These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

So I've discovered a few things lately that have definitely put a smile on my face and thought I would share a few of my recent favorite things with you all.

The Magic Bullet. Yes, there's a reason it's called the MAGIC bullet.

Costco Truffles. AMAZING!!! If you haven't blessed yourself with this little indulgence, you are missing out! Just under $12 for a box of 4 bags!!!

Jon & Kate Plus 8. This is my hour of smiles on Monday night. It really is one of the greatest shows on tv.

Stir Fry. After the incident with my gall bladder and the limited diet that resulted, I have rediscovered a love of stir fry. Yummy and healthy! Can't get better than that right?

The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. This was one of the purchases I made with the iTunes gift card Gordon gave me for Christmas. After listening I remembered why it's one of the greatest soundtracks ever!

Brent Brown Toyota. Thank you for getting the dent I put in the 4Runner out so beautifully! It looks amazing and you definitely saved my bacon with Gordon!!

Appliances that work! I seriously underestimated how much we use the microwave until it broke and it's awesome to have a working one again. I unthawed my ground beef with a smile on my face tonight!!

So what are some of your favorite things?

My First Christmas

Updates

We survived surgery! Last Monday I had my gall bladder removed in a surgery that lasted an amazing 45 min! It's truly incredible what modern medicine is capable of these days. We were at the hospital for a total of 4 hours and were able to go home the same day. Recovery has been going well and I think we're getting close to being back to normal...almost.

In addition to my body breaking down, we've also suffered several household casualties including our stove, our microwave and our vacuum. It seems our 12-year-old appliances have finally decided to act their age.

Tyler had his 2 month check up and now weighs 14 lbs. He's healthy as can be and is such fun to have around. He's been full of smiles lately and loves to stair at his fist raised in the air. (We'll have to post a pic of that. It's absolutely hilarious and he finds it totally fascinating!)

Gordon made it through finals inspite of all of the distractions my surgery provided. He's all set for another semester and wishes it was his last but we only have 2 more to go! Hooray!

Christmas was a blast! We spent Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day over at my parents. We had our annual Jerusalem dinner which is always a highlight and played our traditional Christmas Eve games. Thanks mom for all of the yummy food, fun, and the cute nativity! This year we played our nativity game a little different. For those who don't know, every year my mom collects nativities to give to us girls to add to our collections and on Christmas Eve we play a game to determine who gets which one. This year, she wrapped each one in several layers of wrapping paper and then we passed them around and whoever opened the last layer of wrapping paper got to keep it. We had a lot of fun playing and really appreciate all of the effort mom puts in to making our holidays so much fun.

Well, that's about all that's been going on with us! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have survived the crazy weather!

A Holiday Diet...Sort of

This last week I got the unhappy and unwelcome news that I have to have my gall bladder out. Woo Hoo! The only plus side? A holiday diet. For those who don't know (and I didn't before this "little" diagnosis) your gall bladder passes the bile that helps you digest fatty foods. In some cases, the opening can get blocked causing severe abdominal pain and then has to be removed to fix the problem. From what I've read there aren't any side-effects of having it removed. I don't think it's quite like your wisdom teeth in the fact that they are a totally useless thing left over from evolution but your body is still able to pass the bile for digestion to the right spot without the gall bladder. So, as a result, I have seriously limited my intake of all of the fun holiday foods I've previously enjoyed to avoid said abdonimal pain. The only perk has been a little weight loss. I still have not learned what causes the blockage but have heard that it's a pretty common thing for women who have had babies to experience. Great! I suppose the best thing to do is just take advantage of this unexpected holiday diet! Farewell fun yummy holiday desserts! I'll miss you!