Since Christmas is well past I will just give you a few highlights from the holidays.
We realized we had no plans for Christmas Eve. No one wants to sit around by themselves on the night before Christmas, but it looked like that could be what would happen. Dusty and I got talking and decided we had plenty of steaks to BBQ. So that is just what we did! With just one days notice we threw together a big potluck dinner at Tim’s house with my parents, sisters, grandma, Dusty’s dad and grandparents all in attendance. I have to say I was impressed with my creativity to make non traditional side dishes since I didn’t have time to go to the store and stock up on such short notice. Also, Christmas Eve Day the twins came over to snowmobile and had a good time before helping get dinner ready.
Christmas day we planned to do our usual running around to all our family gatherings. This plan had to be changed however after Dusty attempted open his new snow shoes and ended up opening the heel of his hand instead. – A word of advice, don’t use a sharp knife to try and cut zip ties, get the scissors! – Dusty managed to control the bleeding long enough for me to clean the blood spurting spots off the light tan couch and then off to the E.R. we went! I know this makes it sound like I wasn’t worried about Dusty. I was but since he seemed to have things somewhat controlled, I decided I did not want to return to our house after Christmas and have it look like a crime scene in our living room. There was blood spatter everywhere; apparently that is what happens with deep puncture wounds near main arteries. The hospital was (thankfully) very empty so Dusty was able to get right in and stitched up. The nurse even gave him an extra big gauzy wrap so he could get additional sympathy for Christmas! Dusty was given another gift from the hospital, a lovely pair of surgical tweezers and forceps. Just what he always wanted! After our E.R. visit we resumed our plans. First we went home to get presents, next we went to my parents’ house, then Dusty’s grandparents, and finally back to the farm to Dusty’s dads. In all the day was great! We got to see nearly all our family and received some awesome gifts. I do have to brag on Dusty a little bit he gave me my favorite present this year, a vacation to go somewhere warm!!! Look for more about that in future posts!!! The cool part was he hid the money he was giving me in a bunch of little gifts. For example, he cut a little slit and inserted the money into the packaging of a new stamp set. So at first I think “oh awesome new stamps!” Then it gets better when I see a hundred bucks inside the package! Isn’t he great?!
On to New Years highlights. The day before New Years Eve (I guess that would be New Years Eve eve) my friend Sami invited me to her gym which was a lot of fun! Although I was so sore I could barely walk the next several days. I have since gone back and had better luck with the soreness afterwards. After trying it out for a week or so she even convinced me to join! I especially like it because it is just a few blocks from my work and the classes are great. But I am getting ahead of myself, back to Friday, New Years Eve when our friends Chris and Carla came into town a bit early. As my kiddos at school would say “we got to keep them” for the rest of weekend. A bunch more people showed up later that night for our party. Despite the below 0 temperatures we had a bonfire and some even bundled up enough to go snowmobiling. There was lots of food, games and kids inside to warm up with when it got too cold to be out. I think we may have actually been a little late noticing it was the New Year at midnight because we were having so much fun. Shortly after our midnight-ish toasts some people started to head home since they had young ones to get to bed and the rest of us had an ABC gift exchange. It was very amusing to see what people brought for their gift. The one that got the biggest laugh was Fauske and his giant jar of fiber, but they were all great! New Years day was much warmer at a high of about 15 degrees! Chris, Carla, Dusty and I took this heat wave as an opportunity to get in some snowmobiling in the sunshine! It was so gorgeous with the bright blue sky and sparkling snow. The conditions, although cold, were perfect for riding. After New Years the last little bit of break went faster than I could believe and I was back in my classroom before I could even blink.
Testing out our new snow shoes
Moosey loves to play in the snow too!
New Years eve party with friends.
Since we have been back to “regular” life we have enjoyed a bit slower pace than the holiday season. It can be nice to just be back in a routine. Here is what our routine has looked like since break. Both of us have been trying to catch up with work. I have had a great time planning our upcoming vacation. I have continued to go to the gym and even talked Dusty into going some too. We have enjoyed visiting with friends and. I hope our 2011 continues to be as great as it has started.
