Lisa Heuer

Christmas morning is the only morning I like to wake up right when the kids come in my room.  Any other day I need at least 20 more minutes to get me going for the day.  Zoe has always been our early riser and Zane sleeps until about 8:00am every day (sometimes later).  Christmas morning was no exception to the norm.  Zoe was up before the sun and sorted through her stocking before anybody even knew she was awake.  She asked permission the night before, “If I get up too early can I look at my stocking?”  I told her that as long as it was after six am, she could wake us up.  Apparently, she slept past six but still wanted to get to her stocking first thing!  We ended up waking Zane to get the party started.  The kids were so excited about everything.  Zoe got a jewelry holder, a purse, a movie and a stocking full of stuff and Zane got a train, a ghost ship (just as he asked) and a stocking full of stuff.

side note: parenting at Christmas time is a tough deal.  You want to get your kids things they want but you hate to spend so much money.  Zoe asked for a DS but didn’t even know what it was.  She is not the gaming type and I knew it would become an ornament on her shelf after about 3 days.  She wasn’t disappointed with her gifts but still that was a tough decision.  We tell the kids that Santa has many kids to take care of and he usually can only bring maybe 2 gifts per child and then some stuff for your stocking.  There are a million different ways to do the gifts/stocking situation and that’s just our way.  We then wrap a few gifts from “mom and dad” and put those under the tree.  We realized this year that Santa can bring ONE gift, mom and dad can give ONE gift and they would still have plenty from family members.  Oh the learning process of a parent. 

After getting our house back in order (somewhat) we had Papa and Grandma Deb over for Christmas brunch and it was delicious.  Tim totally took over the kitchen duties (made a southwestern quiche) while I somehow got involved in cleaning out closets and making room for new stuff.  I literally did not step into the kitchen until it was time to eat.  AWESOME!  The only picture I took of all of them was with Deb’s camera so I don’t have the picture but I did get this…

Our afternoon was spent with more organization (unfortunately, it didn’t include any closets that are in desperate need of some help… it only included the ones that my kids get in to) and preparation for the Christmas dinner.  We had family over for dinner and fried a turkey. 

While Tim was once again manning the meal (watching the turkey fry and keeping everybody safe from a fired pot of hot oil, he called his family to wish them a Merry Christmas.

When all the kids arrive, the noise level rises and the chaos begins…  It wouldn’t be a family party without chaos.  Brynn kept taking Paisley’s shopping cart and Paisley kept taking Brynn’s purse with make-up.  I suppose it was a fair trade!

It was a very Merry Christmas.  We love our friends and family.  We are very grateful for our many blessings.  Most of all, I am very grateful to be done looking at all the pictures from this week.  Phew, all caught up and time to get behind again.

I am getting caught up on the millions of pictures I have taken over the last week, can you tell?

Christmas Eve was spent with our great friends the Brown’s.  We went to The Deli (a replay of our Thanksgiving but have not pictures to prove it) and had the most delicious Christmas Eve dinner.  The best part is that we had no cooking and no clean-up.  We got home from our Polar Express adventure on Christmas Eve, unpacked, cleaned ourselves up and got ready for our dinner.  We LOVE the Deli, a local Queen Creek restaurant.  The have amazing dishes and great personable service.  After dinner, we made it home just in time to open one gift (a tradition over here-always new PJ’s) set out cookies and milk for Santa and get to bed!

Our 13th anniversary was so peaceful, so relaxing and so quiet.  We visited Flagstaff, AZ.  We drove around the NAU campus, revisited our favorite places, wandered the streets and little shops and had a great time.  The snow was beautiful, cold but beautiful.  Our room had a fireplace and a Jacuzzi tub (thanks to Gordon the owner for the upgrade).  We were there for 2 nights with no distractions but then the kids arrived…  :(

I had lots of time to play with my camera.  I have a problem… I don’t have lots of time to play with the pictures that I took!  I just loved the look of the soft, untouched snow.  Tim and I took lots of pictures (and boy oh boy that ice one is quite large) and maybe I will find the time to work with them.  In the meantime, here is a shot that Tim took AND LAUGHED… he told me I looked like a rainbow.  I had so many colors on to stay warm.  I fit right in with those Flagstaffians!  I loved my hat, thanks Kristen for the hand knitted goodness, and I loved my sweatshirt with the leopard warmth in the fuzzy hood and the blue, well… its my only really warm (ski weather like) jacket.  So there you have it… a rainbow! Too bad you couldn’t see my green shirt and pink and white long sleeved base layer.  ; ) (ahhh, I get it.  Tim could see all that and hence his laughter and comments!)

Not even sure what I was getting but Tim took this and I just love the purple-ish gloves!  More color!

If you haven’t been up to Williams, AZ for the Polar Express-its time to make it happen.  It was such a good time and it helped that Zane loves trains!  Tim and I were in Flagstaff so we met up with my mom, dad, grandma, and kids in Williams on Wednesday before Christmas.  Here is my story… (insert title page here)

The day the kids arrived (and our peace and quiet ended) the car opened and a kid explosion happened.  It was freezing, I mean freezing (to a desert girl) and we wrapped up the kids as best we could and ran to the hotel room to gear up for snow.  Zane LOVED his thermals (we purchased at Wal-Mart while waiting for the kids to arrive) and wanted to put his “pullah beer jammies” on as quickly as possible.  Zoe on the other hand was no fan of thermals!  She opted to stay indoors while we took Zane and Gage out for some snow play.

We somehow stayed dry and warm but had to maneuver little mittens several times.  After snowplay, we wandered over to the train depot to show Zane the REAL train.  He was completely amazed.  We played over there for a while.  Gage managed to wipe his snowy wet paw, oh excuse me, mitten on my lens (purposefully) so I missed out on some pictures while I was trying to round up a proper cloth to clean up.

Then it was time for dinner and loading the train.  Dinner was a buffet, not too bad, but a buffet.  Zane asked many times about the intentions of the train, “will it go fast like this (as he swivels his arm back to forth guided by his pointed fingers to indicate direction)?  Will it go down really fast?  I don’t want to go fast.”  I assured him that we would be safe but since he has seen the movie Polar Express many times he wasn’t quite sold on the “safe and slow” train idea.  Nonetheless, he boarded and was excited to be on a real train.  The helpers went up and down the isles serving hot chocolate and cookies, leading us in Christmas songs and getting us very excited about Santa. 

It was a fun ride to the north pole where we saw Santa sitting on his sleigh.  Then Santa got on the train with us and greeted the children in all the cars and gave them a bell.  Grandma (GG Williams) was in need of a bell too and didn’t want to let Santa pass her up.

It was about 8:00pm when we got back to the train depot, time for bed.  The next morning, we attempted snow play again.  Zoe wanted to play but didn’t want her thermals, didn’t want a base layer or a long sleeve or leggings or anything that would help keep her warm.  We weren’t sure if struggling to convince her to wear them was worth it… the complaining about the clothing or the ending snow play early-which did we want?  I think Tim was a fan of a short time in the snow!  ;)   Behind the hotel was a little open field where the kids played in the sled for all of about 5 minutes and then, wait for it…  Zoe was too cold!

Thank you Grandma and Paca for a magical Christmas gift!  We loved our experience in Williams, the snow, the train and being with family. 

Need I say more?  Yes,  yes I should say more.  I am looking more like Monchichi each day!  It will be so great to have pictures of me while I am on a hair vacation.  (ha!)  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

We went skiing on Tuesday, last week while we were in Flagstaff.  It was so cold!  SO COLD.  Our faces burned going down the hill.  We called our ski day done at noon and headed back to our room at The Inn at 410, started the fire place and I took a little snoozer! 

I sent Monchichi as my representative, too cold for me.  Monchichi has fur…

First I need to preface.  Tim hate’s prefaces… its like a warning to either delay the conversation or put the defensive hat on, or leave the room completely.  Anyhow, I need to preface.  IT is our 13th anniversary today (officially it is Monday).  Tim sent me this note letting me know that he wrote this as a draft for his blog.  But the problem is that he decided he didn’t want to post it.  Tim is not a very personal blog type… his is a foreign language and he speaks techno only.  Anyhow, he wanted me to have it so I knew what he was working on.  It was wonderful to read, doesn’t everyone want a nice love letter?  Now listen, I don’t get these often so I am keeping it here as my treasure.  I am keeping this so I can remind him how he really feels.  : ]

I asked his permission to keep it, to put it in my “journal” and as personal as he is, he agreed to let me do whatever I want with it.  Too bad I don’t have the passwords to get past all the lockdowns on his blog!

Title: My Wife

In my world of technology, Twitter, and blogging, I write a lot, talk a lot and get really excited about anything new in technology or gadgets.  Whenever I have a free moment, I usually write a blog post about them or I’ve taken the time to prepare a blog post about a specific topic in depth that I’m very interested in and want to share with others.  I have not, however, ever been ‘in depth’ with my personal life.  I suppose it is just because I want to protect my personal life from any weirdness or crossover in my professional life.  My personal life is, well, personal. 

There have been times though that I wish I could share with the world my emotions at any given time, good or bad.  Such as the birth of my kids (more my son, but only because I wasn’t blogging until after my daughter was born).  What an emotional time that is for any human being to realize the wonderful miracle of life, and also feel the awesome weight of responsibility immediately upon your shoulders as a parent and being the complete protector and teacher for a new life.  An amazing mixed bag of emotions in a split second.

For the past 13 years, I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who has endured a lot of quirkiness in my habits and a roller coaster of emotional baggage I have brought into our marriage :-).  I’ll save the storied past of what that means, but suffice it to say I haven’t had the solid sense of ‘family’ for a while…for various reasons.  Needless to say my wife, Lisa, has been a pillar of strength for me since the day we married. 

My wife is a great mother, the best that I could have ever imagined.  She is amazing with our kids.  She is amazing with our friends and neighborhoods.  The once coy and reserved woman I married is no longer.  She can not be found with idle hands and usually is found organizing something for someone other than herself.  Through her inspiration and passion, we’ve so far been able to successfully navigate this crazy world safely and successfully.  For that alone, I feel blessed to be with her.

We share good times and we share bad times.  Neither of us are without faults.  Nor do I expect that the future only holds good times.  Heck, this is life after all!  I hope that our future will be filled with many more good times with us personally, with our children and with our friends.  Whatever bad times that may be, I hope we can weather them together…unified as we’ve done before.  My wife is usually the more balanced one between us and helps me see through my frustrations that I can be a better person…not all the time, but mostly :-).

She has challenged me to be a different person — encouraged me to branch out into areas of life I would have never been.  From the first time we were married as a secluded, introverted couple who would drive into our home each night, closing the garage before we’d turn off our car…to the social butterflies we’ve become…thinking it has been a bad week if we didn’t go out with at least 2 of our neighbors during the week!  Had it not been for Lisa, I’d still be closing my garage.

For my wife, Lisa, I will tell you that I love your passion and drive.  Whenever you set out to do something or even are curious, we all know what the end will be for you — accomplishment.  I love that about you.  You have an intoxicating smile, a great sense of fun and adventure (even if it still takes a lot for me to go along with), and are a blessed mother to our children.  For all those I couldn’t be more thankful.  I hope that our lives together only enrich us individually…I promise I’ll continue to do my best from my end…and strive to do better at every possible moment…even if there are patches of ice that cause me to slip.

Our jobs will change, our finances will experience peaks and lows themselves and we may move several times in life, making new friends along the way.  But the only thing constant in our lives is those who surround us daily.  For that we should stop for a moment and realize the love we have for those individuals and share that with them.

Lisa – I love you very much.

Always,

Tim

Well, staying married for 13 years was worth it…  tonight as I was packing for Flagstaff (it is my year to plan our anniversary shindig so I’m taking him back to Flagstaff-where we met 13 years ago.  Yes, our engagement and courtship was very very very short so 13 years ago we met, dated, engaged and married), Tim gave me a little gift (it appeared to be little).  He said, “Well, since we are going to be in the car you might want some reading material.”  He already bought me the Kindle (he says it was for me but I think it was really for him) I thought maybe I had mentioned a good book that he cued in on and got me some good reads.  Well, he did cue in on something, and yes it is definitely something I want to read…  Canon 5D Mark II owners manual.  Holy crap.  13 years and all I got was a camera?  Well… it was worth it! 

Tim, Happy Anniversary! (are you reading this?)  13 years is a long time to be married to me.  Thank you for all you do for me.  You support me in all that I want to do, you are excited for me with all my discoveries and phases, you resist a good adventure but we always have fun.  : )  You have an incredible drive to do awesome stuff and help others.  You are patient with me and watch me leave dishes in the sink, you let me work on pictures for hours upon end and only complain a little bit,  : ) you don’t make me cook every night, you like my hair dark and say it gives me an extra 50 hotness points, and you are a perfect balance for me.  Our marriage path has always been like skipping in the tulip fields (ha) and we have grown so much.  I love our story, I love where we have come from and I love where we are going-together.  Please forgive me for disappointments and short comings, not showering and not cooking,  being late and too tired.

I know this is my blogish journal but just in case you check-up on me every once in a while, I thought I should jot you a note to let you know how much you mean to me, how much I love you and how much I love your new hair do.  50 hotness points for you!

Love, Lis

We tried ice skating again, this time included Zane.  We went with Renaissance, the HOA management company.  Zoe was thrilled to have a second chance, Zane was so confused about the blades on the shoes.  We got geared up and on the ice and heard Zane cry and scream the entire way around, only completing one lap before he was more interested in the hot chocolate and donuts.  I realize its a lot of pictures (and now big pictures).  I finally got all the pictures off my little camera and wanted to save them all.  What’s a girl to do?

Zane was crying and unwilling to look at Tim.  Or, Maybe he was trying to scope out the donuts?

Nice grain pictures! 

Marci, Jen and I met up for lunch.  We laughed, we ate, we talked and I am embarrassed about some of the memories from high school.  We had good times.  We are all in our own world of responsibility now so it is quite funny to remember the times long ago! 

I miss these girls (and others that couldn’t meet with us).  Don’t we look like we just stepped out of high school?  We were in Junior High, High School and college at NAU together.  We and several other girls lived in a house off campus, 6 girls and one bathroom.  We basically needed a schedule so we could get ready in the morning.  I remember shoveling the driveway, my Toyota Corolla (Silver Bullet), locking my keys in the car with it running, our Halloween costume (girls from The Brady Bunch), working at Mountain Eye Care, eating on campus, driving home on the weekends, our shag carpet in the dorm, the many new friends and so much-so so so much.  These girls helped me through all that approaches in those ugly  “learning who you are” years.  I am grateful for their friendship, I am grateful for their strength and example and I am so grateful that Marci took the time to plan some time together!