Sunsets, birds and snowstorms

One of the joys of living out in the middle of nowhere, well almost the middle of nowhere, Walmart is coming February 2009, or so the sign says but another sign has said "Betos Coming soon" and it hasn't come yet, but I digress.


Anywho one of the joys of living out here is that we get some really great outdoorsey pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.






Sunset a couple of weeks ago :

Blue Herons behind the house:

Our first big snowstorm, it was only supposed to be a dusting but we got about a foot, you can see the top of the fire hydrant just peeking out of the snow.

2008 year in review

Every year around Christmas time I think to myself " We should do a Christmas card this year and let our friends and family know how our year was" And then everything starts to become a blur and next thing I know it's the middle of January! So I thought that I would combine one of my resolutions ( to keep a better blog) with the desire to let people know how our year went.

So I present to you a month by month play of 2008 for the Crippled Avengers

January:

We started the year off with a bang. Crystal got a double kidney infection, then Matt got a kidney infection and not to be out done Wee one got a double ear infection. Oh and we got our 1st official family picture. We should really order a copy of that...

February:

The great snowstorm!!! For those of you who live by us you'll remember the loverly storm that came and closed the main freeway here. This stranded Matt at work until 2 am, and made it impossible for Crystal to get to work. This storm propted Crystal's boss to allow her to work from home. The end of the month starts the Birthday guantlet, birthdays at least everyother week, some times multiple birthdays in the same week. The guntlet runs until the begining of May.

March:

Birthdays!!! Crystal and Wee one are both born in this month, smack in the middle of the gauntlet. This year Wee one decided that she must have a Little Einsteins cake. Crystal searched high and low but alas Disney had not yet started to capitalize on the Little Einsteins market, so she had to improvise. Wee one also convinced Matt to attended Princesses on ice.

April:

Matt turned 30. Matt and Crystal celebrated by going to Benihanna's with some friends. Wee one celebrated by giving Matt his presents as soon as she woke up. The presents were not wrapped yet and Crystal learned that she needs to find a better hiding place for gifts.

May:

Matt and Crystal celebrate their 9th anniversary by dropping off wee one to the grandparents and going to their new favorite spot, Marriott Summit Watch in Park City. It's very nice since the off season for them is the summer. The room has a big king size bed, a kitchen, and a 2 person jetted tub. And this tub is the way all 2 person jetted tubs should be set up, side by side, that way you don't have your loved ones feet in your face.

June:

We go to the annual family reunion, wee one gets her very first sleeping bag. Said sleeping bag was supposed to be green ( as per Matt's request) but wee one vetoed him and wanted a purple one. Crystal's mom then makes the mistake of telling wee one over lunch that she is going to go see the princesses. Wee one decided that we must go too!!! And so we take an impromptu vacation, crashing Crystal's parents vacation. Wee one got to see the ocean for the first time, and was not impressed with going into the ocean. Wee one meets her favorite princess, and is rendered speechless, Crystal also meets her favorite princess and while not rendered speechless is very excited.

July:

The vacations continue, we were home for a couple of weeks before we headed off to Yellowstone to spend sometime with family. We went to a rodeo, while there wee one insisted on letting everyone know when the horses were doing their business. We saw the big sprinkler aka Old Faithful, who by the way was almost 30 min late! Ate ice cream, and feed bread to the fishes. It was a great relaxing vacation.

August:

We finally jump into the official house hunting waters. The one we actually want to see is under contract, so we are shown another rambler a street over, and fall in love.

September:

We do the offer, counter-offer dance and finally settle. We sign our lives away for the next 30 years, promise not to make illegal substances in our home, purchase a washer, dryer, fridge and say goodbye to apartment life.

October:

Boxes still littering the house, Matt heads off for a guys weekend of hunting. Matt gets his first deer and Crystal learns how to butcher a deer, all parts that resemble a deer were removed before it came into Crystal's presence. We now have steak, jerky, and bottled Bambi... yummy!

November:

Thinking that we finally have a place big enough to entertain, we have both families over for Thanksgiving, 17 grownups, 6 kids, and lots o' food. It was surprisingly uncrowded as we were able to put the tables end to end in the front room and dining room leaving the kitchen for serving. We also make the annual gingerbread house.

December:

The saddest and happiest month this year. The beginning brought the passing of Matt's Grandmother, whom we love and miss, but know that she is with Grandpa.

The end brought the annual holiday party for Matt's work. We got gussied up, dropped wee one off for a sleepover and shopping with grandma and grandpa, and went to watch other people win cool prizes. It seemed to be the year for Matt's department as name after name was drawn. Then it comes time for the grand prize: A trip for 2 including airfare, 4 nights hotel and spending money to anywhere in the world. They ask everyone whose name starts with a M to stand up. Matt raises his hand just excited to be so close to finally winning. Then they ask those whose last names starts with a G to stay standing. Matt slowly goes into shock as he can't see anyone else standing. Then they call Matt's name, Crystal had to tell him "They just called your name" because he was in such shock. After not winning anything after 7 parties he wins the grand prize.

2009 looks to be a good year, with our 10 year anniversery and a very nice vacation.

Our Humble Adode

So we made our first house payment this week, only 359 more payments to go :) With this milestone I thought some pictures of our humble abode were due. Please remember that there is a 3 1/2 year old that dwells with in our 4 walls, so pardone the mess



Our office and wee one's room




wee one's Bathroom and our Bedroom. I no longer have to shimmey to get into bed

Our view from the back yard. This field is rumored to be a future elementary school. We shall see. For now it is where the antalope and huge birds play

The laundry room.... pretty washer and dryer and kitchen

Living room and dining room

Our house

The view from our front porch. The field is slated to be a city park someday, so our view "should" never change.




And the front room, apparently wee ones girls needed to have a sleepover
Well wee one is hungry NOW!!!! So I must go feed her NOW!!!!!!

All grown up

So we are about to become grown ups and stuff, although one would think that having a wee one would make you grown up...

We are waiting to hear if our loan will be approved for our humble abode. It's a very nice humble abode.

Here is an artist rendering of said abode ( since it is brand spankin new, still has the paint smell)

and the floor plan

It has a 3 car garage, and the upgraded master bathroom.

The artist got a bit carried away with the shrubs, alas we have 1 small tree and a couple of bushes.

Off to pack some more...

Out of the mouth of babes

Any one who has had the pleasure of either having a toddler or watching one will have a plethora of things that have come out of the wee ones mouths. Our wee one is no exception, as she has gotten older she has added reasons behind her declarations.

And now without further delay some declarations of our wee one.....


"Daddy when I grow up I want to be a lizard... you know like the lizard of oz"

"Mommy, did you know that Jesus is a sunbeam? He wants us to be like him, and he wants us to be a sunbeam, so he must be a sunbeam."

"See I told ya" This one is usually declared( while placing her wee hand on her hip) after we attempt to do something that she tells us cannot be done.

"Mommy, can we bring the poofy chair to our new house? Daddy would be sad if we had to leave it here"

"The poofy chair isn't made from leather, it's made from poofs, that's why it's poofy"

" Dad!!!! You've got to see this!!!" usually screamed from the bathroom

" Spencer needs a princess cake!!!"


" Do you think Giselle will come? She's a princess" Said after attending the over priced but well worth it for the free drink refills( I drank like 20) princess lunch at Disneyland.


"Hmmm that's interesting. If I put my hand on my bum and smell it, it smells gross"

My all time favorite happened shortly after we noticed that the wee one had been quiet for entirely too long( never a good thing).

Where oh where are the magic gates?

We are theme park people, it's what we like to do. We are one of the crazy parents that take their baby ( she was 5 months old) to Disneyland, and takes them on every single ride possible.

We recently went to the Happiest Place on Earth this summer when the little one was old enough to actually enjoy/remember the rides. My mom made the mistake of telling little one that she was going to go see the princess' and alas little one decided that we must go too!!!!

There are very few "perks" to being in a wheelchair, no lines at theme parks is one, and we take full advantage of this perk, however it never fails that sometime during the day o' fun Matt will be asked to leave his chair at the entrance and get onto the ride. This last trip to Disney has got to be one of my all time favorites.

After waiting in line for Indiana Jones ( apparently you don't even need to have the disabled person with you any more) behind a bunch of cheaters who are slowly ruining this lovely perk, we approach the jeep, and the following occurs:

While helping Matt get close enough to transfer to the Jeep the ride operator says the line we've been waiting for all day

Ride operator " You're going to have to leave his chair over there, and get on the ride"

Matt " But I can't walk"

Ride operator " Then how are you going to get on the ride?"

Matt " I can transfer over if I get close enough"

Ride operator " Well you're going to have to transfer to the ride if you can't walk"

Matt " Isn't that what I just said? If you move I can get close enough, then my wife will move the chair out of the way"

Ride operator " Ok , because you can't leave your chair in the way of the people trying to get on next"

Matt and me " Wasn't planning on it"

Finally, Matt gets on the ride and I move the chair to the chair parking, out of the way of the other riders.

Upon conclusion of our ride, I jump out the wrong side( it's the right side if you want to get back into your wheelchair) and have another award winning conversation with the ride operator

Ride operator " Miss, you have to get off the other side"

Me" I'm getting my husbands wheelchair"

Rider operator" Can't he get it?

Me " um no, he can't walk, that's why he has a wheelchair"

Ride operator" oh, ok make sure you take the right one"

I was so floored with the lack of common sense that I has no answer for that last comment.

Now a magical thing happens at Disneyland. During the day we will see scooters, and wheelchairs everywhere, sometimes they even outnumber the strollers. But alas when the time comes that they are shoving us out the gates ( because we stay until they tell us to leave... now!) the scooters and wheelchairs are few and far between. We have decided that there must be a magic gate that cures you when you go through it. We have tried many of the gates but have not found it yet, perhaps it rotates every hour. So the next time you are at Disneyland, if you discover how the magic gate works, please do share, we've been looking for it for years