Snowman

What do you give a man who doesn’t want anything and can always guess what people give him?? You give him his favorite foods created into a character. My stepdad eats a lot of tacos and we got him taco fixin’s for Christmas. I created a snowman out of his gift so he couldn’t guess what it was.

The supplies:The food tower - 4 jars of olives, 4 jars of Pico Pica, 1 boxed jar of Tabasco, 2 jars of jalapenos and 10 packets of taco seasoning:Finished gluing the cotton balls:Added a face and some ribbon so it would look more like a snowman:Cut a hat out of construction paper:All finished:He had no idea his gift was inside and he wouldn't rip into it so i lifted it's head off and handed it to him. It was hysterical!Yeah...I should have wrapped the food in plastic wrap before I glued all the cotton balls to it, but now it's funny because all the food has cotton stuck to it. hee hee. It's the gift that keeps on givin'.

Added Photos

I was transferring photos from my phone to my computer and noticed a few I didn't post. I'm glad I took this photo because I was bummed I didn't get a picture of the food spread at my mom's birthday party: My mom sent me a super cute bouquet for having a birthday party for her:

The work wife and I went to Pinkberry for the first time. The guy behind the counter, Alejandro, was really fun and very knowledgeable about his job :). It was very good frozen yogurt and they don't charge by weight, so if there is room to add more toppings they'll do it!

Dinner Fun

We had a couple great dinners over the weekend. Doug had his birthday steak on Thursday, then Friday we met the great Dan and Lisa for a late dinner (9pm) at Red Robin - Doug and Lisa share a birthday month and we try to make sure to use the free birthday burgers together each year. It's always a fun evening out with those two. I never seem to get pictures when we hang out with them.

Saturday we were just planning on hanging out together and being mellow, but then I got a text that Ben & Breanna's Christmas party was cancelled, so FUN was on the way!! We had a nice dinner and then I was showing them our photo books and took our Nerf guns out of the cabinet. Breanna and I were shooting at an Angry Bird stuffed animal and then Doug and Ben started shooting at the television. You can see the little orange darts on the screen. Then they turned the tv on and started shooting at the actors in the show.

There are a lot of little suction cup marks on the tv now. (they're hard to see in the reflection)

We finished the night playing Super Mario on the Wii. That game gets us yelling and acting crazy every time. We finally had to shut it off because it was getting late. We had a really fun weekend with our friends! I know Doug is looking forward to this busy holiday season being over and working in time to see our friends and family is difficult, but I'm glad we've been able to have fun. We've put off some other dinner dates until January, so I'm sure more fun is on the way!

Craft Room

I can't believe I finally have pictures hanging on the walls and everything is put away. It only took a few years to finally paint and finish this room!

I made the stained glass fish and rose when I was about 15 years old.

Christmas Card

Hi! We sent out our Christmas cards a couple weeks ago, but we couldn't send them to everyone. Here's the card and letter that was mailed out. If you follow our blog, you already know about the stuff in the letter :) Sorry if you didn't get a card from us!! I still have a few if you really want one ;)

Happy Holidays!
We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. I can’t believe this year is almost over.

We ended 2010 unsuccessfully trying to have children, so we bought Doug a new truck – we figure it costs about the same, but it doesn’t talk back :). Doug’s old truck was very well used and it was definitely time for a new vehicle anyways. I started 2011 with a very bad cold and cough, so I sat around and watched all the Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring sagas for the first time…for my Sedgwick peeps: no, I still haven’t watched Star Wars.

In April, Doug was sent to Maryland for training. It was very last minute and a great opportunity for him. I’m so proud of the steps he has been able to make. He has worked very hard for so many years and it was finally starting to pay off. While he was in Maryland I heard water running, but I couldn’t find the source. Various websites taught me how to check for leaks throughout the pipes; according to the internet we had a leak in our concrete foundation. Lovely. I didn’t know what do to, so I waited for Doug to get home. While venting to my mom about it my stepdad said we shouldn’t have the water running at all. So, we kept the main water line off for a couple weeks, only turning it on long enough for a shower, to refill the toilets and to do a load of laundry and dishes occasionally. We contacted our insurance company and learned more about our leak when they sent a leak detection specialist to the house. It turned out to be a leak in our concrete slab under our kitchen island. It was going to be quite an ordeal. I researched contractors and then decided to contact the home builder because our home isn’t very old. Since we’re the second owners I figured we were out of luck, but we are so thankful the home builder took care of and paid for everything. WHEW!

Doug and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary and took an Alaskan cruise in July. Doug working two jobs only leaves us one week a year to spend together, so we make it as fun as we can. Our Alaskan adventures included: a train ride and hiking, rock climbing, a helicopter ride and dog sledding, a ropes and zip line course, and whale watching.

My stepdad, Glenn, gave us a bit of a scare in July. He was dealing with some pain/numbness for a while and went to the doctor for an x-ray. The doctor saw spots in his lungs during the x-ray and sent him for further testing and more scans. He ended up having a biopsy to determine if he had lung cancer. Luckily the biopsy came back better than we all expected. He was diagnosed as having granuloma in his lungs (it’s an area of inflammation due to tissue injury, which could have been caused by many different things). After all is said and done, he’s fine, but he’s still a pain in the butt. hee hee.

August was the Sedgwick family reunion. It was great to get to know the Sedgwick family better since some of them live out of state. They are all so fun to talk to. We were sad that Mark’s family and Brian/Bonnie weren’t able to go. We weren’t able to stay the whole time since we just took a vacation, but we had fun while we were there. A few of the uncles were launching the kids in the air while in the pool; it was so funny to watch and we got some great photos!

During August and September we finished some projects we put off for too long. We also had a friend living with us while she was in transition to move to Washington. It was nice to get our projects done and off my mind; we put ceiling fans in all the bedrooms, painted 2 rooms that were painted in a Hawaiian theme by the previous owners and we installed two security doors (the security doors are going to be so nice to cool down the house in the summer). We didn’t get a garden in this year, so hopefully next year. Our fruit trees have grown a lot, but only the lemon tree fruited this season. The poor mandarin tree didn’t survive being planted in the ground, so we’ll have to level the ground and plant a new tree in the spring.

October was a very difficult month. On October 12th Doug’s brother, Brian, lost his battle with cancer. Brian worked really hard to make sure he would be around to watch his kids grow up and be there with Bonnie, but there was a different plan in the heavens for him. Brian stayed so positive through his trials and he was a blessing to so many people, even from his hospital bed. He is dearly missed and not a day goes by that we don’t think about him.

Just a couple days after Brian passed away, Doug finally got the promotion he was waiting years for. I don’t know how to explain our rollercoaster of emotions that week, but we know Brian was already working on the other side. After 4 ½ years, Doug is only working ONE job. He’s still working a lot of hours, but that’s typical for the holiday season at his company. He has learned a lot over the last couple months and continues to learn his new position. I’m so excited and proud of him.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have so much to be thankful for. We are very thankful for each other and for our families and the love and strength each of them have. We are thankful for our friends and the support they give us throughout the years. We are grateful for our jobs, our home, our adventures (even if they’re not good because we can learn and grow from the experience) and the love and laughter we have in our lives.

November had a few changes for my family: My mom settled into her new job at the prison, while hoping to get back to a tower soon. She’s one more year closer to retirement, but as she says she’ll be there for “25 to life”. My older brother, Jason, reenlisted in the Navy for his final enlistment. I’m so happy for him and his family because he will retire from the Navy at the end of this enlistment. My younger brother, Justin, began a project as a NASA test subject. He is currently lying down at a slight angle (head down) – everything is done while lying down; eating, showers, “business”, etc. – so NASA can research the effects of compression suits, vertigo, lost muscle mass and the many other issues that astronauts have when they get back to Earth.

We are wrapping up this year with another busy season and we are looking forward to next year. We hope your holiday season is filled with family, friends, love and laughter.

Warm Wishes,
Doug & April Sedgwick

Happy Birthday!!

Happy birthday Doug!!! He beat me home and there wasn't time to make a cake. So... He got a birthday steak complete with a candle.

MENSA Test

You may have come across this test before, but it has consumed my mind for a few days now. I finally gave up after 26 and looked up the answers to some of them:

The first one is given below.

0) 24 H in a D - 24 hours in a day
1) 26 L of the A
2) 7 D of the W
3) 7 W of the W
4) 12 S of the Z
5) 66 B of the B
6) 52 C in a P (WJs)
7) 13 S in the USF
8) 18 H on a G C
9) 39 B of the O T
10) 5 T on a F
11) 90 D in a R A
12) 3 B M (S H T R)
13) 32 is the T in D F at which W F
14) 15 P in a R T
15) 3 W on a T
16) 100 C in a D
17) 11 P in a F (S) T
18) 12 M in a Y
19) 13=UFS
20) 8 T on an O
21) 29 D in F in a L Y
22) 27 B in the N T
23) 365 D in a Y
24) 13 L in a B D
25) 52 W in a Y
26) 9 L of a C
27) 60 M in an H
28) 23 P of C in the H B
29) 64 S on a C B
30) 9 P in S A
31) 6 B to an O in C
32) 1000 Y in a M
33) 15 M on a D M C

Doug's Medals

Doug had a box of medals and pins that I wanted to display for him. He used to run a lot and these medals are pretty cool.... Michael's was having a sale on their shadow boxes; they were buy one get one free. So I spent some time last week getting his medals pinned into the boxes. They came out pretty good!

Party Time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!
We rented the community center from 4pm-9pm and, but we got there at 3pm. Long time family friends, Marty and Debbie got there shortly after we did and we all decided to just go in and start setting up early. I'm SOOOO glad we did because Glenn wasn't supposed to get there until 4:45, but he showed up at 4:15. Thank goodness my cousin shouted that they were there already. I was shocked!! Doug barely had the video camera out and I didn't get a chance to grab my camera. Thank goodness another family friend said he got pictures of her when she walked in and Doug got a quick video, but I haven't had a chance to watch it or get it off the camera.

My mom thought she was going to meet Doug and I at Sizzler for a birthday dinner for her and Doug. Glenn told her he needed to meet up with a guy to check out some vehicle parts and pulled into the community center. She questioned why they were meeting at the center and Glenn just told her, "I don't know, that's what the guy said." He told her to come in with him and she refused, he said he had to go around and open the door to the truck to get her out to go in with him.Opening gifts. She got a Power Lift Bra, complete with springs. HAHAMy sister-in-law sent a card with my nephews singing "happy birthday"- it made her cry. She got emotional over the nice cards too. I teased her for being sappy, but I think she had so much excitment, family, friends and surprise that she couldn't hide it. :) She got a tiny little Tupperware bowl because she wanted one, but didn't want to have the party to get the bowl, so a friend brought it to her.She got some gag gifts and she got more Wizard of Oz stuff and a friend said, "Just think, April, one day this will all be yours." We had a good laugh over it because we've joked about that before. Some of the Wizard of Oz stuff she has is pretty cool though.Doug and I had an after party for 2.....doing the dishes when we got home. We had dishes all over the place.We left the rest of the mess for this morning and it wasn't too bad to clean up. I wish I would have gotten more photos of people rather than crowds of people and I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the food set up and stuff (but the party started 30 minutes earlier than planned and we barely finished setting up when they walked in, so I didn't have a chance to get pictures ahead of time) - I ordered food from El Pollo Loco for about 25 people, but the guest list doubled so I added taco fixings and a few other things to the menu. It was a fun evening and I'm glad my mom had a great time. It was so great to surprise her. She does so much for everyone else that it was a pleasure to throw a party for her. I feel like I put just as much stress and energy into this party as I did our wedding. People were saying that everything was great and the food was really good. Then I was told I did such a great job that everyone was going to come to our house for Christmas. Oh sure, stress me out more! LOL

Fantastic Cake

I'll let the pictures of this amazing cake speak for themselves.While taking pictures I broke the witches foot :( I felt so terrible!!!! (I actually shed a few tears over it).I took more pictures when I got home:Kristie fixed the foot :)YAY!! Cake!! Kristie did a fantastic job! I'm so thankful for her and her talents! We actually cut the cake at the party, but my mom was a little reluctant. We took some pieces of the cake off so she could spray them and save them. The Wizard of Oz characters are a Christmas ornament that my mom got me years ago.