I am SO excited. Today is the last day of work before Christmas vacation. I’m SO looking forward to it all. I’m excited to visit family and just be away from here, read some good books and just recharge. We leave tomorrow for eastern Washington and Othello. We’re going there until Tuesday, most likely and then off to Ellensburg for the rest of vacation. I can’t wait. I love Christmas Eve in Ellensburg with Eric’s family. We play games, eat lots of food and do puzzles. It’s so nice. It’s going to be even nicer this time because my mom and brother will be there too. It’s always the best of both worlds when we can blend family activities.

Last night Greg, Eric’s brother, and Miles, Eric’s nephew, came over while Hollie got some much needed rest. It was so nice to have them over. Miles is too cute for words. I’m so glad they live so close. Last night was so funny because Miles would run around the love seat and coffee table chasing Baylee and having a great time. At one point Josh came down stairs and Miles thought it was pretty cool to see someone new. He called Josh “doss”. It’s so cute. Then, when Josh started to go upstairs I told Miles to go get him and he ran after Josh and stopped him at the stairs. They both sat and Miles talked to Josh about what, I don’t know but he talked so fast and about every twelfth word was one I recognized. Then Miles came back down the stairs and hung out for a while. Later in the night Josh went outside to talk to friends. Miles went up the stairs far enough to sit in the window sill. He could see Josh and would knock on the window and say “doss”.. “doss” and Josh would look at him. Eventually Miles would be more forcefully and sound more like a command for Josh. It was so cute… Then upon feeling defeated that Josh was busy Miles gave up and we went back in the living room where the boys watched TV, Miles played with trucks and Baylee sat eating her raw hide.

Later Hollie made it down and was able to visit for a few minutes. It was great to see her. I’m guessing she’ll be glad when she had Elizabeth…Unfortunately we didn’t get much of a visit in with Hollie because Miles was so tired and it was close to his bed time they had to go. I think the real indication was when he tried to sleep on the cat post and then moved to being sprawled out on top of the coffee table with a pillow conveniently provided by his uncle Eric.

One more day of work… not even a full day!!! I can’t wait… Thanksgiving is going to be such a blast!

On another note my website is improving. I’ve gotten it the way I think I want it, as least for December that is. I felt kind of bad making it all Christmasy because I think we are all too quick to forget about Thanksgiving and move right from Halloween to Christmas. Not me though. I haven’t even looked at my Christmas decorations because I’m a firm believer you don’t do any of that until AFTER Thanksgiving… I think Thanksgiving get the bad end of the stick when it comes to holidays.

Well got to go eat something and get ready for the last day of work this week.

Tuesday was the worst day.. More like the most funny day actually. Eric and his dad went golfing in Sunnyside and Julie had meetings in Seattle so I had the house to myself. I got up in the morning after everyone had left and Baylee wanted to play outside so I took her out the back door through the sunroom. She and I played for a while and then it was time to go in. I went up to the door to open it and it had closed and was locked. CRAP! I walked to the front of the house to see about that door, locked? I checked every door and window.. the place was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. SO here I was 9am with nothing but my PJs on an no shoes. SO I had some options. Lay outside until someone came home, which would be about 4-5pm, try to find a way in, or walk down the gravel road with no shoes on to a neighbors house and ask to…call Eric..It took me only a few seconds to realize I wasn’t walking down that road with no shoes on and what would I tell Eric when I called? SO I started thinking like McGyver. First I tried pushing my way in torking the door knob and hoping I’d break it. I figured I could pay Bob and Julie for a new one. I was sure they’d understand. That didn’t work and I thought I was defeated until one of the last times I hit the door I realized that the top and bottom went in and that I could see the clips that held the other door stationary. Now all I needed was something to get in there and pop the lock on the door. My fingers weren’t working to do that do I went in the shed and found a garden claw and a hammer. SO here I was with my tools working on this door hoping to GOD that it would open. Finally it did and I was able to get into the house? VICTORY!!! It only took 2 hours? : I thought that would be it for the day but later on someone called me on my cell phone and I was in the office, my cell phone was in the living room. I ran around the corner to get my phone and slipped on the carpet and hit my knee so hard on the ground that it still hurts today. I had put my hands out to catch myself when I noticed I was going to fall but my hand never made it before my knee did. Once I regained my wits about me and gave up on answering the cell phone I went back to scrapping. I figured I’d go to the scrap store and get some more blue cardstock for my page. I also thought I’d see if there was a dog park to take Baylee while I was out. I got her leash on, my sandals on and went out to the car?. And realized that my keys were in the car and the car was locked.. CRAP! Of course Eric had his keys so I wasn’t going anywhere. I unleashed Baylee, went inside and gave up on the day. I just wasn’t going to win :

Monday Julie and I scrapped for a few hours and read and chatted. We ended up going to the scrapbook store in town to check it out. The funny thing was that the woman who owns the store is one of my mothers old students. When I was checking out she asked me if I taught in Othello. I told her no, but my mom does. That’s when she said she’d had my mother as a teacher. Wow is this world small. TO think that I ran into one of moms old students in ELLENSBURG ! I got the chance to work on my engagement scrapbook. I’m not sure if I told anyone but I’m making a book about how we chose everything for the wedding. It’s everything from the proposal to right before the wedding. Of course the wedding will be another album.

Saturday I didn’t do a whole lot, I read my book a lot and finished up the work I was supposed to do for one of my clients (SBA) so that I could enjoy the rest of the day. Eric and I played with Baylee too. She loved it at Bob and Julie’s. She loved all the fields and grass to run in. I caught her several times chasing birds allover the place there. It was too much fun for her.