Three Blissful Years

This post was written for yesterday but in all the anniversary festivities I neglected to do anything productive so I’m posting today!

Well, not every moment of the past three years has been filled with marital bliss but I’d say the majority has been and the good most definitely outweighs the bad!  Three years ago today I made one of the best decisions of my life.  Well, I guess I continued one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  Three years ago Mr. C and I stood in front of our family and friends and vowed to put up with each other forever.  I mean uh…to um….no wait, that’s actually exactly what I mean!  We have our “off days” and moments we might not like each other but at the end of the day there’s no one I’d rather be with.

I knew a month after we started dating that I would marry Mr. C.  Of course I had to convince him that he wanted to marry me too.…just joking, he was convinced pretty early on too.  I just couldn’t imagine anything that would make me change my feelings about him.  I must have been pretty smart then because nothing has made me doubt that decision.  We knew we wanted to wait until we graduated from college so we did just that, and didn’t wait too long after.  Some days I can’t remember my life without him and other times I can’t believe it’s been three years of marriage already.

I think of how many things we’ve been through in our eight years together …moving, graduating, each being jobless for awhile after graduation (which makes me wonder why everyone is so excited to graduate – that’s when the scary stuff starts!), changing jobs, deaths and illnesses, surgery, and so many more things.  The first year of marriage presented challenges I wasn’t really ready for or expecting but we figured things out and I had some great free therapists, a.k.a. family and friends.  We needed to figure out our routine and use our strengths wisely.  I hadn’t learned that Mr. C was not the person to be handling the money, and he hadn’t learned just how nutty I could be.  We were fairly young, 21 and 23, and adjusting to really being in the real world and the issues that presented was stressful!  That seems like such a long time ago now that I think of it!

I love holidays and important days (which I turn into holidays!) and I believe that our anniversary is a very important day. It reminds us of our commitment and to make time for one another.

Every anniversary (all 3 of them now!) we watch our wedding video as long as possible before we have to stop it because we just LOOK SO YOUNG AND DUMB and can’t handle watching ourselves!  Then we watch our photo montage instead which is just way better because we don’t move or talk!  I love remembering our wedding day though.  There are pieces I’m not thrilled with like the caterer or the photographer or not spending as much one-on-one time with everyone as I would have liked, but it was an amazing day I will never forget.  It was a fairytale wedding to go with my fairytale prince.

While our anniversary is a day to celebrate our commitment to each other, it’s also a day we celebrate the support we’ve had along the way, so thank you to everyone who’s been there for us!

This year we spent our weekend in beautiful Sedona at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast, our first B&B ever actually.  Since there’s no snow in Phoenix, I didn’t really consider that Sedona would be cold or have snow!   We were in quite for a shock when we heard about a winter weather advisory and hit snow on the road!  It was beautiful though and ended up being a nice surprise.  The weekend was wonderful but I’m keeping the details to myself this time!  Here are a couple of our favorite pictures from the weekend though.  Enjoy!

Attachment Issues

I’ve been told before that I become easily attached.  Not like crazy clingy attached, but attached.  When I was little I left my crayon wrappers in the tub because I felt bad throwing them out.   They had stuck with me for all those hours of coloring and I felt bad just throwing them away!  I also slept with ALL of my stuffed animals at night because I didn’t want to leave any out.  Ok, maybe those are just examples of my weirdness?  Either way, I get comfortable and attached and it’s super hard for me to let go.  Last night I was thinking about our possible move to CO and remembered that we have to give 60 days notice before we move out of our house.   That’s like crazy soon.  CRAZY SOON!  This is about the time I started freaking out.  I LOVE our house.  I’m not sure if it’s the homey feeling or the life we’ve built there but I’m just extra attached to this house.  I wouldn’t want to actually buy it but I still love it!  Luckily we knew we needed to decide where to settle down before actually doing it so I am super grateful that we don’t have a house to worry about selling.  That’s one less thing for me to freak out about at least.  However, the thought of moving is still terrifying.  As I’m writing this I think I’m actually having a mini panic attack….or maybe even a heart attack?  I love our friends and family here, our home, our restaurants and stores, and all the little things we’ve come to love.  Basically, all the little things I’ve become attached to.

You might be thinking, “well if you’re so attached, then why are you moving you ding-dong”?  I’ve always thought we’d move, for awhile it was to NE and then CO just seemed like the perfect choice.  I know we’d have better schools, a great place to raise our kids, and we’d be farther from Mr. C’s family (I’m not putting that in the good category, keep reading!) but in-between our families which would be awesome for holidays and long weekends, especially when we start a family.  I also just see a different life for us there.   Seasons for one would be awesome!  I guess, I figure the good outweighs the bad.  But then I think about the bad (which is the good we’re leaving behind) and it’s just soooooooo hard!

I’m a planner.  As such, I like plans.  No, I LOVE plans.  I have like three calendars to keep my plans straight.  I’m partially freaking out because this move seems to be something I can’t really plan for.  I’m job searching but that involves waiting.  Mr. C also has to wait for opening.  I’m REALLY bad at waiting.  Waiting and secrets are my weak spots.  Waiting to open a secret gift is the worst.  It’s really not good if I know where it’s hidden.  I don’t WANT to look but I just can’t help myself…  Anyhow, I can’t plan our housing because I don’t know when or exactly where we’ll find jobs.  I’m pretty open to spontaneity but this is just crossing the line.  This is just too much, too much non-planning!

I’ve moved across the country once and it was hard.  It was hard letting go of friends.  Although some of us keep in touch, some I’ve lost and some other relationships have adapted but I know they’ll never be like they were.   Even now the distance is hard.  It’s still difficult with some of my family and friends.  I left my home and it took me a long time to feel like I found another home.  For a couple years I felt like I didn’t really belong either place.  AZ didn’t feel quite right and NE felt like my past.  But then I think of how my move here worked out.  Amazingly my dream to attend ASU became a reality.  If I hadn’t moved here I wouldn’t have met some very amazing friends.  If I hadn’t moved I also wouldn’t have met Mr. C, something I can barely bear to think of.  And, if I hadn’t moved I never would have known the opportunities and life experiences I was missing out on by not being here. 

This got me to thinking about my feelings right before I left NE.  I was terrified.  I was moving alone and to a city where I knew no one (no one for a few months anyhow, until my snowbird grandparents arrived).   I bawled my eyes out when my parents left me.  I got lost all of the time.  I was so homesick I thought I was going to die.

I think I might bawl my eyes out this time too but I won’t be alone.  We’ll have family close and we can cry together (although I severely doubt Mr. C will be doing any crying).  I guess I just need to have faith that everything will work out because up to this point it may not have been exactly the way I wanted it to, but everything really has worked out.  I’d still really appreciate a guarantee though…..

Minnie Mouse and Chocolate Shakes

I LOVE Disneyland and sometimes mistake myself for my 5 year old self when I’m there. I was actually surprised to hear myself loudly and excitedly yell “MINNIE MOUSE!” and then proceeded to point at her and run to get in line. We somehow even convinced my dad to take a picture with us. This was quite a miracle because I can count on one hand the number of photos I have of him.

We began our day with photo ops with Minnie and Goofy. Goofy was not too thrilled with my super sparkly pink Minnie ears. After hugging me (he initiated, not me!) he proceeded to knock my ears off and look disappointed. I apologized for my lack of Goofy gear and figured it would be best to take the photo without the ears at that point. After we were a safe distance away I did proudly put my ears back on and donned them in between rides.

We headed to Space Mountain first, which is always our first stop because it’s just plain awesome. We had given my mom a cliff’s note version of the ride and figured she’d be okay with it. That was NOT the case. Apparently she didn’t like it at all and we don’t really think my dad was a fan either. He doesn’t like to act like things bother him, probably in an attempt to avoid being labeled as a “wuss”, a term I assign as necessary. That was the end of that ride for them! Mr. C and I of course loved it, and ended up riding at least 2-3 more times. While we rode Space Mountain, my parents entertained themselves around the corner with Astro Blasters which is basically a toy story shooting game. My mom said that was more her speed!

At one point we went on a ride, came out, and noticed the ground was wet. I’m thinking we were inside for about 15 minutes so the rain didn’t last too long. Well, there were quite a few people with ponchos. I imagined all these people getting sprinkled on and frantically running to the closest shop for a poncho. Of course, I then proceeded to sort of make fun of these people (not to their faces of course, just to Mr. C and my mom). Fast forward about a half an hour after we had decided that it wasn’t THAT cold and we really didn’t need to get our jackets. About ten seconds later it started misting. And misting….. Then it turned into pouring. That was about the time we ducked into a shop and my dad bought us all our very own stylish ponchos. They were pretty awesome actually, they kept us warmer and not being rained on was a definite plus. Although it was cold and rainy, we didn’t let that ruin our Disneyland excitement! After a few minutes of trying to figure out the tricky ponchos, we set off for more rides, smelling like garbage bags – clean ones though.

The rain eventually soaked through my shoes and in a couple hours I couldn’t feel my toes. This was about the time we decided to eat and take a nap. I kinda get like a little kid when I need a nap (or lunch) and I’m pretty sure I was cranky. After the food and nap I was as good as new and we headed back for some more Disneyland fun. We turned in earlier than normal that night but did everything we wanted. I guess the rain scared everyone off because the lines were SUPER short by the end of the day. I was wondering if I was going to make it back to the hotel before my feet just decided to fall off. Mr. C declined to carry me back. He’s mean like that sometimes. Luckily my feet didn’t fall off though.
Monday morning we woke up early and headed to Huntington Beach for breakfast. I just don’t think it’s right to go to CA and be that close to the beach without actually going to the beach. We had breakfast at Ruby’s Diner which is at the end of the pier, a fairly good distance away from the beach. I’m not a fan of heat, water, or anything dirty, but somehow the beach is still one of my favorite places to be.

The diner is far enough out that it’s past the surfers and in prime pelican viewing area. Last time we were a few feet away from a pelican and although we weren’t quite as lucky this time, we did get to enjoy a lot of them scoping the waters for fish and occasionally diving. I just love the beach. Mr. C and I had eaten at Ruby’s before and I remembered they had amazing shakes. I did pretty well making healthy food choices during our trip but that morning I decided to order a chocolate turtle shake for breakfast. I asked our server if it was too early for a shake and he proudly told me “of course not, it’s never too early for a shake!” That just sealed the deal! My grandma should be so proud. She’s as skinny as a twig but that woman can eat sweets! She’s been known to have desert before dinner, or even instead of dinner! So, I ordered eggs, bacon, toast, and a chocolate turtle shake. Let me tell you, that was one amazing breakfast!

So, as the last CA/Disneyland trip for awhile, I’d say it was a great success. It was especially nice going with my parents for something different. I guess that might seem weird to some people but I (and Mr. C) have a pretty great relationship with my parents. As I’ve gotten older and moved away, I’ve appreciated time with family more than ever. My dad acts like a kid who never grew up and my mom….well she’s just entertaining and loud!

Terrifying California Adventures

This weekend I once again visited the happiest place on earth.  Yes, I know we seem to go a lot but we figure this is the only time in our lives we’ll be able to pick up and go when we want.  It’s amazing to me that we’re only 6 hours away from California. 6 HOURS!  In Nebraska there’s not much 6 hours away.  Definitely no oceans!  And, you really have to plan for weather conditions so about any 6 hour drive in the winter is a gamble.  Plus, with “the move” being up in the air , we’re taking every opportunity to visit while we can.  I really will miss being right next door to CA though.  I absolutely love the ocean (minus the sharks of course!) and am so grateful when we’re able to go.   Since my mom and I ditched the guys during our last California trip, I planned another California trip for the four of us.  It was actually pretty perfect timing too since we were all in need of another vacation (yes, already!). 

Friday afternoon we left town and drove straight to Anaheim.  We arrived around 8, checked in, and headed out for dinner.  We were even lucky enough to have a perfect view of the fireworks show with our dinner.  Any place that has regular fireworks is alright in my book!  The night was pretty relaxing and a great start to the trip. 

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to California Adventure.  After going on Soarin’ Over California, we were feeling pretty good.  Mr. C and my dad wanted to check out The Tower of Terror so that was our next stop.  The wait was only 10 minutes so the guys got right in line.  Here’s the conversation that followed after they left that eventually led to very poor decision making on the part of my mother and I:

Me: You didn’t want to go on that, right?

Mom: Well I had thought about it.

Me: Really?

Mom: Hmmmm

Me: Should we just go? It can’t be that bad.

Me: We should just go!

Mom: Ok, why not.

We then proceeded to call the guys and get in line for this ride that we had decided wouldn’t be “that” bad.

I should mention that the girl working out front of the ride was listening to us this whole time, and looked at us rather strangely when we walked by her into the ride entrance.  I’m assuming she was thinking something to the effect of “suckers!” when we walked by her.

My mom is not at all a fan of roller coasters or heights.  I think she hates heights more actually, so when I saw she wasn’t nervous, it made me feel like even more of a loser for being scared so I figured I should suck it up and go with it.  In case you aren’t aware, the ride is basically an elevator that drops you down multiple floors, then takes you up and does it again, multiple times.  And yes, we were aware of this fact when we got in line.  I know – CRAZY!  We just didn’t think it would be that bad.  We were sooooooo wrong.  The first few seconds were fine, the elevator went up a floor and there was a little talking and something we were supposed to look at, ghosts or something.  Then the little girl behind me started screaming.  This is when I lost it.  I began screaming and didn’t stop until the ride stopped.  I don’t remember exactly what happened other than the elevator going up and then dropping so far that I thought I was going to just die from being terrified.  The elevator did this a few times, stopping at the very top for a look over the park.  I didn’t see much though because my eyes were closed and I was concentrating on screaming and not dying…or peeing my pants.  WORST ride of my life.  In the beginning it was just Mr. C holding my hand.  In the end I was holding Mr. C’s hand and my mom’s hand.  My mom was holding my dad’s hand.  Mr. C says I was also leaning towards my mom, shaking and screaming.  I think we practically ran off the ride.

After the ride we got to see our pictures.  My mom and I looked terrified, Mr. C looked like he was having fun, and my dad was laughing.  We’re pretty sure he was laughing at us.  Thanks dad! 

After that we stuck to some “boring” rides.  The next one was actually the ladybugs that spin around in circles.  I’m pretty sure that’s considered a kiddy ride but it was wild enough for us after the Tower of Terror.  We did end up having a lot of fun after, hitting different rides and shows.  After going on the amazing Toy Story 3D ride which we all LOVED, we headed over to the Ferris Wheel.  I’m not sure what my mom’s issue was but she had some serious judgment problems that day.   The woman is terrified of heights but somehow we convinced her to ride the Ferris Wheel (I should add it didn’t take much convincing).  I thought she was going to puke at the top.  Somehow she made it through and we went on to enjoy the rest of our evening.  The water/lights show “World of Color” was amazing, trauma-free, and something I highly recommend!  I do wish that Mr. C would have let me sit on his shoulders so I could have seen better but he always seems to decline that request.

At night the park changes and the TRON events were pretty awesome.  Mr. C was crazy excited when TRON was coming out so I figured he’d want a t-shirt but I think he was worried about looking too nerdy to actually buy one.  I picked out a super awesome looking one while he and my dad went on the Tower of Terror that night.  They thought it would be so much cooler at night.  My mom and I of course neglected to go.  I was much happier shopping than riding that terrible thing again!

Next post – Disneyland and the beach!

Sunday Groceries

Mr. C and I were almost inseparable from the beginning (after he finally pursued me enough for me to say yes that is!).  We met in college at the dorms and when I walked out the front door of my dorm, his window was directly to my right - meaning that he was very, very close.  This of course meant that games of taping on his window to drive him nuts and scare him, and then running back into the dorm were very fun (for my roommates and I anyhow).   With a few exceptions, we’ve seen each other almost every single day since we started dating.  You’d think I’d be sick of him by now but it looks like that’s no where in sight for awhile.

I had decided early on my freshmen year of college that I would be going back to NE for that first summer.  This was of course before I met Mr. C.  so my feelings and attitude about the summer soon changed once we started dating. I was going home to work and relax (opposites, I know) and it didn’t really seem logical to stay, except that the dramatic freshmen that I was just thought I wouldn’t be able to survive without Mr.C., especially since I had become accustomed to seeing him everyday.  The night before I left for NE, we stayed up all night talking with the idea of spending every last minute together.  The next day my mom, dad, and I piled into the car to drive back to NE.  I think I cried for at least the first few hours.  I’m not sure how they made it through the ride without throwing me out of the car.  Maybe it’s a parent thing.  For the remainder of the summer I missed Mr. C like crazy.  We talked numerous times a day, sometimes just sitting on the phone in silence because we had finally run out of things to say.  I managed to make a trip to AZ at least once for a visit; something my dad wasn’t too crazy about.   I remember feeling like that summer would never end.   Long distance is HARD. 

I can’t even imagine how military wives (or husbands) feel.  A weekend away from Mr. C feels like forever.  In the almost 3 years since we’ve been married, we’ve had 3 weekends apart, all happening over the past 6 months.  I have to say, although the weekends were for very good reasons, I’m not a fan of this being apart thing.  For one, I can’t sleep the same, even without Coconut by my side.  I love how excessively productive I am when I’m alone and being able to do whatever without worrying about someone else, but this feeling soon wears off and then I’m left with a hole, just missing him.  I may sound overly dramatic, which I am known to be sometimes, but it’s crazy to me how much I can miss him when it’s only a few days.  However, these days remind me once again how lucky I am to have met him and to have been smart enough to get him to stick around :)  This weekend I’ve had quite a few moments in which I thought of our normal, routine weekend activities that I’ve come to enjoy.  Dinner and a movie on Friday nights, procrastinating together to avoid whatever homework or productive thing we should be doing on Saturday, and grocery shopping on Sundays may all seem like boring, everyday things but they’re “us”, our everyday things, and I love them.

Although I’ve been missing Mr. C this weekend, I have been very grateful to have my amazing friend Topanga as my bodyguard.  Ok, so she wasn’t really my bodyguard but she was around to keep me company and make sure the monsters in the closet didn’t get me.  Oh, and she was on spider duty!  We spent most of the weekend cooking, eating, watching movies, and talking.  This Saturday was the most relaxing day I’ve had in awhile and it was great, even with missing Mr. C.  It’s amazing how people just pop into your life and at a certain point you can’t remember not knowing them.  I’ve never been the girl with packs of friends, but the ones I do have are very dear to me and I always know they’ve got my back..   I don’t really remember the period where we were just becoming friends but I am very thankful that it happened!

So, although I’ve had a wonderful weekend with a wonderful friend, I’m still counting down the hours until I get my husband back.  I have a feeling that I’ll appreciate next week’s Sunday grocery shopping even more than normal!  I can't wait....

Resolutionizing for 2011

I’ve never been one much for New Year’s resolutions.  It always seemed crazy to me that because of the date changing from the 31^st to the 1^st, everyone would dramatically adjust their lives (or say they were going to anyhow).  This year, however, I’m embracing resolutions.  I think it’s not so much that I’m changing dramatically in one day, but rather that I’ve wanted to make changes or have been working on them and now’s the perfect time to acknowledge them and actually make a plan.  After the craziness that is called December passed, I now find myself with more time (until classes start anyhow) and some motivation that needs to be used for something productive so, I figured why not resolutionize?  Don’t you love that word, resolutionize?  In case you aren’t aware, I just came up with that…kinda like revolutionize but not.  I know - that totally cleared it up.

I anticipate this year being one full of changes.   Big, scary, exciting changes.  Overall, 2010 had some great moments but it also had some crappy ones.  This year is going to have TONS of AMAZING moments.  That’s what I’ve decided anyhow and apparently I believe in the power of thinking positive!

My resolutions cover three main categories: Health, Myself, and Relationships. 

Let’s start with health.  I’ve always tried to eat healthy overall but I do tend to take lots of breaks such as when I go out of town, when we have visitors, when we go on road trips, when I get super busy, etc.  In case you haven’t caught on, that’s a lot of “off-time”!  Plus, it usually takes about a week or so to get back on track after those events.  This year I’m going to not only focus on eating better all the time, but I’m also focusing on health overall.  Watch out fitness/health section of my 101 in 1001 list – I’m gonna cross you all out this year!  I’m soooo ready for this!  So, to be specific, this getting healthy resolution consists of:

-Going to bed at a reasonable time.  I like to stay up late so this is a little challenging for me.  I have however found that it’s nice not being exhausted every morning!  Mr. C and I usually go to bed at the same time so this was a group decision and we ended up compromising somewhere around 10-11.  Not too early but not too late.

-Following the Weight Watchers plan.  They actually have a new plan which I LOVE!  I’m ok doing it on my own; I just need to hold myself accountable.  The new plan actually has been working a lot better for me.  I want to emphasize that this is not a diet because it’s not something temporary or drastic.  When I hear the word “diet” I think of some crazy plan which makes you starve yourself or cut out food groups, neither of which is healthy.  In following this plan, I will be cooking more, something I LOVE doing but haven’t always had the time for.  I bought a couple amazing and realistic cookbooks before Christmas and I’m super excited to break them out.  I’ve also committed Sunday afternoons to prepping for the week so weeknights to a little smoother.  Especially with class and extra activities, the weekdays are crazy enough that I could use some prep time!

-Working out more!   I HATE gyms and I don’t think I will ever join one again.  I have a wonderful elliptical machine I need to become a little more friendly with and the Wii has some great tools too (many of which I own!).   I actually LOVE taking walks in the evening too because Coconut gets all crazy when she knows she gets a walk and Mr. C and I get to talk about the little parts of our days so it works out perfectly!  The issue is usually finding the time to do these but I’m scheduling my work-outs on my pretty little calendar and starting out slow.

The second category is myself.  Woohoo, sounds like a fun one.  This part includes most of the things on my 101 list under the personal category.  This year I am going to make more time for myself!   Of course, the healthy lifestyle and cooking fits under this as well.  In general, I want to read more for fun, watch more movies, play more games, and finally finish our wedding and honeymoon scrapbooks!  It would be great to finish those scrapbooks before I have baby books to be working on (and no this is not my way of telling you anything…don’t hold your breath cuz you’ll be waiting awhile!).    So this category really means me being a little less efficient and a little more fun in my personal time!

Lastly - relationships.  I’m not planning on finding a new husband or anything like that.  I really don’t understand how people have the time and energy for that anyhow!  I have my hands full with the one husband I already have.  Plus, I really like having him around!  Anyhow, back to the topic at hand.  I guess with this one I just mean focusing on the important stuff more – more important stuff meaning people.  I don’t watch a ton of TV now but I’m cutting out even more because I really don’t have the time.  Usually I’d end up sleeping less to watch something I didn’t really need to watch!  I think this was my downfall the past few months because I’d sit on the couch and not get up for much longer than planned.  So, I’ve made the conscious decision to not watch much TV.  I still have my favorite things, like “How I Met Your Mother” and “Private Practice” that will remain on my TV radar, but there are quite a few getting cut.  Also falling into this category is spending more quality time with Mr. C.  Sometimes we’re great at this and other times not so much.  At the end of the semester last year I felt like we never really SAW each other but just glanced at each other in-between the madness lol.  In regards to friends, I am not currently the best at staying in touch and although I love talking to long distance friends, it’s hard to find the time to fit that in, especially when I want to have a non-distracted conversation.  Lastly, it’s very hard to fit time in for anything spiritual when that’s left last so obviously that priority needs to change!  This year I’m committing to staying in touch more with far-away friends, spending more time with the loved ones I have close, and building my relationship with God.  Sounds like I have a lot to do!

Let me end with saying that I think people who have kids think that my life is pretty boring and has minimal responsibilities so these resolutions should be no problem because I have TONS of free time.   I’ve encountered many situations where I’ve been told that I should have time for this or that because I don’t currently have children.  This is something that just makes my blood boil because I feel that everyone makes their own choices and their own priorities.  I feel that my life is quite the opposite of boring and minimal in the responsibility area.  I’m sure I have just as many commitments, just different ones.  I do my best at work and give 110%.  I’m involved in activities after work and on weekends.  I juggle four graduate level classes while pushing myself to give all I can.  I devote time to my husband and marriage.  I have a second job as a Lia Sophia advisor.  I maintain close relationships with some wonderful friends.  I care for my puppy like she’s a child.  I keep our house and finances in order.  I love my life, however it frustrates me to be discounted simply because I don't have kids and therefore cannot possibly understand the time constraints that requires.  I beg to differ.   I think that my resolutions will be challenging, time consuming, and very much worth it.  I'm hoping you'll all hold me accountable.  Good luck in your own resolutionizing!

Christmas Top Ten

For those who are close to me, you know that this Christmas had some rough spots; however I did have some wonderful times as well.  (For those of you not close to me, I LOVE that you're reading my blog anyhow!  YOU ROCK!)  Since I LOVE lists, I’ve compiled a top 10 list of my favorite things this Christmas vacation. 

I hope all of my readers had a safe and Merry Christmas, surrounded by loved ones and buckets of laughter!  No, make that barrels of laughter and fun.

I attempted to put these in some kind of order but it’s just too hard, so in not exactly any order, here are my top 10 favorite things from our Christmas in NE 2010.  I can tell you that my very favorite is #10 though!

1.  Relaxing!  Being able to sleep in until 8 or 9, spending some time reading or playing totally useless games on the IPOD (angry birds is crazy addicting so thanks to my friend for finding Mr.C and I more ways to waste time!), catching up on movies, cooking, and taking long lunches were things I haven’t had much time to do in the past few months so it was wonderful doing them!

2.   Playing oh so many games, especially CLUE!  I LOVE Clue and no one will ever play with me!  Somehow I suckered people into playing multiple times this trip though! When I was little I had to play games against myself because no one would play!  Now I’m addicted and poor Mr. C has to deal with my crazy desire to replay games like a million times before I could even consider getting sick of them.  We played Clue, sequence, yatzee, pitch, uno spin, uno flip, jenga max, go fish, and skipbo….I think I got them all!  It took FOREVER to convince my dad to play anything other than Pitch but once we got him hooked on Sequence, he’s addicted now!  He and I made a killer team.  Unfortunately that meant that Mr. C and my mom didn’t fare so well!  I should also mention that Mr. C and I played go fish on the plane once.  Just once because he apparently was embarrassed to be seen playing go fish as an adult with our super awesome Hawaiian go fish cards (apparently the cards just demonstrated further that we were REALLY way too into the game).

3.  Drinking my mom’s delicious hot cocoa.  Mmmmm.  She’s attempted to teach me how to make it but I just don’t think it’s the same.  Mine must be missing that motherly touch :)  My dad did make fun of me for piling a lot of marshmallows on but I think he was just jealous.

4.     Playing with Oscar, my parent’s newly rescued kitty which Mr. C and I seriously though about taking home with us.  I think we would have had to steal him though, because my parents are pretty attached!

5.     Shopping at Maurices with my mom!  I LOVE this store!  My mom laughs about me leaving the huge city of Phoenix only to go to the little town of Norfolk to do my shopping!  I LOVED shopping with my mom, but I also loved the incident that occurred when I went back to buy something I had forgotten the first time around.  As Mr. C and I walked in the store, Mr. C tripped or something and hit the huge sign in the front window, causing it to dramatically sway and then crash to the ground.  I seriously thought about climbing under a rack of clothes since the store was packed and everyone was staring at us.  I resisted that urge though and a wonderful woman hung that thing up quicker than I thought possible.

6.      Playing hide-and-seek with Mr. C and my nieces.  The three of us (my 2 youngest nieces and I) searched for at least 15 minutes for Mr. C one time.  All the while, he kept texting me that we were so close he could smell us.  He didn’t mean smell in a good way either.  Basically while we had no idea where to look, he just sent me insulting texts that were totally not true! He is a crazy good hider though.  I think he should have a degree in hide-and-seek because he’s just THAT good!

7.    Spending time with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, three nieces, grandparents, best friend from high school, and so many other people I miss throughout the year!  And, as a bonus I got to spend more time than usual with Mr. C - something I never (well hardly ever!) get sick of doing.

8.         The surprise visit from my best friend when it was most needed.  Life changes and some things become priorities over others.  (You’re probably thinking “here we go again” and yes, I am about to ramble on for a bit).  When I moved to AZ over seven years ago, we talked daily, then weekly, and recently only about once a month or so.  It broke my heart but I knew there wasn’t much I could do.  Something must have smacked Max Emerald upside the head about then because this was about the time he got his crap together and surprisingly showed up on my door step!  We had a fun day together and were back to our normal BFF selves.  The next day the three of us went to lunch, then headed over to the super cute cupcakery (yeah, that’s not exactly fitting in with my new year’s resolutions so glad I fit it in before!) and then ran some errands which sounds boring but was just wonderful.  Eating cupcakes at a cupcakery made me feel like I was really on vacation!

9.    Waking up to snow covered trees that looked like they were meant for a fairytale.  I know no one else likes the snow but I would like to mention that we did scoop the snow while we were there and I still think it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world.  At one point, I felt like we were inside our little Christmas village when we went downtown and saw the pretty tree!

10.    Spending a holiday with my family.  I love Mr. C’s family and enjoy the time we spend together; however it’s impossible to not miss my family, especially around holidays.  With every other holiday spent in Arizona, I’m so thankful when we get to spend one a year with mine.  My mom always made Christmas a wonderful production and it’s by far my most favorite time of the year.  Christmas in NE isn’t just a day of celebration, but it feels like a week of celebration due to the cooking, shopping, and activities of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  It’s just different being there and I can’t seem to get entirely into the Christmas mood until I’m back home.  Because of Mr. C’s schedule, holidays off, and traveling, it’s usually the easiest time for us to go back and I’m so grateful when we have that opportunity.  Thanks to my in-laws for giving us up again AND for watching our precious Coconut!  And thanks to my parents for the wonderful accommodations and fun times!