A White Christmas

I know students always think that no one could possibly be as excited as they are about Christmas break, however I am not sure they fully understand how excited their teachers are for break. Needless to say when Christmas break rolled around I was thrilled to escape and Kevin was thrilled to have a break from studying. So as soon as we got out of school, we headed to Idaho to enjoy a white Christmas.

It was a pretty relaxed Christmas. Lots of lounging around, watching movies, eating yummy food, taking naps, and staying up late playing games. It also of course included some good ole' puzzle time. We completed two puzzles while we were there.

For Christmas we brought all my nieces and nephews donuts from VooDoo. Don't worry they were kid friendly. The kids were amazed by the fruit loops and bubble gum and coco puffs that covered all the donuts. Needless to say they enjoyed them and I enjoyed watching little Livia's eyes light up when we opened the box. She was amazed. 

We also spent one day out enjoying the snow. Lets just say when you put a sled and four wheeler together it equals pure happiness.

Since Devin and Charm were staying at my parents house too Christmas day was actually pretty exciting with all the kids.  Kevin and I had done our Christmas early so we didn't have to bring them with us, but watching the kids open their presents is always the most exciting part. It then turned into a day of games, and relaxing (seemed to be a trend).

On the 28th we celebrated Loryn's birthday and went to the movie Frozen. Well actually Kevin and I went to the temple and then he dropped me off and let me celebrate with the family, since he didn't really care to go to see it (Surprisingly he still hasn't seen it).

While in Idaho there were a few nights my parents let Kevin and I be their dates and they took us to a couple movies at the theatre. We saw the Saratov Approach, as well as the Book Thief. Both were great movies.

In the end we were sad to leave and head back to the real world but at least we had a great view and good roads on the way home. And we made it home with lots of meat and applesauce, thanks to my Mom and Dad. 

Hawks and Bears

For Kevin's birthday I bought him tickets to the Portland Winterhawks. They are a professional junior ice hockey team based here in Portland.  As we were walking into the game we started noticed everyone was caring teddy bears and other stuffed animals. We joked about how we didn't fit in, since we didn't have a bag of stuffed animals. It wasn't until the Hawks scored their first goal that we finally came to understand what all the bears were about. They were collecting them for a Christmas charity. And when they scored there first goal, everyone began throwing the stuffed animals onto the ice. It was really fun to watch. And in the end they collected over 10,000 stuffed animals.

But don't worry, this hockey game wasn't all soft and cuddly, there was plenty of fights and some really good knock outs and ejections to keep us entertained. In the end Winterhawks won and we were really impressed with the fun atmosphere of the game. 

I am Thankful

This year for Thanksgiving we made our way south to Grants Pass to celebrate Thanksgiving with the  Bergs. It was a short trip because Kevin only had Thursday and Friday off, so we headed down wednesday after Kevin got out of school. Thursday we started the day off with a hike and then all the cooking and football watching began. A yummy dinner was served and a great nap was taken.

Friday the boys headed up to Autzen for the Civil war game. The girls did a little shopping and frosted some cookies. We also watched a little bit of the football game, and all had a little heart attack at the end. Thank goodness the Ducks pulled that one off, we all wanted happy men upon returning from the game.

Saturday was a day of relaxation before we headed back to Portland on Sunday. Like I said it was a short but sweet trip (literally I ate a lot of pie and cookies). 

Time out round 2

After enjoying Time out for Women so much last year Terri and Pat put together another crew to head up to Portland to go again. And lucky for me I was invited :) This time they all stayed at our house so we had a little party there.

Time out for women was very good and inspirational. Always a good refresher.

Thanks Terri and Pat for a great time! 

The Birthday Boy

Well it is official... I am married to a very handsome young 27 year-old man. Lucky me :) Kevin was not so lucky though because his birthday happened to fall during mid-terms and he had three tests that day. After a bad night the night before and a bad day of testing Kevin came home from school and just wanted to relax... However there was a vendor fair up at the school that he felt like he should go too. It was free food so I didn't complain. The vendor fair was fun and we got lots of free stuff, and Kevin won a pair of Oakley sunglasses (I like to claim I bought them for him haha-- even though he is just going to sell them). After the fair we decided to go check out Salt & Straw an ice-cream place that sells weird flavors of ice cream. I got Strawberry balsamic vinegar with black pepper, and Kevin went with the thanksgiving theme and got Turkey butter brittle & snicker doodle (and lots of sprinkles because it was his birthday).We enjoyed the ice-cream in the car since there was no room to sit in the shop, and then headed home to bed (I know we are old and exciting). Saturday we headed over to the Pearsons to watch some football and decided to do the cake in face over there (It is just not as fun just the 2 of us). And of course it is more fun when you have a little kid to cry after it happens (What is it about someone with cake all over their face that makes kids think they are monsters?). Anyways enjoy the singing (we did a really great job if you ask me ha ha).

So in honor of Kevin's birthday I thought about what I could write about him in the one post all year thats dedicated all to him. So i decided to write my 10 favorite things about him, that most people don't know about (He is going to hate this ha ha Happy Birthday hun).

1.  He never loses anything. And If I ever lose anything he knows where it is  (probably because he put it there).

2. He makes very good mental notes (and often tells me to) which is probably the reason he never loses anything.

3. He is talented at everything unless it has little wheels and you have to keep your balance on it (this includes ice skating).

4. As a child he used to do calf raises all the time, and would often walk on his toes to work on his calves. This proved to work well, because he has amazing calves. Check em out some day and you will see what i'm talking about.

5. He absolutely hates being video taped so when there is a rare chance that he will let me record him I always take the short opportunity (Like above).

6. He can never remember song lyrics so when he belts out the songs in the car he tends to just make up his own lyrics. He has come up with some very creative lyrics, that have stuck with me. Everytime the songs come on his lyrics are all that come to mind.

7. He can make the creepiest rattle snake sound and loves to freak me out with it.

8. He was known (within the relief society) at our singles ward as the boy with the Smile... and boy does he have a good one (probably helps that he flosses every night without fail).

9. He is a dough boy... anything bread he loves.

10. He will eat whatever is put in front of him. I have yet to cook a meal that he has complained about. Even meals (thanks pinterest for being so deceiving) that I cannot even gag down he happily eats them and offers to take them for lunch. And on top of that he typically does all the dishes after meals as well. Like I said I am one lucky lady. 

October...

It is crazy to me that it is already November. I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the month of September therefore it dragged on forever, nonetheless we finally hit October and it decided to fly by. October was a lot more relaxed (for me) and a lot busier for Kevin (I am sure he is beyond excited October is finally over).

October started out with a bang when Kevin went back to school after his month off. It was a little shock to the system for both of us. I was used to having a husband that was home cooking and cleaning for me, and he was getting used to relaxing. This semester has been the worst thus far at dental school. Kevin has been crazy busy and spends most of his free time studying or trying to catch up on sleep. It is midterms next week though so we are half way through! YAY! My school work eased up a bit (or maybe I just got lazy) and I finally feel somewhat above water when it comes to lesson planning and grading.

We did get out a little bit and enjoy the beautiful fall 70 degree weather that Oregon offered us. The first weekend in October we went on a hike to Pittock Mansion. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike.

Toward the end of the month we headed to a pumpkin patch with some friends and picked out a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. 

Which we carved for Family Home Evening with Jared and Nicole- Ours is the medium sized one with One eye :) I like to think of him as Mike Wazowski. 

Kevin also decided to work on his photography skills and took these beautiful pictures of the sunrise at OHSU (it's sad that he is up there at sunrise everyday). 

I can't say that October was all good though because there was a few incidents at school. My pump had a little accident one day, and then I had to kick my first student out of class. After telling him to get out of my classroom, he asked me where I wanted him to go. I might have said something like "Anywhere I don't have to look at you". This was the first time my students had ever seen me mad, and there was a few jaws that dropped. Luckily for me (and him) he just stood outside the classroom door for 20 minutes until I felt like letting him back in. I sent this picture to Kevin after that lovely day was over. 

School did have some good moments though- like this one... I might have laughed way too much at my students creation of Reverend Hale (we are reading the Crucible). Yes that is Mark Helfrich. 

Well that was how our month was... How was yours?