New Favorites:

- Car rides to and from work listeing to Dave Ramsey's 13ish CD series on financial peace. He's hilarious and very very informative.

- Watching marital relationship DVD's by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, author of Love and Respect. He explains differences between men and women. Again, very funny and entertaining, but also very helpful (even better than his book).

- Learning Photoshop Elements while I scrapbook our trip to Japan!

- Reading Real Simple magazine (they've been piling up for months and I'm just now making time to skim through them)

2010 is going well. I like the routine I have.

I’m doing a read through the Bible in a year plan, which is great, because it helps me monitor my progress and establish a habit.

At night Ryan & I’ve been reading a daily devotional book by Gary Henry.

I’m planning to start exercising 30 minutes a day.

For the random part of our routine, Ryan periodically throws in mudding.

We’re still planning our May Alaska trip… sea kayaking among sea lions in frigid waters with icebergs, camping alone and without a gun in Denali in spite of the bears and wolves, annnnnd, that’s about as far as we’ve gotten. There’s a lot to read in our travel book and research online. Fun times!

We sometimes read a chapter from Uncle Tom’s Cabin at night. So far, I’m loving the book. And it’s fun to have read aloud sessions, especially when the reader has to frequently switch accents which Stowe uses to indicate race and social status:

It’s fun to hear Ryan read:

"Poor critturs! What made 'em cruel?--and, if I give out, I shall get used to 't, and grow, little by little, just like 'em! No, no, Missis! I've lost everything,--wife and children, and home, and a kind Mas'r,--and he would have set me free, if he'd only lived a week longer; I've lost everything in this world, and it's clean gone, forever,--and now I can't lose Heaven, too; no, I can't get to be wicked, besides all!"

Such dialogue adds lots of life and personality to the characters.

That’s mostly my routine, plus work.

Working for the government still has its interesting moments. Like when a veteran went on active duty and we terminated his VA benefits in lieu of his receiving military pay… only to discover that he had a fiduciary handling his funds (because he had been rated incompetent). So, he's incapable of handling his money (which usually involves dementia or something of the sort), but he compentent to serve in the military?

And it was crazy to find out that when a veteran has a diseased foot he receives MORE money/compensation than AFTER his foot is amputated… because then it’s no longer diseased! But how does HAVING a diseased foot make you MORE disabled than NOT HAVING a foot at all?

Well, there you have it, my life in a nutshell.

If you don't already know, Gary Henry has a daily devotional blog that's excellent. It's motivational, encouraging, and challenging.

You can find it here:
http://www.wordpoints.com/reaching-forward-blog/

My sister got engaged to Matt Stephenson on Saturday night!!! I'm SOOOOOOO EXCITED for them!!!!!

I had the best Christmas ever!!! On Wednesday, Ryan & I drove 8 hours to my parents’ house in the Missouri Ozarks.

All my siblings were there with their families and/or significant others! Travis and his entourage, Tara, and happy baby Wiley. Caleb. Emily and her fabulous boyfriend, Matt. And little Josh who is growing up so fast! (He’ll be 14 in two months!) And my PaPaw was there with his massive motor home parked in the yard. He’s 88 and still drives his motor home like it’s a tank. If you see him coming you’d better pull over in a ditch or something!

Thursday morning I introduced Ryan to the mother ship of Bass Pro Shops in the US. They have salt water and fresh water aquariums, a huge indoor waterfall, an alligator, and wildlife everywhere! They had an incredible display of Santa’s sleigh being pulled by reindeer! Ryan got some long underwear for his hiking trip with his dad in January!

Afterwards we visited Grandma Mary and admired all her Christmas presents from the family Christmas party.

Thursday night we played a bunch of crazy games my mom planned… like hold a piece of green construction paper behind your back and rip out a Christmas tree! There was Christmas trivia, Christmas song humming, Christmas puzzle races, etc. There were lots of prizes (giftcards and cash) for the winners of each game! We got lots of loot and had a blast! And we ate tons of food! My mom had made just about every delicious snack and dessert known to man!

That night it snowed 3 inches!!! It was Matt's first white Christmas!

Christmas morning we woke up around 7:30 and my dad dressed up as Santa Clause in a very convincing outfit, did lots of "Ho, ho, ho-ing!" and handed out some presents! Happy little Wiley got scared and started crying!

My mom had made Ryan this AWESOME Christmas stocking that fits his personality:
http://www.anitasarts.com/bucilla-motorcycle-cruising-santa-felt-stocking-kit-p-253.html

The Christmas gifts were awesome and I came away feeling like a pirate with all my loot!

The weather stayed in the 20’s so the snow didn’t melt! We took the four-wheeler out around the 10 acres and slid around, did 360’s, and chased the dog around. It was a major milestone for me to go crazy by myself on a four wheeler! I’ve been a little scared of four wheelers for the past few years since the time I passed out on one (I was on medicine), wreaked, broke my arm and wrist and gave my brother (who was riding behind me) a concussion. Anyway, I have to say that driving a four wheeler while conscious definitely helps your driving capabilities!!! Ryan also hooked up the sled to the back of the four wheeler and pulled people around!

The boys went outside and blasted some skeet with Ryan’s shotgun! I went out and shot a little! I was better than I remembered! Lots of fun! The kick of the rifle really jolts me, but I wore a big downy coat that absorbed quite a bit of the impact!

Friday and Saturday we ate tons of food and played more games! On Saturday we went to Silver Dollar City (an old fashioned theme park)! We watched an awesome production of A Christmas Carol musical and took a cave tour through Marvel cave! We saw a Christmas light parade and over 100,000 Christmas lights everywhere! It was SO FUN!!!

We drove home Sunday afternoon! Tonight we’re going to a New Year’s Eve party and tomorrow I’m off work!

And Ryan just called me to tell me the AWESOME news that WE’RE GOING TO ALASKA!!!!! WOO-HOOO!!!!! Yep, Anchorage, Alaska in May for a couple weeks!!!! I can’t wait!!!!!!!