Christmas

This year, our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve. Marcel and I attended church and then headed to my mom's house for our Christmas there. We had delicious appetizers and desserts, which is our normal food when she has us for Christmas Eve. That group of people is getting quite large as just about all of us have spouses/significant others to bring. It was a lovely time together, but we didn't get any pictures.

Marcel and I asked for money for Christmas so we could jump start our cruise fund, but my mom still got us a few presents. I got new slippers, an iTunes gift card and a bathroom scale, which I already love having (especially this morning when it said I've lost a few pounds!). Marcel got a new purple argyle sweater, which he has been dying to have, and blank DVDs. Also, one of the traditions for our stockings is to get lottery tickets and I've never had much luck with them but this year, Marcel and I together won $33, hooray for more cruise money!

We hung out for awhile before heading home for a short night of rest before Christmas. Marcel and I got up at 5:45am, so that we could have our own Christmas before heading to my dad's at 8am. Yes, it was early, but it was so wonderful to have that time together. We continued our tradition of having monkey bread for breakfast and not having stockings. We'll start that one either when I find semi-matching stockings that I like or when we have kids, whichever comes first!



Our tree with presents

Trying on my too small slippers from my mom

Marcel's corn on the cob grilling tool, but the picture is even better because we both wrapped just about all our gifts to each other in either cereal, oatmeal or frozen waffle boxes.  We LOVE breakfast at this house :)

Marcel also decided to seal every edge of every box with masking tape so I had to cut them all open

Marcel got me a new wallet (which I desperately needed and asked for constantly) that I love and new slippers

Marcel and his Harry Potter movie collection (Movies 1-6)
I think it was what he was most excited to receive and now we're about to have a HP marathon

2nd married Christmas!

After presents, we headed to my dad's for our 3rd Christmas of the year.  We enjoyed another delicious breakfast of egg mcmuffins (are they still called that if they aren't from McDonald's?) and spent quite a bit of time opening gifts.  And yet again we were spoiled!  Payton & Presley got each of us new pajama pants, while my dad and Cindy got us a new knife block (the only thing we asked for) and a box full of $1 bills!

New hats from Aunt Dede

Payton & Presley each showing off their new iPods, which they LOVED and used all day long, even before they had music on them, bcause they record videos and play the radio.

A fun gift to receive :)

Emily and Matt were very happy to get a blu-ray player and surround sound system but are now asking to take Marcel home with them so he can get it all set up.

So excited to receive a box full of books (including the whole Harry Potter series)

Again, with the excitement for books.
Hope one day my kids will love reading as much as I did at this age (and these 2 do)

We enjoyed a great ham dinner and then hours and hours of playing Wii Sports Resort & Rock Band 3, where I was finally able to move up to medium level on the guitar/bass! We also watched the Top 40 music videos of 2010 according to VH1.

Overall, we had a GREAT Christmas season.  It always seems to be over so fast, but it is always so much fun!

Marcel's Program

Thursday, Marcel had his program.  Well, the 3rd graders had their program and Marcel got to direct it.  There were 2 performances, which worked out well for me.  I took Lilli and met my mom for the first one.  Lilli LOVED it.  She kept pointing to Marcel and blowing him kisses and since they started late she tried wiggling her way out of my lap to go get him, so we walked around until it was time to start.  After each song, Lilli looked at my mom, in such a way to get approval before she could start clapping, but once she started she's a clapping machine. 

The next performance was so much better!  And I was able to get in a few pictures and recorded all of the songs.  I even got to meet Marcel's mentor teacher from George Fox, who was so proud of all his work, but honestly, I think I'm much prouder!

All 4 of the 3rd Grade Classes and their student teacher

So, Marcel told all the kids to always have smiles on their faces because his wife was going to take pictures and they'd be so sad if the pictures had frowny faces in them.  We found it ironic, that 1 of the few pictures I got of Marcel had him not smiling.

Welcme speech at the night performance, tux and all!

One song from the performance

In Our Life

A whole month without blogging.  Not typical for me.

We haven't taken any pictures, so that must mean we haven't done anything too exciting, so in summary...

MaryBeth
*Still absolutely loves Miss Lilliana to pieces!  She's 14 months old and the things she is picking up on is fascinating.  She's officially walking (she's been able to walk for awhile, but it has finally overtaken crawling as the primary mode of transportation).  It should also be noted that when I first started watching her, when she was 5 months old, she served as great birth control for me, but those days are long gone!  more about this at the bottom of the post!
*Started working at Michael's as a seasonal employee and is already counting down until January 1st, when she is "let go".  Even if offered to become a regular employee, that is not happening!  It is good for our budget to have this other job, but it is not good for my sanity (and therefore Marcel's) for me to dislike it as much as I do.
*Is just about caught up with scrapbooking for 2010 and is VERY happy about that accomplishment.  I haven't printed pictures from our trip to Yellowstone but I think I'll wait until the holidays are over to consolidate orders.
*Has started a countdown to Marcel's graduation and as of today we're only 179 days away!
Marcel
*Is in his last week of student teaching in his elementary school placement.  His cooperating teacher has a VERY different teaching philosophy and style from Marcel but he's made it through just fine.  Now he's just got to put the big work sample together so he can get licensed, which can't officially happen until after the next round of student-teaching.
*Looking forward to his next placement, which allows him to be in a middle school AND a high school because that's what his cooperating teacher teaches.  This is the same teacher he worked with when he was helping with the marching band.
*Still keeps plenty busy volunteering at church on the sound team and the worship team playing drums.  He loves it, but I'm selfish and hate having him gone Wednesday nights for practice.

We're both very excited for Christmas.  We are still on the hunt for a gift for each of our mothers and Marcel to get my presents, but I'm done and it feels wonderful.  Our tree is up and decorated and while I had hopes of hanging more lights in our house, I don't think that will happen.  And by working at Michael's I've become jealous about not having decorations for our house but realize it is just stuff and we're only spending money to pay our bills (and finish Christmas shopping); everything else is out of the budget for now, because...

We've decided to go on a cruise in June, after Marcel graduates.  We're not entirely sure where we're going, but I'm pulling for Mexico.  And it is still very tentative because even though we'd be able to pay for it in CASH (the only way we'll vacation or pay for anything now, thank you Dave Ramsey!), we may need the money for savings if Marcel is unable to find a job or if we need it for moving expenses, which could add up fast if we move to the other side of the country :)  And we'd totally be okay with that.  Yes, we'd be terribly sad to move away from family but trust that God will move us to where we need to be.  So it is still up in the air, but for now it has been great motivation to not spend money and it feels wonderful that I haven't swiped my debit card in a few weeks!

When I put the cruise plans on facebook as just a BIG celebration to being done with school, my sister started a bad thing saying she was hoping for a nephew and then people went crazy telling me how great of a mom I'll be, etc.  There is still no Bailey Baby in the picture!  Marcel came home from school (his college) one day and had a classmate very upset and just wanting it all to be done because her kids asked her when she'd spend time with them again.  It made me realize how happy I am that we've decided to wait at least until Marcel is done with school.  We struggle to spend enough time together with his hectic schedule and couldn't imagine adding a baby to the mix.  We talk about it like we talked about and planned our wedding before we were even engaged, just knowing it is coming sometime in the future.  After June 4th, we'll start praying for God's guidance and know that we'll become a family of 3 (or 4, if my mom gets her wish of me having twins) at just the right time!

My Prayer

Today Marcel played the drums at church, which means I sit all by myself during worship.  I'm used to it now, plus it makes me more grateful for the times we get to enjoy worship together.  After the first song, Pastor Ryan called the church elders and leadership team up to the altar to be available for our prayer requests, just like he does every week.

Without missing a beat, the little girl (I guess she was around 10, which is influenced by Marcel thinking she was 12) sitting in front of me, stood up, squeezed her way in front of her mom sitting in her chair, and went to an open couple to ask for prayer.  She came back and again took her place to join the congregation in corporate worship.

Worship was wonderful.  The sermon was touching as we plan for many upcoming opportunities to serve our community, but witnessing the faith of a young child was simply the most moving part of church today.

I pray that when God allows Marcel and I to be the earthly parents to some of His precious children, we will raise them in such a way that they have a faith in God as strong as I witnessed today.

BSU vs LA Tech

Last Tuesday there was a BSU football game, one that my mom and Don wouldn't be able to go to.  Instead of letting their tickets go unused, they allowed Marcel and I to use them.  We had a blast.

I was preparing to freeze the whole time but it wasn't actually too bad, thanks to the wonderfully warm jacket my mom let me borrow, because I couldn't go to the game and not wear BSU attire.  Marcel did save the day by buying us hot chocolate at half-time, but not until after we watched the marching band.

All bundled up!

The marching band is huge, compared to watching the high school bands

It wasn't until after we took pictures of the marching band that we decided we should probably have some of the actual football game too

Final Score
BSU 49
LA Tech 20

Visit to Victor

For my birthday, my mom gave me money to take a vacation to visit my sister in Victor, Idaho (very near to Jackson, WY).  That same day we decided the best weekend for both of us would be Halloween weekend.  It was great until I forgot to request the day off from Michael's and ended up having to work Sunday, making us have to leave at 7am.  We still had a GREAT time.

There was snow in the mountains, but thankfully not in Emily's backyard like they had the weekend before

 On Friday, Emily and Matt both had to work so Marcel and I drove to Jackson and did the tourist stuff, which included sitting in this huge bear chair!

We also visited the Grand Teton National Park, but instead of paying admission, we simply chose roads around the pay stations.  We still enjoyed the beautiful park, but didn't see any animals.   

At Granite Canyon Trailhead, the one spot we got out of the car in Grand Teton National Park.  It is here that we learned you need to make extra loud noises to prevent bear attacks during mating season, but the sign didn't tell you when mating season was.

Marcel LOVES beenies that keep his ears covered, but we did leave this one at the store

 Emily and Matt live on a golf course, since Matt is the superintendent of it.  He does all the landscaping and other outside stuff to help the golf course run.  After Marcel and I got back from Jackson, we decided to play a few holes.  We are far from professionals, but had a lot of fun.  By the 3rd (and last) hole we played, I almost got the hang of it.

Marcel even accomplished one of his lifelong dreams: to drive a range picker.  Granted we weren't shagging the balls off the driving range, but driving is driving.  This is what we used as our golf cart because the golf carts were all parked behind the mowers, and it was simply too cold for golf that required walking!

After a great partial round of golf
(this is the view out their back door!)

We got up early Saturday morning to head to Yellowstone, but our first stop was Mesa Falls, which Emily had yet to see too.  It was 114 feet high and 200 feet wide.  It was here that we discovered it is always a good idea to carry toilet paper in your car because you can't depend on the public restrooms at nature scenes to be stocked!

I think there are better pictures of us at the falls, but this one is my favorite because you can see Emily & Matt taking their picture at the other outlook.

Don't tell, but we actually took this picture on our way out of the park ;)

Elk...we followed directions and didn't get out of our car to take a picture and to not add to the near accident behind us, Marcel used the side mirror to get this picture.  The only other animal we saw was bison/buffalo.

 The best part about Old Faithful was that we got there about 30 minutes before the next eruption.  It was cool and now we can both say we've been there, but I would have been very disappointed if I had to wait the 90+ minutes between eruptions.  We also watched a very cool video about the eruptions, that Emily would be more than happy to explain!

We crossed the contintent many times.  After I looked at the map I undertstood why.  Who got to decide to make the divide a very crooked line?

We got out of the car at Yellowstone Lake, which was gorgeous.  Marcel and I even put our fingers in the water, which was freezing, who would have thought, right?  It is also where we took this awesome picture.  Good thing for self-timing cameras, because no one else stopped at the lake.

The whole drive through Yellowstone, Marcel was pointing out the scat and after the lake decided that he needed a picture with it.  He actually got 3, but this is the only one I'm posting because I don't like the one where he's pretending to lick/eat it.  I will say that he was very disappointed that the one we found for our picture wasn't ripe.  In fact it was very frozen.  Being the photographer, I, however, was very grateful for its condition.

Look at MaryBeth be artistic!

 After Yellowstone, we headed back to Jackson, to get a souvenir.  We didn't get them our first time through because we were hoping for some from Yellowstone, but their store was super lame.  Plus, Emily said we had to get a picture under this arch.  We were kinda bummed that even though the Christmas lights were already wrapped around the entire thing, they hadn't been turned on yet.

We also enjoyed seeing a deer on our drive to their house, watching some cable shows, playing Wii and helping Emily get her Pro status back at bowling, watching a scary/suspenseful movie, grocery shopping, touring Victor & Driggs (both tours took about 5 minutes!), listening to the sound checks of 2 bands putting on a concert at the restaurant we ate dinne at, and plain ol' time to catch up, none of which was caught on camera.

Weekend of Major Accomplishments

It has been a very event filled weekend at our house this weekend, and a very successful one at that!

Saturday, Marcel had a marching band competition with Skyview High.  I went and enjoyed watching them.  They seemed to do well, but I'm far from the person to ask!  He was very pleased with their performance but like he always does (and like you'd want any coach to do) he knows exactly what to work on this week before the big district competition this coming weekend.  His band earned this:

He was so proud and very grateful for his mentor teacher to tell other directors that he deserved the credit

Sunday was my big race.  My first half-marathon!  I was a little worried after picking up my packet on Saturday and seeing so many professional looking runners.  I told my mom I should have signed up for a casual half-marathon.  I was also a little worried about my eating schedule, because each Saturday on my big runs I would get up and eat 1/2 bagel and a banana and 1 hour later start running.  It was working out!  But today, I got up at 6:45am but didn't have to run until 9am.  It worked out just fine, thanks to the semi-delicious gel they were handing out at mile 6!  The official clock said my time was 2:28:14, which is about 11:20/mile, which I am more than pleased with.  I didn't have to walk, but did stop 4 times to adjust my knee brace which I don't count as stopping.  I may have been faster but a cut on my heel I discovered this morning turned into a HUGE blister that even popped on its own.  Trying to keep myself from thinking about that was the hardest part of the run.  I had a hard time between mile 9 and 10, but after that I was full of adrenaline about being so close to finishing. The weather was PERFECT, sunny but not too warm, with the last 3 miles just about completely in the shade. 

Arriving at the race

Marcel took this wonderful picture of me coming out of the bathroom, and as weird as it is, I think it is so funny so I had to include it

Still full of smiles BEFORE the race

2:28:14 later!



Supporters waiting for me at the finish line!

Marcel has been SO supportive these last 3 months.  Whenever I have wanted to quit, he was there to remind me how hard I had already worked and how upset I'd be with myself if I truly did quit.  It feels SO great to be so deeply encouraged and loved by him!

Marcel's Surprise Date

In early September, I found a great deal on corn maze tickets (thanks to FabulesslyFrugal.com) and knew I had to get them.  They were only good for the first 2 weeks of the season so I sat Marcel down in front of his computer and ultimately his schedule and said, "Find a night where you have 5 hours for a date."  I think before my birthday I posted about us but if this wasn't included it should have been.  Marcel is at marching band on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights and all day Saturdays for competitions, church on Wednesday, so he spends Mondays at home but I have been working at Famous Footwear on Monday, so we have Sundays after Marcel gets home from church to spend together.  Thus, I knew if the date wasn't scheduled before I bought the tickets, they would never get used. 

We picked Sunday, October 3rd and that day when we got home from church, I was so excited because I hadn't told Marcel what we were doing and keeping the secret was getting too hard.  I got online to get the address and discovered they were closed on Sundays.  Good thing we scheduled a "back-up" day!

Date day was last night.  We headed to dinner at Harry's Bar & Grill in Meridian.  It was fun to try a new place and I loved my club sandwich (except since when do they come with raw onions, or onions in general) and Marcel seemed to like his Reuben.  All the way to dinner, Marcel was guessing where we were going, like go-karting, etc, but once we got to the restaurant he admitted that earlier in the day he figured out where we were going.  I felt sad it wasn't a surprise when we pulled up to the farm, but I did what I could!

Before heading out to dinner



Tickets in hand and ready to start

We didn't realize that going on a Wednesday night meant being there with just about every youth group from the Boise area.  It was crazy!  Somehow, though, we made it through the maze without too many kids with us.  They sort of just did their own thing. 

We made it to the bridge in less than 10 minutes and then shortly after found ourselves at a checkpoint.  That's when we realized there was a map we could have used and then hole-punched it at each checkpoint (there were 12!).  We made it our mission to find all 5 on the right side of the bridge (the blue in the picture) WITHOUT the map.  We just walked aimless until we ended up at all of them. 

After 45 minutes or so, in our attempt to find the 5th checkpoint, Marcel said, "You did it. I'm lost."  See, once we made it to the bridge Marcel decided that I had to be the one to make all the decisions in which fork in the road we took because I couldn't keep track of where we'd been but with his strong sense of direction he could and if I made the decisions it would take us longer.  Last year we went to a haunted maze with some friends from Pacific and I told Marcel that it isn't the same because you sort of just get pushed through the maze.  The point of the scary one is not to get lost, but in a normal corn maze you should be lost!

  

On the bridge.  I LOVE this picture.  The sun makes us look so beautiful!

On facebook, Ruth said she thinks this one could be in a magazine.  That made me happy!

At one of the checkpoints we found!

Happy to be lost TOGETHER

After making it out of the maze we went on a hayride.  Marcel wanted to do it first but I was so afraid of not having enough time for the maze so we did it after.  There was beautiful lightning along the way!  It was also how you got to their pumpkin patch.  We're going to go the generic way and probably just get our pumpkins at the grocery store and not do it until it is closer to Halloween, so it feels like fall outside.

Marcel wanted to have the tractor in the background

When we got home I decided it was a great fall activity, but told Marcel, "I haven't had any crunchy leaves yet."  I love when the leaves dry up a bit and fall on the ground.  Nothing like hearing the crunch of leaves under your shoe.  It is the ultimate sign that fall is here and that it is sweater weather, and time to curl up under a blanket with a cup of toasted marshmallow hot chocolate!