Happy Birthday Hannah!

Eighteen years ago today at 4:00 A.M., my youngest was born. She was as impatient then as she is now. Our due date was January 13th. We managed to make 6 trips to the hospital including 5 trips with false labor. Our first trip was on Christmas Eve! Santa had to work overtime with 4 other children in the house that night. I can't imagine my life without her.

Two weeks after she was born, we found out that she would be the last. Sometime during my pregnancy, we had an issue with our blood crossing the placenta. When the doctor told us that it was a miracle she was born without birth defects, let alone born at all; we knew it was the right choice to make sure she was the last.

Hannah walked at 8 1/2 months and was talking in sentences before her 1st birthday. Must have been having 4 older siblings!

We knew she was going to be a singer because she could sing all the words to any song on the radio no matter what the genre was at a very early age.

On her first day of kindergarten, she told her teacher that her name was Hannah Banana Colleen Webb. We got a call that evening from her teacher questioning whether that was really her name. We still call her Hannah Banana; though most of us have shortened it to HB or just B. I wish I had a $1.00 for every time I have had to explain that her middle name is Colleen not Bea or Elizabeth or Beth!

I love this girl with all my being. She is one of my soul mates. Her happiness makes my soul sing!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Banana Colleen Webb. I love you!
Mom

BSU!!!

Our Boise State Broncos capped off a great year by winning over TCU last night! Another undefeated season! 14 and 0 again this season! Another Fiesta Bowl victory! It has been so fun watching them this year!

What an awesome game! It was so very exciting to watch. Kellen Moore and the boys fought hard!

Here is a direct quote from my middle daughter, Cassie, on her facebook this morning, "Holy Crap, BSU fans threw up on my facebook wall...Wooohooo go Boise...I think..." Made my whole day. If her facebook page was anything like mine last night and this morning, it is no wonder she felt that way!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Boise State!!!

We here in Idaho are cheering on Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. It is quite a game so far! Nothing like 2 teams with undefeated seasons playing each other! We have 2 reasons for watching.

First, is our Broncos are going to the Fiesta Bowl! For the second time in 3 years. And our Broncos are undefeated! BOISE STATE! BOISE STATE!

Second, is our oldest daughter and her family are at the game. We are watching to get a glimpse of our Sophie. We gave her a BSU t-shirt and the fancy eye-black for Christmas. Rick got a picture text of her in her getup on the way to the game. She looks so good! We also have other friends and family there. Hannah's good friend Will and his family are there as are our son Brady's in laws.

Another photo free post. I am once again borrowing Hannah's laptop. I got the news on my laptop today. The screen is shot. Good news is that Aaron's is sending it back to have it fixed. I cannot say enough good things about Aaron's! We paid it off on the 15th of December and have 60 days warranty after that.

Hannah is 18 on Wednesday! My baby girl is 18! Not sure how to feel about this. Where did that time go? I remember sending her off to Kindergarten in pigtails; now we have a tattoo and a pierced nose. Not that I would trade the way she is now for the way she was then--I am just wondering what happened to the last 18 years of my life. I don't feel like I have aged that much. Just saying.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

One Little Word 2010

One of my favorite bloggers/creative people is Ali Edwards. I have followed her since she first posted in Creative Keepsakes. Ali is so uplifting as well as creative! I have chosen to take part in her "One Little Word 2010" project.

My word for 2010 is "Breathe".

I was reminded a couple of days ago by Hannah that I am a pessimist. And without much soul searching, I knew she is right. I am the "sky is falling" chicken through and through. I try to over-manage myself as well as my family. Plan for the worst has been my motto for a long time.

So I have decided to change that by reminding myself to breathe, to take life as it comes and live in the moment. Not sure that is exactly how that is going to happen, but isn't that part of living life in the moment?"

So now when I feel the need to yell "the sky is falling", I will remind myself to breathe and live in the moment-no matter what the moment brings.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

A Happy New Year wish to all!

I just wanted to stop by and wish all of my friends and family a very Happy New Year!

Rick and I are watching reruns of the Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale, Arizona Auto Auction from last January. It is one of our favorite things to watch. We watched most of it live last year, but it is still fun to watch. We make our wish list each year of the cars that we would by if we had more money (perhaps, if we won the lottery it would be more than a wish list)! Rick's top cars are always Mustangs in some form or another. He had a Boss Mustang and a Mach 1 when he was just out of high school. He also had a Dodge Coranet (sorry if I spelled this wrong) RT. Long before he and I ever knew each other. Rick is 12 years older than I am, so I love to tease him about me starting kindergarten the year he graduated from high school! My wish list is not so grand. I love anything VW. Can't wait to see this year's auction in about 2 weeks.

And we are also watching the Utah Jazz game. Rick has never been known to stay on one channel. He hates commercials, though I do get to watch the Progressive commercials-I love Flo and the Free Credit Report Commercials-I love those guys too. We spend a LOT of time avoiding commercials. Oh, and I am tatting angels for my mom. She gives them to people, which makes me happy. I have 9, almost 10 done; I plan to make her 18.

We will most likely be in bed early tonight. I do have a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge and I am going to serve it in antique champagne glasses. They are wonderful. They are etched glass with real gold rims. If I ever get my computer back, I will post a photo of them. I was lucky to find a service for 8. I told Rick tonight that I will serve champagne in them, because why should you have something so lovely without using them.

I do really hope that the new year brings the best to everyone!
Donnelly

Hi!

Well, I was going to share my photos of Christmas and a photo of Pepper's neck. But the screen on my laptop went completely black while Rick was trying to log onto Facebook. So, I am having to borrow my daughter's laptop and my photos are trapped on my computer.

We have had nothing but problems this week with my laptop and my blackberry. Computer problems started on Saturday with a flickering screen. We took it into Aaron's on Monday. Their tech guy ran a diagnostic on it and said that we needed to restore it to factory settings. So I spent the better part of Monday and yesterday burning all of my photos onto discs. Then reloading them all back onto the silly thing. I had to reload my Creative Memories Storybook Creator, my Itunes, my Picassa, my camera software, printer software. It is a rather scary thing to do! But I managed to get it done. Then, Rick starts to login to Facebook and the screen goes blank. He has promised he will take it back to Aaron's tomorrow on his way to work, so we can find out what the deal is this time.

If you have never been to Aaron's before, I would highly recommend it. Their policy is to cover the products they sell for 60 days past your last payment. They replaced the charger cord on Monday as it was a bit damaged, and we have had the computer over a year. I got it for Christmas a year ago. I just hope they have a loaner if mine has to go away for awhile.

Before Christmas, my Blackberry had issues when the rest of the Blackberry world did. I have been unable to access the internet from it outside our house for the past 2 weeks. Very frustrating. Especially with what we pay to have internet access on it through our phone plan! Today, however, the internet came back. It is slower than Christmas, mind you, but at least I can get on!

Christmas was wonderful for our family. We had 4 of our 5 children here this year. Our oldest daughter, Christy and her family moved to the Phoenix area the day after Thanksgiving, and they were able to come. So we had my mother-in-law, Rick and I, Christy and her husband, Brent. Our granddaughter, Sophie. Jake and his wife, Becky. Our grandson, Jackson. Brady and his wife, Kylie. Hannah. My mom and dad and our niece, Devin. The only people missing were Cassie and her fiance, Chris and our oldest grandson, Isaak. Cass and Chris live in Anchorage, Alaska, and Isaak had to spend Christmas Eve with his dad.

For the last 10 years, Christy has hosted Christmas Eve at her house. This year it fell to me. I was so nervous that it wouldn't meet expectations. The most important thing I feel I gained from this experience is a greater appreciation for Christy. I never knew what went into preparing for this night. Wow!

I was going to make homemade gifts for my girls and my mom for Christmas, but I ran out of time. So, now I can just finish what I started without stress and give a just because gift. I am so relieved that I went with a "No Stress" plan for this year. The only time I freaked out this whole time was when Hannah was passing out gifts at the speed of sound, and I couldn't keep up with the frenzy.

I do have to admit that the photos I have of Christmas Eve were not taken by me. I didn't have time. I was so in the moment. I am so grateful to my daughter, Christy and my daughter-in-law, Kylie. Kylie took it upon herself to be the "Memory Keeper" this Christmas and I am so grateful!

My Christmas presents included a Joann's gift card from my mom, a handmade ornament and calender from Jake and Becky, a AMM/Heidi Swapp scrapbook tote from Christy and Sophie, a brown drip pottery bread plate and vintage Shiney-Brite ornaments from Brady and Kylie and my puppy's life from Rick.

Monday, we took Pepper back to the vet. Dr. Morgan was so pleased with how he looked. We got to have his tube taken out and it is healing very nicely. It is amazing to see exactly what happened, now that everything is scabbed over. He really had to fight for his life. There are so many scabbed over bite marks and punctures. And Pepper and I have come to quite an understanding. He has chosen me to be his champion. He picks me before he picks anyone else.

We got a nice amount of snow today. About 2 to 3 inches. It sure is beautiful. It was warm today, so it melted quite abit. Now the roads are like a sheet of ice. We are suppposed to have snow/rain on Saturday. That should be interesting, to say the least.

We are spending a quite New Year's Eve at home this year. We will be watching a lot of football I am sure. I don't mind that at all.

Hope everyone has an awesome New Year.
Donnelly