Merry Christmas, Matt!

So for Christmas I got a shopping trip and Matt got some pictures of his wife he hasn't gotten to see for awhile... Actually this is just a sneak peek. I don't think they've actually made it to him yet. Thanks again, Ash!


The scarf is from World's Window downtown Cedar Falls. It's my new favorite store in the city. I'm not sure why I didn't know about it before...

That time of year

Well, here's how the first day out to play in the snow went!Note to self: no snow angels for Joella...

Also, I'm guessing you have a few gifts to wrap in the next week or so... If I'm right, take a look at this video to spark your creativity in eco-friendly gift wrapping.

I hadn't seen the video until today, but have found myself wrapping presents with these bags instead of wrapping paper over the last year or so. Jane gave me my first one as a gift a few years ago and I LOVE them! If you have gotten a gift from me wrapped in something else, it's probably because I got selfish and decided I "needed" another grocery bag. Sorry!

One of those Days

Today was one of those earplug days. Yes. Earplugs. They were a necessity in our house in Alabama when Joella was born until she was about 3 months old. Lots of screaming to say the least. Today I had to break them back out -- she wasn't very happy with her mama and sure let me know it! I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

Some of you may be wondering about Matt. He's pretty good but I think it's getting COLD over there. We still don't get to Skype often, but the times that we have I can almost see his breath. Yeah, he has to go outside to get online. Plus, he has to wake up super early because of their lack of access during the business day. Convenient, huh? I guess we should just be thankful things aren't how they used to be! He at least has the option to Skype every once in awhile so that's good.

On a different note, you Iowans probably know about Fox River Socks. The best around I think -- the only socks that don't give me blisters when I run, errr, jog, Wait, when was the last time I did that? Anyways, they are an awesome company with great energy efficient / sustainable initiatives and offer a cool Socks for Soldiers program. There is a wish list for deployed soldiers that if you fulfill a request, the company pays for shipping. Matt doesn't have a wish list and he's covered on socks for now, but I'm sure there are other soldiers over there that would be thrilled to get warm socks and an uplifting note from a stranger. I'm just pumped that there are companies are doing things like this. Check it out!

P.S. if you do place an order, try one of these coupon codes to save a few extra bucks. I can't remember which I used now, but it worked.

S5510576
P6167C85

Random but special

Alright, not going to elaborate much but here are some recent pics. Below is a picture of one of my favorite people. My grandma (on the right) turned 90 years old this week, so lots of friends and family got together to celebrate. I could go on and on about how much she means to me. In short, she's probably one of the most Jesus-like people I know and I have learned so much from her. Always loving, loving, loving.

A couple pictures from that day of the little ones...

Ha, Conor wasn't exactly thrilled about getting his picture taken at the time but how cute can you get? Love that little boy!

Joella helping me implement our new recycling / reusing system at our house (aka keeping lots of junk and hoping to find a good use for it someday). Don't worry, I had an eye on the plastic...

A little of what goes on daily :) Enough said...

And last but not least - happy birthday, Papa! Matt and I agree that his parents have helped us out so much during Matt's deployment. Joella loves her papa and gets to hang out with him at least twice a week while they (Jane & Jerry) let me have some time to work / get things done on my own.

Today was funny -- I had Joella ready with her coat on, waiting for Jerry to pick her up. It was the first time that we were ready before he got there and I could tell she knew exactly what was going on. She was so excited, kept smiling, and looking out the door expectantly.