10 Days of Christmas

Merry Christmas Everybody! We made it home safely late last night (Christmas Eve) and I wanted to post the pictures and share the events of our trip. I will call it "The 10 Days of Christmas".

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On the 1st Day of Christmas: We flew into O'hare Airport about noon. My Dad picked us up and we had Nick's Pizza with my Grandparents.

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On the 2nd Day of Christmas: We had our Schumacher Christmas Party at St. Catherines Church (in the school gym). Here are some pictures attached. I have listed names of everyone.

The game of "P-I-G"
Everyone playing inside the gym.

My cousin Tayna & her husband Tim

My cousin Michelle & Aunt Janet

My Uncle Franz & his daughter (my cousin) Kayla

My cousin Steph & her mom (my Aunt) Annette

My cousins Jeff & Rachel with their mom (my Aunt) Sue

My Uncle Rick and his daughter (my cousin) Mal

All cousins (L-R): Ricky, Jeff, Marty, Ryan & Brenden

My Mom (Janet) & Dad (Kurt) - Aren't they cute!

These are all my cousins that are under the age of 18. They are sitting in a circle to do a gift exchange.

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On the 3rd Day of Christmas: We went to my Mom's house to visit with her. We ended up going to Woodfield Mall to shop a little. For lunch we ate at P.F. Changs and Rick made us dinner. It was very busy & very fun!

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On the 4th Day of Christmas: We visited with our friends Crystal, Kim, Steph & Mark. It was SO great to see them. I didn't get a picture of Kim (sorry). Later that evening, Crystal, Kelly, Steph & I all went to Spring Hill Mall to do a little more shopping. I had a really great time seeing and spending time with ya'll ;)

Malachy - I love this picture!

The Stanger Family - Aren't they so cute?
(L-R): Steph, Malachy & Mark

My friend Crystal & her daughter Maddison - so cute too!

This is Maddison's brother Frank & sister Emily (all 3 are Crystal & Scotts). They were so good and super polite too, I still can't believe how big they are. It was so great to see everyone and catch up!
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On the 5th Day of Christmas: We stayed home for the most part and were bums (although we did manage to go out for lunch, it was Kelly, Steve & I - we had Nick's Pizza again). My Dad & Mom had to work, so Kelly, Steve & I just hung around home and waited for Jackie to get home from school. Later that evening, my Dad took Steve & I to my mom's house so we could spend the next 2 days with her. Rick, Donika & I met my mom at work right when she got off and went to Fridays for dinner.

Kelly lounging around on the couch!

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On the 6th Day of Christmas: We made a huge turkey dinner at my moms. It was really good, and the best part was learning my Grandma Billings stuffing recipe. Thanks Mom!

My Mom (Karen) & husband (Rick)

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On the 7th Day of Christmas: We chopped all my hair off :) - My mom cut & highlighted my hair. It's really short & I love it. We looked at old pictures & had pizza again for dinner (yum)! Later that evening my Mom & Rick took Steve & I back to my Dad's house. The rest of our stay we were at his house. Thanks Mom, I had a wonderful visit!

Donika is doing her new move - "The Whip"
(R-L): Donika (my sister) & my Mom (Karen)

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On the 8th Day of Christmas: My Dad & Mom only had to work until noon, so we hung around the house a little and then went out for dinner. We went to a place called "Cruisin". They have great food & a really fun environment. After, we came home and opened presents. It was such a wonderful night, we had a fire going too! Thank you Mom & Dad!

My sister (Jackie) & Dad - right before we opened presents

My Mom & Kelly - right before we opened presents as well.

Jackie handing out the presents to everyone. She did a GREAT job!

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On the 9th Day of Christmas: (Christmas Eve) We had dinner with my Grandparents again, it was very good, a place called "Ritzies". Thank you Grandpa & Grandma for dinner, it was delicious! After dinner, we headed back to Las Vegas. I was very sad to leave, but I will be looking forward to starting the process to move back home. Once we start that, time should fly by.

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On the 10th Day of Christmas: (Christmas Day) We headed off to Steve's Moms (Lil) house here in Las Vegas. We had a small delay (there was a car accident) but we finally made it. It was great to see everyone and chow on good food!

Steve & his brother (John)

Sylvia (a good friend to the family)

Tom & Steve's Mom (Lil)

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Thank you to everyone for making our trip so special. This will definetaly be one trip I will never forget. It was filled with joy, sadness & excitement. Joy - for all the wonderful days we spent with our family and friends. Sadness - because we had to leave and we didn't get to see everyone we wanted too, we just didn't have enough time. Excitement - because if everything goes smoothly we should be moved back by April/May. We hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday and we are deeply sorry if we were not able to make it to see you.
Merry Christmas and have a great New Year in 2006!

Christmas Decor

We decorated for Christmas today. It's all done, i'm so excited. Here are a few pictures that I took while we were putting everything up. The last picture is REALLY funny.

Steve bringing in the decorations. Dakota jumped in the bin as Steve was carring it.

Our tree.

Crystal posted some of her favorite ornaments. Here are a few of mine. This is an ornament my sister Kelly made for me. It's one of 3 ornaments I have that was made. It's my favorite one :)

This was one of the first ornaments I recieved as a gift (it came the first year we were married and we didn't have any ornaments for a tree), it was from my parents & sisters. It's one of my favorites too :)

My parents send me a lighted house every year for Christmas. They started this collection for me when Steve & I first got married. It's really grown now, last year I had to tell them to not buy any more houses because it was too full. I need to find a bigger table first. It's so pretty, I love having them all together. The lighthouse flashes, it's pretty cool!

This picture cracked me up! After we were all done decorating, Steve sat on the couch and both dogs jumped up on him. I took the picture not knowing they were going to be up there. Ha, ha... That tounge is funny!

Happy Holidays everyone!

New Camera

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say that I got a NEW CAMERA!!! I'm SO excited. I lov e it! I had an older one that was a 3.1 MP that was ok, but it wasn't good enough quality to crop. Walmart was having this huge after Thanksgiving sale and I noticed in their ad that they had a 6.1 MP Kodak digital camera. I didn't go in stand in the lines, but I did order it on-line. It was only $199 so I thought that was a great deal (especially for a 6.1MP).

I brought it in to work today and at lunch Brooke & Trish (my friends who I work with) were playing around with it. Here are 2 pictures they took of each other.

Above is Brooke!

Below is Trish!

Aren't they cute?? They are awesome friends. I'm so lucky to have such great people to work with. I love going to work just so I can hang out with them (minus the work part :) !

I'll post again soon (hopefully).
Sara

Thanksgiving Pictures!

Sorry this has taken me so long to post. I hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving! Steve & I went to his Uncle John's (butch) house to spend our Thanksgiving. Dinner was delicious! Here are some pictures of that holiday.

Steve's Brother John & I watching the football game.

The Mildrens (Steve's Sister Amy & her husband Matt)

Steve's Uncle John (Butch) and his Mom (Lil)

Steve's Aunt Patricia

Steve's Grandma Elizabeth

Good Friend to the Family, Lucy

And the BEST pictures of all... the sleeping beauties!

Lil's friend Tom (sounds asleep)

An this is my sweet husband asleep on the floor ;)

Well, it was a great day. We had a lot of fun. We missed everyone back home though. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well.

Gareth & Sian

Last week, Steve and I e-mailed his niece & nephew that we have sort of lost contact with. Kayleigh (which is Gareth & Sian's sister) sent them a forward and I stole their e-mail addresses off of that e-mail (yeah!).

So here is what they have been up to:
Sian (see photo below) currently lives in the U.K. (that is where her father is originally from), she has a daughter Lauren with her boyfriend. If Sian sends me pictures, I will be more than happy to post them :) The photo below is from 2002. That is Sian & Kayleigh.

Gareth has been in the Army for the past few years and is currently stationed in Italy with his wife Irma. They have been married over a year, almost two years now I believe. If Gareth will send photos, I will be more than happy to post them too :) See below for picture of Gareth from 2002 as well.

I sent them this link so they can view our web log. It's so great that we have gotten in touch with Sian & Gareth again.

Steve and I have missed you guys a lot and can't wait to see you both again soon (hopefully).

Pretty Funny

So my mother-in-law forwarded me this e-mail and I thought I would post it. It's pretty funny!

TWENTY LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3. I Work Hard Because Millions On Welfare Depend on Me!
4. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
5. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
6. Don't take life too seriously; no one gets out alive.
7. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
10. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
11. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
12. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
13.Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
14. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
15. They call it PMS because MadCow Disease was already taken.
16. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
17. Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
18. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
19. The original point and click interface was a Smith and Wesson.
20. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
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The funniest one was #15... ha, ha, ha... That is hysterical!!

Steve's Eyes - Part II

Ok, take a good look at the photo above. If you notice, Steve's left eye is looking straight at the camera and his right eye is looking up and away. If he relaxes his eyes it happens all the time, but it didn't use to. Here's a short story of how we discovered this.
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About 6 months ago, Steve was playing video games one evening, it was pretty late (almost bed time) and I walked up infront of him on the couch. He looked up at me and I noticed that his right eye was still watching the TV and his left eye was looking at me. I freaked out a little and he closed his eyes and was able to fix it, both eyes looked back at me and it was fine. He had been complaing about double vision for little while and I didn't pay much attention to it. Well, seeing his eyes go two different ways got my attention. The following day I made an eye appointment for that weekend.
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At the eye appointment Steve met with the doctor and told her that his eyes have been getting very tired lately and he thinks he might need glasses. He told her that he has double vision sometimes and it causes headaches. He also mentioned what happend a few nights before where his wife (me) completely freaked out. The doctor asked if he had always had a wandering eye, Steve told her he didn't. She then referred him to an eye specialist. She advised him that it is not normal for someone to all of a sudden one day start having a wandering eye. Oh, and he didn't need glasses. He has 20/20 vision.
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So here we are on the waiting list for the eye specialist. Just to get in to see him took about 4 months. We finally got in and the first test they do is to see how bad his wandering eye is. Now, keep in mind that all the rest of these facts are coming just from Steve and I got them at bits and pieces (ex: "Oh, and the doctor said this". (2 days later) "Did I tell you this already?"), so on, and so on. But here is what I pieced together. After the wandering eye test, he informed Steve that it's not a wandering eye but nerve damage. Wandering eyes are very consistant, you can't force them to really go away. When Steve relaxes his eyes and they are tired, he starts having double vision, but he can unrelax them and fix his eye. So we have ruled out wandering eye.

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New problem: eye nerve damage - what is causing the nerve damage? He was at his first appointment for about an hour and a half doing different eye tests, they dialated his eyes, etc. All those tests came back that he still didn't need glasses. He was then scheduled to see a "Nerve Damage Eye Specialist", same office/different doctor. That appointment lasted about 2 hours and he was then referred to have a MRI scan done.
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He went for his MRI and the results came back clean. That ruled out brain tumor and M.S. When Steve went to talk with the specialist about his MRI results, the specialist was completly baffeled. He asked Steve if his symptoms were still there and when Steve told him they are getting worse he had the strangest look on his face. Oh, and yes, I went for the MRI results with Steve.
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Today, we went for more blood tests, the specialist is now testing him for a thyroid disorder. I will keep you up to date on the results of that. We are still in the dark about what it could be, but at least the two worst senarios are ruled out. We have a follow-up appointment with the specialist the week after Thanksgiving to review his blood tests. I'll let you know more then!

Halloween Goodies!

This is Riley Michael (Isn't he cute??) on Halloween. This is my friend Carly's little boy. He is such a chub now. Very, very handsome too (I would say adorable, but some father figures have decided that it's not "manly" to call their son adorable - but he is adorable). Ok, here is his photo.

20 Random Things About Me!

I was Tagged by Crystal (once again I don't know how to link the name back to her site otherwise I would - sorry). Here are 20 random things about me.

1. I am a natural blond and you can tell by my ditsyness :).
2. I was married just 2 weeks after my 21st Birthday.
3. I don't go to church as much as I should and I feel very guity about it.
4. I'm addicted to shopping and have to control myself a lot.
5. I love smells. Lotions, candles, perfume, cologne, shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, all of it.
6. I'm scared of balloons. I hate them. They scare me (the popping sound).
7. My very first pet was my Grandma's black cat named Lurch.
8. I worry too much about what other people think about me. It's really bad sometimes because I'll say something really stupid and then I won't drop it until I know they aren't mad. It drives Steve NUTS!
9. I'm allergic to cats. I get migrain headaches when I am around them much. So I usually don't pet them.
10. I can't wait to move back home to be with my family & friends. I miss them a lot!
11. My favorite food is sandwiches. Jimmy Johns, Quiznos, Subway, Capriottis and Port of Subs are all my favorite.
12. My favorite hobby is scrapbooking. When I want to relax I like to read too.
13. My favorite color is pink.
14. My first real dog was 4 years ago and I was scared to death of him. He was a whole 8 pounds. I love him now though.
15. I love NASCAR - Yes, I know - weird.
16. I love to play darts and it's really easy for me to hit the bullseye for some reason.
17. I'm very self conscious about my body.
18. I still, to this day, have not figured right from left without using my hands.
19. Christmas is my favorite season.
20. I regret not knowing more about my grandparents pasts. My Grandma lived in Germany during WWII and my Grandpa was in the Army and I don't know that much about it.

Ok, I'm going to tag Brooke & Trish (sorry, you're the only other person I know that wasn't tagged already).

I'll post again soon!
Sara

Steve's Eyes

Ugh, I just did this REALLY, REALLY long post yesterday and it is completely gone. I'm not sure where it went but it's not here anymore. OUY!!! I'll have to retype it out tomorrow. It's about Steve's eyes that I said I had an interesting picture and I would post it later and tell you want is going on. I'll tell you all tomorrow. Sorry :(

Wedding Pictures

I spent this weekend with Steve's sister Amy & his neice Kayleigh. This past May, Amy & Matt were married here at Mt. Charleston. Well, this weekend we worked on her wedding photos for her wedding scrapbook. It was so much fun. Today I brought some of my wedding photos so I could scan them in over at her house. I wanted to make them black & white. Here are a couple that were scanned in.

Getting Ready - I love this Picture of My Sister Kelly. She looks so cute! Everyone was blowing bubbles in the church because it was raining outside.This was when we were introduced at the reception.

Me & Stephanie in the Limo.Me, Steve, Amy & Steve R. in the Limo.My sister Kelly, my Dad & Jackie. I love this picture.This is the wedding party. Top: Gareth (Groomsman), Steve R. (Best Man), Amy (Maid of Honor), Stephanie (Bridesmaid). Bottom: Steve (Groom), Sara (Bride)Steve & My Sister JackieKayleigh (Flower Girl) & Jeremy (Ring Bearor). They really liked each other.Jeremy "Smoochin" Kayleigh. Ok, he really liked her ;) I love this picture too!

Alright, that was more than a few. I really need to go to bed now. I'll post again soon!

Sara