1. We spent a week in beautiful Oahu with Jeremiah's parents, brother and aunt at the Marriott Ko Olina Resort. I had never been to Hawaii and we had a great time. The weather was a bit cloudy but nice and warm the whole week. We did a lot of snorkeling and sight-seeing, including the North Shore, Kualoa Ranch, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Iolani Palace and Pearl Harbor. It was a great trip. I managed to finish a DVD to give to everyone for Christmas but I'm still working on the book.
2. We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Pasco. It was really nice to be there even though the large family gathering we were expecting turned out to be much smaller than we thought. We spent a lot of time with my adorable nephew Phoenix and Jeremiah got in some quality XBox time with my brother and cousin.
3. December sped by quickly--Jeremiah has been extremely busy with finishing the merger of Vision and Asset Real Estate into an awesome new company so I had a lot of extra time on my hands since he wouldn't get home until 7-8, if I was lucky. Thankfully I picked up my early Christmas present at the end of November and it kept me quite occupied--a brand new Husqvarna Viking sewing machine. It's not one of the super fancy ones they sell but it is digital and I love it!! It sews without snarling or me having to rethread it every two seconds. I finished several baby blankets (from kits I got from my mother-in-law's friend), finally got around to making our Christmas stockings, made an apron for my mom for Christmas and made four super adorable owl bags that I found on Pinterest. If you like the bags, you can buy the pattern from the author at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/62512477/owl-pillow-pdf-sewing-pattern-the-lola It's pretty easy, I can make one in about three hours now, with most of the work being cutting out the pieces and doing the face.
4. To get ourselves into a holiday mood, we went to the Hale Center Theater production of "A Christmas Carol", read the book on the ride to California for the holidays and finished it off with the Muppets version. I liked the first two best, especially the first, which was excellent. :).
5. We spent a week in balmy San Diego for Christmas (I know, real hardship there). We drove Jeremiah's grandpa's car down so his dad could buy it and we drove back up in...my new car!! Well, not exactly new, Jeremiah's dad's old car, but it's new to me and it's a car!! I am no longer stuck in the house at the mercy of Jeremiah's schedule. I've been excitedly outfitting it in steering wheel covers (leopard print--an impulse buy I kind of regret but will live with for a few months before changing), air fresheners (vanilla for winter, then something more citrusy towards spring, I think) and a coordinated car set including: visor CD-holder, laminated trash bag and car organizer (it's my new sewing project. I'm going to try and post pictures as I finish each piece).
6. Like I said, we spent a week in San Diego with all of Jeremiah's family. The weather was AMAZING!! We really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood, enjoying family togetherness. It was a little strange to be wishing I had brought my capris but Lynn decorated it so nicely inside, there was still a feeling of the holiday.
7. Now we are home for a good long while. I have great aspirations for the New Year, including:
* Becoming more consistent when it comes to reading scriptures, visiting teaching and working out.
* Systematically decluttering every room
* Finishing some family history projects I've been working on for 18 months
* Improving my sewing skills
* Finally expanding our family with a human member rather than feline. We will be starting the IVF process in February. I'm nervous but optimistic.
Hopefully this post will be followed quickly by others, as I also strive to be more consistent in all areas of my life.
