Out with the old, in with the new.

Happy New Year's Eve!! Yep, it's hard to believe but December 31st 2009 is here, which means that January 1, 2010 is just hours away. They say "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves" So. . . Which are you?? I have to say I am the optimist. Jeff and I have had yet another wonderful year and we have no reason to wish that a great 2009 to come to an end but we are very excited to see what 2010 has in store for us. Things on our to do list for 2010. . . . Me, to finish school. We want to sell our house. (There is just so little room here for us to start a family. Come on, we are just shy of 900 sq ft.) And once I can get finished with school and we sell our house we want to move on to the next phase of our married life and begin family planning.

As I mentioned 2009 has been a great year. It's been hard for many families with the loss of jobs and the failing economy. Lucky for us, we both have good jobs that have a lot of over time up for the taking. Another great thing about 2009 is that Jeff and I have experienced all of our "married firsts." (Valentine's Day, our first wedding anniversary, etc. . .)

In 2009, I was able to start school, we were able to celebrate my cousins wedding with him and his new wife, Kendra, we were able to see my cousin MJ off to basic training and join him during his graduation from BT, we celebrated his being home over the holiday by having a family get together in November. We have been blessed to be part of the joy of so many of our friends and their news of expecting. Most importantly we have been lucky to have good health for ourselves and our families and friends. Those are just a few of the amazing things that 2009 has brought into our lives. We hope that you were all blessed with an amazing year as well and we wish you the best in 2010. Hoping for health, wealth, and happiness to all.
Have a fun and safe New Years Eve.

Christmas at the In Law's

Christmas with the In Law's

We headed to Jeff's parents on Christmas Day around noon. I had made hash brown casserole, which was WONDERFUL I might add. So, we started our visit off with breakfast, after that we watched Hangover. (It was so funny and I'd recommend it but not for small children.) Joe and Pam then started playing Santa and handing out gifts. We got some really great and much needed Christmas gifts but the best gift of all was having Jeff's Grandma Deeds here with us this year. She usually goes to Florida so Christmas with her is usually a telephone that is passed through the house and family for a quick "hello" and "Merry Christmas." It was wonderful having her home this year and we hope that there are many more to follow. = )
We then had a wonderful dinner then it was nap time for me while the others watched another movie. I was awaken by the lovely voice of my sister in law, Stacey who had arrived to spend the afternoon with us. We then opened gifts with her and her fiance' Dave. We wrapped up the evening with a gathering of friends at Joe and Pam's. GREAT wine (Thanks Joe), good snacks, and a fun game of Guys vs Girls scattergories. P.S. GIRLS WON!!! WE ROCK!!! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Keep Warm. The Duval's!

Christmas Morning at the Duval's.

This is my first year not having to work either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so we were very excited to spend it together at home. Christmas Eve we spent cuddled up on the couch watching classic Christmas cartoons. Many of which we could refer back to our childhood. Frosty The Snowman, Here Comes Santa Claus, Twas' the night before Christmas, etc. . . The one I missed out on was Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus but that's okay, there is always next year. After countless hours of cartoons and laying on the couch (and drinking hot cocoa) we decided it was time for bed. . . Santa would be visiting soon.

Christmas morning came quick, as we didn't get to bed until late but sleeping in was great!!! We opened our gifts from "Santa and Mrs. Claus" before heading to Jeff's parents. We had a wonderful Christmas. We hope you all did as well.

Christmas with the Derflinger side.

To start off, I am very excited that I have both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off from work this year. I actually have the 21st-25th off so Jeff and I made the decision to NOT travel this year. As much as we love our road trips and spending the holidays with our families we wanted to have Christmas in our own house without having to be rushed or tired. So. . . we handed an invite to my parents to come visit if they would like. My mom and Ron came up to visit on Tuesday afternoon. It was really nice to spend time with them. We spent time together, then had our Christmas with them, followed by dinner with the Duval's and Grandma Deeds. We really had a great time.
Christmas Eve, Jeff and I spent the day together being lazy, watching classic Christmas cartoons, Christmas movies, and cooking together. (It's not often we are both home for an entire day together, we are both just so busy.)

Our plans for Christmas Day is to have our Christmas at home together then go to the Duval's for Christmas with Jeff's parents, sister, soon to be brother in law, and Grandmas Deeds. The exciting part about Christmas this year is that this is our first Christmas with Grandma Deeds, she usually goes to Florida. . . this year however; she decided to brave the cold, snow, and ice and stay here with us. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Tis the season.

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I am so excited that the Christmas holiday is FINALLY here!!! I have been off work for five days and still have two more off before heading back in for my final two working days before Christmas. I was down and out over the weekend due to a touch of some food poisoning but feeling great now.
Jeff and I went to Stanger's Tree Farm last week and picked out our Christmas tree, decorated it, and it looks beautiful!!!! Every year I try and talk him into an artificial tree and every year he tells me I can get one but I can't put it up in any house he lives in. (I just think that it would be so easy if I had a tree that already had lights on it. LOL!!) So, every year we go to Stangers, get a real Scotch Pine, and every year it turns out to be amazing. It always looks so pretty, smells so good, and it's so much fun going and picking it out, bringing it home, and doing all the prep work.

After getting the tree up and decorated and the gifts wrapped I started my holiday baking. I spent a day and a half baking peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookie cut-outs, and much more!!! I simply love Christmas and I hope you all are having a great holiday. Merry Christmas!!!
Love - The Duval's!!

The five days of travel

What a busy Thanksgiving holiday I had. It involved lots of traveling, friends, family, great food, and time away from my husband but it was great! On Friday I traveled to Bloomington where I met up with Jeff. It was great b/c we were able to spend time with my cousins. It was nice to have Matt James around. He was gone to basic trainning for four months so we were very excited to have him home for the holiday. Saturday we had our winter family get together. It was great, we had family from Evansville, Bloomington, and even my brother there from St. Louis. We hung out, did some catching up, had great food, and some of us ended the night with a camp fire. (I've included a few photos from the get together) On Sunday my husband headed home b/c he had to return to work on Monday and I was Terre Haute bound. I was BEAT from the two busy days before so my dad and I went out for dinner, did some catching up, then I went to bed. Monday morning I had breakfast with a friend, then continued my trip and headed to Anderson. I spent the day/night with my friend, Nikki. We did some wedding stuff (she's getting married in July), we went for lunch, played make-up (she sells Mary Kay) she gave me my own, private piano lesson (she's also a piano teacher) then headed out for some DQ. It was a great day. On Tuesday I finished up my trip with a drive to Ball State to do a class lecture, which I do each sememster. It went great and I loved having my friends and family there with me this time. It really was a great time. I was in the car for a LOT of hours but it was all worth it. I hope all of you had a very Happy Thanksgiving. And now that Turkey Day has come and gone. . . bring on Christmas!!! =)

For Sale

It's official!!!! Our house is now up for sale. We are very excited, yet slightly nervous. We are so ready to sell our VERY small, starter home and buy our "raise our kids in/grow old together in" home but slightly nervous because we know that the market is down right now - in turn making market value of our house down as well. After a lot of thought we have decided that it could take a long time for the market to build back up and frankly, we don't want to wait that long. So. . . here we are, The Duval's are now selling their home and will soon be looking for their dream home. Wish us luck.

Gavin!!!

It's hard to believe that Gavin is now 15months old. He's such a doll. I get frequent updates from my brother on how he is doing, the new things he is learning in life, and all the things he likes to get into. Like all boys that are 1.5yrs old he enjoys his life of learning. Mommy and daddy spend a lot of time with him, teaching him the most important things he needs to learn at this point in his life. It's been a long time since I've seen him so I am very excited to see him at Thanksgiving. Don't worry . . . I'll have my Nikon in hand. I've included a few updated photos of him. (Thanks to my sister in law and my brother for posting new photos so often.) All I can say is that he loves his PB&J and his blocks. Enjoy!!!

Notre Dame vs Washington Pep Rally.

This evening Jeff and I met up with the Kulman family and headed over to Notre Dame for the pep rally. This rally was outside unlike some that are held at the football stadium. They had food/drinks, a DJ, the ND matching band, and some great "speakers." We had a blast. After the pep rally we all headed over to the football field. With the wonderful perks that my hubbys gets by being an employee we all went in and played inside the stadium. The kids had a blast and can't wait to go back for the ND vs USC pep rally in two wks, which is going to be inside the stadium. That one will be great!! It always is.

Happy Birthday, Jeff

May 24th is Jeff's birthday so this is my blog to him. = )
My wonderful husband is now 35 yrs old. I have to say that with every day older he gets the more wonderful, more loving, more caring, and more handsome he becomes. I'm truly blessed to have him in my life and as my husband. We most often times spend his birthday together in Bloomington at our summer cabin, our most favorite place in the world. This year however; we had a slight change in plans. While I'm spending his birthday (and the Memorial holiday) working, he is spending it in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a volleyball nationals tournament. As much as I know he misses me (he he) I know he has enjoyed his day participating in his favorite sport.

Happy Birthday babe. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I love you!

Gavin Brody is turning one!!

Well, almost one year ago my beautiful sister-in-law and handsome brother blessed us with the most amazing gift one can receive, my cute as a button nephew, Gavin Brody. Even though his birthday is still a few days away we celebrated a tad early. . . SO on May 16th we had a birthday party for a one year old. It was such a success and a ton of fun!!! Gavin loved his gifts, meeting his second cousins again, and most importantly, digging in to the chocolate cake. He was a little taken by all the "strangers" around but quickly warmed up to everyone and ended up having a fun time.

Getting Started

So, blogging is a new found friend of mine, at least blogging more than just on My Space. = ) My friend, Crystal sent me a suggestion to blog and with Jeff and I living so far away from everyone it only seems appropriate to do so. It's such a great way to keep everyone updated on our busy/hectic lives. Besides that, our families are so big and spread out all over the state, it's an easy way to keep in touch. . . . well, that and the wonderful world of Facebook.
Have a blessed day.
- S & J -