Just another reason why my husband is the perfect man:

"I thought of a present you could get me for Christmas. I'd really like hand-held vacuum." - Mindy
"That's not a Christmas present. That's a Tuesday present." - Adam

I guess he was right. A vacuum wouldn't have gotten this response out of me:

PS: Remember our holy grail search for that Christmas tree? Here it is:

Everyone knows the holidays make time fly by way too quickly. I guess an update is in order. We've done far too many things for me to remember them all, but here are some of the highlights:

We visited Wichita to celebrate Adam's Dad graduating college. It was a quick week-end trip. The WSU graduation ceremony was not my favorite part of the trip; my butt was far too large for the seats in their volleyball arena. However, we are really proud of Steve. And it was awesome to see Ryan, Jenn, and the kids. We love spending time with them.

I chopped off my hair, thanks to a birthday present from my mom. So far, I love it. It weighs so much less. And according to most people, it apparently looks pretty good. So, that makes me happy.

Christmas, of course! Adam and I did a lot of traveling in the month of December. We did the typical Topeka/Perry stuff with my family. And then we hit the road for nine hours and headed towards Colorado Springs to spend time with Adam's mom and Marcella. Ryan, Jenn, and the kids headed out, too. The trip was a lot of fun. The highlights being:

A delicious Christmas meal and watching the kiddos open their presents.

Our ski trip - including the kids learning skills far above mine at ski school (they were so fun to watch as they flew down the hill), Jenn and my fancy escorts down the mountain (ahem...snowmobiles), a ridiculous dinner at Pizza Hut, our "fancy" hotel, and driving home in a blizzard (making a two hour trip into a four hour trip).

Celebrating the New Year by standing out in the cold to watch fireworks off of Pike's Peak, though they'd been canceled for the first time in 25 years because it was that cold. Hey, we tried.

And a delicious final dinner at McGinty's in Divide. The food was some of the best I'd ever had. The restaurant is an Irish Pub/Pizza Place, with a menu that includes corned beef and cabbage pizza!

Since we've been home we've been fighting a lot of illness. Adam, especially. He had the stomach flu for a few days. It's made getting back into our routine a little difficult, however Adam was able to finally fix our DVD cabinet which now houses some new PS3 games. I'm sure time will slow down a bit tonight as I watch Adam play on his new game system.

Phone call to Adam, dated December 2, 2010:

"Hi babe. Soooo, I was a little overzealous today."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I decided to rearrange the living room, so we could get started on our Christmas tree."

"Oh, well, that's fun."

"Well, maybe. See, I went to move the entertainment center...and I just started unplugging things. And then when I moved it, I almost cried due to the amount of cords that were back there."

"So, you don't know how to put it back together?"

"No...no, I definitely do not."

(Laughing Adam)

"That's not all though...I broke the DVD cabinet."

I admit now that I was in over-my-head. I'm kind-of like an over-excited child. Adam came home to a very quiet house, massive amounts of cords strung all over, and me staring at the black screen of the TV. Don't worry, it took him about 5 seconds to get the electronics back up and running.

The DVD cabinet is a different story. I just happened to snap off one the "legs." It should be fairly easy to fix; we just need to buy some plastic brackets. However, that will take a trip to Home Depot, and we just haven't had time for that yet. (A whole week later.) So, for now, the cabinet is still awkwardly sitting on its side.

Otherwise, though, the living room now looks fantastic. Including our HUGE Christmas tree. (It might be a little bigger than our apartment needed, but it will be fantastic for our future Christmases.)

This past week also included Adam's work holiday party at the Midland Theater in downtown KC. We stayed overnight at the Hilton President for the second year in a row; I think it's becoming a tradition (hint, hint). We also celebrated my 26th birthday. Adam got me a pink ski jacket with a fur-lined hood and ski bibs that actually fit around my thighs! This is in preparation for our trip to visit his Mom in Colorado after Christmas. Now I can at least look like I'm a ski bunny when I'm falling every two seconds down the slopes. He also took me out for a wonderful dinner. We've gotten pretty good at randomly picking restaurants on the nights they offer half-price bottles of wine. All-in-all it was a good birthday. Not sure about the whole "26" thing. (It's closer to 30 than 20 which is not thrilling information, but I'll get used to it.) However, maybe now that I'm 26, I'll be mature enough to not randomly destroy our living room. It's too soon to tell.

For the past few years, I have always used a small, fake tree that my Mom gave me to help promote Christmas spirit in my apartment. My little tree has gone through quite a few roommates. However, this year I've decided to retire it; so to speak anyway, I might still put my little tree up somewhere. Adam and I are going to invest in a large Christmas tree. We can't go too large since we do still live in an apartment, but we want to get one that we can live with for years to come. Adam and I are too logical to buy a real tree. They are messy and only last one year. Plus my mom is allergic to them, so I grew up with fake trees. However, finding the perfect tree has been more difficult than I hoped. We searched yesterday and found lots of too "fake looking" and too small trees. There was one that we both liked, but, of course, the store was out. Anyhow, I'm hoping we can find one tonight. Then, the only thing we'll have to worry about will be where to put the thing.

If you know me at all, you are probably aware of the fact that my sister, Molly, is nine years younger than me. Needless to say, as Molly gets older, I grow more and more aware of the fact that I have lived almost a whole decade longer than her. Molly turned 17 this November . However, the "OMG factor" was lessened slightly by the fact that we threw her a surprise party, and I got to play event planner.

So, two whole weeks after she was officially 17, we partied. She was shocked! (Even after she passed the family van, my mustang, and Adam's cavalier all parked right next to each other heading into the shelterhouse.) The party was casino-themed, "Viva Las Molly" to be more specific. Adam and I came up with games for them to play (slightly simplified). We had stations for Black Jack, Poker, Craps, and Roulette, and prizes for the people who ended the night with the most chips. Yes, we were teaching minors the great moral value of gambling. All-in-all, though, I think it was a success.

Here is Molly with some of her friends and Elvis:

Sisters:

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it through her 18th. =/