It's 16 days into 2010...

Well there has been a lot that has happened since I last posted because I never have time to get on the computer let alone update my blog. But I find that today I have plenty of time for myself. What was supposed to be an extra day of work for Nathan will end up being almost 24 hours of overtime today. We have been keeping busy. The summer consisted of trips to the lake, beach trip for labor day weekend,

fishing adventures, concerts/musicals (Blink-182, Wicked),

trips to the Temple, baby and bridal showers,

birthday bashes

and other things I can't remember.

Nathan started back to working on finishing his college degree at University of Phoenix and it has been fun helping him. Ahh college days!! He had his 1 year mark in August of working for Dominion VA Power and he loves it!! I had my 2 year mark of working at my job in September, and am still loving it. I will make the world a happier place one clean smile at a time, ok maybe not, but I like to think that way!!
OCTOBER- Nathan's dad came down to help us build our fence, and after he left, Nathan finished it up on his own. It is so nice to have some privacy in our backyard now. This spring we can actually make it look nice and furnish it with some patio furniture!!! I also went apple picking in Charlottesville this year for the first time with April and Victoria. It was quite the adventure. Lots of apple things were made to use up the apples I picked. Apple crisps, apple butter, apple w/ pork chops. It was a lot of fun.

I talked Nathan into carving pumpkins this year for Halloween. He got to pick out the pumpkins and all of our equipment. It was fun, although I kept getting frustrated because I kept breaking all the tools. But in the end, they turned out great!

We celebrated our 2 year Anniversary. I took the day off of work and last minute Nathan did too. We hung out, ran errands and got ourselves a fabulous Dyson Vaccuum. We both totally love it. We had been through 2 cheap $75 vaccuums in two years, so we thought let's splurge and got a great deal on an expensive Dyson. It's fabulous.

Ahh THANKSGIVING in WV for the first time ever. What an adventure. So we got up early Thanksgiving morning and went to Nathan's G-ma's house and had early dinner with his dad, bro, g-ma. Then we went to his mom's and had some dinner with her and jess and sherry. Sophie did not know what to do with the cats, but she chased them around and let them know who was boss. Then Black Friday we went up to Morgantown to do some shopping and then go to the WVU vs. Pitt f-ball game. It was a fun drive through the mountains with snow coming down. So we got ready for the game and headed over when Nathan's phone rang. His mom called to tell us that Sophie got out and they couldn't find her. WHAT???!!!???

So we were freaking out, after all she is our baby girl, closest thing we have to a child. So we got in our car and drove 2 hours back down the mountain in the snow and ice, not knowing where we were going, as all the signs were covered in snow. We made it back at 8 and drove all over that town looking. I just kept praying she would pop up somewhere, and she did. I flew out of the car and ran after her down the street, but she was so scared that she took off running. She was gone. We continued driving around in the freezing cold weather, about to give up when we pass Nathan to see if he had any luck, and there she was in his lap. He had found her in someone's backyard. So all in all she went missing around 3 and we found her a little after midnight. She has not left our side since.

We had our work Holiday dinner at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens at the Tea House and we got to bring our spouses this year. It was a very quaint place amidst all the lights. I enjoyed it and yummy food!!!

We were blessed with a wonderful snow storm, that I just totally loved. I was able to watch movies, read books, wrap presents, and just enjoy being at home and not having to go anywhere. It was great! Nathan enjoyed shoveling the snow as we haven't had to do so in a long time. There is actually still a little tiny bit of it left in our front yard. Crazy. Here's a little video of us trying to see what happens to Sophie when we throw her into the snow. We thought she would sink and disappear because it was over a foot, but she was too light and the snow was too frozen.

Christmas was great. Everything went well. We went up to WV Christmas Eve morning and hung out for a bit. Then we went to his G-ma's house for the big family dinner/gift exchange. It was a fun time. The night concluded with the men trying to put together a play kitchen, that took about an hour and a half. Next morning was Christmas with his mom, and that was a lot of fun, as Haley reminded me about the joy of Christmas as a child. We heard "it's just what I wanted" about 30 times. Too funny. Then we waited for the roads to warm up a bit to thaw out the ice and headed back to VA for my family get together. It was a great time, full of laughs and food and gifts. The night ending with a fun game of Dominoes.
Some of the gifts I received were an amethyst necklace, sperry shoes, twilight bookset, gift cards, fleece, yorkie stuff, handmade snow sled. Nathan received some WV stuff (chip/dip platter, clock, glasses), clothes, gift cards. We also received a laptop. We have really enjoyed our gifts almost as much as I enjoyed wrapping everyone else's. That is my favorite part, wrapping them and watching people open them up.

I then enjoyed a week off of work. New Year's came and we spent it at my parents playing Catch Phrase with them and Lacey & Matt til 3 am. Crazy.

2010---started off with wedding stuff

My friend Stefonia and Julius had their wedding rehearsal and dinner on Jan. 1. The dinner was at Tobacco Co. I've never been there, so it was a neat experience for me. Good food, she-crab soup yummy! The wedding was Jan 2 at Main St Station. It couldn't have been a more cold night, that's for sure. Everything was beautiful and it went so well. In the end we sent them off with sparklers as they came down the steps and got into their limo. They are awesome and I'm so glad to have been a part of their wedding.

Then it was back to work. And here we are now at today. One of my New Year's resolutions is to find the time to at least blog once a month, hopefully I will exceed that, but I set my goal low in hopes of doing better!! 2010 HERE I COME!!!