Weekend Recap

It has been a really busy weekend.

Friday morning, I went to class like normal. Then around noon, I headed into work. That afternoon, we had a minor crisis and I ended up taking a fellow employee to the ER. She was having an attack of some short - not sure what was going on. The ER was full of people from the jail. Why there were so many inmates coming in at once, I will never know. We were there for 2 hours with no one seeing us or bother to see if Claudia was okay. Not to happy about that. They have recently spent so much money re-doing the hospital and then for people to not get in. After waiting with no response, Claudia decided that since the attack was over, she would just leave and go see a regular doctor this upcoming week. It will be cheaper and hopefully they can explain things for her.

After work, I met up with Sara and Maggie. We headed to dinner at Hu Hot (love that place). Our waiter was stupid but the food never disappoints. We then headed up to Mizzou Arena for the Jason Aldean concert. I was so excited about the night. The concert was amazing. He brought along the Jane Deere girls (not their biggest fan) and Eric Church (he was wonderful too). Jason put on a good show and rocked all night. He barely took a break between songs. It was just a great night. I got home around 11 and crashed shortly thereafter. But here are a few pictures of the night.

Saturday was a productive day. I was up around 6:30 am. I showered and started some readings for school. Maggie had crashed at my house the night before. We got around and left the house just before 10. We got breakfast and heading on to our errands. It was a productive 4 hours, getting us back to my house around 2. I finally determined where I am going to register: Kohls, Wal-Mart (for our more local guests) and Time and Talent (a local store with amazing home items). I am happy that the decision is made. Now, just to find time to actually register. I think that I will be doing that two weekends from now. Maggie and I lounged around the house for a bit. We then got ready for our work Holiday party (yes, on the last weekend of January). This year, the party was at Galactic Fun Zone, a little arcade, bowling alley and laser tag rolled into one. It was pretty neat in there. We ate dinner (too bad it was gross) and then played a little bowling. The laser tag looked fun, but there were people taking it way too seriously, so I voted no to that. I got home around 8. I took the opportunity to curl up in bed and read a book before going to bed. Here are a couple of pictures from this night:

Just the ladies

And again

Loved these tables

Work department

Today I have been at the house most of the day. I got up early and did my grocery shopping. The grocery stores are so much easier to get through early in the morning. I have been doing some cleaning and studying throughout the day as well. I also did made a pretty significant purchase today too. One of the things I looked at when determining where to register was bedding and bath stuff that I liked. There was one set yesterday that I fell in love with. Chris has no opinion on anything house related and leaves me full rein on decoration (isn't he amazing). The thing was that the set I fell in love with was at Macys. I considered doing a registry there, but they are more expensive than everywhere else and it wasn't that important to me. After talking to Chris and my mom, I decided to just go buy the bedding set that I loved and would leave my registries alone. The set is beautiful. It is a $400 set that I purchased for $140. It came with 24 peices including the decorative pillows, curtains, and all accesories. The reviews were great, so I just got it. Here this beauty is:

Aww, so in love!! I cannot wait for us to get our new bed and get the master bedroom set up. Now to decide what color to paint the walls.

Did I ever mention how wonderful Christopher is. Last weekend, I went to my parents to trade my car for a 4 wheel drive pickup (good thing I did, we are forecasted to get 12-18 inches Monday and Tuesday). Christopher took my car yesterday and wash it. He also vacuumed out the inside and cleaned my wheels. He even apologized to me this morning that he didn't get to Armor All the inside since it was dark when he got back. And today, he has been helping my dad out by building a cover for the generator. I feel so blessed for the relatiohship my parents and Chris have. Not everyone gets that with their spouse and parents.

Well, I better get off here and finish getting ready for the day tomorrow. We are predicted to get some icy conditions tomorrow turning to snow tomorrow night. Not excited about going through this again. I just keep looking forward to next weekend when i get to go pick up my wedding dress!!!!

Hope that you all have a great week!

Happy 1st Birthday to Dozer!!!

Yes, we are strange to celebrate our puppies birthdays, but that is us, we love our puppies. Kit Kat is the only puppy that we have that is papered, so we know for sure when her birthday. Now, Dozer and Boots were dumped at our house. We were given estimates on their ages from the vet and then I picked a birthday for each of the boys.

Today, we celebrate Dozer's first birthday. Now, I am sad that I couldn't be there with him to celebrate. I'm sure that he got plently of attention from my mom though. She was off work and spent all day at the house with him. But trust me, next year, we will plan a birthday party for you.

It is hard to believe that it was about a year ago when we first found you. I remember that weekend well. My dad was worried about me being on the road because there was bad weather coming. I was getting ready to leave on Sunday. Chris and I were heading up to our house to look at something. Chris spotted  you running across the road and up into the field. You were so tiny. You ran from us going through a fence and up a hill. We finished what we needed to do and rushed back to my moms. Chris and I trecked through the woods for 45 minutes looking for you, knowing you didn't go far becuase you were so small. We were about to give up hope and head to the house becuase it was starting to snow when I spotted you huddled under a fallen limb. You were shivering and I think you had picked a place where you thought you would die. I carried you back to the house, talking to you. I guess you never forgot that voice because you never forgot who mommy was, despite the fact that I left 15 minutes after bringing you back to the house.

You have captured the heart of all of us. You also love going with Daddy. You ride 4wheelers, running through the field, riding in the truck, and just playing. Dad is always soft to you, sneaking you treats and giving you table scraps. You love playing with Pa - going to work with him, gathering wood, working in the shop. You also appreciate the lazy dad at home with Ma. You love to go all the time. You get mad when you are stuck at the house. You love to play outside. You love playing with Boots and Kit Kat. You have an attitude of a dog 10 times your size. You are extremely jealous when someone else is getting attention. You love to cuddle mommy in bed. You are precious and I love you so much. People often laugh at my relationship with you, making comments about what I will be like when we have real kids. But for now, you are my baby.

Here are a few pictures of you over the past year.

Mommy is looking forward to moving home and seeing you every day. Happy birthday lil' man!

On a more positive note

So, the wedding is officially 8 months from today. YIKES.

Anywho, I bought my shoes for the wedding last night. I fell in love with them a few months ago and have been waiting and waiting for them to come down to a price that I was comfortable paying. I am way to cheap for this wedding business. But last night, I found them the cheapest I have seen and probably as low as they will be for the time being.

I have always been comfortable in heels (even all day) but for these, I am not sure if I will keep them on the entire night, but hey, then there is always my cowboy boots.

Say what?!?!?

So, it has been brought to my attention that, off and on, over the past 7 years Chris and I have been dating, someone has been telling Christopher to leave me because I didn't treat him very well. Now, I have been stewing on this for a couple of day, because at first, I really had no idea what to think. Now, I promised Christopher that I wouldn't say anything to the person. We are trying to reduce drama in our lives, plus as Chris says it, it didn't make any difference becuase he didn't listen to it and didn't care what that person thought.

But I'm just confused as to where these allegations of me not treating him well comes from. I mean, don't get me wrong, things haven't always been love and bliss, but dude, this person doesn't know hardly anything about our relationship becuase we don't talk to them. Yeah, maybe you saw a figth or two, but really you know nothing. If you did, you would know that although Chris and I both have explosive tempers (Chris more so than me) you know that doesn't mean we don't love each other. Relationship experts say that having explosive and passionates fights are okay as long as you are both passionate fighters. It becomes an issue when your fighting styles do not match. People who fight passionately also love passionately, balancing it all out.

Anywho, back to me. So, really, not to brag on myself, but I have always considered myself a pretty decent girlfriend, fiance, etc. I do have tendencies to nag at times, but most of the time, it has to do with things that need to be done. I enjoy being right and sometimes will rub that in your face. I do have tendencies to be a little bitchy, but most of the time, those are deserved. I am honest and wear my heart on my sleeves, if you do something wrong, I am likely to tell you about it. But I don't think any of those make me terrible or equal me treating someone terribly. I am supportative of any dream that Chris has ever had. We have both made sacrifices for each other and are happy with where we are in life. I take care of all the finances. Chris handed me the checkbook in 2006, knowing that I was more organized. Since I have taken over, there has never been a late payment. I make sure that he is kept on budget with every paycheck.When I am home, I do 90% of the cooking, laundry and cleaning. I never force Chris to help. He volunteers on his own. I am Chris's morning alarm clock. I make sure that he gets out of bed every single night. I have been dutiful and accompanied him to all family functions, even some where I didn't want to. I always put on a happy face and did my part. Our house has always been welcome to all family and friends. I cook and pick up after everyone in the house as well.

So, would you please tell me where you get off saying that I don't treat Chris well? We have a system that works for us. We have been in love and making our relationship work for the past 7 years, so take that. I am who I am. Chris loves and respects the person that I am. I love and respect the person that he is as well. We are happy and are getting married in 8 months from today. If you don't like us together, then I would appreciate it if you would not come around me anymore.

5 Question Friday

Well, it is finally Friday. Despite being a short week (school wide), it still seemed like it took forever to get here. Part of it might have been that I was stuck at my house all day yesterday becuase we got about 9-10 inches of snow. I tried to make it out once, but when the snow goes up to my bumpers, my little Grand Am just didn't want to move. A neighbor had to push my car back in the garage and told me not to leave. Luckily our road was plowed today and I made it to class.

Well, I hadn't been posting on 5 Question Friday, so I thought that I would today since I have plenty of time before class starts. I wanted to make sure I tried leaving in plenty of time this morning, so if I couldn't make it out, I had time to find an alternative plan. Anyways, here it goes:

1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love?
Chris is my future spouse. Just 246 days to go. Anywho, Christopher and I met at school. Despite going to school together for years, I officially met Chris during my sophomore year of high school, his junior year. I met him in the halls. I can even show you the exact place in the hallway. I will never forget that day. I was instantly attracted to him, but not in love. I was actually dating someone else at the time that I first met Chris. After our first date though, I knew I was in love and this was the guy for me.

2. What is your favorite room in your house?
Christopher and I spend most of our time in the family room and the kitchen. I enjoy our time in the kitchen. We try to cook together. Even if he isn't in the mood to help with meals, he will always be in there talking with me. The puppies are always following us around and making sure that we don't drop any food. We eat all our meals together at the kitchen table (well except for things like pizza when we are watching something on tv). But the living room is great too. It has our fireplace and it is beautiful. We spend more evenings here just cuddled up on the couch watching tv or a movie. The dogs will either be playing in the open floor or cuddle up with us.

But we also love our outdoors too. When the weather is nice, we spend most of our time there.

3. Can you wiggle your ears?
Nope, this was not a skill that i ever acquired

4. What is your evening ritual?
Well for now, while I am in school, I get home around 5 every night. I do my homework, eat dinner and usually watch a little TV. Unless something special is on at 9, I usually start getting around for bed about 9. I read a little in a book (one that I want to read, not one that is required) and try to lay down for sleep around 10-10:30. Chris calls me to tell me goodnight when he goes to sleep, then I am out for the night

5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I typically survive on about 6 good hours of sleep. I have done less, but prefer not to. My body doesn't really like more. I naturally wake up early in the morning, even on the weekend.

Well, that's all folks, I guess I better look over my notes for class. If you want to play along, head over to My Little Life to play along.

Prayer Request

Dear blogger friends:

For those of you in believe in the powers of prayer, I would appreciate you saying an extra prayer for my future mother in law today. She went in to the doctor this morning and she is having trouble getting over her latest struggle with Pneumonia. She has always had problems with her lungs, but it continues to get worse. The doc told her to go admit herself into the hospital in Jefferson City for a few days. They are going to moniter her situation and run some tests. There is a possibility that it is worse than just Pneumonia too. I really hope not. She has had to deal with so much over the past two years in battling with breast cancer.

I want to go down to see her tonight since technically I am the closest because I am only 30 minutes away, but they are calling for a huge snow storm starting this afternoon. It is supposed to start snowing before I even get out of class. She has asked that none of us come due to the weather conditions. I may run down tomorrow if it doesn't get too bad. But if you would, just keep her in your thoughts and prayers today and over the next few days. I will let you know what happens as I know things.

I was blessed to have a wonderful mother in law and I don't want anything to happen to her.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was my first weekend back in Columbia. I've been back just 7 days and there are 195 days til I move home for good (yes, I am counting down the days already)

Friday, I had class in the morning. Then I went into work from noon til 5. Work provided lunch, which is always nice. It was for meeting our goals for the month. The only issue was that lunch was supposed to get there at noonish. I got out of class at 11:50 thinking I would get to work and people would still be in line for the food. Well, that didn't happen. Apparently, the food showed up at 11, so needless to say, there wasn't much left when I got there. I snacked around on a few things, eating mostly cake. When I got off at 5, I headed to Macaroni Grill to meet Sara for dinner. It wasn't too busy, so that was nice. We then went over to the mall. I lucked on on jeans. I got three pairs of jeans and a shirt from New York and Company, spending less than $50.00. I was pretty happy about that. I then headed back to the house and curled up with a book under the electric blanket. It was the perfect end to the day.

Saturday, I was up for an early start. I spent some time catching up on shows that were on my DVR. I didn't watch all my regular shows over break. Chris and I would get caught up doing something or would be at my parents house. I left the house around 11. I had to go to the post office and pick up a few things at the store. I have been drinking juice like it is going out of style and have gone through 2 gallons in a week. I needed to re-stock. I then came back to the house and ate lunch. I did a little homework and then decided I should start getting ready. It was Caroline's birthday. Caroline is a girl that I work with. She turned 25 last night. We headed to dinner at Jazz at 7:00. We had terrible service and didn't get out of there until after 10:00. It was nuts. We were then supposed to head out to karaoke. I was super excited about it.. I was going to get a preview of my duet for my wedding. But then, the place for karaoke was PACKED. We ended up going somewhere else. I visited with everyone for a bit. But I was exhausted so I was ready to head home a little after 11. I'm sure the rest of the group was out way into Sunday morning, but I just can't do that.

Today has been a pretty relaxing. I was up early. I did some reading for myself and then got started on my homework. I met Maggie for lunch at Panera. It is one of our favorite places to go. I was super excited that Maggie came back yesterday. I hadn't seen her in a month, so it was nice to see her again. I was glad to spend time with her today. We then came back to the house and caught up on 16 and Pregnant that we missed over break. We also baked cookies and looked at a few wedding things. I have spent the rest of the afternoon reading for classes and working on the wedding. I am now watching "My Fair Wedding" enjoying fresh fruit. Good day.

Hope that you all had a great weekend too!

School has officially started . . .

Well, it is now Saturday. I started class on Thursday. One class was cancelled but I had my first class that afternoon. Then I had 2 classes on Friday. Here are my thoughts so far:

Business Organizations - I took it because it is a bar course (meaning it is on the bar exam) and also becuase my family owns several businesses. I wanted to be able to know what was going on. Plus creating businesses isn't hard and I figured knowing how to do that would be good business. I was a little terrified about taking the class with Royce. He taught my contracts class during my 1L year. The experience wasn't that great. I had heard that he was better in upper level courses and so far, so good. I know a little bit more of what to expect from him. So, hopefully the semester will go fine. I'm on class for Wednesday, so we shall see.

Negotiation - So far, I love this class. Negotiation is such an essential part of my practice. We get to do exercises every week to help build skills and then reflect in journals. There is no final for the course. We started class on Friday with an exercise and it was fun. The class is small enough that we will get to know each other. I'm pretty excited about the rest of the class.

Employment Discrimination - This is an area of the law that isn't widely practiced in my hometown, so SP (my boss) recommended that I take this class. I took employment law during my 2L year and enjoyed the subject matter. I'm not sure what the think of the professor. The professor that I signed up with has now left for maternity leave and we have a different teacher. I guess we shall see how it goes. We didn't really do anything in the first day except talk about the civil rights movement. We then spent 20 minutes of class watching the "I have a Dream" speech. I know that was a part of our history and Monday is a day in celebration of MLK, but I am not sure why we spent 20 minutes of class watching that. I have read the speech many times, and have seen the video clip numerous times as well. I spend $10,000 a semester on law school and would prefer to leave this type of stuff in an undergrad class. I signed up for employment discrimination, not history. I hope we get back to the subject matter next week.

Other classes that I am taking are corporate tax and law practice management. I'll let you know how those go when I go back to school. I am currently out of class until Wednesday. Monday school is closed since it is a holiday and then I don't ever have class on Tuesdays.

I guess it is time to get back to the laundry.

Weekend Recap and Snow

Well, first off, it is snowing like crazy here, as predicted. I got up and around fairly early this morning so run some errands and grocery shop before the storm came in. The snow started around 10:30 and we for sure have several inches. At this point, I am not sure that I will be getting out tomorrow at all, but if I do, it will not be early at all. Guess it will give me a chance to get started on my readings. This afternoon, I was doing more organization.

So, besides having to leave town yesterday, the weekend went pretty well. Friday at work was super busy. The day flew by. I didn't get to snack all day like I usually do and there was even times that I was running around so much that I couldn't even use the restroom. But time flew by. When I left the office, I headed to my moms to check on my little boys. Both were doing fantastic after the surgeries. They were even jumping around at the vet's office. Chris and I headed to town around 6:30. We picked up a quick dinner then headed to play pool with Chris's cousin Matt. Those boys are pretty entertaining to watch. I don't play much because I am terrible, but I love to shoot the easy shots. We didn't stay out late. We were back to the house around 9:30 and I was in bed by 10:30.

Saturday morning, my mom and I headed to town early. We met my grandmother for breakfast at Jimmy's. It was yummy. I love breakfast and going out is about the only time that I get it anymore. Chris isn't big on breakfasts. Most of the time, it is too big of a mess for just me, so I don't bother. My french toast and sausage was really good. Mom and I then ran a few more errands and did her grocery shopping. I got back to the house and helped Chris pick up the house and his truck. We headed to Springfield about 1:30. We didn't need to go too early because there wasn't much to do. I had wanted Chris and I to do registering at one store, but he wasn't interested. Guess I'll have to do it by myself (well, I have a few special ladies who said they would help). I just remind Chris that he cannot complain about what I get since he choose not to have an opinion. We went into Home Depot to look around for a bit. Then we headed to dinner at Nakatos. It was my work Christmas dinner. We go every year. This year, the service wasn't so great. Despite having reservations for 5:00, we didn't get a table until 5:45. It was crazy. Chris isn't crazy about the food and then the combo about the wait, I am not sure if he will feel up to going next year. We shall see. We got home around 9:00, picked up Boots (yes, we have a babysitter for our puppies), then headed to the house to watch a little TV.

Sunday morning I got up early. I watched the weather forecast and knew that I needed to start packing. I was all packed before anyone else got up. I spent a little time with Chris and the pups. I had to make sure the house was clean and laundry caught up for him before I left. The only thing I didn't get done was grocery shopping for him (which is why he got take out tonight). Hopefully he will get that taken care of soon. We loaded up the car and I got on the road around 1:30. I got to Columbia unloaded the car, unpacked, ate dinner and was in bed by 9:30. My life is so boring.

Well, that is it for now. I'm looking to heading up to read a little bit before heading off to bed early again tonight.

Back in Columbia

Well, it isn't what was planned, but it is what I got. During all the years that I have been in Columbia, the weather has hated me. I have been stopped or planned have been changed due to ice, snow, thunderstorms, and even tornados. Needless to say, I wasn't too shocked to see that there was a forecast for snow on the days that I thought about leaving (Monday or Tuesday). So, to be on the safe side, I headed up to Columbia today.

It was hard to leave but not as bad as many other years. Pomona is my home and I always hate leaving. There is just something about being there that makes me happy and puts my mind at ease. I love being near my family. I love seeing my puppies. And most importantly, I love seeing Christopher every day.

But on a positive note, graduation is just 4 months away. This semester like all the others should fly by. I try to stay busy with school and work and then now wedding planning is more intense, so I have plently to keep me occupied. I will be officially moving home the last weekend in July. Sooo looking forward to that day. Then we should have a busy couple of months before the wedding.

Yikes, so much ahead of us in the next few months.

Off to go relax before heading to bed. I hope I can sleep tonight without Dozer in the bed. He is already lost at home without me. Poor guy!

I'm such a sap

The boys are getting neutered this morning and I didn't take it too well when I dropped them off this morning.

Last week when I set up the appointment, they first told me that I had to bring the boys on Wednesday for them to stay the night before the surgery. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Neither one of them have been away from people for more than 8 hours, Dozer less than that. It just would have been extra rough for them to be away from us last night. So, I convinced the vet to let them stay at home. We just had to cut off food at 7:00 pm last night. Chris had a hard time dealing with that. He loves giving the pups treats. He kept telling me he wanted to give in last night when the pups would come inside and want a treat like they always do. Then Chris was trying to tell me that getting them neutered was mean and he wouldn't let me do it.

This morning was rough. Both the boys were excited to go for a ride: Boots rode with Chris and Dozer with me. Chris says Boots started shaking when they pulled into the vet parking lot. We got both of them in the office. Dozer started barking.  He would only calm down when I held him. We had to put them in kennels to even fill out the paperwork. Neither pup liked getting put in the kennel. The look on their faces broke me heart. I teared up. Luckily Chris was there. He looked at me, smiled and grabbed my hand. (Gotta love that boy) We walked back up from to finish paperwork and I could hear both boys crying three rooms away. We hurried signing papers and got out of there.

We were both heading off to work. Chris kissed me on the forehead smiled and told me that they would be okay. Now I am counting down the hours till I get off at 4:30 to go pick up my babies.

Let's just hope after we have children that they don't have to have any kind of surgery. I don't know what I would do!

2010 in Review

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before? I set a wedding date with my dearest Christopher

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions? I never make new years resolutions - people don't typically keep those.  I just make goals for myself during the year

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sister gave birth to an adorable little boy in October. I  had a few other friends who did as well, but no one really close other than my sister

4. Did anyone close to you die? I don't recall attending a funeral during 2010 but I know of many who passed away, some harder to deal with than others, especially the young ones

5. What countries did you visit? I stayed in the United States all year long

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? A husband, my juris doctorate, my Missouri bar license :)

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 5 - we bought a house, May 17 - we set our wedding date
8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year? Finishing another year of school. We are down to just a few months til graduation and I couldn't be happier

9. What was your biggest failure? I don't know that I would say that I failed at anything last year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope

11. What was the best thing you bought? The house - I love our little farm

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Christopher - he has been amazing working on the house while I was gone and he has always been wonderfully supportative for me to go to school. My parents were also great during the whole house deal

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I am so disgusted by the way some people treat their committed relationships. I know of more than one person who was cheated on by their spouse. I know of one person who was physically and verbally assaulted by their spouse. It's terrible to think about people behaving such a way. It makes me sad when people think that having a baby willl fix marriage problems. I hate when people continue to have kids when they cannot afford them and choose to live off the government. I hate when people complain about their life but aren't willing to change things themselves.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills mostly

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Wedding planning :)

16. What song will always remind you of 2010? Eh, I don't know that any song will always make me think of this year
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier!

b) thinner or fatter? About the same, maybe slightly thinner

c) richer or poorer? Likely a little poorer, investments aren't doing quite as well

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercising

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Eating

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We always have many Christmas celebrations. Besides our respective work ones prior to Christmas we have Christmas Eve at our house with the Upton family. Christmas Day in the morning, we were with my parents. Christmas afternoon we spent with our puppies. Christmas Day evening, we spent with the Shannon family and the 26th was spent with the Gabel's. We have one more celebration this coming Saturday in Springfield for my work
21. Did you fall in love in 2010? Every day I find new reasons to love Christopher and we welcomed two new puppies to our family in 2010 that I love

22. How many one-night stands? None
23. What was your favorite TV program? No doubt about this one, Glee

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't know that I would say that I grew to hate anyone this year. I lost respect for many people and discovered reasons to distance myself from other. I have hated actions people have taken but I don't think hating anyone

25. What was the best book you read? John Grisham's new book - The Confession
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? No one new this year

27. What did you want and get? I wanted to start planning the wedding and that I am doing

28. What did you want and not get? We didn't get the garage finished before winter

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I don't even remember what all movies I watched this year. Recently we watched Easy A, that was a good movie

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 23 on April 30 - Went out to dinner on Friday night with girlfriends, went to lunch on Saturday with girlfriends - celebrated jointly with Maggie

31.What was one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not having bills - that would make every year better

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? Classic - I wear a lot of basics and try to look classy and not skanky

33. What kept you sane? Friends, Christopher and my mom

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Um...I really don't know.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? I cannot really name a particular issue that fired me up, but I will say Obama isn't my favorite person and I am not thrilled about things Congress or our President are doing

36. Who did you miss? I have been missing grandparents a lot lately, expecially around the holidays because you are more aware they aren't there. It makes me sad we won't have grandfathers at our wedding
37. Who was the best new person you met? I met several new people through school and at work, couldn't really pick the best one though

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. No matter how you much you know something needs to happen, you cannot force it upon someone else. You can only help people who are willing to help themselves

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Love like Crazy - Lee Brice - "Be your best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I love you. Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense. Never let your prayin' knees get lazy. And love like crazy"

Gabel Family Christmas

Sunday, the 26th was the biggest Christmas we had. It was Christmas with the Gabels. All my siblings were here along with thier children. Then my grandma came and my Great Aunt Pauline and her husband Terry. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Christmas Day

Christmas day was a pretty day for us. We spent the morning with my parents. We had breakfast and opened presents. Then for most of the morning and into the evening, Chris and my dad spent visiting. I was in the kitchen getting things ready for the afternoon Christmas with the Shannons (Chris's mom's family). We also gave Dozer and Boots their stockings. The boys loved Christmas. Here are a few pictures of the day. I didn't get any pictures from the morning.

The greatest joy of Christmas came that evening. As many of you know, Chris's neice Sadie has Spina Bifida and has no feeling or control over the lower part of her body. She has been going to physical therapy and with the assitance of a brace and a walker, her present to all of us was to see her walk. Seriously a moving event that brought tears to my eyes. God truly blessed us and it brings everything in perspective. Here is that precious girl.