WOW! It has been a LONG while! I just feel like my life is way too boring, and therefore un-blogable. After reading back on my last post I realized a few things have actually happened since then! Ya see, that was my plan. Let enough time go by so it seems like I have all kinds of news :) This is gunna be a massive entry. Let me just say that there is some poor photography issues and some weird layout issues on this post but I just want to post it as is so I can move on to more current junk soon! Welp, HERE-GOES!

I'll start out with an update on my quilting shananagons!
You know how I got a sewing machine for my birthday? Well I finished my first quilt and 3 others!!!! This is quite something, because let's be honest, I'm a quitter. My loving husband admits that he never thought he would see those scraps of fabric become a blanket. So supportive. Haha. Well, here is my first quilt eva!

Then I made this orange and brown one for Lisa's birthday, (I can't write this without it being underlined for some reason....why?)

I made this smaller lap blanket for our living room with Chris's help one night when we were bored. I am loving it!!!Below is a picture of Chris's pumpkin he carved! Utah state all the way!!! It looked way better in person!

Chris and I had such a fun time traveling to Houston to visit Chris's aunt and uncle and family! Shelly and Eric were the most amazing hosts as usual. They spoiled us rotten taking us out to fabulous restaurants for every meal, taking me to various upscale candy and cupcake shops, treating us to a comedy show, and more! I loved Texas's take on Thanksgiving dinner! The smoked turkey was the bomb-diggity! Love you Shelly, Eric, Adam, Marley and all of Eric's fabulous family!!!! Thanks for being so good to us!

Then it was on to Christmas!

FYI I stole the below pics from my sister Kuru's blog. And since most (if not all) of my viewers probably read her blog too, you've probably seen this before... but here-goes anyway. These photo's are from our mock Christmas Eve party. We had our annual party a bit early so that my darling sister Lisa could be present (while in town from "Tran"silvania.) We had your standard run-of-the-mill Lebanese dinner. It was AH-mas-ing! A huge shout out to my endlessly talented sister Kara for all of the delish main dishes. Menu items included pita bread, spanakopita, several varieties of hummus, spinach fatayer, lamb sfiha, fruits and veggies, ful mudammas, tabouleh....... (don't worry, I don't know how to spell or say any of that stuff.... I DO know how to use cut and paste from Kara's blog though). I particularly enjoyed the nativity scene this year. Aren't those kids darling??

Here is a picture of my favorite Christmas decoration! My talented granddad made this for me! It is a puzzle where all of the nativity scene fits inside the manger. Pretend the lamp is a shinning star (haha)!

Here's our Christmas tree!
Anyone who is reading this probably already heard about the most amazing Christmas miracle! My boss's at work surprised me with an iPAD as a Christmas bonus!!!! I have never been more thrilled! I have LOVE LOVE LOVED it! This is the picture I texted them afterwards so they would (hopefully) know how much I love it! Thank you SO SO much!!! Receiving such an amazing gift made me feel like a million bucks!
Here is a picture of Chris ( a common scene at the cook household where Chris rigs up a situation to work on homwork and watch various sporting events all at once) that was instantly transformed with one of my various fancy ipad apps!

how artsy!

The highlight of the Christmas season was when my darling sisters and I went to The Nutcracker! Afterwards we went out for a fancy dinner and talked for hours! It was such a treat.... an amazing gift really. There isn't a "christmasier" feeling then the feeling you have at the Nutcracker. A close second is watching Meet Me in St. Louis with your man by the Christmas tree. Lucky for me I did both this year! I am certain there isn't a luckier girl on planet earth.

There have been a lot of changes at my work place! One of the more exciting changes is that Chris now works there part time. He has the fun job of following up on denied medical claims and other various billing tasks. I love seeing his cute self around the office from time to time! I am really enjoying my job! I have been working as an assistant to the doctor(s) for quite some time and have had the opportunity to do a lot of learning. It has been such a good job even excluding the ipad!
I have seen a lot of really good movies lately! Here's a little taste:
My dear friend/co-worker Emily shares my love of musicals! I was telling her my sob story about my desperate search for two musicals that have all but vanished off the face of the planet! Anchors Aweigh and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I was shocked when she told be that she owned both of them! She holds a secret weapon (a cutthroat yardsale shopper for a mother). Can I just say that the two hottie's pictured below melt my heart big time!
The Unsinkable Molly Brown isn't amongst the best of musicals but it's still good stuff!We of course went to see True Grit. LOVED IT!!!! There is hardly a Coen Brothers movie that we don't own (for good reasons too!) I love me some Jeff Bridges!!!
Chris finally got to go on his trip to Italy that has been after months of anticipation! I will be posting on that next time! Be excited... Be very excited! While he was gone Jason and I spent some quality time together! We watched Pride and Prejudice together! Not the wimpy short little two hour version with Keira Knightly. The 5 hour long A&E version that makes me swoon for some Collin Firth! All I have to say is.... "MR. DARCY!!"

In just 3 short days I will be leaving on a trip with my fabulous sister Kara to visit my fabulous sister Lisa in Pennsylvania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will also be going to DC and New York! This trip is going to be EPIC!!! I will let you know all the saucy details soon! I will leave you now with another sexy basset picture: