Update

This is my busiest time of year. On top of my usual duties at home and at school, I also coach girls basketball at school. This is my second year coaching and it's something that I really enjoy doing. It's a blast getting to spend time with some of my students outside of the classroom. I have very fond memories surrounding basketball in both middle and high school, so it's fun to hopefully provide those positive memories for my students.

One positive to coaching at the middle school level is that we have a very short season. Since all of the schools in our league are small and have limited gym space, we play a 6 week girls season and then a 6 week boys season. This works out well because those six weeks are pretty intense and by the end, I'm ready for Christmas break! This has been a great season and the girls are 8-1 so far. I'm looking forward to this LAST week of basketball...two practices and two games...and then Christmas break shortly after!

I thought I'd give a brief update on the happenings in the Quinby home and include some pics from my phone.

Last weekend, we went with Jeremy's family to see the Christmas light show put on at Portland International Raceway. Jeremy's dad drove us all in the motor home. We had an awesome time enjoying great food, drinks, and company!

At the PIR Christmas lights

You will notice that Jeremy participated in "No-shave November" this year. The guys at the fire station all sported some funny mustaches for the month. As goofy as it looked, I'm glad that he had to shave the rest of his face for his fire mask to fit properly. Otherwise, he would have looked like quite the mountain man!

Family cuddle session

We have tried to squeeze in as much family time as possible in between work and basketball.

Favorite Christmas movie

I have already watched plenty of Christmas movies including two of my absolute favorites: "Christmas Vacation" and "Elf."

New Christmas dishes!

Lastly, I scored the Christmas dishes I've had my eye on since last year for 40% off yesterday! I'm excited to start using them!

Tomorrow we have big plans including getting our Christmas tree! Happy Saturday!

Decking the Halls

Thursday was a huge success! We spent the afternoon with Jeremy's family and the night with my family. There have been holidays in the past when having both families in town made things difficult. This year we were determined to make it a positive experience. We spread out the two dinners and were able to relax and enjoy ourselves without rushing to the next celebration.

On Friday, Jeremy worked his usual 24 hour shift at the fire station and I was looking forward to bringing out all of the Christmas decorations from the basement. I got a good start on all the decorating and thought I'd share a few pictures from my phone.

Thankful

I can hardly believe that the holiday season is upon us again. It has been years since I have blogged and decided I needed a fresh start. Thus, the new blog!

Life has changed so much and we have much to be grateful for this year. I want to reflect on a few of the "major" things that Jeremy and I are thankful for this year.

For the first time in our five years of marriage, we are both employed full-time. What an amazing blessing! We have prayed for this day for a long time and are very grateful to not only have full-time jobs, but to LOVE our jobs!

We are thankful for our health and the fact that we now have health insurance.

We are SO very thankful for our family. We are very lucky to live in the same small town as our immediate families. Sundays are "family day"s and we love the fact that we get to eat lunch and dinner with our families one day a week. Our parents could not be more supportive and we love them for it!

We are blessed with amazing friends and are looking forward to some much-needed friend time this weekend.

We are thankful for our home. Not long ago, we did not think we would be able to keep this house. We are beyond blessed to be able to come home to this beautiful house every day. 

I am beyond grateful to have Jeremy by my side. Our first five years of marriage have not been easy, but we are better off for it! I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. Life is good, and we are thankful.

We look forward to our national day of thanks tomorrow and hope that life finds you well.

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!