Doesn't that just look so much nicer?????
Hopefully our dreams will come true.... some day.....
-3* F
SNOW DUCK! 
Even Dad took part in the chaos.
(I can't believe how big my "little" brother Daniel is now.... he just barely turned 14....)
The best gift we got for Christmas was the plane tickets that got us out there to Utah! Our wonderful parents bought them for us.
The saddest part about Christmas.....
There were some very special people missing
My sister Megan lives out in Switzerland with her husband Brady and my cute nephew and niece- Kyler and Kahri. WE SURE MISSED YOU GUYS!!!
On Christmas day we headed over to Steve's parent's house where all the family gathered.
Our niece, Emery absolutely LOVES Steve (or Steven as she calls him). He's always on his hands and knees playing with her. And she always wants him to build her a "hut" out of the couch cushions.
What a cute girl she is.
On December 28th, my birthday (that's right, I am now a whole quarter of a century old...) we had a Japanese dinner with my family. Its a little something called shabu-shabu. You cook thinly sliced beef and then an assortment of vegetables and Japanese noodles in a boiling pot of broth. Then you dip your goods in different types of sauces. We don't go quite traditional on the broth (we pretty much make it into miso soup... if you've ever heard of that). It is quite tasty indeed.
The next day we met up with friends in Salt Lake City to go out to dinner. Click here for pictures from that event. It was fun to get together with Steve's buddies (who are now my friends as well, of course).
Steve and I took a quick trip up to Idaho before the new year. We wanted to go see my Grandpa Kirkham. He had a heart attack a month ago and ended up getting open heart surgery where they bypassed 6 arteries! He's 80 years old (almost 81) and is lucky to be recovering. What a blesssing. He got to go home a couple days before our visit, so it was good to be able to spend some time with him and Grandma. I am so grateful for the family I have.
We are back in Toledo, Ohio now. Steve is into his second semester at medical school and we're just pluggin' along out here. Sorry to those we didn't get to see while we were out there in Utah... it seems like vacations always fly by much too quickly.
What a cutie he is.... and I love just going over to their house and holding him for hours on end!
While that may just look like a wet car.... it is actually all frozen water! Lots of "fun" to scrape those windows! (by the way, that is actually our neighbors' car.... we had already scraped ours off before I took the pictures)
Right now, as I sit here blogging, Steve is taking his Anatomy exam. It is scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm. Sheesh.... amazing how much there is to know about the human body. He has been studying like a mad man all week, so hopefully all his hard work pays off. I'm sure he'll do great.
So, we fly out on Sunday to head to Utah for Christmas. We will be there until January 4th. It will be so fun to see our families and be with everyone during Christmas and the new year.
Well, until next time..... MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I saw this squirrel up in a tree and as I put up my camera to take a picture, he looked right at the camera and gave me a nice "grin"! 
They turned out good, and I thought they looked pretty awesome all lined up on the tray! So, I thought I'd share some pictures for your viewing pleasure.... sorry I don't have the technology to allow you to taste them on here....
Yesterday, November 19th, was Steve's Birthday! I got him a racquet ball racquet, some new clothes, "The Sword in the Stone" on DVD (he says it's his favorite disney movie), and a new watch.
It was kind of funny because I bought Steve a watch for his birthday 4 years ago.... and yesterday, on his birthday, that watch was close to dead. We were waiting to see if it would break all the way through by the end of the day..... 
Now he has a new watch. He likes digital ones...that have the date and everything on the face. I thought this new blackish one looked nice for a digital watch. 
(I caught Steve practicing racquet ball... in the house..... not like he could really keep it a secret... the sound of the ball bouncing against the wall kind of gave him away....)
For dinner we had Steve's favorite--Thai Curry. We even got to use my cool dishes I bought at Pier 1 Imports. (I found a gift card that we had gotten for our wedding over 3 years ago.... figured I'd put it to use!).
Oh and in case you were wondering.... my dining room is now themed around those dishes.... notice the color of the walls.... and I hung dark brown curtains....
Anyway, Happy Birthday Steve! He is now 27 years old and smells like formaldehyde! Not because he's old, but because he now disects cadavers in anatomy lab......
Goodbye street where we live!
(I cheated, that picture wasn't actually taken that day....there weren't that many leaves left at that point...)
(The Zoo is very close to our neighborhood. Within walking distance. That bridge you see is the path connecting the two different sections of the zoo. Pretty cool.)
In Kentucky, the sun was out and the scenery was beautiful.
Nice to see some hills and a bit of dimension to the land.
.......and I was in Tennessee! Wow, drove across two entire states in 7 hours! Very cool.
Yippee! And my mom of course came on the trip with him. So, it was my job to entertain my mom while my dad was at the convention during the day.
And it wasn't hard! At a place like the Gaylord Opryland Resort, you can stay occupied for hours without even leaving the hotel! I mean, check this place out! Inside the hotel, under glass roofs are "nine acres of indoor gardens, cascading waterfalls and an indoor "river" with its own Delta flatboats." Seriously people.... very cool.
We had a great time just exploring the hotel and stuff. We ate at one of the six restauarants in the hotel and ordered fancy room service and watched movies and just... had fun!
....check out those flying pigs! (that's my dad in the blue coat walking under the sign)
On Monday my mom and I went and toured the Belle Meade Plantation. Kind of interesting to get a feel for life back in those days.... with the slaves and everything.... It was a neat historical site.
And here are my mom and I just being silly.
I had a great time with my parents. It will hold me over until I get to see them again at Christmas! We fly out the 21st of December. I can't believe the holidays are that close!
