A Long Time In Coming

Dear Blog,

Yipes! It feels as if I've been away for a week or two, but here it is already more than two months since I last stopped by to chat! What can I say? I've been busy. I've been lazy. I've neglected you and I'm sorry. I'd like to be able to honestly say that the neglect won't happen again, but it probably will, so I won't make any promises I can't keep. I'll just do the best I can to keep you updated more frequently. So much time has passed since our last visit, I hardly know where to begin.

I got a new car! We traded my very tired Jeep in for a Yukon. It's the newest, nicest car I've ever had and I love it, especially the heated seats! It's pretty, runs well and the boys have more space, so I don't have to hear any more complaints of "So-and-so is breathing my air!" It's fabulous.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Actually, TWO lovely Thanksgivings. The first was truly a first - on Thanksgiving day we hosted, for the first time, at our house. We had Zach's parents, his granddad and my brother over to join us and it was wonderful! Good food (albeit an hour late since the darn turkey decided not to cook as quickly as it was supposed to) and great company - an all around success! The second was at my parents' house with my family and, again, SO nice. I think Thanksgiving is quickly becoming my favorite holiday - quality time with my family and so much yummy food, two of my favorite things in the whole wide world!

In mid-December, Zach got to go to DC for a week to attend a ceremony during which the company he works for received an award. A week in DC on someone else's dime! Woo hoo! He walked about 40 miles while he was there, took hundreds of photos, saw amazing sites and had a great time! I was SO tempted to stuff myself into his suitcase, but that's an awfully long flight to be confined to the shape and size of a Samsonite. Maybe next time.

Christmas came and went with the usual blur of activity. This one was a little more memorable than most, since it was Nathan's first. He had a great time pulling on bows and trying to eat tissue paper. It was truly a blessed and joyous occasion for us all!

Zach's parents had us over for a fondue party to ring in the new year. It was fabulous! (And Owen loved it, too. I've never seen the kid eat so much!) It really was a great evening with lots of fun company. And the food? Oh, SO yummy! I ate so much that the fondue binge was just one of the many contributing factors to...

...trying the Carb Nite diet with Zach. We're in our third week and we're going strong! We've actually been eating really good food and we get to go on a carb blow-out once a week, so we're not minding too much. The extra holiday pounds are slowly but surely coming off. So far so good!

That's definitely not everything, but a good gist of our goings-on for the last little while. As usual, I've got other things that I should be doing (folding laundry, doing dishes...ugh!), so I had better hop to it. I hope to talk to you again sooner, rather than later.

Lots of love,

Sarah

PS - While re-reading and editing, I couldn't help but notice how many times I mentioned food (and/or my love of food) in this brief, little note. Yikes! It's almost embarrassing. But, anywho. In keeping with the theme and giving you something to think about, here's a bit of FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Ha! That was on purpose. I just can't help myself sometimes!):

Luciano Pavarotti once said, "One of the very nicest things about life

is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing

and devote our attention to eating."

I do agree; it is one of the nicest things in life. But, what else do you (and I) take time for regularly and purposefully to do each day? What does it say about ourselves and the lives we lead? Does the time you spend say what you want it to say about who you are and what is important to you? Chew on that.