All Good Things Must Come To An End....

2010 has reached its close and with bittersweet feelings that I say goodbye. It has been an amazing year with many ups and downs. Definitely one of the best though.

School has been one of my saving graces this year. When I look back on all that I accomplished and everything that I was able to be a part of, I am overwhelmed. This past year has honestly changed my life.

I'm a nerd and found this picture today. It makes me somewhat happy though!

I spent the summer in Virginia and it was phenomenal! Spending time with Kyle and Jess and their family was such a highlight. I don't know what I would do without Jess in my life. She was my rock over the summer. When I got a little crazy and my mind wouldn't cooperate--she was there! And I loved everything about Virginia. Heck, I even loved my job! Who knew...me and bugs! But to be honest, it was really just all about being able to work with Kyle and spend more time with him.

I love Christmas. And this Christmas was extra special! We travelled up to Hinton to spend the holidays with Kennedy and Eric and their little ones! A day with the Holts is always one to remember. But we got an extra surprise this Christmas! Shayla went into labor 5 1/2 weeks early and it was a Christmas miracle! There was one bed available in all of Alberta. So at one in the morning on the 23rd, they ambulanced KJ and Shayla to Edmonton and baby Jonah James Wood was born that night. He weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces, which is a really good size for being a premie baby. Jonah was transferred down to Lethbridge on Sunday and is still in NICU but doing really well. And he is honestly just the cutest little baby anyone ever did see!

Christmas is always a special time. I have many fond memories with my family around the holiday season. But each year, right around 10:00pm on December 24th, my dad and brothers approach me with this wildly desperate and pleading look in their eyes....and I just know. I know that I will be spending the next 2-3 hours wrapping their Christmas presents for them. My dad actually came to me earlier in the month this year but decided to dispense with the theatrics because he knew I would just do it. I've recently come across this blog about 1000 awesome things and thought this was so true. Don't you just love wrapping presents and how it is the best thing when the wrapping paper lines up perfectly!

This is un-awesome.

This is awesome!!

I want to be better at noticing those little things that make life awesome!

Do you want to know how I spent all last Christmas...???

Yup! That is what I did. And this Christmas hasn't been a whole lot different! It's been amazing and relaxing and just what I needed.

So this year has been amazing! But I am going to make 2011 even better!!!

PS- Happy Birthday Noah!!!!!!

I can't believe how big you are!!!!!

What a stud muffin!

Suddenly I See

I woke up this morning and could see the twinkle in the angel's eye on the Christmas tree. Big deal? Yes! Normally I just see some blur of a color blob. Miracle? Practically. I had laser eye surgery on Friday. Now, I'm sure I know what you are thinking. "Really Katie?! You?? You are such a wimp when it comes to anything like that." And it is so true. But it honestly was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

And really, it wasn't that bad. The appointment was about 4 hours long but the actual operation takes about 1 minute per eye. Just before I went under the knife, I found out that my parents helped pay for the surgery. I have the best parents in the entire world. When they put the numbing drops in my eyes, they couldn't tell what were tears and what were drops.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

Well actually it's not really that cold outside but I am definitely not complaining! I've decided that I wouldn't even mind if we don't have a white christmas! But knock on wood!

School ended with a bang. I didn't have any finals so I've basically been done for a week, and then plus some extra tutoring here and there. I realized more about how much of a wimp I am though. The last week of school I practically lived in the IB Commons lab working on a project for my Computerized Accounting class. It was a group project but I have issues 'letting go' so I kind of just did the whole 40 hour ordeal on my own (for some odd strange reason my partner didn't mind in the slightest)! I was helping another group set up their company and the guy, Ron, called me Stevie. I didn't correct him and so it went on...and on and on. "Look at the numbers that Stevie calculated for depreciation." "Check to see if Stevie has the same invoices." "Stevie, how did you set up your payroll?" After a couple hours I was getting ready to leave when one of the guys I tutored came over and asked, "Katie, could you come and look at our accounting case? Our numbers aren't working." Ron asked what my name was and then apologized profusely because he said he had been calling me 'Stevie' for the past few hours. I laughed and said, "Oh really! I hadn't even noticed!" There was a girl named Stevie in my last ward so I wonder if Ron had ever met her. Ok so dumb story but...well that's as good as it gets.

I came across this video and thought it was the most clever thing I've seen in a long time!

Merry Merry Christmas!

PS- After Friday, I'll be able to wake up in the morning and be able to see!!!