Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and anything else I've missed!!!

We had my family over for Thanksgiving and Tony's family from Phoenix decided to stay in Phoenix and go to Allison's apartment to celebrate.  It was kind of odd not having them down here, but we still had a good time!  My niece Eden (in the white dress) is now down in Benson living with my brother and doing well.  After eating a large meal, we finished off the day with board games, my favorite way to end a day! 

We met up with some other families from MOPS and walked around the Reid Park Zoo to look at the Zoolight displays.  I was much more impressed this year than I have been in the past and I even learned something new!  The whole time I've lived here I've thought the zoo should get zebras, well turns out, they've had some all along and I just always missed them! 

Grandma Dorothea and I took Embry to the Nutcracker for the first time.  She loved it!  Also, the usher took us the wrong seats which were way better seats that what we paid for, score!

We took Tony's family and my brother and niece's to Winterhaven while they were over.  It was fun as always, however, the best house (lights and big water fountains set to music) wasn't lit up anymore.  It was incredibly disappointing for me.  :(

Christmas was FANTASTIC!  Even though I was sick on Christmas Eve and missed out on sledding and the nighttime church service :(  Christmas Day was virtually perfect.  All the family was here (that's close enough to come over) and we had a wonderful time.  Opened presents in the morning, at lots of delicious food midday, and celebrated my Brother's birthday too!  Of course we played board games too and had a lot of fun.  I guess I just love Christmas even more now that it reminds me of how lucky I am to be alive. 

My niece Oasis and I took the girls up to Mt Lemmon to test out our new sleds a few days after Christmas.  All was well until Embry got cold and then it was just melt-down central.  We weren't even out of the car for 15 minutes before we had to start packing up again.  Quite disappointing, but it was snowing on our way up and down the mountain which was pretty awesome to see and experience.

Embry finally got to change her earrings.  She picked out some Christmas wreaths to put in.

Tony and I went on a date at some point

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 Then we had some friends over for New Year's Eve.  Games were played, food was eaten, and fireworks were set off in the backyard.  Lots of fun and even so much so that Embry passed out in her chair around 10:30.  Oddly enough, Nola was awake and ready to party well past midnight! 

And Finally we went to a Valley of the Moon event last week.  Embry LOVES this place.  I convinced Tony to come too and he continually reminded me that it was a hippie commune (which it's not, but it is a magical fairy land).  Whatever, I'm all about spreading happiness and so is this place, plus the kids were happy and that's what makes me happy.  See, happiness all around!  Anyhow, Embry roasted her first marshmallow and made her own smore and even shared with Nola!  Miracles do happen! 

So, now I have bronchitis, but I'm on a Z-pak and I'm much better than I was over the past weekend.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately I gained about 5lbs over the past 2 weeks to put me right around 190lbs.  This is incredibly depressing and even more so coupled with the fact that I stopped my anti-anxiety meds.  I'm trying to see how I do without them since I started them while in college and was under a LOT of stress and really sick (mostly with stomach issues).  I'm trusting God can calm my nerves and help balance out my emotions.  As of right now I'm kind of an emotional basket case.  I even cry at commercials, that's just ridiculous!  Anyhow, so I had the dr recheck my thyroid and it's fine, but my vitamin D3 level was low so I'm starting some supplements for that today.  I told Tony that I'm just going to stop eating because I am pretty sure it's the only way I could ever lose any weight.  :/  Bleh.