found this in the closet

ugh!

The most dreaded deposition has been rescheduled. Jan 4. And here i was so excited to jump into 2007. what was i thinking??

Christmas is over...

it was great while it lasted but i'm ready for 2007. We've taken down everything but the tree. hmmmm.

I have some great pics from V-town with my family that i'll need to get on here. We went up Christmas eve and hung out with my family for Christmas. We're so glad we did. I drove away from my building (totally under the radar, btw) with a leak coming out of the garage ceiling. I put a bucket underneath before we left but i figured we weren't going to be calling a plumber on Christmas eve or christmas day so the bucket was going to have to do. We got there in the evening and the cousins played non stop for the next 2 days. Owen had the same bed head and wore the same camo sweats the ENTIRE time. We had a talent show and went caroling in the back of carter's truck (something the kids went crazy for) and made tons of hot chocolate with my new hot chocoate maker. It may sound lame but it's AWESOME! We love hot chocolate and all you do is pour in the milk and cocoa and it mixes and heats it for you. So cool. we played games and watched last years Christmas episode of "The Office." We bought season 2 for my dad. There were some awkward parts that don't seem like a big deal until your watching it with 20 family members that included parents, aunts, cousins, etc. Oh Well.

It was a lovely holiday season. Now, let's get on with the new year.

spreading holiday cheer

Driving to get a few last minute gifts, i changed lanes without using my blinker. An traffic offense to be sure but i really wasn't anywhere near the car behind me. I didn't cut anybody off or attempt to squeeze where i didn't belong, i swear. I just forgot my blinker. the lady behind me was well into her 60's and driving a toaster car, um.. the scion? oh yeah, the scion. a horrific looking car if you ask me, but i just might be feeling sour. anyway, so she starts honking at me after i move over and so i wave like, "oh, i'm sorry," to be nice. I really wasn't being crazy. Then she starts flashing her headlights, honking some more and pulls something out and points it at me. it looked like some kind of laser. She is absolutely going nuts. Is it something that records my license plate and can be uploaded to the cops? Is it a gun? what the crap does she keep pointing at me?? I take my exit and she follows me coming up along side my car. She stops even with me and points this thing directly at my HEAD and then points it to the ceiling. she does it over and over while honking her horn. While it's pointing up i finally get a glimpse at it. It's a garage door opener! I guess she was practicing a drive by which means if it had been a gun she would have killed me. HELLO! what a psycho. gangsta grandma. whatever. We finally turned opposite directions and she drove away, my rearview mirror keeping a close eye until she was gone. I know it was just a remote but i had a burning hole in my head all afternoon.

Our own little FLO-JO

Yesterday Sophie broke the 5th grade record for fastest mile. (Which is especially great considering she's in 4th grade.) According to the coach the record was 7 min and 29 sec and she beat it by 4 seconds coming in at 7min 25 sec. She ran in her Vans and is so sore today. She was feeling pretty good, though, because the kids were chanting her name as she crossed the finish line in first place. sophie! sophie! sophie!

Go Spurs!

In an effort to Live it up while Dougy is around, we took the kids to their first Spurs game on Monday. It was great. Owen announced the score after every basket. We had total nosebleed seats and Sophie kept saying, why is it so quiet? Ya know, monday night, maybe people are still hung over from the weekend. anyway. they played the clippers and stomped them. Which is sad. poor clippers. But the spurs really did rock the place. Actually, there was a 3rd quarter time out game where someone from the stands got a chance to win a dodge viper. They had to make a half court shot. so the announcer said, "Here we go, do you guys think he can make it?" and everyone in the stands started shouting "NO, NO. No NOOOOOOOO." the the announcer goes, " you guys always say that." So this hispanic guy who is a 3rd grade teacher has his 10 year old son with him at half court and he throws the the ball and sinks it into the net. The whole place went crazy and he was jumping up and then fell to the floor. The crowd was roaring. It was deafening. So much louder than the biggest Clippers play of the night. Sophie couldn't believe it. she said she nearly had a heart attack she was so excited.

The final pics

Here they are:

gingerbread

the making of the houses.

Our friend Rachel making a scale model of the waco compound out of burned scraps and broken pieces. the final had a thatched pretzel roof and gummy bears posted at every window with pretzel guns.


Doug and Sophie working on a Dr. Seuss inspired outhouse. brillant.


Owen adding a few special touches. this photo makes it look like he spent the night decorating when...


in fact his was was doing this pretty much all night long. Owen and Court (rachel's husband) made it to the 5 level on lego star wars. sweet.


I'll get final product shots from doug and post them. they really did turn out lovely. especially the compoud.

a little christmas

Some pics from tree decorating last week. Yesterday we had our fist annual (So.Cal) Chamberlain family Gingerbread house extravaganza. Doug's family has been doing gingerbread for decades but this was my first time. it was a total blast. It was also surprisingly successful considering I made all of the gingerbread and icing from scratch. That's right, me. Shocking, I know. Will post pics soon as actual proof.

like no other

I'm sure our Utah friends have already experienced the genius of Utah Wolf Productions, a website/production company fueled by a guy that was at BYU with Doug, but I just watched one of the lastest music videos and just had to share with the rest of you. Click here and scroll down until you find "Ride on a Metorite" or "Swing" in the left column. The only background information you need to know is that he is not kidding. Enjoy.

An exchange as we left the parking lot of the church after our primary party this morning:

O: This is Jesus' house, right?

S: Yep.

O: Where is his garage?