Starting the Holidays...

Nick and I had a great Thanksgiving this year. We started off the day by going to Nick's grandma's house and having lunch with his family. There was delicious meatballs, appetizers, and even cheese fondue. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures mostly because my niece wasn't really feeling the whole picture taking thing. She was great entertainment for us though and is getting so big.

After visiting with the Hudson's we headed off to the Esslinger's for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Andi went crazy this year coming up with great ideas to keep the kids busy and allow the adults to actually relax a little. Even she got to sit down for a minute while they watched Mickey Mouse on the projector screen...Uncle Brian is so cool. My favorite activity was going on a leaf walk with all the kids after dinner so that the dishes could get done and the kids could make a placemat with their leaves after. Here's a few pictures that I got from Andi of our leaf walk and Nick taking it easy watching football.


The next day Andi invited all the sisters over to her house to make these cool advent calenders that she found on a blog. At first it was overwhelming to have to create 24 cute little squares but once I got started I had way too much fun being crafty. Everyone's calender turned out super cute and fit their personalities. Here's a picture of mine:

I hope that everyone else had a great start to the holiday season and ate just as much as we did.

Part Wolverine

It's been a week since Nick's surgery so it was time for his first post-op appointment and apparently my husband might be part Wolverine. It went so well! The doctor said that he was amazed at how well his knee was healing and how little swelling there was. He can already straighten it which I'm told can take some people a couple of weeks. He also has excellent range of motion (can bend his knee 90 degrees) and was told that he could probably start driving and working out with the stationary bike by next week. My husband is pretty much amazing.

Knee BEFORE the surgery

Some AFTER pictures
(one week after surgery)

Prepping For Surgery

In preparation for Nick's knee surgery tomorrow morning I did the thing that ever wife does before their husband is going to be incapicated for a while: made Chex muddy buddys! He's been wanting them for awhile and I thought that since he wasn't going to have much mobility it would be nice to have something delicious easily at hand...and I don't hate having them readily available for me either.

Also a couple weeks ago Nick went and bought us a bedroom set! He practically picked it out all by himself. I didn't actually see it in person before he purchased it so I was excited to finally see it and be sure that it actually fit into our apartment. Lucky for us it fits, it's beautiful and it came just in time for Nick and Chad to put it together tonight. Chad brought Bri over with him so we played in all the boxes and with the styrofoam while the boys worked hard putting everything together...who needs real toys when you have styrofoam and boxes? Bonus: Now Nick has an awesome new grown up bed to rest in!

Styrofoam Stairs

Working Hard

Almost finished project (the dresser didn't have the hardware yet, but it's still beautiful)

Hopefully everything goes smoothly tomorrow and Nick can start healing and begin working toward the CHP again. Wish us luck!

All Things Halloween...

We started preparing for Halloween on Monday by carving pumpkins with our friends for family home evening. With a pumpkin for everyone it looked like a small pumpkin patch in Erin's kitchen. We had a lot of fun taking out the pumpkin guts and then later Erin cooked up the seeds for everyone to enjoy. The best part of the night though was when we decided to take pictures with our pumpkins and Nick actually put pumpkin guts in his mouth to match his pumpkin. It was gross and awesome. Erin took the picture so if you want to see it check out her blog.

On Friday was the Fall Festival at my work where we all dress up including the kids and just do a lot of different fun activities (making lollipop ghost, frankenstein cards, etc...) Here some silly pictures of me and the awesome ladies I work with.

Unfortunately Friday after work was the end of celebrating for me. I spent most of Halloween in bed with strep throat...so not cool. I'm feeling a little better now but I'm sad that I missed all the cuteness of seeing my nephews and niece dressed up. I did get to see my niece Braelynn on TV that morning on Good Day Sacramento though and that was awesome. I hope everyone else had a great halloween.

Girly Giveaway!

My goood friend Erin is doing her first giveaway on her new blog. She is so talented at so many things including photography and creating some super cute sewing projects. Her first give away is a little girls skirt. If your interested you should check out her site at erinnoeldesigns.blogspot.com. The giveaway ends on halloween!

Abandonment leads to Boredom

Nick went to watch some band stuff today... all day...so he didn't invite me a long. Since my husband is gone and I'm waiting on the laundry you get this:

♥ What are your middle names?
"Elisabeth" and "Wayne"

♥ How long have you been together?
Since November 2007, Married since March 2008

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
He asked me to be his girlfriend after one week of knowing each other but we started hanging out the day after we met.

♥ Who asked who out?
I asked Nick out on what was supposed to be a triple date to the Dixon Corn Maze

♥ Who made the first move?
If I remember correctly Nick held my hand in the corn maze that night

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Nope.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
Technically we are both from Sacramento but grew up in different areas

♥ Who is the smartest?
We're both smart in different areas

♥ Who majored in what?
I have my credential in Montessori Preschool Education and Nick majored in Life

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
My feelings definitely get hurt easier

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Chilis or we eat in with pizza

♥ Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Mexico, on a cruise in November last year

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Nick

♥ How many children do you want?
One right now, but eventually three or four

♥ Who does the cooking?
Me, unless Nick is trying to make me eat fish then he has to cook it

♥ Who is more social?
Definitely me

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Neither but I'm the one who cleans

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
Nick, which still throws me off because I'm crazy stubborn

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Almost always Nick does

♥ Where was your first date?
Dixon corn maze

♥ Who has the bigger family?
I do. I have five siblings and Nick has one.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
No, because I already have fake flowers in my house all the time.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Christmas eve with Nick's family, Christmas with mine.

♥ Who is more jealous?
I don't know that either one of us gets very jealous.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
This question should actually be written as how quickly did it take to get serious? I was ready to marry Nick after like three weeks of dating.

♥ Who eats more?
I'd say it was equal. There's a lot of snacking going on in this house.

♥ What do you do for a living?
I'm a preschool teacher and Nick works as an outside salesmen for Fastenal.

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
I do both our laundry and Nick does his when he needs something before I'm ready to start the laundry.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Hands Down -Nick

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Nick. I don't really like to drive and he loves it so it works out.

♥ What is your song?
We dance to At Last for our first dance but everytime I hear Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park it reminds me of when Nick and I were dating and makes me smile.

New Stuff

I should not be allowed to go with Sam to her hair appointments ever again. Lately I've been trying to grow my hair out. However, yesterday I changed my mind after seeing Sam's new cute hair. Thanks Jaime for cutting my hair with a couple hours notice! Mom was sad to see it so short and just as I expected Nick LOVES it. I really like it too and am excited to have a new cut.

back/side

Nick also got something new...Guitar Hero for the Wii. His brother had bought it but didn't like it as much as he thought he would, so when Nick went over there to wash his car he bought it off of his brother. Thanks guys for disliking your game because my husband loves it!

My Husband