Ugly Sweater Party

Our favorite holiday party this year was hosted by Steve and Marissa. It was an ugly sweater party which we thought was quite original. Here's a picture of some of the group. You can't see Dana's really well but think tight, short, grey and silky. There's a image you're gonna want to keep.
And then we had a holiday gift exchange and it just proves that if you have a gift exchange in Texas, someone's gonna end up with a golden gun. Oh how we like Texas. Dana's photo is one he took because he loves me. If you can't tell he has on his, this is ridiculous; I don't want to be holding this golden gun face. Ah well. The things we do for wives. Merry Christmas everyone!

Newsletter 2008

Yes another year has come and gone and while we feel like we’re running in one of those little hamster wheels that never really goes anywhere, looking back it really was an eventful year. So let’s start off with:
January
Spent time in Utah at Emma’s wedding, watched Cloverfield—sickness reigned. Dana returned to school fresh from a month of sleep and Wii.
February
Dana dug in deep with new Law Classes. We found out what Texas wind is really like and, um, not fans. Dana surprised me with a cake for valentines and we dreamed of warmth
March
Not to be outdone by Feb. notched up the wind to full blown tornado levels. Tiny dust particles invaded my inner ear resulting in a few weeks of vertigo and ER visits. Also visited Caprock Canyons just in time for the fire ban (yeah, brrr) but also wicked hiking and crock pot dinners inside with friends
April
Easter Egg battles with Chelsea and Dave, a dodgeball tournament of champion law students, and the annual hazing of the first years via an all night sleepover registration wore us out! Warm weather in sight...go away wind!
May
Rain Rain go away, drown our car another day. Lubbock drainage system not up to the challenge but thankfully our car can float. Found Freebies for moms website—life will never be the same. Dana crammed for finals while I crammed in books during my boredom at work. Hosted the Brian Regan night with laughter for all.
June
Summer! Oh and cockroaches. Took on the evening Lunar Lope run, accomplished goal of Dana and Kelli having ten t-shirts that are the same. Dana launched into summer courses and I launched into Accounting...one, two, three...that’s all I got. Why did I go back to school again? Hmmm...
July
Best month for a birthday(24), fireworks, and a slamming trip to the pacific northwest. Dana took me to his old stomping grounds, we got rained on in Seattle, and I found out that crab is usually served cold. Who knew? Visited the fam (thanks fam!) and sucked in the greenery while we could.
August
Three years of Gailan plus Gailan celebrated. More family trips with Dana and the boys taking on the docile Grand Canyon and the girls tearing apart every Motherhood Maternity in Utah looking for clothes for the now prego sister. Little AMR had a tantrum resulting in auto body repair shop trip and a night in train heaven Arizona.
September
Back to school...for both of us! And just in time for our first business trip together in Atlanta. We now have enough business cards to plaster our walls. Spent most classes talking about downward death spiral of themarket...good grief! More rain...and mosquitoes! Eegads.
October
4th annual Gailan Carve off declared a tie (ok, Ben won). Lots of sun and trips to the gym to work off our Halloween candy in advance. Tried to find trick-or-treaters without looking like stalkers...found four. Work, work, work.
November
School projects ate up most of our time but the weather (70 degrees...come on who wants to live in Texas now?) coaxed us outside for walks. Dana’s B-day (26!) came with a bowtie and some kicking new kicks! Got our guns up for a short while as Tech took number 2 in the nation! Squeezed in a family reunion at waterpark. Enjoyed fondu, Kitchenopoly, and not being in class. Woo hoo!
December
Ah finals. How we love to see you go. Plan (and this is a big if) to spend Christmas in Big Bend National Park “winter camping”. Sounds lovely, huh. Actively seeking ways to not be bored out of our gourd during the holidays.
Merry Christmas Family and Friends. May this holiday season find you healthy and happy and remembering all the blessings the Lord gives. Thank you for being a part of our lives. Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!

Pinata Nights and Lights

Our big activity this weekend was the Carol of Lights Texas Tech puts on. Basically it goes down like this; you show up right at 6:30 when its supposed to start, wrassle the traffic on University, finally get a spot among the hordes of Tech peoples, only to wait another hour for it to actually start. Texas time, people. It's kinda fun though. They have the horse and the red raider guy and a bunch of cowboys walking in the freezing cold with two bright red flares a piece. Then they sing songs and jabber on the mic for a while and finally...tada!! they light the place up. It's rather cool to see but since our camera didn't capture it last year we didn't take it and man are we upset because after the lights this year we wondered around campus for a while and found ourselves in the ESC, in a land of magical pinatas. It was really cool. The Hispanic society puts on a pinata fest every year with hot chocolate and sweet bread and pinatas made by their members. Some were a little lame (think anything I could produce) but some were amazing! We had stuie off the family guy, a giant cat in the hat, a yellow duck, cowboys. They were great. We didn't stay around for the judging or to help smack the poor guys to death but all in all, not a bad night in Lubbock.

O-Hi-O

Quick blog since it's a crazy finals week. We just got back from a fun filled family vacation in Sandusky Ohio at the Kalahari waterpark (indoor, obviously). It was a blast and even with nine grandchildren and thirteen adults the madness was controllable. We got to spend time getting to know our nieces and nephews and relish all their cute mannerisms and bold opinions. We definitely have a stellar crop of Kitchen's coming into the world. In just four days we fit in (several) shopping trips, a baby shower for Kristina, two packed days of sliding and tube carrying (thanks to our manly brothers and husbands for pulling those things up the six flights of stairs), a fondue party, Chipmunks Race Around the World, the first annual Kitchenopoly game and so much more there isn't space to write it. We had a blast. We are tired but I'm pretty sure your exhaustion after a vacation is directly related to the amount of fun you had. Thanks again Mom and Dad Kitchen for the best Kitchen family vacation...so far:)