Head Cold Demon

The pounding within my head today will not subside. What started with a sore throat Saturday afternoon has worked its way into a deep cough, a runny nose, and an atrocious headache.

What happened to this thing getting better?
I figured some nights of NyQuil, some days of DayQuil and pushing through would bring me to bluer skies, but instead the head cold demon is grabbing hold of me more fervently.

So I'm giving up, I cannot fight it alone... time for the doctor visit. I'm hoping my 11:15am doctor's appointment will bring me closer to head clarity... maybe give me some drugs that will knock whatever this is out.

AND it's NEW YEAR'S EVE... I've got to be better to be social, right?

Christmastime Is Gone

As quickly as Christmastime came upon us this year, (did anyone else feel like it was here before you knew it?!), with even more speediness I feel it has gone!

I don't know what it is... maybe it's the necessary evil of going back to work after a break and time with family. Or that Christmas decorations are taken down by many right away. Or the discussion about the "new year" is made even before the last Christmas present is open. Whatever it is... I feel as if Christmas has gone for the year.

Sure, I have my decorations still up, and all the gifts we were given have not yet been put away... but there is something in the air that says the NEW YEAR is upon us rather than Christmas is here.

So with Christmastime passing us by and another awesome year with family during the holidays gone, I find myself ready to change my blog background away from the red and greens of Christmastime. Instead, here is my NEW YEAR background.

Lord, I pray this year that we may walk with you a little more closely, and that we may bless others as you have blessed us each day!

Favorite Gift

Although some families can have conversations like this over the holidays:

Clark Griswold:
Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

Eddie:
Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark.


I'm not one of them. I'm blessed beyond measure with the family that surrounds me! Christmas brought home this reminder once again... I love my family! God has blessed me so!

We had an amazing Christmas time this year... maybe it was because Brent (Robin's husband, my "new" brother-in-law) is now officially part of the family this year, or because we played "Dirty Santa" with the Wilson family side and cracked up throughout it all, or just because my family rocks, either way this year was fantastic! We had hilarious fellowship, great food, good fun, and were blessed beyond measure with gifts. What a year!

My favorite gift of the season went beyond the monetary blessing it brought to me, rather the awesomeness within the gift was the way in which we had to get it.

Let me paint the picture for you: it's Christmas Day... the entire immediate family is opening Christmas presents: stockings and wrapped gifts. Mom and Dad announce before we start opening that everyone (the kids) has a gift with a very small bow on it. We are not to open that gift until the end, and everyone must open their gifts together. Therefore, after being spoiled with all of our stocking and gifts, we all begin to open our special gift with great anticipation.

Drummer please....

Very excited about what might be in store, I tore into the wrapped box with the tiny bow on top. I opened a box to find a can of tuna fish in it. YUCK. Kelly had two cans of tomato juice in his. Brent had a can of spaghetti o's. Robin and Kelsey each had a bar of soap.

What the heck?!

We sat there all confused as Mom and Dad laughed together and took pictures of our confused faces...

And then it was found - a piece of paper taped to the bottom of each "gift". Mine said: "Heather #1". Kelly's said: "Kelly's #2". Brent, Robin, and Kelsey had the same with their names on their respective "gifts". As we pulled off these pieces of paper and turned them over... we discovered what was really unfolding - A SCAVENGER HUNT!

It was so hilariously fun! Mom and Dad were amazing with their planning! And the gifts we found in each of our hidden places blew us away. Here are what Kelly and my clues said:



Mom and Dad, thank you for the most amazing time we've had in a long while. We all loved it, and have bragged about the fun ever since. Merry Christmas.

Home, Sweet, Home for the Holidays

After a 10 day trip to Kansas City, never making our way to Denver due to weather, we are back at the house. We're back, the laundry has begun, and half of the vacuuming has been completed.

I truly cannot believe that it's the week of Christmas. It seems quite surreal. The hubby and I are working in "the Christmas spirit" by watching one of Kelly's favorites: It's a Wonderful Life.

Before we swing into the happening of the next few days of yuletide and the many family festivities that will occur throughout Christmas, I want to share some pictures from our fantastic trip.

We were spoiled left and right by my Uncle Frank and Aunt Terri throughout the entire visit. From the Kansas vs. UMass basketball game at the SprintCenter, to amazing eats and drinks throughout the week, to enjoying U Frank's man-cave complete with a huge HD Tv and surround sound Bose style, to sleeping in each morning, to visiting wonderfully with family - the trip was excellent.

Things to know before looking at the pictures below: Madison, Clayton, and baby Coleton are my cousin's children. Lyndy is their mom. You'll see quite a few of them - they are most adorable!

Below is a self made picture of Madison, myself, and Clayton. For some reason the first couple of days Madison had a thing about "not smiling".



Here is a shot Kelly caught of the kids sitting in my lap. Clay is making a "funny face," or so he calls it, and Madison is cracking up because she's pushing us all back with her feet on the couch... hence the strain like look on my face.



For Christmas my parents (who came up with sister, Kelsey on Friday) gave Madison a pair of dress up high heels, a feather boa, and some jewelery. Madison is shown here sporting her new outfit. Notice the hip action, she's got 'tude.



Brother Clay did not want to miss the action with the boa, so he took a shot at it later in the evening.



We also had the pleasure of hanging out with Kelly's dad, Larry while in Kansas City. He's working on a project in KC for his job... we were able to enjoy two great dinners with Larry and have him join the Hansen Family (mom's side) Christmas event Saturday night.



Yeah, so mom has a "grinch" face... as we lovingly refer to it. We asked mom to make the grinch face in this shot, as well as have Kelly and Kelsey make their own.



Who knew a 4 year old could be so cute? I think she knows.



Once Kelsey arrived in KC, Kelly had his goofy sister right by his side. They are two pees in a pod, sometimes it's scary. I think they crack each other up.



Clayton is most adorable when he says Kelly's name... it comes out "Telly"... so cute! He and Madison wanted Telly to come watch Backyardigans with them. They asked over and over until they wore Telly down and he accepted the offer. Here is a shot of Clay enjoying some Backyardigans while sitting in Telly's lap.




I had to get a shot of the cuz and me. We were inseparable as younger folks... harder to get all the one on one time we like with families these days but I still adore this gal. So happy to see her this past week!




Mom's parents: Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.



Cabela's is one of the massive stores in a shopping center near my Aunt and Uncle... there we shopped for a couple gifts and found a fun "shooting game" within the store. Here is a picture of Allison (cousin) and I showing off the riffles we shot during the game.



I got a shot with Grandma & Grandpa together with me. Grandma makes the most awesome cheese cake. I had multiple pieces throughout our stay. Yum, Yum!



And last but not least, here is a goofy shot we took ourselves to send out to a couple folks during our trip. I called it our "hi" picture. See I'm waving. Yes. I'm a dork.



I took many more photos, but I'll post those on facebook and will not bore you with them here. Needless to say the trip was more than we expected, an even better time than we imagined. Thank you to all our fabulous family for taking better care of us than we can ourselves!!! We're so blessed with an awesome family... so thankful!

Kelly's Happy Place: Panera Bread

In the past my hubby has posted the following gmail tagline: "I love my wife, my dogs, and Panera Bread."

I cannot deny the truth in his statement above any longer. The man loves Panera Bread. It's now even coined his "happy place".

We have been in Kansas City since Saturday early morning, so within six days of visiting, we have been to Panera Bread three times! Once after church on Sunday, once yesterday, and again today. I believe we would have gone Saturday also, had Kelly known it's location prior to Sunday morning.

This morning, I became tickled with my husband's extreme love for Panera Bread and I insisted that he pose with the Panera Bread cup to show in a photo some of his affection for the place.

Ha ha. I think the photo accurately portrays his love. What do you think?

What does Kelly get when he comes to Panera? Well, that's an interesting questions today. The answer is: a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel with Hazelnut Cream Cheese.

Usually he has the bagel toasted, but we've discovered that Kansas City Panera Bread's do not have an industrial sized toaster they can put their bagels through. We've seen these toasters at every other Panera locations we've visited... in Lexington, KY, in Nashville, TN, in Destin, FL, and I'm sure a couple other locations for Kelly. Therefore on the first day, Kelly microwaved his Cinnamon Crunch Bagel. I don't know what he did the second day with the bagel - it was at a different location but they did not have a toaster either.

But today... WHA-LA... the first Panera we went to on Sunday all of a sudden had a regular size bagel toaster located near their microwave! Coincidence? I think not! My hubby may have given them a good suggestion, so he toasted that bagel today... well after an incident.

See the interview below to discover how Kelly succumbed to "product marketing" and ordered something different than the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel with Hazelnut Cream Cheese. It might take a bit to load, but it's worth hearing Kelly tell his story. Enjoy.




So, as you can tell... ordering something beyond his norm was a mistake, and we ended up paying for a second breakfast to bring him back to "old faithful" and allow him to once again enjoy his "happy place".

Christmas Traditions: The McGugan Mailer

One of the many cool things about getting married and creating your own family is the fact that you can make your own traditions. The hubby and I were looking forward to that process as our first Christmas as man & wife approached. This year, we have worked to continue those beginning traditions, and I can only imagine they will increase as we have children (besides our dogs).

One of those now set McGoo traditions is the writing and mailing of The McGugan Mailer. Each year (two in a row now... so not going on a record or anything yet), we have printed a Snapfish photo Christmas card and have created our McGugan Mailer. The Mailer is a newsletter that we've created - yes I'm a dork and like these kind of things, but most of you are well aware of that by now - to help keep our friends and family in touch with the happenings of the last year. It's complete with story telling, pictures, and a top ten list of things learned over the year.

I've learned that most of our recipients have received the card by now (maybe not the Canadian relatives and friends in Ireland and Japan, but most), so I am comfortable with posting about the Mailer. However, I'm almost positive whoever reads my blog is probably just a group of the same people - so hopefully I'm not spoiling anything for anyone.

Like my blog, I've so enjoyed the outlet of writing that The McGugan Mailer opens up for myself and the hubby. I think those that have a received it also get a good kick out of it, or at least roll their eyes and say, "only the McGoo's"... I'm proud of having either response.

Below is a sampling (well, more than that, a copy) of the 2008, Year 2 McGugan Mailer. My hope is that many more of these are created as Kelly and I grow old together.

McGugan Mailer - 2008

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Plans Change - What do ya do?

Yeppers. The vacation plans have tweaked, but that does not mean the fun has to end.

As we learned and decided this morning that Denver would not be part of the vacation adventure today, or maybe not even for the week, we got creative with our entertainment.

After a leisure morning, we headed out the door for lunch, a movie, and some shopping. Below is what our drive looked like on the way home - it was worse on the way. Thank goodness Kelly is capable of driving in snow, I was a nervous wreck. I can't imagine if we had attempted to drive 9 hours in this stuff, I would be a mess (even more than usual) by the time we arrived.



While at the huge shopping center, the hubby and I caught a flick, ate some grub, and window shopped. Below is a picture of the Christmas tree in the center of the shopping center. It's huge! I thought it was pretty and festive, so had to get a pic.

While the hubby and I went against the weather conditions for a bit of entertainment, one of the funny things that happened throughout the day involved a "Kelly-ism".

One of the restaurants in the large shopping center today was HOOTERS. As we attempted to choose a restaurant for lunch,

Kelly asked with a sly grin, "What about HOOTERS?"

I laughed and said, "I'd rather not. I don't want to look at girls butts and eat their hot wings today."

Kelly replied, "Well, they're probably cold in there. Better yet, I think when it's cold outside HOOTERS should not longer be called HOOTERS, it should be called NIPPLES!"

That's when I hit him on the arm and cracked up.



The news just reported that the total snow accumulated after the snow fall was 3.0 inches in the city and suburbs. More planned for Thursday. It sure looked like more snow than that arrived here in the Bonner Springs/Speedway area!