2013!

Happy 2013! What a year 2012 was!  I wish someone could tell me where all of the months went because they FLEW by in what felt like record time.  It was a year I will never forget!

 The holidays in this neck of the woods were fantastic.  Michael and I had the treat of having my parents come and visit from Abu Dhabi.  They arrived the week before Christmas and left today so it was wonderful to have them here for so long!  I changed jobs in November and with the new job I got to have time off to celebrate the holidays!  This was probably the longest I have spent with my parents uninterrupted by school or jobs since I graduated high school.  We took full advantage of the time!

We had visitors come through on their travels from Nebraska to Arizona so they helped us prep for Christmas.  We had a lovely snow on Christmas morning and enjoyed the time opening presents and eating the egg casserole my mom makes every year.  In the afternoon Michael’s parents, his sister and her husband and family all came to our house for a big ham dinner and fun.  We played some great rounds of Catch Phrase that may just turn into a tradition we had so much fun. 

Wednesday after Christmas we decided to jump in the car and drive to Nebraska to visit my grandma who had broken her hip after Thanksgiving.  I had not seen her in ages and Michael had not met her yet so the trip was long overdue.  It was great to visit and show Michael around Nebraska (it was his first time there).  We visited Grandma all day and then went into Lincoln for the evening to eat Indian food at my favorite restaurant and to show Michael around the UNL campus.  Thursday morning we stopped by to see Grandma again and then headed home.  It is about a 12 hour drive so we did a lot of traveling for a little bit of visiting but I would have done it again in a heartbeat!  It was a very cold and snowy trip but fantastic! 

 

The rest of the break was spent feeding the cows out at the ranch and staying on calf watch, keeping water from icing over, built a new chicken house, cooking fantastic food, indulging in delicious whisky (the boys) and wine (the girls) and just enjoying every minute we could with each other.  I am now back to work and sad to see my parents head back across the pond but it makes me even more excited for our next time together.