3 Weeks!!!

We stopped by our house on Friday night and it basically looks done - appliances and everything! They just have little touch-ups on the paint, baseboards, etc. and some fencing in the yard to do, and it should be ready. We're planning to move in 3 weeks, and if you couldn't already tell by the frequent updates on our blog, we can't wait!! We will be sad to leave our ward though - there are a lot of great people in it, and we'll miss the 4 cute little girls in our primary class.

Wishful Thinking

I got an email from Marriott today. It was an update on the reward points I've earned through my business travels. I was thinking I should use them to go somewhere fun. I started thinking about where I would go, and decided that a vacation sounds REALLY good right now. I don't know if it's the time without the stresses of work or if it's the escape from the ice and cold, but I have this sudden desire to be in Cancun. I even found a Marriott to use my points at (in reality they'd probably only last one night, but still, doesn't it look fun?)Anyone want to come?

Impulse Buy

As an accountant, and considering the fact that I'm a fairly conservative risk-averse accountant, I don't make too many impulse purchases (at least big ones. Clothes don't count :) We felt like we made one tonight though. It actually wasn't REALLY an impulse buy since I had been looking at couches for months, but we didn't exactly plan on buying one today. Nate was skiing, and I decided to go look at a couch I had seen on Craigslist, then went to the RC Willey Clearance and Scratch & Dent Outlet. When I got home, I was in a couch-buying mood and looked at RC Willey's website so I could show Nate one of the couches I had seen. While there, I checked the weekly ad and found a pretty good deal on a couch that appeared to be what I've been looking for (50% off) so I talked Nate into going to RC Willey when he got home...and this is what we came home with! OK, so we really didn't come home with it. That's the best part though! We got the couch and matching loveseat (both 1/2 off) and they'll keep it at the warehouse for us until our house is done, so we don't have to store it in the middle of our kitchen until then! (that's about the only floor space left in our apartment).

Ski School

One of the most exciting events that has happened since we got back from Christmas is that we went to EY's ski day on Saturday. We braved the chains required advisories and snow being blown horizontally by the wind and drove up to Park City on Saturday. It was my first time skiing since the two times I went to Mt. Hoodoo in high school, so I was a little rusty, to say the least. It was snowing pretty hard when we first got up there, but after hanging out in the EY lounge room and eating free buffet lunch, the weather cleared up and we had a pretty fun afternoon. Nate was patient enough to hang out with me all day and give me tips. He didn't mock me too much when the little 3-year-old kid with skis on a walker-type thing beat me down the mountain.

We also had the chance to go to a Jazz game on Tuesday night. Nate has been putting in some long hours at work getting a few big presentations together, and his boss gave him two of their tickets. We got to go down to the "sponsor room" before the game for dinner and at half time for snacks, and we had pretty sweet seats on the 6th row. We beat the Indiana Pacers by...lots. I think in the twenties.

I stopped by our house on my way home from work tonight and was pretty excited about some new additions to our home: counters (in the kitchen and bathrooms), sinks (again kitchens and bathrooms), our fireplace (I guess technically the fireplace was there, but the mantle's in now), toilets, and our shower walls (although I discovered that they don't provide a lot of coverage). The latest "walkthrough" date is February 11, so in an hour and 38 minutes we'll be down to a month :)

Christmas!

I'm sure everyone would agree with me that it's always hard to come back to work after Christmas. I decided that since I'm back in the real world I'd get back in the blogging world and write an update of our Christmas activities.

Before Christmas, we went to the MoTab Christmas Concert featuring the King’s Singers with Nate’s whole family. It was the first time I’d been to their Christmas concert, and it was great! They had the stage all decorated and the music was really neat. Afterwards, we all went to the Little America for a gift exchange party, complete with Christmas bread and sparkling cider. We had fun picking out gifts for Anna the week before, and she happened to draw our name too and got us some great gifts.

We spent Christmas in Oregon with my family, but first we rode with my parents (who drove from Oregon to UT) and David and Camille up to Idaho Falls for my grandpa’s 80th birthday party. It was quite the party – most of the family was there, along with friends from the ward and community. I hadn’t been up to Idaho Falls since I was in school more than 4 years ago, so it was really fun to see all the cousins again. Nate hadn’t even met a lot of them (I figured it was better to wait until we were married so we wouldn’t scare him off ;). After the big birthday party, we had a Landon family Christmas party and gift exchange. It was pretty crazy with all the kids running around, but we were able to watch the rest of the BYU bowl game – a miraculous win for sure!

After the brief stay in Idaho Falls, we made the trek to Ashland so we could be there on Christmas Eve. Here are some highlights of the Christmas celebration:

- a “dollar store party” on Christmas Eve for Jessica’s birthday (my mom picks games and prizes from the dollar store and we play them all to compete for the prizes).
- Acting out the nativity, complete with a pregnant Mary (my sister-in-law Stacey) riding the donkey (David) and the cutest shepherd ever!
- The Morris family “variety show” – Nate and I played a duet of “Little Drummer Boy”, him on the piano and me on the drum I got at E&Y training; we also had singing; the Morris version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas; an entertaining dance by my parents; an animated reading; and a Backstreet Boys lipsync, complete with choreographed dancing.
- Finding books hidden in the living room by dad (our traditional Christmas Eve gift)
- All the kids pulling our mattresses out to the family room so we could sleep in the same room
- Great gifts (given and gotten :) croissants & hot chocolate, and lots of relaxing on Christmas Day
- Snow! Only an inch or so stuck on the ground, but since it’s rare in Ashland, it was fun to have a white Christmas Eve and Christmas
- Bowling (My score was a surprising 123 – that may be a personal best!)
- A trip to Portland – we got to see Jess & Shane’s new house (it looks great!), went downtown shopping and walked down to the river, and played games. We drove through the beautiful Columbia Gorge on the way back and made a quick stop at Multnomah Falls.

snow in Ashland, dollar store bowling, and Landon the shepherd

the fam, dad & Landon with their snowman, and the Portland temple

Pioneer Square in Portland, the lower part of Multnomah Falls, and Jake & Nate on the bridge

It was a great vacation! It’s always hard to come back, but it helps having something to look forward to – like 2 new nieces and 1 new nephew coming in February and March! And a house! We stopped by on Sunday to check on the progress and it seems to be coming along well. It’s starting to look like a house and not just a wood frame. Here are the latest pics. We can't wait until February!

Cabinets in the kitchen, We have lights! (this one's in the stairwell), Nate taking a shower

The hall upstairs between our two other bedrooms