Update

Needless to say, much has happened in nearly a month since my last post. Christmas, New Years, and even MLK day have come and gone. We have left the state to visit WI for a wedding. School has resumed for nearly three weeks. Two of my closest friends are happily engaged. See, where do you even begin?

Christmas was great. We were in AZ and spent a lot of time with my family. It was my first time making the traditional ambrosia dessert all by myself :). I also was in charge of my mom's mocha cake for her birthday. Talk about pressure! This stuff is hard to make, but for my first time I think it worked out OK. We, along with the rest of my immediate family, went to see Zoolights on the night of my mom's birthday, the 26th of December. Note to self: Never go on this day again. It was packed.

As this was the first holiday season as a married couple, we were still trying to figure out what our traditions would be. We celebrated St. Nick's day at the beginning of the month and bought lots of decorations for next year. We are trying to create a Christmas village, and it's very easy to just keep buying! (Hey, at least the stuff was all on sale). I think the only things we are missing for next year are a star for the top of the tree, people for a manger scene, and maybe a *few* more houses for our village. This year we opened up presents on Christmas Eve morning. I guess we'll have to wait and see if the tradition pans out over the long hall. I had to wait until Christmas Eve night as a child, so why shouldn't my kids have to suffer as well!?

We actually stayed up until midnight this year to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Last year at this time we were stuck at a Holiday Inn in Holbrook, AZ and all but sleeping at that time, so it truly was our first New Year's awake and together. We were, however, in bed and sleeping by 12:30 AM.

The first weekend in January took us to Milwaukee for Jon's good friend, Tia's, wedding. It was fun to see some of Jon's old high school gang, most of whom we haven't seen since our wedding. It was remarkably warm that time of year as well...no snow on the ground and in the mid 30's. Hey, even I can't complain about that temperature in January in Milwaukee!

Ericka got engaged on Dec. 26th to her boyfriend, Jimy, and Joy got engaged to her boyfriend, Tom, on Dec. 30th. Both come with awesome stories and it's very fun to see and hear them so excited. This year will definitely be the YEAR of THE WEDDING. To date we have weddings in January, February (unfortunately can't go to, but wish Mandi and Will all our love and the best), March (Tracy from my work), June 3rd (Ericka), September 9th (Joy), October-we think (Jen) and Jessica YTD. Wow, that's a ton!

All and all, I think that's the highlights of the past month.