What a Weekend!

This weekend was crazy busy, but was good too.

It really started on Thursday afternoon when we got our bonuses from work. They always hand out bonuses before our company Christmas party. This year was a good year for Craig. We were able to pay off some outstanding debt, pay for our cruise, and give some away...and there's still a bit left over.

On Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to see Lion King. Thanks to a friend's aunt, we had FANTASTIC seats for the performance and were able to see EVERYTHING. The kids were great and loved it. It is incredibly kid-friendly, though I wouldn't take anyone younger than 6, and then only when they can sit still for a long time! We have two terrific kids that sit still well, even though they did get a bit antsy towards the ends of the acts. The costumes are incredible and the singing was great!

That evening was our company Christmas party. We always look forward to our company party. We get to talk with co-workers that we don't see as often and catch up with people outside of the office. Oh, yeah, the gifts are great too! They give away things like tickets to professional sporting events, an evening at a local 5 star hotel with dinner, gift certificates for jewelry, tv's, ipod's, digital cameras, dvd players, etc. They always have one grand prize as well. This year's grand prize was an all inclusive resort stay for 5 days, 4 nights to Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. The name for the grand prize was pulled at the beginning of the evening so that everyone has an equal chance of winning the big prize. As we all sat around talking about how much we had - or hadn't - won, Craig and I mentioned that we didn't "need" the grand prize because our cruise next year takes us there anyway.

When the grand prize winner was called, I literally said, "You've GOT to be kidding me." You see, I was the grand prize winner. Of all the people in the room to win that prize, it would be the two (remember, Craig works there too) people who are already going there. Come to find out, it was just a priced trip to get an idea of what they could get for a certain amount of money. We have one year to claim our prize and it can be to anywhere within that budget. So, after spending a lot of time soaking it all in, we decided to try to get something around our anniversary. We aren't sure exact dates or where, but we decided that we would do something we would never dream of doing on our own.

So, it was a great night - one we will certainly never forget. Thanks to our company for putting on an amazing party and for all the ways they say thank you to us. I love my job and I love working for this company.