Happy 2013!

It’s a little sad that life is back to normal now after all of the holiday festivities. I was lucky and got several days off of work, and Ryan got a few too. We were invited to a Christmas Eve dinner with one of the lovely ladies I work with, the same one that invited us over for Thanksgiving as well. Then a sweet couple in our ward caught wind of the news that we were “Christmas orphans” as they put it (since we weren’t going to be spending the holidays at all with either of our families), and they invited us over for dinner on Christmas. We were so touched by all of the kindness and love that was shown to us. We had fun at both dinners, and it made for good memories.
I grew up in a family that has a few Christmas traditions, and have been looking forward to bringing them into my own family. One of those is watching the Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve. Ryan’s family watched A Muppet Family Christmas. We decided to watch that one, and I hadn’t seen it before so that was nice. A since it was still a muppet movie, all was well. Haha. Another one from my family is the breakfast we do for Christmas morning. It came from my mom’s parents, and my parents have always done it for our family. We have tator-tots wrapped in bacon (cooked in the oven), scrambled eggs, orange rolls, and orange Julius. Ryan isn’t a fan of anything orange flavored, so we substituted those for cinnamon rolls instead. I wasn’t sure how he would like the tator tots, just because they are not something that most people have ever had. But, it was a success! He loved them, which makes me really happy because that means the tradition can continue. Good times. When we have kids, I plan on continuing the tradition of giving the kids new pajamas each year, and letting them open them on Christmas Eve. My sister and I usually got matching pjs, which was a lot of fun. While Christmas is still nice as an adult, it will be a lot more fun once we have kids around. One day!

New Years Eve was uneventful, which made us both feel old and lame. But at the same time it was nice to not make a big deal out of it. We went over to a friend’s place to watch Princess Bride with him and his fiancee, and then at midnight instead of watching the ball drop, we just let the movie keep playing and toasted each other with our sparkling cider.  After that we all settled back in to finish the movie, and I’m pretty sure most of us were half asleep. Right before leaving we all decided we needed to go see Les Miserables (again), and planned that for the next morning. Such a good movie! We enjoyed seeing it again, and had fun getting some shopping done after it was over.

It’s back to the real world again. We are both still working full time, but Ryan is going to finally be able to go back to a 5 day work week instead of working M-S. He comes to get me for lunch on Mondays, and I look forward to it all morning. I wish we were able to do lunch together each day, but I’ll take what I can get! He was originally going to go back to school this semester, but we both felt that him working another semester was the right thing for our family right now. He enjoys working for FedEx, but with the below freezing temps that we have been having the last few weeks, that enjoyment level has definitely decreased. We’re ready for the temperatures to raise some, even if it’s just back up to the 30s!

We are so excited to have this year ahead of us, continuing to make memories, learn from our mistakes, and continue to figure out what marriage is. I’m so grateful for the example that my parents set, because I feel that helps me figure things out. Ryan is also just simply amazing, and so dedicated to being a good husband. I’m so incredibly lucky, and blessed, to call him my husband.

I don't know how many people will even be reading our blog, but I've made a resolution to be better at keeping up with it. If nothing else, it's a good place to go back and read about my life! :) So hopefully regular posts will become a normal thing.

Here’s to a happy new year for everyone! Make it a good one!