Holidays and Miracles

The past few months have just flown by. I can't figure out what I've been doing, but I'm pretty sure I have been busy. I did two more weddings in Utah, both of which turned out really nice and in between helping Alexander with homework, planning Young Women lessons, and looking for jobs, we have celebrated a few holidays.

Halloween was sort of a sorry event at our house this year. We were invited over for dinner by a family who had been great friends with Alexander's parents. It was very enjoyable and fun to meet new friends. We got home not long after dark and I expected the trick or treaters, but they never came. We still have a big bag of 150 mini chocolate bars if anyone is hungry. We had no reason to dress up, so we didn't. I was sort of sad about that. However, we did carve ourselves a couple of pumpkins that we picked up at a great pumpkin patch and we dressed up Godiva for a good laugh. I wanted to get a cute fall picture with Godiva next to the pumpkins, but we found out that for some unknown reason she is afraid of pumpkins. It was sort of hilarious.

This is my frog:


This is Alexander's Homestar Runner Devil:


The Dread Pirate Black Fur:


On November 6th we celebrated Godiva's first birthday. I think I just wanted a good reason to throw a party. I baked a little cake and bought her a new toy. I tried to get her to wear a party hat, but she wasn't too keen on that idea.



Godiva has become a really fun member of our family. She has filled a little of the void due to the lack of children and makes our home feel not so empty. She is a very smart dog and we have become quite adept at understanding each other. She understands a large number of words and we are able to have conversations, of a sort. She is still very energetic and really enjoys playing fetch and tug of war with her rope. She is completely spoiled rotten and has no idea how good she has it and we don't even mind.

This is my favorite position that Godiva sleeps in:


Recently, we have enrolled her in obedience school, hoping it would help with her anxiety problems she has had since the big move. Her first day of class felt like a sort of answer to a prayer, as the two other dogs in the class were right around her same size and knowledge level. There is another dog, Weston, that is part border collie and his owner is a sweet girl close to my own age. I think that having Weston in the class really helped Godiva with socialization and she has honestly done a lot better the past two months since starting the class. The teacher is also a wonder-woman and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher who doesn't make me feel stupid when my stubborn dog decides she wants to lay down instead of sit.

On another note, I put up the Christmas tree and decorations a little early this year since I knew we would be going out of town. My dear husband seems to love Christmas music as much as I do (which is saying a great deal!) and has been indulging my need to blast it throughout the house. I love our tree and it always makes me so happy when we plug it in and see the shining lights and shimmering ornaments! :)

We felt so blessed when Alexander's parents invited us home to Utah for Thanksgiving on their tab, even paying extra so that we could enjoy good food and friends during our visit. My wonderful family adjust their lives to fit us in. Denise gave up her room and moved in with Natalie and Melanie so that we would have some privacy (bless her soul!). Both Alexander and I needed that wonderful break from reality and enjoyed spending so much time with those we love. We drove out to Utah so that Godiva could come as well. She was actually really good in the car and our trip out to Utah was smooth and quick, we left at 8:30am and arrived at 2:30am that night. Our trip back to Missouri was less delightful, as we left at 6:00pm and drove through the night, stopping for a few hours to sleep in the car in Denver. I think we looked like homeless people but I didn't mind. We drove through the rest of the day and arrived home around 7:00pm. I still have car-lag from the whole event.

We witnessed another miracle upon arriving home. We live in a two story duplex on the main floor, and the upper floor has been empty for a number of months, but the two doors are next to each other. We found that the door to the upstairs unit had been totally kicked in and someone had broken in. The motivation for the break-in is unclear, as burglers rarely need to kick in a door, perhaps someone was after a previous tenant or something. However, robbery isn't unusual in our area and can't be ruled out. The police said that some copper piping was stolen, but that's it. The miracle is that whoever broke in didn't even attempt to get in our door. I know that it was an answer to our prayers.

We will be going back home to Utah again in a few weeks to do a wedding and spend time with the family and friends again over Christmas. We know we are completely spoiled and are just lapping this up because we know that in the future we won't be able to go home this often.