six years ago today...

...I went on my first date with Mr. Rory Groves.

We met at his house and I remember thinking he was so easy to talk to and that he was really good looking and that he had a great house and that I already liked him a whole lot. Then we drove to a white elephant christmas party at Kyle and Lisa's where we were met by 8 couples from his home church who had all been married ten years or more and all in the same small group for much of that time. To say this was an intimidating first date is a severe understatement. (I now know these couples and it is so funny to reflect on this nervous, excited evening with them...)

We drove back to his house and said our goodbyes. I got back in my car, and I remember laughing out loud and screaming a bit on the drive home. I liked this boy. A lot.

Today is January 3rd, and this was all six years ago...When we were dating, we would celebrate each 3rd of every month with cards and special outings in honor of our four or eight or ten month dating anniversary...

So Rory Groves, Happy seventy-second month dating Anniversary. I'm still smitten.

lots of christmas pictures

I just put together a slide show of my week of christmas goodness (posted below). Be sure to hit the forward button to fly through the pictures...there are lots of them, spanning the Harrington Christmas, the Bredberg Christmas at the farm, New Years and the Groves Christmas Stockings.

I'll write more specifics later but a few highlights would include: family, smurf houses, sledding, lots of niece and nephew time, dad's model trains, tutu's, Quiddler (Kristin, I bought it and Rory LOVES it!), the Gap outlet, good friends on New Years, more tutu's, Stumblebum and perhaps the most exciting...Rory's mom GOT ME A FOOD DEHYDRATOR!!! SHE DID!!! I am anticipating many a post detailing our dehydrating.

It was so good to be home, but we are feeling good back in Nebraska too. It was one year ago tonight we moved to this new state. As we drove back from Minnesota today we talked through how the year had treated us and agreed it was a great 2009. And we're ready for another great year ahead.

Minnesota Sweet Minnesota

Yep. We made it! And we're having a ball. Pictures and stories next weekend..

Making Lemonade from these lemons...

Well, we had wanted to leave for Minnesota on Tuesday so we could dodge this weather. But I got the flu that morning, and wasn't well enough to go home until Thursday. So yesterday we set out, all packed and ready, and made it a few miles before we saw a horrible accident where both cars had their entire fronts ripped off. It was horribly icy, and we just decided it wasn't worth the risk. The trees were covered in ice and looked like this:

Beautiful, but just not great for road conditions.

So we ended up celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in our apartment, watching the growing drifts outside, so thankful for our warm home. We missed all sorts of Groves family goodness, and this was really hard on me. The whole family called last night and I was on speakerphone and ended up pretty bummed because I have never really liked missing out. But Rory is wonderful and insisted that make sugar cookies, he made up a new card game, we watched Christmas movies and made a few homemade meals.

It was a snuggly Christmas. Rory mentioned many times that this will probably be the only Christmas in our lives together when he will get my undivided attention...and that this was the best gift he could have ever hoped for. (I am a bit distracted by nieces and nephews...)

And all in all, it was a really nice, calm and special Christmas. We made the homemade chicken noodle soup, and it blew our socks off. I don't even really like chicken noodle soup but wowza. This will be a part of our Christmas tradition forever.

And I made cherry jello with bananas. This is Christmas tradition for me, because my Uncle Don makes Fruit Soup every year...and basically fruit soup is just a fancy way to say prunes-and-other-brown-things-mushed-together Soup. So my mom always made the kids special jello molds that were shaped like trees, stars and bells with bananas in them. I didn't have the molds, but the jello was perfect for my flu tummy and my need for a taste of home.

We made Rolled Sugar Cookies that turned out glorious. Funny thing was that I don't have a great variety of cookie cutters here in Nebraska. Thankfully, I had gotten a gingerbread cutter at a little shop a few weeks ago, a candy cane at Lisa's cookies swap, and a porcupine, squirrel and bear at Betsy's wedding this summer. And honestly, nothing says Merry Christmas like a Christmas Porcupine. I am including this next picture to prove that I actually was happy and enjoying Christmas, though not in Minnesota!

And perhaps happiest with our change of plans was Toonces, who kept messing up our Settlers of Catan playing. This picture below makes the world outside look nice and still, but the wind is whipping out there, believe me. Our hope is to take off tomorrow...though I am learning to sit loose in the saddle. Merry Christmas everyone!