Front Yard Gets a Lifestyle Lift

After our triple-threat Christmas, Jeremy and I went to Home Depot the next day to put couple of Home Depot gift cards to good use, (thanks Katie & Mel and Gramma Anita!).

The project:
The result:
The supervisor:

It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon

We had three separate Christmas celebrations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, (with one more to come at New Years) spending time with family and having a wonderful holiday.

Christmas Eve was spent with Steve and Stephanie over a traditional Italian dinner, cioppino and fontina fonduta. After we ate ourselves into a food coma, we exchanged presents and then took a picture in front of the tree:

After dinner, Jeremy took Kali to her mom’s house for Christmas Eve. The next morning, while Jeremy went to pick her up, Garlock, Brooklyn, and I checked out the Christmas tree and it’s abundance of gifts.
Kali’s Christmas from us revolved around a new desk and chair for her room, and all of the accessories to match. She also got a new toy to play with from Gramma Cindi and Poppy.
Jeremy and Kali got me a telephoto lens for my camera, which means no one, no matter how hard they try, will be able to hide from me anymore! (Insert evil laugh here).
Kali and I got Jeremy a new backpack for his backpacking trips, and a camelback (which is a fancy water bottle for hiking) to fit inside. He wasn’t very excited about the gift at all.
Walking into the kitchen to grab a couple of screwdrivers to help Kali assemble her desk, I had to take a picture of the aftermath of our Christmas celebrations. Garlock thinks Christmas is just fantastic – everyone sitting on the ground, happy, throwing paper and ribbon around. Way up on his list of favorite things, I’m sure. After spending a bit of time playing with our new toys, well Jeremy played with a toy, Kali and I tried to decipher IKEA assembly instructions, we headed over to Teri’s for the Robertson family Christmas gathering. Trevor, Alexis, and Kali took up station next to the Christmas stockings, very patiently waiting for the festivities, and by festivities, I mean a madness of flying wrapping paper and exclamations of joy: All in all, a great holiday. We’re looking forward to heading up to Fairfield for our post-Christmas, pre-New Years family celebration. In the meantime, Kali has been spending a lot of time getting her new room addition just the way she likes it:

On the other side of 30

On Saturday, I turned 30, and Jeremy threw me a wake. Yes, you read that correctly, a wake. We mourned the passing of my twenties with some good friends, family, an awesome cake, black balloons, a memorial slide show, and a floral funeral arrangement. Yup, we saw them out in style.

Thank you, honey, for one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. To quote Tim McGraw, “my next thirty years will be the best years of my life…” I’m glad I get to spend them with you.

Becca flew down for the night, and partied down with us.

That's Kelly. She designed the cake. Pays to know a professional cake decorator!

That's Cassie and Jason. Cassie was the mastermind behind the funeral arrangement flowers.

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On the twelfth day of Christmas...

It's beginning to look more like Christmas around these here parts. This morning, we got our 10 foot tall Christmas tree (Jeremy wanted to take full advantage of the vaulted ceiling in the foyer.) We've got a few in-the-house decorations this year and each year the collection will grow until one day, Christmas will slap you in the face no matter where you are looking. That's how we like it around here.

Our stockings were hung from the side table with care...

Even Garlock and Brooklyn, they got a pair.

And what would Christmas be with out a Santa or two...
Tonight, with Christmas carols playing softly in the background, we decorated our first family tree...

Too cute for words

Kali's school had their Winter Formal on Friday. Her heart-breaker days are coming on fast!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Jeremy was out of town for work Tuesday and Wednesday this week, leaving me with morning dog-walking duty. Putting aside the fact that it was forty degrees outside…

Today, as we walked down a court one block from our street, Garlock had what I believe was his first real encounter with an inflatable Christmas decoration. As we turned onto the street, he stopped suddenly, looking suspiciously at an inflatable several houses down, peeking through the bushes. We walked on, Garlock coming to a full stop each time he caught a glimpse of the inflatable. As we drew closer, Garlock become more and more anxious until finally, as we passed the inflatable, he ran into the street as far as his leash would allow, straining to avoid having to walk past it.

It seems Garlock is in agreement with me… there’s nothing right about an 8 foot tall inflatable Santa Claus on a motorcycle. Nothing at all.