12.31.2010

.. year at a glance ..

here is a review of my year .. it's not all there but it's done ! 


i got my sister to drink with me ! 


i got my wisdom teeth out ! 


I started cutting up fruits and veggies the day i got them .. instead of letting them rot ! 



we went to clearwater beach florida for spring break ! 





alexandria graduated from high school .. it was insanely hot ! 


we went to the indy 500 ! 


we went to jason's parents house for a week and his mom took me to a blueberry farm .


i turned 22 !


me and kirstie out for my birthday .


i made a video slideshow for my parents 25th anniversary .



we went snowboarding in oregon .


we put up a christmas tree ! 


i started teaching gym ! 


we took pictures for our parents for their anniversary .

some of these are out of order .. it wouldnt let me switch them around .. but it's all here .

happy new year ! 


12.22.2010

** .. tis the season .. for birthdays .. **


December 16th my BABY brother turned 13!


He unwrapped each present before he opened a single box.


I opted for practical gifts this year instead of frivolous gifts.
A nice new pair of brown shoes, a black leather belt and boxers from American Eagle.
The kid is in love with boxers, makes me chuckle.


Dad checking to see if they fit his big feet ok.  
Size 12, he has bigger feet than my dad and Jason!


Alex used my paper to wrap her gift.  
A Nike dri-fit shirt and Nike shorts.


We love each other so :) 


This picture just makes me smile :) 
I lvoe my brother and sister ! 


Decemebr 21st my momma turned 47 ! 


We got her a wii fit and an assortment of other random things she loves.


On another note, my grandma passed away on January 6th, 2006.  
She kept a journal for the last year and wrote nearly everyday.  
I have wanted to type it up that way each family would have a copy of their own.  
I started in May of 2009, after my grandpa passed and we got the journal.  
It was too tough to read and I put it in the closet until just last night.  
I randomly decided to get it out and start working on it slowly.  
Well I got started and couldn't stop!
I started around 1 am and finished at 6:01 am.  
I cried a lot and had to make my way through the tears to continue reading.
I laughed some as well.
It made me happy to see the days she wrote that I had come to visit or spend the night (which wasn't often and that made me sad).    
It ended up being about 35 pages, with mulitple entries on each page, as she only wrote a little bit each day.  

I sent it to my sister and asked her to proof read it.  
She replied, I fixed it, put a picture of my mom and grandma on it, took it to Office Depot and had it printed on nice paper with a clear cover and a black back.  
Only cost me $8.41!  
I was going to give it to my mom for Christmas but got anxious and gave it to her today.  
She didn't really respond, I think she was surprised and happy, just caught off guard.
My goal is to get a picture of each of the other 5 kids with my grandma and make each one unique.  Then give it to them on January 6th, as it will be 5 years.    

So much for my (semi) wordless Wednesday! 

12.16.2010

** .. catching up .. **

Tomorrow is my last day of finals for this semester.  I am currently working on straight A's and that will be the first time in YEARS .. I don't know that I could be more excited or nervous!  The final two exams are hand written, plus I had a paper due tomorrow in each of them as well.  So much writing.  Yet here I am.  I just sat down to check my facebook and decided to post.  Very random for me.  I am sure my grammar is all over the place and to be perfectly honest, I don't even care.

My baby brother, Jack, turns 13 tomorrow.  I posted a blog about him a while back at this link http://kaitididwhat.blogspot.com/2009/06/jack-johnston.html >> (i don't know how people do that 'here' thing and then you can click .. maybe someone could fill me in?!)  It's heartwreching to think about.  I know that he's my brother but we have always been so close, it just makes me sad to think about how much he is growing up.  He is just about my height and weight, with a shoe size bigger than Jasons!  Hopefully he grows into those size 12 feet!  I bought him sweet new shoes for his birthday, that's how I know all of this :)

Alex is home from college for winter break.  I am excited to have her home.  Now we can work together and go shopping and probably go play bingo once or twice!  I don't even want to think about her going back yet!

Jason and I leave for Washington on Christmas day at 8 am.  I am totally dreading being at an airport that early and having to drive to that airport even earlier.  The trip should be fun though.  We are bringing our snowboards, I am SO nervous to snowboard there though!  I am kind of accident prone when it comes to being away from my parents, at least I was when I was younger.  Hoping I am not still like that!

Dad had another seizure last Sunday.  I went to their hosue after work, because I teach gym on Monday mornings.  It's silly to drive back and forth.  Anyway, his eyes were rolling back and kind of bulging, his hands were clammy, his head kept rolling back and forth, his speech was slurred, I decided to take him in.  My mom, Jack and I spent 45 minutes convincing him to let us take him.  He kept trying to hide, which was scary, just becasue of a whole other story (for another time).  Finally we went.  The nurse said he most likely did have a mild seizure and we got the after affects.  They gave him morphine because he had a horrible headache, which he has fairly often, and 3 other shots.  A steroid, something for vommiting and something swelling, his face was getting pretty big.

When we got home he passed out and woke up the next morning feeling better but not sure what had happened the night before.  I told him.  He was bummed.  When we were leaving my mom and Jack went to get the car and dad leaned against the wall and said to me "did she say I had another seizure?" I said, "yes, she did, just a mild one".  Dad hit his head softly on the wall and said "Gosh dangit."  I wanted to cry.

I e-mailed him the next day when I got home from teaching.  I told him that he needs to let us help him.  We can't help if we don't know what is going on.  He may do it subconsciously though, especially when he's having a seizure.  It's just tough, but we will learn to deal.  I am trying to talk him into yoga, he let me lead him in a couple poses last Friday.  Hopefully he agrees to try it again, he said it hurt pretty bad.

Well I need to catch some zzzzz's before tomrrow morning.  Nighty night.

12.01.2010

** a little help for someone in the giving mood **

I have a small predicament that I would like some input on.

Jason works with a lady, who could not get pregnant therefore they adopted a little girl.  They adopted this girl, years before we knew them.  Since then they have gotten pregnant two times.  Last year around this time they had a little boy.  I went to GAP and bought him 2 outfits, because her husband had just lost his job and she is the only income, as a credit union teller.  And I like to buy clothes for babies!  About a month ago they had another baby, a girl.  They were obviously not expecting either of the pregnancies and now have 3 children and still only one income.  When they had their last baby, we were super busy with school and work that it slipped my mind to buy the new baby something.

When I went shopping on Black Friday GAP was having an amzing sale, so I bought an outfit for each of her children for Christmas.  It was like $35 for all 3 outfits!  I figured that I could say, I wanted to get the baby something and didn't want to leave the others out.

Oldest Girl - I didn't get a top to go under the sweater yet, because I was silly and forgot.
Does that look okay for a girl about 5?



Boy about 1.5 years, these aren't the exact pants, they are black corduroys, but this helps.



Baby about 2 months old



Photographs courtesy of www.gap.com

Predicament:  Does this sound rude?  As if I think that they are poor and need gifts from other people to make their Christmas better?  Or does it seem logical?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated .. Thank You