Happy 2010!

Say hey all!  I hope 2010 is treating you all very well, so far.  Has it flown by for anyone else?  I feel like I was just on Christmas break and now it’s already January 16th.  I haven’t posted since Christmas time.  Maybe I should have made a resolution to blog more often!  :)

Did you all have a good Christmas and New Years?  We did!  For Christmas, we were in So. Cal. with Jeremy’s family and we got to see all his cousins who we haven’t seen in years, plus some friends.  The following week we went down to Scottsdale to have Christmas with my family, which was wonderful because 1) I love Scottsdale and 2) it was warm.  Jeremy and are spoiled.  Let’s just get that out there in the open.  We walked away from Christmas with a ton of great stuff including: a panini maker, video games for our Wii and Xbox, pajamas, calendars, DVDs (woo, Harry Potter and James Bond!), money and gift cards.  Even Diesel got some new toys, which he already destroyed, but it was a great Christmas.

For New Years, we were back in Prescott Valley because Jayla was coming over to ring in the new year with us!  Kayla had to work until about 9pm and Jake was going to an ice hockey game, so they came over at about 9:30pm.  We ate cookies (check out Sara’s Sweets for the recipe) and brownies, drank sparkling cider, watched the ball drop and played video games until about 1:30am! 

Jayla has a Wii too, so they brought over a new game that they got, Toy Story Mania, and it was SO much fun.  If you remember “Jayla and Saremy’s Vacation 2009” and this recap post, you’ll see that we were obsessed with the Toy Story Mania ride at Disneyland California Adventure.  The Wii video game did not disappoint.  I felt like we were right back on the ride!  We also played Super Mario Bros, which is was crazy fun because all four of us could play at once.  I think I giggled the entire time we played because it was so funny to have all four characters trying to complete a level!

   

Action shots of playing Toy Story Mania.

  

Toasting to the New Year!

Diesel’s first picture of 2010.

I hope everyone has a great 2010!  Stay tuned for details on a cool GIVEAWAY that I’ll be having soon.

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Love,

Jeremy, Sara & Diesel

Our Attempt at a Christmas Picture

So…I’m not sending Christmas cards this year.  Sad, I know.  I love Christmas cards too. We’ve been getting them over the past week and I love opening them and seeing a little note from friends and family, or getting a picture them.  I love the photo cards and I had big plans for a cute Christmas photo!  I even bought Diesel a cute little elf hat…which he will not for the life of him wear.  What a humbug!

Anyway, in one final attempt to salvage the Christmas card picture, Jeremy and I tried to take a good picture of ourselves with Diesel.  As you can imagine, getting a picture with the two of us, plus a 10-month, 75lb Chocolate Lab, all looking straight ahead and smiling, can be a bit difficult.  And below are the pictures to prove it.  Though there isn’t a picture were Jeremy and I both look good or that Diesel is looking straight ahead, they make me laugh and smile anyway, so I posting them.  Oh well, I guess we’ll have a cute photo Christmas card next year.

Diesel, where did your head go?

Distracted by Jeremy’s buttons.

I don’t even know where he went, in these two pictures!

Kisses for Jeremy.

Playing with the string on my sweatshirt.

And the best for last…how could you not love that face?!

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Today is December 5th.  There are 20 more days until Christmas!  Are you done with your shopping?  Or are you like Jeremy and me, and have you not even started yet? :)  Have you sent your Christmas cards yet?  Or are you, once again, like Jeremy and me, and have you not even bought them yet? :)  Oh well, none of that matters because it’s Christmas!!

We bought our Christmas tree on Tuesday, but just got around to getting it decorated last night (we may have been slightly distracted by the Wii that we purchased).  It’s a beautiful 8 foot tall Noble Fur and it smells wonderful.  Here is a picture of it in all it’s glory!

In addition to getting the tree up and decorated, Jeremy put lights on the house.  We’ve never had lights on the house before because A) this is our first Christmas in THIS house and B) we thought we’d get in trouble by the rental company if we put lights up on the rental house that we used to live.  So, this was quite the exciting event for us…ok, maybe just for me.  We have lights on the ground level of the house, rope lights around our pillars, colorful lights on our yard tree, a reindeer and a red and green bulb in each of our porch lights.  Ta-da!

Speaking of Christmas decorations, check out this gingerbread house!

Pretty impressive, right?  Guess who made it.  Did you guess?  Well, you’re probably not right, so I’ll just tell you.  My co-workers and I made this!  Can you believe it??  I really think I’m still in shock that it turned out this good. 

You see, every year we have a Christmas party for the students that work in our office.  There is always some type of “crafty” thing for the students to do, and this year it involved gingerbread houses.  Well, before we knew it, and with the help of a co-worker, we quickly turned it into a competition, more specifically a “Gingerbread Throwdown!” (Yes, it was my idea and watch Food Network too much.)  The competition was broken down into three teams: the Admissions Staff (my team!), the Admissions students and International Admissions.  Anyways, to make a long story short…I created some rules (all the contents of one gingerbread kit must be used, aviation theme, 75% edible, etc.), trash talking between students and staff started, and the competition was on. 

Unfortunately though, everyone on my team lost enthusiasm for it and at the beginning of the week none of us wanted to do it, including me who was in charge of baking the house.  However, come Thursday morning when we all forced smiles on our faces and started decorating, things made a positive change and viola, our gingerbread house, complete with a  sea plane even, was finished!  As you can see from the picture, there is the main house (there are stained glass windows on the sides and back), the garage, magical fruit trees (we had Runt candies we had to use), a Twix chimney, and a sea plane!  Also, though you can’t see it, there is an “air conditioning unit” in the back (a.k.a. where the battery pack for the lights inside the house went) and it was surrounded by a graham cracker picket fence!  Needless to say, we won the Gingerbread Throwdown and I’m still in awe of the mad gingerbread house skills that some of my co-workers possess.

20 days until Christmas!!

Amazing Christmas Present #1

Yea, yea...I know I'm slacking as a blogger, but I've been busy (a.k.a. lazy and still wishing I was on Christmas break).  No really...I've been somewhat busy, getting back into the swing of work, starting to pack and working on finishing up my online courses.  But I'm not busy now and I wanted to blog, so here we go!

As I mentioned before, I got a lot of great stuff for Christmas.  One present that I'm somewhat obsessed with is my new blanket.  It is a Charter Club 3 in 1 Snuggle Wrap from Macy's and its wonderful!  I'm sure you're thinking, "What is so cool about this blanket?"  Well, this blanket can be used in multiple ways.  It is lined with warm fuzziness and you can place it on you to keep you warm, just like a regular blanket.  Or you can wrap it around yourself, zip it up from the bottom to your waist, and then drape it over your shoulders to snap together and WEAR IT!  It's kind of like a big, warm sleeping bag that your feet stick out of the bottom.  To illustrate:

 

It reminds me of a Snuggie.  Have you guys seen the info-mercials for the Snuggie?  If not, here it is:

Admit it...the Snuggie looks pretty cool, right?  What an ingenious idea!  Why didn't I think of that?  I hate it when you're all nice and warm under you blanket, but then you have to get up to do something and get all cold.  Blah!  I was begging Jerm to let me get a Snuggie, until I found this beauty at Macy's and then my grandma got it for me! 

I highly recommend that you all run out to your nearest Macy's and buy one!  My blanket (his name is Brown) keeps me toasty warm as I walk around the house , and of course,  I'm wearing it right now, as I type. :) 

Seriously?! It's 2009?!

Happy New Year everyone!  I can't believe that it's 2009 already!  The years are just flying by these days, aren't they? 

Well, Jeremy and I just got back from our whirlwind trip through 3 states in 3 days...and we're exhausted.  Our trip started on Monday morning at 7am.  Jeremy works the mid-shift Sunday night to Monday morning, so once he got home at 6:30am and got his stuff together, we hit the road for Orange, CA.  We got to Cali around 12:30pm, had lunch with Jerm's family and then went to see a movie.  We saw the new Will Smith movie, "7 Pounds," and I do NOT recommend it.  I won't spoil it for those that haven't seen it, but it had potential to be a good movie; however, it just turned out to be a bit creepy and odd.  Oh well.  After the movie, we came home and had dinner, then opened our Christmas presents!  Next came dessert and bedtime because we had another busy day coming up.

  

 

On Tuesday, we left Cali around 10am and headed to VEGAS!!  If you refer back to my post, Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary, you'll remember that Jeremy got me tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera in Vegas on December 30th.  For our quick little trip to Vegas, we stayed at the lovely Mirage Hotel.  Our room faced the Strip and we had an awesome view.

The view of the Strip.

The Mirage's volcano show, right below our room.

Before heading to the show, Jeremy placed his sports bet (which he won about $52 on!) and we ate dinner.  We tried out a new, yummy burger restaurant in The Mirage called BLT Burger.  They had delicious burgers and excellent shakes! 

  

After dinner, we headed across the street at the Venetian to see Phantom.  The show was AWESOME!  I saw Phantom on Broadway a few years ago, but I loved it so much and I knew that I had to see it in Vegas.  It is a bit shorter than the Broadway version and it's "Vegas-ified" with elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics.  To quote the website, "By incorporating special effects and enhancements made possible today by modern technology into the timeless music and story of Phantom, new audiences and loyal fans alike will be awed by and all-new Phantom."  Though I think I'm a bit bias to the Broadway version (just because I saw it first), I still loved this one.  Oh it was so good!  The actors had amazing voices, the music was incredible and as always, the Phantom won me over!  If I were Christine, I definitely would have chosen him over Raul.  Plus, even Jerm was humming some of the songs when we left!

The Phantom of the Opera.

In line for the show.

On Wednesday morning, we departed Vegas for the fabulous city of Scottsdale (oh, I love home!), to have Christmas and New Years with my family.  My parents made us a delicious dinner and then we opened presents. 

   

 

After presents, we played a board game that my parents got us, Clue.  But it's not just any Clue...it's quite possibly the BEST Clue ever...it's Harry Potter Clue!

  

As the night went on and our game of Harry Potter Clue finished, we had about an hour to spare before ringing in the New Year.  At this point, I was so tired and getting goofy, that I would have gladly went to bed at 11...but we stayed up.  At midnight, we toasted sparkling cider and popped a bunch of party favor poppers in the backyard.  Fun, fun!

Then, this morning we left Scottsdale around 10am, since Jerm worked today at 2pm, and as I said before, we're pooped.  So, our whirlwind trip has come to a close and it's quite possible that we'll never do it again.  Maybe I should do the holiday planning next year and not leave it up to Jerm. :)

As for presents, we both got some great stuff this year!  Jerm got a bunch of Blue-Ray DVDs, some much needed clothes, ESPN magazine and some other great stuff.  I got a ton of stuff, but I am particularly excited about my peanut butter variety pack (yes, I am a nerd and I asked for peanut butter for Christmas) and my blanket/wrap/snuggie thing (I wearing in the picture above)!  There will most likely be blogs about these to specific items in the near future, so stay tuned.

We had a great Christmas and New Years and we hope that you all did too!  Hopefully, 2009 be a great year for all our family and friends!

 

Our first picture of 2009...we look a little tired...

Hang Your Stockings and Say Your Prayers, Cause Santa Claus Comes Tonight!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!

Can you believe it's almost Christmas? I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again...I love Christmas! Over the past month I've baked and eaten my fair share of Christmas treats, shopped for gifts for the family, listened to Christmas music at every chance I could get, sent Christmas cards, went to Christmas parties, and felt the joy of the season pulsing through everyone. Why can't it be Christmas everyday?!

Speaking of Christmas all the time, did you know that there is an island in the Indian Ocean, near Australia called, "Christmas Island?" I've known about it since I was a kid and always wanted to go there to see if it was like Christmas all year long! If I were the Mayor of Christmas Island, I would make it mandatory to have Christmas decorations up all year long. If anyone from Christmas Island happens to come across this blog, please email me and tell me about your island.

Alright, onto the point of my blog. Let's talk about Christmas movies. Christmas movies are great, aren't they? They just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I've put together my top ten list of Christmas movies, with some clips and pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Sara's Top 10 Christmas Movie List:

10. A Christmas Story

In all honesty, I still don't really see what the big deal about this movie is, but I feel that it's just one that you HAVE to watch on Christmas. Plus, since TBS shows it for 24 hours on Christmas, how could you not watch it?

9. Miracle on 34th Street

I haven't seen this movie in years, but I remember my mom watching it a lot during Christmas, when I was a kid. Definately a classic!


8. It's a Wonderful Life
Another one that my mom always watched during Christmas time.

7. The Polar Express

This is one of my new favorites. Jerm and I saw it for the first time last year (thanks to the McIntyre's) and it's such a cute movie. "I believe!"

6. White Christmas

Classic...no other words for it.

5. Mickey's Christmas Carol

When my sister and I were little, my parents used to turn this movie on as we open gifts on Christmas morning. Awww, memories.

4. The Santa Clause

"Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing."

3. Home Alone
I think I remember seeing this in the movie theater when it came out. As I watch it now, I tend to wonder how the burglars could be so stupid, but it's still a great Christmas movie.

2. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Gotta love those Muppets! Kermit as Bob Cratchit and Michael Cain as Scrooge, plus all the great songs, make this a definite favorite of mine.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Hands down! Best Christmas movie ever!  And the best line of the movie...

So, that's my top ten list of Christmas movies. What is your favorite Christmas movie(s)?

Jeremy and I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and get to spend time with your family and friends! One last thing before I go, check out this cool website and track Santa Claus as he makes his way to your house tonight. :-)

NORAD Tracks Santa

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas Light Displays

In the spirit of Christmas, let's talk about Christmas lights.  Along with everything else about this time of year, I love Christmas lights.  They are so colorful, pretty, and twinkly... what's not to like?  My love for Christmas lights started when I was a kid because every Thanksgiving Day my dad would put the Christmas lights up on the house and my sister and I would get to help.  Jeremy and I sadly do not have any lights up on our house, but we will next year since we'll have our very own house to decorate.  Since we don't have any lights up, I'm going to live vicariously through the two video clips below.  But before we get to that, let's view the best "Christmas light moment" from one of the best Christmas movies ever, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!"

Alright, now onto these two Christmas light displays.  Aren't they cool?  I could watch them over and over again.  Plus, I have so many questions for these people!  How long does it take you to set up?  Isn't it expensive?  What is your electric bill like?!  Do you feel like you live in a disco club?  Do your neighbors hate you?  Anyway, check out these two clips to increase your Christmas spirit and get inspired for next year.  Enjoy!

O Christmas Tree

"O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!"

"For every year the Christmas tree,
Brings to us all both joy and glee.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!"

We got our Christmas tree today! Isn't it beautiful? It's 100% authentic, artificial materials and it's about 2 feet tall.

Since we aren't giving Christmas presents to each other and are going to be busy for the holidays, Jeremy said that we would not be getting a tree this year (what a bah-humbug, right?!). How can you not have a Christmas tree?! Well, I eventually convinced him that we needed a tree...even a small one would do, and then I came across this little beauty at Walmart. It came with its own lights and for only $8.88 it will pay for itself in no time.

When I got home from work today, I immediately decorated our little tree, while Jeremy laughed at me, with our plethora ornaments. You'll see that we have only 5 real ornaments including: 2 I Love Lucy ones, 1 from our 1st Christmas last year, 1 from Scottsdale (thanks Mom) and a glass ball from my friend, Alli. Though it might be a bit dismal when compared to a regular Christmas tree, I think it's wonderful and I had a great time during the whole ten minutes that it took me to decorate it! :)

 

Ornaments.

 

Putting the size into perspective.

 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

First Cookies of the Season

Last night I had the honor of baking the first Christmas cookies of the season!  At work today we had a Mexican and Italian themed holiday luncheon.  I sign up to bring a dessert, so I decided to bring Mexican Wedding Cookies!  Have you had these cookies before?  They are so easy to make and quite delicious.  Plus, they look like little snowballs...how Christmasy!  I have been making them at Christmas time for the past few years and they are always a hit.  As usual, I used whole wheat flour and I did not have enough pecans, so I used almonds too.  I didn't get to try one (there were too many other goodies to eat), but they were all gone by the end of the day...so they must have been good.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

 

Hot cookie being rolled in powered sugar.

 

Finished.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

by Paula Deen

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands

1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. At low speed gradually add the flour.
5. Mix in the pecans with a spatula.
6. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies.
7. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes.
8. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Happy December everyone! I intended to post this blog yesterday, but there just weren't enough hours in the day. I'm so stoked (yes, I really said stoked) for Christmas! It's my favorite holiday and there are so many fun things to look forward to, such as: Christmas parties, Christmas cookies, Christmas caroling, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Santa Claus, giving presents, receiving presents, family, friends, candy canes, awesome Christmas movies (Christmas Vacation and The Muppet Christmas Carol, come to mind), Christmas break (yay for working at a University and getting two weeks off!!), and of course, Christmas music (I LOVE Christmas music and could listen to it all year long)! To quote Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year. With the kids jingle belling, And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer!" It's the most wonderful time of the year!" :)

In the spirit of Christmas, you'll notice that I have festively changed our blog background, I have added a "Christmas Countdown" to the side bar and to this post, a playlist with some of the best Christmas songs ever! I heart Christmas music and could listen to it all year. In fact, I'm listening to it right now! My most favorite Christmas song is "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," by Brenda Lee. What's yours?? And what are you plans for the holidays? Anything exciting?

Enjoy December! And remember, "It's the hap-happiest season of all. With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings When friends come to call...It's the hap- happiest season of all!"

Firsts

As you can imagine, the first year of marriage is filled with many first activities. There's the first big purchase (our washer/dryer), the first fight (over a hanger), the first plant (which sadly died 3 days after I bought it) and of course, first holidays!

Our first Thanksgiving arrived very quickly after we got married. With Jeremy's work schedule, it was difficult to spend time with either of our families, so we decided to have our first Thanksgiving together at home. Neither of us are huge fans of turkey and since cooking a turkey for only 2 people would be a bit excessive, our menu was somewhat "thanksgiving-ish" with a few changes. We had a little rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, coleslaw and rolls. Plus, our first Thanksgiving was also the first (and only) time we used our fine China! How fun, huh?

Our turkey day spread.

Delicious!

As our first few married monthes flew by, it was December before we knew it, and you know what that means....we needed a Christmas tree! So, we trekked on down to a little lot, not to far from our house. You'll see from the pictures, that we were dressed in our typical attire for winter. There's me, wearing as many layers as possible, plus gloves and a hoodie. While Jeremy runs around in a tshirt, shorts and flip flops!


Taking our tree home.

Triming up the tree.

Jeremy had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas (boooo!), so we opened our presents on the night of Christmas Eve. Then, we went to my family's house on Christmas day for dinner and the next day we were off to see his family in California. Talk about a busy holiday! Good thing that I got two weeks of vacation just for the holidays (it's nice working for a university!).

All ready for Christmas!

Opening presents!

Rounding out our string of first holidays, was New Years (which has always been my least favorite holiday). Sadly, Jeremy had to work at 6am on New Year's day (again, boooo!), making our New Year's Eve slightly less than eventful. So, we stayed in and watched a movie. I had assumed that we'd be staying up to watch the ball drop; however, much to my dismay Jeremy was too tired to stay up until midnight and we had to toast to the New Year at 11:30pm!! Well, I guess it was 2008 somewhere, and at least we were together. :)