Where did January go?

Well, that's ok. We'll just skip riiiiiiight over it! Nothing important happened anyways... NOT!
Ok, so a LOT of big things happened in January!
We went to the shack for New Year's celebrations with my family. The weekend included duck hunting, fishing, eating, more eating, and relaxing. Really fun! The highlight was probably the awesome fireworks that the boys set off for us each night.

Matt had his knee surgery, which all went as "planned" and he is recovering very well. My wonderful mother came to help me play nurse and she was a HUGE help around here! I dont know how I would have done it those first few days on my own. She cooked, cleaned, ran errands, and helped me around the house. Love you mom!

I've been working hard around the house, mostly painting, but also learning new skills since Matt's been in recovery... I now know how to caulk, use a power drill, use a chop saw, replace quarter-round, do some minor electrical things with light fixtures, and replace air registers. I think after I learn grouting, I'll be set for life.

We traveled around to celebrate my birthday and my brother's birthday! Aaron turned 28 and I, 25. I dont want to talk about it :-) But really, it was a lot of fun to celebrate and see everyone.

The weekend before my birthday, we celebrated Travis' birthday and mine together (like we usually do, since theyre only 4 days apart.) This year, it was on a much bigger scale! Thursday for his birthday, we went to Boston's. Friday, Amanda planned a BIG surprise party for the birthday boy at our house! We had about 30 people here, and it was definitely the most people we have had in the house at one time. It was a lot of fun and a big success.... he was surprised! Amanda did a great job party planning.

Saturday, we woke up and drove to Houston. The original plan was just to go to eat dinner there. After Matt and Amanda started planning the weekend, it turned into many fun things and spending the night there in a nice hotel! We ate at the Grove in downtown, which was FABULOUS, and went to a comedy club afterwords. It was an improv type club and they helped us celebrate our birthdays by singing to us and making signs. We did not know that the Houston marathon was that weekend, so we had a lot of traffic and people to deal with...
Sunday morning we got up early and went to brunch before heading to IKEA, the craziest store on earth. I had never been there, and boy was I overwhelmed. I had no idea it was a warehouse....
On Monday, my actual birthday, when I got to work, my coworkers had decorated my office, and gotten donuts and kolaches to celebrate! They also bought me an orchid plant? I hope I can keep it alive.... My family had a beautiful flower arrangement delivered to the office for me. It was the first time I had anything delivered to the office and I felt so special :-) It was in a Hershey's kiss vase and had a big birthday balloon, so no one could miss it! Surprisingly though, certain people still found a way to make my day miserable. Ahhh, work.
Monday night, we went to eat hibachi at Atami, and saw The King's Speech. Highly recommend it. No wonder its nominated for 3 or something Oscars. We came back home and I was greeted by an incredibly neon-iced cookie cake, with the brightest most beautiful colors!

Well, January is over! It was busy, and very fun. This spring is going to bring a lot of changes for us and we are very excited!

February plans: finish work on the house. Celebrate with my Valentine. Go to the RODEO! Declutter.

bye for now!