And in not-so-recent news….

So... To recap the last few months I have a bunch of pictures... Also, work is going well, I still love my new job and am learning something new every day!!!

Craig (pictured on the right) is an AMAZING designer who works for 1-800 CONTACTS… Every year 1-800 does a Halloween Trunk-Or-Treat. At this last one, Craig put up this incredible spook-alley! It was really awesome! And because it was divided into "extra-spooky" and "not-so-spooky" Craig needed two different witches. He found his good witch easily enough but apparently could only think of me when it came to his scary witch… gee what a compliment! (Just kidding, I love dressing up like this for Halloween) So, even though I don't work there anymore, He called and asked if I would participate, I said that would be great!
Me and the "Good Witch" – I loved her tights!

Here are our pumpkins from this year… Jared isn't very into carving pumpkins, but I love it! Guess which one is Jareds?

And lastly for October… I just couldn't help doing this, even though I know it probably wasn't very fun for him….
November… aka Thanksgiving…
Jared and I had a BLAST in Idaho. We went up for Thanksgiving, two of his sisters live up there. Here Jared is dancing with one of our beautiful nieces!

My nephew Branden played piano while we cooked Thanksgiving dinner. I am amazed at how musical all of my nieces and nephews are, Branden is an especially accomplished pianist.

And of course, the Thanksgiving Day Nap!

The Great Spoons Tournament!

And Last but certainly not least… Christmas….
So, this first picture requires an explanation… About six months ago, while I was mopping our kitchen floor, my knee (the one I've already had surgery on) dislocated. No, I was not slipping, no I was not running, I was just standing… and out it went. So, I went to see a doctor at TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) who told me that I shouldn't walk anywhere more than 100 feet without wearing knee braces and that I should actually refrain entirely from running, skiing, tennis, basketball, hiking, soccer and soft/baseball. For those of you who don't know, I've had knee problems for 10+ years and had surgery on one to fix the constant dislocation issues I was having. During that first surgery, my surgeon noticed that I had scarring / osteoarthritis. So, when I saw the doctor at TOSH he said that although surgery is an option to fix the dislocation, nothing short of a complete knee replacement will fix the arthritis. The only thing that can help are pain meds and certain types of exercise to slow the spread / worsening of the arthritis, although nothing will make it improve, maintaining the damage that is already done is the best I can do… So… the doctor said that Swimming was better than an indoor bike, indoor bike was better than the elliptical, the elliptical is better than the treadmill, the treadmill is better than hard ground. SO… Jared got me an elliptical for Christmas… the rest of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory!

Here's my Grandma Ruth and Hades, I love that she was SO scared when we told her we were getting a Doberman, but now she just pats him on the head and calls him a "sweet dog!"

My nephew Ian and Hades, Ian LOVES Hades, he gives him hugs!

And for New Years, Jared and I stayed home and watched some movies, we just wanted to enjoy some time alone. But, my resolution is to lose some weight, use my elliptical at least 3x a week for 30 minutes each. And, a friend of mine (Kateka) had a wonderful blog post about all of her favorites and memories from 2009. One of the things she wrote about was things she was hopeful for in the new year…. I know it is depressing, but I am REALLY hoping that I won't have to go to a funeral this year. I've had at least 2 funerals a year for the last three years! I could really go a year without losing someone I care about… that would be nice. So… that's it… that's my long over-due blog post! Love you all and hope your holidays were great!