Christmas take 2

We have now celebrated Christmas a few times...and quite like that :) It's fun to keep something fun and good going and going. We flew to Phoenix on Christmas day (I had to work Christmas Eve and flights were cheaper on Christmas Day). We had 1 layover and spent it in the military lounge watching Baby Mama, drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the decorated Christmas tree. Can't complain too much about that kind of layover! Flights were good and we made it here safely.

When we arrived we opened our stocking and present from Santa :)

We spent the next few days shopping, playing games, and hanging out. All of Grant's siblings and spouses and the 2 little kiddos were here hanging out. It was a lot of fun!We did our sibling and parent gift exchanges once everyone got into town...here are some highlight pictures of the night.

Grant's parents opening their presents...we (together with Tim and Tricia) gave them a Cuisinart ice cream maker, an In-N-Out giftcard, and a much wanted and needed watch.

We had Tim and Tricia and got them some fun Crate and Barrel stuff...And Scott and Trisha hooked us up with our fun presents. Grant got some shoes...

And I got a cute J. Crew headband I'd been eying...

Thank you everyone for all the Christmas celebrations!

Christmas Day 2009...in our home sweet home

It is amazing what I will due to honor tradition. There were no parents snapping pictures of me just minutes out of bed, no one making me not peek at what Santa brought, but it is true, the child lives on inside of me at Christmas time. We lined up and walked down the stairs together, took this pic before we looked at our stockings or presents. Don't mind the morning faces.
Before bed last night, Grant and I sat back to back in the middle of the couch, each with the other one's stocking and a bag of gifts to be put in each, and stuffed each other's stockings. We made them look pretty and then turned our backs and went upstairs to bed, leaving only the lights on the tree on, to look pretty when we came down in the morning.

I love stockings, one of the best parts of Christmas. A mix of so much fun stuff!

Grant got hooked up as well...and Santa even brought him a new iPod shuffle. Love how tiny they are, great for running!

So ugly, but have to take a pic with some of my stuff...wearing all my new scarves and holding some earrings and my new J. Crew umbrella with a fun handle!

After opening a few presents we met a bunch of people from our ward at the bowling alley, a Christmas eve tradition, where we played a couple of games for super cheap. Grant and I both scored above 100 on each game so were happy with that. I know it's nothing to really brag about but that's always my goal.

Al and Grant (Guillermo and Earl- their bowling names) doing their bowling stretches.

The girls on lane 12!

"Are you guys sisters?" I really don't think we look alike but we literally get this question at least once a week from someone!

Merry Christmas bowling!

After bowling, we returned home to open the rest of our presents. It just wasn't the same without the family, so we video chatted with them, and attached it to the TV so it was big and we could see everyone, and they watched us open our presents and opened the ones from us. It was so much fun to feel like they were sort of here with us. I recommend it to anyone wanting to participate in a far away Christmas day!Unfortunately, because our computer chat, we didn't really take any pics of us opening presents, but those pics are usually kind of boring anyway. Here is me with some of my new baking presents. Notice I got several cake things yet not a single nursing present...am I going into the wrong profession? Cakes are more fun presents though :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! (It is weird that tomorrow really is Christmas since I truly felt like it was today). I don't mind celebrating again though :)

Christmas Eve 2009

This year has been different than any other. It is only the 2nd Christmas in my life away from my family, and my first Christmas in Kentucky. However, we managed to make it a great one and enjoyed time together and with friends. Since we are traveling on Christmas day, we decided to just push everything up a day, so we celebrated Christmas Eve on the 23rd and Christmas Day the 24th. We talked about it so long that we pretty much convinced ourselves that these were the actual holidays.

For Christmas Eve, Karrie and Al came over while we enjoyed some awesome food (mostly appetizers and sides).... Sporting my Christmas Eve apron (courtesy of my mom a few years ago, and my new Santa hat :)

Grant and Al enjoying some shrimp and guacamole...missing the proscuitto but for some reason Kroger decided not to carry it this month!

The cooks :)

Don't mind the reflections everywhere. Downed some Martinelli's and Christmas cookies!

Santa didn't even get close to finishing his cookies.

After opening our Christmas Eve presents...new PJs. Getting ready for bed! Santa Claus is coming to town!

Merry Christmas :)

From Grant (your 3/8 dentist, UKCD 2012) and Taryn (your 0.25/5 nurse, UKCN 2012)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our new ornaments of the year...

My favorite little Crate and Barrel guy, I think he's too cute!

My favorite dino of all time, the stegasaurus...

And the glittery pine cones... love 'em!The real reason for Christmas. A good reminder atop our mantle.

And since we will miss San Diego this Christmas (and my aunt Joan), here are some reminders of her...
Our stockings hung (adjacent to the chimney) with care. I have had mine since my first Christmas and Joan made Grant's when we got married. Looks like my mom will have to learn before we have any kids :)

A totally vintage Christmas hanging I inherited this year... kinda fun and funky.

And my new CB bowls with yet another inherited item, some cool little Santa people, with heavy metal shoes.

The whimsical Christmas table...With my favorite little reindeer...

And one of my favorite (yet time consuming) Christmas crafts. It is mindless and great while watching Christmas movies. I haven't made any this year but everyone is always impressed. All you need are some styrofoam balls, pins, sequins, and beads. Note the tree on the far left of the table above, yes...that about ruined this project for me. I would stick to the balls, they're much faster!And of course, the presents we are anxiously awaiting to unwrap later this week!

Ate my candy cane Hershey kiss our of December 21 in the advent calendar today...can't believe there are only 4 more days!

Food glorious food...

It seems that a lot of my posts lately have been devoted to food, but it is that time of year :) We did however socialize with this appetizer and dessert party. We had some good eats and good times together.

The football game won over the Christmas music for the beginning of the party, but we got our music later in the night after Wyoming proved victorious.So full...but still eating!And the guys having way more fun than I anticipated playing the weird pig game. We all laughed like crazy (to burn of a few bites of what we had been eating all night)!

Can't wait to continue the festivities. Can't believe that Christmas is this week!

Reindeer Ramble!

Although I have run 2 half marathons, I had never (until Saturday) run in a 5K. There was a Reindeer Ramble this weekend and a bunch of girls decided to get together and run it. We were supposed to dress up (have a team theme) and we decided to be Santa's reindeer.

It was a very cold morning, so we crammed in a couple of cars for as long as possible before the race started :)

Getting ready to run!...all 10 of us.
Looking at our better sides :) I was Dasher.Grant came to cheer me on, and I saw him at the very beginning which was nice because I threw him my scarf (which would have made me way too hot after the first half mile, and made him survive the half hour he had to stand there for).We all did it!! Good work girls. We were inspired by some very good costumes, so we'll see what we can come up with next year!

And the shirt to prove it!

'Tis the season...

FOR PARTIES! Last night we had 3 to go to (we only made it to 2), but had a great time in the process. It is great to share good food and company with so many wonderful friends.
We first had our church Christmas party. I am on the activities committee and therefore helped with some of the preparations. I brought homemade mac 'n cheese as my side dish and it was all delicious. I unfortunately don't have any pictures from this event, but it was good times, and we had lots of good friends there.

After that, we headed to an apartment downtown where some guy's in Grant's class live. It is a new loft (of which I am a bit jealous I will admit), great for entertaining, and there was a great turnout from his class. They had a huge final yesterday afternoon and have very little going on next week, so it was sort of an end of the semester celebration.
Here are just a few pics from the night...

Check out the sweet fireplace. Ok, it's really just a DVD of a fire on the TV, but it was so realistic...had motion just like a real fire, etc. Seems sort of cheesy but it was actually pretty cool.

Just a shot from standing back...people gathered round the food and drink table. There were some excellent appetizers :) I even like the tomatoes in the Caprese salad on a toothpick. So good. Comment of the night goes to Phil, who after eating one, still asked if the white thing on top (ball of mozerlla) was a marshmallow!

Kristen and Beth, my soccer friends from Grant's class. Can't wait for it to get warm so we can play again! And I hope I have time with my class schedule! ahh....Hopefully there will be several more festivities to come. I love the holiday season :)

Apple pie apple recipe

Here is the recipe you've all been waiting for from my dessert taste night...the one that is very similar to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory apple pie apple! YUM :)



Click on the picture to view full sized (so you can actually read the recipe). Enjoy!