Scantastic

I'm NOT an idiot. OK. I might be an idiot. I thought that Trevor installed the printer/scanner software a year ago when we got the computer. I never understood why it wouldn't work. I have been asking him to fix it for 5 months now (could be longer, I'm being generous). I really wanted to scan baby pictures of Preston for his birthday tomorrow and finally got too impatient waiting for Trevor. I did it myself. It wasn't hard, once I figured out it was just installing the software. Now I'm mad that I didn't do it a year ago. So to get back at Trevor, and unfortunately, the rest of his family has to suffer along with him, here is the first picture I scanned. Enjoy it at Trevor's expense...

*Editor's note: Please take care to admire his mullet.*

A Computer All My Own

I got a new monitor (since my 6 month old one went out 2 months ago)! This means I don't have to wait for Trevor to come home with his laptop so I can blog. Oh happy day! I feel liberated. It also means I don't need to find the cable to my camera since my computer can take my memory card directly. This means you all get some seriously outdated pictures to look at today. See what I mean? Happy day!

Christmas Morning

Preston

Carson

Abigail

Backing up, to Christmas Eve at Mimi's and Papa's

Cousins

Abby and Pres

Busted Carson! And then one to redeem him

Pictureless

I'd love to have some fabulous reason as to my absence lately. I did spend 7 days in Washington. That's a good reason. But we've been back for 5 days now. I was too tired the day after we got back to blog. Too busy the day after that. The next day I felt lazy and yesterday we had other priorities. That brings us to today and I'm out of excuses.

This isn't even going to be a very fascinating post. I lost the USB cable to my camera, so you can't even see all the cute pictures from our trip. They're stuck on the memory card, doomed there until I find the cable, which will probably be a month from now. By that time, I won't care to post cute pictures of my kids opening presents and sledding near my parents house. I will be on to my anniversary and Valentines day.

I can't show the removal of our old mattress and the much anticipated arrival of our new one. The world will never know how adorable Abby was with her new dollys. You'll never see the excitement on Carson's face when he saw his new Lightning McQueen tent or the anxiety on Preston's face while he waited to see what Santa brought him.

I can't show you a photo of my best friend, Katie's, family, at the restaurant where we met for lunch the day after Christmas. It was a big deal. She had never met Abby and I had never met her little boy Bobby.

There was also some visual evidence of my Dad's 57th birthday. He got a red blanket from my mom. He had bought a Seahawk blanket for my mom to get him (you have to know my dad), but she re-gifted it to someone else before she could officially give it to Dad. When she went back to the store to get another one, they only had generic colors left. You'll never see that.

Then there were the cousin pictures, sledding, sleeping, and New Years Eve.

New Years Eve! I almost forgot! We hung at Matt and Courtney's. Dad gave us a little firework show, and by little, I mean big. We played bunco and gave my Uncle Kenny a hard time all night (you have to know my Uncle Kenny, I'm not bragging, but he's a genius. I'm not kidding, he'll tell you so). That last sentence was more for my sister's sake.

Nope, the world will never know what a winter wonderland Washington was. Say that five times fast. It snowed the night we got there. The boys were in heaven, until Carson got too excited about it. He wanted to touch it but wouldn't wait for us to put mittens on him. He came in bawling, with frozen hands, yelling something about the "stupid snow". I'm still not convinced it was the snow that was stupid.

I had a great girls day out with my mom and 4 sisters. We went to "town" and had lunch. We paid a visit to my cousin Melanie and her 5 day old baby, and no visit to "town" is complete without a trip to WalMart. But you won't see any pictures here.

I can't brag about the stellar hostess Rebecky was. She had a fabulous hot breakfast for us everyday we were there...crepes, hash browns, omelets, french toast, you name it. She even did a little laundry, much to my horror. I give her Bed and Breakfast 5 stars. She's da bomb.

Then there was the trip home. My kids are amazing travelers. We NEVER have any problems with them. They love to fly and were so patient when we had a two and a half hour layover in Salt Lake that turned into a three and a half hour layover.

I could write about Amy. Trevor's cousin who selflessly took care of our dogs while we were gone. She also, much to my horror, cleaned my tub and organized my laundry room. I shouldn't say I was horrified, I was actually pretty excited about it. I would take a picture of it, but what would be the point.

Well, you've been updated now. I promise I won't leave you hanging, quite so long next time.

Ahhh...

There's nothing like the feel of a keyboard beneath my fingers, or the glow on my face from the light of the computer screen. Tis, a beautiful thing.

To answer some questions:

The name of the firm is Vavrinek, Trine, Day and Company or VTD (sounds like a dirty disease to me).

Yes they have other branches. They have four others, unfortunately all in the state of California. :(

Trevor has survived the first 3 days of work. Day one was just HR stuff, pretty basic. They hired him so quickly that they weren't ready for my little lad. He didn't get his computer until Tuesday and that night we couldn't figure out how to get it online at home. Problem solved today, however. Now I'm up and running, I mean we're up and running. My bad.

The company is NOT in the same town as us. It is about a 25 minute commute, so not much different from the Discover Card job in Utah. Plus, it's the opposite direction of regular commuter traffic. Can't ask for much more.

Annie darling (the rest of you can scroll down), I did get the Cars! I have your card on my night stand to remind me to email you back. Hasn't worked out to well has it? And to answer your question on Cafe Rio pork. We slightly bake tortillas in those cheap pie tins with a little bit of shredded cheddar. We prefer making the salad because we love the dressing so much (did I give the Tomatilla Dressing recipe?). We use rice, pinto beans, romaine, tortilla strip chips, and the pork obviously. Yummy to my tummy! Guess what's for dinner tomorrow?!

I think that answers all your questions. I'm still glowing from the screen and my heart is full. I must end now, though. So many blogs to read and so little time...

I'm on leave...

But hopefully it's only temporary. Our 5th computer crashed...this time it only took us 6 months to do it. We got skills. Can I just say I loathe being computer-less? I've missed you all soo much! Here's a little uppie-date.


Halloween: Twas a blast! Partied hearty at Cory and Gina's. Kiddos looked fabulous as the Black Spiderman, Cowboy and Abby Cadabby respectively (I was partial to Carson-DON'T JUDGE ME)! Majority of candy has mysteriously disappeared, the kids are blissfully unaware of rapidly depleting candy supply. Pictures coming...sometime.


School: Preston is doing loads better. Has had two "Best Day" endings and collected his Spiderman action figure reward yesterday.


Preschool: Is loved by all, but is entirely too few and far between (twice a week for two hours). He/we are left wanting more.

Family Diva: Still not acting as divaish as we predict she will someday. Weighed in at 19 pounds 7 ounces Wednesday. Not as big as some, but bigger than her pint-sized brothers were at their first birthdays. Only one month to go and my princess will be one! This is so not okay with me.


Job: I still have the same boss and salary, the boss is okay, the salary sucks. Trevor, on the other hand, has deserted the mortgage business and landed his little self a job at a CPA firm (can you hear the fanfare and choir of angels singing)! We are mucho excited and feeling incredibly, to say the least, "watched over". Long story short, bro-in-law Ryan, inspired (seriously following promptings) to talk to acquaintance at church, tells him Trevor's looking to get back into accounting. Trevor emails acquaintance his resume and gets a phone interview, lunch interview and final interview and BAM! A job. I must mention the massive prayer and fasting efforts that were rendered in our behalf (here's where I get mildly sappy). Sunday the Andersen side of the family fasted with Trev and I. That was wonderful, of course, and we have heard that so many people on both sides of the family were praying for us. Monday's final interview went okay. Trevor didn't have the greatest impression of his performance and had put a ton of pressure on himself. He was being hard on himself. Tuesday went by with no word. Called acquaintance that night and he reassured Trevor that he had made a good impression. I so appreciated everyone's thoughts and prayers for us, but have to say that one persons effort touched me most. My sweet 11 year old niece, Kylie, fasted for a FULL 24 hours for her Uncle Trevor! I didn't even do that (I use the fast-for-two-meals approach and have a late dinner and then early dinner the next day-totally cheating, I know)! I was so impressed with her and admit to tearing a little when Holly told me (I haven't cried this much since I was in high school-some of you remember those days). Anyway, Kylie you are such a sweet young lady and I'm so proud to be your aunt! All the praying and fasting worked. Got the offer yesterday (which is now in my top five perfect days) and he starts on Monday. Not bad for two weeks time.

As I stated above, I hate being techno-free. Trevor hopes to remedy this on Monday when he brings home a company issued laptop. WAHOO!!!