Twilight

I don't get the phenomena. Twilight has certainly impacted a certain demographic. I talked to Bridgette for about an hour tonight and I'm pretty sure she talked about Twilight for a solid 30 minutes of it.

Did you know it's actually a book series? I had no idea. Apparently there are 4 books. I asked what the big deal was and she said that it's just got everything...action, romance, drama, suspense. So I mentioned that I might have to look into it and see what all the fuss is about. Bridgette then said, "Well, I kinda think it might be for like a younger crowd, Auntie." I was truly taken aback for a split second. I asked if she thought I was too old and she said that I might be. I've never thought that I was too old to read a book that Bridgette is reading. Even when she was little, I loved reading all her kiddy books with her. Now, she thinks I might be too old to really "get excited about it". Just to prove her wrong, I think I'm going to look into it. Let's hope I like it and don't find it too immature or else she'll be right.

Maybe being near 31 is too old to really connect with my nearly 15 year old niece, but I hope not. Bridgette and I have a good relationship and I always want her to call me on Sunday nights and talk to me for an hour...I think I might still be sort of cool to her. I hope so. I love her dearly.

Bridgette and I at Melissa's wedding.

Daniel and I with Bridgy, Alli and Kimmy when we were home for Bridgette's confirmation in October. Seems we're all looking a bit older. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing afterall.

Snowstorm Weekends

We've had a tremendous winter storm this weekend. It snowed about 8-10 inches on Friday night. By Saturday morning the wind was blowing and it was pretty crappy outside. I had a haircut scheduled for 11:15 in Belgrade and I ventured out. Daniel had to work on Saturday morning as well. I was lucky enough to get to drive the truck, so I felt pretty good being out in the elements. Just COLD! We met at home around 1pm and we went to rent movies and we spent the rest of the day on the couch. It was awesome, even if Daniel did insist that we watch the scary movie Strangers. I did not care for this movie, mostly because it is loosely based on a true story. I just hate movies about senseless killing. Freaks me out. I made a deal with Daniel...if we watched that movie last night then he had to promise to try to at least touch me in some way the rest of the night. I only woke up once in the night and he was rolled over, so I snuggled up to him and he hugged me tight. I love that feeling. He makes me feel so safe.

Today we woke up to about -20 degrees...not counting wind chill. We ventured to 8:30 church and stayed for Michael and Breanna's Sunday School program. Then we met my mom and dad, Dan, Audria, Michael and Breanna at JBs for breakfast. Yummy. After breakfast we finished up a little Christmas shopping and picked up a few more items for our sub-zero hunting expedition scheduled for Tuesday. Now that we're home, I'm working on laundry and Daniel is snow-blowing the driveway. He'll be terribly cold when he gets in and I'll guarantee that he'll be attempting to put his cold hands on my back...something I haven't been able to defend myself against for over 3 years now!

We just have my chick flick left to watch tonight. I chose PS I Love You. I read the book a while back and it was sweet. I hope the movie doesn't disappoint. I'm thinking some hot cocoa will be in order. Another plus of a snowstorm weekend!

Christmas Tree Hunting

This is what Jynx looked like the whole way up the mountain. When she heard us say, "Jynx, are you ready?" she barrelled out the door and was ready to go in an instant!!! She loves to go in the car...little did she know she was going to get to do a lot of running and playing in the snow, too!

Daniel and Jynx. We bought her a new Kong Wubba before we left and she walked up and down the hills with that thing in her mouth. It was great! She does pose well for pictures though, don't you think? (Daniel does well, too :))

This year we were able to make it up high enough to where Daniel proposed 2 years ago. Again we tried the self timer pictures. Some are good and some are bad...This one I liked!

This one turned out well, too.

This one is crooked as heck, but it's a cool shot anyway because it's in the same spot he proposed. The pickup was parked about 10 yards away and I had to run to get out to Daniel. On this particular shot, I got to him and slipped. He is nearly literally holding me up. We were laughing. You're welcome for the butt shot of Jynx, too.

We walked into my mom and dad's house with this little tree and told them this was all we could find this year. They laughed. My dad had mentioned the day before that he'd be okay with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, so Daniel thought this would be funny to give to them. They laughed, too. We really did get them a really big beautiful tree, but for some reason I didn't take a picture of that! Go figure.

This is our tree. We got it up in the stand last night, but I didn't decorate it until tonight. There's a lot of red, especially when you see the red wall behind, but I like it.

See? Jynx loves to pose! You should see all the pictures I have of her in front of this tree. I just picked the best ones! She's smiling at me here, I'm sure of it!

Right before this took, I asked Jynx, "where is it?", talking about her new purple Kong Wubba and she looked right at it. Daniel had put in on the table and she's got it in her sights.

At this point she's thinking, "Okay, seriously mom. You've got to be done soon!" and I was. With her anyway.

This is my Advent Wreath. As you can tell, we have not been good at our Advent devotions, but we're getting there. We'll burn them this week.

Proposal Anniversary Weekend

I just love weekends. Last night Daniel and I went to one of our favorite spots, The 19th Hole, and had a great time. We stayed a little too long and I indulged in a couple too many Miller Lites, but it was fun all the same. We were supposed to go cut down our Christmas tree today, but we decided to go tomorrow instead. It has turned into a really great tradition for us. 2 years ago when we went to cut down our tree, Daniel proposed. That is still one of my most favorite moments. I had no idea that he was proposing on this day. I had a fleeting thought on our way up the mountain, but I dismissed it immediately. We were trying to get a good holiday picture when the following picture was taken. My camera was on the hood of Daniel's truck. The first 5 pictures didn't turn out so good, but this one is perfect. I hit the timer button and went running out to stand by Daniel and when I got there, he crouched down. I turned to him and said, "what are you doing?" and then I realized that he was down on one knee. He asked if I'd marry him and I said, "of course I'll marry you!" and I leaned down to kiss him. That's right when the camera clicked. I didn't think to look at it right away, but as we were driving down the mountain I looked and realized that we got a perfect shot. Absolutely perfect.

Last year we took my parents with us and had some bad luck. We got stuck. We laughed, after we knew we could get out!

Mom and Dad last year...

Now I'm anxious to get our tree tomorrow and see what kind of pictures we get. I'm hoping this will continue to be a great holiday tradition for our family.