My five(:

One of my favorite days to reflect on my boring week(:

{ o n e }

Hubby's career ball is finally starting to roll. Monday his recruiter called and said that the process was close to being done and that he can set up an interview with chief sometime soon. But we also got a call from a family friend of ours that said they had a position open for him at Timet in Henderson and to fill out an application and submit a resume. This position pay is higher than what he would be making in the Navy, and we will be close to our family, but with the Navy he will be more secure and we would be able to travel, so I guess he has a huge decision to make! I will be happy with whatever he chooses to do!

{ t w o }

This is my mom. I know she's hot.

We had lunch together on Tuesday, & it was also a good hair day for me(:

 { t h r e e }

Have I mentioned the amazing view I have a home? This is what Vegas looks like 25 miles away from the strip at 6:00 am. 

{ f  o u r }

So I told hubby on Monday that I wanted a puppy. I wanted a little girl to hang out with and love on. I wanted to have a little addition to our family. My husband, being the animal/ dog-whisperer that he is immediately agreed. So all week we have been looking at puppies online. We want a pup so we can raise it how we want to. My favorite dogs are Huskies. Have you seen one? They are beautiful! But their adoption fees are a little too high for us right now, and they are very hard to come by in Vegas. My husbands parent's have a boxer that he loves. She is very sweet, and adores her family. I also hear they are very good with kids {and I'd like to have kids!}. The only thing I don't like is the fact that they drool kind of.. a lot. But Austin is pretty dead set on getting our own little boxer puppy. So sometime in the near future we may become proud fur parents of a precious baby boxer girl. We just have to find the right one for us!

{ f i v e }

Today, Friday, is a white elephant gift exchange at work. To be completely honest, I didn't really want to participate for a couple reasons. 1. We don't really have the money to throw away right now with hospital bills coming in and me still having to pick up a bunch of gifts tomorrow for Christmas. 2.I haven't really been.. happy with my job lately. I feel very disposable and unappreciated here so why participate with people that I really don't want to spend the money on or hang out with? But then this morning I started thinking about how its only $30 that I have to spend... So that's not bad. Plus I should be getting something back of equal value that maybe I can re-gift or use for hubby and I. AND I don't dislike my co-workers. I am quite fond of most of them. Two of the guys are like dads to me, one of which I babysit his beautiful kids. Also, my mom put this white elephant thing together, so I felt bad for not participating. So on my way in this morning, I stopped by Walgreens and picked up a visa gift card and cheap little bag, so... hopefully it'll suffice. 

{ s i x} 

{am I allowed to do that?}

I wanted to add this little piece in on my happy Friday! I wont make a habit of it. My dad has lived away from us for a while because of work. He lived in Illinois for about a year working and then he lived in Arizona for about a year and a half. Its been very fucking hard on him. I know it makes him so sad to live away from his wife and his girls. I am super close with my dad so seeing him emotionally struggle is heartbreaking for me to say the least. Well yesterday he told me that he MIGHT hopefully have gotten a job here in Vegas! It made me so happy to hear the excitement in his voice. He can finally live with my mother again, and be a bigger part of my sisters life. I am praying that he gets this job. I am praying that he gets to be with his family again like he has wanted to for so long. I am praying that this is finally his break! He is the most wonderful father ever, and I am so proud and lucky to have him. I just want this for him, and for my family so badly. 

Okay, I'm done... that was my week. (:

my tattoos.

I have always had a....strong liking to tattoos. When I was younger my grandmother would tell me they were tacky and to never get one, I would agree with her but in my own little mind I thought they were so bad ass. I kind of always wanted a tattoo. I kind of always wanted a lot of tattoos. No, not covered from eyebrows to toes, but maybe{definitely} a sleeve, and some other pieces here and there. Yes, I have meaning behind most of my tattoos you wanna hear?

Let me start by saying I have five. I know, its not that many! Two of these five are not, and will not be pictured. To follow that statement, lets say... at 14 & 16 I made stupid choices. Didn't we all? I'll tell you about them though!

1. When I was about 14 years old, almost 15 I was a freshman in high school, and I had this best friend named Bella. She probably wasn't the best influence on me, but I didn't let my parents know that. {I wish I knew then what I know now}. Well I spent almost every weekend at her house because we could sneak out all the time. Well we were sitting in her bedroom bored and couldn't think of anything to do when I got a text from my friend Anthony saying he was going to a friends house to get tattooed.{house and tattoo shouldn't be in the same sentence}. It was about midnight when I got the text, and he said he would come pick us up if we wanted to go. Needless to say, we went. When we got there his friend asked us if we wanted one as well. Of course we did. Bella got this huge thing on her back. It was a huge mixture of stars, swirls, and lines, she hates it now. And I got this little bitty swirly thing with like 3 tiny stars very low on my hip. The lines are pretty thick. It's not ugly, but it's not my favorite. I have considered getting it covered, but 1. Its in a very awkward place & 2. I kinda like it, being a reminder of how bad ass I was at 14, right?

2. Tattoo number two also took place in some guys house. This tattoo I will be getting covered for sure. In small thick cursive it says "If you knew better, you'd do better". Not even sure what I was thinking on this one... It's embarrassing. Again, it's not totally ugly, its just a stupid phrase. It wraps around my left side, so it will be easy for me to find something to cover it up with.

3.  Tattoo number 3 is my absolute favorite. It was a my 18th birthday present from mom & dad. They weren't happy that I was getting a tattoo, but that's all that I wanted. {the picture does my beautiful shoulder piece no justice at all}. It's a beautiful mix of roses and lilys, with my grandmothers name. I am so close to my grandma and when I was younger, and sometimes now I still, would have this dream where her and I would be walking through this huge garden of roses and lilys. The flowers grew on bushes and vines that were  much taller than us. They were beautiful and colorful. The garden was behind a gorgeous iron gate. I really wanted to get a tattoo that represents this dream of us, and something that honors this woman that has always been such a huge part of my life. 

4. I got this tattoo on my foot after something significant happened in my life. It says "Relentless". Nothing will make me give up, nothing can knock me down, and I wont stop until I get what I want, or where I want to be. I also think that if someone were to describe me, they would definitely say that I am a pretty relentless person. I don't give up & I like it that way.

-Just FYI the foot was the worse.

 

5. I got this tattoo last January the same day my Husband got his first tattoo. It was my Christmas present to us I guess.  It's the popular feather with birds flying out the end. I saw this tattoo as a drawing a long time ago, and I didn't think much of it, other than it was pretty. Then when I was thinking about what I wanted my next tattoo to be and what I wanted it to mean, I decided I wanted something girly, something earthy, and something to represent me letting go of my struggles. I have put my life into Gods hands. I believe that he was the one who led me to my awesome husband, and he was the one the guided me out of all my regrets and hard times. God is the one who keeps my family and I healthy, he watched over my husband when he got into his accident. I'd like to say that I am free, and whenever I do not feel free or I am stressed I know that sooner or later the stress will be lifted away. Explaining this to my husband he showed me the same drawing I had seen years earlier. My feather is unique, it looks more like a braid, and I really like that. I also placed it in a really odd position and place on my body, which I have never seen before. So although it may look like someone else's tattoo{and that's okay with me} its still different.

Do I love my tattoos? Most of them! Will I get more? Absolutely! Did they hurt? Not as bad as I thought, as I said above the foot was the worst {although I did pass out when I got my feather done}. If you have never gotten a tattoo, then I can promise the pain of a tattoo is much different than what your expecting! Do I think I am a cliche of today's generation? Probably, but hey.. I like what I like and I like tattoos. Do I think tattoos are truly addicting? Nope. My mom got one tattoo on her foot and that was it for her. I want and like tattoos because they are a piece of art that is all mine, and because I feel sexier because of them. Do I judge people who don't have tattoos? Of course not! I understand that it's not for a lot of people! I don't expect everyone to want to cover their beautiful skin with permanent ink! 

Lastly, I have psoriasis. I have known and lived with scars for my entire life. I never saw my body or skin as pure and beautiful until I got tattoos. I always felt ashamed and looked down upon because of the scars and rashes that psoriasis caused, but as I got older I realized its another story for people to be interested in. They aren't always judging. Now they are interested in the ink on my chest and back. They look at my foot before they see the scars on my shins. Its my confidence. 

Our Traditions

Everyone has their holiday traditions, and when I look back I think about how mine have changed, but I love it. When I was younger and we lived in Chicago my dad would put lights up every year on the house, and we would get real trees to decorate.  We lived near my dads side of the family and everyone would gather at our house to make the dinner and open the presents.  The kids would play in the snow before dinner and after we opened our presents and we would take them downstairs and play all night. My cousins were my best friend and My grandmother would make the best deserts in the world. It was like that for me for almost 12 years. I loved every single year.

Then my family moved to Las Vegas. Holidays started to suck for me. No family. No snow. Not even cold enough to have to wear jackets. The spirit of Christmas in Vegas doesn't even compare to the spirit in Illinois. The only people I knew at the time were the people that I would go to school with, and the people that lived near us. My parents tried to keep the tradition by adding lights to the house and decorating the tree on Thanksgiving. Even by waking up at 5 am to see what Santa had brought - I have a younger sister, so we did this up until last year when she turned 11. But instead of cooking dinner, we would go to a buffet for lunch, and then to our neighbors house to have desert. Over the years these neighbors turned into family for me. We would go to their house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I started to enjoy the holidays again, even though I didn't feel the strength of tradition.

So now I have my own home, for the second Christmas in a row. I am married, and I have a new family. I am ready to set some traditions of our own. I want to set traditions we can carry on with our children. This will be the second Christmas my husband and I are spending together. We decorate the house early for Christmas, we will go to Magical Forest the weekend before Christmas, finish up our Christmas shopping and wrap the presents we got for each other secretively. We will watch A Christmas Story over and over again on TBS. I know I will get no sleep Christmas Eve night. I will be up all night too excited- I know I'm still a little kid. Then I will get out of bed around 4am and set out his presents, fill his stocking, turn A Christmas Story on in the living room, make him something to snack on in the morning and then pick out what I am going to wear that day. Then at 5 I will wake his ass up, and we will open our presents(: Then we will shower and get ready for the rest of the day{quickly}.

 Now both of our families mean the world to us so we didn't want to make one family feel left out during the holidays, so we have come up with a perfect solution. Right after we open presents from each other we will load up the car with EVERYONE'S presents and then head to my parents.- Get there pretty early. I have a key so I will let myself in and wake everyone up! (: We will open our gifts and play around for a little bit and maybe even sneak some Cinnamon rolls in. Then we will go to my in-laws house. We will try to get there around 8 or 9. Everyone in that house likes to sleep in a little bit, which is good because they don't want to open presents without us. While we are opening presents at their house my parents will be getting ready to join us in a couple hours to exchange their gifts and then to have dinner. It worked out really well last year, and I felt as if everyone was happy.

I love that we are able to spend time with both of our families, and that we are all able to come together. I feel like  I have my big family back. Of course I miss everyone in Illinois and nothing will ever replace the amazing Christmas's I had as a kid, but I love the Holidays again!

When we have kids, I would really like to make it a tradition that we see Santa every year & have that picture framed every time.
I also think next year we will start and ornament tradition, where together we pick out a new ornament or two each year. I wanted to do that this year, but too much has been going on lately.

"Blooper" Pictures.

So for the longest time I have been getting a message on my iPhone and iPad that my iCloud cannot back up my devices because there is no more room and I am not going to buy more storage. So last night, I decided I was going to go through and delete some pictures, because I had like 3,000. My phone and iPad have more than enough storage, but the iCloud doesn't. So as I was going through my phone's pictures last night, I noticed that when people take pictures of us, they take like 25 of them and catch us doing weird random things. EVERY time someone takes our pictures this happens! So I put some of these candid moments together, and call them our bloopers.

 

 

 

 

I think they are kind of cute. Haha! So I kept one "blooper" of each group of pictures and I obviously kept the best picture out of the 25 someone would take!

 

The bottom middle- Because I have questions about it on Insta- I said "Lets take a picture in front of the trees" and I guess he heard " Lets take a picture with the trees" so, naturally, he pulled down a branch for us to take a picture with it...

Our weekend

So because of Austin's accident and him not feeling very well, we didn't do MUCH this weekend, so it was pretty relaxing.

{F R I D A Y} 

Friday was my mother-in-laws birthday so Friday night hubby and I went to his parents house, his mom didn't get off work until 8 so his dad and us went to Rachel's Kitchen for dinner. I love love love their sweet potatoe fries & they have the best passion fruit tea in the world.

 

Here's a funny little story about my father-in-law: Earlier that day he went to Target to look at stands to put in his extra bedroom for an xbox, DVD player and DVDs. He didn't find what he was looking for and on his way out of the store he passed the electronics section where he saw a couple people holding the new Xbox Ones. Well he asked one of the associates at the counter if they were getting big shipments, {Because he knew they were hard to find right now}, and the guy replied with "We only received 9 today, and we have one more left".  Austin's dad had no intention of buying the new Xbox because he has three Xbox 360's at home, along with a couple of Wiis, and he never plays any of them {We actually took an Xbox and he didn't notice until he came over one day}, so he was turning to walk out. Another guy came to the counter and Cliff (FIL's Name), overheard him ask if there were anymore Xbox Ones left. The guy said "I think there is one more let me check", Cliff immediately turned back to his Associate and said "I'll take it!". Then he went and found Call of Duty Ghost, and $600 later left the store. He bought this game console on a whim. He always has to have the best of the best though!

 

So after Dinner we went to pick up some cake and ice cream then back to my husbands mom & dads house to hook up the new Xbox while waiting for Austin's mom to get home. When she got home she actually helped hook up the console the right way, then we gave her her birthday card and present, and ate cake and ice cream. The guys obviously rushed this part so they could play the new COD game. So this is me being bored on the couch watching hubby play Call of Duty.- He was so excited!

 

 

{S A T U R D A Y}

 

I ended up falling asleep on the couch and Austin was on the Xbox until 1am and I was not driving all the way home that late so we stayed the night at my In-laws. Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast and then went home to get Austin showered and re-bandaged before we met with my parents for Lunch.

 

My dad lives in Arizona because of work, so almost every weekend or every other weekend he comes  back home and we always go do something with him. Saturday we all {My dad, mom, sister, Austin and myself} decided to go to Red Robin for lunch. My dad called Austin's dad and invited him, too! Lunch was yummy. I wish I remembered to take pictures of  these activities.

 

After lunch my family came back to our house so my dad could check out the New TV and stand {that I so proudly put together myself}. I love how proud he gets of me when he comes over. I am sure it's weird for my dad thinking his first born is all grown up.

Then we went to a birthday party for a close family friend of ours. Austin was feeling pretty uncomfortable around 5, and said he wanted to go home.

 

Thursday when Sage and Eishi came over to help move the stand and TV they brought us a Ginger Bread house- or village! I was so excited to make it! So when we got home we got it out and had a little bit of messy fun.

 

Of all the buildings in the Village, only two of them stayed together  well enough to decorate. We are obviously professionals at decorating tiny houses!{Lol NOT, but it was still fun!} It was also a huge mess. This is one of those things that makes me excited to have kids!

 

 

After constructing and dressing little cookie houses, I wrapped some of my grandmothers gifts that finally arrived. I want to put them under the tree but I have to have them sent out by Friday, so back in a box they go!

 

{S U N D A Y}

Sunday morning my dad called to have us come over for breakfast before he went back to AZ.

When we got to their house, I noticed a lot more presents under the tree (:

& yes a few for me! My moms wrapping paper this year was on point! Ha ha.

 



 

After breakfast we hung out at their house for a little bit. Hubby mentioned how the bandages and girdle were making him itch really bad, and told me he was done wearing bandages. I never posted a picture of the road rash from the day after he got it, because it was too sick, but here is what it looks like now. {It doesn't look great, but its actually healed up a bunch! He can stop wearing bandages , and a layer of healthy skin has now covered the wound}.This is only one of his sides. Sunday night we did find out, or we are pretty sure, he has a separated shoulder, which I guess is the same as a sprained and should heal on its own with rest and ice.

 

After my parents house we did a little grocery shopping, and had to stop at the banks to deposit some cash-o-la. Then we went to his parents house so he could play some more COD. I talked with his sister about Christmas most of the time and everything I have to buy. Then we went home,  I did some laundry, made some sweet tea {pictured below}, dinner, watched the Scrooge, and got ready for work the next day.

 

I just love how cozy I feel in my home. (:

 

 

So yeah, that was my weekend. Next weekend is planned to be much more eventful! I promise!(: