HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Don't worry, I am not trying to be politically correct -- I will be saying "Merry Christmas" all break -- but happy holidays is the title because I haven't posted pics from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas! oops!

The pics here are not the greatest, we need some of Shaun's! But from the pieced together pics here hopefully one thing is discernible: Love. We were fortunate enough to have the Stahle's come all the way here for Thanksgiving! We had a great time with them, eating delicious home-made food, delectable desserts, and even got to watch (and play in) some good basketball games! It was fun for Tyler and I to both have someone on the sidelines cheering for us, and more importantly, family to celebrate with. Major memorable moments happened even: Jaimee faced her fear of dogs (who can deny Lydie?!) Noel & Becky watched 2 basketball games, and Tyler and I had our first real Thanksgiving together! It was fun to eat a beautiful and delicious thanksgiving meal with the Stahle's and then to come back to our apartment, re-heat the food, and have Brenda Steele over for thanksgiving dinner part 2. I felt blessed to have been surrounded by family (especially considering my teammates spent thanksgiving at HyVee...) but the best part was seeing how my family has grown. I am glad to be a Stahle! And I am even more thankful and grateful for my thoughtful, kind, handsome husband. We are so blessed to have good families and to love spending time together with them.

Speaking of which we can't wait to see everyone for Christmas!! Thank you again for helping us come home, it means more than you know. We have begun to get in to the Christmas spirit starting with our branch Christmas party and continuing with the chance to help at the Nelson Pioneer Farm Christmas Celebration. Tyler and I were the School Masters and were stationed at the lil one-room school. We talked about and read some recitations, had a spelling bee of Christmas words, and helped a few families make chain-link count downs to Christmas! It was fun to sit in the candle-lit room with frosted windows and think how school and holidays must have been in the old days. How simple, and honest it must have been....especially in contrast to the flashy present filled holidays we now experience. All in all it seemed like a very well put together program with carriage rides, lights, festive music and cold, snowy weather.

Now we've got our Christmas music going, our sparkling cider out, and... our basketball bags packed for two more games :) Nothing says Christmas to college athletes like one more tourney! Thankfully, afterwards we will have a long break and we can't wait to see the fam, the christmas lights, the snow covered mountains, and to feel the warmth of the Christmas Season among our loved ones. Thanks again everyone! Can't wait to see you :)

Playin the Game

WILLIAM PENN BASKETBALL

I will try and make up for my lack of posts by mashing all the recent pics and memories into two collages! Sorry I haven't updated this much, but things get a lil busy, believe it or not. But now that finals are done and we are nearing the Christmas break, I thought it would be  a great time to catch up and reflect on some of the experiences we have had over the last few months.

We have been playin' the game of life and mostly winning! Best news is that basketball has been good to us both here at Penn as well, which makes life even the more sweeter. The men's team is doing great with a 9-4 record (and I hear they have the conference's best looking 3-point shooter, number #15). Tyler is enjoying his role on the team and Coach Henry has pretty much told him to shoot if he even sees the rim! He is doing great and having a good time. The women's team is...well struggling right now. Overcoming a few arrests (2 of our starters and leading scorers) is taking its toll on the team and we are all ready for this upcoming break. We're hanging in there with a 7-6 record....but should be doing a lot better. Both teams hope to improve that record by two wins before we head back to UTAH for a much anticipated Christmas Break! The talk of the teams is if the Stahle's will sit by each other on the long bus ride to Kansas... :) We are excited to finally start traveling TOGETHER and getting to watch some of each other's games during conference play.

The women's team volunteered at the Senior Care Center here in Osky last saturday and all I have to say is that someday I hope I am as cool as our friend Fancy! They are some funny people and we enjoyed playing "who am I? Christmas addition" after painting nails and reading to several residents. I think everyone had a good time, if not they pretended to pretty well, which is a step forward from the somewhat negative attitude we have been having as a team. It was sad to see some of the residents so down during the Christmas season because of their families not being there, but it was nice to bring them a few smiles and it certainly brightened my day. We hope to go to the Children's Hospital in Des Moines when we get back from break.

Lastly but not near least, we are both trying to find missionary opportunities with our teammates and we have really begun to feel accepted, respected, and loved as part of the teams we are on. Either they realized that being mormon married and old isn't that weird.... or they have become comfortable with our weirdness, either way we're grateful to have more friends and "family" here in Osky.