Home

Well my time at home is almost at an end. I leave in 4 days. I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving. On one hand I really really miss Bobby and I'm excited to see Tracy and tell her all about Amara, but on the other hand 2 weeks was not long enough to be home with my family. I'm going to miss all the baby love and the next time I see my family Amara will be a year old. She won't be a baby anymore! It's just so weird to think about how old she'll be the next time I see her. I think I'll really need to make it a priority to get internet at my place soon so that I can skype more often with my family. I didn't really realize just how much I had missed everyone until I came home and saw them all. I didn't realize how much I adore Amara and how much I've been missing and will continue to miss when I'm gone. Man, 8 months is a long time. It sort of stinks that Christmas didn't fall more in the middle of my time away from home. The amount of time I have left is twice as long as the amount of time that's already passed. At least I got some good rest in and I'm re energized.

Amara

I finally met my amazingly adorable niece!!!!!!!!! She's just so sweet and beautiful. I love all her little coos and faces and I'm just soaking up all her smiles and baby love. I'm so happy that I got to meet her and see her in her baby stage. I'm really sad that after this trip the next time I'll see her is when she's a year old.... Man that seems like such a long time!

I've really been enjoying being home. I love love LOVE hearing Lucy's little paws running around every morning. I love the snow (especially since it's not too cold!). I love the family love. It's been a really great trip. I think it's going to be really hard to leave again!

I think I've scarred Lucy for life. Whenever I get my coat on she gets super frantic and reaches up and wants me to pick her up and then she cries a little bit. Poor puppy... It's just like having a 3 year old... ha ha ha.... On Thursday I will be house/dog/cat sitting for Nate and Jenn for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to being able to relax and watch some good movies and eat junk food. I'm also really excited for Mickey's Diner with Dad and Eben and Jonno on Christmas morning!!!

Home Sweet Home

Well I made it back to Minnesota in one piece! I got in yesterday afternoon around 3:30. The cold is bearable so far and the snow is beautiful! I go to go to church and see some friends but the highlight of the day was finally meeting my niece Amara. It was so completely wonderful!!! Last night I slept on the couch with Lucy which was so nice. Although she did jump down and want to be let out at 1:30 am... and then while we were out there she wanted to play in the snow... So I put her in her kennel... Ha ha ha... But it was nice being woken up by her kissing my face. She's such a sweet puppy. I've missed her a lot... I can already tell that it's going to be hard to leave again. But I have a Bobby that I have to go back to Alabama for so I will cherish these Minnesota moments as much as possible.

Post Thanksgiving...

I had a lovely Thanksgiving! I went to Bobby's house and hung out with his family. His brothers have gotten a little more comfortable with me and their personalities are coming out a little more... Ha ha ha... Thanksgiving food in Alabama is mostly the same. The biggest difference is that the stuffing is made with cornbread so the texture is WAY different than I'm used to. It was good though. We had the usual turkey, sweet potatoes and rolls. We also had twice baked potatoes and homemade creamed corn and of course pie. We watched football and then skyped with my entire family which was super fun. It made me miss home, but at the same time I was happy to be able to celebrate with Bobby's family. On Sunday I was invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with Tracy's family. Oh my gosh. I love her family. They all made me feel so at home and I got so many hugs! My heart was just so full afterwards! The food was fantastic there as well. The stuffing had artichokes and cranberries in it and was to die for. Tracy's sister made this squash casserole with zucchini (I don't like squash OR zucchini) and it was so delicious! And we had coconut custard pie for dessert. So yummy.

December 9th will mark the 3 year anniversary of my friend Tiffany's death. I started getting nightmares of people that I love being killed in violent ways. I think it's because of the way that Tiffy was killed and it being that time of year. It's kind of hard going through it without my family/friends who knew her around me. My sister sent me a special package though so I'm excited to get that and see what sort of treasures she sent me :) I've been super bad at emails and everything, so if you've emailed me, sorry! I just haven't had time to get here to Starbucks to reply and I don't want to be here all night so I don't get all of them replied to. I do appreciate emails and FB messages. They remind me of home and make me feel like I'm being thought about :)