Monday, November 30, 2009

How Was Yours?


Our kitchen has a fireplace, right on the wall. No way to sit around it, with a massive mantle like its a centerpiece when it isn't even centered in the room...this is what I've taken to using it for; holiday decorating

Hope you enjoyed a Happy and Thanks-filled weekend! Here is what we did in a nutshell;

-John takes oldest 2 on their first snowboarding trip. Mason, brave as he is, cried as he fell for the hundredth time. He came home and told me it was awesome. Then the next morning when I made him go running with me he said he couldn't because "everything hurts". I told him to lace up the runners or forget playing rugby because one day with those Highland boys will be a heck of a lot harder than a morning on the board. He ran 4 miles, no complaint ;)

-John cooks the turkey (for a little while) on his brand new TEXAS SMOKER. Our resident chef has wanted a TEXAS SMOKER for a very long time. New house calls for new toys I say (bring on the Madsen bike ;) so he's got an awesome black barrel looking thing out on the covered porch. Unfortunately, said TEXAS SMOKER blew a fuse due to a faulty fan in hour 4 of the 12 hour cooking process, so we ate oven roasted/smoke fusion turkey for dinner. VERY YUMMY. the candied yams and Brussels sprouts were delicious and my rolls were phenomenal.

-We played games with cousins til midnight at my mom and dad's house. It was awesome. John and I ate like pigs (at least I ate like a pig) since this was the only day off we were taking from our new healthy eating lifestyle (you could call it a diet, by why?).

-We worked on our basement, tons. The construction is so close to finished, and our basement is a wreck. Because of an upcoming trip to NYC (can't wait, please comment and tell me what to do while John goes to his fancy big meetings and I have a DAY to MYSELF in the city!) we felt we should kick it into gear and try to make order out of chaos. It didn't work. Still living in Chaos (which I think has very little to do with the basement being under construction)...

-We enjoyed a great dinner with the Malens. Love you guys. Please come often. We kept the Malen boys out late; which Pete and Annette I'm sure did not appreciate. This is a family that shuts down at 9 p.m. and starts up again at 5. Annette and I used to run together when we lived in Utah before, and often when we met at 5.30a.m. she had already cleaned all the bathrooms in her house. Wish being around them made me an early to bed early to rise type of person, it mostly just makes me jealous ;)

-John went to the BYU/UTAH football game on Saturday. Hope he had fun even though he sat with the BYU fans and the team of choice (can you say UTAH RED RUNNIN' UTES?) lost in overtime. Hope it counts for something that he got to hang out doing "guy stuff" for an entire day. He felt sheepishly guilty. Guess he doesn't know that I"m going to ask him to let me take lots more than one day away "girl weekend" away from home with my sisters this February (don't feel guilty any more, k honey?)

-Took the big 3 to see "the BLINDSIDE". Great film. PG13, and that means the previews before the film began were not for young eyes (especially not MY eyes). Scary movies are coming out soon, that's all I can say. But the movie itself was great. Wishing I could get away with the strong southern woman persona, but I just seem bossy when I try to pour it on. Wanting to be a more giving, less judgemental person after seeing the redemption of a child all because he was given love and support in a family. See the film, you'll be glad you did (just close your eyes for the previews)

-We (mostly) decked our halls at the Spruces. Still sans Christmas trees, and we need some garland and stuff here and there, but all the nick naks are out. wow, surprised at how fast that goes when you have as many helpers as I did (2 items broke in the move, thanks super glue for coming to our rescue!)

-Katie got to sing the Messiah along with a thousand other people and the Utah Symphony last night to usher in the holiday season and make me wildly happy I can read music and keep a melody line. Thanks Mom Graham for bringing me along, it is always a pleasure spending time with you and especially fun to sing with you the words of scripture which prophecy, lament and rejoice in the reality of Jesus Christ, whose birth we now celebrate all the rest of the year!

Thanks to all those who have responded to the holiday cards. We are glad you now know where we live and so thankful our lives are filled with memories of you all and the times we have shared with you!

4 comments:

Blue said...

maybe three will be a charm...cause i've asked on facebook, and an earlier post if you'd send me your addy, but haven't heard back yet.

facebook is probably best (private message). please include phone, too! i'm so over not knowing where you are! ;-) and i have a card sitting here waiting to mail you.

Tami said...

What a fun Thanksgiving! In New York, I would go see Wicked and go out to eat at Carnagie Deli. The sandwiches are huge and the cheesecake is yummy and moist. It is a world renown restaurant that apparently people come to NY just to eat there. The line is long, but oh so good. If you haven't seen wicked, it is awesome. Last time we went, we visited with a couple that go there every year to see plays and they always see Wicked. It is by far their favorite. I loved every minute of it in NY. The set is amazing! I have also Heard Mary Poppins is a great play with lots of special effects. Of course you have to shop. Sorry I don't have any stores to recommend, I only went with Drew and you can just guess how much shopping we did. Have a great time!

Tiffany said...

Katie,
Send me your e-mail thru FB and I'll send you my NYC list. I have one I give out to friends when they head to the Big Apple! Have a great time! I still love that place :)

April said...

Tim uses his smoker at least once a week, he's a pro. I wish John could have met Tim and showed him real Texas smoking. Our smoker doesn't have a fuse or a fan. I'll have to talk to him after work about what the difference may be. Miss you and I'm thankful for you.