Christmas Eve on the Mountain

Since I had to work during the holidays again this year, Jeff and I decided we would celebrate Christmas Eve by going skiing. I had only been one other time in my life. We spent a few hours in beautiful sunny weather at Sundance. Unfortunately, the conditions weren't ideal for beginners. The whole mountain was iced over from all the rain that fell the couple days prior, so it was super slick and super fast. I fell A LOT. And I got A LOT of bruises, including one on my left hip that is about 3 inches in diameter and is a deep purple. It scares me every time I look in the mirror, like there's a huge spider or some foreign thing on me. Overall, we had a really fun time and hope to be able to go again this season.

Winter Wonderland

A major downside of being a nurse is working during the holidays. Last year I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas and decided to be a bit of a scrooge because I was mad about it. This year, you guessed it, I get to work Christmas Eve and Christmas again! Aren't I lucky?

This year, I decided that we should embrace every bit of Christmas we can get. Right after the awful drive home from Idaho (as noted in the post below), we put up our tree and new collection of decorations. The pictures below don't quite do it justice. 

 The Tree

 Snowmen

 Santa Clauses

 

My favorite: The Village

Stockings and random decorations

We also have Christmas lights draped all around the doorways and the ledge across the ceiling. It's so much fun. We love it!

Alive and Well

We are well aware that we have been major blogging slackers lately. We deeply apologize to all of our followers, although I'm sure that by not blogging for the past three months, we may not have anyone left to read our blog. For any patient and dedicated readers out there, we will give you a brief rundown of recent events and a commitment to be better bloggers!

I am still working in the NICU and loving it, and Jeff is still working as a medical assistant and waiting to be accepted to PA school. Prayers for him, please!!!

We got some time off for Thanksgiving and, of course, traveled to Idaho Falls to spend time with some of his family. Like always, we had a great time playing with Sadee and Ava, shopping, and eating delicious food. I tried to be better at taking pictures, but what's below is all I got. 

 

 Sadee and Ava after putting on mascara, blush, and lip gloss. Pretty little girls.

 Swimming in the neighbor's fabulous indoor pool. I succeeded in getting Ava to go down the slide all by herself. You'd think I would have gotten a picture of that, right? Well, I suck at taking pictures.

This super flattering picture is documentation of the horrendous drive home. It took twice as long as normal and we were miserable. Stupid snow...

Jeff and I also did some Black Friday shopping. We stayed up all night and parked outside of Sports Authority at 1:30am. The store was to open at 5:00am and we REALLY wanted to be one of the first 85 people in line so that we could get one of the gift cards they were giving away to the 85 customers. Well between the two of us we got a whopping $20 in gifts cards while another couple got $750 together. The jerks! Life is not fair. We got out of our car and in line at 4:00am (that's when the first people got in line) and stood for an hour in -14 degree weather. Wowzers. That was freaking cold. It was an adventure to remember to say the very least.

Off to bed now. Look for more posts in the coming week!