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