Yesterday Steve and I were discussing life in general and our future plans etc. He said as far as work goes, we could probably stay here in Alabama as long as we wanted to. Two years ago if he would have said that to me I would have said let's get out at the first opportunity and I would have meant it and prayed for it. Yesterday for the first time since we moved here, I thought, "you know that wouldn't be so bad. We have good friends here, our children are doing well and I can't think of a better place to raise a family. " I think part of my change of heart is due to the true friendships Steve and I have been able to form the past two years. To all my friends reading at this moment. Thankyou! Thankyou for keeping me sane. Thankyou for being my family away from family. You might think you don't make a difference in the world, but you do, especially in my world. My mom has always told me to bloom where I am planted. Blooming is much better with good friends beside you giving you encouragement, nourishment and love. This year I am thankful for good friends.
Speaking of being thankful. . . our thanks goes to the Nicholsons for inviting us over to spend Thanksgiving dinner with them for the second year in a row. Both Stephanie and I forgot to take pictures of the feast, but it was a good one. We ate so much we decided to save the pie for the next weekend. Note to self: Next year lets not make my Grandma's cinnamon rolls. I was so sick from them that I could barely make them for Christmas (our usual tradition). I made Steve's mom's Martha Stewart cornbread stuffing recipe again this year, as well as 7 layer bean dip and artichoke spinach dip. Second note to self: Try not to overload on appetizers before the actual meal. Your stomach can only hold so much. After much eating, many games were played and movies watched. All and all it was another great thanksgiving. Thanks Stephanie and Scott for helping us create Alabama traditions and keeping us from homesickness and boredom.
My birthday was a little boring this year. (Note to husband: not a brilliant idea to get your wife a curling iron for her birthday--I forgive you). But really, I wanted a simple boring birthday. Steve made me home cooked Korean food which was delicious and we opened presents and ate cake with the kids. He also took me out to dinner over the weekend for a night on the town.
A week or so after my birthday my parents dropped in to give us a visit. This year we decided not to go home for Christmas for the first time since we've been married. (Don't tell, I actually thought I might get homesick, but I didn't. Maybe that's because we are heading to Utah tomorrow and I don't have to stress about packing Christmas presents and I get to go skiing in a non-crowded ski resort). Can you believe I only took one picture with my parents and the kids? Yes one. You're looking at it. Would some of you please give me your desire to take lots of pictures. I loose mine all the time. I get too into whatever I'm doing and then forget all about it. All you photogrophers out there (yes you, you know who you are) you make me look really bad.
We had a great time with my parents. I went Christmas shopping for the kids with my mom. On saturday we went to Bridge Street and ate at Red Robin (huge treat for the kids) and then we went to see a show. We ate so much popcorn by the time we got out of the movie my dad decided to take us to Maggie Moo's for dinner. The kids thought it was way cool to have ice cream for dinner. Totally stuffed to the max. The next day I got to speak in Church (not cool), my Dad flew home and my mom stayed a few more days and then went home. I feel so blessed to have parents who make time for me and my family even though they have eight other children and are incredibly busy.
Ok, don't laugh. A few days after my parents left we had Steve's annual Holiday party. Thankyou again friends for letting me borrow the dress and the jewlery-- another penny saved! Steve's party is a big deal for us every year because it is for over a thousand people and he is the guy in charge of it. Steve has been the MC every year along with some of the others on his team. They work really hard and I am always glad when it is over because I actually get my husband back, mentally and physically. I have to say this year was the best party I've been to so far because they had a lip sinc contest for large prizes like 52 inch flat panels, and brand new refrigerators. It was sheer craziness. They also did this thing called wrap the manager where three different teams had to gift wrap executives. It was fun to see some of the Korean managers get out of their comfort zones. I also got a special treat-- Steve actually danced with me this year. Usually I never get to dance with him because he is running around, but the people on his team made him stop and give me a turn. He was a little nervous because we were one of the only couple's on the floor dancing and every one seemed to be looking at us, but he didn't step on my feet, he just blushed a bit. That's ok because I'm glad I can still make him blush.
During the month of December we did the usual fun Christmas time activities. We went to see the lights at the botanical gardens, and did breakfast with Santa at the High School.
We also got to go to Stephen's kindergarten Christmas brunch. That was lots of fun. We went caroling to many of the classrooms in the school and had a great breakfast. Luke was very excited when Stephen's teacher, Mrs. Mittman made a Reindeer t-shirt with him. I also went into Stephen's class room one day and made my grandma's cinnamon rolls with the kids. We made a big mess, but had lots of fun.
Christmas was great this year! Steve has been wanting a wii for about three years now, so we decided to get one for our family present. We have used it a TON and it was worth the investment to us. The kids also got some great gifts from all our family as well as from Santa Clause. Steve redeemed himself from my birthday and got me an i-pod shuffle for Chirstmas. We enjoyed spending Christmas eve and day with just our little family have now officially started our own traditions. This year we had Christmas dinner with the Marsaws and that made the day perfect! Again, this year I am thankful for friends!
I can't finish off this post without adding a little about Luke because I have previously added posts about Stephen and Anna, but not my little man. When Stephen started kindergarten it was really hard for Luke. He still cries in the morning sometimes when Stephen leaves for school not only because he will miss his brother, but because he wants to go to kindergarten so badly. Sadly for him, he misses the deadline for kindergarten by three days, so he won't be starting next year, but I do have him registered for a regular preschool which he is very excited about. Luke also has not been able to play soccer because again, he misses the deadline to start. This last fall Luke was really struggling and frustrated and I felt he needed something of his very own he could excell in. We decided to put him in gymnastics. He loves it, has a wonderful teacher, Mr. Ken, and has really improved his skills this year. I'm so grateful for strokes of inspiration. It really makes mothering much easier!
Ok. I'm signing off now. Kudos to you if you actually got this far. I can't believe I did. This year I will try not to get so far behind!
This last weekend Steve and I packed our bags and headed out with our friends Laura and Craig for Nashville, Tennessee. Leaving the kids behind (hip-hooray!), we spent the night in a nice hotel (wow, we haven't done that for a LONG time, especially without kids) and got up early Saturday morning so that Laura and I could run our brains out in the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. Holy Big Race Batman. I've run a few races in my day, but this race made them all look PODUNK. We are talking major claustrophobia. There were 35,000 runners in this race. Yes really. If you look back in that sea of people behind the starting line, Laura and I are back there. We were about 10,000th in line. It took us a whole 15 minutes just to cross the starting line. It was an amazing, inspiring, give you goose bumps kind of a race. There was live music every mile or so and a whole lot of people cheering on.
This was Laura's first race and it was a tough one. It was hot and there were a lot of hills, but she reached her goal of finishing her first half-marathon and I achieved my goal of finishing under 2 hours. It was a great feeling to cross the finish line. There were so many people neither Laura or I were able to find our husbands after finishing the race. It was like trying to find Where's Waldo. After stumbling through the shoot and walking aimlessly through the crowd, I was finally able to come to my senses and find the family reunion area where we planned on meeting if we couldn't find each other. I sat in the "B" section for about 20min. until Steve found me. He snapped this picture of us after giving me a hug.
