December 22-24, 2006, Saturday night

Saturday night before Christmas we headed over to Riverton, IL where George's sister lives. She had made a feast fit for a king for Christmas dinner. It was delicious!! Afterwards we all sat around watching made for tv movies, visiting, and then exchanged gifts. We had a great time laughing and spending time with everyone. We hadn't seen George's family since Thanksgiving, so we were both very thankful to be able to see them again for a few days. As usual the trip was short because we had to continue on to my family.

George's dad, Tom, opening gifts. If I remember right...this was a box full of nuts. Now I know why George likes nuts so much!

Joann, George's sister, has recently made many upgrades on her home. She has done a lot of the work herself, while George and Tom have helped out as well. Now that she finally has a non ply-wood floor, her walls look pretty bare. We bought her a wall hanging. George even picked it out.

Gloria, George's mom, is unwrapping her annual Schnauzer calendar. George and his siblings have been replaced with two furry children, which I will feature in a future post. As always, we had a wonderful time. It was difficult to leave knowing it would be the wedding before we would see them again, but that is just 61 days away now!

December 22-24, 2006

George had to work Friday morning, so shortly after he got home we started our family tour by heading 350 miles up to George's parents' house. We arrived just before 8pm and were able to visit awhile before we all decided it was time to call it a night.

Saturday morning we had arranged to meet with Jeff, Tracy, Tressa, and Abi at Jeff's parents house just a few miles from George's family. We were able to stay and visit awhile and exchange gifts.




Probably one of the funniest moments was when Abi stepped backward and fell straight into a box! We didn't capture the picture when it happened, but shortly after as Tracy was trying to rescue her.

We really enjoyed watching the girls open their gifts, and just seeing some friends we hadn't been able to see in almost two months.

Christmas for two

George and I decided to exchange gifts by ourselves before we ventured out to see our families for the holidays. So, last Thursday I made steak, potatoes, green beans, rolls, and dessert. I had to get creative with most of my stuff still in storage, but all in all I was happy with how the table turned out.


We had decided to just enjoy Ben and Julie's tree in their living room, but over Thanksgiving my mother gave us a new ornament which quickly changed our minds. In the basement, where George's room is located, is also a small kitchen, dining area, and living room. I had this tiny tree in storage, so we decided to try to be festive. Next year we hope to be able to get a real tree that is taller than 3 feet.

We had agreed to purchase small gifts and save the money for a larger combined purchase...a digital camera. We love it so far. In the next few days I will post pictures and brief summaries about our various trips over the holidays. We were definitely blessed to see many friends and family.

He's so "Smert!"

I just wanted to write a quick note sharing some exciting news in the George's world.

As required by his job he has to take an Oklahoma licensing exam. Last week the first group took it and only 6 of 12 employees passed it. George was scheduled to take it yesterday morning, so he studied several hours each night this week, and I even quizzed him over practice tests.

Well, thankfully, yesterday he took the test and PASSED! When he took it only 6 of 11 passed it, so it must be a very difficult test. Anyway, just wanted to share the exciting news (and sigh of relief!)

Family/Engagement Pictures #1

Mom was easy to please this year, well, she is always easy to please actually...but this year was especially easy and fun at the same time. With the recent additions to the family she wanted an updated family picture. George and I had just gotten engaged the week before so we took a few engagement pictures at the same time. Below are some of the 100+ pictures we took that day.

The whole gang!! It keeps growing!!

This one above is my favorite!!

Aren't they precious?