I have all these good intentions to keep my blog up to date, and then.....nothing :) I really have no good reason why I don't get on here more often to update things. I suppose that it seems like our lives don't vary that much--things were more exciting while I was in school :) However, I got a sweet Christmas card from my Grandma saying that she checks the blog often, and there hasn't been any changes lately, so I thought I'd better spice things up!
Thanksgiving was fun this year. I think that we have spent every Thanksgiving but 2 at home with either friends of family over. This was an odd one because I didn't cook a thing! We got invited to two dinners--so fun. Thankfully Jeff was home too, so it worked out nicely. I am now taking applications for next years dinner...be warned, we were spoiled with lots of good food and company :) Although, if you have cooler weather, you will get a point--it was 80 degrees and that was just way too warm for turkey day!
So it turns out that Jeff's company has no idea when they will be doing what. They put these time lines out and then change them. Jeff hasn't traveled once since October. I put Jeff on notice--give me 24 hours so that I can be sure you have enough laundry done, otherwise, I don't want to know the "plan." Both launches are delayed until early-ish next year as they wait for a part to be made to overcome some rotation problem they found. It has been nice to have Jeff around more than expected, but I will admit to mild irritation because we haven't made plans for things since we didn't know what to expect. For instance, I had this insane desire to hike the Grand Canyon again this year. Not sure why--I had a dream about it and decided we should. It probably won't happen until the fall (if it happens at all!) because of work stuff. We shall see....maybe I will come to my senses before then :)
Our church callings are keeping us busy. This time of year is especially crazy for me. I collected all of the teachers binders this week, so I will be spending the next couple getting the teachers all ready for the new year. I also have to update all of the presidency lists etc. I envy those of you who work in other organizations where there isn't quite as much paper shuffling. My goal is only 2 paper cuts this year :) We have a tiny number of scouts (both cub and boy), so we were trying to get another ward to meet with us, but that didn't work out, so Jeff has had a little shift in what he is doing. He is still the YM secretary and an assistant scout master, but he is going to be running the 11 year old scouts. I think he is pretty excited about it--all those scouty things he gets to teach unsuspecting young men! We are actually hosting a scout Christmas party for the 11 and 12 year olds tomorrow night. I am hoping they will have fun. I am a little stressed about it because I have gotten slightly carried away, but I am a firm believer in Christmas being magical for kids....even if they are slowly turning into stinky teens! I also have a primary Christmas party on Saturday--between the two events I am making a little over 200 sugar cookies! I didn't realize that these were in the same week, or I might have reconsidered a thing or two. Good thing my work schedule is a little more lax this week :)
We will be spending Christmas here in AZ--the first time we will be alone for Christmas! I probably complained about this in several earlier posts... forgive me for mentioning it again. I am trying to be less traumatized about it, and embrace it for its opportunities. We have been invited to several places, but I am thinking that we should just stay home and figure out what we want out of the holiday--I am sure this isn't going to be the only Christmas we are stranded with only one another for company :) I am trying to think of ways to make it fun and different from all the other days we are home together....I am open to suggestions.
I was going to post some pictures of Jeff putting lights up in shorts and t-shirt, but my memory card is being freaky. You will just have to use your imagination, and yes, it still freaks me out that it is so warm here. Sunday was a cool blustery day, with crunchy leaves getting blown about--fall in other words! I have big plans to make Jeff take me to see some snow while we are both off! Our other Christmas decorations are up too. I have several new nativities, so it was fun to put them up. Our tree is a little sad this year--the whole middle section of lights is out and then two little spots on the sides. Jeff spent a good hour laying underneath it with one of those little guns trying to figure out what was going on. I left the room to change into cozy pants and came back out to find Jeff just laying there, defeated. I have been trying to convince him that he wants to take the ornaments off and replace the lights, but as yet, he is unmoved :) I was hoping the idea of LED lights would spark some interest (he loves electronic gizmos!) but I only got a mildly interested response. We shall see....
I had big plans to get Christmas cards out, but I don't know if that will happen. If it doesn't, know that we still love you and are thinking about you, but that I am blitzed. I really am going to try to be better about updating this blog....especially now that I know someone is reading! Merry Christmas!
Michelle and I were alone for Christmas Eve for the first time in our marriage. We had a very fun day and tried to do some things to make it different from other days we spend alone.
My mom sent us reindeer food as part of the 12 days of Christmas. Here I am spreading it out in the yard so we could ensure Santa would visit.
Michelle made a German meal of rouladen, sauerkraut, potato dumplings.
The rouladen is thinly sliced beef rolled up with spices and other food inside.
They are then tied together, browned and then boiled until tender.
Yummy!
Candle lit dinner for two. (it was super tasty too.)
After we opened up buddy gifts with Michelle's family, we opened up new Christmas PJ's, then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. We then returned home shared hot chocolate...
...read 'The Night Before Christmas', and finally watched the original Grinch and A Muppet's Christmas Carol.
The before picture.
Without the ornaments.
Removing the lights.
This is me realizing that we need more lights. The ten boxes I bought from the first store only did the bottom of the tree! We proceeded to 4 other stores to buy all the lights we could find.
Final stretch. 
