Christmas 2007

This year we had a wonderful Christmas. It was nice to be with our family and friends. I enjoyed all the time off from work and more importantly just the time spent with my loved ones. Christmas Eve was with Nick's parents and Christmas was spent with mine. We had such a fun time with everyone. Karis got spoiled to pieces this year. Its okay its her first real Christmas! She had so much fun opening all her presents. Next year will probably be even more interesting when she wants to open everyone else's! I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. Happy holidays!
Karis's bucking bronco!

Just peeking at a few of the gifts!

Good morning and Merry Christmas!!!

Karis got a new baby for Christmas. It was so crazy. She new that the baby went in the stroller and that the bottle went into the baby's mouth. I was in complete shock at how smart MY baby was!!

Nana was super excited about her new UGG's!

Karis was a little shy about opening her presents!

The amount of present at Christmas is always huge, but this year it was out of control! It was literally taking up most of the living room. We had to rearrange the furniture in order for all of us to be able to sit in the room.

Karis is dancing to Johnny Cash at Nana's and Papa's on Christmas Eve. We're a little untraditional, we boycott the Christmas music. Karis didn't mind at all. It was so cute. Sorry its crooked I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

Christmas Cruise

For those of you who didn't know last week Nick, Karis, my sister, Mom and I were all on a cruise to the Caribbean. It was wonderful and challenging all at the same time. I didn't realize quite how much work vacationing with an infant was. Sure we have taken her on lots of trips, but nothing like this. Despite the few tantrums, she was really great through the whole trip (the ariplane was a little difficult at times)! This entry has a lot of pictures (not even close to what I captured) and I entered it with the most recent pictures first. Whoops. So here's a big thank you to Mimi (my mom) who gave us this generous gift for Christmas. Where are we going next year :)!

Let me give you a little set up for the scene here. The rooms on the ship are small because in all actuality you really don't spend a lot of time in them, but when you do and there are three people, 4 suitcases and a pack and play inhabiting a 10x10 room the natives become restless. Karis here decided that she and Dad were going to wrestle. She is enjoying her victory.


Nick doesn't need a boy to teach wrestling moves. He has her. Yes I am going to be the mom in the office at school that gets called because her daughter has just beat up a boy in gym class. Thanks Dad!

Everyday your room attendants clean your room and stock new towels TWICE! But the evening clean they leave an animal made from the towels. Here is a monkey!

Nick, Nikki (my sister) and I went on an excursion in Belize. We decided that snorkeling would be fun (after some serious convincing to Nick. He wanted to do some jungle river tubing and cave dwelling or something). The morning that we went the weather was overcast but there were slight breaks in the clouds where sun would breakthrough. It made for a really great picture. This is a picture of the ship. It was seriously HUGE!

So a boat picked us up to go snorkeling. After passing several larger islands thinking those were all the final destination to snorkel we started to slow as we approached this one. Everyone thought it was a joke but it was the real deal. This is the island that we snorkeled off of. It was smaller than our backyard!

The instructors on the boat explained that as we started to approack the location we should start getting ready. Apparently Nikki and I missed those instructions. We wanted to be prepared for anything at any time. I think people thought we were nuts.

This is the picture that I thought was so cool. There are three ships sitting docked in the middle of the ocean. You had to have a boat come pick you up off the ship and take to you to the actual island. But as you can see the sun was starting to come out. It is directly over our ship which made me feel good.

Here is Nikki and I in the port of Belize. Nick said that I didn't look enthusiastic enough, so I cheezed it up a little. It was 7:30in the morning and cold (probably like 70's)

There weren't a lot of areas that were "kid friendly" so Nick and I did a lot of sneaking around. We are such rule breakers. Here they are playing with the metal horses. Nick is pretending that its eating his hand off. Karis doesn't even looked phased.

Here's the lady responsible for all the fun. Karis and Mimi had a good time together over the week. Mimi babysat for us quite a few times so we could have some adult time. It was a nice retreat and I think Mimi enjoyed the time with her as well. (Who is the lady behind them smiling like an idiot. You would think that she knew us!) We are in Cozumel enjoying a beautiful day on the beach!

Here's the princess herself enjoying a snack. Cute suit huh!

The water was so clear and warm. Karis however was a little unsure. I think that she thought it was the biggest bathtub she had ever seen! Nick had to convince her it was a okay.

Nick and Karis found lots of sea shells! They found quite a few of those Conch shells. Karis thought it was fun to try and put them in her mouth. You should have seen me trying to chase after her!

It was truly unreal being there and looking at my watch seeing the date. Everyone who lives in a climate like ours should really take a vacation like this. It was a little break from reality.

Here is all three of us. We were having such a good time. It has been a few years since I have been to the ocean, and I am not sure if Nick has ever been and I know it was a first for Karis. P.S. Karis has a passport and she is 14 months. Impressive!

Like a postcard!

Here is after we got through the madatory drill (muster drill) where everyone stands out on the deck under their life boats wearing their life jackets like a bunch of idiots!

Here Karis and I are getting ready to get on the ship for the very first time. It was a little chilly in Ft. Lauderdale.

Bath Robe

I think that we have had this bathrobe for ages. It wasn't until today though that we ventured to use it. Karis was so funny. She was wakling around the house like she was 45 year old woman. I was laughing so hard. Eventually though she decided that she had had enough and wanted nothing more to do with it. She almost accomplished the goal, however the tie in the front gave her some complications. Just goes to show that she is never to old for help from mom! In this time frame she also managed to find where diapers were kept. She loves to open cupboard doors so everything is a treasure hunt to her. Unfortunate for me, fortunate for her.

Karis' New Hiding Spot

So tonight Karis and I were playing around the house. I stopped into the office to do some bill paying (yuck), and Karis decided that she was going to play as well. This is how the evening went.

Karis is being a little ham (totally unusual for her:)). I swear as soon as the camera comes out so do the smiles.

Karis decided that her new favorite toy was the laundry hamper. I almost died when I saw her crawling in. The best part was once she got in there she tried to pull the lid shut, like it was her secret hiding spot. I swear...forget the expensive stuff. Karis finds more enjoyment out of walking around the house with her socks.

Here she figured out that the secret spot wasn't so secret since Dad came in and started to joke with her.

After Dad left though, I think that she thought that she could fool him. They play hide and seek sometimes. Really Nick counts and Karis giggles when he says "Ready or not. Here I come". So I think that she is playing with him.

She looks like a prisoner....or a puppy in a kennel. (No one was harmed in the filming of this picture)

I swear she got the biggest kick out of her little fort. I was laughing so hard. She started to bring her toys in there and really make it her own.

Nick's 1927 Model T

12/27/2007- After a month with the frame here we are, not as easy as I thought it would be. I thought the wheels would be an easy find...I woke my Dad up in the morning and drug him out to a junk yard in below zero weather. After hours of searching we found the set of wheels we wanted. I thought my Dad would have a good time but he whined about the cold the entire time. I felt bad later when he was sick the next week with a cold.

So Nick finally got me to cave and he purchased a 1927 Ford Model T. After some serious research (3 months of our lives) and some long trips (16 hours and 3 states) coming back empty handed, Nick finally found a car in some guys ditch. Literally a ditch. He was working and driving through the middle of nowhere and spotted this piece of rust (or diamond in the rough as Nick would say). I am not kidding, when I went with him to pick it up he must have had binoculars to see this. It was overgrown with weeds and grass. I am not sure how anyone could have seen it but I guess if you want something that badly you have some sort of radar.
So when Nick found it he decided he had to have it. They parked the truck and went climbing through the weeds, then decided it was safer to ring the doorbell to the owners house than risk being shot for trespassing. A couple of days later after Nick got done convincing the owner to sell, the whole family took a road trip to this guys house. We paid him and they decided that today was the day. Nick called his brother who in return met up with Nick and they drove the trailer to get the goods. Once there the car was so buried in brush and located on the bottom of a hill that there was no way any piece of machinery was going to be helpful. SOOOOOOO they (Nick, Scot and the owner) decided the best way to move it was to carry it up the hill. I am surprised no one got hurt. But anyway that is the story of the new car.
We scoured the countryside for a car and found one in our own backyard. Literally a backyard. Here we are in our shining moment of glory. Its OURS and at OUR house......my gosh what are the neighbors going to think?

Here it is finally in the garage. Waiting for the action.

This was the proud home of one fat field mouse who happened to make his way into our house.......he didn't stay for long.

Looks like the car has been used for someone's target practice.

Its seen some better days.

Here's a closer shot of all the rust.

Hers's a look at the back end. The trunk and the panel below the trunk need to be removed and replaced. The rest of the car will be patched in eight inches from the bottom.

Most of the car was held together by flat head screws and rivets. Imagine 80 years of rust between you and a fresh start. Nick cleaned up at least 2lbs of rust everytime he worked on this thing.

We are going to chop the top on this bad boy. The tape line shows where the roof is going to be. I think around 8 inches.

Here is the frame from speedway for the hotrod project. Special order for Nick.

Here the cowl is removed (and for us idiot's that is part of the front).

Here is the most recent look. Its stripped down and ready for media blasting. Hopefully there will be something left.