Candy Canes and a Cozy Christmas

So I have made a New Year's resolution to post once a month, and I am so motivated I even posted about Thanksgiving as well (which I have quite sneakily backdated- hehe)! Christmas was so wonderful, I can't think of anything that would have made it better. We all headed over to my parents and kicked off Christmas Eve afternoon by making gingerbread houses.







Note that our house has a landing strip for Santa :)






Then Chris and Esther arrived with my newest, little nephew, Matthew Robert Gordon, born December 21, 2009. He is so adorable and his sister, Lily, kept saying she wanted to hold "baby Jesus".






After that, most everyone went to play Frisbee golf while, me and Mom got dinner ready. After dinner we acted out the Christmas story, Jeff, Amber and I were shepherds (although I thought we looked like we were at the spa) and Molly, spiritedly, was our little sheep. Then it was time for the kids to go to bed, and they were quite adamant that we not light a fire in the fireplace so Santa would not get burned - I told them he had a fire resistant suit so no worries! The adults played a fun round of white elephant (I got an awesome new hot pink purse!)



In the morning we woke up to sizzling bacon, eggs and apple rolls. We had a great time opening presents and Jeff has not been separated from his Ipod Touch since- only in death (or most likely a newer/ better device) will they part. Oh and a wonderful Christmas surprise was that on of my roommates, Carissa, is coming out to visit me in March! This was such a wonderful Christmas and I can hardly wait for the New year and all it will bring. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Turkey in the Midwest

So for Thanksgiving we went back to Iowa where Jeff's family all met up at Bob and Kristina's. While we were there we went and saw New Moon, which I think has irreversibly made me a "Team Jacob" fan. While we were there we played lots of games and I found time to read The Lost Symbol (entertaining read- but extremely similar to all the rest of Dan Brown's books, just different location and a new love interest for Langdon). Here's us with some of our nieces and nephews.

Then we headed off to Macomb, Jeff's hometown, for my first time ever. On our drive I noticed that every farm house had an accompanying red barn. I loved it! Do you wanna know why there is a tradition of red barns? Red used to be the cheapest to paint to buy. Anyway, Jeff showed me all around his old stomping grounds: where he was born, his high school, Dairy Queen, Western Illinois University, downtown Macomb, Journey- his favorite childhood card shop, and of course, his lovely childhood house. We had a great time and it was so fun to see where Jeff grew up.


While we were there we were able to make a quick trip over to Nauvoo to visit my friend, Amanda - recently home from her mission, and some of the Nauvoo sights. I just love Nauvoo. I spent a semester there while I was in college, and going back felt like putting on an old sweater - so cozy and familiar. Here we are in John Taylor's home, right near the famous little rocking horse.



We had a great trip and it was so fun to see all of Jeff's family!