Why are the titles of posts the hardest part?

I just wanted to stop by and post quick about some random things that are going on lately. If nothing else, it's just to make me feel better about not posting anything for 2 weeks now. It may be the last time you hear from me until after the 9th though (maybe)... so don't be surprised. This post is about nothing too exciting, so read at your own risk!! =)

The most exciting thing that we've done recently, is that last weekend we headed to Ankeny to go out for supper with Trent's parents and his sister and husband for Trent's parents' 35th wedding anniversary. It was a great time. We had great food at a very nice restaurant in Des Moines and then we were going to go to a movie, but when we got there the movie we wanted to see was sold out, so we ended up just going to another restaurant for some dessert and drinks. I'd have to say I think I liked that the movie was sold out because we got to sit and talk and spend more time together at the restaurant because of it. It was very nice to be able to celebrate with them! It's crazy to think about being married for 35 years after being married for only 8 months!

I've still been working quite a bit lately. We had our earnings release for year end on the 19th which was the first hurdle to get over for 2012, and now we are continuing to work on getting our 10K report out. We file that on Friday of this week, which happens to be Day 3 of our 4-day month close process for January, so it's never ending excitement! (a touch of sarcasm there) Our next big thing at work is a big report that is due on the 31st of March, just in time for us to report on the first quarter of 2012 in April!

Stuck in the middle of all that will be my next CPA test, which is a week from Thursday, on the 9th of February. I decided to schedule the rest of my tests on weekdays so I didn't have to try to squeeze them in on weekends or anything like that. Also, when you sign up to take the tests, you have 6 months to actually take the tests that you signed up for. And since I signed up for my first two on July 9th, my last day to take those tests is February 9th... nothing like me waiting until the last minute to get it in, huh?!? My reasoning behind waiting until the last possible day is that it's been super crazy at work and with us closing the month of January on Monday the 6th of February and the 7th will also be a busy day for me at work too, I'll then have to 8th to really finish studying and then I can take the day off on Thursday to take the test. Hopefully it all works out.

My third test will be on Monday, April 2nd, which will be the next "slow" day that I'll be able to fit in to take at least a half day off of work. It will be the first work day after we file our big report on the 30th of March and a few days before we'll start compiling our 10Q Report for the 1st quarter. And my (hopefully) last test will be the 25th of May, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and our 1 year anniversary! It will be very nice to be able to enjoy that weekend and our anniversary and hopefully just be waiting to hear about what my last score is. (I keep saying hopefully because I still have to pass all 3 of the tests I have left!)

I am squeezing my last 3 tests in to February, April, and May, because I really just want to get it all over with. You can't take the CPA tests in the months of March, June, September, or December because they don't offer testing in those months, so I REALLY want to have them done in May as opposed to waiting and having to keep studying through July. I long for the days when I will be able to sleep past 5 am each morning and watch tv or surf the internet (and read all the blogs I follow and post to my own) without feeling guilty about not studying.

I AM glad to say that Mattie and I survived Trent being gone for a few days last week without any major disasters. If you all remember, last time Trent left us in November, we experienced the flooding of our apartment which resulted in us living in a hotel for a little over 3 weeks. That whole catastrophe was right before I took my first CPA test, so it was about time for something major to happen to keep me from studying for this one that's coming up so very soon. Thankfully, we made it through with the man in our lives not being here for those few days!

Wow... this has turned into quite a long post about nothing much... If you made it through this, congratulations =) Hope you're having a great weekend!

Goodnight!

Saturday Post

I haven't posted in a while, and I think it, sadly, will probably be like that for some time. Since work started up in 2012, today is my first day off, and my next CPA test is just 26 short days away! So I have been pretty busy and all of my "free time" has mostly been spent sleeping, eating, or watching a little TV.

BUT as I was sitting down at my computer today to do a little studying (I sat down about 20 minutes ago and have yet to get to the studying part) I decided to catch up a little on some blog posts I had missed over the past 2 weeks.

Among them was this post from my wonderful friend Grace, who recently shared that she and her husband will be having a baby in July. YAY!! I'm soooo excited for her! She's the 2nd of my close friends that is having a baby in July! Yay for friends with babies!! It was so exciting to read that post about when she found out she was pregnant. It was so 'her' and I can't wait to read all about her journey of bringing that little precious baby into the world!

Another post I read was this one. I really don't know how I stumbled on the blog, but I love that I did. It's a girl who ALSO lives in Omaha and it's so fun to read what she writes about her life in this city and her take on it all. At the beginning of the post she talks about the weather last week. It just makes me laugh because it's so true and I have experienced the same thing that she did. What a small world :)

In her post she links the video that is below, called Sh*t Nobody Says. It is so true all the things that he points out and made me laugh. I guess I should say it's all true EXCEPT the "I really want a Fillet O Fish" because I honestly do say that and I will make a trip to McDonald's JUST to get one! I hope you enjoy it, too!

Have a great rest of the weekend and hopefully I will post again soon. I REALLY am going to study now so I can pass this stupid test (and 2 more after that) and just be done with this already!

Christmas 2011 Slideshow

I know everyone's pretty much forgotten about Christmas by now, and I'm pretty sure that this will be my last Christmas post until next year! I just wanted to share this slideshow of my pictures from this year. Enjoy!

Catch up with my Christmas recaps:

Part 1

Part 2

Christmas 2011. Part 2

Read Part 1 of Christmas 2011 here.

We took off mid morning from Trent's parents house to go to my parents' house. We arrived at about the same time that my family was getting home from church. As soon as they came in the door, it was time to get the festivities started!

Kellsey helping to get the food ready.

We started getting lunch ready right away. We made French toast, bacon, eggs, butter braids, scrambled eggs, some cinnamon dip, and some fruit. We were then joined by my Grandma and Grandpa Kock and Grandma and Grandpa Jons and we all ate the delicious meal. My mom is such a good host and always makes way too much food, but I don't think that anyone minds! When we were done eating, Grandma Kock had to get home to prepare our next meal and Grandma and Grandpa Jons took off for home, too.

"The Kids" on Christmas morning

Then, it was time to open presents. The 7 of us gathered in the living room and opened the wonderful presents we had all received. Again, my mom goes over the top and buys us too much stuff, but I guess that's what makes her so wonderful. I think we all got even more than we thought we would get.

My mom opening her present from my dad.
It was handles for their bedroom closets. Very nice, Dad!

Kellsey and my dad with the scrapbook Kellsey made for
him of last year's Basketball season

After we opened presents, it was time to head to Grandma Kock's for another party. When we got there we made our way to the basement and all opened our presents. We were, again, very spoiled with great presents all around. It was then time to eat again. (You may sense sort of a pattern here - eat, open presents, eat open presents) Grandma always makes the best food, which makes portion control a little bit of a problem. I could eat ham balls, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn every day. (Okay, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration!)

Grandma with her Granddaughters.
We all got scarves for Christmas.After supper we played a few games and took turns playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. That was quite an entertaining time and doubled as a bit of a work out to work off all the food we'd had that day.

Playing Just Dance 3

As always, it was a late night, and we were all ready for bed when we left there after midnight. Trent and I slept in very late the next day, and when we woke up, we played some games on the Kinect (until I got a little crazy and knocked a glass off the couch and broke it) until it was time to get ready to go. That night, my family met my grandparents and uncle and cousins at the bar/restaurant in Vail followed by another game night at Grandma and Grandpa's.

It was another late night, but it was a great way to end our little Christmas vacation. On Tuesday morning, we packed up, went over to Grandma and Grandpa Kock's for a lunch of the leftovers from the past few days (Yummo!) and then took off on our journey back home. (We had left Mattie at Trent's parents house, so we made a little trip to Ankeny before heading going home)

We were pretty worn out by the time we got back, and I dreaded the fact that I had to go to work the next day! Thankfully, I only had to work Wednesday and Thursday and then I had Friday off before we finished off our Christmas festivities with another Christmas party with my Grandma and Grandpa Jons and family at my Aunt Barb's house on Saturday, New Year's Eve. We all got together for brunch and opened presents and got to hang out until everyone had to go their separate ways to get ready for their New Year's Eve plans.

Grandma and Grandpa Jons with their Grandkids

We successfully managed to spread Christmas out over a 3 week time period, and it was a great time. I love Christmas and I loved being able to celebrate at so many parties with so many members of our family. I can't wait to see how things are different when we all get together next year!

Christmas 2011. Part 1

Another Christmas has come and gone, and I can't believe it! It seems like it always sneaks up on me and now we're another year away from the next one. It's so crazy to think how different things are from the previous Christmas and all that changes in a year. This year, was our first Christmas as a married couple and it was so great to spend so much time with my husband our families in those few short days. It was a wonderful, but busy, time!

We took off after work on the Thursday before Christmas for Trent's parents' house. After we got there, we went out for supper with them and hung out for the evening. Then, on Friday, we were joined by his sister and her family for our Christmas celebration. It was so fun to see our nieces open their presents, and to see Taylor get so excited over her new stuff. We also got some great presents, including these awesome things:

From Dayspring.com
Love this site!

Pillow from Pottery Barn

Made by my sister in law.
Inspired by Pinterest.

Then, on Christmas Eve, we were joined at Trent's parents' house by some more extended family and we spent some great time together just hanging out and talking and eating. It's always so much fun to see family that we don't get to see real often.

Mattie in her new Christmas Bell Collar

In the early evening, after the members of our extended family took off for home, we headed to church. It was a great service and it was great to be able to share that time with my parent's-in-law, sister- and brother-in-law, my wonderful nieces and, of course, my husband. It was the first time that I had attended a Christmas Eve service anywhere other than the church that I grew up in, so it was great to be able to experience the way it's done somewhere else while remembering the great memories I have of church growing up.

After church, we headed back to Trent's parents for another great meal. After Trent's sister's family left for the evening, we watched the last part of It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story before heading to bed.

After Church on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning, I woke up beside my husband, which was a very nice, new thing to have. :) Even though he's not a very happy camper in the mornings, I managed to get a little grunt out of him to acknowledge me when I told him Merry Christmas when we woke up. After we got all ready for the day, we had an amazing French toast breakfast with Trent's parents before saying good bye. It was so hard to believe that it was already time for us to leave and that our Christmas celebrations with the Fredericksen's were over for the year. So after a few hugs, we were off to spend the next few days with my family.

Part 2 coming soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you have enjoyed this first day of 2012! 

2011 was such an amazing year. I married my best friend, my sister got married, my dad got his 100th win as a basketball coach and led his team to be state runners up in the girls' basketball tournament, my parents' became owners of another newspaper, and, among other things, I was blessed enough to be able to share another great year and many memories with all of my grandparents throughout the year.

I have high hopes for 2012 to be just as great of a year and quite possibly even better. 

I resolve to continue to grow as a woman of faith and to glorify God as best I can through the works I do throughout the year. 

I strive to be the best wife, daughter, sister, and friend that I can be and I resolve to have 2012 be a year where I can do my best to focus on others and not on myself.

I have plans to become Kendra Fredericksen, C.P.A this year. 

I also need to eat better and work out even just a fraction more than I do now (which is not at all). 

I welcome all of the changes that are going to come this year and vow to be thankful and make the best of everything that comes my way.

May you find many blessings in this new year!

Happy 2012!