Life is wonderful

I know it has been a while since I updated my blog. There is no excuse for it. I love the Christmas season and this year did not disappoint. Casey bought me a new pre lit tree. I am sure he was tired of watching me string the lights just right on the tree each year which usually took me about an hour. We got to spend a little time with each of our families. We even were lucky enough to have all 5 of us Marble kids together at one time with all of our kids.
We broke from tradition for New Years Eve and went to Casey's neice's house. The last couple of years it has been at our house. We had fun eating and playing various games on the WII. Then came home to watch The Saint until 2009 was behind us.
I know we have heard all the doom and gloom about the year 2009. But I can honestly say that 2009 was not too hard on the White family. We were able to go camping 3 or 4 times during the summer. We were able to afford to re roof the garage and house. We also were able to afford to replace a dead dishwasher and dying fridge. All without having to curtail our many interests. We are truly blessed.
2010 has started to be an eventful year so far. Right off the bat, we repainted the living room and moved all the furniture around along with re running cables. We had our family dinner with my family. It is always fun to get all of us together, the whole Marble-Wilson clan. We do miss the 2 that live out of state though. We learned a new game that did not take too long even with about 15 of us playing. Thanks Ashley for introducing the game to the family, my kids even loved playing it. And I am sure they will be talking about it for a long time.
This is the year we start looking for a car. So we attended the Auto Expo with the boys. The boys loved the Camaro's, Corvettes, Bentley's and Ferrari's. Casey and I even picked out a car we would love to buy. Too bad we have to wait 2 years before that can happen. At least that gives us something to look forward to.
We have even had our first scare of the year. Last night we were sleeping and I heard the beeps telling me one of the doors had been opened. I have thought I heard this before in my sleep but had not. This time was different, though, Boo was barking. Casey told him to shut up and then went back to sleep. So this morning I told him that I had heard the door beep and that Boo was barking at that sound. So I go to check the back door. It is half way open. For those who don't know, we live in a house that was built in the 1950s and the floors creak. So while we were in bed, I thought, if the motion light is not on outside our window and the floors don't creak then no one is in the house and maybe I just heard things. So I tell Casey as he is getting dressed that the back door is open. He proceeds to do the manly thing and check the downstairs. He turns on the first bedrooms light and Billy Bass starts to sing. That scared Casey a bit. Good thing nothing was gone and no one was in the house. I guess the wind just blew it open since one of the boys did not shut it tight when they left.
I am so fortunate to have a husband that can be the protector of our home. I don't know what I would have done today if he hadn't checked the downstairs this morning before going to work. Though this turned into a funny footnote in our life, it could have been a terrible chapter in our lives.
Here's to a wonderful 2010.

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for the decisions I have made in my life that have gotten me to today. They have been difficult and heart-breaking at times but I would not trade them for anything. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and extended family. I am thankful for jobs that Casey and I both enjoy. They enable us to do things that I could not imagine doing 10 years ago. I am thankful for a wonderful husband and 3 boys. All 4 remind me what really matters in life.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Official start of the holidays

The last couple of years we have been fortunate enough to be able to go to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. I think this year was better than last years. We enjoyed it so much. And the crazy bald guy next to us did not disappoint. From the air guitar to the head banging, did I say he is bald. We were 2 rows up from the floor on the side of the stage. There were even people on the floor watching him. Thanks for a wonderful evening Johnson. Now the holidays can start.

Hockey on a Friday night

Tonight we took the boys to our first Hockey game of the season. It could not have been a better game to go to. There were about 9,000 other fans there to enjoy it with us. We have not seen the ECenter that full for a long time for a hockey game. We had tickets on the ice right behind the net on the end that we attack twice. There was one fight 30 seconds into the game. Our favorite player had to be Stephenson from the Wranglers team. He had curly golden locks and we nicknamed him Stephanie. Then there was the man who brought his 1 year old son down by us. We had an extra seat so we told him he could use it. He was explaining the game to him as if he could understand. It was pretty cute. There was blood on the ice. Just from a broken nose of the goalie after he took a puck to the face. And a penalty shot. A wonderful way to start the weekend.

A week alone at home

This past week Casey and his hunting buddies have been doing their thing down in Monroe. This week has been busy for me with spending time with new and old friends and family. The first day Casey was gone, I was able to meet a dear new friend for lunch and had a wonderful talk. That night and the next day I was able to spend time with another dear friend and her 2 kids. Thank you, Karyn, for keeping me busy those 2 days. I went to see the movie, UP, and really enjoyed it. Thank goodness Casey and the boys were not there, they would have made fun of me crying in 2 places. I must have a little emotional that weekend because I saw Confessions of a Shopoholic with a couple of other friends and I cried in that one as well. What a boob, I know.
Braxton had 2 soccer games this week. The first one was against our rival LaRoca. Unfortuately, we lost to them 4 to 2. I took Braxton to Cutler's afterwards. Wednesday, we had a game against Impact Black. This game Braxton came to play and scored 2 goals. We won 8 to 0 and Braxton got the game ball. After the game, I had a wonderful dinner with Leslie and Karyn for Date night. While at dinner, I got a call from my best friend from High School, Lisa. She was in town for a conference and they were done about noon the next day.
So Thursday, I met Lisa and Tiffany at Gateway. After a little window browsing, we decided to go to a bigger mall to go shopping. We stopped by my house, and the car would not start. The battery has been slowly dying for a couple of months. We just have not bought a new one. My wonderful Father in Law came down and put the charger back on the car and allowed us to use his vehicle for the night. After a wonderful time shopping, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Thank you Lisa and Tiffany for letting me talk your ears off.
Everytime that Casey goes hunting, I always have one thing I would like to get
down in the house, usually painting a room. This years goal was clean up the downstairs so we can make a major DI run. So this morning I tackled the storage room. I can't believe the junk that we have collecting. I even found a box of smashed cans, who keeps those things? I found a binder full of letters between my family and I from the late 90s. I got a little side tracked reading some of those. It was nice to read what was happening in our lives since I can't remember a lot about my past.
Tonight, the wives are going to dinner and a movie. A good way to end 10 days of widowdom. An Elk was shot this morning, so hopefully the men will be coming home tomorrow. As much as I was excited to have the last 10 days alone, I am ready for Casey to be back. I also must admit, this should be our weekend to have the boys and I am missing them as well.

Surprise in the sand box

About a week ago, the dogs kept going to the sand box and just barking away. I thought nothing of it and just let them be dogs. The next day, I decided to investigate what they were barking at. We found 3 little kittens. We have neighbors that have quite a few wild cats that they feed. About once a year, one of them uses our shed to have her kittens. We found 2 black and one whitish kitten between the shed and the fence. We tried to feed them some milk but they acted like they did not know how to eat yet. They were so cute.

Aida Tuacahn

In June, Casey and I found out that Aida was going to be at Tuacahn. Of the plays we have gone to at Hale Center, this has been one of Casey's favorites. The best weekend for us to go was the last of August. Neither of us had ever seen a play at Tuacahn, so we did not know what to expect.
The day before we left to go down, Dad and Bet decided to join us. Casey and I left Friday afternoon. It was nice to get away just the two of us. Saturday morning we woke up and decided to see if we could find Tuacahn. What a pretty landscape. Also, we both can not believe how much St George has changed. Tuacahn is an outdoor stage that is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. We met up with Dad and Bet in the afternoon and had a nice talk.
We got tickets early enough that our tickets were front row middle. Once the play got started and some of the props moved and they used the whole mountain as the stage. It even had a pyramid. Just before intermission, you could here tons of water moving. It came down the mountain and onto the stage. We got a little wet since the actors were splashing around in it. The water came ran down the mountain again towards the end of the play as well.
Tuacahn is awesome and we would suggest it to anyone.