A Late Christmas Post

We had a wonderful Christmas. I found things to enjoy about it even though I felt like poop most of the time. The good things: I won the annual Messick Family Gingerbread Man Contest! This is actually a HUGE deal. It's a super competitive ordeal. (My sister Sara was so mad she didn't win she wouldn't talk to anyone for an hour.) Cameron's standing actually improved this year as well. I think he went from 8th place to 7th place. He he.

Mine: Shrek


Cameron's: The main guy from True Grit (I can't think of his name right now.) He's trying to look mad he lost.


Everyone's: I think it's the best year yet.
Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Woody (Dad), Jack Sparrow (Rachel), Emperor Cuzco (Sara), Monopoly Man (also by Rachel), Christine the Bride (Mom), True Grit Man (Cameron), Shrek (Me), and Ariel (Abby).

Another great thing: We got the best Christmas present EVER! We got a brand new bed. It's a KING size bed and we now sleep about 1,000 times better. We only had an old full bed before, so this is a major improvement.

I didn't take enough pictures during the break. The only pictures I managed to take were on New Years Eve when the family was out to dinner. We had a super fun bowling game after too. Though I think I had the worst form of anyone in the whole alley, I still managed to get a few strikes. (Though the rest were gutter balls...)

A BOY!

I just realized I never posted our majorly exciting news...we found out we're having a BOY! Here's the sweet pictures of the little guy. My absolute favorite is the one of his teeny-tiny foot. Although it looks like he has 6 toes.


As far as the rest of life goes, it's pretty great. The best thing about life right now is that I actually keep my food down! WAHOO! Starting at week 17, I became a new women. I'm grateful for my new-found energy every moment of every day. It's come at a good time because my semester has turned out to be a bit busier than anticipated. I'm working a LOT. This is tough, but it's actually a good thing. I enjoy the work and it's a big blessing to have the extra income coming in. It's just tough to try to balance all the working with studying for my oral exams. They are officially scheduled: March 4 and 18. AH! I need to be studying about 6 hours a day and I'm currently doing about 2. Hopefully it'll all come together. I actually enjoy the studying...if I had to be studying something, I'm glad it's piano repertoire. It's fun to pull together everything I've learned the past few years and work on remembering it. I'm also finding all sorts of new pieces I'm obsessed with....like Chopin's 3rd Sonata. A-mazing. So--to summarize. Life is very busy, but is great.