2011 in Pictures

January

January wasn't a big month for pictures, but The Monster turned 4 months old.

February

We went for a drive to see the snow. Here in Cali you "go to" the snow.

Took this on the way home.

March

The Princess turned 5. This is her with her bestie.

The Athlete was in attendance at the birthday bash.

The Model took part in an art show. That's her and her mom.

April

Easter at my mom's house. Mama and her 4 children.

Grandma and her grandsons

Grandma and her granddaughters

 May

The Monster was sitting up.

The roses in my yard bloomed.

June

City square park in Jackson, WY. At each corner is an arch made of elk sheds.

The Grand Tetons

Visited The Hillbilly's family in Missouri. These are our great-nieces and great-nephew.

 

July

The Model in her patriotic colors.

At the park with The Athlete and her mommy and daddy.

 August

At the park with The Princess

My nephew got married. Such a silly boy.

The Princess was the flower girl.

 September

The Monster turned 1 and had a cupcake.

October

I started blogging.

The Athlete turned 3

My sister and brother-in-law celebrated 25 years of marriage

My baby turned 27.

 November

At Disneyland with The Athlete

 December

Cynthia and Alyssa (nearnormalcy.com)

Me, my baby boy, and my baby girl.

Happy New Year!

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve

 Three of our four kids and 3 of our four grandchildren came to our house.

The Athlete,  The Monster, The Princess

Homemade Ice Cream

Decorating Reindeer Cookies with Grandma

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day at my mom's with my whole family.

My Hillybilly and my sisters

We chipped in and bought my mom a new computer. Isn't my mom beautiful?

A bunch of cousins and a couple aunts playing a rousing game of Apple to Apples.

A good time was had by all

The Monster entertained himself.

Top 10 from 2011

This week's Monday Listicle Assignment is to look back at 2011 and list 10 stand-out things. I had several ideas and may go ahead and use a couple of them later this week. For this post, however, I decided to go with: MY TOP TEN POSTS FROM 2011! Which is kind of silly when you realize I started blogging in October and have only written 51 posts from which to choose.

How Do I Decide?

I decided that I could either choose the 10 I liked the best, the 10 that got the most page views, or the 10 that got the most comments. I think I came up with a combination of all three. I looked at the posts that seemed the most popular and chose the 10 I liked the best from those. So, without further ado:

My Top Ten

1. Why I Get Militant About Skin Cancer: This is the most important post I've written, and I'm pretty sure the only serious one. If you haven't read it yet, you need to. Go ahead and read it now. We'll wait.

2. Fun With Adult Children: This is the one I had the most fun with, and I love sharing it because it drives my daughter crazy every time she sees another link to it. Driving her crazy is my favorite pastime. Be sure to read the comments where the fun continues.

3 and 4 are the combination of My Favorite Hillbilly and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Honeymoon in which I recount the misadventures of my wedding and honeymoon with my best friend, The Hillbilly. These two were very popular with my readers.

5. One of my personal favorites is Spending Time with the Princess. The Princess is my oldest granddaughter. If you're not familiar with her, you really need to check this post out. She's hilarious.

6: An Apology. Sort of. More or Less: This is an ironically titled post in which I apologize for not having a post. In truth, it's a hilarious look at my pregnant daughter-in-law's late-night crosscountry run through Downtown Disney.

7-10: The posts that are the most fun for me to write are my various English teacher rants. Both fun and educational, so I've been told. In no particular order: Wicked English Teacher Wednesday,  It's English Teacher Time Again, Yet Another English Teacher Spelling and Grammar Frenzy, Let's Get This Right, People!

 So what do you think, friends? Did I leave anything out that should have been in the top 10?

Mostly Wordless Wednesday!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Or, happy whatever holiday you celebrate! Just be happy!

Monday Listicle on Tuesday

Sorry this listicle is a day late, but yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary, and I just had to recognize that in a blog post. Besides, it's my blog. Who are you to judge what I do? I don't come over to your place and criticize what you do. What's up with that?

Okay. I forgive you. Let's continue with this Monday Listicle. This week's assignment is 10 questions and answers, so here they are:


1. What is your favorite word?
Gastroenterologist (Say it! It's like music!)

2. What is your least favorite word?
One of those words I can't write on a G-rated blog

3. What turns you on?
Can we define this term first? Are we talking about a general turn on, or a romantic turn on? Oh, well, either way the answer is My Hillbilly.

4. What turns you off?
People who are always right (when, clearly, if they disagree with me, they're wrong!)

5. What sound do you love?
Thunder

6. What sound do you hate?
Dentist drill (ick, ick, ICK!)

7. What is your favorite curse word?
The closest thing I use to a curse word is "Shoot."

8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Author
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Garbage collector

10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
"Welcome home. Come in and rest."