Well, we got our car back today. Finally. It has been a long week. In the words of Joni Mitchell, "you don't know what you've got til it's gone." I don't think I've ever been as excited to see our white Ford Focus as I was today. It only cost us $930.44, so I hope it really did fix the problem. We'll see.

I thought I would add some pictures from our trip last weekend. We went to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with Anthony's family. His parents and Hillary and Matt flew out from Boston, we flew in from Springfield, and everyone else came up from Provo.

We celebrated Christmas together early at Anthony's uncle's cabin Wednesday.

Thursday we went up to Malad for Thanksgiving with the extended John family.
We stayed in Malad until Friday afternoon when we headed back to Provo for the BYU Women's Basketball game. We got sweet tickets from the dobo, Daniel Nielson, Anthony's brother in law. Daniel is a coach for the team. We stayed in Provo that night at the Maxfield's (Meredith & Steven) apartment.

The next day went to the BYU-Utah football game. We had so much fun. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I saw Anthony get so excited. We had to switch seats though because there was a Ute fan next to us and he was getting under Anthony's skin. I got to see Jill & Emily at the game too. Nothing brings families together like BYU sports. After the game we saw Dan in Real life and had Costa Vida for dinner. Both were really good. We also watched part of the BYU-UNC Men's Basketball game and the KU-Mizzou Football game.

We spent the night at Grammie and Bobpa's and the next morning got up early for our flight back to KC.

It was so fun to see everyone. Thanks for making our trip so great. I already miss everyone. I'm already trying to think of an excuse to visit again.

It's been a long week...

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you keep thinking it is a different day than it really is? It's really nice when you think it is Tuesday but it's really Wednesday. The week seems to go by faster. It isn't quite so nice when you feel like it is Wednesday and it is really only Tuesday...which is how I've felt all week. It has just been a looong week. We started the week of tired. Last Wednesday through Sunday we were in Utah and Idaho with the John Family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time, but due to early flights and getting ready we didn't get much sleep going into the trip. We slept in four different beds the four nights we were gone. Then, to top it all off our car started to have some problems as we pulled into town late Sunday evening (of course we were on the wrong side of town). Monday morning we took our car into the shop and we've been without a car since then. We are supposed to get it back tomorrow (but that is what they said Tuesday and Wednesday also, so I'll believe it when I see it...). Anyways, the point of this post is that all week I've felt like it was a day later than it really was and I am so excited that tomorrow is Friday. Maybe I'll finally have enough energy to unpack.

Our little slice of heaven

Here are some pictures of our apartment in Springfield. The only furniture we had when we got here was our Shopko entertainment center. We were given some miscellaneous pieces after we got here: a card table and chairs from my parents and a bookshelf from Tony's friend Laura. They also both gave us some drawers for our bedroom. For the past few months we have been accumulating bits and pieces. I definitely took furniture for granted before we moved here. After three weeks with no where to sit besides the floor or a folding chair, our couches feel like heaven.

Yes that is a football game on TV and fantasy sports on the computer.

Cousins

Last week we went to Idaho for my Grandma Crane's funeral. It was a bittersweet time. Sad to say good-bye to Grandma, but fun to be with so much family. We are blessed to be part of such great families. Here is a picture of me with 53 of 55 first cousins. I am on the far right.