Blowtorch Fires and Tug-Of-War!!

So since it was so cold today, I decided that it would be fun to have our first fire in our fireplace! So Brandon goes outside and grabs some wood and heads to the garage, which I think nothing of because he probably goes in there at least 20 times a day. In the meantime I head to the kitchen to grab the matches and as I am walking back to the fireplace, Brandon strolls on by with a blowtorch! I look down at my matches and think, "Silly me, apparently we light fires with blowtorches in this house!" So I thought I would take a few pictures and share them with everyone, sorry if they are a bit blurry, I snapped them really quick with my phone. Also the video below is of the dogs playing with one of Brandon's socks, which is their favorite thing to do. Banks gets really mad at Diesel when he won't give him enough attention. I also took this on my phone so I'm not too sure how it's going to look, and I have never put a video on the blog, so I hope I did it right. We'll see, I may have to go back and do it differently if it doesn't work. Enjoy! 

Diesel was mesmerized by the massive flames. Banks on the other hand decided he was going to go into his kennel to take a nap.

I still think doing it the old fashion way with some matched and newspaper works pretty good, but this way you get to enjoy the pretty colors!!

Diesel and Banks playing on the couch which they know is not allowed, but it's a bit hard to keep a combined weight of 150lbs off of something when they really want to be on it!!

Christmas Lights!

This past Saturday Brandon and I(or mostly Brandon doing and me directing) put up Christmas lights on our house! I was so excited to start putting up all of our Christmas stuff and Brandon had an excuse to use an air powered staple gun! I was confused when he started unrolling the air hose thinking he had a regular staple gun that you just squeeze with your hand, but oh no that didn't work for Brandon. He needed something that could emit staples at dangerous speeds! For those of you who know Brandon, you know how much of a perfectionist he is with everything that he does. This was reiterated to me when he insisted that every single bulb was facing down the same way. This meant that every bulb was stapled about 3 times, I swear there must be at least 500 staples in our house now, but they look great! It was fun being able to be outside enjoying the great day and having the dogs outside with us playing.

Brandon making sure the lights are all facing the right way

Extreme close up!

Banks taking a well deserved nap after playing with Diesel

This is one of my favorite pictures. Banks was tied up in the yard and his leash only allowed him to get right up to the sidewalk, but he couldn't get any closer. Diesel figured this out and he would take his toy and go sit right on the edge of the lawn on the sidewalk so Banks couldn't get his toy! Banks was getting so mad!

The end result! The lights look a little blue, but are actually supposed to be white. We went with LED Christmas lights and they are so bright they give off a blueish tint! They light up the whole front yard! If you enlarge the picture you can see Diesel and Banks in the yard, they were not happy with me that I was making them stay in the yard instead of coming across the street with me!

2009 Jason Schechterle Ball

Brandon and I were able to attend the 3rd Annual Jason Schechterle Ball this year to support his dad Willie who received the Investigator of the Year Award! The Ball was created not only to award outstanding Police Officers and Firefighters, but to also award scholarships to deserving students.  It was so much fun to be able to dress up and go and support his dad who is an outstanding Firefighter and Arson Investigator, and to be able to support the other Officers and Firefighters who do such a great job. Here are a couple of pictures from the night! Enjoy!

This is a picture of the family who could make it to support Willie. 

Brandon, Me, sister Kim, stepmom Marion, Willie, sister Mandy, Marion's mother Grandma Wiehrdt, sister Kristi, her husband Austin

Brandon looking studly as always and making me look pale with his ridiculously tan skin! 

Brother Jim, Willie, Grandpa Nelson

Jim, Jack, Jason, Willie