Happy New Year's!!

Jay & I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year's celebration! We hope that 2008 brings wonderful things for everyone! A lot of great things happened this past year in our lives and we are very grateful!



We are looking forward optimistically as to what 2008 has in store for us! Could be a BIG year! :)

A couple birthday wishes are due...

First, we would like to wish our friend Scott a Happy 30th Birthday on New Year's Day!
Second, we wish Andrea a Happy Birthday on Jan. 2nd!

And in case I don't post again in the next week or so...

Happy 9th Birthday to Gabe (a.k.a. "Harry Potter") on January 5th!!

Until next year...stay safe and warm!! :)

Christmas at the Gerhardts

I realized I had posted pictures from the Gerving family Christmas celebration on the Gerving blog site but here are some pictures from Christmas Eve with the Gerhardts...

Grandma & Me

Riley getting into some gifts!

Gabe with his Vikings PJ's

Micaela with some new running gear

Congrats to Bridget!

We recevied a Christmas card from our friend Bridget the other day and attached was a post-it note with some good news...

Bridget is pregnant and due June 3rd!

We wish you the best on your adventure with your new little one!

Congratulations!

Christmas Memories & Traditions

Tonight at dinner my sister-in-law Candace asked us to share some of our favorite Christmas memories. She also recorded us - and I am curious to see what happens with those recordings!

Anyway, we all shared a couple stories. It got me thinking of how all the little bits and pieces of our memories turn into traditions we try to hold on to throughout our lives. Sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing from what I think I remember from what I remember by looking at old pictures. I wish I could remember more. I couldn't think of one particular Christmas that stood out. But Tom brought up what was my favorite part about Christmas - the times we would gather at Grandma Gerhardt's house in Bismarck and the times we went up the Grand Forks to Grandpa and Grandma Ebert's house. Neither had a large house, but that was part of the beauty of it - all of us gathered under one roof to eat together, share stories, open gifts, play games...

Some of the traditions I loved were helping Grandma Gerhardt decorate her tree and set up her nativity scene, picking out a real tree each year with my parents and decorating while listening to Christmas music, wrapping presents, driving around to look at Christmas lights around town, and going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve...just to name a few.

When we drove out to our lot last week, Jay commented on how being out in the country with the snow cover and the all the stars visible made it "feel like Christmas" to him - because it brought back memories of Christmas on the farm. I hope that when and if we do move out onto a house on that lot, that it makes it feel more like Christmas for him for years to come. I hope we find a way to make all our Christmases from here on out memorable, meaningful and filled with old and new traditions which we may hopefully pass on to our children someday...

I hope this post will help stir up wonderful memories from your past...and if you want to share any, feel free! (There's a "comment" section for that).

Merry Christmas from the Gervings!

"Gift Baskets Are Welcome"

I don't have any pictures (which Jay will appreciate)...but Jay survived ACL surgery yesterday. It wasn't a pretty recovery, but he is home resting now, beginning the long road to healing up that knee...

I really don't know what I expected, but since Jay had so gracefully recovered from his tonsillectomy last year, I was expecting a couple hour recovery at the hospital and then I could take him home. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I showed up at 2:00 p.m. in the post-op recovery room to find him slumped over in a recliner, head in his hands, eyes shut. This is how he would remain for most of the rest of the evening - dizzy and light-headed at the slightest of movements or from even talking followed by nausea and (at least for the first few hours) puking. Apparently morphine and/or the anesthesia did not agree with him. We did not plan on staying the night but there was no way I was taking him home in that condition! So we spent a romantic night at the hospital together.

Top quotes of the night included:
4. "It's just a damn cracker." (Jay talking to his stomach because he would start hiccuping and feeling like he'd puke every time he'd try to eat even one cracker).
3. "Tell them gift baskets are welcome." (Whenever I would text someone we know about his condition and that he was staying overnight in the hospital).
2. "When's the last time you and I were awake at 3:00 a.m.?" (After watching one of several episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel Air last night).
1. "Is this a Class A basketball game?" (After I told him the score of the Duke/Pitt b-ball game about halfway through the 2nd half). (Keep in mind I went to a Class A school and am a Duke fan) .

He started feeling a little better in the middle of the night - I believe he ate what he described as a "delicious" hot ham and cheese sandwich at about 2:30 a.m. This morning was even better. He got released shortly before lunchtime today and is currently at home resting with the beagles.

It wasn't fun but he was a trooper through the ordeal. The physician's assistant said the operation on the knee itself went really well. Jay will go for his post-op visit on Dec. 31 and then will start physical therapy. In the meantime, I will happily be his chauffeur around town.

In other news, we have officially paid off our lot! Now, let the house planning begin!!

We head to GU tomorrow for the Gerving Christmas celebration. Looks like God is gracing us with a white Christmas as it is lightly snowing as a type this. We wish everyone safe travels and a Merry Christmas!

Almost Christmas

Well the Christmas season has really kicked in for us. Friday evening Micaela & Gabe had a choir concert (Dakota Children's Choir) which was excellent and definitely got us in the Christmas mood.

Micaela & Gabe after the concert

After the concert we drove up Northview Lane which is famous (around here) for having the entire block lit up with Christmas lights and decorations. There is a house on top of the hill this year that even has lights that flash in time with music. You can tune into an FM station to listen to while you watch the lights. The kids loved it!

Here are a couple pictures I "borrowed" from other websites of Northview Lane.

Saturday we mailed our Christmas cards out (finally!) and finished up Christmas shopping. Gifts are wrapped & under the tree! Jay's parents stopped by in the afternoon to visit for a bit. We had Jay's work Christmas party Saturday night at Roby's Steakhouse. The food was good and it was a lot of fun.

Other than that, the rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. We did drive around (Jay & I) this evening and looked at some more Christmas lights. We also drove out by our lot. We're hoping we may be in a house out there on our lot next year at this time - we can't wait!

Jay has knee (ACL) surgery on Thursday of this week so it may be a rough holiday weekend for him. We'll try to get him around as best we can! We will be spending time in GU this weekend to celebrate Christmas with the Gervings. Then we'll be back in Bismarck to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Gerhardts on Monday.

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with our families and to the beginning of a new year!

Happy Birthday Raumi!

Just wanted to start off wishing our friend Raumi a Happy Birthday from the Gervings!! Also I'm looking forward to playing volleyball with Raumi starting in January - it should be fun plus I'll get to see her way more often than I do now!

Not much going on with Jay & me. We finally got our Christmas decorations and tree up on Sunday. And yes, the tree takes up a good portion of the living room, so we had to rearrange. Hopefully next year at this time we'll be putting up Christmas decorations and our tree up in an actual HOUSE!! We're getting very anxious (at least I am) to move on from the trailer!!

On another note, I FINALLY was beaten at a game - the game of LIFE of all things. Yes, Lyndsey beat me this weekend at LIFE when we were over at their place Saturday night. I am chalking it up to questionable accounting on her part! ;) Jay and I did manage to squeak out a victory in "Cranium" though. Yes, that was our crazy Saturday night! It was fun and I'm sorry there are no pictures (or video) because it got a little out of hand toward the end (in a good, funny way)! Anyway thanks to Lyns and Nick for having us over!

We're looking forward to this weekend (yes I realize it's only Tuesday) and the big Sioux/Gophers hockey rivalry Friday and Saturday. Go Sioux! The next weekend kicks off the Christmas party season for us and then it's going to be the holidays already!! Time is flying by!

We hope everyone is having a great week!