Christmas Weekend

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I can say we did. It was our first Christmas together, and we tried to make it as memorable as possible. Who knows if we'll have another Christmas with just the two of us (you never know...lol). As always, I was the one to wake up first, and wanted to open presents. I already had an idea of what I might get, since I hinted around, but it was still a surprise to find another present on the tree.
Christmas Eve day, Eric got the day off, so when I got up, I made waffles. I thought I would make them special by dying them green. We got the rest of the gifts ready, and headed over to EW's parents' house for a celebration with his family and my sister-in-law's family. A good time was had by all, and the food was so yummy!
Christmas morning we woke up and opened our gifts, then went to church. We came back and got ready to go to EW's parents' house, where we opened more gifts, and had our full of more yummy food. I took red-velvet cupcakes with snowmen on top (see photo below). Thanks Martha for the recipe! Of course I took some pictures over the weekend, but not as many as I thought I would. McKenna was the one that got the most pictures on Christmas day. I am just goo-goo for babies lately. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing...ha.
Ok, here's the pictures!

EW eating the Christmas Waffles

Snowmen Cupcakes
One of my gifts from EW

Mint-Chocolate Chip Candle---smells so good!

Can you tell it's 7:30am?

Kenna after opening presents

She was puckering her lips, blowing. Just too cute!

We got a new tree skirt from his parents. He was the tree.

Hope you all have a safe and great New Year!

Oh, I have a possible job thingy tomorrow, so wish me luck! I'll let you know more about it if it all works out!

-Brina

Merry Christmas and 2010 in Review

So I thought I would try to get in one more post before the holidays! Lots has been going on with getting ready for Christmas, and going home last weekend for the wedding of a woman I worked with last year. I went home on Friday to visit with my family, and then headed to Pontiac to stay with my friend and favorite sp. ed. teacher! We went to the wedding together and got to hang out and catch up.
Other than getting ready for Christmas, I haven't been doing too much except cleaning and decorating, and of course I have pictures of my attempts that would hopefully make Martha proud.
Our Christmas plans consist of staying up here and going to EW's parent's house Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It does make me sad that I can't be with my family, but they have been so good about working a way around having to go to two places within a span of a weekend. My mom also worries about the weather and doesn't want us to come down until late-Jan. So I guess that's what we'll do. Every year it seems less like the Christmas' of my younger years. I used to be so excited to see what I got, but as the years pass, I enjoy getting other people gifts and seeing their faces when they open it. Ahh, maturity. Also, these days, the holidays seem just like any other day. I think the only thing that makes it feel special is the music. I love singing in general, but Christmas music is my favorite. There is nothing like a church full of people singing 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' or 'Joy to the World', and I could name several others.
It's been a eventful year as I look back on all the things I have done in 2010: my first year of school ended, all the wedding showers, bachelorette party, weddings (including mine), moving to a new city, leaving my family and friends, a honeymoon to Mexico, becoming an Aunt-Wife-Daughter-in-Law....wow, that's alot, and I could even go on.
I guess what I'm really taking away from this year is that if I didn't rely on God, family, and friends I'm not sure I would have made it here. There have been some tears in the past 12 months, but many more smiles and laughs. I really have no idea what 2011 will bring, but I can only hope it will be just as amazing as this one.
Now for Pictures!

Christmas cards from family and friends

Christmas flower arrangement, and decorations

Stockings. EW is the snowman, I'm the tree

The Tree.

Here are some pics of McKenna. She has learned some new tricks!

Crawling, she likes to put a toy in the mouth first!

Look at me! I can pull myself up and cruise around things!

This I had to put in because it was just that good.

This is EW pretending to be Indian, I think.

Think he could manage a 7/11?

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Brina

Way Past Due.

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted. Sorry to all those who read and have had nothing to read in the past month and a half. So much has gone by: My 25th birthday, EW's 26th, Thanksgiving, and our Honeymoon to Mexico!
I'm sure that the most interesting thing is the Mexico trip, so that's what I will ramble about today.
We left O'Hare on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We woke up at 3am and EW's dad picked us up so we could make our 6:30 am flight. We made it to the Cancun Airport and to our wonderful resort, Secret's Silversands. It was a bit ineresting because we just happen to be there at the same time as this big Climate Conference, and the Mexican Military was on high alert. They had roads closed and everyone had a big automatic gun. I guess the place where it was taking place was only 3 mile away from our resort, which we went past everytime we went out of the resort.
Other than that, it was an amazing time. The whole time we were there it was in the mid-80's and perfect. It rained a couple nights, but it didn't during the day. We were able to go on a few trips while down there. We went on a shopping trip, that EW wasn't exstatic about, but he ended up having a good time. Also we went to the Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza. It is what EW really wanted to do, and I'm so glad we did it. It was so interesting and amazing to see.
The resort was great. The food was amazing, and the people were so friendly. They literally came around every 1/2 to 1 hr to see if we wanted anything. The drinks were always flowing. I don't think I have had that much to drink in the past year, but it was all so good!
They also had great entertainment and activities every day. We were able to see a magician, comedian, circus, dance troupe, and did wine tasting, tequila tasting, and martini mixing. I have to say, I would love to go back again!
On the way home however, we ran into a bit of security issues. First, they kept one of our carry on bags to go through it personally. All I could think was the Mexican police coming to take us away. They went through it, but didn't find what they 'thought' they would find, so sent it through the machine again, still didn't find anything, and finally let us go, with the bag. Then to get on the plane, we had to be patted-down and all of our bags had to be gone through by hand. This took forever, and along with the plane being late, we were over an hour late in leaving MX. We finally made it back to the US, and was greeted by...you guessed it, snow. EW was elated, but me, not so much. I still miss the sun, but putting up our Christmas tree and other decorations has made it more bearable.
Ok, enough words, here's some pics!