November is nearly behind us and I must say I think the month has gotten away from me.  It is officially Christmas season.  I am about half way ready for it.  I think I feel a little behind because my Christmas decorations are still in boxes in the garage.  More on that later. 

Two weeks ago on Rosie’s birthday, I was on my way to my Chiropractors office.  I was driving through a green light not far from my home and a grey corvette swerved in front of me at the intersection.  Her right front tire was blown and smoking and I expected her to pull over at any moment.  Instead she kept going and in fact sped up.  She was swerving a bit and all kinds of smoke was coming from that blown tire.  I thought, there is no way she can’t tell that tire is gone especially since she seemed to be having a hard time controlling the car.  She was coming up on a stop sign and didn’t even slow down.  She barreled right through it trying to turn left and didn’t quite make the turn.  She barely missed a metal light pole, jumped a cinderblock ponywall and put a hole through a larger cinderblock fence.  The dogs in the yard were going nuts.  I quickly pulled over and instructed the girls to stay put.  A few others, she barely missed hitting at the stop sign, pulled over too and we got her out of the car.  The rough looking 46 year old woman was wearing a black mini skirt and black tights; and a tight sleeveless, gold, skintight, sequined top with a hot pink bra showing through.  She was not an overly thin woman and was spilling out of her clothes.  Her hair was also dyed a bad shade of red.  She could not walk well and nearly fell over several times into some bushes.  We called 911 and got the authorities there.  We thought she might be drunk but she insisted she hadn’t been drinking that she was just in shock and embarrassed.  It was actually difficult to get anything out of her because she was crying and kept her head down and mumbled a lot.  She got difficult with the paramedics thinking they were cops and harassing her.  When the cops did get there a black midget cop (not kidding, and that was Brian’s favorite part of the story) proceeded to do a sobriety test with her.  She could not even follow his finger with her eyes.  They did a few more tests with her while I was filling out a statement and before I finished she was handcuffed and sitting in the back of the squad car.  It was nearly 11am.  It is really scary to think about how many people are out there driving drunk and not always at night.  We were thankful to have been behind her and not in front of her when all this occurred. 

Last week we felt so thankful for all our blessings we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving twice.  Thursday we spent the day at the Andersons here in Las Vegas.  Amy Jo and Tucker and Grandpa and Grandma Gee came down from Utah.  And we had the rest of us Vegasins there;  Us, the folks, Adriane and Vito, and too many dogs to count.  We enjoyed a fine dinner and company into the evening.  The girls ate lots of candy and Rosie had a belly ache that night. 

The next morning we arose before the sun but still didn’t manage to leave town before 8am.  We headed to Cedar City to spend the day with the Arnell folk.  Garys fam, Mom and Dad, Grandma Arnell from Bear Lake, Jeff and Maren, Dallas, and David were all there.  Again, we ate a fine T-day meal and visited into the evening.  Rosie almost died when she tried to climb over the upstairs wall by the stairs and was barely caught in time by an observant uncle David.  I enjoyed spending some time with Grandma Arnell.  I haven’t had the chance in a long time to sit down and visit with her.  We left around 9pm and headed back to Vegas.  Serra was crying before the house was out of sight that she missed her cousins.  Thankfully neither girl slept on the way home.  Rosie crashed literally 2 minutes before we got home and we had a successful transfer to her bed.  Serra was asleep before her head hit the pillow with the promise of double stories the next night swimming in her head.  And we were able to go straight to bed.  (Not a common occurrence around here)

Saturday is kind of a blank to me.  I know Brian worked most of the day.  I think the girls and I kind of laid low and I may have taken a nap.  Brian and I had a date that night that had been planed a few weeks prior.  We dropped the girls off at Grandmas were they got fed pizza and chicken noodle soup which are both favorites.  Rosie got mad at Grandma though when she didn’t have any juice boxes.  She is really into those right now.  Brian and I went to dinner at Claim Jumper where we had $100 gift card.  We ordered up, got the most expensive things on the menu and spent the whole thing.  I was not able to finish my prime rib which made it home and into a steak and egg burrito the next morning for Brian.  We went and saw a comedian by the name of Jim Gafigan.  He is seriously one of the funniest people on the planet and his comedy is clean.  We had a great time. 

This week I spent Monday and Tuesday making final preparations for Brian and Serra who left for NYC Wednesday morning.  We had to get up at 4:30 to get them to the airport on time.  Brian has a friend who got engaged a few years ago and Brian told him if he actually ever did get married then Brian would come.  Well the day is this coming Saturday.  I am not up for a five hour flight, lots of city walking, subway travel, and hustling 2 kids around all that stuff right now so I had to stay behind.  Brian decided to take Serra along and have a fun trip where they did things that she would enjoy.  They so far have called me every few hours to fill me in on all the fun things they are doing.  I am a bit jealous but know that I wouldn’t have had too much fun if I were there.  They went to the Rockafeller Center Christmas Spectacular today and got Serra’s Christmas present at the American Girl store.  Tomorrow they will head to Massachusetts to visit Holly and Ian, and then back to New Jersey for the Wedding on Saturday.  I expect them back on Sunday sometime although I am not sure of the time yet.  I will attempt to get Brian to write a report when they get back. 

I don’t have Christmas decorations up yet because as soon as we were back from T-day I was busy getting B and S ready for the trip.  I neglected to have Brian get the Christmas boxes down from their high perch in the garage before he left.  Then I thought, Serra would most likely like to help with the decorations.  So, next week we will get Christmas up and I will feel  100% in the holiday mood.  Here are some pictures from the past two weeks. 

Rosie has a condition where she plays really hard, refuses to take a scheduled nap, and occasionally just collapses where ever she may be.  This is half way in the house and half way out. 

Rosie is starting to get a reputation for this scowl.  She got a new baby for her birthday and she fell instantly in love.  It goes nearly everywhere with her.  It need clothes though, so I have to be careful about some places we take it.

Serra gave Rosie one of her bears. 

We sure think our kids are cute. Is it just me or do they look about the same size in this picture.

She blew out 2 candles in 2 blows.  Not bad for a 2 year old.

On to Thanksgiving.  The pre-feast.

Serra was ready and figured if she sat down maybe someone would take a hint. 

Rosie takes a pre-dinner roll.

FINALLY!  The real stuff.

The fogie table.  (I sat there too)

The younger and more hip table. 

The girls love thier Uncle Vito.  He sat down and colored with them for a long time. 

Three pregant sisters.  I wonder who’s baby will be the biggest?  Ours is still mystery baby and Adriane and Amy Jo are both having girls.  We are all due within weeks of each other.

Rosie took care of dishing herself up. 

I took care of dishing myself up.  Looks good EH?

So here’s my question for the day (actually for the last week).  Why do the Elders have sign ups that involve purchasing or preparing or supplying food for something.  After all who actually ends up taking care of that?  Last week they sent around 10 or so sign ups in EQ to supply items for T-day dinners to a few struggling families.  Brian started signing his name to items and then thought it was lame to sign up for 10 individual items and just told the EQ pres to get him a list of the complete dinner and he would take care of one whole dinner.  Then he came home and told me that he had done this.  OK that’s fine just get the list and when I go to the store I will pick up everything.  I still don’t have a list and this is the final day they are collecting everything and I have put off going to the store so I didn’t have to make more than one trip.  (I blame my present condition in refusing to make more than one trip) We are out of nearly everything and I really need to go to the grocery store.    So why do they have any kind of food assignments for the Elders?  It’s a good idea in theory but who really ends up completing the assignment?  I don’t really mind taking care of it but let’s be honest…if this was an RS assignment, I would have been able to take a nice little printed up list at the time I signed up. 

On a more cute note.  Here is what we got of Rosie last Saturday.  She actually cooperated better than I expected.  Serra feels left out if I don’t take pictures of her too so she jumped in some at the end and Wallah!  we have our Christmas letter photo.  I’m not sure which I’ll use yet but I have a pretty good idea.  Any votes?

  I have been working like mad trying to get caught up on the scrapbooks for the past few months.  I was stuck back in 2005 and with each month that passed a larger mental block prohibited me from tackling it.  I recognized that with the addition of a third child to the mix around here I was really going to fall behind and so I tackled it.  I am now through 2005 and starting 2006.  When I got to November 2005, the month that Rosie was born, I found the disc Mom Arnell had given me with all the pictures she had taken at the hospital.  I had gone through it before but hadn’t noticed that there were video clips as well.  What a pleasant surprise that was.  I have edited it a bit because it is right after Rosie is born and some of it is a bit too much for xanga viewing.  This was our no epidural experience.  Major kudos to anyone who does that more than once. 

Happy Birthday Rosie!

Last week my computer refused to turn on and the power button flashed a continuous orange light.  Investigation on the internet indicated I might have a power supply problem.  I was freaking slightly because I hadn’t backed up all the scrapbook pages I had been working on for 6 months.  In communicating with Dell I only got more frustrated.  The year warranty was up 6 months ago and I could renew it for $40 and then they would diagnose the problem.  I could then replace the part they diagnose remotely, and then install it myself.  Yeah!  That sounds like a GREAT plan.  I hung up.  Monday a former member of our ward, who fixes computers, came by to check it out.  He hooked up his little things and showed me a little green tab about the size of a tic tac.  He says that sometimes static and dust cause it to short out.  All you have to do it take it off move it over and then move it back again.  It resets the internal battery, you know the one that keeps the time and date and stuff like that, and wallah, computer fixed.  That cost me $40.  Gladly paid.  Especially since if it happens again he showed me how to fix it.  He did a few other things that updated my motherboard and all that.  Anyway, I’m back on line and I am never turning my computer off again. 

Back to Rosie on this the 2nd anniversary of her birth.  We measured her the other day and she is 35″.  For those of you who believe the measure a girl at 2, double it, and that will be her height as an adult, that puts her at 5’10″.  I would expect nothing less of Brian’s daughters.  We’ll have to wait a few years to test the theory though.  We aren’t having a big party as everyone seems to be working today and tonight, but she got to frost a cupcake and open a few presents at the Anderson Grandfolks Sunday night.  We will do similar tonight although I may throw a few balloons in for fun.  And there will be pictures of the fun.  Her two year old photo shoot is scheduled for Saturday.  We’ll see how that goes. 

Permit update:  Brian waited in line yesterday for an hour to get permits in hand.  They wouldn’t take a business check because we are building owner/builder.  So he has a personal check in hand and will get permits in hand today.  Then because of the holiday weekend next week we won’t fund until Monday after T-day.  Then we start digging.  Finally I will be able to add pictures to my house folder. 

Permit update;  We don’t have them in hand yet but we received notice yesterday that the plans were approved and that we should expect the permit to be available as early as Tuesday.  Final plans and documents were sent to the bank yesterday as well so funding should be in place next week as well.  I grossly underestimated the time it would take us to get the plans through Clark County but some of the blame is on me as I’ve been so busy with the business that the house plans often took a back seat.  Anyhow…looks like we’ll be off and running shortly. 

     About 6-7 months ago we purchased a piece of property with the intention of building a home.  We figured it would take a few months to get plans approved through the city in order to obtain permits and we would be finished building by early next year.  It has been a bit of a saga.  The guy working for the city who has been in charge of approving them is on a bit of a power trip and keeps coming up with new changes.  We can understand resubmitting twice and 3 times if we had messy plans (which we didn’t),  but every time we have resubmitted (I think we are on #5 now)  he comes up with something that was never mentioned before.  And it is really nit picky stuff.   For instance the latest is we had to get a signature from not only the water department but the fire department indicating we had enough water in case of a fire and that the house doesn’t require indoor sprinklers because of the size.   (It takes weeks and money to get those signatures. (unless you pay double and then you can get it the same afternoon) According to the codes etc. we shouldn’t have to have either one.  We  are complying though just to save time and argument.  Anyway, we THINK that this may be it.  We haven’t wanted to go over his head because to anger him might cause more problems.  If he comes up with something new this time Brian declares he will have to go over his head as it is starting to cost us a great deal of money.  If we indeed are able to obtain the permits this go around we should break ground this month, and be in a new home by the end of next summer.  Keeping fingers crossed.
     We had a mild go about with some colds this last month but nothing that required doctor visits.  Brian thinks I should take them in at the first sign of a sniffle but I guess I don’t want a doctor to tell me what I already know.  Drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of rest, humidify, etc…  Everyone is well again without any fancy meds or a hefty doctor bill.  
     We made it through Halloween this year and are gearing up for the rest of the holidays.  I am trying to get everything done early because things are getting increasingly difficult as my size increases.  Everything is going great with this pregnancy and by the time this letter goes out we will be at 29 weeks.  Serra~V~ is a massive help to me.  At 5 she is capable of doing quite a bit and she helps with little complaint.  The biggest things she does is pick up the house and vacuum the stairs.  Those are things that make me very tired and makes me have contractions.  She also runs upstairs and fetches things for me.  Rosie, at nearly two, is amusing but a lot of work so Serra balances that out for me.  Serra thoroughly enjoys kindergarten and is learning a lot.  Rosie is speaking in sentences that are understandable if you know the context.  She has a very bright and contagious smile and giggle. 
I love this time of year although it is still in the 80′s.  I am hoping for it to cool down a little more so I can get a little use out of the few maternity sweaters I have. 

Here are the leftover Halloween pictures I have.

We carved pumpkins and can you believe I didn’t get pictures of the finished product.  Serra thought the cleaning out part was the greatest. 

Rosie helped by sitting on the table and sticking her fingers in the goo and holding the pumpking lids.  Here are the girls all tricked out for treats.  Rosie has a eucalyptus leaf in her dress that I didn’t notice until we took her costume off.  I’m at a loss as where it came from and how it got in there…

Serra knew the trick or treat routine but it took Rosie about 4 houses before she caught on to what was happening.  I’m a little worried that she will now escape the house and go knocking doors for candy after this.  She stopped at every house and admired the decorations before holding out her sack for treats. 

One guy asked if Serra was Carol Channing.  Most of you probably don’t know who that is but if you do it’s really funny cause she does look like her in that getup. 

About half way through our neighborhood Rosie parked herself on a well lit doorstep and decided it was time to partake of some booty.  It took us a few minutes to convince her we should keep going.

The reason Rosie lags behind is because she stops and looks at everything.  Some housed were really decked out too.