What We've Been Up To Lately

I had been in quite a funk over the past couple of months and my lack of blogging reflects that. But I've also been very busy and sometimes it has left little room for contemplation and ideas to share on here.

For Thanksgiving we drove to North Carolina and spent it with David's family. It was a really long drive, but well worth it to spend most of a week with his parents, sister and brother-in-law, nieces and nephew. It also gave Aimee a chance to spend some time with her long distance boyfriend, Tyler. He lives in Williamsburg so we were able to pick him up on our way there. I think the best part of the visit had to be when we gathered around the table to play some games. It's amazing how much fun we all had!

Unfortunately, right after our trip David and Aimee both came down with the flu and were sick for over a week. After a doctor's visit and some antibiotics they both recovered and Aimee headed back to school and worked hard to get caught up.

Aimee has also been busy submitting college applications. She's applied to BYU Idaho, VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University... specifically to their art program), Miami University Hamilton, and Southern Virginia University. So far she's gotten a prelimary acceptance to Miami Hamilton and an offer of a $9000 per year scholarship for SVU. I guess we'll see what the actual offers are when we've gotten the FAFSA filled out, but we're all excited and hopeful for her.

David is getting ready to go in for shoulder surgery on Friday. We won't know until the surgeon is in there whether it will be a relatively short recovery time, or a much longer one. It will all depend on whether or not his rotator cuff actually has a tear in it or not. Obviously, we're hoping and praying that no tear is found and that he'll be able to start therapy quickly and get back to 100%. He's been in a lot of pain from this, and while I realize it's going to get worse before it gets better, at least this gives us hope that he'll be able to use that arm again! This will give me the opportunity to be his nurse again, although honestly, I've never wanted to be one and all of my experiences with him have shown me that it's not a career path I'd take!!

I've been busier than ever with the couponing, but more on the distribution side. It takes a good amount of time to get so many papers sorted and inserts divided up, but it's been a good way to help pay for college applications, senior portraits, and medical bills.

I've also had time to more reading lately, and have enjoyed quite a few good books. Top of the list would probably be the Fablehaven series. Sometimes it's nice to read a fun and easy book, and the Fablehaven series were definitely that. David has finished the series now, too, which shows just how enjoyable they were!! Right now I'm reading another Bill Bryson book- I just love his cynical and humorous descriptions.

I've also discovered pinterest (www.pinterest.com) and my family has come to look forward to the recipes I've found on there! I've tried out a lot of new stuff and thankfully it's been tasty enough that neither David nor Aimee have complained about being guinea pigs this time around. It sure makes cooking a lot more enjoyable when you get to try out new recipes, especially ones your family approves of!! One day I'd love to put together a cookbook with all the good recipes I've found- it sure would beat the 3 ring binder I'm using right now!!

Christmas was quiet but enjoyable. It was nice to be able to attend church and really feel like the focus of Christ's birthday was Christ. We did our usual non-traditional Christmas meal- homemade pizza! I love having a breadmaker- it makes it so much easier to make my own fresh dough!! We were also able to have some good friends over to sing carols that evening while the missionaries made their phone calls home. All in all, it was a really good day.

That's just a brief overview of what we've been up to lately, in case anyone was interested. :)