Second Thanksgiving

Dan had suggested this winter doing a second Thanksgiving weekend with my family since we spent this past year with his family. So we got it set up with my sister and arrived on Friday night of this past weekend. My parents were also there and we had divided up what everyone was bringing...and then my sister surprised us by letting us know that other family members would be coming too! We had cousins and Aunts and Uncles as well, which meant about 20 of us enjoying good food and family fellowship.

Food table getting set up

 Tables set up in Stephen's new Lion's Cave

 Lining up for food!

Stephen and his wall of hats

His Barry Sanders wall

Dan trying to win over Annie

Sledding with Joy

Working together to haul their "tree"

 Playing in the snow

It was so much fun and I felt really loved that my family would all get together for a random Saturday. One of my cousins agreed that we should do this every year. I love how much my family enjoys spending time together, we might only see each other a couple times a year for camping and holiday's but we always have so much fun.

I am thankful that my Grandparents started the tradition of camping and bringing our family together when the family was much smaller...because 20 of us is maybe half of our usual numbers :)

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we had some time alone but did dinner with our small group from Marion. It worked out well because we could go put the dinner reservation in and then hung out at Starbucks while we waited. It was perfect so we didn't have to wait that long once everyone got there. After dinner we grabbed some ice cream at Coldstone before they all had to head home.

Dinner :)

Ben and Lindsey

Angie and Sandra

Dan and me (Ben photo bombing)

Jason and Angie

Sandra and Joel

 On Saturday Dan and I went out to celebrate at our favorite place, Bon Thai. It is our place to celebrate and sometimes grab lunch after our dance class on Saturday :) We had great food and enjoyed watching Romeo and Juliet when we got home.

Dan's Birthday

Dan's birthday was a little more low key this year, no surprise party but we did have a nice dinner at home (one of his favorite meals...meat loaf and Au gratin potatoes). We did a cake from Kroger which was very good.

Dan with his new Nutcracker (holding the lantern)

Happy Birthday Dan!!!

Winter Weather

We have had some icicles lining our roof so I had to get a couple pictures. They are layered in rows and these are not the biggest ones we have had this year.

Newsome Twosome

At our dance studio (and for those who didn't know, we have been taking dance lessons since the beginning of October) they had a recital type event. It is a new dance people learned or a new "two-some" meaning a new pair dancing together.  We did a fox trot to Smells like Teen Spirit (it was redone by Paul Anka :))

Sadly I can't up-load our video :( We do have a DVD copy as well so we will try to bring it with us if you want to watch it.

What's been going on

With my exam at the beginning of this month I have not posted much for close to a month.  In January I had friends stop in who I met in Cambodia. It was a blessing and a joy to spend time with them again and to introduce Dan to them.

Dan, Kara, Mary, Christoph

They made it through the snow and we had fun catching up and sneaking in a few hours before they had to hit the road again. During the last week of January we had a chili cook off at our dance studio. So I brought in my Pumpkin Chili and won :)

Pumpkin Chili :)

My prize 

Front of the apron I won