Merry Christmas

Hi All! Merry Christmas!! I am updating my blog from my new MacBook Air! George bought me a new Apple laptop for Christmas and I LOVE IT!! It is so thin....less than an inch.

I had to jump on real quick and post some pictures b/c I am learning how to update my iPhoto!

Here it is (my new computer!)

The kids got professional pictures taken for my parents. We had one printed on canvas for them to display.

A few days ago before I started wrapping

I was very particular about my wrapping :)

I decided to do scented jars for our neighbors instead of baked goods. They were filled with dry fruit (Apples, Oranges, Cranberries) and cinnamon sticks. 

You just dump the fruit and cinnamon into a boiling pot of water and it makes your house smell amazing!! (Thanks for the idea, Chrissy!)

 I had to test one out :)

We are enjoying the day with family. The Harts are in town (arrived yesterday)...big group this year!!!

Christmas Cheer!

I am definitely feeling the Christmas spirit! We didn't have many Christmas decorations, but we have acquired some over the past few weeks. 

As for our tree, George and I went round and round on whether we would get a real or artificial Christmas tree. My family has always had an artificial and his family has always had a real one. I was nervous about the needles and mess of a real one. Also, when I was little, pine trees would bother my skin (still does, just a bit). Anyway, I went to Costco last Monday after work and they had a few real ones left....I just went for it and  picked one up! And....I LOVE IT! It smells so good and looks so full and beautiful!

Love my nativity scene! 

Thank you to my Grandma Clark for giving us a bunch of ornaments! 

Some family friends, The Froehle's, gave us this Christmas countdown as a house warming gift.

I am SUPER excited because I will be off all of next week. I can't think of a time when I've taken an entire week off of work, but didn't actually travel anywhere. My Aunt Lesley and cousins, Sarah and Ian, will be coming out to AZ on Christmas Eve for 6 days. It will be so much fun to have them here!

I still need to pick up a few small gifts, wrap, and do some baking, but now that school is done for the semester, I have a lot more time on my hands...plus, I really enjoy the prepping and "hustle and bustle" of Christmas. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas....and remember, Jesus in the reason for the season :) 

Beaver Creek Pictures

We are back from Colorado and as promised, I have some pictures to share. We had an awesome time full of skiing, relaxing, and family time. So without further ado, here are some pictures:

The hotel had their very own dog named Bachelor (named after the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch)

Caleb liked Bachelor, but Paisley was unsure. I think she liked him, but from a distance only! Notice that she was barking at the dog :)

 

Paisley and Caleb were forced to pose for quite a few pictures. At one point, Paisley and I took a walk downstairs to the big Christmas tree and I was able to get her to smile for the camera. 

What a cheesy little smile!

Caleb and Paisley really enjoyed playing together. They are almost exactly the same height and they have the same hair color so everyone thought they were twins. I absolutely LOVE the picture on the right (taken by Katie). The two of them also enjoyed walks up and down the hall (with Uncle George on the left).

 You can tell Paisley is an Arizona girl....she wasn't too sure of all the winter gear

Of course, we had to take our pictures in front of the fire place! Here is the whole family.

Hannah didn't mind striking a pose either!

The Warren/Moore/Lucas group - talk about great company!

There weren't many runs open, but everyone made the most out of it. Shout out to George....he is becoming such a great skier. I better watch out, before I know it he will be better than me. 

On Saturday morning we were all chilling out in the living room. Brian grabbed a sheet to build a fort for Paisley and Caleb. One thing led to another and we were doing a "parachute" for them. Caleb was in heaven. Paisley was skeptical :)

Thank you to my Mom and Dad for taking us on another awesome Beaver Creek trip. It is a highlight of the year!!!

Colorado Time

Hi All! This will be a very short post because I am about to leave for class. I took today off to work on some homework and get ready for our trip to Colorado tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 6:30am so we will have to leave for the airport before 5am. YIKES!

We are all really, REALLY looking forward to this trip. I know I blogged about it last year, but the hotel we stay at (Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch) is ridiculous. And when I say ridiculous, I mean ridiculously awesome and beautiful! The entire gang (minus Jeremiah b/c he has finals) will be going. Gabe, Katie, and Caleb will also be joining us this year again. "Grotto"....here we come!!!!!!

I swear I was getting on here to do something else besides brag about our trip!

We celebrated Hannah's 18th birthday on Monday night. How is it that Hannah is 18 years old?! Hannah is an amazing young lady worth celebrating any day of the year - she is beautiful (inside and out), poised, a talented musician, a competitive athlete, the list goes on and on. I am proud to have her as my little sister.

She got some pretty neat gifts, including a Bosu Ball (Google it to see a picture). It is basically a half ball that people use for exercising. You should have seen Paisley though....I thought she was going to try to take it home with her. She was bouncing and bouncing and bouncing some more on it!

One more thing before I go...my Grandma Clark is back in town for the winter! We are glad to have her back. She has already made us a pot of soup and her famous caesar salad. No laundry perks for me this year though :)

Pictures from Colorado will be on the blog next week!! BYE :)

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone enjoyed their short work week and had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had TWO Thanksgiving dinners (one with my parents at 2pm and one with George's parents at 5:30pm). We were so, sooo ridiculously stuffed by the end of the day. I don't recommend eating that much. It is kind of past the point of enjoyment. The company was great though :)

On Friday, we hosted an ASU v. U of A party at our house. It kind of served two purposes - to watch the game and for people to see our house. I was telling my mom that our house seemed big until we put 25+ people in it....it got small fast! Once we have our backyard done (won't be until next year), we will be able to use that as well for entertaining.

We did do just a little bit of Black Friday shopping. Not nearly as much as years past. Like I said before, it was kind of annoying that stores opened so early. None of us were up for missing an entire night of sleep with plans the next day.

On Saturday night, we said goodbye to Grandma Warren (she went back to Rochester on Sunday morning). She treated us all to dinner at Charleston's on Stapley and the 60. That was our first time there and it was very tasty. It was nice to try a new restaurant....seems like that rarely happens. We always tend to go to the places near us that we know we like.

On Sunday, George and I went to the AZ Cardinals vs. the St. Louis Rams game at the University of Phoenix stadium. We had tickets through my work. A girl from my work went and George invited his friend, Jim....both are from St. Louis so they were cheering for the Rams. The Rams won. It was a cool experience. That was my first time to that stadium and my first professional football game too. Our seats were really good (only 24 rows up from the field). The crowd was also very, very energetic compared to other sporting events that I have been to.

I am procrastinating on an essay so I better go. I did one earlier tonight and have one more to finish. I will leave you with a few pictures that I took on Instagram (love that app!) while baking on Wednesday night for Thanksgiving.

Grandma In Town!

Whose excited about a short work week?! I love three day work weeks....the week following a three day work week is hard though! 

Last week was an exciting week. Our friends, Brent and Chrissy, welcomed their little one, Charlotte, and Grandma Warren arrived on Thursday. Also, it is starting to feel like the Christmas season. George is one of those people who believes that pre-Thanksgiving is too early for Christmasy things....I, on the other hand, love this time of year and don't mind welcoming it early :)

We are having a few families over on Black Friday to watch the ASU v. U of A game so I am being very organized about getting ready for both that and Thanksgiving dinner. I am in charge of bringing cranberry sauce, corn bread, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream to my parent's and cranberry sauce and Martinelli's to George's parent's house. On Black Friday, I am making chili and some appetizers. I want to have as much as possible ready to go on Wednesday so that I can relax on Thanksgiving and do some shopping on Black Friday. It is a tradition (has been for 10+ years) for my mom and sisters and I to wake up early and hit the stores on Friday. We don't go for any of the big items (we would have to be in line now for that stuff), but we do like to go for some of the other deals. I am kind of annoyed with the stores that are opening at 9pm on Thanksgiving this year. Kind of ridiculous.....

We are enjoying our visit with my Grandma Warren so far. We all love her company so very, very much - and I'm not sucking up because she is one of my top readers :) 

Grandma feeding Paisley some lemon ice. She is like a little bird when it comes to food. She will come right up to you and open her mouth....that means she wants to be fed.

I took the day off on Friday and my Dad, Grandma, and I went on a bike ride in Gilbert

The bike ride was so awesome that I Emily, Nick, George, and I went on another short ride on Sunday (George was sporting his new bike that my parents bought him for his bday)

The cranberry sauce is ready (I made squeezed oranges for it....yummmm)

I just joined Instagram (late, I know) and was experimenting with the different picture effects

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!

PS- This year I am thankful for living back home in Arizona. Although California was a great experience, there is nothing like living near family. AND it is pretty awesome that we don't have to travel for holidays now!

PSS- I am thankful for our new home. We love it and are excited to make memories in it this Thanksgiving/Christmas season.

Last Performance

Sorry for the long hiatus. I think that is the longest I have gone without updating my blog since I started it 1.5 years ago. Sometimes I run out of things to post.

I have been in Saturday classes for the past couple of weeks. Our electives are from 8-5 on Saturdays (kind of makes the weekends less appealing than they used to be!) The good news is that they only last a month. My elective this semester is a Leadership/Management class....very interesting topic, weird professor.

Tonight was the "Outback Night" for Hannah's marching band. Outback donates meals at a very discounted rate to the band and the band turns around and sells the meals for a profit. Creative fundraiser....and better than buying cookie dough or discount cards :) The band also does two performances of their show. It was Hannah's last performance in marching band - competitions and football season are over. My parents have been dedicated marching band parents since Brian started band in, I believe, 1998.....that's over 14 years of chaperoning, making cookies, riding the bus with the students, attending meetings, etc, etc, etc. They've been extremely dedicated over the years to the different band programs. Thanks, Mom and Dad for being involved parents - it has made a difference. 

Four children, 14 years of marching band!

Paisley and Jeremiah enjoying the show (Jeremiah's younger brother, Nathan is also in marching band). I always have to throw in a cute picture of Paisley :) 

George is a huge fan of chicken pot pie. Costco has a delicious one in their deli, but it is $16 it....so I looked up a few recipes and tried this one. It was a success!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed 1 cup sliced carrots 1 cup frozen green peas 1/2 cup sliced celery 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup chopped onion 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon celery seed 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 2/3 cup milk 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2.	In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3.	In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4.	Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5.	Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Baby Quilt

Some of our friends, Brent and Chrissy, are expecting their little girl Charlotte anytime now. I found some fabric a few months ago that I knew would be perfect fit with the style that Chrissy decided to go with for Charlotte's nursery. I decided to try a simple rag quilt with the fabric. It turned out so cute, if I do say so myself :)

Instead of batting, I used a nice soft flannel in the middle. The seams were sewn facing up. I then cut the the seam every centimeter or so apart with special scissors used for rag quilts. After it is all cut, I washed it and put it in the dryer. The dryer gives makes all of the cuts really soft and fluffy. I can't wait to try another!

On Thursday, I am taking a class at Etc (local crafting store) on how to make a yarn wreath. I'm really looking forward to it. Pictures to come :)

Neighborhood Pics

I hope everyone is having a great week! My family came over tonight and we went to our neighborhood's fall festival. It was a nice little fall festival for families, but definitely more for kids....not much for us older people with no kids. So far, we love our neighborhood. They seem to have lots of activities and all of our neighbors are very, very nice. A couple of weeks ago they had a movie night in the park that George took his sister, Marie, to.

Our neighborhood is called Morrison Ranch. It is built on old farmland in Gilbert. Actually, there are still active farms surrounding the neighborhood. It really makes for some pretty scenery! Here are some pictures that George took a few weeks ago.

George's birthday is on Saturday. We are celebrating by going to the ASU football game and then going to a Halloween party.

Pictures

Phew! So happy last week is over and my exams are behind me. After studying all day on Friday and after 8 hours at school on Saturday, I was ready to relax. Here is what my Friday looked like....

Last Sunday night, George's family came over for dinner. His sister, Rachel, moved back from Florida earlier this year...

We had strawberry shortcake for dinner. Marie made the whipped cream!

I wanted to show you all George's piano. He bought it a few years ago on Craigslist for $300. I think it is so pretty!

A couple of new pictures from our house

AND some pictures from Hannah's senior night at Mountain View on Friday night. Can't believe Hannah is a senior!!