"The Holidays are coming! The Holidays are coming!"

So, it's been a bit of time since our last blog post. Sorry about that. Things can get rather hectic around the holidays. Both Heather and I have been working prett well non-stop the last few months. I'm still building doors and she is still taking calls with ARUP. Good ol' grown-up life!

A quick catch up then: On Halloween we went to my brother Ken's house and spent time with his family. Our nieces had some epic costumes and spent the evening trick-or-treating. Heather and I talked with Ken and Kim and I helped "inspect" the girls' candy when they returned. Gotta QC that stuff to make sure it's not poisoned! ;-)

For Thanksgiving we were able to go to California to visit our friends and family. We stayed Thanksgiving Day and the day after with my parents in Apple Valley. They had no idea we were driving down to see them. It was a neat surprise for the family. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Afterwards, we entertained ourselved with our nieces and nephews playing Mafia. A family favorite story-telling game full of murder, mystery, intrigue, and a kangaroo court! It was so much fun! The next day we just visited with everyone catching up from the past year spent away.

Saturday and Sunday we spent catching up with Heather's parents. We talked and went to dinner with her parents and Grammie on Saturday. Grammie is Heather's fiesty red-headed grandmother on her dad's side. You wouldn't know by the way she looks, or acts, but she is 85 years old! last year, we took her to Disneyland for her birthday and she didn't hesitate to get on any of the rides. She tells me everytime she sees me that she is mad at me for taking Heather out of California, but I know she loves me. We did take a few hours and visited some of our closest friends. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, sadly.

Sunday we were able to see our newest nephew. He is super adorable and has a TON of hair on his head, and everywhere else! He was born the day (a few hours, rather) before Thanksgiving. We both wish we could have spent more time with our friends and families. Hopefully next year we can take more time to be with them.

Next up is Christmas! We are way excited for this holiday. Heather kept insisting we start decorating for Christmas as soon as we got home from California. I was onboard with the idea, but our work schedules weren't. She was able to do a little here and there, but we still have a ways to go. Heather is allergic to real Christmas trees and we gave our plastic one away before we moved from California, so we are trying out a new method this year: a book tree. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would have. Fortunately, being a Berry I have a plethora of books at my disposal and it only took half my 'library' to make the tree. We topped it with our angel and trimmed it with lights. It really turned out beautifully. Heather is super creative and crafty! One of the many traits I love about her.

Well, it's 2 in the morning and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be so long between future posts. Until next time...