Shadd Style Christmas

On Monday my family got together to decorate the house for Christmas...funny thing is the only free time we could all get together is Monday morning, oh the joys of a recession :0)  Our family wasn't going to get a tree this year, but one of Kevin's friend's family bought us a tree!! Which was very, very nice of them.  It was quite a nice morning, my dad made breakfast and we had awesome Ghiradelli chocolate mochas...YUMMMM!!!! We of course listened to Christmas music, however my dad and Kevin started to download rediculous songs by Elmer Fudd or Larry the Cable Guy.  Nothing makes it more like Christmas than Elmer Fudd singing Silent Night!  After decorating the tree Kevin brought out his guitar and started singing and playing songs.  He is very, very talented.  Once I figure out how to put videos on here, I will post him playing and singing.  Overall, it was a very relaxing morning and now the house is already for Christmas!!!

Christmas Craft Day

This past Sunday we had Christmas craft day as a family.  Tori and I spent most of the day making snowman chair covers, which took forever!!! If I never cut another piece of felt it will be too soon!!! They did turn out super cute though.  Kim spent the entire day making a pom pom wreath, which she didn't quite finish, as you can see.  But when it is done, it will look super cute.  After Tor and I made the snowman chair covers, I decided to embark on another project... the reindeer wreath.  Suprisingly it didn't take very long and it turned out pretty good.  Matt spent the whole day making ravioli for Christmas eve!!! I can't wait to eat them...even though brains are in them ;0) Debbi and Tweedy did all the mixes, which is awesome cause those take forever!! Now your probably thinking to yourself, where was Dayton and Mike?!?! Mike was our runner, anything we forgot or needed at the store he happily went and got it.  As for Dayton, well he had quite the morning...he was preparing the house to get solar panels.  In the process of putting up sheetrock he hit the phone line with a nail and cause all the phones downstairs not to work!! Let's say he was a little pissed and after he fixed it he just wanted to sit and watch movies.  We actually got to watch three movies this year...  Home Alone, The Grinch (Jim Carrey version), and of course everyone's favorite... Love Actually!!! Oh and yes Mad Dog was there, but she was a grinch!!!

Last Day of Nursing School

So this past Thursday was my lastday of school for forever (well at least as of right now).  Suprisingly it was kind of bittersweet.  I always imagined that day as a day of nothing but pure happiness, but I definitely was a little sad.  Its hard to believe that 2 1/2 years is already over!!! Although it was the toughest years of my life, it did go by very fast.  Thankyou everyone for supporting me through the program, I know Iwasn't the most pleasent of people at times and I am really glad that everyone stuck with me until the end!! After our class on Thursday we went to Mr. Lucky's for some drinks and had an awesome time pre-partying/ getting ready for the next day.  On Friday we had a huge party with about 170 people!!! Everyone in the program showed up.  Of course like the idiot I am, I forgot my camera, so I had to steal photo's from others...lol.  Anyways, thanks to Kimmy I looked pretty good that night ;0). Here are some pictures... I realize that the picture of me and Mike makes me look somewhat preggers (but I am not...by the way!!!) I have just put on a little weight since the begining of the program. The nursing 25 hit me hard...lol.  Anyways the night turned out really great and all my hard work paid off!!! Now it is time tostudy, once again, for the last test that I will ever take, so can get a job!! YAY for paychecks!!!

Which Ornament is best?

Here are the snowman that Matt and Mike each made when they were little... these ornaments are at the heart of the argument.  I realize the photo is a little far away, but the only detail you can't really see is that Matt's snowman is kind of jaundice (yellow eyes).  So what's the verdict people?!?!

Christmas Tree Hunting

On Sunday we went hunting for our Christmas tree in Morgan Hill.  It was very, very, cold, but fun.  Mike had a hard time getting around the hill of trees because of his crutches, but thank goodnes that it didn't rain cause mike could have gotten stuck in the mud....which actually would have been hilarious!! We finally found a tree after hauling Mike all over the mountain...which I am sure he enjoyed.  The tree was for Debbi and Dayton's house.  Mike, Matt, Kim, and I have decided not to get a tree this year, but are loking for alternative trees...so if you guys have any ideas let us know.  After we went tree hunting we had an awesome lunch at Chipotle and then went to papa's house.  We watched some football... New Orleans won!!! YAY!!! The Niners continue to suck (as usual), and the Raiders actually pulled of a victory!!! So not a complete waste of a football Sunday.  

When we got home from papa's we had ribs for dinner and started decorating.  Of course that was when the madness began.  Every year the boys (meeaning Matt and Mike) fight about who's homemade ornaments are better.  Well Matt's are pretty funky...lol So I have to take my husbands side on this one (sorry Matt).  However, it was figured out this year that Matt actually did not make some of the ornaments and that the room moms did.  Well, these room moms need a little help with their crafting...lol.  Yes they are that bad! We finished up the night with egg nog and homemade funfetti cake...which I had no idea could be possible, but it was very good!  It was a great start to the holiday season!! I can't wait till this week is over (school will be done forever!!), and Gabby and Jason come home on the 22nd!!! YAY!!!

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

So I just got home from picking Matt and Kim up from the airport.  Its way early in the morning, but I am too awake to go to sleep, so I decided to visit one of my favorite websites during the holiday.  ELF YOURSELF!!! It makes me crack up everytime!! Anyways enjoy it, but when/if you press play make sure you pause the music already playing for this page, otherwise it will sound even more like the chipmucks!! Its officially the holiday season when the four of us are dressed like elves!!

Nine People, Seven Desserts

This Thanksgiving Mike and I spent the day with my family and his mom's family.  Matt and Kim flew accross the country to Florida, to spend the holiday with Kim's family and friends.  I am sure one of the first things Kim will do when she gets home is post about their vacation!! The morning of Thanksgiving Mika and I went up to Tutu's house and spent time with the family there.  It was really good seeing all the Jacobs! After that Mike, Debbi, Dayton, and I went toWatsonville, to Auntie Linda's house.   It was such a beautiful day!!! I couldn't believe it... it was at least75 degrees!! Gotta love California!!  Of course there was tons of food...especially dessert.  We had cheesecake, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, mince meat, apple pie, chocolate mousse pie, and of course I forget the last one.  Anyways there was seven desserts and only nine people.... gotta love Burkholder holidays!!  It was a great day to spend time with family...we had great food, great weather, okay football (those games really sucked!!), and great company!

The day after Thanksgiving Debbi and I decided to experience our first black friday.  We woke up at 3:45 am and hit the sales through out Dublin and Pleasanton.  I was totally expecting rude people all over the place, but in fact everyone was really nice...I guess people are actually getting into the holiday spirit this year! The sales were pretty good... I just bought stuff for our house, which I realize defeats the purpose of Christmas shopping, but we really needed stuff for our new place.  Anyways we shopped for about 5 1/2 hours!! When we got done my legs were cramping and my knees hurt so bad!!! But it was definitely fun...next year we will go with Kimmy because she goes every year... which we always made fun of her, but I guess now we can't!! Anyways I am so glad December is finally here!!! The greatest month of the year!!!

Vampires + Margarita's = FUN!!!

On Saturday night we had a fun girls night out.  Molly, Tweedy, Kim, and I went out for dinner and to see the movie New Moon.  We went to this new restaurant in Blackhawk called Coa.  It's this new place that replaced Alberto's Cantina.  It was actually super good... not just the food, but the margaritas!!! The cadillac margarita was amazing... and a little strong!!  We had a really good time catching up at dinner and getting prepared for one of the best movies of the year...NOT!! Yes I did just pull out a 1990 "NOT joke" just to emphasize the corney-ness of the evening.  What can I say about the movie??? The acting was terrible and Edward (Robert Pattenson) is not very attractive... he has a hairy chest!!!  What is that about?? The only good thing about the movie was Jacob... boy is he nice to look at!! I will say that this movie was better than the first one, but that isn't really saying much.  But if you ask me if I am excited about the third one... yup I am!!! And I have no clue why...lol.

Mike's Ankle

So as most of you know, Mike tore his achilles tendon about four weeks ago in a basketball game. He had surgery three weeks ago... He had to be in a hard cast for the last three weeks, so we didn't know how many stitches or what the scar looked like.  On Monday he went to the Doctors and they took his cast off and put him in a walking boot.  He still can't put any pressure on his foot... so he is still ridin' dirty on his scooter and crutches! He did have an incident on Sunday falling off his scooter because he was going too fast...lol I wish I would have seen it happen!!  Now he can take the cast thing off and see the scar (and even better he can shower and wash his foot!!) Have Mike tell you that story... super gross!!
It is eighteen stitches and about eight inches long!! His calf muscle is non existent which is kinda funny to look at.  He started physical therapy yesterday... and of course he is already talking about how great his foot already is!!! LOL!!

Anyways... hopefully he will be walking by Christmas and definitely by January so he can help move. Sometimes I wonder if he planned this ;0)
Well enjoy the pictures!!!

Spring Cleaning in Winter

So this picture is of my side of the bed in our bedroom...I realize that we are moving in a month, but at what point does it become so messy that you have to clean? I can't even get into bed from my side!!!  The second problem is that the cats have decided that this is their fort, which they decide to play in all through the night.  If you notice the HP box (the colorful one) is flipped over... well thats because there is a cat stuck in there, meowing of course!! The flat box on the left side is their slide.  Anyways this picture reflects the rest of our house too.  So I spent the day cleaning... there was definitely times through out the day that I thought of pulling a Kim (not cleaning until you move)...lol!!! Sorry Kimmy I just couldn't hold off for another month and a half!!

Getting into the Holiday Spirit!!!

So Mike and I went to the movies on our day off.  Gosh I love it when a holiday falls on a Wednesday!!  What a nice break in the week!! Anyways we decided to go see Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol... you know to get us into the holiday spirit!!  It was super good... but it wasn't like the other Christmas Carol movies, it was pretty dark.  It stayed really true to Dicken's novel.  Not that I have read that book, but I heard that it was pretty dark.  What cracked me up was the ghost of Christmas present... he looked exactly like the guy at the Dickens Fair!!! It was super weird!!! Anyways people should go and see the movie... but don't expect anything like the Muppet Christmas Carol ;0).  I feel like I am so ready for the holidays now!! I also can't wait to go to the Dickens fair this year... Gabby you have to come back in time!!!

Family Portraits

I know Halloween is over but I just thought I would post one of the craft projects that we were most proud of this holiday season!!  Thanks to Mad dog and Tori the picture turned out great!!! Along with Matt's super photo shop skills... that he didn't even know he had.  The pictures turned out great!!  Each couple had their own creepy photo also...which I think turned out excellent!!! Everyone looks scarily good!!!

Okay I am now officially done posting for Halloween!!! I just love that holiday so much, it just takes over!!!

The Scary Night of Halloween

The Halloween season came to an end and we sent it out on a high note. We had a great party with butter beer, muddy buddies, dirt cake, and sangria. (Which I forgot to tell you Matt...it was very, very, good!!!) Everyone came over and we just hung out having a good time...Jim and Pam from the Office showed up and so did Scooby with his chicken breast for a date. The weeks spent decorating the house really paid off, so party go-ers were really scared walking up to the porch...not to mention many, many scared trick-o-treaters.

Everyone had really good costumes...Molly was Dorthy, Sam was Miss. Wanda Waldo, Tori was a French Maid (of course having the "prettiest costume" award again), Tweedy was Queen of Halloween, Jon was some sort of ghetto monster, Debbi was a pink lady, and Dayton was some version of death.  My Mom and Dad were quite funny actually.  My Dad was old and my Mom was the scariest Scarecrow there ever was...even though she didn't think it was very scary.

Anyways we all worked very hard for many weeks to pull this party off...so thank you to everyone!!! It was really a Halloween of fun craft projects....and I think every single one of them turned out amazing!!!

So my costume was finally revealed and no one knew what I was!!! Bummer!!! Sorry for the build up...I will use this time to officially retire the chicken suit (I think it needs to go to the cleaners anyways ;0) But for those of you who did not see me on Halloween night I was not a chicken boob....but a chicken breast!!! Next year will be better!!!

Val and Eric's Halloween Party

This past Saturday night Eric and Val hosted a Halloween party out in Brentwood. Seeing as Mikey is stuck on the couch for a few weeks...me and Molly went by ourselves. Molly was a soccer player and I was Scooby-dooby-doo (As you can probably tell). We had an awesome time!! It was a lot of fun because all my friends from different time periods of my life know each other now...the Phantom and the Pioneers have come together!! It's just crazy how connected the world is!! Anyways I can't wait for Halloween this weekend!! Also Mike is having his surgery tomorrow...so if anyone gets bored this week please come and visit him!! I have to work four days this week, so I will not be able to be home very much.

P.S.  The upper left hand picture is an ode to Jon Folonis...so this is a test to see if Jon reads the blog ;0)

Halloween is Upon Us!!!

In honor of the greatest holiday known to man I have changed our page to match the festivities that lay ahead.  We have been working very hard this year getting ready for Halloween; decorating, costume shopping, crafting (yes more than just Kim is involved in the crafting...in fact the boys are too!!), and spending more money than we have.  That's okay though cause it will be the best Halloween ever!!  There has been a lot of secretcy surrounding people's costumes this year.  I would like to be the first to squash all the secrets and rumors surrounding the costume I have chosen...so here it goes.  I am gonna be...no I won't say it that easily!!! Halloween is less than 2 weeks away...we can all wait and see the costumes.  So, obviously I do not have any pictures from this year yet, but here are some from last year...

I utterly love my Dad!!!

That was for you Dayton!!!                              

Mike and Amy's Wedding

Here is the happy couple Mike and Amy!!!

This past weekend we went to yet another wedding...the fourth family wedding in just over a year!! We are marrying fools in this family ;0)  It was a great wedding at Scott's in Walnut Creek...beautiful weather, we could not have gotten luckier!! There was a small amount of people in this really beautiful garden behind the restraunt. Oh and there was this awesome mashed potatoe bar!!! It was amazing...very clutch decision!! And the DJ played the best sone ever..."Don't Stop Believin'....Hold on to that Feeeliiiaaannn!!!!" We all sang to that one...oh the memories!!! Anyways here are some pictures from the wedding...

One person of the family is noticably missing...Kim had to be in Virginia for the weekend...which hopefully she will post about sometime in the near future...wink wink Kimmy!!

I think this was the photo of the day...so cute!!! And for once Matt and Mike actually look alike!!

Sam and Harmony's Wedding

Hello blog world! Did you know Ashley could be pretty persuasive? Well she can be. So I begin my foray into blogging with an actual event which is much more thrilling than my normal life. Matt and I traveled to Fortuna, California for Sam and Harmony's wedding. It was beautiful but quite a far drive, like five hours far. It was fun to see Northern California and the wedding was awesome. Harmony did a great job pulling together her theme and like I told Matt "she has picked up an issue or two of Martha Stewart's wedding". I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Goodbye Bay Area , thanks for driving Matty.

Two signs you are getting married in a small town are:



1. There is a civil war reenactment across the street from your hotel. It was very cool by the way. I mean come on they had real horses and cannons. It made me miss the south, is that weird?

2. One of the hotels on your hotel block welcomes your wedding guest on their marque. How fancy is that?!

We clean up nice don't we?

Harmony provided parasols for the ladies.


The rich purple was beautiful. So were the flowers and butterfly napkin rings.

gazebo ceremony location

Some tables had tissue flower poms instead of butterflies. And a flower arrangement shaped like a box. The yellow flowers popped off the purple linens.


A shot of the dance floor.

photo booth

Sam waiting for his bride!


Adorable flower girls. They dropped the petals exactly on top of the petals that already lined the aisle. It was too cute.

Harmony was so pretty.

beautiful train on her dress


first kiss as husband and wife!

"Meant to bee together"

fancy personalized wine


Harmony also had fedoras for the guys. I can be a hipster too!

Good food: yummy panzanella salad














Signature drink: don't remember the name we called it purple goodness!



















Beautiful butterflies that we released during the wedding ceremony. They were still a little sleepy from being frozen so we let this one hang out on our table arrangement.




















Go Harmony! Smash that cake in his face.














The live band during the reception was terrific. Matt and I were waiting for a slow dance and the first one they played was my and Matt's song. Hello kissmet!




We had such a wonderful time in beautiful Northern California. See Ashley you asked for a blog entry and I gave you a long one (that's what she said).