Happy Holidays- A Belated 2008 in Review

Well, I had wonderful intentions of sending out holiday cards prior to the holidays and as it is obviously after New Year's, I am thinking it's not going to happen, so I thought I would just send out a "blog card" with an overview of what would have went into that fabulous card (I thought about trying to claim wanting to be "green", by going paperless, which would have made some people very happy- Jenn/Liz, but truth is I just didn't get around to it)....here is a recap of my 2008. It was filled with weddings, friends new babies, trips to KC and Hays to visit friends and many other good memories. Hopefully, '09 will be just as great and a blessed year for each of you. In true Dave Letterman style...my top ten:

10. At the end of January '08, I joined the staff at Wesley Medical Center as a speech therapist. I have really loved working with the adults in an acute care setting and have learned so much from my coworkers. It has been a really great move for me.

9. In May, my parents and I went to Seattle for my cousin's college graduation. Meg couldn't go as she was busy with work. However, we had a great trip touring Seattle and surrounding areas and seeing my only cousin graduate from Pacific Lutheran University. If you have never been to that area, I would really recommend it- so pretty. Congratulations Jenn!!

8. I have to brag that my baby sister (yes, she is 25 now) had a huge accomplishment in '08. Meg passed all four parts of the CPA to make her a Certified Public Accountant. Why anyone would want this role is beyond me but I am very proud since she is apparently a genius! I do not really understand what she does as an auditor, and that's okay cause it seems to make her happy and I don't think she would be caught dead doing speech therapy!! Congrats sister!!

7. Since my sister moved to Dallas in August '07....I made 3 trips to Dallas this past year (including one on the way to College Station). It's only a 5 hour or so drive from Wichita so not too bad. It's fun to explore a new city and see where Meg spends her time. My parents went for one of the trips as well, so it was a nice little family vacation!

My sis and my friend Lindsay who carpooled to Texas with me when she went to visit friends.

6. In February, I started a Bunko group with some friends. The group consists of several girls I lived with in college and other friends of each of ours. We have been meeting the second Tuesday of each month and enjoy snacks and catching up on life without husbands/kids/etc. I would highly recommend it to anyone! :)

5. In July I joined a little Cooking Club with my friend Kara that I worked with at the time and a couple other girls that she knows. We get together about once a month and all bring ingredients and try different recipes. It's a lot of fun to try new recipes and cook with friends who enjoy it!

4. This year, my family again had season tickets to Kansas State football games and my sister and I also went with friends to watch the Cats beat TX A&M. Very fun!! Hopefully next season will go better with Coach Snyder returning. Time will tell!!

3. Since I had to work over the Thanksgiving weekend, I got the chance to host my first family holiday. My parents and sis met up here and we spent the weekend hanging out in Wichita. Cooking that meal is a lot of work but it was great to have them here since I couldn't go home!

2. In October of this year, after having a curiousity for quite a while...I learned how to sew/quilt with the help of friends. I used my grandma's machine and made my first quilt for a friend that is having a baby in February. I gave Lacey and baby Hunter the quilt at her shower the weekend after Christmas. Such fun!

1. Since neither my sister or me moved for the first time in 9 years (since I first left for college), my parents apparently felt like it was their turn. In March '08 they made the decision to build a new home west of Topeka and out of the house Meg and I grew up in. Many weekends were spent helping them paint/move/decorate/etc. and they closed on their new house Dec. 16th, the same day that the people who bought their house closed. Mildly hectic, but they are settling in and enjoying the new place to call home.

Christmas Vacation....

Hope you all had a great Christmas with your family and friends...mine was great and the first in my parents' new house, so definitely different. I had to work Christmas Eve but got done early and headed to Topeka to celebrate my sister's 25th birthday. We went to church and then had a little birthday party for Meg. My mom's bro and his family from Denver made the journey across Kansas for the holidays and it was nice to spend time with them. Here are some pics from my time at home:


My sis, parents and me on Christmas Eve...

My uncle, aunt and cousin....

My little sis on her birthday (sorry for the creepy smile, I didn't have any better pictures!)

Meg's feelings during the 23 games of "Blockus" that she got beat in....

Sad after all the losing. :(

The mittens I gave to my family that I made to hold silverware on the table....got it from this idea at Crate and Barrel.

Meg at The National Collegiate Basketball Hame of Fame....making some shots!

Denver relatives (KU fans) with the bird....

My completed quilt that I got to give to my friend Lacey at her baby shower for her baby-to-be Hunter...


Another shot...

Me with Lacey and Hunter at the shower....

My parents' backyard during the snow on the Saturday after Christmas...

Jenn and Meg posing for the camera...My first attempt at making "Molten Chocolate Cake"....I used cocoa instead of chocolate squares and they did NOT "turn out"....so gross!

The correct version of the cake....so good!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy start to '09! I am headed to KC tonight to ring in the new year!! Have a good one! :)

Baking and wrapping and packing, oh my...

It's a busy time of year for everyone most definitely (hence, my lack of blogging), and it's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here! As I get packed up to drive to my parents' house after work tomorrow, I have wrapped a couple final gifts and baked a few treats to share with my family. My aunt, uncle and cousin are driving in to town as we speak, and tomorrow I will be headed to my parents' new house that they moved into last week....I will have to share more about that another time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and safe travels. I leave you with a few pictures of the fruits of my labor this evening...

Deck the Halls....

Thanks to the snow we received yesterday and the miserable colder temperatures, I have been hiberating the last couple evenings and have been getting ready for the rapidly-approaching Christmas holiday. Here are a few pictures of what's going on around my place:

My Chrismas shopping is done! Here is my tree all decked out with gifts. Do not be alarmed, they are not huge presents, but it is a little tree. :)

I have been enjoying this glass decorative jar I bought on our girls' trip to Nell Hill's and it's filled with purple and white ornaments for K-S-U....

These stockings are what I have been making last night and tonight and will be gifts for my speech therapy and audiology co-workers at the hospital. They are made out of felt and embroidery thread....hoping to find some hot chocolate or candles to put in them before I give them away.

This one is an "M" for Marilyn...

The rest of the stockings....all hung with care....

**And in very exciting news, two of my friends from college had baby girls this week:

Emma Rose was born Tuesday and Taryn Lynn was born today! Both babies are healthy and moms are doing well. These burp clothes were embroidered by my boss and she added flannel at the bottom and I'll be giving them each a couple, cause what baby doesn't need something cute to spit up on. Looking forward to meeting both future K-Staters! Congrats mamas!!

Just add milk...

If Santa shows up early this year; I am fully prepared to provide him with some cookies! Last week my evenings revolved around the process of making sugar cookies. If you have ever made homemade ones, you know that it's not a 15 minute job. Monday I made the dough and then put it in the freezer, baked them on Wednesday and Thursday a few friends came over to frost and decorate them. All of this early-in-the-season cookie making was for a cookie exchange I went to on Friday night...here are some pics from all the hard work. Not bad if I do say so myself! : )

My decorating elves: Jenna, Robin and Kristin....thanks for all your help girls!

The counter FULL of cookies!

The gooey chocolate cookies that I got at the exchange:

The snickerdoodles and shortbread cookies I also got at the exhange:

The holidays are officially here!!

Hello friends! I have not forgot about the blogging world but haven't had or made the time to blog lately. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Since I was on call on the holiday and for the weekend, my family came to me to celebrate! It was my first holiday that I have hosted and all in all it went pretty well (according to me). I slightly misread the brocccoli and rice casserole recipe and put a whole bag of rice in instead of the one cup that is recommended. Per my sister- "You ruined Thanksgiving." Mildly dramatic, hmm?? Besides that it was all really good and there was definitely plenty of food!

Our turkey....aka, my "baby sister" Meg

While I worked Friday, my mom and sis fought the crowds for some Black Friday deals (Bob sat that one out)....thankfully my shopping is basically done! Hopefully everyone likes their gifts; if not there will be gift receipts I'm sure...

The weekend was pretty relaxed...went out to dinner at a couple favorite restaurants and saw "Four Christmases" which was pretty cute. The highlight was that my sis and I both got new winter coats as early birthday gifts from our parents....same coat but mine is red and hers is black. Excited to get some use out of it...

This week I will be doing some holiday baking for a cookie exchange and will try to get some pics taken of all the fun that goes along.....for now I am going to go sit on the couch and recover from the lifting class I took at the gym tonight....sore already....not a good sign!

Technical difficulties.....

I have not forgot about my blog but I have tried several times now to upload pictures from my computer and it's NOT working!! If I would have put up pictures, they would have been from the last K-State home game of the season that I went to last weekend with my friend Lindsay and my parents. It was kinda cold but a really fun day!! The day after the game, it was announced that Coach Snyder was returning, which is being met with mixed feelings from the KSU community. We'll see what happens next year!

This week has been all about getting ready for Thanksgiving! My sister gets here tomorrow night and my parents are coming Thursday morning. I am really looking forward to spend some time with them and relax. I have all the ingredients for our traditional T-Day dishes on my counter, so tomorrow night Meg and I will have to kick it in gear and make some stuff so they will be ready for the oven on Thursday. I wish each of you a wonderful holiday. I have so much to be thankful for this year; my sweet family, good friends and a job that I love. Will try to put some pictures up after a great Thanksgiving weekend!