Holy Flippin Busy Week!!

This was one of those weeks that I was excited about, but couldn't wait to get it over with at the same time. There was something going on EVERYDAY. Let's begin. :)

I don't have any pictures of Monday, but after work I rushed to the grocery store, the dry cleaners, then home to make dinner. I made enchiladas and took them to the Nielsens since they just had a baby. We devoured the left overs, had FHE, and I crashed. (I never get enough sleep on the weekends!)

Tuesday after work, I rushed home, made 4 dozen cookies, dinner, and then went to the Relief Society Christmas Enrichment night. We had a cookie exchange and tied quilts as a service project. That night we had "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) and a picture had to be taken of Travis cooking bacon in our kitchen for the first time since we've been married. I know, I know, how does my poor husband put up with a wife that doesn't enjoy steak, bacon, or sausage. He's made it somehow. So I took a guilt trip and finally purchased some bacon- only he had to cook it. He wanted to know why I bought 33% less fat bacon, when only HE would be eating it. So ungrateful! :)

Wednesday night was YW Evening in Excellence, so after work and dinner I was at the church all night. It was "Oscar" themed and Natalie and Tiffany did any amazing job of decorating and organizing it. I did think it was funny though, that music such as "Who let the dogs out" and "Shake It" by Metrostation was played as the girls walked in and posed for their pictures. Just different than I remember Evening of Excellence being as a teenager, but very fun! (Wed. night we also had one of Travis's friends from AZ stay with us because he was interviewing at UB on Thursday. Trav was a good host and took him to Duff's that night for wings. :)

Thursday night I went to a Christmas ornament exchange party. I guess this a tradition in Buffalo ward that was started about 5 years ago. There was a huge spread of delicious food and I got to take home 18 very cute ornaments. I am in no way a crafty person, so my humble ornament was made of puzzle pieces. I was very proud of myself for getting them all done a week in advance though! Leah, you'll have to help me out with next year's idea!

I think I'll be like my mom and always have a tree with homemade ornaments instead of a fancy, color- coordinated tree. It's just a small little guy, but it looks loads better with all the new ornaments! Towaga even made the tree!

Friday night the Shaw's hosted an "Ugly Sweater" party at their house. We also did a White Elephant exchange. This was the first present Travis got, until it got stolen!

So this is what he unwrapped next....... Haha. Who brought that????!!! :)

Well, we were REALLY bummed when that got stolen, so he finally ended up with..... POGS!! Remember those? Well, the guys had a blast playing with them when the game was over. Just takes me right back to elementary school!

So who got our gifts......? (Oh, I also attempted to make my dad's green salsa and it was a hit! I was so excited since I basically made up the recipe since I couldn't remember how to make it)

Well, Tiff was lucky winner #1. If you can't read the small print, it says: Congratulations! You've been enrolled in the Jelly- of- the Month Club! Haha. National Lampoons Christmas Vacaction anyone?? Yeah, I don't know if she really got it, but those who had seen the movie thought it was pretty funny!

And here is winner #2! Glad to get that stuff out of the house! Sorry anyone who thought that was too much information! Haha. I knew those corny bridal shower gifts would come in handy one day! (Oh, and yes, they were the same ones who stole our book!!) How come they got to go home with all the goods?!

Tiff just had to bust open the edible undies. 

Bron took a nibble- not quite to his liking!

So I don't know if you can see the beautiful essence of my sweater, but it is covered with dogs, paws, bones, and beads galore! LOVE IT!! Trav's was a knitted number, and he had just as much fun wearing ugly, tight khakis with it as he did the ugly sweater! Don't we look like the cheesiest couple posing for their Christmas picture??!!

Group shot- love the automatic timer on the camera!

Just the ladies! (Tiff won for ugliest sweater- it had a built in turtle neck!!)

Still reading??? Trav just came in and couldn't believe I was STILL blogging. Ok, well to top off the week of craziness and no sleep, I got to wake up at 6:30am on Saturday and drive down to south Buffalo to take two of the New York State Teaching Certification Examinations! Yeah! NOT! I was so tired - in fact I went wearing NO makeup at all and unmatching clothes. That is not something I've ever done before. Each test was 4 hours and I had about 1/2 hour to eat my lunch inbetween. The darn desks were too low and I couldn't cross my legs- maddening- and during my first test I sat next to a "sniffer". You know what I'm talking about. 20 seconds won't go by without him sucking down boogies. And he cleared his throat inbetween sniffs. I seriously couldn't handle it. That aside, I actually didn't mind the tests, in and of themselves. It was fun studying for them beforehand and for some reason I just love taking a test and finding out how I did on it. I get kinda giddy. I don't know if it's the learning, getting a good grade, or what, but it's fun. Shelley is probably rolling her eyes while choking on her lunch, reading this. :) Well, it's not over yet- I still have one more test to take and I can't take it until February! They only offer the tests once a month, every other month. So on Feb. 21, I will take the last one. That's 7 days before my due date so let's just hope Towaga doesn't decide to come early!

Last Saturday I made a paper chain counting down the days until Trav is done with finals and we get to come home! Can you tell I'm excited?

I don't know if I'm more excited to be warm or have Christmas. Today it was 50 degrees and rainy and we thought it was good weather! What's happening to us????!!!