Winterland Parade

Yesterday was my Grandma Budell's 77th birthday!  Bridgette, Drake and I spent the morning with her at the Winterland Parade in Meridian.  It was fun to go, I hadn't been in ages and it was fun to see Drake get excited as different floats passed us by.

Then we took Gram to lunch at Louie's which was also a hit.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Reading Round Out

This month I read 3 books. Two of them only so-so, but I loved Glass Castle.  Great writing and wonderful story telling.  I highly recommend it!

I am scaling back my reading for December to 3 books. If I finish all of them that will put me at 26 books for the year.  Not where I was hoping to be at the end of 2009, but I had many enjoyable reads along the way.

Books to read:
Water for Elephants (Dec)
My Sister's Keeper (Dec)
Deception Point (Dec)

Completed Reads:
1. The Last Lecture (Jan) A-
2. Lucky (Jan) A-
3. Strengths Finder 2.0 (Feb) B
4. Little Earthquakes (Feb) B
5. The Relationship Principles of Jesus (March) B
6. Tales of Beetle Bard (March) C
7. The Shack (April) A-
8. The Almost Moon (April) C
9. Angels & Demons (April) A
10. Sellevision (April) B
11. The Lovely Bones (April) A-
12. Confessions of a Shopoholic (May) C
13. My Horizontal Life (May) A-
14. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (July) B
15. LA Candy (July) B-
16. The Purpose Driven Life (September) A-
17. The Lost Symbol (September) A
18. Digital Fortress (Oct) B+
19. Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea. (Oct) B+
20. The Purpose of Christmas (Oct) B
21. The Glass Castle (Nov)  A
22. Syrup (Nov) C-
23. Devil in the White City (Nov) B-

Black Friday Fun

We were back at it again at 4am this year!  I went shopping on Black Friday with my Mom and sister and we had a great time shopping all the deals.  All in all, most people were very friendly and enjoying the kick-off to the Christmas season.

I am happy to report my Christmas shopping is complete! Yippy! Now it's time to decorate and then relax and enjoy the holidays.

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have lots to be thankful about and at the top of the list is family. Both Trev and I agree that we couldn't have hand picked better families for ourselves if we could. We are lucky to have both sides live near and we get to spend holidays with them all.

We started the day off with brunch at our place with my family. Papa & Grandma, Grandma B., Mom & Dad and the Rutz clan joined us for tasty breakfast and good-ole family fun.

Then we spend the afternoon and evening in Payette at Trev's parents. We had quite the group. Gene & Lena, Murray & Kathy, JD & Lisa all made the trip up from Twin Falls and then the Barto fam, Grandma & Grandpa Caster, and John, Sandy & Levi joined us as well.

We ate until our tummies could not take anymore. And then ate again.

We had to do some goofing off to burn a few pounds of turkey off, so Tanner and I ran around and found this silly old hat that used to be Trevor's.

Fun, fun and more fun! Thanks everyone!! Gobble Gobble!

The Spirit of Christmas

Go IDAHO!

Well I wish I could say the Vandals beat the Broncos this year, but that didn't happen, not even close.  But no one can say we didn't have fun rooting for them.

Trev and I joined my parents, Grandpa, Aunt & Uncle, Cousin, Bridgette, Cody & Drake (all of whom are avid Bronco fans) at a tailgate party before the game.  They were good sports and lets us Vandal fans join in their party.

Then we ventured over to the East side of the parking lot to find our fellow Idaho fans.  It was great bumping into those from college we haven't seen in years!  It was also fun to see some familiar faces:

While I am not going to mention the final score, it sure was awesome to see the Vandals play.  We hadn't been to a game in years---Go I-D-A-H-O!

Is it summer yet?

You must be thinking I have fallen off my rocker, but fear not.  I have some very exciting news to share....my sister is expecting!! And the cute little bundle of love is going to join us in June. Super exciting!!  I am thrilled for her and Cody and wish her a wonderful pregnancy, hopefully the morning sickness goes away soon!

Look how cute the little peanut is already!

Love you guys!