Christmas in Idaho with my brother Eric and his family

This Christmas we went to Idaho to visit my brother Eric and his wife Tiffany with their three kids Ally, Logan, and new baby Katelyn. We had so much fun! Unfortunately our camera was not near us when it needed to be so most of these pictures are taken from our phone and really poor quality. Sorry Mom.....I blame it on the missing appendix. At least that will be my excuse for as long as it will last. LOL.

This is our crazy drive over the Donner Pass Summit. The snow was so thick and awful! We had to buy chains and put them on our car. Yes....a civic can drive through this stuff apparently. It was scary!

And since I have the most experience driving in the snow...here I am driving. I was pretty scared....When you are sliding going 10 miles an hour with snow chains on....yeah..not fun!

While in Boise we thought we would give Eric and Tiff and break and take the kids out. We went to this great place called Planet Kid. It was a huge indoor jungle gym. The kids had a blast!

They mostly stayed in the ball pit but this was a fun tunnel of padded obstacles.

Wish we could have gotten some video of the kids in here. The ball pit was really big and they had so much fun in there!

A classic Umina tradition. Gingerbread houses!! Chris' is on the left. He called it the "diabetic's gingerbread house" or the "dental house". Not sure what mine is....just lots of good candy. Plus...Eric and I had a little bit of an advantage. We have been doing this for years!

Maximus had issues with the snow at first but by the end of the trip he was having a ball. Ally was able to get over her fear of dogs and wanted to hold Maximus' leash whenever we went on walks. Notice there was TONS of snow!!

Not sure why this pic is so blury. But we had a great time with our nieces and nephew. I loved holding little Katelyn. And of course we had a great time with Eric and Tiff too. Thanks guys!

The Appendix Adventure.....some of these photos are a little scary

So here is what happened. It's kindof crazy. Apparently I had a very tempermental appendix. It was a little bit of a drama queen. It all started Friday night with extreme abdominal pain that had me laying on the floor. I thought I had the flu real bad and that it would go away but it didn't after 24 hours. So we had to go to the ER.

Here I am in the ER not so happy. I was being wheeled to do a CAT Scan. I had to drink that nasty nasty NASTY stuff and wait 2 hours so they could see the contrast in my abdomen.

Turned out that I needed my appendix taken out! So they took me in. Here I am after surgery still cruising on the happy juice! Whatever it was, it was great! The doctor said since my appendix hadn't burst that the surgery was pretty textbook and that it only lasted about 15 minutes (not including knocking me out and all the prep and post op stuff)

Oh yeah...feeling good. That's about to end suddenly in about 10 minutes. All of a sudden I was not happy. The pain and muscle spasms were pretty awful!

People kept calling me. I don't remember much of the phone calls so sorry if I was a little out of it! The tube they put down my throat during surgery made me lose my voice for a while too.

The jello they gave me was so good! It felt so great on my sore throat. The really sweet nurses even surprised me with a popsicle! I was so excited I almost cried. It felt so good on my throat!

Sorry if this picture offends anyone. Of course it was taken by my husband who thought he was being funny. LOL. You lose all shame in an instance like this.

They told me to get up and walk around after I had some painkillers to jumpstart the healing. Well the drugs made me feel funny so I thought I would walk like Frankenstein and be all spooky in the hospital. Yeah....I blame the drugs. Check out those tread socks. I am so styling!

This one is for you Mom. I had to take the Peach Elevator when I left. Since Peach is my nickname we found it very fitting.

Yep.....the famous hospital bracelet that I had to wear until I saw the doctor again in case I had some other kind of emergency. No Fair! The last time I wore a bracelet like this I was in Jamaica. Although...I must say. The nurses at Kaiser are SO NICE! It was ALMOST like a hotel stay. I loved the leg massager socks I got to wear that blew up even now and then and gave me a massage. Where can I get some of those?

And here is the damage. They were able to do it laproscopically so I have 3 incisions. I know....a little personal but you know you want to see it. At least I would. I'd be too afraid to ask so here it is. Hopefully it won't scar too much! The top right is the biggest incision. The rest are all pretty small. But my stomach is so swollen still. Some of my pants won't fit. LOL. Doc says that will go down in about a week. And I get to take the TAPE....YES.....TAPE that was holding me together and keeping me from bleeding out.....TAPE??!!!!! no stitches....TAPE!!! off next week. Can't wait!Thanks everyone for your meals, thoughts, and prayers! I have the best family and friends. Love you guys!

I No Longer Have My Appendix. Just in time for the holidays!? Not Super Fun!!!

Hi all! I will be posting pictures soon but I just wanted to let you know that I am ok and doing well. Just feel like I have had the ab workout of a lifetime. They did the surgery laproscopically (is that a word?) so I should recover quickly. Here is a link to youtube so you can see what they did. This isn't actually my surgery. A warning to the people weary of blood......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQiXPxqqWaM

Merry Christmas from the Adams!

You have to watch this!! Click on the link below. Starring Chris...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/UCnCbUejM5ZV5jr1Bpbp

Santa Came Early!

So...when it comes to Christmas, I just can't live up to my name. Ok maybe it's more than just Christmas but during Christmas especially. If I don't shop the night before Christmas I end up giving away all of the presents I bought Chris before it's even Christmas. But since those of you who know me know that I do things MONTHS in advance, this poses a real problem. A situation always come up when it's the perfect timing to bring out the gift. In this case it was before it was even December. But it was VERY close to December. Thankfully Santa still has some things for Christmas morning......

Our little puppy dog got a new bed. The new versions at Costco had these comfy pillows with them so I had to get one for Maximus so he stops begging to sleep in our bed because that ain't happening any time soon.

Chris has been wanting an ipod for a long time and The Bose store was having an amazing deal for Black Friday so I got him the new ipod 160GB Classic with a Bose sound dock. And that's pretty much all he will be getting for Christmas besides a few minor other things. LOL. I just couldn't wait. ugh! I hope I can get over this weakness someday!

Thanksgiving!

After much debate, we decided to stay home and have a quiet Thanksgiving for ourselves this year. Chris is taking boards next week and he wanted to take the time off to study. It was really nice to do our own thing and start some traditions for our own Holidays. I mean...it's about time right....we aren't quite kids anymore. Sadly....

Our Appetizers for the afternoon while we listened to music, watched movies, watches some football, and cooked up a storm.

Here's our dinner table feast!

Trying to work some magic in the kitchen.

Hm.....what was Chris doing while i was cooking? Playing with the camera....I posted the least embarassing picture. It was hilarious!

He got a nice close up of our cute little pup.

The table all set.

I was FINALLY able to make a meal fit for Great Grandmother's china. I was so excited to use it!

Our place setting. Looks....a little off....that's what happens when you let your husband place the silverware. Great Grandmother must have been turning in her grave!

Our harvest centerpiece.

The turkey.....since it was just us I just bought a turkey breast. We aren't really fans of the other parts anyways. I stuffed it with some stuffing and here it is.

Cranberry sauce. One of my personal favorites.

Chris cutting the turkey.

We even let Maximus have some of the feast. He's a funny dog. One of the first tricks we taught him was sitting with two paws up. Now he will beg at the table in the position. His thought process must be "Hey...if I do a trick they have to feed me". It usually works when we allow him to beg. It's cute!

Dessert. Since it was just the two of us I didn't make my apple pies this year. Just a Costco pumpkin pie. You can't do Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. Sadly....over the course of the weekend we ate this entire thing ourselves!

And that is my wonderful husband doing the dishes after our meal. I made quite a mess!

In honor of the Pilgrims....we played a game of Settlers of Cataan. Maximus was so hungry for our attention that we gave him a seat to watch us play. I think he was my good luck charm because Chris had a hard time winning. LOL. Sorry babe! You'll have to find another game you can beat me at. JK!

Steffi's Shower

So in case you are wondering why I haven't blogged in a while....I've been very busy with a lot of projects. This shower was one of them. I also helped Steffi (The girl the shower was for) completely remodel a room in her house for a nursery. I'll post more pictures of that later. Sorry I've been MIA for a while! Unfortunately....I forgot my camera AGAIN and had to rely on pictures from friends so there are a lot missing!

Here's Steffi....Junior still inside. Poor girl has been on bedrest! Christina is the other girl who co-hosted the shower with me. It was at her house.

The food table

I found this great vinyl lettering and you can't see it well in the picture but the wall says Now I lay me down to sleep....

And we did this one too with photos of them as a couple and a small framed ultrasound picture that you can't really see. The lettering on the wall says Family is a gift that lasts forever.

One of the 4 games that we had. This was the Price is Right (Thanks Kara for the idea!). Unfortunately I'm missing those pictures. We had another table with baby trivia, a fun madlib, and a diaper game.

Steffi's loot. This picture was taken before everyone showed up. She was all set for everything after the shower! Lucky gal!

Our favors. One of Steffi's favorite treats..."The Wicked Goods". My famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. It was a fun shower and A LOT of work. Hence the lack of blogging. I promise to do better!

Halloween

We had a very quiet Halloween this year. I'm sorry that I didn't take more pictures. We decorated sugar cookies, carved a pumpkin, and dressed the dog up in a devil costume (Thanks Mom). Sorry I didn't get a better picture. This was taken by a friend when we dropped cookies off at their house. The costume was a big hit. Reverse Trick o Treating is fun!

Welcome Katelyn Elizabeth!!

Born this afternoon weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 inches long. Welcome to the family! And CONGRATS to Eric and Tiff and big sister and brother Ally and Logan. We hope to see you soon!

Cream Cheese Frosting....You are on my hit list!!

So with all that talk of baking last night I decided to make a cake. We are going to this great dinner party tonight and I wanted to bring something. I only designed it last night. No cooking into the late hours which may have been my mistake. This was an afternoon creation and very disappointing. I now know that cream cheese frosting is very difficult to work with!

So here it is.....a two layer spice cake with a pumpkin cream filling. It's supposed to look like a pumpkin. The picture makes it look more square.

I had this really cool design that I was going to do but since the frosting was so BLAH....I ended up just swirling two colors of orange together to give it a somewhat presentable look. I at least know it will taste good! So I have now left it in the fridge to set and hope by the time I take it to the dinner it won't be a pile of muck. I just couldn't look at it any more. Maybe I will think of a way to save it. Yikes!

I'm NOT a Gingerbread Cookie...SORRY!

Warning: Metaphor coming....

So....I feel the need to vent. Perhaps this isn't the best venue but sometimes I feel things need to be said. I am not a gingerbread cookie! What if I want to be a chocolate chip cookie, with a little peanut butter? What if I want to be made of rice crispies and not in the shape of a little man at all. Maybe I want to be some other fun shape. What's wrong with that?

So....why is it that the gingerbread cookie cutter people want us all to be gingerbread? Is it to justify that they are a gingerbread? Does it make them feel safe in their flour based crunchiness? Is the only way to live life is with 3 little gumdrop buttons and a smile on your face? Is it really a smile? Did you think you wanted to be a gingerbread cookie then decide you really wanted some frosting on your legs, belly, and arms before the gumdrops? Is that what this is all about? Must we all come from an oven? What about no bake cookies?


My advice to traditional gingerbread cookies?? You still taste great! If you are happy to be a traditional cookie. Go on and be happy. But let me be the gingerbread cookie I want. Heck...let's break the mold a little. Some of us aren't happy with the mundane. There is more than one recipe and more than one way or shape. We don't need advice or judements on conventional recipes. Everybody knows those. Some of us like to create our own stuff.... Do things at our own pace. Worry about your own tastiness and less about how other gingerbread cookies taste. Maybe find a nice cup of milk....and learn to appreciate my star shaped, no bake, chocolate chip, peanut butter, rice krispy, pink frosted gooey goodness version. LOL. Maybe you'll venture out one day and add some sprinkles. Other gingerbread cookies like me know what I mean.....

Now....shall I go make some cookies? It's my prime time for genius in the kitchen....1:30 am! LOL

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH TRADITIONAL GINGERBREAD COOKIES. I'M JUST NOT ONE. SORRY TO DISAPPOINT! BUT PLEASE GET OVER IT! ENJOY THE CHANGE FOR ONCE!

Our Birthday Boy!

Our little Maximus' birthday was yesterday so he had a very great doggy day. I took him to the doggy park and then shopping at the pet store for a new toy and some treats. When the people found out it was his birthday they really spoiled him with hugs, kisses, and more treats. We came home with a whole bag for free. This dog is really spoiled!

I made him this cute birthday hat which he of course tried to shake off but eventually got used to it!

Here he is eyeing his doggy birthday cake. He's an Adams so we figured he would like an ice cream cake. Who doesn't? The pet store sells doggy frozen yogurt so I made it into a little cake. Peanut butter and banana flavor. Yummy!!

He didn't like the candle so much....OR our singing....but he loved the cake once he got to eat it! Happy birthday buddy!