Our Christmas 2009 …a long post…but lots of good pics!

Christmas Eve

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my Mom’s side of the family. Thanks Aunt Jenni and Uncle Doug for hosting. You have the warmest, most inviting home. A wonderful reflection of you both! This gathering is an evening of delicious food, serious laughter and reminiscing. This year we found out that Hannah and Zack are engaged! YAY! Congratulations you two :-) Can’t wait for the wedding! Owen tried so hard to stay awake for everything but eventually gave up and fell asleep in Jer’s arms while we played a very loud game of Rob Your Neighbor/White Elephant. We left with some Chocovine Wine and a funky Christmas candle I’ll more than likely be re-gifting at next year’s event! It was fantastic time and we’re hoping 2010 brings more gatherings just like this.

Christmas Day
We had an amazing Christmas Day. Complete with the white fluffy stuff on the ground. Here’s a photo montage of our day!! Words are not necessary here!

Walnut Christmas
The day after Christmas…we enjoyed everything we love about Walnut visits, plus the added excitement of Christmas. Owen opened his first Walnut stocking. We watched 6 inches of snow come in between Saturday and Sunday, had waffles at the breakfast table courtesy of Grandma Linley, and enjoyed a visit with everyone from Wisconsin! We also stole Grandma Linley’s chocolate chip cookie recipe…she let the secret out of the vault…it was taped to the kitchen cabinet all this time!! I still don’t think I’ll get them as good as she does. But I can try! Jer and I even snuck in a cruise on some back roads and put the car in four wheel drive on a trip to get ice and soda from the gas station. It was a great time. We made some wonderful memories and we can’t wait for them to visit us for Owen’s 1st birthday!

Our final Christmas Exchange
Our last exchange of the season was with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gary. We were able to enjoy a few hours with them on a Sunday afternoon. Here’s some pics from our get together.

Christmas Presents

Just a few of my favorite presents from this year!
-Glee CD’s
-Blue Tooth

-Our Jigsaw puzzle picture of us…we’re gonna put it together, frame it and hang it on our wall

-Cricut

-Lost Season 5 (ok...it's actually Jer's but whatever...what's the saying...what's mine is yours?)

-Giftcard for a Delicious dinner and a promised date night

-And my Paula Deen Pots and Pans!!

Making out like a bandit
Owen was more than spoiled this holiday season. Though the season is not about the gifts you get…they were given in love and that means that Owen is very LOVED! Thank you to everyone for all your generosity! Owen’s Christmas was so very special because of the time we spent with each of you!

New Years Eve
We rang in 2010 in the most fabulous way! As Linoski’s! We ordered pizza, played Scene It, opened presents and Jer and I fell in love with the movie The Hangover. Seriously hilarious! Steff had out her fabulous camera and so we’re sharing all of her pics. I linked to them previously but will again here. For pictures of the night…just follow the link from her blog!

Highlights of the night?
Steff and I crafting a lantern while we waited for the boys to get to the house.
Domino’s took less that 25 minutes to bring us dinner!
Watching Steff eat wings while sitting on our counter at 10pm because we were hungry again
Playing our own version of Scene it…which was WAY more fun.
Learning all about Alan and “shoot” and “darn it”…and jungle cats and nice ladies and how to collect money for Vegas by scamming a classroom full of kids for field trip money!
Thanks Steff and Bry for a fabulously relaxing and laughter filled evening. We can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for us!! And we can’t wait to take a Triple D road trip!!!

What a holiday we had!  We are so very blessed :)

Thoughts on Being Done...

So I couldn’t post anything else on my blog until I wrote on this subject...

I'm officially a Webster University Alumn.  And I cannot express how much that very sentence fills me with satisfaction!!

After I finished school my first instinct was to post a HOLYCRAPIMFINALLYFINISHED style post. And HOLYCRAPIMFINALLYFINISHED still fits my feelings on the subject…but I also wanted to take a little bit to let it all sink in. With the holidays it was a series of busy this and busy that type days. My to-do list was still full…my days were still long and so I knew I was done. I was relieved and I was elated! We even celebrated the next day after my final class with a night out on the town. See here for the great pics of the evening. (Thanks my husband and best friends for a fun relaxing way to remember my achievement!! I know we’ll never forget Henry or his tactics for hitting on our husbands. Oh it was funny!)

But at that point, it hadn’t sunk. I don’t think it hit me…just what it all really means to be done…until this week. I started back to work after a fabulous break from the workplace. And I seriously thought that Sunday…the end of my break…would make me terribly sad and though it was wonderful, I’d be craving more time at home.  The Linley 3 had so much quality time it was crazy.  But one thing changed this year when I returned from break. I’m going back to work…and that’s it. Not work and school.  Which I have done without fail every break since I started work.  And the realization that I’m not signed up for any spring classes…there are no new class rosters with my name, or teachers who will call class roll and find me sitting in a row, with my soda or coffee, pen and paper, texting back to my real life and day dreaming about being anywhere but there…oh no. Folks…this time around…I’m a graduate. And I’m so very proud of myself. I’m so relieved and motivated to enjoy this time I get back, that I can’t even put it into words. So anyway…I wanted to touch on it here b/c it’s been a big part of my ramblings in various posts in recent months. And say thank you to everyone who gave me a word of encouragement or asked me how it was going. I especially want to thank my Mom, Jeremy and Steff. My 3 sources of strength from which I could not have finished taking school and would have quit…there is no doubt in my mind. They all listened to endless talk from me about stress, exhaustion, homework assignments…and I’m sure I drove them nuts! But their support was unfailing and so important to me. Steff even posted a wonderfully humbling post about it here. Thanks again!  I’m excited to check off this life goal I set for myself and enjoy my new found freedom and achievement.

Getting back into the groove...

Happy New Year everyone! 

I’m not 100% sure where/how to start back up…but I have lots of pictures, holiday stories and little bits of this and that, that I want to get to posting and soon! I want to get back into my normal blogging…but also because I use this blog as a journal for my scrapbooks, I want to be sure to capture the holidays the right way, collecting all the best pictures from various sources and taking time to reflect thoughtfully. Anyway…I'm still working on them and it's taking longer than I thought it would!  So I'm sorry for the delay in getting back up and running!  I hope you enjoy the stories and pictures that made our holiday season special and all that 2010 has in store for the Linley's...posts are coming soon!

Here's a peek at some adorable photos of the O man from New Years Eve...taken by none other than Aunt Steff! Just follow the link from her blog ;)

Thanks as always for reading. Good things are in the works!

Blogging Holiday!

I've heard that the best way to fully appreciate the little things in life, is to go without them for a little bit.  So I've decided that blogging and reading the blogs I follow is nearly a daily hobby and I'd like to appreciate the little things more in the coming year.  I also have many busy days of family gatherings and travel ahead of me which will leave me little time to blog anyhow. So that being said, I've decided to take a blog holiday.  To enjoy and relax and take in the next week or so.  It's not going to be easy in those days between Christmas and New Year's, but I want to try writing pen to paper.  Instead of getting on the computer.  To enjoy my break from work without getting on the computer in general, since I work on one 4 days a week, 8 hours a day.  Never fear, I'll be back in a hurry to kick off 2010 with all kinds of fun details about Owen's first Christmas, our New Years and how we plan to make 2010 a great year! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!  May you have a blessed and wonderful holiday!