Kristen's Friend Christmas Gift Exchange

Even though Kristen's friend group did a drawing for a gift exchange, she spent hours crocheting stuffies for each person in the group.

I think the giraffe is my favorite.

THEY LOVED THEM!

Kristen's boyfriend, TJ, got her name for the gift exchange and with a little help from Amy, went thrifting for a grandma sweatshirt for Kristen. Yes, she loves thrifted clothing and grandma sweatshirts!

TJ even sent a picture to Amy just to make sure the sweatshirt wasn't so huge that it wouldn't really fit Kristen. TJ looks a little stern because he was concentrating on trying to take a selfie at the time. Makes me laugh every time I see it. What a great sport he is!

The sweatshirt says Grandma Lila Mae on it.

Covid for Amy

Amy sent a text while at work that her boss had Covid. Amy had been feeling as though she had allergies for a couple of days but didn't think it was anything more than that. Unfortunately, she took a Covid test once arriving home and her test showed positive too. 

She had planned to work on Thursday and Friday before coming home for Christmas, but with a positive test, she had to call in sick even though she felt fine. She had already been “sick” for about a week

She took a second Covid test before flying home on Christmas Eve was negative.

Ward Party and the Aftermath

Chris and I attended our ward party on Saturday night. Admittedly, they are not nearly so much fun as when our girls were younger.

We sat at a table and had friends who planned to join us. Before they could, another couple sat down and the husband is not one of my favorite people. Ah well. 

Their ears perked and questions were in full force when they heard Chris mention to one of the members of the bishopric that we were moving. There are some people that I just don't need up in my business.

The sadder news?

I woke up Sunday morning not feeling so great. I was "sleeping" (or not since that's what I do these days) in the basement where I could watch tv in the middle of the night and not wake Chris up.

I started realizing that my stomach was nauseous, my head really hurt, and I felt awful. 

I texted Chris: "I don’t feel good. Head hurts, nauseous. I just ate something and I’m hoping it will stay down."

I proceeded to feel worse as the day progressed. BUT...I was grateful for the people in my home who checked on me regularly and made sure I had what I needed. I love their kind hearts.

Chris texted me from church: "Tons of people missing. Bishopric member too. Wonder if sick. First four rows completely empty. And more."

You've Been RACK'd

We use to plan out Random ACts of Kindness for December and leave things in varying places. We even left bags of microwave popcorn on the RedBox machine outside of Walgreens one year.

It brought back fond memories to see that someone was carrying on the tradition with their family.

Christkindl Market

After dinner with the girls (on our way back from meeting with the architect in Monument), we all went to the Christkindl Market. The weather, though chilly, was quite nice for the middle of December!

As in years past, the market was packed with people, mostly people standing in line for beer. We walked around for a little bit, checked out the lit Christmas tree, and walked inside the Christmas tree.

Most people had their necks cranked back to watch the light show. Some people were even laying on the ground!

We walked back to where we parked by Misha's place, said goodbye to Misha and took Kristen home (she was recovering from a cold).

Architect Meeting

Our loan pre-approval went through for the new property and house, we sent a big chunk of money to our developer, and things are moving forward. Chris and I met with the architect to begin the plans and design for our new house. 

Our architect, Harlan, started from an Alliance Builders house plan that I had already tweaked and from there we gave ideas and talked through the plan.

We spent about four hours with Harlan on a Friday afternoon. Chris and I are both pretty excited.

Our house will be a ranch with the kitchen, dining, living room, mud room, laundry 2 bedrooms and my office on the main floor with two bedrooms, Chris' office, rec room, gym, storage, and a bunch of bathrooms in the walk out basement.

We are hoping to have a preliminary plan before Christmas.

Kristen Home for the Holidays

Kristen flew home for the Christmas holidays on December 15th. She took the train from the airport to Union Station in Denver where Misha picked her up.

Chris and I were driving home from Monument and met Kristen, Misha and Genevieve for dinner at Pepper's Asian Bistro not too far from Misha's apartment.

Finals and Last Classes

All three girls were more than ready to be done with this semester. Classes ended around December 8th, finals were the following week, and most tests and assignments had to be in by the 15th.

Whew. Well done girls. Well done.

Amy's Work Party

UCCU held a Christmas dinner for all of their employees in Utah County.

Not sure if they did more than have dinner, but Amy enjoyed a free meal and hanging out with some of her co-workers who have become her friends.

Neighbor Christmas Wishes

I check our front door every day just to see if there are packages in front of it that are outside of my line of sight. I found this note tucked under the doormat from the next door neighbor girls.

I hung it on my office door with all of my other Christmas cards.

Kristen's Job Interview

After her initial phone interview at the Fedex Print and Ship, Kristen was called for a second, in-person interview.

Yay! They loved her and called her later in the day to offer her the job.

She will start in January when she gets back to school.

Celebrating Amy's Birthday

Kristen and TJ drove down to Amy's to spend the afternoon with her for her birthday. She had the day off from work. 

They went shopping, got a chocolate caramel apple at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and then went out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. 

Amy even hopped on the Texas Roadhouse saddle for everyone to sing happy birthday to her.

Colonoscopy Time Again

There were two days in my colonoscopy prep where I needed to eat stuff that I rarely eat anymore: white flour, sugar, no fiber, bananas, pasta, rice (mmmm, it was yummy). Those days were kind of fun. Sunday, the day before my procedure, was not fun at all. 

Liquids all day and starting at 4 pm drink 8 oz of lemonade (mixed with a bottle of miralax) every 15 minutes for an hour and a half. Not fun.

The next morning starting at 4:30 am, I drank the remainder of my pitcher of lemonade—every 15 minutes for another hour and a half. It does the job.

Chris dropped me off and went to find a quiet place to work for a couple of hours. More unfun stuff? An IV. But at least they knock you out for the procedure!

Amy's 24

Can you believe 24 years have zoomed by so quickly? 

I remember listening to Celine Dion's "O Holy Night" over and over again through contractions and doing multiplication in my head to get through them. I remember finally the peace of the epidural, followed by the middle of the night emergency to bring this girl into the world, the blessing offered by Chris and a hospital worker, and being wheeled down the hall to surgery. 

I remember the feeling of a c-section and having Amy tugged from my stomach and the doctors suddenly saying, "Ahhh that's why." and mentioning a prolapsed cord. I remember Chris holding Amy up to my face and me saying, "Go with her. I'll be fine."

From the time my doctor came into the hospital room saying that our baby's heart rate was decelerating with each contraction to having her pulled from my stomach, probably 15 minutes elapsed. The surgeon had already been called and both doctors were quick and efficient and saved both of our lives that night.

She was our miracle and our holy night moment.

She still is. 

Amy, I hope you know that heaven was watching over you that night and every night since. 

OUR Center with Neighbors

Chris planned a service day with our neighbors to serve lunch at the OUR Center in Longmont. Unfortunately when they arrived with the helpers and all of the food, someone else thought it was also their day to serve.

Instead of making a big deal of it, Chris donated the food to the OUR Center and came home early.

He made plans for our neighborhood to serve again in January.

Misha's Pierced Ears

Misha finally decided that she wanted her earlobes pierced.

She had Genevieve pierce them for her. Not sure if that is safer than somewhere professional, but she managed though the pain of it!

Website Name Change

As much as people would tell me that simplyjolayne was an okay name to have for a travel website, I knew that I would someday want to change it.

I initially planned to have a website that focused on travel, photography and inspirational moments. Turns out, when you are planning a website, such a diverse focus is discouraged. Simplyjolayne was a fine name for that site, but never got noticed as a travel website. Plus, jolayne is not a common name, not intuitive to spell, and not necessarily memorable.

I finally bit the bullet and decided to change the name, that is, after I spent probably two weeks searching for a new name that had:

• a .com ending
• was available on social media
• was not close to other site names online

I finally settled on JustWanderMore.com 

It has been a lot of work to get things set up on the new site (I also changed the theme I was using and am still tweaking the look of my site).

So yeah, go check out justwandermore.com

Amy Finished Decorating

Amy and her roommate, Raychelle, finished decorating their apartment for Christmas. Now it is time.

What Happens in Vegas...

Chris spent all week in Vegas at an Amazon "Reinvent" conference. It was all about the Cloud. Ask Chris if you want to know more. I think he said there were 60,000 attendees. That's a small city!

Chris could have gotten some free tattoos and piercings if he had wanted.

He opted for some headshots (which were also free).

If you want a little fun, toggle back and forth between the two headshots!

Apparently what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. Chris came home with a head cold.

Kristen Ice Skating

Kristen and her boy friend went ice skating in Salt Lake. TJ is quite an accomplished skater. Kristen maybe not quite so much. She might have fallen a time or two.

But they both look cute skating.

Wedding Pics from Amy's Friend's Wedding

Amy got a few more of the professional wedding pictures from her old roommate's wedding. 

Amy fits in pretty well with this group of Hawaiian girls.

Kristen has a Job Interview

Kristen has a job interview next Friday for the FedEx Office Print & Ship Center that is pretty close to campus.

It is a phone interview, so if you could say any extra prayers on her behalf, she/we would appreciate it.

Kristen's Gifts for Friends

Kristen has been busy crocheting gifts for her friends for Christmas. 

These little puffies are simply adorable.

Thankful Day 30 - My Family

I'll start and end this month with how grateful I am for my family.

For my parents and siblings, for extended family, and for the ones I call my "peeps".

I am blessed because of them. I know that if I call my family and ask for prayers, those prayers are immediately sent heavenward.

I am grateful for a husband who LOVES his girls and sheds tears over an empty nest.

I am grateful for girls who connect with grandparents. I am grateful for Chris making family a priority. I am grateful to love and be loved.

Misha's Decorations

Misha decorated her apartment for Christmas.