Christmas Fun

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. I hope it was Merry for everyone!! :) Andy and I were very excited that we both had Christmas Eve and Christmas day off, that's unusual with my job! Christmas Eve was spent down in Brady at my Aunt and Uncle's house with my extended family on my dad's side. Even with all the snow, we all made it down safely for a fun day. We opened presents, played a fun game where we passed a present around, along with a cup of dice and when we rolled doubles had to put on a hat, scarf and gloves and attempt to unwrap the present as the dice went around the circle and the next person attempted to roll doubles. It was very entertaining, especially when the guys had the pink hat and purple scarf on!! After presents we enjoyed a delicious dinner of crab salad, clam chowder and also a choice of ham with potatoes! :) As usual there was plenty of food, as well as plenty of goodies to follow up with! Unfortunately we weren't able to stay long after dinner as we had another party to try to get to.

After leaving my Aunt and Uncle's house, we stopped by Nancy and Kenny's (my stepdads parents) for some more socializing with the extended family. It was nice to see a lot of family we hadn't seen all year and catch up! We had planned to go to church at 11 pm Christmas Eve, but after so much driving and visiting, we were so exhausted by 9 pm that I didn't think I could even stay awake that long!! So we just came home and let Maverick out before getting to bed and waiting for Santa to come!! :)

Christmas Day was pretty low-key. Andy and I woke up and opened presents together, which was very nice (and he was COMPLETELY suprised that I got him the I-pod touch). Then my mom and Dean came over and we opened a couple presents with them and ate breakfast together. Then we just relaxed for a bit before meeting Todd (Dean's brother) up in Bonney Lake to see the movie Marley and Me. Which was a great movie, although I spent the last 30 mins bawling :(. If you haven't seen it, be sure to bring plenty of tissues! I was somewhat prepared though, as I had read the book.

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas and I hope yours was the same!! Now on to New Years!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Last Wednesday Andy and I went to the Nutcracker to continue the holiday season. We had a good time, although we were getting pretty tired by the end of it. I'm not sure how much Andy like it, but I had so much fun and loved seeing all the little girls dressed up and there with there moms and grandmas, I hope to start that tradition someday with my future daughters (if I have them!) And luckily we went to the show on Wednesday, because our crazy winter weather started the next day...

It all started Thursday night with about an inch or so of snow at our house, unfortunately it continued throughout the weekend until today! The accumulation is at about 8-10 inches now..I haven't seen this much snow since living in Pullman a few years ago. And I don't know if I've ever seen it this side of the mountains! :) Although it's beautiful, it sure sucks having to drive in without 4 wheel drive or snow tires.

The last 24 hours was a real adventure in the snow. Leaving work yesterday (Sunday) around noon I got stuck just outside our gate at work, I had to have a supervisor come help dig my car out and he eventually got it up to the top of the hill and I was able to get home just fine after that. After getting home and making cookies with Andy it started dumping snow again and they said we were supposed to get another 3-7 inches, so I decided I wouldn't make it in at 2 am and I left for work. I got there and got an aerobed all set up in the training room and slept there...which definitely wasn't the best sleep..but better than being stuck in the snow in the middle of the night!! After a long 10 hours at work I went out to the parking lot and dug my car out of the snow, then after about 5 trys up and down the hill of the parking lot I finally got to the exit, where I proceeded to get stuck, this time I couldn't get out of it without a push though. Thankfully some good samaritans stopped and gave me a push, and I was on my way! Unfortunately I got stuck again at the intersection of 108/Kent Kangley...I had to back down the hill and turn sideways in the lane and eventually turn around..there were about 4 other cars doing the same thing..what a mess!!! Needless to say..it took me a long time to get home! But I made a stop and Les Schwab on the way home and got some studded tires..they make such a difference, it's great! :) I'm sure there won't be anymore snow now that I bought them, but oh well..it'll be worth it when there is. I hope everyone is surviving the snow ok and not going too stir crazy at home!

Today I went to babysit the Snodgrass girls, we had a lot of fun playing out in the snow and building a snow man :) And I finally got to make my snow angel I've been wanting to make since it first snowed! The girls definitely wore me out though! After we came inside they had some hot cocoa and we watched The Polar Express :) What a great way to spend the day before Christmas Eve!! :)

Deck the halls...

Well...December is officially under way, and I've been LOVING the Holiday season this year :) I'm not too sure what's gotten me so into it..but I've pretty much finished all my shopping already, got the house and tree decorated and even started some baking today (which I've never done before!) My first day of Christmas baking involved making some pretzels with chocolate, snickerdoodles and fudge :) mmm...I'll probably do a few more things next week and am hoping to deliver some to our neighbors and friends!

Other than shopping and decorating, not much has changed here. Andy and I are still trying to get used to my new schedule (ok, mostly me!), but honestly it isn't as awful as I thought it'd be.

Yesterday I met my friend Brad and his daughter Avery for some shopping and visiting at The Commons mall, we had fun and it sure beat sitting at home alone all day!! Then, last night Andy and I went to Pacific Place in Seattle where we met Katie and Phil and Joy for dinner at Gordon Biersch, which was pretty tasty...it was also fun to catch up with them since we don't have nearly enough time together anymore! And the Christmas Decorations in Seattle were pretty...especially the SNOW that falls at 6 pm inside Pacific Place each night :)

Speaking of snow...apparently this weekend is supposed to be COLD with a chance of snow!! But we'll be in Spokane/Pullman for Andy's brother's graduation and an early Christmas, so I'm sure we'll see plenty of snow over there!