we have collected 3 (one is a futon) and bought two!
4 - We now own 4 vehicles, 1967 Impala, 2000 Mazda Protege, 1998 Toyota Tacoma, and our new 2008 Toyota Sienna
3 - Three kids! Cooper is almost 4, Chloe almost 2, and Reese 3 months this last Thanksgiving!
2 - We own 2 properties, our duplex in Coeur d'Alene and our house in Hayden!
1 - For our anniversary we bought a Samsung 50" flat screen plasma tv! Ryan has been looking at them for months and we got a pretty good deal...We got it at Sears and luckily we bought the minivan to haul it home cause it is pretty huge! It is finally mounted on our wall THANKS to Jason our friend down the street and to Elaine his wife for letting him come down and help my husband...

Sorry I have not updated sooner I thought I was addicted to blogging but somehow I have been overwhelmed with other things lately! Cooper and Chloe got flu shots last week and Cooper spent the whole next day vomiting all over the couches and then Chloe has had a barky cough and stuff nose for almost 2 weeks now and Reese's thrush will not go away so we are finally on the good stuff, Diflucan, and boiling everything! She is also vomiting because she is congested thanks to Chloe from kissing on her so she gags on her sinuses draining...There is so much going around that it makes it hard to stay healthy and home so we don't pick up more!

Thanksgiving was great! We had my parents, sister and her family and of course my brother who still lives with us, but not for long! After we ate and hung out they had to hit the road and we headed to Pinehurst to see Ryan's grandpa who was in town! He is so stinkin cute! He just turned 87 and is so feisty! We also got a picture of him and all the great grandchildren born so far,10 of them - ages almost 11 to 3 months - let's just say it was entertaining!

We are very thankful this holiday season and love the holidays...We have made it a goal to help others even though this email might sound selfish with the things we have bought but we are doing a Secret Santa for a family and have increased our fast offerings by double for the church so we can help others...We know we have been very blessed and want to pay it forward!

We are officially a MV family!!

So here it is our NEW MINIVAN! We were going to wait until March to get one but we had a friend of a family that Ryan grew up with looking for us! So I (Carrie) got a call Friday around 3:30 I think, and our sales guy Austin said hey I have a minivan it just came in and I have it in the back so no one else will know so when can you come in? I said oh 5:30 he said OK! 4:30 my phone rings and it is Troy (the friend) he says another sales guy has the keys and has people coming in any minute and was completely honest about it (keep reading!)...So I call Ryan right away and he drives down there and test drives it while I load the kids back up into the car and I test drive it and love it of course, (who doesn't love a new car??!) So Ryan goes in and does the paperwork while I get my kids a healthy dinner from McDonald's and we go and hang out in the playroom at Parker Toyota! We start the numbers game with our sales guy and the finance guys and Troy couldn't be there but he was available by phone...Then some friends from Post Falls 4th Ward show up and they are buying a car so we had a party in the playroom...During this party I took the kids for a walk around the dealership just inside and I see this older couple sitting at a table with no salesman and I think, crap those are the people here for the van! Suckers! Just kidding but really I kind of feel bad like we stole it! And to make things worse I took Chloe to change her diaper and the lady walked in! She had no idea I was the one stealing her dream minivan so we chatted and Chloe loved her for some reason, maybe felt sorry for her cause we stole her van but they don't have any kids! Finally 3 1/2 hours later we left the dealership and after making 2 trips to get all our cars home we own a minivan! So we get the monthly payment we want and all the insurances at a steal! Then we even got to drive it home that night...So the details, it is a 2008 Toyota Sienna LE, it was a corporate car, they need an '09 only 30,000 miles, 8 passengers, the back seats fold all the way down and the back trunk area is set like 8 inches lower so you can put a stroller there and have it flush with the floor of the van, all three middle seats come out so we will be taking one out to put Cooper in the back and the side windows roll down, okay I think that is enough and we just love having a car that can actually get up and go cause the Mazda is almost 9 years old and the truck is almost 11 and not to mention the '67 Impala...So we have a used car lot with 4 cars at our house but it is awesome! We will be selling the mazda after I can quit the paper route because Ryan's truck works great for his work and we will never be selling the Impala...Sorry for the long story but since we have never bought a new or used car and the 29th of this month is our 5 year anniversary we are pretty excited!

I bought his headband for Chloe for Christmas pictures a year ago and realized it matched Reese's outfit perfectly and she was in such a good mood I thought perfect photo opportunity!

Cooper took this picture this morning, I thought it was so cute! I have no idea how he got her to smile!

Halloween

What a nightmare! Cooper by dinner time, I thought was not going trick or treating! He could not decide what he wanted to be, not like oh I want to be 5 things, just I don't want to be anything but Batman! I don't have a batman costume and was too cheap to buy the one made in China for 50 cents and pay $20 for it! So he had a few options, Superman, leopard, thomas or spiderman for the second year in a row! So finally he decided Spiderman which was cool because he wore his mask! He loved trick or treating and Ryan took Cooper and Chloe to some assisted livings to see people and our neighborhood, for some reason our ward didn't do trunk or treat and we thought about going to the Coeur d'Alene Stakes but it was late by the time we got done with dinner and everyone dressed!

Reese was a pumpkin...Usually our kids are a tootsie roll but I couldn't find the costume! She actually smiled while wearing it so I got the end of the smile!

Chloe was a pirate princess! She actually smiled for this picutre but again our camera takes awhile to flash and take the picture so she turned her head but she at least she smiled!