C's Blog

Happy New Year, Everybody! : )

"Late Wishes" doesn't even begin to describe how late some of these wishes are... But, please keep in mind that in the past 6 months we sold our house, moved, built a new house, moved again, and had a baby. : )

1. Happy Birthday to Carlos, Steve (Arnold), John (Betts), and Angie!

     • Carlos is my Brother-in-Law and one of the hardest workers that I know. He married my sister, Kristin, in Vegas this past February, he finished his masters degree at Penn State in HVAC engineering and was offered to continue at Penn State to earn his PHD, and in June he and Kristin will tie the knot in a Portugal ceremony. I can't wait to go overseas for the first time to celebrate their wedding! I've been told that I will love it because it will be a huge and very formal wedding and reception! Happy B-day Carlos... yours is the latest wish on my list. I promise not to be so late next year. : )

     • Steve (Arnold) is my Father-in-Law. I knew I loved Bryan within the first week of dating him. I knew that I loved his family when I could simply be me around them. They've adopted me into their family and have made me feel so comfortable. One of my favorite memories with Steve was within the first year of dating Bryan. I went over to their house to hang out with Bryan, but I ended up watching old re-runs of "What's My Line" with Steve on the Game Show Network. It was fun because I think Steve thought that I was a pretty cool person to enjoy a show that he did and I thought the same of him. The old Game Show sparked interesting conversation and that's when I first started to get to know Bryan's parents a little better. I feel very lucky to be a part of their permanent family now. : ) Happy B-Day, Steve!

     • John (Betts) is my Brother-In-Law. He married my sister, Angie, in 2000 and made us all very happy with the birth of their daughter, Reese, in 2002! This Christmas, they announced that they're expanding their family again, with a baby due in August! YAY! John is a die hard sports fan and loves gadgets almost as much as Bryan and I do. : ) He was the first (official) Hoyne boy in the family and loves to stir up the sports rivalries within our family. Happy Birthday, John. Go HUSKERS! : )

     • Angie is my sister and the one who I wrote about (in the Birthday Wish to John) who is pregnant again! (YAY again!) I called her just after midnight on New Years Day to wish her Happy Birthday and she was already in bed, which is totally out of her normal character. This baby is really wearing her out already! : ) Hang in there, Gig. It will get better. I promise. I hope your Birthday rocked. We love you. : )

I'm back at work this week.

Leaving a seven-week-old to go to work is tough. I miss him a lot.

I keep finding myself staring at photos of him. Especially these photos that Nick took with his camera after the Christmas party at work:

  

To be honest, I expected to be much more emotional. The only time that I cried (so far) was last night. And that was because he looked bigger to me - like he grew while I was at work. I was sad to have missed it.

I realized that I missed work, though, too. It's nice to be back in my office again. It made me feel more like me again.

I realized how much I missed car pooling with Bryan to and from work every day. We've been non-stop chatter boxes the entire time. (This morning we discussed nostalgic television shows that we watched when we were growing up.)

I miss Isaac, but I'll get to see him today in just a few hours, and tomorrow I get to work from home! Yay for that! : )

Isaac is a lucky kid. At two months-old he has many friends.

Chase, Lauren, Jordan, and Isaac


Isaac and Sam


Isaac and Devin

What I didn't realize then, is that my parents were probably having just as much fun as I was with my friends. I assume this will happen for Isaac, too. After all, his friends are the kids of some really cool people. : )

My little sister, Sara, gave me a CD full of photos on it from her digital camera last night.

I was looking at the photos today and I found a surprise. It's a little portion of a much larger photo:

Good Job, Sara. You really captured a special moment for me. : )

Here is the original photo and another snuggly photo from the same day that I also love (click on the photos below to enlarge):

   

Congratulations are due to Sara, too! She got a new job! WOO HOO! You're a rock star, Sara Belle! : )