YES!!!!!!

I am going to be selfish here for just a moment. My kids looked super cute Christmas morning snuggled in their jammies. They got bikes from Santa and a slew of awesome new games and clothes (my kids actually DO like getting clothes. Weird, right?). But the best, most fantastic moment of Christmas morning was unwrapping this fabulous, shiny, candy-apple red KitchenAid mixer. I was in sheer heaven. I think I may have even squealed a little. I was not expecting it, or even really wanting it. Those puppies are EXPENSIVE. Doug decided he was sick of hearing me complain about making cookies with my hand-mixer. It really is a pain in the butt. Dough and flour everywhere - not a pretty sight. He even went to several different stores in search of the red one. He knows me well. I am displaying it proudly in my kitchen and bought supplies to make bread and rolls this week. I can't wait to be a baking fool!!

At least his spelling is correct.

So in the mail today I see an envelope addressed to "The parents of Jared Aragon".
Inside was a neatly-folded typed letter. It read:

Dear Mom and Dad,
You are the best parents in the world! You are so wonderful and I wanted to remind you Christmas is coming soon. I love you so much! I was wondering if you could tell Santa that I would like some presents.

First, I would like an Xbox 360. I would like to have an Xbox 360 because you can play all of the Halo games and I really want to have an Xbox 360 and Halo Reach. I made honor roll so I really want it so please get it for me. Next, I would love to have Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 on the Playstation 3. Becuase it's what I have been wanting for a long time. And I have been helping around the house so I think you should get it for me. And I really love it so please get it for me. Last, I would like to own a Stampede. Becuase it holds 60 darts. And it is the mst powerful Nerf gun in the world so far. And I have not got in trouble with Mrs. Reese yet and I get along with people in my class. And I really love it so please get it for me.

Clearly, I have been nice to Mrs. Resse. So I think I should get these presents for Christmas.

Love, Jared.

Too bad he's not getting a single thing listed in his letter. Sorry Jared!

I know I said I'm not crafty but....

Aren't these cute? I think I had to post them BECAUSE I'm so un-crafty. I did jack-o-lantern ones for Halloween too. The tutorial for these are beautiful. She used a cricut machine, though, and since I don't scrapbook I don't have any fancy paper toys. The kids did help, but honestly I did most of it. I reeeally wanted to do this myself and have them turn out nicely. I think I did just fine.

Better than picking our noses all afternoon...

Does anyone else find gingerbread houses a pain in the ass?

I think I just really suck at them. This year I tried to do icicles. I wanted to make this gingerbread house REALLY awesome like the one on the box. Not so much. My icicles drooped all the way to the bottom of the house and ended up looking like a frosted mess, so I waited for it to set a bit and took the icicles out (and ate them). The kids did the candy decorating. Jared thinks it looks absolutely wonderful. Jade, on the other hand, says we should never do another one again becuase this one looks so horrid. I agree.

When in Arizona....

Do as the Arizonans do.

And yes, that would be shooting up cans, old TVs, old 70s furniture, or just about anything you can haul out to the desert. According to Doug I'm a "bleeding heart liberal", but hey, I can hang with the gun-slingers too. I grew up a with right-winged ultra-conservative Marine Corps grandfather, and he taught me how to shoot. Low and behold, a few years later I married someone just like him. So here's proof that somewhere in me just "might" live a tiny, TINY bit of redneck. After all, I'm bread from Okie stock, so that's not all too surprising.

O Christmas Tree!!

Here is our slightly-leaning, wonderfully colorful and fantastically-smelling Aragon Family Christmas Tree!!

Just wanted to share. It's smaller than previous years, but I think it's just beautiful.

Halloween

At first, Jade really wanted to be a Russian girl (no idea), but after some thought she decided she'd rather be Hermione. That's a bit easier.

Since we've lived here, my parents have come every Halloween. I think my dad secretly has as much fun as the kids.

Yes I know it's been 2 months. But, does anyone really care anyway? Who reads this thing?

So, Halloween in Anthem is nothing short of awesome. People really make an effort here to decorate their houses, scare little children, and hand out the GOOD candy. The cul-de-sacs in our neighbohood tend to have block parties, and it's always fun to see the drunk neighbors oooh and ahhh over the kids' costumes. Jared and Jade actually both decided to go into the chainsaw house (it's feared and revered every Halloween by the entire block). Basically you walk into a fogged, darkened maze and are suddenly startled by the sound of a chainsaw motor starting behind you. Through the fog you see a masked man, and he is walking toward you with this chainsaw. Next thing you know, you run...and he runs after you, and he keeps GOING until you are half way down the street. The noise is really the scariest part, but isn't there something terrifyingly fun about being chased by a masked possible lunatic who is waving something that can chop you into little pieces? Well, the kids thought so too. Too bad Jade didn't make it to the end. She took one look at him, screamed her head off, and ran right out of there. Jared braved the rest of the maze and made it out in one piece. Way to go Jared!

Ohhh Jade...

Last night she went to a pajama party (not a slumber party - I picked her up at 8:30). On the car ride home I asked how everything went. "Great", she says. "Except for the little bastard that chased us out of E's room".

"The WHAT?"

"The little bastard. That's what E calls her brother".

I laughed - just a little.

Our sky looks like this...

Admittedly, the summers here suck. However, just about every night we're treated to a BEAUTIFUL sunset. It almost, *almost* makes me want to stand outside and watch them. At the very least, I do open my back door shades and watch the light filter through the clouds as we eat dinner.

A side note.

So, guess who retook her final exam in hopes of reaching the highest level of graduation status? I did. And guess what I got? HIGH HONORS, the HIGHEST recognition you can get. Oh yes I did. Take THAT, MT companies who only hire "those with experience or graduated top of their class."

Tomorrow I'm resubmitting my newly-vamped resume to all those companies who refused to even test me, cause I'm good. I'm really good, and I can do this.

Another piece of awesomeness - curriculum night for Jared was tonight. His teacher says he's a total math wiz. Doesn't take after me, but I'm SUPER proud of him. I'm so lucky!

Day Trip.

This past weekend we decided to escape the 100 degree heat (minus the awesome thunderstorms becuase our monsoon season was cut disapointingly short) and head up to Flagstaff to visit my parents. It was a very nice 80 degrees up there, so it was really like our fall. Sad, right? By the way, the first picture of those wildflowers is in their back yard. They have a really amazing property, and in the summer it's absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, they have a ski resort up in Flag, and in the summer they offer rides to the top via ski lift. It ended up being a 30 minute climb to 11,500 feet and a 30 minute descent. I had no idea it would take so long but it was a really beautiful, peaceful ride. I can't even tell you how nice it was to get out of the desert and lay eyes on some beautiful GREEN vegetation! So gorgeous.

When we got back to my parents' my mom made us all pick veggies from her garden for dinner that night which was actually really cool. She's a garden prodigy, which runs in the family. Sadly it skipped me becuase I end up killing every plant I've owned. Anyway, the corn she grew was seriously FANTASTIC. I almost wanted to plant my own garden and try for beautiful ears of golden corn, but sadly, I know better.

Looking at these pictures I'm realizing our tans are fading. Darn.

Well, it's that time of year again.

They're starting their 4th week of school this week, so maybe I had better post about school. I've been neglecting my blog because our camera decided to stop working. It's reeeeallly hard to come up with posts without anything to show, and it's especially tough to find the inspiration to blog about anything positive when you're down in the dumps about not finding a job. Sigh. It's been almost 4 MONTHS people. I'm getting really sick of reading "must have at least 3-5 years work experience in xyz". I have submitted dozens of applications, and NOTHING. Seriously. When should I throw my hands up in the air and admit defeat already?

Let's get down to the REAL meat of this blog post, shall we?

Back to school!! Jared started 3rd grade and was very reluctant to do so. He really wanted me to home school him (no way in hell), and he says he really hates doing classwork. He's really awesome in academics, and I know he gets bored easily so maybe that's starting to pose a problem. School comes so easy for that kid that he really doesn't even have to try, like - at all. So then of course he slacks which becomes a really big problem. We'll see how the next few months go. I'd like to talk to his teacher about testing him for SAGE.

Jade has started 1st grade this year and she's LOVING it. Her teacher has already told me Jade is quite the helpful one to the Kindergarteners (she's in a Montessori so her class is a K/1). She has already made lots of new friends along with one sweet little boy who is absoultely in LOVE with Jade and chases her around trying to kiss her. I think this is ADORABLE, but Jade is appalled becuase of all things, this little boy is a "bad student". I mean - what could possibly be worse?

Jade and me.

Jade loves taking pictures of herself (like me), so every once and a while we have fun together with the camera. She practices new poses, and honestly, once she sees a camera pointed at her she strikes one instinctively. She's a ham like that. This is a good one of both of us. Too bad the light is so dreadful. I tried to get Jared in there but, alas, he doesn't share Jade's love for modeling.

Summer is here.

So the days are in the triple digits, the air is running 24 hours, and our bbq is getting its money's worth. We are all turning caramel-colored to boot. As much as people around the country can't wait for summer, Arizonans don't really share the enthusiasm. That's because there is literally NOTHING to do except stay inside in the AC or go swimming. It's like walking into an oven every time you open your front door. Every once and a while I see a few crazies out walking to the store at 3pm, but they're just not in their right minds. To keep our sanity, we go to our little water park and pool down the street from us. It's really one of the best things about Anthem. I don't know what we'd do without it. I think it really does save my sanity over the awful summer months. So we go almost every day, the kids get TONS of energy out, they learn a life skill (swimming), and I end up with a nice bronze tan by September. I guess if you look at it that way it isn't too terrible.

Time for a change.

These past two weeks have been very freeing for me. I've gotten rid of a bit of baggage that I've been holding on to for the past year, graduated from my online school that's taken me 2 and a half years to complete, and the kids are out of school. I felt a physical change was needed, so what do I do? Chop off my hair of course! I didn't mean to go as short as i did, and now that it IS this short, it's taking a little while to get used to. But that's okay, change isn't supposed to be accepted right away is it? The really awesome news is my hair salon has partnered with other salons across the country to send their cut hair to the gulf to help plug the leak. Apparently, the hair will be put in nylons to form more of a blockade. Sounds weird to me, but if it's helping then hey, I feel like I did my part!

I did it.

After 2 and a half years of spelling words like duodenojejunostomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in my sleep and editing the local newspaper instead of actually reading it, I can proudly say I graduated, and I am officially a medical transcriptionist!!! I know that may not sound monumental, but to me it's one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

This course was HARD. It's true I slacked a bit...but I mean, it's an online self-paced school and I'm a stay at home mom. It's bound to happen, but for the most part I really put a lot of myself into this. I've learned so much, worked so hard, and I feel so good about myself. Truthfully, at one point the in the course, I was unsure if I could ever pick it up. Doctors just ran their words together, one medication would sound exactly like another to me, and the speed-talkers made my brain turn to mush. There were countless days of frustration, of wanting to pull my hair out or reach through the screen and slap some of those doctors for being so damn inconsiderate. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw my headphones across the room and give up.
I went through months of this frustration thinking I was wasting my time - I'd never learn this crap, never.

One day, in advanced transcription, it all just clicked. It was like my ears opened up and a light switch was flipped. Everything (mostly) became crystal clear. I decided to go back to my beginning reports to get through the rough ones that were so hard months ago. I laughed. What was so hard? Suddenly I could understand EVERYTHING the docs were saying. My biggest hurdle was simply keeping up.

Now, here I am. I know I'm still just beginning, but I'm hoping to land a job where someone will take a chance on a newbie (graduated, yay!!) transcriptionist.

So the dermatologist....

After all the embarrassment of the see-through undies, something good came out of it. The mole that was biopsied was, indeed, atypical. It's precancerous with abnormal cell growth. So, back to the dermatologist I go for excision of the root and surrounding tissue. That's going to suck. But I will definitely remember to wear my plain ol' white cottons, and maybe do a few leg raises and squats the day before. (You can never be too cautious, especially since the young intern will likely not enjoy untanned cellulite)

Burro Creek

I told myself I'd go to the gym this morning, but who wants to go through that torture after being lazy for 6 weeks? Alas, here I sit...blogging.

This past weekend we went with Jared's den on a weekend campout to Burro Creek. It was actually quite a beautiful drive out there. And, oh how wonderful it was to be able to fit EVERYTHING in one vehicle! We did all the regular camp stuff, roasting hot dogs, s'mores, foil dinners, campfire songs. Everyone had a great time. Saturday we woke up, and Marcus, the den leader, decided we needed to go on a hike. So we literally hiked 2 miles on a dry creek bed FULL of river rocks. Jared collected quartz after quartz (which I ended up carrying back of course). Doug found a really cool HUGE Apache tear, otherwise known as obsidian. After the hike, Marcus decided it was time to swim, or rather, wade - in a very questionable pool of water. It was large enough, but it was pretty algae-ridden, and it was sort of stagnant. Against my better judgement and caving under pressure, I let them play in the filth. Hey, I wasn't the only parent! I was a little worried last night when Jade had some pretty intense stomach cramps. I found myself Googling Giardia and other parasitic lifeforms found in standing water, and of course all that reading scared the crud out of me. But this morning, all seems to be well. She bounced out of bed, happy as ever. So, hopefully the crisis is averted.

Today's Lesson

Be mindful of the underware you choose to put on when you're going to the dermatologist. They just might want to to a full body check, especially if you have family history of melanoma. They'll likely ask you to wear one of those gowns that opens in the back, after you take off everything but your under garments. They might even find a suspicious mole ON your back they want to biopsy - which means they'll have you lie on your stomach to do the biopsy. The dermatologist might even bring in a young student doctor who's eyes have yet to see the horrors all doctors live to see, like buttcracks. So for today's lesson... don't wear see-thru underware to the dermatologist. Don't ask me how I know this.

My new ride

Our little Saturn Vue was such a cute, good little car. Unfortunately, we just outgrew it. Where we live now offers so much more outdoor activity than where we were in CA. We camp, we hike, we take long trips, and there is even the possibility of a boat in our future (yikes!). So, we decided it was time for an upgrade. And boy did we get one.

I love, love, love our new Tahoe. It's awesome. Seriously awesome. My favorite thing about it is the remote start. That means when it's 115 degrees outside and I'm in the checkout line at Walmart, I can start my car and let the air run for 10 minutes so I don't climb into a furnace. It has an anti-theft device, so even though the engine is running, no one can put it in gear or take off with it without the key. Fuel wise it's not too bad either. It's got the flex fuel feature, which allows it to operate on the cylinders needed. So, even though it's a V8, around town it'll drop to 4 or 6 cylinders.

Plus it has a backup camera so I won't hit any kids while backing out of Jade's school. That's a MAJOR plus!!

The kids love it, I love it, Doug loves it. Yay!!! He doesn't love the way I park it in the garage though. I keep telling him to do the tennis ball hanging thing, but for some reason he thinks yelling at me will work better.

I love the desert.

There's been a lot going on around here.

First, I broke my tail bone 4 weeks ago, and that's completely thrown me off my work-out regimen. No more cycle class, no crunches, no squats, lunges, nothing. I can't tell you how bummed I was about that. I've been sitting on a blow up donut for the past 4 weeks, and I'm embarrassed to say that poor thing never stood a chance. The power of my bottom did the poor inflatable butt pad in. Sadly, it now deflates within minutes of inflating it, despite Doug's efforts (twice) to seal it with crazy glue. Luckily, since it's been 4 weeks, I'm so much better and can handle sitting in my computer chair unaided. Good thing, because I really didn't want to spend another 14 bucks on a piece of plastic my butt will destroy anyway. Doug never ceases to be amazed by the power of my booty.

So, I'm very slowly getting into the swing of things, workout wise. I went to the gym 3 days ago and did some work on the elliptical. That was really hard for me because I absolutely DETEST machines. I'd much rather get my butt kicked in a class where everyone else is dying too. I seem to push myself harder when there's pressure. I just end up getting so bored when I rely on myself. There's only so much wall space you can look at on an elliptical, know what I mean? So, it shouldn't surprise you that I only lasted about 15 minutes.

This morning I decided I needed to really get my butt in gear, and if I couldn't cycle, I'd walk. It's such a beautiful time to live here, and the desert is blooming such beautiful flowers. I saw bunnies, lizards, quail, and a ton of other birds. I had no idea our lake also stocked turtles. So cute to see them sunbathe in the morning! You'd all see them too, if my camera didn't crap out. I brought it along this morning to take pictures of my lovely walk - I really wanted to capture our cactus flowers, and for some reason it simply will NOT take pictures. So I decided to cheat, and because I care about all of you, I stole these pictures off the internet.