Can it be... is my computer fixed???

Well not entirely, but at least I can do some things on it again. So with the help of Darren's dad, Darren and a little bit of info from his computer savvy cousin over the phone they were able to start the process of fixing this dumb thing. First they backed up all my pictures and word documents onto an external hard drive but Darren takes that to work so I still don't really have any of my stuff. Then we had to completely wipe EVERYTHING off my computer and start from scratch. When we ran a virus scan it turns out that somehow a Trojan virus killed everything. Can I just say computer hackers suck! Also it turns out that my battery won't hold a charge and my power cord is on the fritz! For the time being Darren's dad was nice enough to let me use one of his batteries and power cords from one of his computers. Wow what a mess huh!?!

After that boring update on the computer here's a quick recap on what we've been up to, and I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out but this is what I can remember.

• We had Thanksgiving with Darren's side of the family here in Utah

• Went to temple square to see the lights
  

• The girls and I went to Oregon for a week

While in Oregon we

• Celebrated my mom's birthday with 2 of my sisters and some nieces and nephews

• Went the the Great Wolf Lodge (a hotel and indoor water park)

• Visited my high school friend Rachel that I haven't seen since Emmie was Allison's age

• Got some Christmas shopping done for Darren while he wasn't around

• Went to see the movie Bolt with Emmie and grandpa while grandma babysat Allie (I thought it was a way cute movie for kids)

Since being home from Oregon we have

• Got our first Christmas tree ever!!!

• Emmie had her Christmas program at school which Santa showed up for

• Got lots of snow to play in

• Finished our Christmas shopping (except for Darren haha he says I'm too hard to buy for because I never say I want anything. Although I have given him tons of ideas he says they aren't girl gifts so he wants different ideas.??? I thought my own external hard drive and a new suitcase were good/practical ideas but I guess not. I still hope I get one of those things though)

• Went to a Christmas party at Darren's aunt's house with a ton of the family. We had some good food, did a ornament exchange between the kids and Santa showed up and sang songs with us and passed out candy. It was a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures of the events