THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!

I can't imagine a better Christmas. It was filled with tons of family and friends. Our annual Heck women's Christmas party was bigger than ever with over 30 of us attending. My mom's family even had a great surprise when my uncle who lives in Alaska showed up unexpectedly at our Christmas party - there were lots of tears and smiles- a moment I'll treasure forever. And of course one of my favorite Christmas traditions - Grandma Heck's breakfast.

However this Christmas was extra special because it was my first Christmas with Adam - my future eternal companion. Since many people reading this blog don't know our story, I'm gonna share some highlights of our first few months together:


How We Met

In the summer of 2007, they "invited" those of us who weren't students to leave the Boise Idaho University Stake... so my roommates and I obeyed and began attending the Boise Idaho 7th Ward. It was a very small (OK small can't even begin to describe it!) but the Bishopric was awesome (I actually work with the Bishop) and we were all given great opportunities to serve. That's where Adam and I first met. However neither of us were interested initially. We both had interest elsewhere and it took a few months for things to properly align before we made it to our first date.

Our First Date
Actually we probably need more of a background leading up to the first date. It seems both of us have differing stories on who liked who first. I am convinced Adam was interested in me first and he thinks the opposite. I guess it doesn't really matter now, because since we both thought the other was interested I guess it made us interested ourselves. So that's how our first date came to be, Adam thought I liked him and after "Operation Pumpkin" (see posting in October) he decided he was right and that he better take me out. Good thing he did!

So on October 19th we had our first date. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse where we waited for a table for over an hour - if Adam hadn't had a gift certificate I am sure we would have left. Afterwards he suggested we go Salsa dancing. We had a good time - well most of the time was a good time. Adam was a great dancer, but wasn't the best "protector". I got hit on by this short girl. She kept trying to get me on the floor and all but dragged me out there. I kept turning around to look at Adam with a look of "PLEASE SAVE ME" but all he did was laugh! I can't believe I even gave him a second chance after that one. Adam actually knew what he was doing on the dance floor and we had a lot of fun - even when his watch got tangled up in my hair and I almost finished the night off bald! We had some great laughs on that date.

The Proposal

Everyone always wants to know "how did he propose?" Well, it just kinda happened. We were just talking and basically decided we wanted to get married and he said "well I guess I should ask you then?" and I responded "probably" (not thinking he meant right then) and he said "I know this isn't romantic or anything, but will you marry me?" I of course said yes! The next step was picking out the ring, and we thought maybe he could surprise me then and ask me. Well, that didn't work so well either. Adam ordered the ring on the Internet and it happened to show up while we were in Oregon for Christmas. When we got back, Adam walked inside first, saw the package and put his computer on top so I wouldn't see it. Dan, Adam's roommate didn't know what was going on and later said, "hey yeah, I saw your 'terrorist' package came in" (it had shipped from the middle east). Well, I whipped around and looked obviously excited. So Adam made me wait a whole 15 minutes before he gave in and gave it to me. And here it is! I LOVE it!

Nutcracker

Ever since I've moved to Boise I have wanted to go to the Nutcracker and finally this year I made it!

If you haven't ever been to a ballet or seen the Nutcracker, I highly recommend it, it was a great way to bring in the holidays. The music is great and there is some incredible dancing!

It was the first time that Mary, Adam or I had ever been to the ballet so that made it extra special and fun!

Turkey Trot- Gobble Gobble!

The Turkey Trot is soooooooo fun! Its not your typical race where the winner is the first to cross the finish line. Its a 4 person relay team where the winner is the team who comes closest to their overall predicted time. Each person runs 2 miles and there are no watches or timers allowed on the course or by spectators.

This year our team was Emily, Mary, Dan and myself. It was pretty chilly that day but the rain mostly stayed away so it wasn't too bad. We didn't even come close to winning, but we had fun!

Oh and the best part our team name "One of us has a crush on Tom Brady" - can you guess which one??

Broncos vs. Aggies - Should this even be allowed?

OK, so going into this game I had no doubt that BSU would win, and although they are also my Alma mater, I had to stick with my first and foremost and don the USU gear. I had every hope that USU would make some kind of a showing - after all, when we were there two years ago it wasn't horrible, and although USU hadn't won a game all year, they had come close several times.

Well I was wrong... USU got slaughtered! It was disgusting. Well at least the weather was good! Especially for Logan in November!

Zeitgeist!

I know what you are thinking - what the heck is Zeitgeist? Well first of all let me give you a pronunciation guide its said Zeit - like Z-ite (as in kite)-guy-st. Wikipedia says "Zeitgeist- is originally a German expression that means "the spirit of the age", literally translated as "time (Zeit) spirit (Geist)".

What does Zeitgeist mean to me? Well its 13.1 miles of craziness including two hills with total elevation change of 1,180 ft. Why do I do it? I don't even know. But it was the 2nd year in a row so I must like it I guess!

This year was really fun because I had a great group of friends run it with me, which included one of my favorite old roommates Sara who came down from UofI to run it with me. Sara actually did awesome and finished 3rd in our age group. As for me? Well unfortunately I was sick all week and didn't run and admittedly really had no business being out there - but I beat my time from last year and crossed that line!