countdown.

Hello, hello! We are just 25 hours away from Christmas break starting (a whole week of vacation!) and I am super excited. Here's a list of things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order):

1. Home cooked meals
2. Snow
3. Small town
4. Family and friends
5. Flying with Nate
6. Board games
7. Kansas plains
8. Colorado Rockies
9. skiing/snow fun/hot tubbing
10. New family

Friday night Nate and I used a gift card and had date night at Chili's.

Saturday morning I wanted to head to Walmart to find a solution for our cat litter boxes. I asked Nate, "Should I take a shower first?" Nate: "It's up to you, babe." Me: "I don't want to end up on peopleofwalmart.com."

It turns out I didn't take a shower and fortunately still didn't make the site and I found this wonderful litter box that has a built in scoop/sift tray so that when it's time to change the litter box I don't have to mess with trash bags and a pooper scooper. I just lift the tray up and the clean litter sifts back into the pan and everything else gets thrown away. Maybe that's more information than you wanted to know, but it has made our lives easier. And it comes with tall sides so they can't push the litter out onto the floor. Yay!

In preparation for our trip to Colorado, I also found some boots at Walmart for $14. Seriously a good buy. They look like those UGG boots that cost probably 10 times as much and they are warm. Nate and I went to Essex Bargain Hunt and found ski pants for me for just $25. You can't get them for less than $60 online, sometimes up over $100. They fit perfect; I've been wearing them around the house because they are so comfy.

We are hitting Kansas for a few days, then flying to Colorado to celebrate what Nate calls "Hanakklaus." For the Jones family Christmas, everyone is bringing board games for a gift swap and then we get to play all the games! Nate and I are bringing two games: Quiddler and Wits and Wagers. Maybe that was supposed to be a surprise, but hopefully none of the fam will check out my blog before then. :) I am really excited to play both games. Quiddler is more of a word/card game like Scrabble, so I am more excited about it than Nate is. Wits and Wagers is fun because everyone answers a trivia question, and then you place bets on who is correct. You get points if people bet on you or if you bet on the right person.

Nate and I haven't had a week off since the honeymoon (five and a half months ago) so we are so ready for this trip.