Once a stoner... always a stoner..

So the day after christmas i went to the emergency for severe side pain and it turns out I have a 4mm kidney stone... which i guess is huge in terms of it being a stone in your organs. The pain was unbearable, but because we were at the emergency room i had to wait it out for an hour before they called me in. Anyways it still hasn't come out yet and because i haven't been at my job for 90 days yet (feb 11) it's going to have to stay in there until i get my insurance. I keep picturing it doing major damage... like scraping at my insides. Anyways i guess my body just makes stones because i also had gallstones which i had major surgery for in 2006. Such a stoner...

neglecting the blog...

Xmas eve with the knights

We spent xmas eve with my parents at our house in Vegas. When I got home from work at 4:30 the festivities were in full swing. First we ate our traditional chinese food. Then we did our annual pajama exchange. This is a spin on one of brandon's family traditions....


Gracie opened her jammies from grandpa

Brandon opened his jammies from my mom...

I opened my jammies from brandon...

My dad opened his jammies from me....

... And then he liked them so much he started to change immediately!

Grammy opened her jammies from gracie....

Then we took our traditional family pic in front of the tree, and watched Home Alone!

Grunwald Family Christmas 2008

This year family xmas was at aunt marilyn & uncle kurt's house. brandon, gracie and i arrived at my parents house on friday night and drove back with my parents on monday morning to spend the holiday at our house in Vegas. This was gracie's first family xmas experience since last year driving 500 miles with a baby fresh out of the NICU seemed just a little overwhelming! This year christmas was a brunch on Sunday. aunt marilyn out did herself with some yummy treats.

I was the one to cry this year at the gathering due to an amazing gift from my amazing cousin Jen. who knew i would get so emotional over a pair of uggs...LOL!

Gracie saw uncle bob with these on and had to wear them.

Jen & Mike....

Bradley and Jessica who was home from florida...

After being mocked for telling them to skwoosh in I got a really cute pic...

It's a snow thing....

Ok so I made it to work this morning... I'm one of few. Since I live so close I didn't think I could use snow as an excuse, so I drove for the first time ever in snow... kind of crazy. I wore my Uggs to work and changed into heels when I got here. Yesterday I was wearing heels in the snow and it sucked. We got5 inches of snow last night. Up the hill from us they got 8 inches. The news said it hadn't snowed like this for almost 30 years!! More branches on our tree broke, schools are closed today.. can you believe it, a snow day in Las Vegas!?! Last night was so peaceful... it was almost creepy. We built a snow man in the front yard... a naked snowman... our neighbors' had clothes and Brandon was jealous. But I think we're addicted to snow now... I love it!! Everyone was in a childlike good mood yesterday, but I guess that's because it's so out of the norm here, if there were snow everyday I don't think It would have been as exciting.

Snowing in Las Vegas!!!!

It's snowing in vegas tonight... not just a little snow, it's sticking to the ground!!!! At lunch time today there were snow flurries, so when I came home Brandon drove me back to work in case it got worse... and I'm glad he did. I have never in my life seen snow like this... probably because I've lived in the bay area and vegas. Both are not places known for snow. I came home a little early to play in it because all I was doing at work was standing outside taking pictures with my co-workers anyways!

This is our street earlier in the day... very exciting!!!Snow at my work...

Back at home!

The fountain at my work

I thought the snowy palm trees were ironic...

This was on our way home from my work... we drove 10mph the whole way.

Our house.... our tree broke from the weight of the snow!!

Papa and Gracie in the snow.

Charlotte was our potty champ... She went outside. Clarice did not.

thanksgiving with the knights

Thanksgiving was just the 3 of us this year. Our move was so quick and unexpected that my parents didn't have time to make travel arrangements. We will definitely be seeing them at christmas. Our day was really nice and quiet. My new job asked me to come in for any 4 hours I wanted. Which was fine because I live literally 2 minutes from work ( if i catch the green light). I guess they needed someone from social services there in case any holiday drama popped off, which it did but I was gone by then :P

Brandon cooked dinner this year... with gracie's help of course! They made spinach & artichoke dressing which was very tasty!

Such a big girl!!!

She ate a little of everything... even the dressing with spinach in it!

Veruca hounded us for turkey as per usual.

Our tradition is after dinner we put up the tree. It's only decorated from the middle up because we have little hands that like to take the ornaments off...

Ready for bed. It was a good day spent at home with our little family!