Christmas time is here....

CHRISTMAS
is only 3 days away!!!!! Justin and I did all of our baking (we made sugar cookies, mint chocolate brownie bites, rice krispie treats, and snickerdoodles) this weekend and it all came about absolutely AMAZING!!! I will be posting pictures of the process later on today (I'm at work now soooo....). We made little gift boxes for all the peeps at work, wrapped all the presents for our fam, and took a big breather by watching House re-runs. I didn't want to post pics of the gifts because my wrapping hasn't been unveiled to the recipients and I always like for it to be a surprise....so those pics will come after the big day. Anyhoo.....Keep you eyes peeled for the pics to come....

MERRY CHRISTMAS
to all of you from us!!!!

In the buff.....

So I wouldn't consider myself a movie buff...but we've been watching quite a bit of movies lately. Perhaps it just seems that way because we'd been absent from going see movies at the theater in some time. However......we (as I posted earlier) went to see Twilight on its opening night and have been back to see it since. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!! I have gotten a few friends of ours addicted as well......go see this movie and read these books. It's good for you mind. Next we saw 4 Christmases - because I LOVE Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. They aren't absolutely convincing as a couple, but it worked. This movie is sooooo funny - a little raunchy in parts - but all in all a great holiday flick. Treat yourself to a movie -- pick one of these!!!!

Another Winner!!!

Justin and I finally put up the Christmas stuff -- we hung our stockings by the chimney with care and put up our Christmas tree....I just love seeing it lit at night -- I'm not sure if I like it more than last year's tree, but I'd say we have another winner!!

Thanksgiving --- A few days late!

This thanksgiving we had my mom and Justin's family over for the big day!! We got started around 130 with lunch and then spent the rest of the day playing various games on the Wii.... I was so eager to eat that I forgot to get pics of the food spread (I was quite impressed with myself If I do say so) but here are a few "action" shots from our 5 hours on the Wii...

Justin's dad showing us how it's done......
Justin's happy face :)

Everyone entranced with Lisa's dance moves..
Jace playing DDR...

Lisa getting her dance on.....


P.S. I'm a little behind on the blogging sooooo....I'm trying to get caught up today.....stay tuned for more exciting adventures!!

peer pressure....

12:01 Tonight
I'll be there.....

The eyes of Texas are upon you.......

Basically..... I LOVE Austin, Tx., and when I lived there and went to school there was such a great time. So any chance we get to head down there we do so. Last weekend we went up to Austin and spent a few days in the area. We took in a San Antonio Spurs game on Friday, saw the LONGHORNS on Saturday, went to the greatest restaurant in the world MAGNOLIA after the game, hit up the outlet malls on Saturday as well, and Sunday went to DAVE AND BUSTERS (we are now up to 1100 points - which we are saving to reedem for one awesome prize -- only 2900 more to go!!). We went to the Co-op Bookstore and I loaded up on shirts and Longhorn paraphernalia!! It was a super fun way to spend our 3 day weekend -- here are a few pics from our travels!!


Hook 'em Horns!!

Colt McCoy (12) Quan Cosby (6) Jordan Shipley (8) -- My favs!!

The Longhorn Band!!!

UT -----

Big Bertha!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite restaurant EVER!!!

Hours of games and 510 points later...beaten and broke!!!

Home of the Spurs....

Justin during halftime

View from our $10 seats!!!

Jennifer + Justin = FUN

Utah: The game

So ...FINALLY.... here are the pictures from the game - You will notice that Justin is NOT wearing a coat in spite of the frigid Provo temperatures this day. Justin refused - YES refused to wear a coat?!?!? So we got to the stadium and he was certain he'd be fine -- then it got a little later in the day and he started getting cold - SOOOOO Justin got a bunch of new BYU gear because of his refusal to wear a coat - we had to buy him new sweatshirts, hat, I gave him my spare set of gloves....WHY?? because I'm such a great wife that's why!!

Here's Justin when he wasn't cold.....

Here's Justin's NEW hat.....

Here we are all bundled up!!!

Our view.....

BYU emerging from the tunnel....

The BYU band during half time....

BYU!!!!!!!!

Me and the Cougar....

Justin and the Cougar....

Utah: The visit to the temple....

On part of our trip to Utah we went to Temple Square, which was the first time for Justin and I. We are converts to the Church (1 year in March!) and so we were very excited at this trip to see the Salt Lake Temple. It was a cold day but not too bad, and we walked around for almost 2 hours taking in all the sights at the visitors center, conference center, and the beautiful grounds. The visitors centers were AMAZING and so beautifully done. We hung around until it got dark because I wanted to see the temple lit up ---- perfection. All the hard work, prayers, dedication, and absolute passion poured into this building was inspiring.....

Utah: The trip there......

So we took a little jaunt to Utah since we had an extra long weekend!! We left Friday morning and drove (because there is TRULY no other way than to road trip it!) to Provo which is like 9 hours. We had 2 shiny tickets to the BYU v. UNM game and we were ready to go!!! We printed out a yahoo map, which NEVER works out for us, but yet we continue to do it?!?! So we follow the map and had the most BORING drive of all times. Picture nothing --- go on --- close your eyes --- ok -- that's what we saw -- for 9 hours!!

However we did make it to Provo safe and sound, and amazingly enough it is much colder in Utah than New Mexico! Here are some pictures of the most exciting things we saw along the way

2nd of the day....

I am turning over a new leaf.... I will no longer "Lurk" on blogs....If I read your blog routinely I am going to make it known!! I feel that's fair (and less creepy)!! So Hello to all of you whom I have been reading in secret -- thanks for your blogs they make my day!

Birthday Celebration!!!!

Last night Justin and I headed to Santa Fe with Christopher and Celina for Celina's birthday extravaganza!! We went to eat at this (new to Justin and I) restaurant Gabriel's - very tasty!! Her parents and grandma met us there from Colorado, and we had a blast!!

We then headed over to the new Buffalo Thunder Casino/Resort to check it out (since we were in the neighborhood). While the "fun people" went to play -- us "boring old folks" headed to the upper level to explore and talk! The boring old folks were me, Justin and Celina's mom for those who needed clarification. The architecture and art there was simply amazing and it was a very beautiful resort. It was a southwestern style mixed with contemporary lines and colors -- NICE! After our explorations we then sat upstairs and talked - FOR 2 HOURS!!! We had no idea how long we had been up there, but we talked about politics, social issues, and everything in between. It was sooooo much fun!!! We then rejoined the "fun people" for a brief moment and then headed home. We got home around midnight, which of course made it difficult to get up this morning, but well worth the experience.

Tonight Justin's parents are coming to town and we are excited for that as they haven't come to visit us in some time!! We are going to hang out tonight and tomorrow morn/afternoon before they have to head back home. We have BIG plans this weekend as well and so we are looking forward to the next several days.

Snake!!!

Let's see.....Friday night Justin and I were doing our weekly "sprucing up the cat's room" (Yes our cats have their own room and no they are not spoiled). The cats have their own room for a variety of reasons -- all of their "stuff" can be centralized (litter box, toys, food, water...etc..), they stay in their room when we aren't at home so they don't tear up the house and they can stay in their room when we have company (some peeps just don't like cats...sad but true). Anyhoo...during this sprucing I noticed this strange "thing" under the clear plastic carpet runner under their door (so they don't claw the carpet) -- It looked like a piece or torn carpet, and I bent down to see what it was and as I stepped near it began SLITHERING!!!! SLITHERING I TELL YOU!!!!!! I began screaming and calling for Justin, and he came out of the bedroom completely confused at my rantings. He attempted to tell me that it was a worm....however I being the biologist that I am know that worms don't SLITHER!!!!!!!!!! I was very disappointed that the cats didn't deal with it --I think that is the least they can do around here. However, Justin had to disposes of the Slithering beast. We are so perplexed how it got in -- our house is quite new (built like 2-3 years ago) and so it shouldn't have ready access for things to enter??!?! So now I am afraid to go anywhere in the house without my snake boots --- here's a picture of what the little terror looked like.....

Back to reality -- sort of...

I have officially gone back to work full time --- Fun times fun times -- however the deal I made was that I would do ten assessments (I am a therapist and I work at a counseling agency in Albuquerque--so I assess all the new kids to see what programs they qualify for) a week for a pretty penny. When I was doing this contract I was essentially doing 10 assessment per week anyways, but when someone didn't show up I didn't get paid....now I get paid no matter what! I essentially agreed to do the 10 assessments per week with the contract schedule -- not bad not bad!!! Justin also started full time this week at CNM doing outpatient counseling.

Wednesday night we went with Chris and Celina to the Albuquerque "premier" of

House Bunny. Chris won tickets in some contest so we got to go for free (even better!). This movie was hilarious...I guess if you are into that sort of movie....which I am. Anna Farris was SOOOO funny, and we all just spent the whole time laughing our heads off. Since it was the "premier" they had security inspecting purses/bags and they were wanding people. Yes - wanding -- there was this girl in front of us that was getting wanded and the man with the wand said "Spread 'em" and we were all in shock, and a little apprehensive for our wanding experience. However no one demanded anything of me....I was slightly happy and slightly offended! Oh well, maybe the next wander will want me......

Absent

Boy these last few weeks have been hectic soooo my blogging has gone by the wayside, but I felt as if I needed to update this blog a little. So here's a picture (and a few word) montage of what we've been up to in the past few weeks!

Went to Fort Sumner (spent some time with our families)
Finding out I have keratoconus (as seen in this diagram below -- it is where the cornea is "Cone" shaped versus round over the pupil)

Filling out applications

Watching the Olympics

Finishing Summer School!!!!!! (and passing - even better!)

Yup that pretty much sums up our last two weeks --- of course there was work in the mix, but that's hardly worth mentioning. Since we are done with school (For now) I'm going back to work FULL TIME (Yikes-a-bee), we'll see how that goes :)