Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year. We had a wonderful Christmas and it was so nice to be able to spend it together. On Christmas Eve we had some friends over as well as a couple single gentlemen from our ward. We had a wonderful dinner. It might have been a little too wonderful because we ate way too much. We then sang Christmas songs, read Luke 2, and played a game. It was so nice to have friends to share our Christmas Eve with.

Since we stayed in Ohio for Christmas we unfortunately weren't able to spend the holidays with our families, but we were blessed with peace and happiness under the circumstances. We were able to talk to our families on Christmas Day, and we were even able to talk to both Melodee and Matt who are Mike's siblings serving missions. Christmas day was pretty laid back. We woke up at 6:00, opened our presents, had breakfast, and just enjoyed being together and talking with family for the rest of the day. I have already bragged about this to our families, but my favorite present was the Christmas picture book that Mike made for me. It was so creative and very unexpected. It was a story about our cats' quest to find us a Christmas present. It seems like the gifts that come from the heart are the ones we treasure the most.

Mike has had the past month off of school and so we have had a lot of time to spend together which has been great. Once school starts time will get crazy again so we will take the time together while it lasts. Tonight for New Years we are going to some friends for some Fondue and Fun. It should be a great time. That's about it for us. Take Care everyone!!

Overzealous

I wish that I had a picture to share of my current craziness, but no such luck. For my day off this week I had the wonderful idea of making goodies for all of the people at work as well as the sisters that I visit teach, friends, etc. My husband can attest that sometimes I get into these crazy moods where I get an idea into my head and I have to follow through and finish it, no matter how impractical it may be.

First I decided that I would make pumpkin rolls. This then turned into an assortment of goodies including homemade mint truffles dipped in chocolate, and peanut butter carmel brownie bars. I was also planning on making carmels, but luckily didn't have all of the ingredients.

I got off to a late start and around 12:00 p.m. I started the baking. 4 pumpkin rolls, 50 truffles, a pan of brownies, and 8 hours later I was finally ready to package the platters up and deliver them. I have the most amazing husband in the whole world. He was so patient through the whole process, especially when I wasn't. I was so frustrated that I hadn't just made cookies which would have been 1000 times easier, cheaper and less time consuming. Instead of getting frustrated himself he just decided he would help me. So we packaged everything up and went to make our deliveries at 8:00 at night. When we got home he helped me package up the remaining 15 plates of goodies that I was taking to work the next day. AHHHHHHHHHHH we were finally done.

So this may have sounded as if I were complaining, but I guess my point is that I hopefully learned some things about myself. Sometimes I just need to do things that aren't on such a large scale. It may have taken a long time, but those who received the Christmas goodies were thankful for them. I was reminded again of how wonderful a spouse I have who was willing to help me through my craziness. So, for those of you who received one of these wonderful Christmas treats you will just have to settle for chocolate chip cookies next year because I have learned my lesson.
(I guess we'll see huh:)

A Little Bit of Random

A lot has been happening lately and I haven't found the time to blog about it so this will be a post about a lot of random things. A couple of weeks ago we had our friends the Gardners over for dinner and some holiday fun. We decorated gingerbread cookies and watched "Mickey's Christmas Carol". They are also staying in Ohio for Christmas so they are kind enough to spend their Christmas Eve with us. We are excited for the opportunity to spend time with friends here in Ohio since we will not be able to go home. I am trying to keep a positive outlook. We will really miss being home, but it will be good in a lot of ways. Any ideas for some fun new traditions that we can start just as a couple?



Our cat has been so fickle lately. Somedays she is sweet and content and other days she is just irritable and crazy. I guess that's to be expected with a cat, and we are getting used to her verbal/nonverbal clues for when she needs space, but seriously isn't she supposed to be cute and cuddly all of the time.:) We are really enjoying her and she is a lot of fun when she isn't grouchy. (Maybe she's feeding off of the pregnancy hormones) She has come up with a lot of ways to entertain herself, including sticking her head in our empty drink cups. She is always trying to eat our food and gets it in whatever way she can. It's kind of funny though when she gets her whole head stuck in the cup. We got her some new toys for Christmas so hopefully she won't get so bored. We are trying to decide what to do with Deb our hampster before the baby comes. Deb currently resides in the baby room and Gracie is NOT allowed in that room, so of course it is her main ambition and desire in life. We are either going to have to find her a new home, or buy or adjust her current home so that the cat cannot get to her so easily. Any suggestions?



So I am finally starting to get a bigger belly. It's nice to be showing now because it makes the pregnancy seem more real. I'm sure that in a couple of months I won't be as excited. There are also a lot of things that no one prepared me for such as sore hips, (mostly from sleeping on your side) No one had ever mentioned the random aches and pains that you get. It is a little interesting feeling your body change and not work the same way anymore. I guess the whole process is pretty amazing in general though, minus the aches and pains.

Lastly, a cute story from my class. There is a new girl in my class who doesn't come very frequently but apparently remembers me because her mother had to tell me that on Thanksgiving she asked where "Miss Amy was?". This child also just recently got a new doll and she named the doll "Miss Amy". I thought that was pretty funny and cute. The holidays have been a lot of fun for the kids in my class and they get so excited whenever it snows. They keep asking me if they can see the baby in my tummy. There isn't a whole lot for them to see right now, but I'll definitely have to bring the baby in for them to see. They are pretty cute kids.

Well, Goodluck to everyone with your Christmas shopping and preparations. We hope you are enjoying the season.