Christmas Survey

Danielle's Christmas Favorites [Dustin's are below]

1. Fresh Tree/Fake Tree? I prefer the real tree, but since I'm so allergic to pollen I now prefer to keep a fake tree.

2. Favorite Ornament- I'd have to say my favorite ornament is/are the South Park characters. I absolutely love them. My other favorite ornaments are my I Love Lucy collectibles from Hallmark.

3. Favorite Christmas Song- I fell in love with "Ave Maria"sang by Wynonna last year. I also love "Little Drummer Boy" and the whole Vince Gill album.

4. Favorite Tradition- I love waking up in the morning on Christmas to Dustin cooking breakfast and coffee brewing. We would sit and open up gifts in the morning. I really love the idea of spending time with family all day and just relaxing.

5. Favorite Gift Ever Received- Honestly, I do not know what my favorite gift has ever been. It is cliche but I love all the gifts I receive, even if they are donations in my name or just the gift of time. I'll tell you though, I'm grateful for the refrigerator this year :)

6. Favorite Christmas Meal- I love ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, relish tray, green bean casserole/broccoli casserole, and of CHOCOLATE PIE :)

7. Favorite Christmas Cookie- One of my mom's customers, Judy, makes these sugar cookies that are delicious. They are just puffs of air with sprinkles of sugar on top. I hope she makes them again this year and mom saves some!!

8. Favorite Place to be- With Dustin and family.

9. Favorite Memory- My favorite memory has to be when Eric and I would wake up early in the morning and get mom up. Dad would be working because the police can't take the day off like the rest of us. Dad would wrap our presents at night and then make "sleigh" marks on the drive way with his car. He'd also write us a note from Santa. Mom would call the Sheriff's Dept to tell dad we were awake and he'd come home to see us open our presents. That evening we'd go to Joni's and have dinner and chat all night.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie- Hands down Home Alone is the best Christmas movie. I've watched it every year since it came out in the theaters :) I also want to add The Family Stone into that as well.


Dustin's Christmas Favorites

1. Fresh Tree/Fake Tree? Fresh tree.

2. Favorite Ornament- My favorite ornament is the one my grandmother gave me when I was born and then the other one when I was one.

3. Favorite Christmas Song- "Father Christmas" by The Kinks

4. Favorite Tradition- Getting up in the morning, cooking breakfast, and watching A Christmas Story on TV all day long.

5. Favorite Gift Ever Received- When I was a kid I loved my Atari I got and now I'm grateful for anything I get because it doesn't matter to me if I get anything. I'd rather have the thought or spend time with the people.

6. Favorite Christmas Meal- Turkey, fried.

7. Favorite Christmas Cookie- Peanut Butter cookies

8. Favorite Place to be- Home relaxing with Danielle and the dogs.

9. Favorite Memory- Not sure

10. Favorite Christmas Movie- A Christmas Story which Danielle can't stand.

O Christmas Tree

I don't know how to turn this around, but this is our Christmas tree for this year. The angel on top is supposed to be fiber optic, but she doesn't work anymore. She is still beautiful though.

For Christmas this year, it seems like we'll be on the run for the full two week break. December 19th is my last day at work until the first Monday after the new year. That day is a full day for teachers and a half day for students. So I'll have most of the afternoon to get things arranged for the next grading term when we get back. Maybe I can get my files organized as well! Can I get an Amen to that, fellow teachers?! Anyway that same night is Dustin's work Christmas party. So after school, I'll come home and run straight to Camp Atterbury to enjoy the camaraderie of his fellow workers. They are a blast to hang out with so it will be pretty fun to catch up with people I haven't seen in awhile. That night we plan on coming back home, picking up the dogs, and heading up to Albion to spend the weekend with my parents and brother. Eric is hopefully getting to have most of Saturday off so we can have a Christmas dinner together. It will be quite entertaining.

On Christmas Eve, Dustin and I will then be going to the Christmas Eve service at our church and then going to his mom's for dinner. The next day, Dustin and I want to go see Valkyrie with Tom Cruise in it. We didn't even know about this movie until we watched the History Channel special on the real deal. It seems quite interesting. We will also go and visit Dan & Jackie that day.

Dustin and I have already exchanged gifts for this year. Last year we didn't buy each other anything because we bought mutually the HD receiver from Direct TV. That was one gift we felt would benefit both of us, and we've never had a regret since it was installed. This year Dustin got a new scanner that he wanted. I bought him a hand held scanner a couple of years ago and he was wanting a new scanner for the house. This was a pretty nice scanner and he could even put it in his car if he wanted.

Dustin got my Christmas gift at Fry's this year. I have been wanting this present for a long time and I finally got it. We were able to get this out of luck of the draw because it was on sale AND was exactly what I wanted.

I made my first dessert with this past week. I made some peanut butter cookies that were so delicious. Have you ever had a cookie and knew it was just a bit too rich and sugary? These cookies were so totally the opposite. Dustin wanted peanut butter cookies because they are his favorite. So this recipe I found at Allrecipes.com packed in the punch of peanut butter flavoring. If you'd like to try the recipe, let me know. It was truly amazing :)


As for anything else going on, not too much for now. I will definitely not be this aloof from the blog next time! Thanks to those of you who read the blog and post comments :)

Thanksgiving 2008

I know I'm a bit behind and playing the catch-up game with posting pics, but here are the two Thanksgiving pics I took. I totally forgot to get the camera out at Dustin's side and tried to get the camera out for Thanksgiving with my 'rents, but the battery went dead after two pics.

Enjoy :)
Here is dad outside in the garage waiting on the turkey to finish up in the fryer. He was working on cutting up the last pits of the deer he got.

Here is what's left of the deer :) Notice, I said it was Dad's deer... Eric hasn't gotten one yet :)


Here's dad with Sadie and Gracie eating some turkey.


Here's what we looked like the next morning, stuffed and tired!

Benefit Concert in Martinsville, In for flood victims

This was a concert Dustin and I went to in early November. It was held at the Martinsville High School gymnasium. There were about 2000 people there and people such as Bryan White, Tracey Lawrence, Jimmy Wayne, Darby (something), and Bigg Country. It was a blast, that's for sure!

Blue Gate Restaurant, Shipshewanna, In Oct 2008

So I know it's been awhile since I've been on here to actually post. So much has been going on and I have a collection of pictures to post. So please bear with me as I will have many posts on one day. Enjoy :)


First of all, we got a new camera so we brought it up when we went to visit with my parents while I was on fall intercession in October. Here's a picture of mom laughing at the boys probably making fun of me!

Here is a picture of the best restaurant around. Sure you say you know of a better one, but who can beat Amish food, right?

This was an attempt of me trying to take a picture of a combine Amish style. This by the way was the first interaction Dustin really had with the Amish way of life. We have tons of pictures because he was freaking out the whole time!

Fireproof YOUR Marriage!

This Saturday was an amazing day in disguise. Dustin and I had an eye doctor appointment in Franklin, In so he got up early and made us breakfast. We got there around 9:30 and were brought right in to get our preliminary testings and dilations done. We sat there for about an hour before we were even seen. Our doctor is a very nice Christian woman with family and marriage at the top of her agenda. She mentioned to Dustin that we go see the movie Fireproof and that it was being shown currently at Greenwood's AMC Theater. She had mentioned to Dustin (Mr. Military man) that her husband (a former Marine...ok so since there isn't such a thing as former,) a Marine was crying throughout the movie. She mentioned the same thing to me as I went in for my exam. So it was in the back of our minds as we were a bit irritated at the wait. When we were finally finished with my contact issues, we headed home.

When we got home, we decided to look and see what times and where the movie Fireproof was being shown. We decided to hit the Rave Motion Pictures in Plainfield, Indiana at the Metropolis (kinda like the Jefferson Pointe of Plainfield). So Dustin begins working on the neighbor's high def antenna.

The movie started at 4:25 that evening so we didn't eat any lunch and just decided on popcorn for lunch. We get there and the movie begins with all these wonderful Christian themes and I was worried that Dustin would shut down and not like it. Come to find out we were both teared up and crying multiple times throughout the movie. This movie is very inspirational and very real. So at the end of the movie there is a website to visit.

http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com

This website is so powerful because of the amount of resources for couples. Dr. Smalley is one of my favorite author's dealing with Christian living and he is very much a part of this. There is a couple's study that you can buy at your local Christian store or even online.

I found this last night online at Dustin's urging to check out the website. It was about 7:30 or so and he was playing Rock Band--thinking he was getting some self-esteem (those of you that play Rock Band know what I mean with the crowd cheering and saying 'you rock!'). Anyway Dustin said to call Berean to see if we could go pick it up and we did. We are very excited to start the study together and even go further into our marriage.

Now don't get me wrong, seeking marital advice and help isn't always about people having problems. Instead, it is something that every couple should keep in mind because this is our most important relationship, second to God. I will definitely keep an update on how this study goes and how it works for us. But for now please take the time to check out the website and pray for the best your family (marriage) can have.

Chicago Trip 08 Oct 2008

Dustin and I went on a random day trip to visit the 2nd largest city in the country: Chicago. We left Indianapolis around 7am our time and got to the Museum of Science and Industry around 10:00 or so. We stopped and got gas at our IGA for $3.19, got two Starbuck's iced coffees, two slim jims and headed off. We ran through some cool places, such as Wolf Lake... did you know there really is a Wolf Lake and it is huge?! Everyone always asked where the lake was... I found it! It is in NW Indiana! I believe the lake is bigger than the village of Wolf Lake, Indiana. Below are some pictures that we took while we were there. By the way, even though there are many oil refineries in the Chicago area... the pice for a gallon of gas changed twice while we were there. It began at $3.99 a gallon to $4.09 a gallon.

Here Dustin is posing in front of the U-505 only surviving German submarine U-boat from World War II. We paid extra to take the tour inside the boat and it was amazing. Everything was still original from when we captured the boat. So very exciting and eerie at the same time.


Here is one of the torpeedoes that was left on the boat once captured. We had to take the picture from above because it was so long.

This is the top of the U-505 standing next to it on the floor.


Here I am next to the coper propeller on the aft of the boat.




Just to get an idea of how big the engines were in this U-505, this is just one of the pistons.

Moving on in the museum, I made Dustin lie on the tracks because he was being annoying.

Now he's just being serious because it was hilarious.



The two conductors in our life :)


A picture Dustin took of a train.


We are avid N-scale train builders and this is an HO-Scale of Seattle, Washinton (See the Space Needle in the back left?).

Here is a close up just so you can see the true to life this is. Amazing!


After spending about two hours in the Museum of Science and Industry we were starving. Remember, we only had a slim jim and an iced coffee for breakfast. So we asked the locals where we should eat to get an authentic Chicago Deep-Dish pizza. They sent us to this place. It took 40 minutes for the pizza to cook. We bought a medium and we could only eat about one piece each! Delicious!!


The parking guy at Gino's East allowed us to park there for the whole day so we decided to walk to Hershey's. Here I am posing with a 50 serving pice of chocolate. We didn't buy any chocolate; instead we bought flavored twizzlers. I also got a frozen mocha when I had to dump out before going to the Hancock building.

The view 96 stories high in the Hancock building. We went to the lounge because it was cheaper to go to the lounge and have a drink to look at the view than going to the observation deck and looking out that way. This was a better view than most get in the Sears tower!

Here I am with my Chardonney and the skyline of Chicago.

When we got done with our drinks and pictures we decided to go see the "shiny ball thing." The bartender was laughing and told us it was known as the "bean." He said it was only a mile south from the Hancock tower so we decide to walk it. On the way Dustin took some of these pictures below on the Magnificant Mile. I do have to say that I did trip over Dustin's foot and rolled my left ankle and my Hershey's bag when flying and a lady helped me. It was pretty funny but so much pain!

Of course if it has to do with radio, Dustin has to take a picture.


More pretty sky line.



Here we are---sweaty and excited to be at the Bean! (aka shiny ball thing.)




Here is the pic of the bean from a distance.


This trip really was a great one. We will definitely be going back at some point when we have more than just a day.