Merry Christmas!

It won't be much longer and Christmas will be upon us. Matt and I have enjoyed decorating our house for Christmas. We have cut the tree, hung the lights, and sent the cards. Our mantle is a constant reminder of the joy and true reason of Christmas. We have enjoyed fires in the fireplace and the glow of the lights on the tree. What a magical time of year! We wish you all a safe and wonderful time with family and friends! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend Continued

On Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Kalamazoo to have dinner with my dad and Karen. They live in a super cute loft downtown. Karen tried to culture us by serving clams and muscles for dinner. Although my experience wasn't horrible, I don't think I will be ordering them off a menu anytime soon. :) After dinner, we walked around downtown to look at all the lights. Then ended up at a local bar to play a few rounds of photohunt.

A lot to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving 2008 will go down as a memorable one. This year Matt and I went to Michigan to have Thanksgiving with my side of the family. The past seven weeks had been long and emotionally draining on our family as my mom endured daily radiation and two rounds of chemo for cancer. She had nothing but side effect after side effect taking its toll on her body. Six out of seven weekends were spend in the hospital, as well as the 12 days leading up to Thanksgiving. Through all the pain, heartache, and sometimes tears we were very thankful this Thanksgiving! My mom was able to sell her house and close a week before all this treatment started and has been living with my grandparents. The finical burden and upkeep of a house were not an issue. She was able to take 10 weeks of medical leave and continue to be paid through sick days and the sick bank. Fortunately, she has great insurance and the nightmare of medical bills won't total nearly what they would. Her 13 year old dog, Gabby, who is a little bit of work in her old age has been living with friends or family. Seth, who lives in Orlando, was able to fly home for Thanksgiving. We were thankful that mom was down to the last three days of radiation, then the healing process could begin, both physically and emotionally.

Grandma's cute centerpiece that was sent to my grandparents for their 59th wedding anniversary!

Lion King

Matt surprised me with tickets to The Lion King for finishing my masters. We started out with dinner at Amici's. It's a cute, old, Italian restaurant downtown Indy. Then we headed off to the theater. The show was AMAZING! Although I had seen it before there were so many new things I didn't see the first time. Matt enjoyed his first Lion King experience and didn't stop singing "In the Jungle" for days.

Tuppy Keeps Truckin

Our Honda Element (Tuppy) rolled over 100,000 miles! It's hard to imagine that my first "new" car has that many miles since 2003. Tuppy has traveled 30 states, hauled 3 Christmas trees home, numerous camping trips, baseball games, and dog park visits. We're hoping for at least another 100,000 miles.

If you haven't been inside an Element, the interior flooring is all plastic (no carpet) hence the name Tuppy...like a tupperware container.