6 Christmases

No, we're not kidding.  We managed to cram six Christmas celebrations into a 3 day period this year! Lucky for us it wasn't TOO much like the "Four Christmases" movie (ha ha!).  We are lucky because our families have different Christmas traditions and we're able to attend all of them without having to choose between them. 

My family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve and Kurt's family goes the traditional route with Christmas morning.  As of now, Kurt & I are pretty flexible about starting our own traditions so we kicked off the Christmas festivities with our own gift exchange extravaganza on Wednesday night.  It was really fun!  Although Kurt was a big slacker at wrapping gifts he did a really nice job picking out things that I would like!! I'm impressed (brownie points!).   =D

See that stack of boxes swaddled in a blue blanket?
Yeah, that's Kurt's idea of "wrapping presents". ha!

His favorite gift -- HDflip video camera!

 In an effort to beat the snow storm we both took off work on Thursday to head back to WL (very good choice because once Friday rolled around we got dumped on all day).  We enjoyed Christmas with Kurt's mom on Christmas Eve morning, followed by the Stucker family get-together.  Then it was time for the BEST meal of the year...shish-ka-bobs at my Mom & Dad's house!  YUM!  This is our tradition.... making shish-ka-bobs, playing games, going to church & opening gifts on Xmas Eve. :)  It was a fun night (although Kurt barely stayed awake during church)!!

The first couple Christmases knocked the Collins kids out!

Yum, shish-ka-bobs!

at the Kelly Christmas!

We spent Christmas day with the Simons - first with Kurt's immediate family at his Dad's and then with the whole clan at his Grandparents house.  It's always fun to be surrounded by family, plus with all the little kids right now there is tons of entertainment to keep us laughing. :)

Kurt & his youngest nephew, Truvell. SUCH a cutie!!

Desi & Drake playing with Pita.

Nice shirt!!

Marley & Me - of course, when she smiled so perfectly I didn't look at the camera!

With my future sister-in-laws! :) YAY!

Last but not least we ventured to Holiday Lake to enjoy some Christmas fun with the Westra family (my mom's side).  We (continued to) munch on goodies all day, do a little gambling and swap some presents.  Yes... I said gambling.  My Grandma & Grandpa always have little packages of quarters ready for each of us so we can play a few rounds of LCR.  I've never won.... but it sure is fun!  I think this is the first year that Matt hasn't taken home the winnings!!  ha!

All the cousins at Grandma & Grandpa Westra's!

Overall we had a wonderful holiday.  We're so thankful we were able to spend so much time with our loved ones. Plus, it's not so bad going back to work when you have new outfits to wear (LOL)!

Fur Babies

We got a little surprise this weekend...

When we go back to WL we've gotten into the habit of bringing both our dogs (which is an annoying hassle but obviously necessary).  Pita travels really well, stick his kennel in the back seat and he'll snooze the whole way there but traveling with Rockie has always been, well... a little rocky.  I don't think she's ever made it the entire drive without getting sick at least once (yet, Kurt is convinced that "she loves car rides"... LOL).  Anyways, the pups get to stay at Jim's house (Kurt's dad) that way Rockie can hang out outside with her mom and Pita can roam the house.  As we dropped them off on Friday Kurt reminded his dad to tie Rockie up so she doesn't wander around and get knocked up... Jim took one look at her and said "She's already pregnant". 

*GASP*  I guess that's what we get for not getting her fixed quick enough!  We did some thinking and remembered that Rockie was roaming the countryside on Halloween night (she ended up joining us at the bonfire at Kurt's grandparents down the road) which would mean she's due right around New Years Eve.

I know what you're thinking... how did we not notice, right?!  Well Rockie has filled out a lot lately and we've noticed that... her fur thickened up for the winter (this is her first winter with us) and Kurt starting feeding her more to fatten her up for the cold weather.  We've joked a couple times that she looked pretty fat and might be pregnant but now there's no question.... Nipples don't lie.

On that note... lets take a look at how cute Rockie was as a puppy! 

Rockie - a couple weeks old

Rockie - a couple months old

Rockie - about 2 years old (this summer)

Although this will be a handful for a while it will be kind of fun to have a puppy or two around... BUT we won't be keeping them.  If you or anyone you know would like a puppy (for FREE) please let us know!!  :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS --- 5 more days!

PS.  Watch the Sing Off tonight on NBC, it's our guilty pleasure show for the holiday season and it's sooooooooooo good!!

'Tis the Season!

We're gearing up for Christmas and loving every minute of it.  The house is decorated, the presents wrapped (well, mine are -- Kurt has yet to do his shopping) and the Christmas carol station is now the default.  Unfortunately due to last weekend's blizzard the church service was canceled so we're missing out on a very important (the most important actually) part of Christmas. Not to worry though, we know what this holiday is all about. :)

The week before last they had a great sermon at our church, it was all about Christmas trees and what they mean to us and how they can also be tied back to the Christmas story.  The message inspired us to take a closer look at our Christmas tree and examine what each of the ornaments mean to us... a simple and perfect display of the seasons of our lives!  Last year Kurt started a tradition of making me an ornament each year -- that one always makes me smile.  This year my mom gifted us an ornament that looks like a giant diamond ring to signify the year we got engaged... it's so much fun to imagine what our tree will look like in the years to come as we add ornaments for each season of our life together!  :) Here's our tree this year... pretty!

Of course I have to do a little re-cap of my recent birthday, too!  I enjoyed a day off work and my mom came up to spend the day with me!  We had a great time shopping and Emilee even joined us for lunch.  Then Kurt & I went out for margaritas and to a movie!!  We saw "Due Date" .... we don't recommend it, it's a renter. =P  It was a nice calm and fun way to turn 24.  ....Oh, and my family gave me a new camera which I was really hoping for!! It's nice to have a quality camera because I'm kind of obessed with taking pictures... haha!  Here's a few of our testers from my b-day!!

 

 Thanks for making my FAVORITE cake, Mom!  Yummm!

15 days until Christmas.... let the countdown begin!!! :)

In the Hood

I must have jinxed our luck in that recent post because we got a little taste of Waterloo's dark side this past weekend. Nothing too bad but Kurt's car was broken into on Friday night -- evidentally they were going for his stereo but must have been scared off in the process (way to go Rockie!!) because after breaking the dash out they left the stereo there! It must have went down while we were at our friends' playing games because anytime someone gets near our house the dogs usually go bonkers.  Anyways, when I shared this lovely news with my Mom she said "I guess that's what you get for living in the hood!".  LOL Although she was kidding it was true to the situation.

Other than that we've been laying low this week - renting movies, cleaning house and trying to kick this nasty bug we both managed to catch.  Oh and it's my birthday week, too!  I always like to celebrate special days but it gets tough when you work full time.  Last year my boss gifted us with a free day off to be used on our birthdays (it was a Xmas gift) so I'm excited to spend the day with my Mom and Emilee shopping and hanging out.  Unfortunately Kurt has to work so we'll have to celebrate in the evening as well!  Yum, dinner and drinks are always a great way to spend a b-day (hopefully we're feeling better!). 

I'll have to admit, turning 24 isn't too exciting. I've had a bad run with birthdays the last couple of years so I'm hoping this one is enjoyable.  Last year we got pounded with the blizzard of the decade and I was literally snowed in.  The year before that I had mono and was under doctor's orders not to drink any alcohol and to get as much sleep as possible... needless to say we didn't celebrate too much but I was lucky enough to be surrounded by friends and awesome roomies!!  I'm thinking next year will be a good year to GO BIG -- 25 is a big one.  This year, I'm just happy to have a relaxing date night with my fiance....after all 24 is the age we'll both be when we tie the knot this summer and I think that's pretty special all on it's own. <3

Hello Holidays!

Whew!  What a weekend.  Does it count as a weekend if it's 5 days long?? 

We had a whirlwind weekend over Thanksgiving but it still felt too short.  My cousins and I managed to pull off another delicious feast! We made creamy mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, seven layer salad, green bean casserole, vegetable salad, stuffing, cranberry salad, fresh rolls, pumpkin pie and apple pie.  Of course, Grandma and Grandpa took care of the Turkey. YUM!


It's kind of hard to see the food in this pic but doesn't it make your mouth water??

Kurt made the rounds in WL while I was on the Shopping Trip in Des Moines. Let me tell you - there were some great deals. I am a total sucker for bargains so I was constantly tempted to purchase random things that we don't need, haha!  

The girls on our annual Shopping Trip!
Yep...those are matching scarfs. :)

We already have our Christmas tree up and decorated, too.  It looks beautiful and it was fun to decorate our house for the holiday season!  We even baked cookies and drank hot cocoa to fully enjoy the view.  I love having a Christmas tree -- the first thing I do in the morning is plug it in!!  It's a simple thing that makes us cheerful.

We hope you're all counting your blessings this holiday season!  We are. :)

Brace Yourself....

... I'm about to go directly into Christmas mode!!  I started listening to Christmas music this week at the office, I bought the first Christmas gift of the season and I've been stashing away all my black Friday coupons... it's almost time!! :)

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving though, too.  This week will be a nice short one ending with a feast and family, it's tough to top that!  I'll be heading to the Lake to help my Grandma pre-prepare the Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday along with the other girl grandchildren in my family.  This is one of my favorite traditions and I look forward to it every year.  The best part is that Grandma has everything totally organized when we all get there -- so we can complete each recipe and she voluntarily does the dishes to keep up with the mess.  Who does that? Doing dishes is hands-down my least favorite chore.  When I was growing up I would "trade chores" with my best friend/cousin Kelly so that she would do the dishes at my house and I could sweep the floor or vacuum at her house during the summer.  Genius huh?  ...It didn't stop there either.  In college I once paid my friend to do my dishes and I frequently threw dirty dishes away in loo of washing them.  HA!  Don't worry they were cheap plastic dorm-dishes.  So yeah, I think I've come quite a ways since then because I actually DO the dishes now.  Maybe not as often as my Mom thinks I should but I do what I can.  =)

Back to holiday chat... Another one of my favorite traditions is just around the corner and I'm really excited about it!  Each year all the women on my mom's side of the family take an Annual Shopping Trip together.  We go somewhere we don't usually get to shop and spend a whole weekend doing Christmas shopping.  This year we're heading to Des Moines and we're tackling the busiest weekend of the year -- wish us luck!

Now that I've blabbed about all the glamorous elements of the upcoming holiday season I think it's important that we take some time to actually take in the real stuff.  Thanksgiving seems to be a holiday that everyone understands -- I've never heard someone say they don't do Thanksgiving.  Probably because we all have things to be thankful for.  Here's what we're thankful for this year:

- Our amazing families that continually offer us support.  We love you guys!
- Not just shelter, but our very own house.
- Love. Not everyone is lucky enough to find "the one" this young.
- Faith.  We are continually trying to build our faith, we're blessed to have found a church that inspires us. 
- Steady income so we don't have to stress too much.
- Our pups, even though they can be a major pain they're fun to have around.
- Our health.  Knock on wood, we're healthy & happy!
- Our safety... 4 months in Waterloo and no problems yet! ha! j/k
- Kurt's handiness.  Not sure what we'd do if he wasn't a fix-it kind of guy!
- Friends.  We wish we could see more of you (you know who you are) - but we are grateful to have you as friends regardless. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

No Report.

November has been uneventful so far so we really have nothing cool to report.  In the spirit of blogging I figured we ought to post something so here it goes!

Kurt has jumped on the "No Shave November" bandwagon....sort of.  Technically he didn't shave the last week in October either but evidently facial hair is handy when you work outside so I can't blame him. The other reason I say "sort of" is because he's still shaving his 'stash which results in this... 

Contrary to popular belief this man is NOT Amish.

Kurt is convinced that people treat him different now that he has an "Amish" beard.  It's pretty funny -- a lot of people actually comment on it.  Since he has no intentions of shaving this winter I guess we'll be dealing with a whole different monster next month!  Eww, long beards creep me out.  He'll be like Santa Claus by the time Christmas is here!! 

On another note, again pretty boring, Pita got a new T-Shirt.  You remember how he totally changes when he's clothed?  We proved that theory when we took off his Halloween sweater and he slowly regressed back to the weird-o dog that he was before... He seems to like his new shirt and I gotta say, we get a kick out of it too!  Check it out...

Hilarious, right?  Now he's a real man.

That's all for now!  Have a fabulous weekend!!