Bonfire

Last night we had bonfire at Mission Bay with the Coxs and the Wests. The Coxs still had their Christmas tree so we had a burning party. It was awesome. (We do bonfires a lot with those guys and figured it was time we got some pictures of the fun.)

Wendy got some free wood from craigslist, it was a little damp and Sean and David had to cut it up with hand saws.We lit the tree on fire and it burned in about 30 seconds or less. It was insane! We were counting on it starting the wood on fire but it didn't last long enough... it was seriously so fast!

So the guys tried a few times to get the fire going and gave up saying it wouldn't start with out kindling or fuel... some boy scouts huh?!

Wendy and I said we would do it. The guys laughed and sat in the chairs while mocking at us... "if they couldn't light it then we definitely wouldn't be able to!"

Punks.

We had to show the guys up now. The pressure was on... we were determined to get that fire started! And we did. That's right ladies and gentlemen... The girls got it going. We don't mess around.

This is what a dead Christmas tree looks like when burning.

Here are some pictures of the fire (built by girls...)

The ladies:

Melissa

and Wendy

our fire:

That is a pretty good looking fire, you must admit.

Here are some random pictures (that aren't interesting but we want to document) of the tree (pre-burning), the guys cutting the wood, and everyone who was there.

I timed Sean cutting through this piece... I think he ended up breaking it apart. cheater.

David is funny. Check out the tree. It's so dead

Thru the Mind's Eye

Check this blog out for photos of the day and other such eye pleasers that will make you stare in awe!

Landscape photography courtesy of the guy who gives me butterflies.

(I may be a little bias but I think you will agree with me on the talent of this person...)

www.thruthemindseye.blogspot.com

Go there. You'll like it.

Holiness to the Lord

Tonight: Temple Night.

We are thankful to have a temple only 10 minutes away. I am thankful to have a husband that will go there with me.

The lights were (for some reason) especially pretty tonight to me, so I got a couple of pictures with my phone.

"I urge all who have not yet received these greatest of all blessings within the walls of the temple to do whatever may be necessary to qualify to receive them. To those who have received these blessings, I invite you to prepare yourselves to savor again the experience of being within the sacred premises of the holy temples of God and have the visions of life eternal open again to your hearts, minds, and souls."

-James E. Faust

IKEA

We finally got all of the pieces to our bedroom set! I love it!! We have been trying to get the last piece (the dresser) for months now. We would check the "as is" section of Ikea all the time waiting for it to be at a discount price, and I would check craigslist everyday hoping to find it on there too.

About a week ago we sold our old dresser ... our clothes have been stacked on the floor since then. So last night we decided we were just going to give in and buy the dresser at full price since we weren't getting anywhere with the "as is" or craigslist mumbo-jumbo (and we were both about to have a mental breakdown with the clothes in piles on the floor!)

We got to Ikea, (feeling defeated) and as we walked past the "as is" section we glanced over, mostly out of habit... and what did we see? That's right! The dresser we wanted. Two(2!) of them actually! How sweet is that?!

So we picked which one we wanted (it was 15% off... so was the other one.) and saw that it had some damage on the back, which would never be seen because it would be against the wall. But We asked the employee about it because the "as is" tag didn't say there was any damage, just missing packaging (and because I am a cheap skate!) He gave us an extra 5% off for the damage. That's 20% discounted baby! We were pumped.

What are the odds, seriously?? The day we finally caved and went to buy the dumb thing...

So the moral of the story:

when you are trying to be thrifty... just give up.

This is what the inside of the drawers look like, and also

the inside of the nightstands... A little ray of sunshine! :)

We also got a new bookshelf from Ikea with some of our Christmas money. I love this one because it can be stood up tall or laid down short. We chose short, obviously.

We sold our other one because it could only be tall... one option bookshelves get kicked to the curb around here! (or sold on craigslist to a very nice family that just so happens to be filthy rich... I think it's doing ok.)

AND last, but certainly not least... our nice little splash of color for the living room... the blue rug. Cute huh? I love it.

We got this in September, (I think) and it has been filling us with cheer ever since.

Our grumpy (understatement!!) downstairs neighbor likes it too because it cuts back the noise from the mini people that come over to our house and also fill us with cheer... but sometimes (ok always) stomp around on these hardwood floors that echo profusely.

Thanks rug! You're cool.

I promise to vacuum you soon.

Dinner time.

Tonight: Pizza. Homemade and piled high, perhaps a little too high...

Too much cheese? yeah, we didn't think so either.

yum.

Cabrillo State Park Tidepools

We went with the Wests and the Sumners (Ryan, Jen, and their little guy Sean) to the tidepools at Cabrillo today. It was gorgeous weather, as it always is here! We played in the water a little bit, felt all the weird sea creatures and found a few shells. We also hiked the bayside trail that is in the park. All while wearing shorts and t-shirts... Just another saturday in good ol' San Diego! And yes. it is January, your calendar is not wrong.

Good thing we are moving from this place...

the weather here sucks. (joking. obviously.)

Sean and Kent are in this picture.

They walked through the water to the beach with no access just to cause a scene. it worked.

Here they are again

Benson, throwing rocks

Operation: Relocation

Sean and I put in our choices for places to move. (We will be changing duty stations in April)

We gave it a lot of thought and came up with a few options where the job Sean would be doing won't be too dangerous or have him gone as often.

We were able put five choices. These are the ones we decided on:

(warning: they are nowhere close to where we live now...)

1. Portsmouth, Virginia - Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 6

2. Yorktown, Virginia - Riverine Squadron 3

3. Beaufort, South Carolina - Marine Air Group 31

4. Jacksonville, North Carolina - Marine Air Group 26

5. Okinawa, Japan - 3rd Marine Air Wing

We find out in about three weeks where we will move to in April. Hopefully we get one of our choices but it isn't a guarantee that we will.

We are very nervous and excited to find out where we'll be living!!

Christmas and the New Year in Idaho

We had a great time in Idaho with the family. We flew into Boise on Christmas eve and left January 5th. AND for the 453,989th time we didn't do very well in the picture taking department! Why does this keep happening?? We try so hard!! Anyway, it was nice to see the family and spend some good quality time with all of them. Here are some of the pictures that we actually took:

Christmas morning at Mom's

Cade and Makinzi opening presents

Cody eating

Mom and Me ready to go snowmobiling

Sean

Darin, Ethan and Tifani in an intense game of Twister at Dad's house

Brad and Tif in their ugly sweaters

Going to an ugly sweater party

Rock Band

the boys wouldn't let Tifani play

Indian Head Mountain. Can you see the Indian?

frozen pond behind my Mom's house. Cameron drove his snowmobile across this thing!

view from the top of the hill we were sledding

Mom wanted us do family pictures... it was dark, so it didn't work out too well, but she was happy and that is all that matters.

There wasn't very much snow this year. Compare my Mom's back porch this year to last Christmas:

2009

2008

I'm not sure who that is sledding off the roof... but it looks like fun!