2010 Holidays

I've been meaning to post a few pictures from Thanksgiving with the Wallace side of our family and Christmas with the Cepek/Hart side of the family. Now it is the end of February and I am finally doing it! In Bend, OR for Thanksgiving I remember feeling overjoyed and the fullness of our lives right now. I really love my family members and was really happy to reconnect with my cousin Mandy that I haven't seen in over a decade! Mandy, Val and I are all the same age and were close growing up. Mandy also is a great cook and made amazing pumpkin butter, pumpkin roll and pumpkin ice cream!

This year was our year to go to PA for Christmas and we were fortunate enough to spend 10 days in snowy Western PA! We were spoiled by our parents (not a surprise), reconnected with some friends and really spent a lot of time relaxing! Here are just a couple of pictures:

Merry Christmas from the Cepek's!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our Christmas Tree

Who knew that the simple task of decorating a Christmas Tree could bring up so much conflict? Ron and I both had very different expectations and desires for what our Christmas Tree would look like. Here is a photo of our tree after we both made some compromises:

Christmas Tree Hunting

We went hunting for a Christmas Tree on Sunday and we were successful! Our friends Lacey & Eric took us to a tree farm in North Bend, WA to search for the perfect tree to decorate and place in our home. The tree farm was so fun! They had hot apple cider, a camp fire and a large forest! The family running the farm was wonderful. We liked them.
Ron and I went back and forth for a bit on which tree to choose. Once we made the decision, Ron cut it down (see the photo below, the one of Ron's backside). That's my lumber jack man!
Stay posted for a photo of our tree once all of the decorations have been put on. We are already enjoying our first Holiday season together!

National Oatmeal month!

Good news for all of you oatmeal lovers out there: it's national oatmeal month! I've decided that in honor of oatmeal month I am going to try to have oatmeal at least twice a week. Not that this is really a huge difference in my life. I really like oatmeal and eat a lot of it. My favorite way to eat a steamy hot bowl of oatmeal is to mix in granola, banana slices, drizzle honey and add just a bit of cream. Yumm... I'm getting hungry just talking about it.

So folks, do me a favor: Appreciate oatmeal this month and eat a lot of it. Plus, it's good for your heart :)

Feeling fine in 2009

My plane was late getting into Seattle last night. I was supposed to get in at 11:20pm but it was about an hour late. I woke up this morning still unable to hear. My last few days in PA, I came down with a cold. Nothing too debilitating, just a lot of congestion. Needless to say, flying with the cold, was not fun and I am now feeling terrible. Everything sounds like I am underwater and my head is throbbing. I'm hoping that it will pass soon...

That being said, it was a little strange to wake up in my apartment this morning. I enjoyed staying at my future mother-in-laws home so much. I loved waking up to the smell of coffee or some baked good. I really had the best Christmas and New Year's of my life. I love my new family and feel so embraced/welcome by them. Ron and I made so many good memories over the past 2 weeks. Saying good-bye was hard. But I know that this long distance period is almost over. And for that I am so thankful!
Here are a couple of pictures that I had on my camera from my time in PA. The first few are from having coffee with some former Geneva students/former RAs, then there is a picture of Ron and I in a carriage, the next few are from the Conway Youth Group dinner, and then my favorite pic of us after the Christmas Eve service: