Happy New Years!

So the end of another year is upon us and I cannot welcome it more!  This year felt like it took forever to get through even though it was a fantastic year!


Derek and I started this year living in Oklahoma to complete the last of his training for work and we couldn't leave there soon enough!  It was an interesting change of scenery and pace but living in a single bedroom apartment that gets rented out as a hotel was just not for us.  Upon that little "vacation" we had decided that we would take our very first vacation as the two of us to a destination without any family.  In March we ended up in North Carolina and fell in love with it there!  Even through rainy weather we had an amazing trip and cannot wait to get back another time.

Emerald Isle, NC

It is kind of funny how some parts of the year are just a blur and others you can remember so vividly.  The middle of the year is that blurry area for me.  For the life of me I cannot remember what we did from about March to just after my birthday in July!  I'm sure that we ended up in Missouri for something and back in Minnesota for something else.  At the end of August though we ended up on a quick weekend trip to Minnesota for the most awesome state fair of all state fairs... the Great Minnesota Get-together!  We ended up seeing Weezer at the Grandstand with my sister and had a blast!

Up Close and Personal

Halloween was a little different this year as we moved into a smaller apartment in order to save some money as well as get a dog which we had been talking about for about two years now.  My folks ended up coming down for Thanksgiving again this year which was packed with absolutely delicious food and a tons of fun.  I took a week long vacation with just my folks to Branson, MO and had a marvelous time!  We got a puppy!

The Bentman!

Then came December and Derek and I celebrated our four year anniversary!  I am so lucky to have spent the last four years with such an amazing guy and I cannot wait to see what the next year brings for us!  We took another trip up to Minnesota to see Derek's dad and step-mom and my family.  Derek and I got to babysit my nephew and had the most fun doing so!  And Christmas was delayed by the flu (we still haven't celebrated because we haven't bought gifts for one another yet)!  And on this New Year's night we are watching Cedar Rapids which is perfect for me!

Noah and Derek playing.  Yes, Mr. Noah is sitting in his wagon of toys and sharing his plastic cheese with his Uncle Derek to whom he refers to as Der or Dare and absolutely adores.

Happy New Year's!

Feeling helpless for the one you love

So I am not a person that believes in the flu shot.  The last time I most likely had one was when I was a child and I have only had the flu a total of maybe 3 or 4 times, even when taking care of others with the flu.  People have lectured me before about not getting a flu shot but in all honestly it is my choice that I have actually discussed with my doctor.  It is one of those things that some people never get the shot and never get the flu.  Sometimes people get the shot and never get the flu.  And even then there are those who get the shot and still get the flu because it does not protect from all types of the flu virus.


I am one that doesn't get the shot and vary rarely gets the flu.  In fact,  I had been telling Derek that he was really lucky he had never experienced me with the flu in our four years together.  That is until about ten minutes after we walked in the door from an eight hour drive back to Illinois on Tuesday.  Yep, for the first time in about six or seven years I got the flu and it was horrible!


Derek felt absolutely helpless in trying to care for me as I'm one of those really lucky ones that gets REALLY sick when they do get sick.  Yesterday, I felt so bad for being sick and having to have Derek take care of me I surprised him and put up more of our Christmas decorations before he came home from work while still feeling crummy.  Two days later now and even though I am still dizzy it is now my turn in feeling helpless in attempting to make the one you love feel better.


I was hoping that Derek would not get sick since he did in fact get a flu shot, but of course he did early this morning.  We are really hoping that he gets over it really quickly since if he did have to call in sick again it would pretty much bum somebody else and their family out that they had to cover at work.


Being sick at Christmas is actually something Derek and I are very used to.  Both of us remember being sick every single year with either a cold or the flu.  In fact Derek has had the flu all but one Christmas together.  Neither of us are stressed about anything this year and cannot blame being sick because of stress.


Our Christmas celebration with a pot roast dinner is most likely going to be delayed.  Which is okay with me since neither of us have gone shopping for each other yet (we keep going back and forth on getting gifts and not getting gifts).  And for family that has not received your Christmas cards yet I apologize but I promise they are written and have addresses on the envelopes, and well the stamps are purchased!  Maybe they will be New Year's cards this year!


If I don't get to blogging in the next couple of days I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas!  May you be healthy, happy, and spend time with (or talk to) the ones you love!  Oh yeah and make a snow angel for me too please!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This past weekend I headed north to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family and Derek headed south to celebrate his sister graduating college.  It was one of those times where you wish you could be in two places at one time but are not able to do so.


Christmas was fabulous!  Almost everybody was able to make it to my folks place for the early dinner.  Those who were not able to make it were definitely missed though.  Since moving away I don't get to see relatives as often as I would like to but I take what I can get.  I could not believe how big some of my little cousins are getting, absolutely crazy how fast little ones grow up in front of your eyes.


Speaking of how fast little ones grow, my nephew is going to be two years old shortly and I am just amazed at him every time that I get to see him.  He is so smart and so stinking handsome!  He has been expanding his vocabulary to include Aunties names.  My sister is now Auntie JJ and he decided that I am Auntie Mimi.  No idea where he came up with that but I thought it was adorable and just love him so much I don't care what he calls me as long as he recognizes me as his Aunt!


In preparation for Christmas my brother graciously borrowed his Christmas tree to me and Derek since it was not getting used at home.  We are so thankful that he did because we put it up last night after buying decorations for it and love how it turned out!  Now we just have to finish putting up decorations around the house to make it really feel like Christmas is coming in just 10 days!

"our" tree!

I know it was short but I am finishing up classes today and tomorrow for this semester!

Four Wonderful Years!

Four years ago Derek and I went out on our first date!  Derek was late getting to my place and refused to get directions from me ahead of time.  Well, we had just had a mini blizzard and the roads were still pretty snowy.  My folks place is kind of confusing to get to when getting directions from google maps because of street signs and street names changing.  He ended up driving past my house about 4 times going around the circle.


After meeting my parents, we had headed out to dinner and then off to a movie.  I honestly don't remember what the first movie we chose to go see was because he decided he wanted to see Fred Claus.  He had this whole story of how Vince Vaughn was his Uncle.  So he wanted to see his Uncle Vince in his latest movie.  I didn't buy any of it but just went with it because we were both nervous and I like Christmas movies.  Fred Claus was not good by any means, but we still enjoyed it.  After the movie we just ended up driving around for a bit because we didn't want to say goodnight.


The rest is history you could say!  I am very blessed to have him in my life.  Happy Anniversary my Derek!

My absolute favorite photo of the two of us!  We were dating about 6 months here.

December at last.

Free Coloring Pages found here.

I love December!  December just holds so many good things all in one month.

And in no particular order:


Hallmark Christmas Movies *I admit that I love these totally cheesy and extremely predictable feel good movies.


Anniversary with Derek *More about that tomorrow!


Christmas Music *I could probably listen to it all year long and not get tired of it. No joke!


Christmas Decorations *While I have very few decorations I love going to the stores and imagine what my place would look like if I had endless amounts of money to purchase decorations.  This year I may have to just make some out of paper.


Snow *I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.... Snow!  It takes perfect conditions for snow to be created.  Each snowflake is completely different from the next.  This actually may be a blog topic for this month in order to continue.


The Holiday Spirit *I know that people get stressed this time of year over their shopping but back home people light up with joy and thanks closer to Christmas.


Family *Family has always been my number one priority.  I love spending the holidays with family.  Plus my sister and nephew have December birthdays.


Cookie Bake Day *I have missed doing this the last few years with moving away and have missed it dearly.  My mom hosts an annual cookie bake day and invites all of the female relatives.  It is so much fun to get together for one day and just bake.  At the end of the day everybody gets to take home a ton of cookies and the porch table turns into cookie heaven!


Winter Hats, Scarves, and Gloves *I know this one is a bit silly but I love my hats, scarves, and finger-less gloves.


Santa *I love seeing the joy on a little ones face when they see Santa at the mall.


Mail *I rarely get mail, unless it is a bill that I do not even want to open.  So when Christmas cards start rolling in, I get so excited to the point of dancing.  It is so amazing to see photos and read the stories of what people have been up to for the last year.


Midnight Church Service *I am one of those church goers that goes about twice a year.  The midnight service is one of my favorite parts about Christmas.  Seeing the majority of attendees all gussied up in their best holiday outfits with smiles on their faces.  The absolute favorite part of the service though is at the end.  All of the lights get turned off, everybody lights their candle and sing Silent Night.  It is almost magical.


Christmas *I don't think that this one needs to be explained.


New Years Eve *Because it is the end of a wonderful (or horrible) year and it means you get to start fresh in the morning.  It is the end and the beginning.  All of the opportunities and things that you didn't accomplish this year, you have another chance.


I could keep going on and on but I have a puppy who needs to eat and so do I.  What is your favorite thing about December?


Here is to a magical month!


M