Thanksgiving & Christmas 2014

The holidays are always so crazy, but you look back and the craziness was well worth it. In November we got out first snow. Ellie was outfitted in her snow suit and played outside eating handfuls of snow. That snow soon melted and the rest of the months weather was dreamy, allowing us to get in a few more park days. 

I gave Ellie her first hair cut. I had to trim the ends, the post bath combing was becoming quite an ordeal. 

Catching snowflakes

Thanksgiving was a huge success! Hannah hosted and "Granma Mayee and Granpa Ric" were in town so it was great. I made an apple pie and mini pumpkin pies, they both came out great. Ellie thought they were finger licking good!

Of course I started decorating for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. It was so fun to decorated our new house, especially our mantle! I crocheted stockings, made Popsicle snowflakes and yarn garland. They all came out SO cute. 

The month of December was filled with trips to the fabric store, fulfilling crochet orders, Christmas shopping online, lunch dates with friends, crafting and cooking. 

Christmas was pretty magical this year. Ellie talked about Santa, and Baby Jesus. She was so excited about every aspect of the season. We made some salt dough ornaments, saw the lights in downtown Ogden, had an advent calendar and our family Christmas party. My parents came into town for Christmas. It was such a blast. We ate Chinese food for Christmas Eve, it is quickly becoming a tradition for us. We woke up Christmas morning to fresh snow, it snowed ALL day and it was magical. We made snow men and built Ellie and ramp for her sled. We sat around and watched netflix series and ate popcorn for dinner. We attempted making tamales and it was a success. This Christmas is one for the books, it was AMAZING!

We feasted on this no knead bread (I made) with Persian Lime olive oil and Raspberry balsamic vinegar that Jared bought me for Christmas. AMAZING

My Dad AKA Santa writing Ellie a letter

Christmas morning breakfast : waffles with berries and fresh whip cream, eggs and bacon. Ellie enjoyed it!

I don't know were Ellie learned to make a snow angle, probably Daniel Tiger. Anyways, she was a pro!

Turns out we have the BEST sledding hill just up the street from our house and the Mt. Ogden golf course. Ellie was so funny flying down the hill, she was a little unsure but seems to like it. 

Last but not least our tamales. Growing up in California we always relied on out neighbors to bring us tamales during the holidays. We heard horror stories of how hard they were to make and how time consuming. They weren't that bad. We cooked the meat the day before and did the rest the next day. My mom and I were so proud of ourselves and I will for sure be making these every year. 

And now the holidays are over.....so now what? We have a lot to look forward to in 2015.

December Happenings

I can't believe that Christmas is less than a week away. December always goes by so fast and is so hectic. Ours is extra hectic with Jared finishing his finals, taking him to the train every morning at 6:00am, Primary Presidency meetings, fulfilling crochet orders and the normal day to day stuff. We have found some time to engage in holiday festivities.

We went to see the lights at Temple Square, which were beautiful as usual. Our night on the other hand, not so relaxing. We decided to take the Front Runner up to Salt Lake thinking it would be fun and we wouldn't have to look for parking. Well the rest of Utah Valley had the same idea. The train was so packed, but it made for some good people watching. We took the trax into downtown and grabbed a bite at City Creek on Black Friday (this was another bad idea). I think Jared and I are just naive to the fact that so many people have the same idea. We ate then proceeded over to Temple Square with the throngs of people. It was crowded but pretty, Ellie was in the backpack which was the BEST idea we had all night. Amongst the crowd we happened to run into Laynie(Jared's Cousin) and her family. Such a coincidence. Ellie loved riding the train and now I feel confident enough to ride it myself to Salt Lake.

 

This picture represents exactly how we felt, exhausted from a hectic evening. 

This lady is as crazy as her hair!

With taking Jared to work at 6am there has been a lot of morning snuggling as the sun rises.

The picture below are from the day that it NEVER STOPED SNOWING! I don't know if we have ever had that much snow fall at one time, at least while I have lived here. It is so beautiful! 

She warmed up to the snow, she didn't want to walk in it at first. 

We had the opportunity to go to the Living Nativity in Alpine. It was great. We braved to single digit temperatures and had a great time. They had animals all around which Ellie loved. The goats were especially fond of Jared. Jared can make an incredible goat sound. I love starting traditions as a family, especially one's that help us remember what Christmas is all about. 

I have been busy crafting, making decorations for the house. I love the way everything turned out. 

I think this may be the best tree we have had. 

Love for our family in Eureka, Ca.

and Love for our family in Salinas, Ca.

and of course we love our family and our home here in Utah.

We shot the Hone's family photos this last week. Again it was freezing, I took a few and Jared finish the rest. They came out great!

Jared surprised me with tickets to the Utah Symphony. It was a busy busy night in Salt Lake. A Jazz game, a Mo Tab performance, the symphony, the lights, and just christmas shoppers, it was crowded once again. We were naive again to think we could go eat with out reservations. We ended up eating at Harmon's and got a yummy salad bar and soup. It was absolutely perfect. It was quiet and good and cheap. Our night turned around from that point. 

We also stumbled upon the Waffle Love truck, which was a perfect dessert!

The symphony was great. It was Christmas Swing. They had a complete jazz band play along with the symphony. It was so much fun. It was such a great night out with Jared.

I can't help but get a little homesick during the holidays. We wish we could be with everyone but for now a blog post with a million pictures will have to do. Love everyone, miss you all. Sending our love from here in Utah!