It's a little late, but here's this year's Christmas letter

I didn't get our Christmas cards out in the mail this year like I wanted to and I am so mad especially since we have the best picture ever this year. So I am just going to post it here for everyone to read and enjoy (if you don't like it, blame Dan he wrote it!).
So without further ado u:

Twas the Friday before Christmas
And all through our home
All the creatures were stiring
while I tried to write this poem

Black and white fur was flying just past my head
with the cat finding safety on top of our bed
It seems that Mac had awoken from his short little nap
and thought to seek revenge from the last claw filled slap

Its difficult to write with such this clatter,
specially when you have to move to protect grey matter.
Just as pixel came in, she left in a flash
and with her, the dog ran out to continue the clash

Although not much happened in 2008 that I can name
However there is one event that unfortunately came
Buttercup passed away from us all, all too dang quick
The Feline Leukemia just had made her too sick

We got Mac to train as a service dog, just so you know
Although the puppy inside him still has some time to grow.
Guide books and trainers say this will take more then a year
I still say it could be shorter if we beat it through his rear.

Kristie and I are still doing the same old, old work
But hey, as the economy goes, a paycheck is still a nice perk
Maybe some day we will move where the snow no longer flows
but till then we're waiting to see where the market goes

I've ran all out of words and interested in this tale
and feel no need to continue until it is stale
So, as always, may your Christmas be jolly and bright
and to all our friends and family have a wonderful night!

Christmas 2008

Christmas at the Lent household this year was one of the best ever since we've been married. Christmas Eve we spent at mom and dad's for a few hours. I hadn't been feeling well since the day before so we took Christmas Eve easy so that Christmas Day I would hopefully feel better from my cold or whatever icky thing I came down with. We got home around 9 p.m. and worked on getting the rest of the house ready for Christmas morning. I still had a couple of presents of Dan's to wrap. I was also going frantic trying to find the present I had bought for my mom. We'd been looking for it all afternoon! Dan even went to several stores before we went to my parents just in case we needed a plan B gift. Yeah, funny thing...all the stores around here closed this year at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve! Yikes! Finally at around midnight we were ready to give up and go to bed....that's when it happened. Dan went to straighten out the sheets on the bed and found my mom's gift! Dan saves the day yet again :)

Christmas morning was so much fun this year, mainly because of the puppy. Mac did amazingly well. I had been training with him for the last couple of days to stay calmly on his mat when people came over and were at the house. He actually did it! He got a little nosy at first, but after we gave him his stocking treats he was happy as a clam and chewed on his rawhides and stayed out of the way while we opened gifts. Mom played Santa this year. Everyone got great gifts. Dan got me the wide-format printer I had been wanting for my scrapbook addiction. This way I don't have to spend as much money printing through Costco and can print out more pages than I usually do. Then he got me the one thing I didn't expect him to get at all (I already had figured out about the printer and knowing how expensive that is I didn't expect anything else from him). I got the new G1 android phone from T-Mobile! This is the best phone ever! It has more internet capabilities than any other phone I've seen or had. It can display 4 different browser windows/tabs at once on the screen. It has an application where I can scan a barcode using the camera and it will bring up where else you can by that item and at what price. I can go on and on about this phone! Mom and dad got me the IRobot Roomba too! We've used it a bit this morning and so far I'm impressed. It's charging right now so tomorrow will be it's first run for the whole house. The dog and cat are a bit leary of it which is funny.

Dan, mom and dad had some surprise gifts as well. Dan got Guitar Hero 3 and Wiifit from "Santa" which so far he seems to love...at least Guitar Hero. He played it so much Christmas afternoon that his eyes started to blur. Wiifit is hopefully going to be a great exercise motivator for him as well as me if we can figure out how to get me to use the balance board. My mom got a pretty jade necklace from us and my dad got a new power drill which is apparently one he didn't have and "needed"...LOL! Mom also got him a stationary bike which he was very surprised by and really wanted so he can continue his therapy from his hip surgery. Since they can't use their treadmill anymore we are going to take it off their hands and turn it into a doggie treadmill for Mac.

Dan and I went back down to mom and dad's for Christmas dinner. We had some very yummy turkey that Dad picked out. Apparently if you buy a fresh and not frozen turkey a day before Christmas it turns out very tender and juicy. Some of the best turkey I've had. Mom made her famous dressing that I could just live off of! She's going to finally teach me how to make it....yay! We had some candied sweet potato souffle (however that's spelled), mashed potatos and rolls. For dessert we had the chocolate cherry cheesecake Dan made for me for my birthday. It was the best homemade cheesecake I've ever had! We were talking last night about how he can go into business being a pastry chef or at least specializing in cheesecake! For my birthday I got more gifts from mom and dad...yay! I got some pretty new clothes and accessories and a very nice new jacket with a fur hood that is very warm. That will definitely come in handy up here!

Dan took me to see Marley and Me for my birthday. We were going to go see The Curious Case off Benjamin Button, but the theatre showing that was very packed at 7 p.m. so we tried the other theatre. I'd been wanting to see that one anyways for my birthday. It was a very good movie and despite the ending I would recommend it to anyone who is a dog lover. There were so many scenes that reminded me of Mac! I can say though that Mac is much more behaved than Marley is!

So that's the Christmas report from the Lent home. Pictures will be added when I can get them all sorted.

Nothing too new, but figured I'd write something

So it's been over a month since I've written any new blogs. November was a fairly uneventful month so I really had nothing new or exciting to post. It's mid way through December and we are gearing up for Christmas, or at least trying to. This past Saturday we had family pictures taken with Mac (for those that are reading this for the first time Mac is the new dog). Mac also got to have his picture taken with Santa. He's not quite sure what to think of Santa, but was happy that he got treats for being such a good boy.

Dan was suppose to go out of town on his first business trip at the beginning of December, but due to weather it got canceled. I think the Lord was trying to tell us something because that same week he started getting sick. My back and legs also have been getting weaker and around Thanksgiving time they started getting really weak and I started to fall more again. So I guess you could say it was a good thing Dan didn't go out of town. The last few weeks seem to be one doctor's appointment or another for someone in our family. This past week there's been doctor's appointments for either me, Dan or the dog. It's been kinda nuts. Dan still isn't feeling too hot and now has a sinus infection. The neurologist still does not have a clue as to what is causing my leg weakness and wants to send me back down to Utah so I'm just waiting to hear back from him to see what the next step there will be. The latest update is a CAT scan that was done last week didn't show anything too new other than the start of degenerative disk disease at L4-5 which could be the reason for some of my lower back pain I've been having since April. If I do have a tethered cord or anything like that, they might have to do a spinal tap to make sure because the CAT scan isn't showing it. The neurologist doesn't want to do that until hearing from the neurosurgeon first since it is a fairly painful procedure.

Our poor puppy is on lots of medication right now. We took him to the vet on Tuesday after our doctors' appointments and he had a whole workup done. They did skin scrapes again to check for mites which they finally found this time so he is on medication for the next month for that. I am really hoping that it helps clear up his poor little face where he has been losing hair. He also has a small yeast infection. The vet has no idea how that happened and said it's rare to have that and mites at the same time. She gave us these medicated wipes (Dan calls them stride-x pads) to rub over his face and neck and any other effected area. He also has to take his allergy medicine again. Poor Mac really doesn't like the medicated wipes but at least he takes his meds like a good puppy. I think so far the allergy meds and the medicated wipes are helping. He just started on the other medicine for the mite problem tonight so we have to watch him closely for side effects from that.

That's pretty much it. I just figured I would ramble a bit since I have a few people who actually read what I write. More to come as we get closer to Christmas and my birthday!