Christmas away from home.

Before going home at the end of December we tried to celebrate a little around the city.  We:

1.  Went to see the White House Christmas Tree and the Capitol Christmas Tree.
2.  Went to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater.  (This is one of my favorite things I have done in DC).
3. Went to breakfast at Old Ebbitts Grill.
4.  Made Gingerbread Men (Mary Kate tried to eat them, she is the cutest).
5.  Went to the Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas display.
6.  Made gingerbread houses with Mitch's classmates.  As you can see below, we've got serious talent.
7.  Discovered the perfect Christmas store (it's actually called The Christmas Store!) in Old Town Alexandria, the ornaments are amazing.

Miss Mary Kate.  i am slightly obsessed

Mitch and the Botanical Gardens

Our award winning gingerbread houses

The White House Christmas Tree

The Christmas Store in Old Town

Claire and Mary Kate

A Christmas.

Can you believe that Christmas has come and gone? I can't. Time always seems to slip right before my eyes. I wasn't prepared for Christmas and some how it just came right up and vanished. Christmas was wonderful. I am always so happy to be home in Utah with people that I love and cherish.

Here are some of the highlights of our trip to Utah:

Feeding the homeless. This is something that we do every single year. This year was different. I can't explain it. We went to a different shelter and the need was more apparent than ever. It was truly eye opening. I have never experienced something like that in Utah.

We spent Christmas Eve Eve, as my Dad likes to call it, with my Dad, Rhonda and Chase. We ate the most delicious salmon dinner and watched a movie. A Crookston tradition that I look forward to every year.

Christmas Eve with the Henriods. Full of fabulous, delicious food, singing, dancing and lots of laughter.

Christmas morning, it was such a joy to watch all of our nieces/nephews experience Santa. The Joel Henriod family got a dog, there was much excitement.

After a few minutes with the Henriods we went to over to my Grandma Bev's house. This is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions. A small house full of a lot people. People are standing/sitting in every square inch. Waffles, quiche, oj and of course bacon and butter (lots of butter). And a lot of joy and happiness. I love this part of Christmas. I love being at home full of all my childhood memories.

We headed back over to the Henriods to spend our afternoon with Mitch's family. All the siblings were there. Once again, we ate delicious food and enjoyed ourselves.

Christmas night was spent with my Mom at my Grandma Mary's house. This is also a Christmas tradition with my family that I look forward to every year. There is always a little drama and a lot of love. My Grandma is legally blind and I love to sit by her as she opens presents and tell her who each present if from.

Christmas was a success. Our first year of marriage, we spent Christmas at 11 different places and it was terrible. I think that Mitch was doubting his decision to ever go home for the holidays again. This year, we and all our family, were able to enjoy all of Christmas.

The rest of the break was filled with my favorite food (Bombay House, the Dodo, Tony Caputos (twice), Jolley's candy, nachos (how can one go to Utah and not eat nachos?!!), Sawadee and Red butte), a day at Alta, Make-up Club (aka Food Club), high school friends brunch, lots of needed running with SJ K-Ville, hiking with Rach, time with my mom, breakfast with Lara (I feel so lucky that we actually were able to meet!) a day with Rich cousins at IKEA (I can't believe they talked me into going!), long nights (never went to bed before midnight), movies, games with the Soffe's, a New Year's Eve that wasn't terrible and all-in-all a great time.

And now I am back to reality. Work is busy. It's somehow cold outside, I almost feel like I am back in Rochester, and I start school in three weeks. My heart skips a beat or two every time I think about it. I can't decide if I am nervous or excited or just a little of both.

I hope that all of your holidays were filled with a lot love, a lot joy and as little drama as possible.

A time to give thanks.

Thanksgiving was as fabulous as ever. We celebrated with Jason, Abby, Spencer, Sara, Claire, Baby Mary-Katie and the Pratt family. Abby cooked delicious yams and I made Shelley's stuffing, a Henriod tradition. I stuffed myself with red jello and stuffing. It was a perfect day. I made Abby run with me in the morning, she was a champion.

Jason and I went Black Friday shopping and I LOVED it. Maybe I really am a Crookston. We met Emily and Mandi at Target, they graciously stood in line for us. And we met the madness of shopping with pure excitement. I didn't buy any electronics, only 550 count tread sheets. Totally worth it. Emily and Mandi got some great deals for their kids and significant others.

The Thanksgiving weekend was perfect. Lots of relaxation and time with family. We watched movies, ate delicious food, went shopping, went to the Z00 lights and totally enjoyed ourselves.

So much to be thankful for. Here are just a few of the things Mitch and I wrote down for the month of November.

• Grandparents. Mitch's Grandpa Joe died a week before Thanksgiving. During this past month, Mitch has spent a lot of time reflecting on all the wonderful things that Grandpa Joe represented. Grandpa Joe will be forever missed.
• Family. Oh how much we love our families. Both of them, equally. We look forward to being with them. We are so lucky to have Spencer and Sara so close.
• Friends. There are a lot of friends that I consider as part of my family. I would be completely lost without them.
• Exercise, especially running. Mitch has turned into a runner. I love it. Maybe one day I can convince him that we need to run another marathon together.
• Books. We love books.
• School. Mitch is basically the perfect candidate to be a student forever. He loves to learn and loves to teach.
• Dance. This element of my life is crucial. I love dance always, all the time.
• Food. We are foodies, is that even a word? We love to go out to eat, we love to eat with others, we love to share our food with others, if only I really loved to cook. I love to cook when I have endless amounts of time and fresh vegetables. Maybe one day.
• And we are so thankful to have somewhere to call home.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine was. And now, it's time for Christmas. I love Christmas. I started off my Christmas holiday by eating sour Santas from Jolly's. There is no better way to celebrate the Holidays than with food. Oh, and I bought a box of dark chocolate covered Holiday Jo-Jo's from Trader Joe's. So DELICIOUS.

Happy Holidays.

S U N D A N C E

We went to Sundance with my Dad, Rhonda and Chase. It's become an annual tradition. The beet salad is to die for, seriously the best beet salad. We had a fabulous evening.

The Nogger

Here we are, at the end of the night. We got snowed in at Kim & Jeff's cabin.

It ended up being a most fabulous evening. I wish you could have all seen Mitch

in his entire outfit. He had on wool knickers and a boy scout shirt.

A great way to start our Christmas season.

Our Christmas Tree

Mitch and I decided to go way out and get an awesome tree the year....

Don't you love our tree?

Mitch picked it out and I decorated it.

At least it's real.

And oh, if you look close enough you can see silver sparkles all over the tree.

I decided this year to be crafty with our Christmas decorations. Let's just say that I feel like all I have been doing is crafts. (I am not a crafty person.)

1. I made these Christmas trees with Megan, she is much better at this stuff than me. We had an excellent time making these trees as we sat, talked and drank our Diet Dr. Peppers.

You can find the link to make these trees here.

2. I was way in over my head when I made this wreath. I wish that I had a better picture, the wreathe shines in the sun. Next time I will make sure to use only the hot glue gun and no wire.

3. The table runner. All I have to say, is I am so glad it's finished. Our front room has been looking like a disaster for the last three weeks. I found out how to make this table runner here.

4. Lastly, I bought these large ornaments at Ikea. I think I got 7 for $5. They look great hanging from our lights.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your decorating is goes well.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Mitch and I decorated our tree on Friday night, isn't the tree a beauty?

Happy December.