Sneaky Sneak!

Okay, okay, I know, 3 in one day...you've got to be thinking, "who took over Holly and left us with a blogoholic?" BUT THIS ONE IS FUNNY, I PROMISE!

Have you ever seen this commercial? It's hilarious...

but now, it gets even FUNNIER! The other day, I was cleaning, and Hunter kept bugging me, as usual. While cleaning, we dug up my Nintendo DS. Hunter was begggging me to play it, but I told him no (it's MINE). I told him that if he wanted to play, he needed to go find his Leapster. We put my DS away in it's case, in my bookshelf, in my bedroom, and Hunter wandered downstairs.

A few minutes later, I was cleaning the office and went to go put something in my room. I noticed the door was closed and thought "that's weird." Well, I opened it, and there's Hunter, laying on my bed, playing my DS.

It totally made me think of this commercial, and I thought I would share! That's it for today, I Promise!!

Nutner's Christmas Joys...

I suppose before we get into 2010, I should get some Christmas pictures up. There's more coming since some are on Chase's Mom's camera, and some on my Mom's new camera (Merry Christmas and Happy Photo Taking Mom!)

On Christmas Eve...

We have incredibly lazy dogs....


I really wanted Hunter to wear this hat. I love it so much, he reminds me of my Grandpa! Hunter, however, did NOT want to wear that hat for the life of him. He threw a MAJOR tantrum.


I finally convinced him that he could take the hat off if he stopped crying and took a picture. TA DA!



Gamie got him waaaay too many gifts, but, hey, he got an entire new wardrobe of adorable clothes! And who ever said they don't make cute boy clothes (oh yea...that was me...).

Christmas morning, digging through his stocking in his new "space ship" pajamas!

These next pictures were taken in succession while Hunter had this first bite of Whip Cream on Christmas morning. Chase and I made delicious strawberry crepes, but Hunter just preferred the whipped goodness of Cool-Whip!

Ta da!

The new banner and background are to gear up for my photo resolution (see post below if you're out of the loop). I've decided to name this project Life 365. I will hope you all follow along on our family's journey through photographs!

Normal blogging may take a backseat to the photos - we'll see how it goes, but, pictures are worth 1000 words, right?

And now, on to 2010..............

New Years Resolutions!!!

I totally hate new year's resolutions. I haven't really found anyone yet that's kept a serious resolution. I hate how January is the biggest sales month for fitness places, but that visitation drops significantly once Feb. hits. They should call it January resolutions as people seem to lose focus after 30 days or so...

I never make new year's resolutions...until this year. I have goals, but they are more like "life long" goals...as in, sometime in my life, I will do this or that. This year, I have a resolution though! And it's a cool one, that will effect my blog!

My resolution is to take a family photo EVERY DAY! Sick days, busy days, pajama days, vacation days, snow days, sun days, EVERY DAY! I would like to say I'll upload these pictures to my blog every day, but I just can't seem to see that one happening! I think once a week will be my goal! 2010 will be our best documented year yet!

And as far as my rules go, family photos can consist of anything our family did that day, and does not have to include all of us in it. It could just be Hunter, or just Jetta or Miley, or even just Chase or me. Just showing something that we did that day. I think I'll even go as far to say that it could even just consist of our house - a new house-hold project, or new purchase, or what not!

I challenge everyone out there to make a FUN resolution this year, and one that you might actually enjoy (and keep!)

Christmas - and then some.

Ah, *sigh*. Christmas has come and gone (although our Christmas festivities are still not over...). As usual, Hunter received far more than necessary, and I'm partly to blame for that I suppose. He had so much fun though. It was really great watching him get into Christmas this year. He kept saying that Santa was "scary" but, as long as Santa came when he was sleeping, he was fine with him leaving toys and eating the cookies and drinking the milk. If he happened to be here when Hunter was awake though...oh no!

Christmas Eve we celebrated with Chase's Mom with a delicious dinner of Crab legs, baked potatoes, asparagus, rolls, frog eye salad and a chocolate pie for dessert. Someday, when she sends me the pictures (or I go to her house to steal them), I will post them! She took more of Hunter opening presents than I did.

Christmas morning, we opened our gifts (at 7:30AM, this may be the last year we get up at our normal time...we shall see). Then, Chase and I made yummy strawberry crepes for breakfast. If Christmas isn't a time for stuffing your face full of fattening, delicious food, I don't know when is!

Then, we headed to my parent's house where we got together with the whole clan.

How we got this picture, I'll never know. Nutty is smiling! And no one was even taking the picture, it was on a timer. Better yet, we took 2 of them, and Nutty was smiling in both. He is so amazing when he wants to be...

Anyways, it's always a lot of fun to get all the kids together. Hunter likes to pretend he's a big kid and runs around with all the older boys. This year, they got marshmallow guns (thank you Grandma and Grandpa...), so in a very short time the house (and basement) were filled with marshmallows. The dogs must have though they were in Heaven, which is good for my dogs since they didn't get any Christmas presents...oops.

The whole night was a lot of fun though! And dinner, was, as always, delicious. And fattening. What more could you ask for??

My problem with the night came later in the evening, so this post is probably now going to take a somber, though provoking twist.

I was a little upset later on in the evening, mostly as I was trying to fall asleep and not succeeding. I kept thinking how things would be different if I had still been pregnant. I hate myself when I do this type of thinking - I think everyone does - the whole "What if" scenario. I try not too, but, sometimes I can't seem to help myself. I kept thinking of the presents we would have bought for the little nut. I wouldn't have received my wonderful Sony Reader because maybe instead, we would have bought the bedroom set with the sea turtles. Or maybe a new dresser for Nutty's room so baby could have his dresser. It was driving me crazy thinking about little baby clothes, or a new excer-saucer, or pack n play - all things we would need to buy new because I've gotten rid of Nutner's. At any rate, when I finally did fall asleep, I was sort of sad.

And then I had this dream. My grandpa, who passed away in July of 2006, was sitting in this house, holding this baby. He was in one of those huge, comfy rockers (the kind they have at Babies R Us, and you feel like you could stay in them all day.) It was white, and, sorta strange, but, there was an aura of some sort around the chair. Maybe just because it was white...but it seemed so much brighter than anything else in this house. Nothing was said...he just looked at me and smiled. And kept rocking this baby, who couldn't have been older than a month, and was wrapped tight in a white blanket (I suppose to make me not think about baby's gender and perhaps frustrate me even further). The baby was bald, or maybe just very nearly bald...I remember that clearly. My babies would never be bald...but...perhaps that one was! It gave me a sense of peace, and calmed me a bit to see this scene, and then the dream unfolded into something I don't remember.

The whole thing got me thinking though. I'm not very religious, but I have beliefs for sure. I tend to think that organized religion is a bit presumptuous in ways. Churches (and different religions) seem to be a bit cliquish (for lack of a better word.) And some (not all) seem to be judgmental of others. So at any rate, churches (and religion) aren't really my thing, although I would never dismiss someone's home of where THEY found God. Personally, I've found God in my heart, and I feel like for me and Him, that's enough. Where I'm trying to head with this though, is my idea of Heaven. I definitely believe in an afterlife - there's really no question in my mind that we were put on Earth to carry out a specific purpose, and when we're done, we get to move on into a peaceful world. I'm not sure what my *idea* of Heaven is though. Hollywood seems to get you to believe it's this big white, fluffy world in the sky, with the pearly white gates and a gate keeper. My idea (and especially after this dream) makes me think that maybe it's just like Earth...only...without the stress, chaos, etc. This house that my Grandpa was in seemed like an ordinary house, with ordinary things in it, although it was very clean, very picturesque! Like someone's house right before all the guest arrive. And there's the fact that he's holding a baby, which, I can only assume after my evening, is my baby that I don't get to have.

It really got me started thinking what if those babies - the ones all the mothers out there experienced, but, had to let go of, are in Heaven. What if the purpose of those babies was because someone in Heaven needed a baby...a mother who had been killed in a car accident and needed her babies...and that is the reason God takes babies away - both, before they are born, and after. Even children. Mothers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, they all miss their babies on Earth, so God has given them a way to still care for a baby. Wouldn't that be...such a divine purpose for a baby a mother has had to let go of?? And then, once the baby's real mother and father have passed on, they can be reunited in Heaven and serve another purpose. What a wonderful thing that would be...

And my wondering mind took me to abortions. For all sense of purpose in this blog, I am generally very against abortion in almost all scenarios. If you are selfish enough to have sex, than you should reap the consequences. If you are not in a position to care for a baby, then, you give that baby up for adoption. My line for abortion comes from when you didn't choose to have sex, and perhaps rape was the cause of a pregnancy...that woman should be able to choose, in my opinion. Or if the doctor finds out early enough that carrying the baby is going to have a very large risk of hurting/killing the mother. My gray area to me comes from direct experience (not me, just someone I know) in where the mother is perhaps incapable of carrying a baby due to lifestyle...the mom addicted to cocaine, alcohol, heroine, or any of the multitude of drugs that could damage a baby beyond repair, and who is unwilling (or unable) to get help during her pregnancy. I don't know how I feel about that - because mostly I am uneducated about the number of couples out there who would adopt a baby with those conditions. Gray area, for sure!

That was sort of a ramble...anyways, those babies who were aborted...what is there purpose? Is is the same thing? I would like to believe so...but what about the mothers? In almost all cases, I would believe that the one who aborted that baby would have no right seeing that baby again in it's perfectness. Why should that mother who ended that baby's life be able to see that baby again?

I don't know. This was a long post, full of rambling, so if you've stuck through it with me, thank you. If you want to comment on maybe what you believe, or your thoughts on this, feel free, even if you strongly disagree! I am not one to get in religious squabbles because I do have respect for what others may believe - it is our right as people to believe what we want!

Oh Nutty...

Things Hunter has been doing lately that make me smile...

*Runs around saying "Nutner Nut" in imitation of the rapper "Flavor Flav."

*Sings "Happy Birthday to Papa" all day long.

*Instead of watching commercials and saying "I want that" he says "I have that." (Spoiileddddd)

*Asks to have pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

*Yells "I Love JEW" instead of "I Love You." I mean this in no disrespect to anyone of the Jewish faith...Hunter just doesn't have his "Y" sound down.

*Carries around 9 silkies, a German shepherd stuffed animal and 2 frogs everywhere he goes. He tucks them all in before bedtime.

*One day, I was doing the dishes and he wanted me to come play. I told him I was cleaning and he could go play. He said "Nutner clean, Mommy play race cars." He's so selfless!

*Says "Orange" with an English accent "Ooaaange."

*Dug out Mommy's old Cabbage Patch Doll so "Mommy could have a baby"

*Turns on the Christmas Tree first thing in the morning. Refuses to have it off at all while he's awake.

*Stares at the pictures on Mommy's facebook and categorizes them as "Mommy's friends" and "Nutner's friends." Sammy, for instance, is Nutner's friend.

*Is convinced that every pair of tennis shoes are really "football shoes."

*Demands a high five whenever people cheer on TV during a football game.

Oh there's so many more....I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful beautiful life.

2009

2009!!!

I've filled out this survey for the last few years...This would be my 6th one.


The years gone by...

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Left the United States, went through a set of emotions I've never felt before, became a SUV Mommy, took my son to preschool, got married (although one could argue that happened in 2008 as well), didn't advertise my photography business and am still having a crazy Christmas season!

2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't like New Years resolutions. No one ever keeps them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Kelly had baby Jax in March, and I've seen several other babies because of photography.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Death isn't the only way to lose someone...

5. What countries did you visit?
The Dominican Republic! Whoo hoo! What a wonderful time that was for Chase and I. A much needed vacation for the two of us!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
I'd like Chase to get the promotion he wants and deserves. I want my wedding, but that's about it...maybe something else, but I'm not saying what :) <---This was last years answer. I got everything I wanted, although not quite the way I had wanted.

Next year, I want a Wii, but I'm not allowed to have one, so I'll settle for a PS3. I also hope to purchase a new camera. I'd also like to get my Real Estate License and start a career. And I'd like for my Mom to finally get her GED! Another promotion for Chase would be nice...he works so hard!

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
Always a bunch...

January 19th - I sold my beloved Galant.

Feb. 9th - I bought my new beloved Santa Fe.

May 2nd - My wonderful Mom, sister, and best friend threw me an awesome bridal shower.

June 5th - Saw the Plain White T's and got a picture with Tom. Fun!

June 11th-12th - Bachelorette Party with the girls in my life, my 23rd Bday, our rehearsal dinner

June 13th - Our wedding!!!!!

June 14th - 20th - Chase and I honeymooned in Punta Cana!

August 1st - 8th - Spent a fun week @ Lake Ozarks with Chase's family

August 3rd - My world started to crumble

August 9th - The peak of the crumbling.

Sept. 26th - Chase's 24th Bday. We had a great night together!

October 5th - Hunter's first day of school!

Nov. 1st - Hunter's third birthday! So much fun for him!

Wow, that's a lot!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finding my strength. And my Christmas cards. I love my Christmas cards. :)

I guess I should also say not advertising my photography and still booking session after session this winter.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Losing.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
My back still hurt through the first part of the year, but, physical therapy has helped tremendously.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Uhm...my black peacoat for $8. Or my new coat that I love! Or Hunter's birthday presents, lol. OOOOOOO, our blackberries! I love my phone!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My parents for always being by my side no matter what happens to me, for always supporting me, and for always loving me, Chase for putting up with my emotionalism and continuing to love me unconditionally, Hunter for being a crazy, energetic, and happy little boy. Mandy for being the best maid of honor in the world, and my sister's for being wonderful bridesmaids! Hunter's speech teacher, Lauri, for helping Nutty start talking, and Josh McDaniels who is turning the Broncos around.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Does it even matter?

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Plain White T's, Our wedding and honeymoon, Hunter's birthday, Black Friday and I'm excited for Christmas.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"Lucky" cuz it was our wedding song. We tried to dance to it the other night, but we had forgotten most of it...but I was drunk, so perhaps I'll try it sober.

"1-2-3-4" Because Chase and I sing and text that song to each other a lot.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
I'm not sure. I'm very happy, and so blessed...but life took turns this year that were unexpected and I continue to feel sadness.

ii. thinner or fatter?
Sameish.

iii. richer or poorer?
Richer although it certainly doesn't seem like it.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I'm not sure.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cleaning, wedding crafts, Gingerbread house making.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas Eve we will be with Chase's Mom, Christmas morning by ourselves eating crepes, Christmas afternoon at my Parent's house with my whole family (minus Dawn :(). New Years Eve will be spent with Chase's Dad's family.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?
It never ceases to amaze me that love continually grows.

23. How many one night stands?
none

24. What was your favorite TV program(s)?
One Tree Hill, American Idol, House, The Hills,The City, Dr Phil, GLEE, The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders < -- Guilty Pleasure.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
Uhm, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult...I think. I read a lot of good books this year.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't know that I had one this year.

28. What did you want and get?
A wedding, A honeymoon, A Blackberry, a new car

29. What did you want and not get?
There's a reason for everything


30. What was your favorite film of this year?
NOT NEW MOON! My Sisters Keeper, or 2012 (which was way too stressful) or Harry Potter 6

31. What did you do on your birthday?
I slept in, then got up and did last minute wedding stuff. Chase came home from golfing and we did more last minute wedding stuff together. Then, we went to my parent's house, got dressed and ready for the rehearsal dinner, and then had an amazing rehearsal dinner with our friends and family.

32. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
Those who know already know.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Jeans and tshirts. And my robe. And Chase's slippers.

34. What kept you sane?
Chase (although he also drives me insane), baths, reading, sleeping, shopping.

35. Which celebrity did you fancy the most?
Josh McDaniels?

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Ugh.

37. Who did you miss?
My sister. Arizona.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Becky. She keeps me sane as well.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Sometimes you have to fall down in order to find your strength.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Life's a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. It don't matter what you don't know, life's a dance, you learn as you go.