Friday..

It's Friday.  The end of the work week (for some) and the beginning of the weekend.  I haven't felt the excitement of a Friday for a really long time.  Mostly because I've worked just about every single Saturday for the past 2 years.  I've finally found a Monday-Friday job and have officially survived my first full week (more on that later).  I was just starting to feel that wave of weekend relief roll over me when I suddenly came to the disappointing realization that Saturday will never mean the same thing to me again. 

It's not that I don't enjoy the weekends, because believe me I definitely do!  It's just that a weekend of not working doesn't mean that I actually have the weekend "off".  I'm a mom.  I will never have a weekend off for the rest of my life.  I will always be caring for and worrying about my little man.  I don't get to call in sick and I can't exactly find someone to fill in for me. 

Having a kid means accepting a lot of responsibility.  It is up to you to mold them and teach them right from wrong.  You're the one who has to decide how to discipline them and how to reward them for their good behaviors, all without going over board on either end of the spectrum.  It's a damn hard job trying to get it just right.  I'm just going to throw this out there and say that I have by no means "figured it out" 100%. 

My son likes to test his boundaries and push my buttons all of the time.  He learns and listens for a little while, but then finds it absolutely hilarious watching me get more and more frustrated.  It takes everything in me not to blow up on him some days.  He really does know better, but how do I get him to realize that that's not only the right way, but the only way to act at all times.  If anyone has the secret please feel free to share it with the rest of the class lol! ;)

I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy your Friday night :).

Keep calm and be strong

As some of you may know I grew up with an older sister and a younger brother, this put me in the middle.  I'll admit, yes, I definitely experienced the proverbial "middle child" syndrome from time to time.  It did manage to have its perks some days so I couldn't complain too much. 

One of those perks was that I didn't have to be the strong one in our family.  Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually(and anything else you can think of), I was never the one that others looked to for support or guidance.  While it helped me in the past, it has become a hindrance in the present.  Life has thrown me some pretty wonky cards in the past 4 years.  Each of which has forced me to rely more so on myself and become a stronger person. 

Normally I'd be all for personal growth but I'm going to let you in on a little secret.........I'm terrified.  It's not that I don't want to be a strong person.   However, instead of having to grow and be strong for just me, I now have to have double the amount of strength for Logan as well.  He is very perceptive and understands more and more every single day.  I never want him to think that I'm not a strong mom.  Given our current settings I feel like I'm already pulling double duty on a lot of things.  The last thing I need is to fail in any capacity. 

They say that everything takes practice, commitment, and time in order to become successful.  That same principle can be applied in order to make something become a part of your daily life.  Well if that's the case then it looks like I've got some serious homework to do.  Looks like I'll need to take a page out of my little brother's handbook to just "Keep calm and be strong". 

This won't be one of my easier challenges in life, but like all things, it'll be worth it in the end.  I hope that everyone else is able to find their own strength during tough times.  Until next time. :)

Not what I had in mind..

Last week I think I probably wished everyone a Happy Halloween about 10 times because I was so excited for it myself.  I had Logan's costume all set to go and couldn't wait to get started with our little kitty, Ava.  Unfortunately, my wisdom tooth decided it had other plans.  It was pretty sore all afternoon, but as the end of the day drew closer I could barely stand the pain.  Needless to say, I wasn't able to do much damage control on Logan's candy bag (even though most of it was pretty healthy stuff).  That night I woke up twice because of the pain.  I'd never had any kind of mouth pain like that ever before in my life, and I was completely miserable!  Friday morning I called around to see if anyone could get me in.  The soonest appointment available was for Monday at 11:30.  Are you freaking kidding me?!  How in the heck was I supposed to survive another 3 and a half days like that?!  Luckily, I didn't have to wait that long.  My awesome boss made some calls and found someone who would come in that evening and take care of it for me.  He shot me up with 3 or 4 pens worth of Novocain and a little bit of laughing gas.  After about 30 seconds they both kicked in and I could have sworn that I was inside a kaleidoscope listening to a rocket blast into space! Hahaha!  Needless to say they worked wonderfully and he got the tooth out before I even realized it.  Now I just had to deal with the little bit of after pain and the fear of dry socket.

The remainder of that day and the rest of the weekend I did everything possible to avoid getting dry socket.  I stayed away from using any kind of straw, I didn't drink carbonated or caffeinated beverages, and I stuck to the softest foods I could find.  This again bit me in the butt when I went to my cousin Jeremy and Heather's Halloween party.  One other tip for not agitating the hole in my mouth was to stay away from beer.  Really?! I couldn't even have one beer?!  It was frustrating but I made it work by sticking to my Vodka Gummy Bears.  They were pretty potent and became Marissa's new weapon of choice!  I don't think I'll be able to look at a gummy bear the same way again after that night.  It was so great getting to see Jer, Heather, Jesse, Charity, and even auntie Pam stopped by!  Of course, the night wouldn't have been complete without a few heart-to-hearts with them.  I'm constantly reminded and shown what amazing family I have, and just how lucky I am to have them in my life.  I guess you're bound to get close when you spend your summers together at grandma's.  Oh the memories, lol! ;)

To end my weekend, I discovered it wasn't only my mouth that was having issues, Logan was cutting the gums on one of his 2 year molars.  I thought we'd already been through the teething crap for this tooth, but I guess the fun just keeps on coming.  He was having fevers off and on, sweating like crazy, wouldn't eat or drink much, and the poor baby couldn't sleep longer than an hour or two before waking up and wanting more orajel.  It's been draining on both of us, but I just hope that it's over soon.  Thank goodness for Gatorade.  That seems to be the only thing he wants to drink and it keeps him mostly hydrated.  He is currently taking a nap that has now lasted for 3 hours!  On the bright side, I'm able to get a few more things done, including taking a short nap myself.

Hopefully the rest of this week brings happy, encouraging, and positive things for my family and yours!  Take care :)

Close or co-dependent?

Like many of you, I grew up in a small town.  There wasn't much to do besides drink, party, do stupid things with friends, or go to another town because you've pretty much exhausted all other options.  Most of us found our way into some kind of trouble or another, but no matter what happened we always had our family and friends there to help steer us back to the right path.  Lucky for me, I have a pretty big list of family and friends who cared about me.  This meant that I got to hear a lot of repetitive scolding growing up. 

I was fortunate enough to grow up being very close to many of my cousins on both sides of my family.  Teri, Jesse, and Jeremy were the big brothers and sister that always had my back.  Even today we're still close, and I wouldn't give that up for anything.  Then there's the Brenda, Abby, and Bridget triangle of the Three Musketeer's on my dad's side.  Granted I pretty much just forced my way into that one being the youngest, but they loved me and I know that they're glad I did it.  Holidays, birthdays, life events, you name it, I was always surrounded by family and friends.  That's how I spent the first 21 years of my life.  Maybe it's just my family, but I've got a feeling most of everyone reading this probably had a similar upbringing in some way or another.  I like to think its as close to "normal" as it can get. 

However, that's almost exactly opposite of what life has been like for me for the past 3 years.  I moved to Colorado with my husband to start our new life.  In all honesty, I was only more than happy to leave Minnesota and all of the painful memories that haunted me from my previous relationship.  I felt like I couldn't even go back to my home town anymore because someone or other was judging me for ending my engagement and hurting a great guy.  So, running away from the problem seemed like a good answer.  I'm not great at dealing with pain and hurtful things head on; it's never been my strong suit.  I thought living a thousand miles away would solve all of my problems, but it only created an even bigger one.  I missed home.  I missed my family.  I missed my friends.  I missed my "normal".  Then to top it off I had Logan.  He's already 19 months and have spent almost all of that away from both sides of his extended family.  That just doesn't seem fair to him that he would have to grow up never having those bonds or memories with his cousins and other family like both Bryan and I did. 

I expressed to Bryan that I wanted to move back to MN.  He's never been a fan of the MN cold or extreme heat and humidity so it wasn't a surprise when he wasn't completely onboard with packing up, renting a U-Haul, and going.  Although he had a similar upbringing being close to family, he also had an extremely different life for 5 years in the military.  Those 5 years pretty much wiped away any sort of nostalgia he had left when it comes to extended family and holidays.  Don't get me wrong, he still loves his family very much and would love to see them more often, but he's much more ok with only seeing them once a year.  For me, once a year is like torture.  I can't imagine being away from my family for that long at a time, especially when I know that nothing is necessarily keeping me from them (like deployments or restrictions). 

I've been told that my incessant need to see my family is borderline co-dependent.  I'd like to differ, but, could they be right?  I can function without them (I've proved that while living a normal life in Colorado), but the thing is that I just simply don't want to.  I want to be able to call up my sister on a week day and meet up for lunch or coffee.  I like being able to call my mom or ask my dad if they'd like to watch Logan for a few hours so I can go run some errands by myself.  It's great having things to do and people to see more than once every 4 months. 

So now I'd like to ask your opinion, do you think this is co-dependence or simply just a close family kind of thing?  I love gaining outsiders perspectives so feel free to comment.  I hope everyone has a very successful night of trick-or-treating!  Until next time, take care! :)

The Three Musketeers

 

Family

 

The "Old Man" and "Blond Boy"

Teri, Jameson, Logan, and I

Cousins "Aba" & "Nonic"

A little bit of scary and a whole lot of sweet

I don't know about you, but my week always begins on Monday.  Today's long to-do list is jam packed with keeping up with Logan, doing some yard work before the snow this week (eeek!), food prep for this week's meals, cleaning the house, and oh yeah, starting my first day of work!!  I'll be working part time at State Farm doing some extra side work.  It's nothing too crazy, but I'm just excited to be working again.  I'm very lucky to have awesome friends and family members who are able to help me out in the process watching Logan. 

Speaking of my crazy little man, he is pretty pumped for all the candy that he's going to collect on Halloween!  He will be a Kansas City Chief's football player.  Under normal conditions I would protest, however this season they have started with an 8-0 record so I can't really say too much.  We'll be going out and about with Auntie and cousin Ava (which means mommy and auntie will be doing "quality control testing" on all of the candy lol!).  They'll have lots of time to catch a sugar high on Saturday while having a slumber party at Grandma Judy's house. 

As if I didn't get enough craziness and fun at the Schaffler's 1st Annual Halloween Party, this Saturday I'll get to spend the night with some of my favorite cousins!  This should be fun :).  I'll make sure to post pictures once my crazy week is over.  Until then, have a Happy Halloween everyone!

Self Realizations

It's been over 2 weeks since I've been back in Minnesota and I feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over again.  I wake up, get Logan breakfast, play games with him (more like watch him as he runs circles around me), put him down for a nap, do a whole lot of nothing, make him lunch, play some more, get dinner ready, put Logan to bed, watch the news with my dad, then go to bed myself.  I know, it's pretty exciting stuff huh.  It's a routine, and although routines aren't necessarily a bad thing, I never seem to do well when I have a routine like this.  I feel like there's something missing.  Like I should be doing something else, like going to work!!!

I feel that I need to tell every single stay-at-home mom(or dad), nanny, daycare provider, teacher, and babysitter that they must be some pretty incredible people!!  I have an 18 month old son (not multiples, not twins, just one) and I can barely keep up with having only him!  To be honest it makes me want to cry a little bit when I think about that last sentence.  I have no clue how you people are able to do it and maintain a respectable level of sanity (but seriously, what's your secret??).  Don't get me wrong, I love my little dude more than I could ever say, but some days I feel like I can only handle him for so long before he's pressed every button I have and I'm ready to put myself in a time-out just to get some space.  I'm definitely not meant to be a stay-at-home mommy, and these past few weeks have only confirmed that.  On the flip side, I'm not one who can be a workaholic either.  If I love my job (like I did at Strathmore) then it's easy for me to work longer hours and spend a little more time away from my friends and family to get the job done.  However, there is always a breaking point to both.

Which brings me to this week's self realization: I need and thrive on variety. 

Whether it's with my job and what I do each day, to the routines that I have at home, or with whom I choose to spend my time with, I need change.  Property management positions seem to always fill that need for variety for me so I'm on the right track on that point.  I really suck at having a daily routine so that's probably why I can never stick with them or any other kind of routine for that matter.  I love seeing friends and family on a regular basis, so I tend to be in better moods when I'm around them, but I like to switch it up and see new faces every so often.  Now the fun part, putting it all into a cohesive balance that = my life!  If you happen to know the solution to this crazy puzzle, now is not the time to be keeping secrets.  So while I seek out on this quest called life to find the answers, I hope you all are having a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Here are some e-cards that I thought were pretty appropriate for this fun post!

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The hard stuff

If my memory serves me correct, it's been almost 8 months since my last post.  I've been very bad about not keeping up with my blogging over the spring and summer seasons, but to be honest it's not because I haven't had the time.  This year had started out being a year of change for me.  Well, I've definitely been changing, mostly for the better (or at least I'd like to think so).  This hasn't been easy and it hasn't come without pain either.  At the beginning of the year I knew that I wanted to be a better person in many different ways.  I wanted to be a better friend, a better mom and wife, a better employee, to be better at eating, exercising, motivating myself, and keeping up with my home.  While some things were a quick and simple fix, others took more time and a lot more energy and focus. 

I haven't necessarily been doing all that great on the exercising every day thing, however I have been able to keep up with maintaining a healthy weight and eating habits that balance each other out.  I've also surprised myself with how much I've learned and grown at my job as an Assistant Manager at Strathmore Park.  As far as my friends go, I think I've done a much better job this year than last year at making sure I stay in contact with almost all of them.  I've even repaired a friendship or two that had gone downhill.  I'm very excited to have those people back in my life because they help to keep me balanced.  All of these were things that I could fix and change.  I had control over them and their outcome.  As I've stated before, I'm not a big fan of change so when it does happen I like to be in control every step of the way.  There was one thing, however, that I could not control, my husband. 

Like all couples, we've experienced our fair share of difficulties throughout our marriage.  Most of our struggles have come from his re-adjustment period after getting out of the Marine Corps.  Civilian life is the complete opposite of military life, and most of it centers around how you deal with other people.  These people could be strangers, family, co-workers and employers, or friends.  No matter if you've known them for 5 seconds or 5 years, after being in the military you respond to them differently.  For Bryan, he was trained to detach himself from emotions and people (because typically those you cared about would end up getting hurt or worse).  Because of this he had difficulties letting new people into his life, this included my family.  We both come from such strong and close families that I just expected this to be second nature for him.  What I didn't realize was that his "second nature" had been changed quite dramatically in the past 5 years.  It's been an uphill battle for us to realize that we don't rely on our friends and family in the same way as the other person.  He's been making a lot of realizations and changes himself over the past 3-4 months that have definitely helped to continue putting our marriage on a better track, but that's only one piece of the puzzle.  There's still me.

With everything that had gone on in our past, I needed time to think things through for myself.  I needed to finish working on the things that I needed to change about myself that had been holding me back from having the life and marriage that I desired.  I wanted space to clear my head and be able to wipe the slate clean.  Which brings me to the present.  The best place for me to get that space and think things through is with my support system close by.  For the time being, I have left my job back in Colorado, I've moved a few of my things to get me through the time apart to be here in MN, and I've "mentally" started my marriage over.  This is by far the hardest and most selfish thing I've ever done, but its been worth it every step of the way.  Every day I'm making new realizations for myself that bring us closer together.  I'm not sure where life will lead me in the next week, month, or year, but I know that it's going to be a place filled with love, happiness, and joy.

I hope that you're all enjoying a very happy Friday! 

Quality time in the kitchen

It's been a snowy, winter wonderland here in Colorado this past week.  Just when we think it's gone for good, another round of white fluffy stuff covers the ground.  Since the bad roads and cold weather seem to be keeping us all indoors, what better way to pass the time than by cooking!!  I don't remember the last time I've been this busy in the kitchen. 

So far the menu has included:

• breaded chicken covered in a creamy basil sauce (recipe thanks to Megan)
• jalapeno turkey burgers (recipe thanks to Gavin)
• bacon and green pepper egg bake (pinterest)
• chicken hot dish
• banana chocolate chip cookies (pinterest)
• tequila lime pork chops
• bbq pineapple pulled chicken over rice (pinterest)
• white chocolate chip brownies
• smoked bacon cheese dip (Tastfully Simple)
• spicy chipotle cheese baked chicken

**All of the pinterest links will take you to my pinterest page where it then brings you to the original post.

Some of these are a little different and out of my "norm" for cooking.  It's fun to experiment with new flavors and recipes.  Luckily I have a husband who's only more than happy to be my taste tester.  I still have a tiered cake to fit in there somewhere that I've been dying to decorate! :) 

Unfortunately I wasn't thinking when I was doing all of this amazing cooking and forgot to take pictures.  I guess I was just too excited (and hungry) to remember.  The good news is that since they were all so good, the hubby has requested that they all be made on a more regular basis.  Looks like I'll have plenty of opportunities to take pictures in the future. 

I don't know about you, but just thinking about all of this cooking is making me hungry again.  Lol, back to the kitchen I go!!  Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday! :)

11 months here we come!

As if time doesn't fly by fast enough, next week I will have an 11 month old on my hands!!  My little man isn't quite so little anymore.  He continues to amaze me every single day.  He has mastered the wonderful art of walking, but still decides that crawling is faster and takes less concentration.  He waves "hi" and "bye bye" to people.  He loves to play patty cake and dance, wrestles with his stuffed animals, and reads his books.  One of these days I'm going to have to finally put together his scrapbook of his first year since it's sneaking up on me so quickly.  For now he still has just his 2 bottom teethers, but we're pretty sure that his top 2 will be busting out any day now.  To be honest I'm alright with him just having the 2 chompers.  Those things are sharp! 

Once again life seems to be up in the air.  I have a feeling March is going to be a big month for us with a lot of changes.  I'm crossing my fingers that they'll all be good ones :).  Now if only I could just get schedules A, B, and C to all work together!

Kind of a short one, but that's pretty much all I know right now.  Gotta love the simple days :)

New chapters and adventures

Just when I think I've got life figured out, found my groove, it decides to flip me on my head!  These past few weeks have given me some of my highest highs and lowest lows that I've had in a long time.  Granted, that's pretty much what life does to everyone.  I guess it's just not as easy for me to adapt to the constant changes as it is for others.  To be completely honest, I hate change.  It's not that I think change is a bad thing per say, it's just different, and different means facing the unknown.  Although I don't like it, I am (very) slowly trying to get better at accepting the fact that its inevitable. 

So back to this new chapter life has opened for me and my family.  Right when things are starting to get tight anyways with me coming out of slow season, Bryan is back on the hunt for a new job.  It appears that the landscaping industry out here isn't as secure during the winter season as we were informed.  Although this is something that we were not prepared for in any way, shape, or form, we are starting to see some of the positive sides to it.  First of all, he gets to spend a lot more time with Logan!  Also, since I was the one who always had to drop Logan off and pick up him back up from daycare, I'm able to cut out a whole extra hour of driving every day.  I can't believe how much gas I'm already saving!!  On top of that I can sleep in just a little bit longer since I don't have to leave quite as early. 

Of course there are plenty of set backs because of it, but we're finding that every day something amazing happens to let us know that we're going to be ok.  I like to think that it's God who is doing all of this, and that all of my hoping and praying has been paying off.  I'm a pretty strong believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason.  Every bump in the road is meant to teach me something about life, myself, etc.  I'll be the first to admit that I don't always "see the light" right away in these lessons.  Sometimes it takes months for me to finally get what the heck I was supposed to learn from a previous bump.  What can I say, I'm a little blind to the obvious some days.  Here's to hoping that I figure this latest one out sooner rather than later.

On a brighter note, I get to find a small escape during this headache of a time and go visit my other half in Texas!!!  I've missed her so much, and knowing that I get to finally have some girl time is exactly what the doctor ordered.  It's only 3 1/2 days, but it is definitely a well deserved vacation.  :)  I'll make sure to post on that after I get back.

On another amazingly bright note, I received one of the most awesome surprises ever at work today....COOKIES!!!  :D  My sweetheart of a friend from Nebraska mailed me some absolutely delicious cookies.  It was exactly what I needed to sweeten up my day.  She is way too good to me.  I will have to thank the good ol' USMC for bringing us together (and I suppose our husbands too). 

Well, I started this one off pretty gloomy, so for those of you who have made it this far, thanks!  Here's a little treat that I'm sure will make you all smile! :)

                                                           (look who's walking!)

Becoming a morning person is hard work!

I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of the morning time.  I would much rather snuggle with my blankets and lay in my warm bed until 9am every day if I could.  Unfortunately, I have 3 different alarm clocks that prevent me from doing so: my phone, my son, and my husband snoring!  Then there's that regular thing called work that really forces me to get out of bed 5 days a week.  Ugh, I hate when that happens :-/.  Lucky for me I'm able to function on very little sleep...well, as long as there's an IV set up to pump me full of coffee for the rest of the day lol! 

Now more than ever I'm going to have to rely on my favorite caffeine friend.  I've recently decided that I'm going to try and become a morning person ::gasp::.  Even though my mornings are already filled with craziness as of 6:30am, I love the feeling of having something accomplished before my "regular" day begins.  This year I've made a huge commitment to myself that I'm going to keep up a regular work out routine through out the entire year.  With the way my schedule sits as is it's almost impossible to find the time or energy to squeeze it in any time after I get home from work.  My only other option is to do it in the morning ::gulp::.  Well, I guess here goes nothing.

This week I've put in some serious effort to try and make it work.  Tuesday I woke up 20 minutes before my first alarm typically goes off and did a quick 15 minute video work out.  I felt so exhausted for the remainder of the day that I could have sworn someone had sewn bricks onto my eyelids!  Wednesday and Thursday I did some stretching and rested since I felt as though I'd pulled something.  This morning I planned to do a little more of an actual work out.  Thankfully I made myself go to bed around 8:30-9pm the night before so I'd get plenty of rest.   I set my first alarm to go off at 5:10am to encourage me to get my butt out of bed.  The next one went off at 5:20 to start my work out, then one at 5:50, one at 6:10, another at 6:35, a sixth alarm at 7, then finally the last one at 7:20.  They might not have all been necessary, but they definitely kept me on schedule to be out the door on time (I was even a little bit early)!  

Today is a fairly slow day at work so it hasn't been too rough on me, but we'll see how I'm feeling at 8 tonight after little man goes to bed.  I'm hoping with lots of practice and repetition that my internal clock will adjust, and it will come naturally for me to wake up early so that I can get my work out in.  For everyone who already is a morning person, kudos to you!  For those that aren't, that's ok too.  We can't all be chipper at the butt crack of dawn. ;)  Remember you can do anything you put your mind, motivation, and energy towards. 

Here are some of my favorite motivational photos/quotes that get me going (or just laughing).

I'm me again!

If you have had the pleasure of talking to me (on the phone or in person) these past two weeks you would have thought I was turning into a man!  What I thought was just a bad cold turned out to be one crazy long case of the flue.  Luckily I was able to pass on all of the icky puky stuff, but my throat took one heck of a beating.  It's now the 16th, two weeks after it first struck, and I'm finally sounding like me again!  I never thought I'd actually miss the sound of my voice.  That sounds a little vain, but I don't really care at this point. 

I don't know about you, but this new year has already started out a little on the crazy side.  Work has been a little stressful with my Regionals and VP's knocking on our door every week.  They get so demanding some times.  Luckily they like me, so I'm usually in the clear.  Life at home has been so back and forth with Bryan's job being so unreliable.  The landscaping industry is very temperamental when it comes to weather, and it's becoming a huge pain in our butts.  Thankfully, the little man has been doing really well.  Scary to believe but he is actually on the verge of starting to walk!  He is able to let go of the furniture and balance himself for long periods of time.  He's even tried to take a step, but he usually falls right after it.  Looks like I'm going to have to find myself one of those baby gates like they had on The Rugrats to keep track of him!

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on putting together my new years resolutions for this year.  I'm sure most of you could probably care less what my plans are, but for those of you who are interested, here they are:

• Make time every week to talk/catch up with a friend
• Learn a new phrase every week in a different language (currently working on Spanish)
• Take photos of Logan every week of this year
• Start a work out program and keep up with it for at least 1 full month or longer
• Go on a vacation using the money I saved from coupons, shopping sales, donating clothes, etc.
• Do something different every week on my days off
• Organize my closets and cupboards
• Start a once a month cooking club
• Become better at saying "no"

Most of these don't sound like anything too spectacular, but I believe they will help make my life a little less stressful.  I know that I can do anything that I put my mind to.  Well, here goes nothing! :) 

I hope everyone is having a great week.  Take care of yourself and each other.

New Year, New Me

I told you it would be awhile until my next post didn't I?  I'm actually surprised that I'm getting through all of my catching up and it's still the first week of January!  It was a very busy holiday season to say the least.  We were in Kansas for 4 days over Christmas, then came home so that I could work my one day on Thursday, then I flew out to spend the New Years in MN and do a late Christmas with my family.  It's hard to believe that I actually fit 3 states into less than 2 weeks.  Go me! :)

My number one priority was making sure that I got so see lots of family while I was home for the holidays.  I haven't seen my in-laws in almost a year and I missed them so much.  They absolutely loved getting to spend so much time with Logan.  They almost didn't let us take him home with us!  Then again I could say the same for my family.  Both of my parents got to spend lots of quality time with the little man and they couldn't believe how much he'd grown in just 4 months.  More than anything, I'm so happy that he got to squeeze in some much needed play time with his favorite cousin Ava!  They seriously are each other's favorite toy when they get together.  I know Logan misses her already, and Auntie says that Ava keeps looking for him around the house.  I'm sure we'll be getting them back together soon enough, though.

My second priority was to see friends!  While in Kansas I finaly got to see one of my best friends, Alison, who I haven't seen in over 2 years!  We used to work together at VS in St.Cloud and have seemed to live very similar lives thus far.  She is actually in labor as I'm typing this and I can't wait to finaly see pictures of little Mason! Side note:: just realized that all of my pictures of Alison and I were lost when my old computer died :(.

When I was in MN I met up with another long lost friend of mine from my Ridgewater days, Aleesha!  We also haven't seen eachother for about 2 1/2 years (the last time I seen her was actually her wedding, which just happened to be 4 days after my secret wedding hehe)!  We met up for coffee and 30 minutes turned into almost 4 hours before we knew it!  We could have sat there all day catching up, but it was still so good to see her.  I also got to quickly see one of my favorite girlfriends, Nicole, while I was home.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see eachother for very long since she was on her way to run errands with her other half, and I was about to leave for my dads.  Either way, it felt so good to be able to give her a hug and see her face to face. 

(Me, Charlie, and Aleesha a long time ago in Cloudy town)

 

(Nicole and I in 2009)

It's no secret that great friends are hard to come by.  I've learned this the hard way more than once.  This year I've decided to make one of my New Year's resolutions(more on those later) to make sure I keep in touch with all of my friends no matter how busy we are.  This means all of them.  I've had some friendships in the past few years that have fallen off the cliff because neither of us felt we had enough time in our crazy lives to keep it going.  I want to make sure that my friends know that I appreciate them and that I haven't forgotten about them.  I hope that they'll all be as happy and willing to try and make things work again as I am. 

Well, after all of that traveling I've gotten kicked in the butt with one angry cold so I think I'm going to grab my box of Kleenex and bag of Halls cough drops and call it a night.  Take care and I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year!!!