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.

It's a GIRL!!!

So our families already know, but for anyone else who may be interested we just found out that we are having a baby girl. We had the ultrasound the day before Thanksgiving which was perfect timing. I am so amazed by all they could see with an ultrasound. It makes me thankful for modern day technology that helps to detect problems while the baby is still in the womb. The technician who was running our ultrasound was getting quite frustrated because our baby would not stay still. I thought for sure that was were going to be having a boy, and a wild one at that, but no, we are having a girl that will probably keep us on our toes as well. According to our doctor everything is looking good so far, but she will take another ultrasound in 6 weeks. We have been really blessed to have gotten in with our current doctor. I had initially been visiting with her at the Ohio State "High Risk Pregnancy" facility due to our previous complications, and once she found out we were expecting she decided just to keep us as patients although everything seemed to be looking good. She has been very thorough and helpful at resolving concerns. This whole experience is pretty surreal, but we are very excited and feel so blessed. I had to post these fun pictures. I hope you can tell what they are. There is a profile shot, a picture of her arm and hand as well as her leg and foot. It's amazing!

18 months and counting!

So yesterday morning I woke up like any other day and started to get ready when my husband presented me with an 18 month anniversary present. He has started out the Christmas season by giving me my new Christmas ornament. It's pretty sad when the husband is the one remembering all of the anniversaries, but he is wonderful at it. I can't believe that it has only been a year and a half since we have been married. In some ways time has gone by quickly, but it's amazing to see how much has happened in such a short amount of time. I just feel so lucky and blessed for all of the experiences that we have had so far. We definetly have our good and bad moments like everyone else, but I am happy that I can share them with Mike. He really helps to bring out the best in others and I truly appreciate his great example to me. I can't wait for him to be a Dad!! Woo Hoo, our kids are going to be sooo lucky. :) O.K. I think I have probably embarassed him enough to last for awhile.

So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! We are sad not to be able to be home for the holidays, but we are being blessed and watched over. A sister from Mikes mission invited us up to Michigan for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to spend some time with them. I am also gearing up for Christmas. I think I had all of my presents bought last year by Thanksgiving because I just couldn't wait. I am looking forward to putting out Christmas decorations, watching "White Christmas" and listening to "The Messiah". Fun, Fun, Fun. Although we won't be home for Christmas we are going to make the most of this time together and it should be nice. Well, Happy Holidays from us.

Go Cavs!!!

We had a really fun evening last night. Mike had wanted to go to the Utah Jazz game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers since it would be our only opportunity to see the Jazz this season. We weren't sure if we could afford tickets until Mike found them for an awesome deal, $4.00. We couldn't pass it up and so we took a road trip to Cleavland. It was so nice to be able to get out and do something different. It's probably a bad sign if I am stir crazy already, just wait until the baby comes.:) There was a really nice mall right next to the arena and so we were able to park there and have dinner. There were at least 4 Chinese restaurants in the food court there, and they were all competing for our business. They had employees out giving away food samples like used car salesmen. We probably could have filled up on samples.

I love the holidays when all of the shopping centers are decorated, it really helps to get you into the holiday spirit.




I wanted Mike to write this post because he has a lot more to say about the game, but all in all it was a pretty embarrassing 4th quarter. It was a lot of fun to be there, but we were pretty outnumbered in our cheering section. By the end of the game I felt like we should have been cheering for the Cavs as well, but I guess we will stick with the Jazz. We had a good time, and hopefully we'll get a chance to go and see the Celtics play in Cleavland as well.

Supportive Spouse

Well there hasn't been a whole lot going on in our neck of the woods this week. Yesterday was a fun day for us. Mike got done with school early and was kind enough to come to my class and entertain the kids. He does so well with kids and every child that he meets tends to just cling to him and make an automatic friend so I thought it would be great for him to come and read to my class. He only came for a little while. We sang silly songs and read stories. Most of the kids thought it was the greatest thing and they all wanted to sit on his lap. There was one boy who got a little scared though. I guess he thought Mike was a little scary.:) He didn't get to know him very well. That night we were able to go the temple and perform baptisms. It had been awhile for both of us and it was a special experience to do the work for some of Mike's family members. I am always pleasantly surprised by the sweet spirit that accompanies the baptismal fonts. It was a special time for us. We have the opportunity of working in the temple once a month doing laundry. The laundry facility is in the baptismal area and so we are always in the baptistry but never able to do baptisms so it was a nice change.

It is raining here which tends to make things seem a little gloomy and gray, but tonight Mike invited his "little brother" over to make some homemade ice cream and watch a movie. He is a great example to me and so sweet. I sure love him and think he is the best. So although it is a rainy day, he has made it a good one.:) We'll have to let you know how the ice cream turns out.