Merry Christmas 2016

Our 3rd Christmas together. 

Michael was told he would more than likely have to work Christmas. So we decided to celebrate our Christmas a day early and open our gifts on Christmas eve.

On Christmas "Adam" Michael wanted e to open one of my gifts. lol He is terrible with surprises and anticipation. So I got my schnauzer slippers 2 days early. But I LOVE THEM! I told him that he is "Winning at Christmas" and it is the perfect gift.

We made brownies and cookies (and bought some cuter christmas cookies to add) and made little gifts for our neighbors and friends.

We didnt have a tree (I refuse to set one up again) so we stacked our gifts on the desk. As soon as we woke up on Christmas Eve Michael wanted to open the gifts. So we ripped open all our presents before we even got out of bed. Im glad he still gets so excited.

After we got our presents we went and got breakfast. Then we delivered our cookie tin gifts to everyone. And hung out at the house and watched movies all day.

 Christmas morning I woke up to the traditional phone call from my little brothers telling me I have 10 minutes to get on Skype so they could open their gifts. 

Its nice to know that Christmas hasen't changed at all since it was when I was a kid at home. I think its more fun to be the adult watching the excitement sometimes.

I recorded the FaceTime video of them opening gifts and it is on our YouTube Channel. You can click HERE to watch it.

We almost bought a Turkey the other day... but I don't know how to cook one haha Plus Im pretty sure you need a special pot which I don't have. So we decided on Roast instead. Christmas Roast sounds like a legit thing. 

As soon as all our families get home from church we are going to Skype everyone and see how they are. I really hope next Christmas we can spend it with the family. 

Christmas night we have plans to go to the Oak Park Light Show. Which is basically the city's display of Christmas lights they charge you to drive through to raise money for charity. Its really cool and Ive waned to go all month. So Im excited for it.

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Our Second Anniversary

Today Michael and I are celebrating our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. 

So much has happened this last year. We got a new puppy. Got a car. Explored our new home state. Traveled to visit family. My sister came and lived with us for part of the summer. We adopted a cat. We went swimming in Canadian water. lol Just so many little adventures. 

With as much time as we spend working and just taking care of our place and things out here Im surprised at how many adventures we did have.
Michael got me a new bead for my charm bracelet.

                               

Since our anniversary is so close to the new year anyways I like to make a "Year in Review" kind of slideshow to save all those pictures and share them with family. I got this idea from my In-laws who made a family slideshow the first couple years I was in the family. So Im making our own tradition of doing so. If you would like to watch the video I posted it below and it is on our YouTube channel as well.

Thank you to all of you who are part of our lives.

 2016 has been a pretty good year for us, and we have high hopes for 2017.

The Journey of a Thousand Miles

Actually its 931 miles- but who's counting?

I was able to go down to my home town from Sunday the 4th till Friday the 9th.
I took Sam's cat Presley home to her. He hated the ride but no one threw up, so Im counting that as a success. 

Traveling with 2 dogs and a cat is not always fun.

Luckily we got to sleep most of the way.

It took all of Saturday to get half way. We finally reached our hotel after 10pm

It was also a casino (which I was not aware of at the time when we booked it) but it was actually very quiet and classy. Plus we won $12 

I was nervous about being switched to a "Pet Friendly" room, because usually they are not as nice as the rest of the Hotel. You can stay in a 5 star hotel and pet rooms are 3 star quality. But this one was Very nice. 12' ceilings and hardwood floors. 

It was one of the nicest hotels we have stayed in. And the shower was amazing! 

I am so excited for this Trip, its been almost a year since I've seen my family. 

Today when I got out of the vehicle I got stampeded by family members who were excited and surprised to see me.

While we were not able to go around Christmas break, my siblings took sick days from school and we all hung out. I was able to spend my Grandpa's birthday with him, and my Birthday with my own family, which was nice.

It was a short trip, but no length of visit feels long enough while we live so far away. I was sad that Michael was not able to see his family while we were down there. Hopefully I can arrange something soon so he can visit them.

We did lots of fun things while I was there, too many to post here. But I made a vlog video on our YouTube Channel which you can watch below:

Amber turns 22

I was so lucky to be able to spend my birthday with my family this year. 

I traveled down and my mom, siblings, and husband all took the day off to spend with me. 

Michael gave me another necklace this year. It is absolutely beautiful. 

This has been one of my favorite birthdays ever! I feel so lucky that I got to spend it with my family.

You can see last years necklace and birthday here: http://mikeandmeambermarie.blogspot.com/2015/12/ambers-21st-birthday.html

Decorating for Christmas

 Usually we wait until the 1st of December to kick off Christmas, but next month is going to be really busy for us so what the heck! 

Today I pulled out all the boxes and we decorated our house. We ran lights along the balcony outside, and strung garland around everything. We don't have a tree (as I never expected we would spend a second Christmas here) And I don't know if we are going to get one and set it up, but if we do I will post pictures of that.

 All our stockings are hanging up. One for each of us and both dogs. We cant put anything in them or the dogs go for it. But they are cute and kind of an iconic Christmas necessity.

Here Michael is sitting in a ring of Christmas lights. We took some fun festive little pictures to use on Christmas cards since it hasn't snowed yet and we cant do them outside. He told me "Being married to you means I have to do the weirdest things sometimes" haha which is totally true, but at least he's a good sport.

I will post the Christmas card pictures closer to Christmas after they get mailed out to everyone.

Welcome to the World Royce!

Today Kesley became a mom!

 Early this morning, Royce Nathan was born. 5lbs 1oz & 18 inches long.

He is perfectly healthy, perfectly developed, and perfectly CUTE!

His official due date was December 13th. I told Kess if he was born on my birthday I got to be the GodMother ;) but that didn't happen lol

He is the most adorable baby! Im not just saying that because she's my best friend. haha I cant wait to meet him in person!

Congratulations Kesley & Bridger. I am so excited for your family!

Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

 Today we are thankful for good friends and new experiences.

We spent the evening with some of Michaels work friends. They invited us over for dinner and we played some darts. It was a fun evening and we appreciate those who invited us into their family while we were so far from our own.

Radars 1st Birthday!

Today our baby schnauzer turned 1 year old! 

Radar was born November 20th 2015 in Portland. He was the only pup from that litter. And because we had first pick of the males, we were the only ones who got to get a pup.

We named him after the quirky character off M.A.S.H. the TV show, and it fits him well.

 We spent the whole day with the dogs (since it landed on a Sunday and we were both off work)

 We took him to the pet store where he got to pick out a new toy and a bunch of treats.

 He spent almost all afternoon eating his chew.

 Then we had a special dog birthday cake ordered for him.

 Wesley was not impressed with the birthday hats. "Really mom?"

But boy did they LOVE the cake.

A single Red Rose

Today I got home from work and was greeted with a big beautiful rose.

"What is this for?" I asked. "Just because I love you. To show you I appreciate you."

There was a note with it "To my sweet lovely wife, I love you so much. You're so very good to me. I love your beautiful smile. And Im so grateful for you being in my life. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I love you astronomically."

He is so good to me. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Michael goes Makeup Shopping

Story Time:
So today I asked my sweet husband if he could please grab some of my makeup while he was at the store.
I was trying to explain to him that I HAD to have the color 110 foundation. He said they were out but he could get the 120 and I said "No that will be too tan, it won't match my face! I'll get it next time I'm at another store."
He grumbles but moves on.
Next I'm trying to describe the mascara. A specific brand. A specific kind of that brand. None water proof. And then trying to explain to him how to find the right shade of black. "There's more than one black?"
"Their ALL black, but I want blacklist black. Not brownish black, blueish black, pearl black or just black. The blackist black."
"What the hell!?"
"See how hard it is to be a woman?"
"No woman just make it hard. There should be only one. Just black."
"We like options."

Haha If you want a good laugh ask your husband or boyfriend to get your makeup. But he was so sweet to get it for me and he did good. I just think its funny how complicated it was. But I am the same way when it comes to auto or tool stuff so...

I do have to give him credit. He always goes to the store for me and never hesitates or complains if I ask him to grab me anything, no matter what it is. 

Our Apartment

In case you ever wondered what it would be like to visit our home...

You can find the video (and our YouTube channel) HERE

https://youtu.be/O1aZWmZBfpQ

Amber has been doing a lot of vlogs on her channel so we have a lot of "Family Videos" up now.

A nice November Day

Today the weather was unusually warm, peeking at 75 degrees and sunny all day. Even late afternoon it was in the upper 60's. This is very weird for November, especially here. We should have snow by now. Not that Im complaining though. We had a wonderful time taking the dogs for a walk through the field, and they had even more fun.

 Im not sure if they know they are dogs, or think they are some sort of Rabbit breed. haha They dont run through the grass- they bound. 

Head over to our YouTube channel to watch all the fun.

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My super fun Drs apt

So its no big update that I have been sick for awhile. But I had such a wonderful experience at the doctor today I just wanted to highlight it.     >.<

So I had to get some blood work done, and even though I had to undergo getting blood work done on like 10 separate occasions last year- I am still a HUGE baby when it comes to doctors and needles. Luckily my Dr is really nice and had the lab tech or whatever she's called, come upstairs to my room to get my blood privately. So I didn't have to wait in a room with a ton of people. But she could not find my vein in the first arm she tried, and after spending what felt like an eternity digging the needle around in my arm (which apparently I wasn't breathing for) she pulled it out to try the other arm... And I passed out.
UGH!
So I had to lay down for like 10 minutes. And then have her try again in the other arm, while I remained laying down so I wouldn't pass out again.
But anyways- it will be days before any of those tests come back. And a couple weeks before I go to see the specialist. So I will keep an update, fingers crossed we get this figured out because the last several months have been miserable.

The true test of teamwork = Furniture Assembly

Theres a joke that says if you want to know how strong your relationship try putting furniture together. lol It really tests your teamwork and ability to follow instructions.

                                                      

Michael was just going to "Put it together really fast" before we could hang out. So I ended up getting suckered into helping him so he would come Give me Attention soon- cause Im needy like that. 

2 Hours later we have an office desk! And our marriage is still intact. haha We only had to take it apart and put it together a different way two or three times.

And I made a whole blog post about it because Im so impressed that its in one piece and we actually got it together.

Road Trips

 Every month we have to make a 9 hour round trip drive to a doctor a few cities over. 

It is an endless drive that takes up our whole day, but we always go together. I take the day off work and we drive out there. We moved out here to further our jobs and make money, so we spend most of our time apart working working working. 

Even though the drive sucks, its one of the only times we get to spend a whole day of undivided attention together. 

I get car sick every time. But these are my favorite days because we spend hours and hours with nothing to do but sit together and talk. You learn more and more about each other the longer your together, but I am always surprised the new stories and things I learn about him. 

Ambers New Hair

Today I changed my hair again. I took my natural color from the roots and pulled it down through the white blonde and added more of an ashy cool tone to it. This way I don't have to have my hair touched up every 6 weeks and it can grow out a little and not be skunk striped.

It is Pinterest perfect <3 Exactly like the picture I took in.

Below is my hair right after it was dyed the white blonde. I love the platinum, but the upkeep is insane and really expensive. Plus its not the healthiest for my hair. So I thought I would go darker as we shifted into fall.

Im not sure which I like better. I think my new hair is cute, but I miss the white too, so Im torn.