Thanksgiving and Christmas

Thanksgiving

It was my year to work on Thanksgiving, but I was taken off of it by the scheduler, and instead had to work the entire weekend (I would have much rather received the time and a half and not worked three days in a row). Since we spent Thanksgiving with my parents last year, we hung out at home and celebrated with Kevin’s family. It was much smaller and thus different from our normal Thanksgivings with my side of the family. For my side of the family we have dinner with either my mom’s sister’s family or my dad’s sister’s family, both of which are quite big and full of, for lack of a better word, noisy kids. With Kevin’s family it was his parents, his mom’s parents, an uncle, and his brother. It was much more subdued, and we weren’t treated to a million different pies or salads since it makes no sense to have that much food for eight people. However, we were treated to Glenda’s wonderful homemade rolls, which adequately made up for the lack of variety. One really big plus was getting out of our horribly frigid house (see two posts ago).

Christmas

I didn’t have to work on Christmas either, and we decided that we were hosting Christmas at our house. That sounded exciting until Kevin had to pick me up from work after I puked twice. I felt horrible and weak, so I really wasn’t in the mood to drive home, albeit the drive is about 20 minutes. I basically came home and slept, then tried to force myself to eat some chicken noodle soup. The next day, I was basically no help to Kevin as we prepared to host Christmas Eve dinner at our house for our parents and Kevin’s brother. We decided to go the nontraditional route and sample all of the varied Chinese offerings from Costco and Sam’s Club. My enjoyment of this dinner was drastically impacted by the fact that my stomach was still queasy from the day before. So I basically ate plain chicken and rice. Exciting stuff. The next day we opened presents, ate leftovers, and then said goodbye to my parents. After they left, we made the rounds to check out the loot received by Kevin’s family. Luna devoured all of her peanut butter bones while we were gone. Fortunately she did not puke like she did in the morning when she scarfed her first bone down while we were opening presents. (That incident might have been related to the fact that she ate Sissy’s food immediately after devouring the bone. Maybe they didn’t mix or something.

It was kind of relaxing to just stay home rather than go to Kamas and eat with my aunt’s family and definitely much better than working.Who knows when the next time I will have both holidays off?

Christmas Letter 2014

Only six months late, but it is better late than never, right?

 

Holiday greetings to our family and friends, another year has come and gone, and it is time for our Christmas letter.

 

House

We started the year off with a kitchen/dining room remodel that is still in progress. We knocked out a wall between the kitchen and a spare bedroom and now we have room for my grandmother’s huge table that I inherited last year, as well as the opportunity to host family dinner at our house because we can accommodate Kevin’s family now. Someday we may paint it.

Moab

In May, Kevin and I, along with Kevin’s dad Jim spent a few days in Moab. It was a very nice and much needed break. While grad school is easier in some ways than BYU, it still is a lot of work, especially coupled with a full-time job, so I was feeling a bit burned out. We stayed in the Sand Flats campground, which was probably some of the roughest camping I have ever done.

 

I was very glad to get home and see flushing toilets and running water. Vault toilets are really not my thing. We explored a bit on our four-wheelers (I even drove my own and survived all of the fun “obstacles.”), as well as hiked to Corona Arch. All in all it was a nice trip, and all of us enjoyed it.

 

Megan

I continue to work at Jordan Valley Hospital in the NICU and regular nursery, as well as attending Gonzaga University and working towards a Masters in Nursing Education (minus the 6 month “sabbatical” I am now enjoying). This year was my 10 year class reunion, so Kevin and I made the trek to Jordanelle Reservoir (near Kamas, Utah), where we enjoyed amazing steaks and a torrential downpour. While none of my close friends attended, it was fun to see all of the other people I went to school with for 13 years. Plus, catching up is much better in person than on Facebook. I also joined the smart phone club this year and bought a Samsung S4 in June. So far I have managed to avoid addictions to Candy Crush, but I think I probably make up for it with my Harry Potter Fan Fiction addiction (Yes, I am a nerd.) I also spent some time in Kamas taking care of my mom after she had her knees replaced in July and October. It was kind of interesting to be living at home again, but I think I prefer my own house and having Kevin around.

 

Kevin

Kevin continues to work at Discover Card on a compliance/auditing team. His big news this year is his new commuting vehicle. In June, he found a Honda Intercepter motorcycle at a price that he liked, and it quickly became his “daily driver.” I haven’t joined him on very many drives as I prefer the comfort of a car seat, but if he upgrades to a Honda Gold Wing, I might consider it. Kevin’s dad’s brothers and sister held a reunion of sorts in West Jordan in July. Unfortunately, I worked every day, but it was fun to participate in the evening activities and get to know his family better. Since they are spread out so far, we don’t get to see them nearly as often as is needed to get to really know them well. In October, Kevin embraced his “inner mountain man” and spent the month in Kamas hunting cow elk and deer. It was a very long month, but Luna and I somehow survived without him to keep us in line. Unfortunately, the elk hunt was not fruitful, but he did find a bigger deer than the last hunt (although I think we get more meat off a lamb than this deer). I guess it leaves room for improvement.

 

The Beasts

Luna still spends most of her time sleeping and terrorizing my dad’s friends (she feels my dad needs her protection while we are at his house and growls at people who dare talk to my dad). The fish herd has been downsized, and we just have all of our monsters, some guppies, and a salt water reef tank. The salt water tank is a new addition, and it has been fun to watch the various corals and fish. The fish are definitely much smaller than stingrays. Here are some pictures of the salt water inhabitants and the hound.