Well... we made it home. After a long and uneventful car drive. But that is good. No coppers... no road kill... no flats or other various car issues... and no extra stops along the way. And the famous mistake Matthew and I usually make at least once: we did not get lost of think we got lost. So we never had to pull over just to check and double check directions. That gets us every time. The drive was good. We both got in some good nappage and the actual driving went well. Harry Potter via iPod isn't a bad car companion either. Jim Dale sure knows how to make a long drive go faster... seemingly at least.

So I am home... I have gotten my first good snow of the season... and the first real snow I've seen in about 2 years. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas I didn't get any snow, much to my dismay. And Virginia snow does not count. This Thanksgiving it snowed... and it even stayed on the ground for me to look at... but it was nothing to talk about. But last night, oh last night, we got snow. A good half a foot at least. So this morning while driving to church we had a few slips and spins... excellent. And I proudly shoveled my first driveway today! And found out I'm a wimp and not cut out for jobs such as this! The stinkin shovel just would not shovel! Matthew helped me though and we had his driveway cleared in no time. When I'm older, I definitely want to live in a neighborhood that gets it's driveways as well as it's streets snowplowed.

We had a delicious lunch at the Ivesons. No, not Matt's parents... Matt's grandparents. His parents are currently in Texas helping Jamie move into her new house! Hooray for their new house! I'm so excited for Josh and Jamie. I hope to go visit someday! So Matthew and I headed over to the grandparents for an excellent home cooked meal! How I love Grandma food. I don't like to brag... well, ok I do... but my fiance has an extraordinary set of gradnparents. They are pretty much the sweetest people you'll ever meet. I am so thankful to have them as part of my future set of in-laws. I have three wonderful grandparents myself, but the Ivesons will definitely be welcomed into my life!

Yesterday was also the Big Bonnell Christmas party. So one down... a few more to go. It was fun. A good time to get together and let all the great-grandchild generation get together. My cousin had a baby in October, so it was fun meeting him as well. We played this fun game that Matthew and I won, well actually I won it... but we're splitting the prize money! The kids played it first. They had to roll these giant dice and if they got doubles they put on a santa hat and some mittens and began opening a present. There were several different boxes inside the first box and they had to keep opening. Deep in the presents was a green candycane. Each time someone else got doubles the child opening the box had to stop and it was the other kids turn. All the while the dice are being rolled around the circle. It sounds kind of lame... but it gets really exciting. After the kids were done it was the grandchildren generations turn to play. And we got into it! I rolled the first doubles so I started. After the first box were two boxes inside and multiple boxes inside each of those. We had on oven mitts too... harder than you would think to open wrapping paper. So there we are... a bunch of 20-33 year olds throwing around dice and wrapping paper and oven mitts. After a long haul, I found the green candy cane and Matthew and I got a nice sum of money for a prize. That will be nice for a date sometime soon!

Tomorrow I have the first fitting for my dress. So excited. Some good bride, mom, and maid of honor time. The boutique I bought my dress at is doing the alterations. I'll have it fitted now, over spring break if I come home, and immediately after I come home after graduation. So it should fit perfectly for the wedding! We called the boutique and they said they should have the shoes I want in stock for us to purchase and use for the alterations. I hope so. I have known these were going to be my wedding shoes for about 2 years now. I cut out the picture my freshman year and was so upset when I thought they had been discontinued! But I found them! So exciting!

I am very blessed with the life I have. This is going to be an excellent Christmas break!

Oh yes, how could I forget? My husband-to-be is now a college graduate! I am so proud of him! He pushed through and even got a 4.0 GPA for his final semester! Now he is all finished and ready to enter the workforce for good. He'll begin his new position at the hospital January 12th. I am so proud of him. I have been so blessed. I still don't quite know how we worked out and how we fell in love. It was all God bringing us together. Everything was against us getting together, but now we're graduating from college, we're getting married, we're starting our lives together, and our families and friends support us 100%. I am so blessed.