Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We will be spending it in Pennsylvania with Cole's family. We miss all of you and wish we could be with you too.
Love you,
Cole and Michelle

Vacation in Maui video

Cole threw together this video of our trip to Maui. Check it out! My favorite parts are the waterslide clips. I was quite proud that my Mom went down the slides. We had so much fun.

Lottery?

I now posess my first Lottery ticket. No, I haven't gone off the deep end. One of the Physicians Assistants I work with gave them as part of his Christmas cards. I thought it was kind of funny. I didn't tell anyone that I don't believe in gambling. I don't even know what to do with it. So, if you hear on the news that some Illinois resident has won big but hasn't claimed their prize money it is probably me.

What's for dinner?

Does anyone have any good, healthy, easy recipe's. I know those are pretty narrowing qualifications but I'm getting sick of our same old stuff and am in search of something yummy. I am also dying for some side dish recipe's if anyone has some. In the spirit of sharing I will put up my newest find Feta Cheeses Chicken. It quickly became one of Cole's favorites and mine because it takes all of 5 minutes to make.
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I only use 1 or 2 and it works out just as well)
2 Tbsp lemon juice, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red peppers (they make it soooo good)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange chicken in 13 x 9 inch baking dish.

Drizzle with 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice. Season with black pepper and salt. Top with feta cheese; drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp lemon juice.

Bake 35-40 min. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with red pepper and parsley.

First Snow

We had a snow storm the other day and it actually stuck to the ground this time. I was so excited that I made Cole change out of his pajamas (it was about 9:30 pm) and run outside with me to walk around in it. I scraped, or rather brushed, the snow off my car just for fun. It was really cold though so we came inside rather quickly. We've also had freezing rain recently and it is crazy. I've never seen such a thing before but it can be pretty scary. It is neat to look at all the trees and bushes after though because they have beautiful iceicles all over them.

President

Cole and I just watched Mitt Romney's speech on religion and thought it was awesome. It made us think of the things we read about in the Book of Mormon about good leaders and prosperous nations. I'm posting a link to the video of his speech. It is about 18 minutes and well worth the time to watch. http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=426c0d7c-7e3f-4993-8853-c20eff674bc7

Thanksgiving

We had fun in Utah for Thanksgiving. I loved seeing my family. I went with my nieces to feed the ducks (which kind of freaked me out when they came swarming next to me). They kept trying to protect me by kicking the ducks away from me. We also went to a fun new place called Jump on It where we played on their wall to wall trampolines. One of my nieces showed us her latest trick which is doing the spreads and touching her nose to the ground. It was really imporessive. I loved seeing everyone and can't wait to go back.

Birthday

I had a great birthday. My acutal birthday was while we were in Hawaii and we had a lot of fun eating and shopping. Cole and I celebrated my birthday together a few days later. He surprised me with a cookie bouquet delivery at work which for anyone who knows me cookies are my favorite food so it was really thoughtful. He also got me a jacket and a purse. We went to Biaggi's, an Italian restaurant in Champaign (the town), to eat and it was soooo good. I like it better than Olive Garden or Maccaroni Grill. Thanks Cole! My work had a cake to help me celebrate and it was my favorite kind. It was really nice. I am a little depressed to be 24 because it seems kind of old to me. I wonder how I'll feel when I turn 30?

Vacation

We had so much fun in Hawaii. We went to Maui with my parents. We went snorkeling, parasailing, shopping, drove the road to Hanna, and ate... A LOT! I tried fish for the first time and kind of liked it. Parasailing was fun and actually kind of relaxing. I thought it would be really scary but it wasn't. My favorite thing was just hanging out at the pool. Our pool had a little water slide and was really beautiful. Me and my Mom would practice our swimming strokes and had a lot of fun. I had to post the pictures below to fit everything.

HAWAII

The Arch

On the way home we stopped by the St. Louis Arch. It is really big. We also drove downtown and saw the Cardinals stadium, train station, and the Casino riverboats (they have a law that you can only gamble if you're on water). One of my favorite parts about driving through St. Louis is they have a double decker freeway. The westbound traffic is on the bottom and the eastbound traffic is stacked on top of it. They have to do it because there isn't enough room. You are literally only a few feet away from the skyscrapers when you drive on it.

Wonderful Mall!!!

After we went to the temple we went to the Maccaroni Grill, REI (for Cole), and then to the mall. It was such a great mall. The only thing it was missing was Nordstrom. They even had an entire store dedicated to MAC make-up. I was really impressed. A lot of the stores were really high end but they also had a lot of my favorites. The best part was that they have a Cheesecake factory. We will definetly be eating there next time we go to the temple. I was a very good girl though and only window shopped. Cole was a great sport to take me!

St. Louis Temple

Saturday we went to the temple. We are in the St. Louis temple district so we drive 2.5 hours to get there. It is very different than our 5 minute drive we used to have to get to the Provo temple. It has been good for us to have to sacrifice to go to the temple. It helps us remember that all we have been given is from our Heavenly Father and we should be using it to help his work go forward. When we first got to Decatur I got to go and help clean the temple which was really neat as well.

Carving Pumpkins

Last Sunday we got to go to the Howards for dinner and we carved pumpkins with them. We love the Howards. They are in our ward and Cole works with him. Their kids are so fun! Their little girl kept calling me "Carly" and when her Dad was helping her carve her pumpkin she kept crying "Carly do it!" I was thrilled. It took a while for us to bond but I was glad I finally won her over. She liked bossing me around. They all love Cole and every Sunday their oldest son comes up to us in church and invites us over for dinner (usually without his parents knowing). We are grateful to have made such good friends.

Baptism

Last Saturday Lee was baptized. We really enjoyed participating in his Baptism. We were able to have him over for dinner inbetween the conference sessions and he is a really neat man who has a great attitude despite challenges life has thrown at him.

Summer

We had a great summer. Once we finally got to Decatur (after our Uhaul broke down in Kansas and we had to stay at the most discusting place I'd ever seen) we had a great time. We got to go to Nauvoo which is about 3 hrs away with Cole's family. I also got to go to Utah for my newest nieces baby blessing. It was so fun to see family, especially my nieces who always put a smile on my face. We also got another car...another Camry I should say. We are looking forward to the upcoming holidays where we will be spending Thanksgiving in Utah and Christmas in Pennsylvania with family. We can't wait to see everyone.

Conference

Hi everyone! We are still here in Decatur, IL. Cole loves his job and I do too because he is usually home by 4:00. We like our apartment and we love our ward. It is obviously different than Utah, but we have learned a lot. Last weekend was conference. We took an investigator, Lee, with us and he went to all 5 sessions. He is an older retired man that lives alone. He is set to be Baptized tomorrow. It was different watching conference at the church but I do have to say I think it is the only conference we didn't fall asleep during:) I liked watching it with Lee because it helped me think about the talks more and how he might be understanding them. I loved the talk on looking for God's hand in your life each day. I know I often don't recognize the blessings I've been blessed with because I choose not to look for them. We have felt our Heavenly Fathers hand in our decision to move and while we have been here. I especially have had the comfort of the Holy Ghost to help me while we have been here. Don't get me wrong, I still get homesick every now and then, but I have felt the peace the Spirit can bring in helping you through changes and trials. We are thankful Heavenly Father cares about us enough to lead us and shape us. Love to you all!