Crazy Christmas!

The Christmas Season has been a little crazy and extremely busy for us, but so much fun!

First off, congrats to Sarah and Jake! They got engaged on December 21st and the planning has begun! When Matt and I got engaged, Sarah and I took a picture similar to the one to the right and so we had to recreate it with her engagement.

Christmas morning we went to Matt's parents house to open presents. Rebekah and Elizabeth were got pink guitars from Sarah and Jake. Elizabeth was very excited! I just happened to catch her expression when she opened it.

We spent the afternoon with my family, but I don't have any picture from that. :( My camera died.

We had such a blessed Christmas!

Joe and Ashley came over Christmas evening for dinner and a short FRIENDS marathon. Please excuse the badly posed picture. I didn't have a chance to crop it. Matt and I are really enjoying getting to know Joe and Ashley. It was fun to have them over for Christmas.

Sarah and I hit the after Christmas sales to collect Christmas decorations for her future apartment with her future husband. :) She was rather happy with her tree as you can see...

Last night Matt and I went to play Broomball with the Jr. and Sr. High youth groups. We brought facepaint so that we could be intimidating.

Kim, Rachel and I took a break for a little while.

Travis wouldn't let me give him any facepaint so we spent part of the night with him pulling me around on the ice.

You all didn't know that I

married a French man, did you?

Cookies & Christmas Party

Saturday I joined in on a Linser Family Traditon: Cookie Day. My "cousin-in-law" Chas came from Marshalltown with her little boy, Caleb to help Linda, Sarah and the girls make cookies for Christmas Eve. I helped frost the sugar cookies and play in the flour.

Here are some pictures of the highlights:

Elizabeth was fighting for our attention.

Caleb had fun playing in the flour.

This was my favorite cookie. Chas frosted it to look like a flower. I think it looks like a poinsetia. No one has eaten it yet because it is just too pretty!

Sunday night was our Jr. High Small Group Christmas party. We had a lip sync. We worked so hard on our song! One of the girls didn't show up, but luckily Kevin Bradford appeared and was willing to help us out. This was the first time that Kevin had heard the song and we didn't give him any instructions other than, "Just watch what we do." I wanted to post the video, but for some reason it wouldn't post... Maybe I'll get it to work sometime later.

Chicago!

Matt, Sarah and I went to Chicago last weekend to visit Jake. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

We found a moose!

Sarah & I became giants.

Sarah & Jake in the snow.

Michael Jordan's handprints.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt and I spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house with part of my dad's family.

Here's part of the group after lunch. From left to right: My dad's older brother, Kevin; Grandma; Sleeping Grandpa; Dad.

Travis spent most of the day playing on the computer...

When we got home from Thanksgiving dinner, Matt & I decorated for Chrismas! I love this time of year and I love the way our apartment looks when it's decorated. Matt and I bought a special ornament on our honeymoon and another ornament on our first anniversary in Galena, IL. This is a tradition that we hope to continue. It's a great way for us to remember our wedding day and anniversary mid-year.

Matt put the star on top of the tree.