New Address!!

Yesterday afternoon, Daniel and I spent two hours talking to the people at Highland Homes who are going to build our house and we have a new address!!

Of course, we will have to actually have a house on our lot before we can move in but it is definitely a step in the right direction! They are hoping to start building by the end of Jan and then be finished sometime around the end of June or the beginning of July. That will be when our address officially changes but, for now, I am just loving the fact that we own a piece of dirt!

We are both really excited and can't wait for the house to get started. We actually have to have our brick color picked out by Tuesday so that they can order so I guess we are already going full speed ahead!!

Gig Em Aggies

Just wanted to remind everyone that my beloved Aggies are about to play Cal in the Holiday bowl...the game starts in 5 minutes...gotta go watch!!

Gig Em Ags!!

Marathon Pics

I have been promising them for two weeks but here are a few pictures from the marathon. We actually have tons but I guess there are only so many different ways you can take pictures of people while they are running!! :)

Back to the Grindstone...

Going back to work was such a rude awakening!! I had kinda gotten used to the holiday schedule...sleep in a little and then take a nap when you want to...funny, they didn't let me do that today!! :)

We had a wonderful Christmas. We got to go to Muleshoe and stay with my parents for a few days. While there, we got to see my little brother's new house, visit with my sister and her husband who were also visiting, and then spend the day of Christmas eve with all of my Dad's family at my grandmother's house (she is out of the hospital by the way and is doing GREAT!).

Christmas day we drove to my grandmother's house in Snyder and got to spend a few days there with all of my Mom's family before coming back to McK yesterday.

We had a blast getting to see everybody...some I haven't seen since last Christmas!! Definitely too long and we will not be doing that again!! We were spoiled along the way as well, and received a lot of very thoughtful gifts...

I love Christmas and all that it means...especially when it comes to family.

Routine is good also, so I really was okay with going back to work today...sure were a lot of people who got sick over Christmas...should be a busy week!!

Ready for Christmas!!

I think I am officially ready for Christmas. The presents are all wrapped and placed in a big bag to take to my parents...all I have to do is pack!! We are going to try to leave as soon as I get off work tomorrow afternoon and head northwest. I am looking forward to all the time in the car with my hubby. When we drove to see family at Thanksgiving, we never even turned on the radio. It is nice to be able to just spend time talking with each other and "catching up" without having to worry about day to day stuff.

I am ready for a break from work as well. I love my job and the people I work with but it sure is nice to have some time to sleep in or do whatever during the day.

We will be at my parents house on Saturday, my grandparent's in Muleshoe on Sunday, and then my grandmother's in Snyder on Monday before heading back home on Tuesday.

Should be fun!!

Hope everyone has a very blessed, Merry Christmas!!!

Halfway to normal....

I am feeling so much better!! I am definitely not well yet, but I am headed in that direction. I love modern medicine!!

Also, keep your eyes peeled...we may have some good news to post on here in a few days concerning our living arrangements....

Icky

That is the best word to describe how I have felt the last two days. People always ask me how I work in a doctor's office with sick people all the time and not get sick, well...

Eventually it has to happen!

I have worked at this particular office for 1.5 years and this is only the second time I have gotten sick...not bad, huh?

I actually started on some meds this morning and am already a little better so I know (hope) that this will be short lived. I think it is probably good for me to get sick occasionally...it makes you much more empathetic when it comes to your patients.

________________________________________________________

Please add my MaMa (dad's mom) to your prayer list. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday morning for some heart issues. She was feeling much better last night but I have not heard how she is yet today.

________________________________________________________

Got Daniel's Christmas all taken care of!! It is amazing what you can come up with in a crunch!!

One more present....

I thought I was completely finished with all my Christmas shopping...I even thought that I had it all wrapped. I was very excited about that and then....

I remembered my husband.

How is it that I made it all the way until the week before Christmas and not think of buying a gift for my hubby? It is not that I haven't been thinking about what he wants for Christmas. I have given tons of good ideas to both my family and his...I just forgot to save one for myself!!

I guess I will be hitting a few stores (where...I don't know) to see what I can come up with now...

Wish me luck!!

White Elephant Party

Last night we went to a Christmas party with a bunch of the guys that Dan works with and their wives. Everyone was supposed to bring a 5-10 dollar white elephant gift. I have to say that Daniel won for being the most creative.

He took a box of Godiva chocolates, opened them up, and took a bite out of each chocolate on the top layer. I took a picture of him doing this, and then we put the picture in the box with the chocolates. When Buck, the guy who ended up with Dan's present, opened the box, all he could see at first was a picture of Dan eating chocolate. He then opend the rest of the present and saw all of the half-eaten candies. It was hysterical...definitely a good idea if you ever need one. He said he was going to put the picture on his refrigerator for all to see.


Now to the presents we brought home....I ended up with a battery operated candle...the perfect gift for a fireman's wife, and Daniel got a "On the go potty"...you can bet there was a lot said about that as well!!

We had a lot of fun...two great Christmas parties in a row!!

Dave and Buster's

Friday night was our office Christmas party at Dave & Busters....we had a lot of fun as usual.

We had the big reveal on secret Santa gifts (I was right about who everyone had) and then spent the rest of the evening talking and playing games. It is nice to have everyone's spouses present, too. We hear things about them everyday and it is nice to spend time with them as well.

Office Christmas Party

Tonight is our Office Christmas party and I am excited about it. For the last several years we have gone to Dave & Buster's in Frisco. I like it because there is lots of things to do and everyone has a really good time.

We are also revealing Secret Santa gifts...we have been giving gifts everyday to whomever's name you drew and tonight is the big reveal. I have it all figured out...I know who everybody has. I think I will write it all down so I can show Dan. Otherwise, he will say that I am just saying that :)

It should be a lot of fun!!

Full Recovery

I think that we have both finally recovered from our little "jog around White Rock Lake" as one of my friends put it.

What an amazing experience. I was definitely sore but I feel like I am finally back to normal. There was a few hours on Sunday evening when I was wondering if I would ever walk again... :) but then it slowly got better. At work on Monday I had a hard time finding the energy to just stand up and I was always looking for the closest chair!! You would think that after all of the training we had done, we wouldn't have been as sore...but then, you would think wrong!!

It feels weird to come home when I get off work and not have to go run before we do anything else. That was always first thing on the list. We are going to continue running and staying active but we are not going to be running as far. We decided to just rest for a little while for now...

We are having difficulty getting the pics where everybody can see them but I am still working on that...

Mission Accomplished!!!

WE DID IT!!!

I am so excited about my first marathon experience...we had so much fun!! Of course, I am starting to get "a little" sore now so we will have to see what tomorrow brings but it was such a great adventure. We finished in 4:24:02 which was definitely under our goal of 4.5 hours (we had bid numbers 3557 and 1212). Beating your own goal makes it even more enjoyable.

Here is a picture of us at the finish line with our finisher's medals...



I will post more later but most of the pictures were taken by my sister on her camera so she is going to send them to me once she gets home.

We are so blessed to have such a loving, supportive family. We had cheerleaders along the whole route complete with signs and smiles. Representatives from Daniel's family included Jon and Mandy, David and Suzanne, Daniel's Mom and Dad, and Mercy (who got very excited when we ran by). While my Mom and Dad, my Gran, and my sister Amy (who may have been even more excited than Mercy) all came. We definitely could not have done so well without all of their encouragement...

I will post more as soon as I have all the pictures and can pick the ones were I actually look halfway decent.... :)

Tomorrow is the big day...

I can't believe that it (The Rock) is actually here. We have been training for this since January and now it is time to put all that to the test. I know that we are adequately prepared and that makes it a little less nerve racking, but this will be the first (and possibly the only) time in my life that I run 26.2 miles at any one point in time.

I am also really excited about it...it should be a lot of fun.

I just need to check everything one last time...make sure I have it all...

Synchronized Christmas Lights

I don't know how many of you saw this video last year, but I think it is fun and wanted to share!!! You just have to click on the play button for it to go...

Help Me Help You

Today was a very crazy day at work today...we were just extremely busy and nothing was quick and easy. There are some days that, even if you see more people than normal, they are all coming in for colds, strep throat, etc. Today was not one of those days. It just seemed like nothing was straight forward and simple.

I think the thing that bothered me most about today was how apathetic some people can be about their own health. For example...I saw a young man today who is younger than me but is already on two blood pressure medicines and two cholesterol medicines. When he came in today, his blood pressure was slightly high and he had not taken any of his cholesterol medication in close to 3 weeks. One of my first questions to him was about his exercise habits. He told me that he was a "horrible exerciser" and could I please just put him on another medication to control it better...I guess it just surprises me that someone would prefer to take another pill everyday of their life instead of making a few lifestyle changes that would probably help more in the long run anyway.

I am not naive enough to think that exercise would help everyone and solve all their medical problems. There is a time that medications are definitely a good answer...but there are lots of times that if people would just make an effort of their own, they might not have to be on medications at all.

I think that I am good at my job and that I know the correct medications to give people to control their blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, etc., but what good is being prescribed medication going to do you, if you don't take it, and don't do the other things to help yourself out? Please, help me, help you...

One week away...

The marathon is exactly a week away from today and, all of the sudden, I have started to get nervous.

We have done all the work and are adequately prepared but...training runs are not the real thing. Daniel says that the actual race is alot more fun than any of the training and, if you have gone far enough with your training runs, you will not have any trouble at the marathon. They have bands playing along the whole route, and the water stops have competitions to see who can outdo everyone else, so you are entertained along the way.

Representatives from both of our families are planning on coming and cheering us on so that should be a lot of fun as well. Of course, I'm sure they will take lots of pictures of us not looking our best!!

I am looking forward to saying that I have run in a marathon....that will be quite an accomplishment.

(If I have any energy that day after we are done, I will let you know how it goes)

Now on to the wrapping....

Just wanted to let you all know that I am officially done Christmas shopping!! I have never been finished this early before and it is kind of exciting...now I just have to wrap it all. Hopefully I will have that finished in a few days.

I am also a little disappointed that I am through shopping because it is so much fun to shop for everyone but....there is only so much we can buy!!

I love decorating for Christmas and I am sure that all of the beautifully wrapped presents (I am being optimistic here) will go a long way to making our little ficus tree look more like a real Christmas tree. When I finish putting all of the presents around it, I will have to take a picture to post....(there is only so much room in an apartment and, unfortunately, a Christmas tree just doesn't fit, so we made do with what we already had).

Only 23 more days until Christmas!!!