Well, another Christmas season is past & my family sure had a nice one. Mom, Austin & I drove out to Dighton (our hometown) for four days to spend with my Aunt & Uncle who still live there & my cousins. It was nice to go back, see friends that I hadn't seen in a long time and spend the days just lounging around being with family & of course eating!! Being back is always great & there will always be something about a persons home town that is very special. I have so many many wonderful memories there, as well as some that are not so good....haha But, as I went out with a few friends from my class that I have known since pre-school we talked, caught up with what was going on in each of our lives, I realized just how special my hometown & my memories from there really are. Carver & my dad drove out to Dighton Christmas Eve morning. We all went to candle light church service at the church I grew up going to. Christmas Eve night & attending the church service Christmas Eve night with all our family was & still is one of my best memories of Christmas. It was always so special & so magical on that night. This was the first time we have been back there since Carver & I have been married so to take him there & share that with him was very special to me. Of course we get to open presents too!! This year we did a white elephant gift exchange which was a lot of fun!! Christmas morning we woke to my 10 year old cousin getting the presents she had asked for!! Also, she pulled her tooth the night before so she also had a visit from the tooth fairy too!! We had another gift exchange that morning and it was really nice. We ate lunch and then it was time to hit the road & head back to the city we all love, Wichita. I need the city life!!!!! We were having Christmas at my parents house so we needed to get back. We went there & had prolly one of the nicest Christmas's I've ever had!!! My dad made us all martini's, we had great food, more martini's, lots of gifts, played a few games, relaxed & laughed & laughed!! It was a wonderful wonderful Christmas!! But ours is not over just yet.....we are heading out to Carver's home town (Quinter) next weekend to be with his family. So back out to Western Kansas again!! I love spending time with carver's family, we always have so much fun together!! So, with the end of 2007 almost here it has been a pretty great year. I just feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful year & can only hope & pray that 2008 is just as wonderful!!!

Hustel & Bustle Of The Holiday Season

The last few days before Christmas are upon us and the insane rush has started to affect me. Carver and I went out last Sunday afternoon and we went to several stores. We had fun laughing, picking gifts out, toys for our nieces and nephew, and just taking our time. It went so smoothly in fact I looked at Carver and said" I can't believe how easy we are getting everything and how we are finding exactly what we want." Well, I spoke wayyyyy to soon. Thought we had everything and we were finished. We went home, sat by the fire, I wrapping gifts, Carver watching football and then we came to realize....we had forgot this, and well maybe we should go back and get that, and lets get that one thing we say too....ughhhhhh So, now I have to go back to the mall tonight and finish up! On top of that, I am needing to make my famous sugar cookies with frosting. Every year since I was in high school I have made sugar cookies with my Grandma Morris's "secret" recipe. I was waiting this year to make them cause I usually make them the week before Christmas and then they are all gone. So, I figured I would wait a few days before so we would have some to eat on Christmas.....I'm running out of time now!!! My mom loves watching me and helping decorate so we decided she would come over tomorrow night and we would make them together.Ok, so the cookies are covered.....This year, for the first time since my Grandma Betty passed away we are going back to my hometown to have Christmas. It is going to be a really special time for my family but emotional as well. We are all really looking forward to it. Spending Christmas with my cousins is how I grew up, special traditions we looked forward to every year, and just being together was what was so important to all of us. It all kind of stopped when we lost our grandma. We also all grew up, my family moved away from the small town and we all have our own families now. So, this will be a very special Christmas in Dighton. But have I packed yet.....not one single thing. And if you know me, then you know I am an over packing, organized crazy woman!! And we are leaving around noon on Friday. So I am worried about that too!!! I love this time of year and now as I am sitting here, drinking my Starbucks latte I am thinking how much the running around and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I actually like. It keeps you going and makes the days shorter up to the 25Th!! So, I will run to the mall over my lunch break, see what I can get done in an hour, get my hair and nails done after work, go home wrap more gifts, make sugar cookies tomorrow night, pack, and leave Friday.......whoohoooo I am really going to enjoy when Friday arrives! Hope all of you are having as much fun running around as I am this holiday season. Don't forget to stop, look around, count your blessings this Christmas and have a very Merry one!! Happy Holidays!!

Starting to feel like Christmas

I spent all day yesterday folding our Christmas letter, putting the pictures in the envelopes, addressing envelopes, and putting stamps on them! I still have several I need to do yet though. Every year our list grows with more and more people!! I love getting Christmas cards from our friends and family. I love reading what everyone has been up too for the last year and the new and exciting things in their lives. I went out and did a little shopping on Saturday. It was total madness!!!!! There were so many people, it was not even fun!! My mom and I always do our shopping together. It is something I have always done with her and I look forward to shopping for Christmas with her during the holidays!! I have only got a few things bought so I still have a lot to do. This year we be with my family. It will be the first time since my Grandma Betty passed aways that we will be back in my hometown for Christmas. The last time we were back for Christmas there was when she passed away 6 days later. I expect it to be an emotional time with my family. But we are all looking forward to it. It will just be a lot different that's for sure.

Turkey Day!

Well, Thanksgiving is a few days away......& I am running around like a crazy person trying to get things ready to leave to go to my mother-in-laws in Quinter. Laundry, packing, getting the puppies things ready to go to my parents, re-packing cause Carver takes clothes out of his suite case & making food to take. I am sitting her at work & all these thoughts of things I still need to do and get done before we leave are running around in my head....so work has pretty much stopped for the day...lol I love the holidays & it always gets me to thinking about being younger & all the fantastic memories I have of Thanksgiving. There is always one memory that will always haunt me though. In 2001 my dad had massive heart attack that almost took his life the day after Thanksgiving. From that day forward I always told myself I would treasure every holiday with my family and friends as if it would be our last. I have done just that. I lost my my grandma Betty New Years Eve night too. Every holiday, everyday like, like it is the last! Thanksgiving is a special time because of what happened that year, & every year that is the number one thing I am always most thankful for. I am so thankful that my dad recovered & is still with us today. So, we will head to Q~Town tomorrow when I get off work. When we get there carver's sisters, his mom, little brother, our nieces & nephew will be waiting for us, we will have some drinks, make a few plates of nachos , laugh & enjoy being together. I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving & create many wonderful memories as we will do the same. God Bless & love you all. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Getting ready for the Holidays!!

Well, my family thinks I have officially lost my mind....I got out all my Christmas Decorations this weekend!!!! I absolutely love Christmas!!!! Not only is decorating my most favorite thing to do anyways, but decorating for Christmas is something I love to do and I have since I was little! I have everything out & scattered through the entire house. Carver helped me bring everything up from the basement in between commercials of the college football games. I know most people wait till the day after Thanksgiving to get their Christmas stuff out but I first of all am not most people & second, my house is very big so by the time I get it all out, decorated the way I want it & we are able to enjoy it for a few weeks then it is time to take it all down. So.....why not be able to enjoy it a little longer and take my time in putting it all up :-) We are putting up the tree tonight and the other big things I can't do by myself. We have special traditions that we started our first Christmas together and we do them every year on the night we put the tree up. So I am really looking forward to tonight. It is hard to believe it is almost that time!! I hope you all are starting to get in the Holiday spirit too. Thanksgiving is just around the corner!!! My mom & I spent all day Saturday shopping. It was INSANE at the mall.....already!!! So much that there were a few stores we just could not get into and left.....haha I love shopping for Christmas gifts but that was just so crazy! But you can bet we will be right back out there in a few weeks!!

It's Almost Halloween....

It is hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner. My husband and I were out to dinner a few nights ago & over our Buffalo Wild Wing supper & large Coors lights we were talking about our Halloween Costumes this year and the party we are going to this Saturday night. My husband is from Quinter, KS which means we grew up about 4o minutes away from each other. So, both of us are from extremely small towns and pretty much grew up the same way. I said to Carver, "honey when we have children it is going to be weird to not let them go all over our neighborhood and trick or treat like we used to. So this started a conversation and we both stated reminiscing about being young in a small town, going tall over trick-or-treating with our friends and having so much fun with no worries! Then, in Junior High we would get shaving cream & eggs...which (I never threw eggs), Carver did...haha I love the way I grew up and being from a small town. I look back now and really appreciate it. You can't do that anymore, especially in the City of Wichita. We were talking about what we had dressed up as when we were little & how we both always looked forward to going to school dressed. Here in Wichita, the kids can't dress up and go to school.....that was always the best part about Halloween!! Going to school all dressed up, having a party that are moms would help with in the afternoon, & getting out of school for the parade down main street was so much fun and we all looked forward to it every year! The kids can't do that anymore. I am not even sure if they do that in Dighton anymore? Things sure have changed. I feel so lucky to have got to experience things like that. I love Halloween, the candy, dressing up and another excuse to party :-) I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween & is safe!

End Of The Season

Well, the end of Trinity Knights Volleyball is coming to an end tonight. I am coaching the last game tonight with my JV girls. There is a part of me always torwards the end of the season where I get a little emotional and think about what I am going to do now not going to practice everyday and then I look back.......I will get to stay at work till 5 now and get caught back up on my work and projects that have taken a little bit of a back seat since August, I will now have my evenings back where I can start working out again, spending time with Carver and our puppies and watching t.v., and the best I think of all.....No More Teenage Girl Drama! Hahaha, I love my girls but wow....I don't think I was ever like that ;-0 Oakay maybe we all were... So the season ends and another year of coaching is behind me. I love coaching, I love the school I coach for and the head coach and her assistant are the best woman I have met since living her in Wichita. Just wonderful and friendly people. So, hopefully we can put 4 wins in the bag tonight and end the season with a great record! Go Knights!