Has it really been this long?

I think this is the longest amount of time that has gone by without posting something. I suppose that should tell you something about how life has been around here. Just in case you might have missed a thing or two here is a quick recap:

We spent Thanksgiving here. I made a ridiculously large amount of food for my family, Jeremy Jones, his two boys (Jennifer unfortunately had to work), and Roger. I've tailored my Thanksgiving dinner to the point that Doug feels like I've reached perfection. This was the second year in a row we had the Jones' over for Thanksgiving and they seem to enjoy the dishes also. There are a lot of recipes I love, but there are still one or two I would like to tweak or replace. The only mistake I made this year was making one pumpkin pie. The kids devoured most of it before the adults had a slice, so from now on I will definitely be making two. 

Jacob had his colonoscopy on November 29th to find out if he has Crohn's Disease or Colitis but the test was unconclusive. However, they feel confident it is one or the other. Instead of following their advice that no dietary changes were needed we listened to the advice of my brother and another friend and took him off of milk, gluten and corn. Doug was questioned by Jacob's doctor as to why we would do that. However, after two full weeks of being on a gluten-free diet he is back to normal. We found that milk is not an issue for him; however, Jacob and Ethan now prefer Almond milk over regular milk, especially the chocolate and vanilla flavor. My favorite is Hazelnut milk, but we are still in between cow milk and non-dairy milk. Although I am planning on making my own almond and hopefully hazelnut milk and if it works out well I won't need to buy any milk in the near future. With Jacob's bowel problems we previously took him off of dairy, but it was unsuccessful. Now we know why because it wasn't a dairy problem it was a gluten problem. Also, three days ago we took him off his medicine and amazingly it didn't change a thing. However, the one time he had a cookie with gluten and another time he had popcorn and both of them caused him to have diarrhea shortly thereafter. Amazing! We're very curious to hear what the doctor will say about everything when we see him next week.

On Friday December 3rd my younger sister Robyn had open heart surgery. It went amazingly well and she is doing great with her recovery. However, there have been a few set backs in the last couple weeks. There were three areas where the incision didn't close completely. She's had to pack the wounds to try and get them to heal from the inside out which was very concerning, but it looks like it is making a difference. I'm still so thankful that I was able to help her and her family out for a few days after she got out of the hospital. Doug was also a trooper and actually did school with the kids while I was gone. How's that for an amazing husband?

On Saturday, December 4th I turned 40! Yikes!!! Actually it wasn't all that bad. I ran my second 5K and did better than expected since I had just started back running a couple weeks prior. I am looking forward to doing more races in the future. In addition, a friend encouraged me to sign-up for a half marathon in April. However, it looks like those plans will be delayed. I'm pretty sure I have a tibia stress fracture by increasing my milage too quickly, which means I won't be running anytime soon.

My 40th Surprise Birthday Weekend!  Doug definitely pulled out all the stops this year for my birthday. He got my friend Cammie to fly in from Oklahoma the day before which was a complete surprise. I think I was in shock most of Friday. He also didn't do ANYTHING around the house to give it away, so the house was a complete mess when she arrived at my doorstep. There was actually rice still under Audrey's chair from our dinner two nights prior and groceries were still sitting on the counter from grocery shopping the day before, so you can only imagine where I was with cleaning. Anyone who knows me well knows this was challenging for me to get past. I know Cammie didn't care, but I like knowing that when people come into my home they won't be afraid to use the bathroom or worry that their arm will get sticky because they touched my table, but its not always possible to keep the house up to that standard when no visitors are staying with us. Somehow Doug didn't think it would be a big deal and he was confident I would get over it.  He was right about that because what he planned for Saturday made Friday look like a distant memory. On Saturday I had my 5K and then Doug got us a massage at The Four Seasons Hotel. It was one of the most incredible spa experiences I've had. Both Cammie and I were very grateful and loved every minute of it. Then, that night he pulled off a surprise party for me with all my friends. I really don't know how he did it. There were a few times when I could tell something was afoot, but I never pieced it all together. So, I was very surprised, very happy and very touched by all that he had done for me that weekend.

Christmas was nice. We went over to the Jones' on Christmas Eve and had an amazing time with Jeremy, Jennifer and Jeremy's parents. Jeremy's mom made an amazing Prime Rib dinner for us and Jeremy and Jennifer had the funnest game for the kids to play. We also got snow that day and more snow that night so we had a beautiful white Christmas. Christmas day was just us with the kids. Jacob and I stayed in our pj's the whole day, but the rest of them decided to get dressed. The kids loved all their toys and we all enjoyed a relaxing day as a family. We miss being with our extended family on the holidays, but we definitely don't miss traveling.

Well I guess that is all the highlights ending our 2010! We are looking forward to 2011 and finding out what twists and turns it will bring.

P.S. More pictures will follow. I've been delaying this post so I could attach pictures, but we are still having problems.