And I'm Back in the Game!!

Warning - this post has several labels because I piled 20 posts into one. So if you're label shopping, you may have to sort through the rest of this first. Sorry! :o)

Alright, so I know it's been months and months since the last time I posted... I actually sat down a while ago and wrote out a new post but it deleted everything right before I was finished and I was SO mad that I haven't started one since. But, I've calmed down and decided to try again. Lots has changed since then, like my job... and how I lost it. Stupid IBC Bank laid me off on Tuesday. I guess I was kind of expecting it since we had slowed down so much and I was the only contract employee. I was the easiest one to lift right out. So now I'm job hunting and we all know how much that sucks. Hopefully it won't be too long before I find something promising. On the upside though, Tim and I have started discussing possibly adding children to our little family. We've started to explore adoption and other options, so hopefully we might be blessed with a little one joining our family in the near future. We are pretty excited for such a fun thought, for a long time we just weren't sure whether we would ever be able to have kids in our life, so the idea that it's possible is really great. Our Christmas was really, really great this year. It was relaxing and nice and we just had a great time. Tim bought me some wonderful things and best of all, he MADE me a beautiful display of our song in a frame and I love it. I think he actually got the idea from a picture we saw in Lindsay & Colton's house one time. He said he always wanted to do something like it for me and this year he finally did it. Well, we're watching the BCS National Championship (and rooting for the Longhorns of course) so I guess I better log off and pay attention. We're losing right now, but TX is a 2nd half team so I'm sure, we're about to pick it up and WIN IT!! I've loaded some pictures below from our Holiday Season 2009! Hope you enjoy. :o) One lovely Sunday evening we were all gathered around reading the scriptures and my precious nephew Tyson climbed and sort of stumbled into this sleigh. We all had quite a laugh. Is he cute or what?? My cousin Loni, she just moved here from WA this past summer and I definitely appreciate what she brings to the kissy face look. :o) Here's the crew at the IBC Christmas Party this year. My one and only apparently since they just laid me off... losers. Anyway, from left to right is, well you know everyone except in the backrow is Brie and her boyfriend OC. She works at IBC with those people who still work there. I'm not bitter about it though. :o) And here we are before the party in our fancy clothes. I made my very first Gingerbread House this year with Diana and funny thing... I forgot to take a picture of it!! So, here it is after my nephew Ben had his way with it. Better than nothing I guess... Can't believe I did that.

This year all 3 of us girls volunteered with Coats for Kids and it was a very interesting experience. We walked around with families as they picked out their jackets. It was neat, I'm really glad we did it. It's always nice to do charity work this time of year.

Oh yes, and here is little Benjamin having his way with my house. Still can't believe I didn't get a picture. It was so cute, you'd have been so proud!

Here is my favorite gift of 2009 from my sweet husband who made this with love. He bought the sheet music to "our song" and framed it for me. Like I said, we got this idea from Lindsay and Colton's house. :o) Those of you who know them, know how awesome that frame is that they have on their wall.

Here's our little Christmas tree this year. We have a small fake one that we use right now because we live at the shop. Not a whole lot of room for a giant tree. It fits perfectly in this little corner though and we loved it. It felt very festive this year!

And last but not least, here is a picture of the wonderful Christmas lights that Tim so craftily put up this year. I have to say, I think this is the best he's ever done. The shop looked absolutely amazing all lit up this year! Thanks for that hubby!