Let Me Tell You a Story...

One not very stormy night, not very long ago, actually, just Sunday night, Randon was working at Volunteers of America. He works the weekend nights and doesn't get home till about 12:30 am. So you can imagine, by that time, I am warm, snug in my bed. This particular Sunday night, well, really Monday morning, at about the time I expected to hear the garage door open signifying my sweetheart's return, I instead heard Earth Wind & Fire's classic tune, "Shining Star". At first I started to do a little dance, but then I remembered it was my ringtone, so I answered my phone. "I ran out of gas," is what I heard. "Huh? What?" I'm a little confused and tired at this point. But I learned I had to rescue my loved one from the side of the freeway. Don't ask me how he ran out of gas in a new truck with all of the technology that tells you down to the mile how much gas you have left. Luckily we have a new room mate in our home, my sister in law Chantel is living with us, so at least I didn't have to wake Easton up to come with me. After finding a gas can, driving in circles to find a gas station and spilling gas everywhere, I was off to the rescue. And rescue him I did. We started the trek homeward, I followed Randon.  We were about, oh, halfway home, when I see flashing red and blue lights in my rear view mirror. I knew precisely why. You see, my registration expired in December. As a matter of fact, all three of our cars' registrations expired in December. What the heck? How did we manage to buy three cars all in December? Anyway, I had a huge crack in my windshield thanks to some trucker. So. Due to a lack of funds, we had not yet replaced said windshield. Nor proceeded to get the car inspected. All leaving me in the previously described situation. Pulled over in the middle of the night. The officer came up to my window and stated the obvious reason he pulled me over. I began to explain my situation, but as soon as the words "My husband lost his job..." came out of my mouth, I started bawling. Now, I did NOT want to be a stereotypical female that uses waterworks as a means of avoiding disciplinary action. I tried to convey that to the officer who left to check my license. I managed to calm down and when he came back he said he understood being out of work, and I didn't get a ticket. But it scared me into getting a windshield asap.  The very next morning I scheduled a windshield replacement, which made me cry inside a little, as we don't really have the funds for a $200 piece of glass. But heck, I wasn't getting pulled over again. Fast forward to this morning, as we are taking the Jeep to be inspected. Suddenly I have a little inspiration. "Don't new cars only have to be inspected every two years?" Randon was in the Jiffy Lube at this point and when I asked him, we discovered that, no, we did not need an inspection this year. Wait a minute, no...that doesn't mean then...yeah. WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BUY A WINDSHIELD. Why, people, why?  My inspiration comes a little too late. Grrrr. I'm so frustrated. The moral of the story? Don't run out of gas in the middle of the night! Maybe not. Maybe we should all rally to get rid of the whole registration idea. I think its dumb. Anyway, things have to start looking brighter, right? RIGHT! :)

Sisters

I love this pic, I don't think we have very many with all of the Rassy girls. Don't mind my crazy face. And Maddy pointed out that everyone besides Abbey has one squinty eye. Weird. What a bunch of crazies. I love these girls. Truly my best friends. (Cass, Mom, Me, Ky, Maddy, and the diva, Abbey, sprawled over everyone.)

Easton & Grandma Bern

Easton must have known how special Grandma was to me. She was his favorite. He always had a smile and a story for her. The greatest thing was when he was learning to give kisses, he was very selective with who would receive one. Mom and Grammy would rarely get one. Every single time though, Grandma Bern would get a kiss, no matter what. 

He loved her so much, and would love to visit her. He loved to keep her updated on his stories and show her his findings. 

I'm so glad Easton got to love her like I did. 

Anyone? Anyone?

Hey, know anyone that wants to drop $20 G's on a really beautiful piano? No? Dang. Well if you do... let me know...

The White Boy and His Funky Music

Um...

I might have to consult the parental guidebook on this one, but I'm pretty sure a machete is not something Big E should be playing with.

This was Randon's bushwackin tool of choice on the mish in Argentina. Please don't fret. This weapon was promptly removed from those little hands, after a photo was taken, of course. (Randon would be rolling his eyes bout now.) How do boys know how to be boyish this young? Somehow he knew this was a tool of destruction and was wackin everything in the room.

A Late Christmas Recap

Well I guess its time to move on and get back to posting things of the lighter side of life. Grandma's services were lovely. I think she would have been pleased. All of her children spoke, as well as my cousins, Mel and Danielle. They did a great job.I sang a solo, "Where Can I Turn for Peace?", well, I guess you could say I sang the first verse and blubbered my way through the rest. Oh well. It was hard when everything was over, hard to just go back to real life. All the family got together at her house for a party on New Year's Day, and I'm so glad we did. We all still miss her, but its all good.
The night before, New Year's Eve, Randon and I were duds. There were parties to attend, but how do you manage with a baby to get to bed? (I don't think Easton is classified as a baby anymore, but I'm in denial.) I think we were all asleep by 11. Lame, I know.
Anyway, backtracking further, we did have quite a merry little Christmas. We had fun with my family on Christmas Eve and made pizzas and it was home early again for Big E. We had our first Christmas as just our little family. Here is Easton on Christmas Eve in his retro cowboy jammies. So cute. (Yes, he got a hair cut. Dad took Grandpa Spiers' ancient clippers to his head.)

Christmas morning was sure a lot quieter than I'm used to. Randon and I were up before Easton so we exchanged gifts first. He surprised me with a very nice hair straightener. I was so delighted. He did his research and everything and I had no idea. He got what I'm sure he would call lame-o gifts. Clothes and new shoes. He really needed new shoes though. They had holes and broken shoe laces and still had fake blood on them from the Castle of Chaos. Haha. (Just for the record, I would buy him new things much more often, but I'm not allowed. Waste of money apparently.) Easton got up and didn't really get it. He picked up a matchbox car and was satisfied. Then he discovered the treats and fruit snacks in his stocking. Woohoo! We then trekked through the snow storm to my mom's house. We had a grand old time there. My siblings drew names this year. Abbey got me a new toaster! Thanks Abbey! And Ky got Randon a book of Chuck Norris jokes. A whole book. Oh brother. Quoting it already...

 My mom was thoughtful enough to get Randon and I new temple clothes. And of course Easton was spoiled. It was a nice day, we had a good dinner with Uncle Gary. Of course the power had to go out. No one knew what to do without power for their new techy toys. :) We still had a great Christmas though. Somehow struggling makes it really easy to understand the reason for the season. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!