Christmastime is Here!

Well, the stockings are hung, the tree is up, and most of the gifts are wrapped.  Christmas is my favorite time of year and I am really excited to spend my first Christmas with my wonderful husband!  My sister came home for Christmas on Sunday and spent a couple of days at our house.  My brother comes home tonight and I am excited to see him! It is so great to spend time with family during the holidays!!

Last weekend we went to Carrabbas for a surprise dinner for Lucas's parents.  We were celebrating their 40th anniversary!  His siblings and their spouses were all there and Lucas and I had invited his parents.  They thought they were just having dinner out with the 2 of us.  Our table was not ready when it was supposed to be so Lucas got a pager from the hostess as a prop (his sister had the real one) and we intercepted his parents at the door.  We told them it was really crowded and there was no where to sit, so we waited in the car.  Lucas's sister texted him when they were seated and we went in pretending that our pager went off.  The hostess took us too the table and Lucas's parents were very surprised to see all of their children there!  It was a great evening!

We have been enjoying the season as we go to Christmas parties, look at lights as we drive places, and partake of some of the holiday baking I have been doing! :)  As we take the time this wonderful season to remember our dear Savior and to reflect on all of the many blessings in our lives this year, we wish all of our dear friends and family a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a WONDERFUL 2012!

THANKSGIVING

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house, then went to visit Lucas's family.  I made rolls (thanks again for the great recipe, Sami!), stuffing, spiced yams, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. Boy did my house smell good! :) Lucas and I watched the Macy's Parade (a tradition of mine) while I cooked.  It was a great thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Some of the things (but certainly not all) that I am thankful for this year:

• My AMAZING husband!
• My AWESOME family!
• GREAT friends!
• The fact that we only have to drive 3 min to get to church! (before we got married I drove 20 min to church)
• The friendliest ward with so many great new friends!
• Our house! (which was a headache and a half to get. We went through so much, including religious discrimination, to get the mortgage for this house)
• My job that allows me to work with cute kindergartners every day!
• Lucas's job that pays the bills!
• My Brita water filter, since Thornton water does not taste very good!
• Learning how to coupon!
• And much, much more!!!.......