holly jolly.

we had a great christmas.

matt got a whole week off somehow!

we went to spend time with my family, then his family.

and we didn't take pictures.

fail.

my dad took lots, but i don't have those.

but, i do have some iphone snapshots of our time. so here are some random moments i thought were worth documenting!

date night--out to dinner and catching fire. so great!

micah with a guitar.

that's not even one of his presents.

but it was cute.

my dad's "omelette" for me.

though he said, "well, i'm not that good at omelettes." and then, "wow, that looks runny." and then, "the water didn't really go away." (water?!) so i threw half of it away.

completely worth documenting. haaaa

i think they like each other.

my brother was a dancing shepherd in the christmas play.

last year, he was joseph and micah was Jesus.

micah got demoted this year to kid-in-nursery-while-grownups-watch-program... 

but ben clearly got promoted. he got to dance in front of all of us.

christmas pjs for all!

our little family.

two of our nieces!

i just love them both.

mesmerized by fish.

hand in cheerio container. always.

hair a bit mullet-y. we need to fix that.

so then, for new years, katie and susan came.

it was our fifth year of celebrating new years together!

and they loved on micah... and he was obsessed with them.

 we made homemade ice cream (we got an ice cream maker for christmas!)

 we arted it up.

 games, naturally.

matt's pieces need to be sanitized.

and we also got to meet baby caleb, my college roommate's newborn!

micah needs to calm down the lovin a bit.

he can't stop. he won't stop.

family and friends for a week and a half straight. 

few things could be better.

cookies and friends.

on tuesday, my college roommate came for a sleepover!

we did a bit of a photo shoot... hey, you can't blame us, we don't see each other too often anymore.

some things never change.

yes, that's fake poop.

that katie left here from new years.

 we also baked cookies for my students.

i've made several peanut butter blossom recipes, but this recipe is the best one i've done so far:

food network's peanut butter blossoms.

speaking of peanut butter... check out this great friends clip:


(it's joey showing what an appetizer of "peanut butter fingers" would look like at a wedding)

enjoy!

taylor and fun fall life.

welp.

taylor was all i dreamed it would be.

check it out:

 spent a lot of late nights at this place...

 reason number 1 billion i love taylor: they love kashi. i love kashi. match made in heaven.

 alumni license plate covers. doi.

 a ride on a golf cart. beyond thrilled.

 a pickup filled with pop. only at taylor.

 walking campus.

 reade.

 olson.

 so many memories. my old room.

 loving life. waiting for ice cream at ivanhoes.

 yeshhh.

 duh.

 delish. and WAY too hyper.

 playing games. drinking drinks. loving life.

 happy birthday linds! enjoy your yummy/ugly brownies, over the hill balloons, and whoopie cushion!

and then, matt and i celebrated fall last night...

 perfect evening? i think so.

we love life.

memory mania.

well.
i'm going to taylor homecoming this weekend.
these 4 girls. loving life once again.

thus, i'm nostalgic.
thinking about the great friends i made at taylor.
thinking about the amazing experiences i had at taylor.
thinking about the great classes i took at taylor.
thinking about how i fell in love at taylor.


and then i couldn't stop remembering.
and then i realized.
6 years ago on october 5, 2005, i had my first kiss. and it happened to be with the guy i married a few years later.
how do i know?
well, i wrote letters to my future husband starting in 2004... so october 11, 2005, i wrote this:

i mean really. can you blame me for the nostalgia?
i realize i'm ridiculously cheesy.
and a hopeless romantic.
but come on. i ended up marrying that guy. it has all the makings of an amazing movie.
and it all happened at taylor.

i don't know if that place is ready for me and all my joy. and memories. it's probable i'll cry at some point.

oh, school year.

here is an ode to school taking up my life:

i sure do love to teach

though there are days i'd rather be at the beach.

if only i still had time in my day

to bake and blog and lay.

school is taking up all my time.

therefore, less time for the important things in life: blogging.

however, a lot has gone on.

check out a fun weekend at artprize in grand rapids:

 apple orcharding.

 arting. (almost like farting, but not.)

 mp3 experiencing.

 carmel appleing.

life is beautiful.

in other news:

i haven't baked anything other than the weekly cookies that matt requires. (it's true, he requires baked goods on a weekly basis. i don't hate it. it means i get to mix things and chomp on cookie dough.)

instead...

my extra-time world is consumed with christmas ideas, creations, and bargaining. (don't say it's too early. the earlier, the better the deals. don't test me.)

unfortunately, i can't share such things on here. (because, duh, maybe you're one of the ones getting something from me!

but i can share some fun things i've found:

dip-dyed candles!

fabric clutch

homemade finger paints

candy cane marshmallows

and those aren't even the best ones... because i'm creating all of those!  so just wait... you'll see the goodness in a few months (and let me tell you, these are good enough that even matt is on board. which is saying something.)

so what else have i been up to?

making lists for christmas.

wanting to take our christmas picture (which will be AWESOME. i planned it out).

wanting to decorate. but not being allowed.

wanting to talk nonstop about christmas.

so, you can see where my mind has been...

joy to the world!