The Big Bash

So, today will be my last full day at field for the semester. I'm sure I should be upset that I'm leaving for a whole month on winter break, most honestly I am soooooo happy! I get to spend my break with my daughter and visit my parents a couple times a week. Plus, I will also get the rest of the week off to work on my finals that are due this Tuesday and Wednesday. :) Here is the recap of the weekend happenings.

The weekend flew by! On Friday my whole family got together and went out to dinner. This event happens just once a year, and all the adults in my family go out. It gives us all time to connect and talk about life happenings. This Friday was especially important because my aunt flew in from NV to visit. We ate a lot and visited. I found out that my aunt who flew in from NV almost didn't make her flight. Apparently she had a steak knife in her carry-on. She claims she has no idea how it got there, but I have to ask how do you not know that there is a steak knife in your purse? I think my aunt might be losing it a little...unless by some act of God her dog put it there... I also learned about the new name my cousin and his wife are thinking about naming their soon-to-be-son. She is expecting any day now so it was nice to see her.I asked her about possible names (since they know it is going to be a boy) and she said the only name they could agree on was Colby Cole. Now I'm not sure what everyone else thinks but all I could say was "wow, how interesting" for everyone who hasn't read the book "Eats, Poops, and Leaves" you really should read it (especially for all of you who are expecting). My statement makes a lot more sense after you read it. ;) I guess the kid could have a worse name...but I really can't think of one...whenever I hear it I just think of cheese, and that's probably not something I should be thinking about. That's really not the only issue though- when I named my daughter I made sure it was a name that she could live with, a name that no one would make fun of. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about such things, after all I'm sure Apple is doing just fine...

On Saturday my husband and I helped my parents make all the food for my daughter's birthday (or rather he slept in and my parents and I made all the food). We made potato salad, grape salad, striped jello, and punch. Since I had dropped Julia off at my husband's parent's house, we were baby-free Friday night and all of Saturday. This is a rare occasion. After making the food for the big #1 birthday, we went grocery shopping for all the little odds and ends. Finally after that was done and we were all packed up and ready to go home we decided to see a movie. I truly miss being able to just "see a movie", I remember when my husband and I were dating we saw a movie at least once a week. So seeing a movie is a favorite pastime which we don't often get to enjoy since having our daughter. We decided to see Old Dogs, although it was a really corny, mushy movie, it had a lot of funny moments and left us laughing out loud. Afterward we went to our favorite place-Renzos. They make the best pizza turn-overs in the world. Overall Saturday was a wonderful day, and it was really nice to reconnect and spend some quality time with my husband, who I don't get to see all that often despite living together (since we spend so much time buzzing around the apartment and taking care of our daughter).

Sunday was the big day. It was my daughter's first birthday party. We set up and argued over decorations and table placement...but in the end it looked amazing. The food was all set up and the tables were all ready...the decorations were on the walls...everything just turned out perfectly. That is until people started showing up. There ended up being around 50 people there. Since none of my family or his RSVP'ed I wasn't expecting that many people. We had just enough chairs for our family, but many of our friends had to stand. Luckily we had enough food for everyone! After everyone ate and we passed out cake for everyone my husband suprised me with a gift. His coworker puts dvd's together filled with pictures, and he had her put together a dvd of our daughter's first year. It brought tears to my eyes...although I wasn't too happy about the "hospital pictures" and of our daughter all naked and goopy. But alas it stays true to the events of her first year. After wiping the tears from my cheeks my husband set up the pinatta for the kids, which they liked, and Julia opened her many gifts (with the help of some of my friends). The party was soon over and after hours of cleaning and packing things up, we spent another couple of hours unboxing all the toys so she could play with them the next morning. Did you ever wonder why toys are packaged the way they are? Now, logical would tell me that they are packaged so tightly in order to prevent theft and product damage. But, is it really necessary to zip-tie every single corner? Getting into a toy is about as difficult as getting into a cd--if not worse. Don't even get me started on the hard plastic enclosures, while toys do look pretty in them, they are almost impossible to get out of them. It probably took us longer to open the damn things then it took to shop for, buy, and wrap them...

On a good note, it's my last day for the semester, have a wonderful holiday season everyone. :)