"If my nose was blowin' money, honey, I'd blow it all on you. But it's snot."

Talk about a busy week! I feel like we have been going non-stop since getting home from Portland last weekend. To highlight a few (I again failed at taking pictures... Only have a few) we went to a pampered chef party and ate a yummy pretzel caramel mousse cupcake of awesomeness. We did end up winning the kitchen accessory that we wanted, a pan scraper. 

We also had our ward Christmas party on Friday. I would have taken some pictures, but we were too busy helping in the kitchen the whole night. It was a ton of fun and I have to say that it was pretty awesome not having to wait in line to get food. :) We had some good entertainment and music along with awesome food (menu included ham, stuffing, green beans with onion and bacon, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and salad). We also had some activities for people to help out with like quilting and old school games from the Nauvoo, Illinois era of the church. It seems like everyone had a lot of fun.

Last night, Emily and I went out to the coast for a date. We went to Mo's for dinner (we had some yummy soups and our favorite hot artichoke dip with shrimp) and to a play at the Florence Event Center. The play was a trip around the U.S. stopping at various locations and hearing some of the traditional music played. There were also some pretty funny skits. One of my favorites was a bluegrass band that sang a song about snot. Some of the lyrics went like,"If my nose was blowin' money, honey, I'd blow it all on you. But it's snot." Pretty entertaining... at least to me. The crowd there was quite old. We ended up leaving at intermission because it was getting late and we had a long and scary drive back home (about an hour on windy roads and tons of fog, but we made it home alright).

There is our yummy cups of clam chowder and chili as well as Emily's cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.

That's me enjoying that awesome hot artichoke dip with shrimp and garlic bread.

Waiting for the show to start.

I have to say, we are quite excited for a white Christmas (it better be white!) in Utah. I looked at the forecast for this next week, and it was a lot of snow. :) And, of course, we are excited to spend some time with family doing a lot of our favorite things like ice skating, eating Chinese food, visiting with friends, going to the temple, watching Christmas movies, going on the Christmas cruise, decorating everything, making food, and so much more! I hope that you have a great week! Love you all!

From One Holiday to the Next

We have been missing from the blogging world for a few weeks. Finals were killing me (Emily)...BUT THEY ARE OVER!!! Wahoo! Now I can organize my kitchen and catch up on the blog and dream about sugarplums instead of Marbury vs. Madison. I love the holiday season. 

For Thanksgiving, we drove down to California to be with James's side of the family. I am so lucky to be in love with my husband AND my in-laws.

James and Mikey.

Toy Story Mania on the Wi. Such concentration!

And of course, I have to document food. This was a great (aka EASY) crockpot chicken and Mexican rice recipe I found on this blog.

And on to the next holiday...I roped James into decorating our apartment for Christmas. He was a good sport, but the "smile" kinda gives away how he really feels about the decorating process :)

Our tiny Christmas village - more magical in person. We found these tiny houses at Goodwill - my new favorite place.

This weekend, we spent a few days in Portland with the fam bam up there. This was our candy-eating, face-painting, how messy can we get, gingerbread house decorating activity.  Homemade gingerbread and all.

Kirsten, the perfectionist, who I am pretty sure was determined to make me laugh every time I used the frosting so that my house wouldn't be as cute as hers. She totally succeeded.

The face-painters.

...and a close-up on their house. Isn't the lake adorable?! And the dog house? They were a great team.

Not even Kayla knew she was so talented at gingerbread house decorating. Her house turned out so well - even without any help.

My house. It kind of turned out to be an odd mix of Whoville and The Nightmare Before Christmas with a Fijian flare. 

James's gingerbread house...

...but we can still give him a little credit :) I'm so glad I have a sweet hubby and festive family to celebrate the season with!