"I'll be hooooome for Christmas..."

Hello all! SO I thought id post a few random things that have been going on lately. I finally sent out our Christmas cards! This was the first year that ive done them so it was kinda fun ♥ I tried to find everyone's addresses but if you didn't get one, heres what they looked like and have a Happy Holiday! :0)

So I saw this on a friend's blog and it looked like so much fun that i decided to do it too...a ginger-bread house making CONTEST! We went to the store and bought tons of graham crackers, candy and icing! Matt was talkin' all sorts of crap insisting that 'his will be waaay cooler than mine' and 'i dont have a chance' and so on...so i switched on my competition mode and we went at it ;0) THIS is what we came up with...This was MY ginger bread house...

And this was MATT'S ginger bread.......ruins! LOL

When he saw my mad ginger bread house making skillz he gave up and started eating his building materials ;0) Better luck next year mi ammore! We got our Christmas tree up a couple weeks ago and i finally got around to taking pics of it! I LOVE having a christmas tree in my house and would keep it up ALL YEAR LONG if i could get away with it! ;0)

Heres a pic of my favorite ornament. Every year, for as long as i can remember, when it came time to decorate the Christmas tree, i would hunt for this ornament first and carefully find a perfect spot for it on the tree...When Matt and i got married, my mom let me go through our Christmas ornaments and take any that i wanted...so now i still have my favorite ornament to hang up every year ♥

Im so excited that Matt and i get to be with our families for Christmas! To me, thats what Christmas is all about..I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS ♥

Matt Graduated!

SO my awesome husband graduated from the Police Academy on December 4th! Both sets of parents came up for the occasion and it was fun to have them here!


Matt is in 'background' with the Oroville Police Department right now..which means he is in the hiring process with them..which is exciting! He will hopefully start working in January..so wish us luck! Heres my man in action! ♥

I had fun with my parents while they were here! Mom has been up here before but it was dads first time in Chico! While Matt was busy doing Academy stuff, we drove around town a bit and visited a couple of pretty parks!

We drove up to Paradise and saw Paradise Lake..

We went to the Chico Fly Shop and talked with the guys about fishin ;0) We also went to Oroville and did a little exploring there! We drove around town, went to Lake Oroville and visited the Feather River Fish Hatchery which was awesome! There they raise Steel Head trout and Salmon.

At the hatchery..the Fish and Game guys gave us the V.I.P. tour and showed us where they store and hatch the fish eggs and how they raise them! It was really cool to see and learn what they do!


They even let us feed the fish! It was pretty awesome :0)

(i look a little too excited in that pic) lol
After that we went home and played some Wii before we went to dinner :0)

Unfortunately i was only able to show my dad a little portion of the coolness around Chico but he will be back in the Spring time for some FISHING adventures!..so he says ;0) Thank you Mom and Dad Gates and Mom and Dad Bulkeley for coming up to visit..it means alot to have your support! See you at Christmas! Love you ♥

I know...im a SLACKER!

WHERE do i start? Lets see...Matt and i had our TWO YEAR wedding anniversary on Nov. 25th ♥ I cant believe its already been 2 years!! I bought Matt a new fly rod and reel for the occasion and he bought me a nice zoom lens for my camera :0) Mom and Dad Gates came up to Chico for Thanksgiving and we had a blast cooking and spending some quality time together.


(NOTE:i DID take pictures of mom and dad gates..however, hey dont want the whole world to see :0)
I cooked my FIRST Thanksgiving turkey and managed to not burn the house down! It actually turned out perfecto!

Thanksgiving dinner was delish and it was nice to spend the holiday with family ♥ I needed a good pic of Matt and i for our 2008 Christmas card so mom got to be the photographer ;0) The pics turned out great! (p.s..If you want a Christmas card..give me your address!!)Here are a couple of pics..

I did a photo shoot of our children (a.k.a pets) ♥
This is our newest addition Frankie.

He is an outdoor kitty that was abandoned by our neighbors...WE love him :0)

Here is our crazy mutt Daisy :0)

♥

AND our little Lu Lu ♥

Shes a Lion! :0)

So that concludes our Thanksgiving adventure..Thanks for the visit Mom and Dad Gates..we ♥ youguys!!!I have other adventures to write about soooo stay tuned..i promise i wont be such a slacker this month!

Insomnia

..I couldnt sleep so i thought id do some scrapbooking ♥ and give an update on my hubby! Matt had an interview with the Oroville Police Department last Monday. A few days ago, we got a call from the Department's background investigator. He informed Matt that he did very well on his interview and that he would like to meet with him and start his background investigation process. (Which is great!) So it looks like were making another trip to Oroville tomorrow :0) Matt was told in his interview that they are looking to hire 3 new officers...So keep your fingers crossed!

Fun With MOM ♥

My mom came down to Chico for a little visit and we had so much fun! She stayed with us for a few days and then drove up to Oregon to visit my sister Tanya.It was nice to have a few days off from work and spend time with my madre! Here are some exciting things that we did together :0) WARNING: we took LOTS of pictures ♥ First things first, mom needed a haircut. Here she is after i worked my magic ;0)


My mom enjoys puzzles so we brought one to the park and put it together while we relaxed under the big trees and listened to the woodpeckers chirp.

...the finished product :0)

After that we went to visit the kitties at the animal shelter. They were SO cute!
...Good thing mom was there to tell me 'no' when i wanted to take one home ;0)


We looked at Antiques at my mom's 'favorite' consignment store in Paradise then we drove up to Paradise Lake. We were basically the only ones out there and it was so peaceful and quiet.

My mom taught me how to loom knit (my new addiction) while we sat on a wooden bench enjoying the scenery and the company ♥.

On day three Matt and i decided to take mom to Lassen Volcanic Park! Here are some pics from our adventure! Here we are at the park visitors center :0)


Here we are at the steaming sulfur pits.





Taking in the view..it was such a beautiful day!


heres a pic of Mount Lassen..

Here we are at Emerald Lake


We went to Manzanitta lake for a picnic..i made peanut butter and honey sandwiches on my lap :0)

Heres a taste of Matts photography skillz :0)

i love that boy ♥


"No pictures please" ;0) (i made that beanie!)

All in all we had a fabulous time together..Thanks for coming up to play, Mom! we ♥ you!!