Snowy Christmas......

It was for sure a white Christmas! So white Colby decided it was a good idea to get a snowblower for Christmas. Christmas Eve Colby had to work at Sears until 6 p.m., his family got together at noon that day to exchange presents and have lunch.

I had worked a grave the night before, so I wasn't planning on going until his sister told me they had room in their car and could ride up with them to Soda. I was able to go and watch the nieces and nephew (Gage was to small to open his own) open their presents. I took a lot of pictures for Uncle Colby.

When Colby got off work we headed to Rigby, we actually went to my Grandparents first had some of their left overs from dinner and opened a few presents then headed to my Mom's house.

Before heading North we decided to open the gifts we had got each other. I got a sleeping bag, an office computer game, gloves and the new LDS film Errand of Angels. Colby got two new hats, a pair of Crocs, giftcards to Wendy's and Artic Circle, a summer sausage and Birch Beer from Santa.

Christmas day was a snowy mess. We got up and there was about 6 inches of new snow. We opened presents and stockings before breakfast. While breakfast was cooking we hooked up the Wii, Colby shoveled Mom's sidewalk and part of the driveway. (What a good son-in-law he is)

We headed home in the late afternoon. We spun a few cookies right before the rest area near Shelly, the cookies were un-planned. Colby was driving (thank heavens) and was able to keep us on the road. We hit the back bumper on the guardrail... and we drove away with only a scratch on the back bumper. My tummy was doing cookies the whole rest of the way home though.

Upon returning home we found 12 inches of snow in our driveway... YES a foot of snow in about 24 hours. Colby was sure glad he had the snow blower. After the snow removal and un-loading the car we went to his sisters house and had waffles for dinner, Colby got a waffle iron for Christmas so he wanted to try it out. After dinner we played Mexican Train until about 12:30 a.m. and it was for sure bed time when we got home.

Since the snow was so abundant we didn't make it to Soda Springs to see Colby's Mom and Dad on Christmas, they came down Saturday evening before we all went to Lava Hot Springs and we had a late Christmas. Better late than never.

That's what we did for Christmas...

Amy's past two years.... since being home from my mission... I'll have to get Colby one here soon!

I did a semester of school, starting the day after I got home, my Stake President wouldn't allow me to go to my night class the day I got home. I jumped in head first. I worked on campus as an assistant to the office manager in the College of Business and Communication and that is when the Dean (of that college) asked me if I had done an internship and I told him I hadn't. It wasn't required for major until the next semester so I really hadn't put much thought into it. I started looking on-line and applied for a few here and there and ended up getting the one that I thought wouldn't be possible. I got to spend 4 months in Palmyra, New York working at the Palmyra Inn.


There I did all sorts of things- kind of like the utility player in softball. I really enjoyed the interaction with the people that came to visit the sites, or were not LDS and I got to bear testimony about the sites. I got to play manager when the "real" manager took a vacation, that was a learning experience, a good one. There were so many things I got to do while there. I got to see the Hill Cuhmorah Pageant.

Also, I ran into a missionary that I had met, while serving in State College, we were shocked to see each other again, especially on the East Coast. We are both from small towns in Idaho, so who would have thought we would run into each other in NY? His family left and about a week later I got a message on my wall from him asking what to do now that he was home, I just laughed because I didn't have anytime to think about what to do. I told him I didn't have any good advice and wished him luck. He wrote me a week after than and asked me for my phone number and we talked every night for about 2 months. His boss at the time flew him out to visit for a weekend. Our first date was driving from the airport, eating at a Friendly's and watching the Joseph Smith movie at the visitors center.

From New York I flew to SLC switched luggage and headed to Chicago about 8 hours after flying into SLC. Colby picked me up at the airport and we stayed at a chep hotel (we had to get two rooms so it had to be cheap) then I flew to Chicago with 13 other female BYU- Idaho students to put on a day camp for inter-city girls. Most of them were LDS. We had the camp at a church in Hyde Park, it was two weeks long. I got home the end of August and started school again in September, my last semester.

I graduated in December with a Bachelors of Science in Communication, with a minor in Exercise Science. In October Colby and I got engaged, General Confrence weekend. I waited until after graduation to start planning the wedding. We wanted a Spring wedding and decided on March. We moved to Preston, Idaho, to start our life together. He was working construction out of Logan, Utah, and I worked for the small town newspaper in Preston, The Preston Citizen. I again was a utility player. I wrote, took photos and did some designing.

Colby got hired on with Union Pacific Railroad so we knew a move was in the near future, since it was an hour plus drive from Preston. I started looking for a job in the Pocatello area, a girl that also went to Chicago told me about The Bannock Youth Foundation, and that they were hiring so I applied. I got the job and we moved. Wow! That's a lot of stuff to happen in just under two years. That's pretty much everything.

Christmas is almost here..... time flies! I made this with the help for Photoshop. It was one of my late night projects!

Our New Pet

Okay, so it's not real. It's just the little reindeer on our blog. I was going to put up a dog, but I decided for the holidays I would use the reindeer and then get a dog after Christmas. I told Colby I found a way to have a dog in the house that wouldn't make a mess or require any care.... he just shook his head... I'm sure he was thinking "Wow, what a nerd."

Anyway, go ahead and play fetch with him! He loves Christmas cookies!

Our First Christmas Tree

what do you name these things.... wild and crazy stuff......

It's 6 a.m.- only 2 more hours until I can go home! Yay! I have to admit I have kind of been productive tonight though. I read about 4 articles/talks from the November Ensign and wrote in the family journal. Family assuming that Colby will write in it one of these days. ;o) Yes, I do know what assuming does. Having 8 hours you would think I would have been more productive. I watched Oceans 13, folded towels and cleaned part of the staff bathroom, that's productive, just not personal productivity. Yet those are the things I paid for...

Anyway, Colby starts working at Sears on Thursday. He is their newest appliance salesman, well part-time/seasonal. So if you need a fridge, washer, dryer, ect.... find him at the Sears in Pocatello.

Last week we decided to go out to dinner for a date/treat. We ended up going to Pizza Hut, then that way we had leftovers for another meal or two. We ordered a large meat lovers and a medium two topping ($6) on their special. Anyway, we were eating and I took a piece of the meat lovers, when I got it to my plate I thought there was an olive on it so I took my fork and picked it off... come to find out it was a NUT! Not the edible kind... now thinking about it I wonder were the BOLT that the NUT came off of was/is hiding. Our waitress was appalled. She took the nut and showed every employee and refunded us for the meat lovers. We were in shock! I think we left shortly after I found my treasure....

When we got home Colby said I should e-mail Pizza Hut about my experience so it didn't get "swept under the rug". Sure enough you can contact Pizza Hut through their web-site. I wrote about what had happened and today the called me and appologized. They also explained to me the process in which will take place at the local store. The manager recieved my e-mail along with the man that called me (from an Idaho number). The regional supervisor, SLC, will make a trip up to check on the equipment and store. The distributors that particular Pizza Hut uses is also going to be contacted.

That was one of our recent adventures... I told Colby that I'm a cheap date. We didn't have to pay for the most expensive part of our order and got two more meals out of it.

Another Late Night/ Early Morning...

So, I'm here at work sitting at the computer pretty much completly bored. I have up-loaded some photos to my Facebook account, labeled music on the computer put new photos on my SD Card for my digital frame and checked every e-mail I have. There is a mexican resturant across the street that is open 24/7 and there are people over there arguing at each other, I can almost hear what they are saying through the window, maybe it's a good thing I can't hear them though.

We had a good Thanksgiving... had dinner in Pocatello with Colby's parents, his sister and her family at her in-laws. There was a lot of food! After dinner we relaxed for a bit and then headed to Rigby. We were having family pictures with all my mom's family the next day, so we decided to go up a bit early.

We were at my Grandparents till almost 10 p.m. then we headed to my mom's where everyone was still awake and my littlest sister was debating she wanted to brave the Black Friday rush to get a camera. We looked at ads until about 1 a.m. when she finally decided she wanted to go. Colby, Val and I headed out the door at 4:05 a.m., to get to Staples in Idaho Falls that opened at 6 a.m. I went to Big 5 to get Colby something for Christmas and he headed to Sportsmans to save a place in line for another one of my little sisters. Val got her camera, there were only 2 available at the Idaho Falls store so she was super lucky! She was also super happy. After we all hit our own stores we went back to Sportsmans and picked up another gift, went to Shoe Carnival to see if my Aunt was still there and the to Desert Book, more gifts found.

After that Val and I took a nap. Colby didn't feel tired.... what a weirdo (just kidding). He ended up taking a nap later. When I woke up from my nap, we went to see my other sister, Min at work, they weren't busy at all so we went in and had lunch at Papa Kelsey's. Then it was time to get ready for pictures.

The picture session went pretty good... lots of flashes, funny faces and warm bodies. There was one funny that got the whole family laughing and smiling... one of my uncles tooted, he was standing right in the middle of everyone too! Needless to say the whole family smiled and the photo guy snapped a few shots. While different families were getting individual pics Colby was teaching tie tying lessons to my two cousins and my uncle. One of my cousins just got his mission call to Des Monies Iowa, so he wanted to know the best knot.

Photos were done and went to see another family in Rigby. I played with 2 little girls while Colby helped with some sound system wiring. I think I got the good part of the deal, playing with the girls and having them cuddle up and fall asleep on my lap. :o) That's why we DON'T need our own kids, we can play with someone elses.

It was back to work for me Saturday morning (oh, that's today, well kind of) and then I had 8 hours off and then it was back to work the graveyard. It's been a long day!

That's about all I can think of.... I'm sure if I get really bored again later I might find something else to write about!