The Hamilton Times

Family Photos

2011-12-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

Jon and I are jumping on the Christmas Card bandwagon this year and decided that we needed a family photo taken for said Christmas card. We got a new fancy camera for Christmas this year and asked our friend Scott to test it out for us by taking the photos. We think that he did a fantastic job even if two of the photo subjects were a little squirmy.

Just Us in our coordinating sweaters.

With the squirmy creatures.

My favorite outtake that Jon says no to putting on the card...

And just because we all know that animal pictures are cuter than people pictures... Sleeping Koda.

The sticker on her forehead says, "Star." We thought that it fit quite well.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T07:49:00.001-07:00

Ugh, we still haven't been able to figure out how to get our France post to show that we posted it less than 5 months ago.

Oh well, at least Thanksgiving is only TWO days away!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. If you know me, you're probably thinking, "ANY holiday where you get to eat as much as you want would be your favorite holiday!" And you would probably be right... but Thanksgiving is different. While I do love the food... turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, broccoli casserole, stuffing, and pumpkin pie (mmmmmm)... Thanksgiving is about more than that.

One of my other favorite things is to spend time with family, so this holiday is the perfect opportunity to combine the two. Although my parents and most of my siblings will be in San Diego this year, we do have Rachael's sister and her family coming up from Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with us. I'm really excited to have them visit and enjoy the holiday here in good ol' Utah.

In addition to the food and family, I love this holiday because SO many people actually take the time to think about what they're thankful for, something that seems to fall by the wayside most of the time.

I am thankful for so much, and I won't bore you with my list, but I will just say that at the top of it is my wonderful wife, Rachael. She is more amazing than I can express in a blog post. I am so thankful that she is my wife, and that we get to be together forever.

Now I just have to work as hard as I can to make sure she feels the same! :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

France!

2011-11-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, we love to travel. We are extremely blessed to have the opportunity to visit so many places, to experience different cultures, and most importantly, to be able to spend time with family. This year, we had the amazing opportunity to go with my family to visit France and Switzerland. Our trip was from July 23^rd to August 2^nd.

Rachael and I flew out of Salt Lake. We met my family in Dallas, and flew to Paris on the same flight.

The following is our itinerary, put together by my sister, Erin, and her husband Jon M. Thanks Erin and Jon for putting this together!!!

France Itinerary

Note: for each applicable site, we’ve put the page no. referencing the site in the “Paris Pass Guide.” Look at the guide for more info., nearest metro stations, normal price of admissions, and mini-maps.

Day 1: Sunday (7/24)

● 9:15 a.m. - Arrival at Paris - Charles de Gaulle airport; go through customs, get baggage, complain about lost baggage

● 10:15 a.m. - take train to Hotel Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel, 61 Quai de Grenelle, 75015 Paris, (33) 1/40582000

○ RER B/Blue train to St. Michel/Notre Dame station; transfer to RER C, direction Versailles, exit at Champ de Mars/Tour Eiffel; walk 10 min. - travel time approx. 1 hour

● 2:30 p.m. - Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier - 8 rue Scribe, 9eme) tour; travel by Metro. Pg. 103.

○ Also nearby: the Paris Story 1 hour multimedia exhibit. Pg. 96.

● 3:45 p.m. - watch part of the Tour de France final stage from Les Tuileries Gardens; travel by Metro (or walk if we’re up to it), Tuileries station.

We had dinner that night at a little café near our hotel. Jet lag finally caught up to most of us by this point, and I’m sure that every one of us was sleeping at the table during this meal.

French cuisine is definitely different than American fare, and Rachael and I are not as adventurous when eating abroad as we would like. But then again, it would be really sad to get food poisoning while traveling, so we don’t mind sticking to the more tame options.

Day 2: Monday (7/25)

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel. They had it set up buffet-style, and tried to Americanize it by adding scrambled eggs (powdered) and bacon (way undercooked) and fowl (turkey) sausage. It was really good! The hot chocolate was probably the highlight of breakfast at this hotel. Think European chocolate in beverage form.

● 8:30 a.m. - Les Cars Rouges - Paris hop-on, hop-off double-decker bus, catch it at the Eiffel Tower, take it to Stop 3, Musée de Louvre. Pg. 101.

● 9 a.m. - visit Le Louvre - Paris Bus (hop-on, hop-off), stop 3; use our passes to avoid the line by going to the Richelieu entrance. Pg. 28.

The Louvre is amazing! Unfortunately, it’s also AMAZINGLY HUGE. There is so much to see and learn that we could not even visit all of the wings of the museum, let alone see all of the incredible art. I guess that means that I will have to take Rachael back another time!

Jon and John the Baptist

The Mona Lisa, notice the hoards of people reflected back in the glass.

In front of the Notre Dame.

The Rose Window in the Notre Dame.

This one is for Rachael's Dad who always joked that one's butt might fall off.

○ Eat lunch in this area after the museum

● Afternoon - visit l’Ile de France, including la Câthédrale de Notre Dâme (towers open until 5:30 p.m.); la Conciergerie (last admission at 5:30 p.m., pg. 70), and la Sainte-Chappelle (open until 6 p.m., pg. 72).

● Evening - ride Les Cars Rouges the whole way around the city. We saw Paris the quickest way possible, and still had a blast. We saw l’Arc de Triomphe, drove down the Champs-Elysees.

We ended the evening with a trip to Montmarte. We sat on the steps of Sacre Coeur, watched some amazing street performers, saw people get arrested for selling little trinkets on the sidewalk, and went inside the church. Afterward, we had dinner at a café in the center of a courtyard where artists gather. On the way down, we stopped and took pictures of the Eiffel Tower from a distance. It was another great day. The best memory of the day was David racing with the funicular as we left Montmarte after a 3 hour dinner.

Jon and James waiting to ride the finicular

Amazing street performers!

View of the Eiffel Tower from Montmarte.

Day 3: Tuesday (7/26)

● 8:30 a.m. - Eiffel Tower (approx. 17 minute walk from the hotel) - ticket windows open at 9 a.m., and there will be a line, so the earlier we get there the better. To go to the top will take from 30 - 90 minutes (depending on the crowd.)

This is a great, but frustrating memory. We went to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn’t get to go inside. My dad waited in line while the rest of the family enjoyed a leisurely breakfast (it wasn’t really leisurely… we were running VERY late) and when we got there, the annoying little French man (who HAPPENED to be the security guard) wouldn’t let us get in line with my dad, and the line was 2 hours long. After a pointless argument in which some choice words were exchanged, we decided to just come back another day.

So, we decided to go to the Trocadero to take pictures. It was pretty cool, because the last time my family went to Paris, we took family pictures at the same place, so we posed the same way.

Replica of a photo taken when the Hamilton's toured Europe in their youth

● 10:30 a.m. - Musée d’Orsay - skip the lines by going to Entrance C. Pg. 26

● Proposed Split-Up Time: if you want to do the Catacombs, this is probably the best time.

○ 2 p.m. - Paris Catacombs, 1, avenue of Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, 14e; admission 8 euros; last admission at 4 p.m.; 45 min. tour; Metro stop Denfert-Rochereau.

Unfortunately, after waiting in line, we were unable to visit the Catacombs this day. We met the rest of the family at the Pantheon, and continued on the next activity. There are no pictures from this phase of the day because there are no photos allowed in the Musée d’Orsay. We did have a chance to see Van Gogh's "self portrait" that isn't really a self portrait.

● 8 p.m. - Bateaux Parisiens Seine River Cruise - 1 hour cruise, (available 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m., every 30 minutes; departs from Port de la Bourdonnais, Trocadero metro stop. Pg. 100.

This was a fun activity. We rode in one of the glass-covered boats in the Seine, past Notre Dame, and through Paris. I thought it would be more romantic, but those boats are LOADED with loud American tourists. We learned a lot about the city, and it was a great experience.

Following the boat tour, we walked along the shore of the Seine, past the Eiffel Tower, and were fortunate enough to see it when they turn the thousands of flashing lights that are positioned all over it. With the beauty of the river, and the Eiffel Tower, with the old buildings of the city as a backdrop, it’s no wonder Paris is considered to be such a romantic place. I felt so lucky to be there with Rachael!

Best shot of the glittering on the Eiffel Tower, there are better ones of the tower, but this shows the sparkle.

We look cheesy, but this was on the boat. Notice Jon's dad's "phone" next to us that told about the points of interest that we were riding past.

View of Notre Dame from the boat.

Night shot from the boat of the beautiful Tower.

Another cool night one just before the twinkling began.

Day 4: Wednesday (7/27)

● 8 a.m. - Drew, Jon H., Jon M. pick up rental cars

What a fun experience! Driving in the city is definitely a fun thing to do when the city was designed with pedestrians and horses as the main mode of transportation!

After dropping the cars off at the hotel, we walked over to the Eiffel tower, and this time we got to go up! It is awesome to see the city from that vantage point. It looks like a bunch of wagon wheels, with the streets as the spokes. The buildings are so well built that they have been there for hundreds of years!

On the terrace of the Eiffel Tower.

One of the legs of the Tower.

Being goofy, they stuck their heads through the fence to get a unique shot.

A view from the top.

After the Eiffel Tower, we split up. Erin and Jon and their family went to Versailles, and the rest of us went to the Paris Catacombs. After waiting in line AGAIN, we got to go in! Another amazing experience! The catacombs are a series of chambers that are the final resting place of six million people. The bones have been arranged along the walls, with femurs interlocked log cabin style, and skulls arranged in crosses and various other religious symbols. The rest of the bones are piled behind the façade, and it as a really cool experience thinking about what these people did and saw in their lives.

Entrance to the area where the bones are located.

A cross made out of skulls.

The smiling skull.

A shot of the log cabin action. This is how the first two feet are on all sides of the walkway, behind that the bones are just in piles.

● 9:30 a.m. - tour the Palace of Versailles and its gardens

○ If we want to, and there’s time, we might want to drive to see one of the other chateaux in greater Paris. Pp. 74-83.

After the catacombs, we met Erin and Jon and the kids at Versailles. We got there right before closing, and had to hurry through, but we were able to see many of the rooms, and the hall of mirrors, before going out to the gardens. We spent a couple of hours walking through the immense backyard, and took pictures. I found a four-leaf clover, and we pressed it in our Paris Pass book. Eventually, we were pretty much the only people there, and it was so great to be able to spend some quiet time with my family in a place that has so much historical significance.

Ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors.

More standard shot of the Hall of Mirrors.

Diana, the goddess of Paris.

Jon's awesome 4-leaf clover!

Ben showing off his muscles in front of the entry.

I thought this was too funny not to share.

Day 5: Thursday (7/28) – EARLY Breakfast at the hotel - Drive to Broc, Switzerland: 7hrs, Drive to Gruyère, 10 min.

● This is our biggest driving day - we need to be on the road by 8am at the latest in order to get to the chocolate factory on time. The chocolate factory - keep that in your mind, and you will find the motivation you need to arise early and hit the road. Just imagine Erin stuffing her face full of chocolate even faster than David can. In fact - let’s have a chocolate eating contest this trip!!! It’s ON! It’s So ON!

● 8 a.m. - drive to Cailler Chocolate factory – About 7 driving hours; hours 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (last show starts at 5:15pm)

○ Maison Cailler Chocolaterie, Rue Jules Bellet 7, 1636 Broc, Admission: Adults (groups of 10+) 8 chf, kids free

My sister Erin, my brother in-law, Jon M., and my brother David all served missions in the Geneva Switzerland mission. When my family went to pick up my sister from her mission, they went to this chocolate factory and did a tour. After the tour, they were led into a room full of chocolate… and were told they could eat as much as they wanted!

Needless to say, I was jealous that I had missed it (I was still on my mission at the time), but we remedied that by going to the chocolate factory on this trip!

The tour was good, but the part we were all looking forward to was the chocolate tasting room. The tour ended, and we walked through a door… and there was a bowl of sample Branches bars. Little tiny bite sized ones. What the heck? Everyone was disappointed. This was NOT what we were expecting. We had been tricked! So, we did the only reasonable thing we could do. Each of us grabbed handfuls of those little tiny Branches bars we and stuffed our pockets full. Take that chocolate factory!

Feeling vindicated, we walked down the hall toward the exit, through another door, and into….

THE CHOCOLATE TASTING ROOM!

Boy did we feel like greedy, American idiots! We got to eat as much chocolate as we could (which I found is not all that much when the chocolate is as rich as it was there)! It was so cool! Not only did we get all the chocolate we wanted while were there, but we had our own little stash to keep us satisfied for the rest of the trip.

Jon driving our car, Emperor Zurg.

There were vineyards all over the hillsides along the drive. So beautiful.

The chocolate tasting room.

Had to get a photo with the factory in the background.

● Post-chocolate tour - drive to Gruyère; Cheese Factory Hours: 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., Misses Schneiter Catherine, 1663 Moléson-sur-Gruyère; Admission: Adults (groups of 10+) 4 chf, kids 2chf

● Have dinner in Gruyère

We missed the tour of the Gruyere Cheese Factory, but we did get to have diner in the little village. We had the stereotypical Swiss Fondue and it was AMAZING!

First shots of Gruyere. It was such an adorable town!

We've decided that next time we are in Europe we want to spend more time in Switzerland. One day in this beauty was not enough.

Stretching our amazing fondu.

Awesome web and spider that we spotted on the Castle in Gruyere.

● Drive back to Lausanne to the Hotel Crystal, Rue Chaucrau 5 - 1003 Lausanne, Tél +4121 317.03.03

Day 6: Friday (7/29) – Breakfast at the hotel – Drive to Gap: 5 hours

● 9:30 a.m. - leave hotel

● 10 a.m. - tour the Chateau de Chillon (website: http ://www .chillon .ch /en /), Open from 9am – 7pm, Adults – 12 chf, Students w/i.d.10 chf, kids free

● 1 p.m. - drive through Evian and stop and visit the medieval town of Yvoire (Photos: http ://www .yvoiretourism .com /chapitre 10_fr _2.html )

This was a really neat little town. The architecture was awesome, but it has been turned into a tourist attraction with gift shops all over the place. We were craving ice cream. So we got a little bowl:

It was $2.50 for one scoop or $10 for 10 scoops... we went with the ten and split it 4 ways.

The fountain in the center of the Chateau Chillon.

Looking down from the watch tower at the Chateau Chillon.


Driving to the hotel that night we spotted this amazing store! It totally made Rachael homesick.

Gorgeous sunflower fields on the drive as well.

Church building from both David and Erin's first mission areas.

● Stay in Gap – Hotel Ibis, 5/7 Bld Georges Pompidou, 05000 - GAP, (+33)4/92535757

Day 7: Saturday (7/30) – Breakfast at the hotel - Drive to Aix: 2hr, Drive to Cassis: 30min

● 9 a.m. - leave for Aix-en-Provence, stopping at villages along the way

● Noon - lunch in Aix.

● See Aix-en-Provence – guided tour???

● 2:30 p.m. - leave Aix

● 3 p.m. - drive into Cassis; http ://calanques .visite .free .fr /img _g /portmiou .bmp

○ Boat trip to the Calanques or kayak ?– to see 8 Calanques, 1 hr 30 min, Adults: 21 E, Children 14 E, departs 10:30, 11, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4pm; to see 3 Calanques – 45 min, Adults 14 E, Children 7 E

Another cool experience! We took a boat out to the white cliffs along the coast. It was simply beautiful scenery, AND we got to go on a boat, which is one of my most favorite things.

Some really fancy expensive car that Jon will have to explain at a later date.

Riding the boat back to shore.

Charlotte and Ben spitting over the edge of the boat.

● Dinner in Cassis

● Drive to Novotel Marseille Est, 184 Avenue de Saint Menet, MARSEILLE, (+33)4/91439060

Day 8: Sunday (7/ 31) – Breakfast at the hotel - Drive to Baux: 1hr 15min, Drive to St. Remy: 15min, Drive to Roussillon 1hr, Drive to Gordes: 15 min, Drive to Avignon: 1hr.

● 9 a.m. - leave Marseille, drive to Château de Baux de Provence (Ancient stone hilltop village and castle ruins– get there by car); and, Saint Rémy de Provence (typical provencal town with Roman Ruins)

● Afternoon - Roussillon and Gordes

After dinner in Gordes, some of us stopped at a French cemetery. It was interesting to see the customs of different cultures. One of the crypts had a hole rusted in the metal door in the front. We all wondered (admit it, so would you) if we would be able to see anything inside, so I took a picture, and was surprised to see…

Yep, those are body bags! Probably 15-20 of them! It was a very… interesting and unexpected discovery!

Most docile big dog ever. Just hanging out in front of a shop.

Entrance to the little town up on the hill.

Had to get a shot of one of the French Provincial tourist traps.

The wall that surrounds the city.

At dinner Jon and David showed off their magic skills.

Best Pizza EVER!

Best soda too!

And the infamous body bags.

View from the cemetery.

This is what the cemetery looked like.

● Stay in Avignon at the Kyriad Avignon, 2 Rue Mere Theresa,, Avignon, +33 4 32 76 88 00

Day 9: Monday (8/1) – Breakfast NOT included at this hotel. Drive to Orange: 30min, Drive to Valence: 1hr 15min, Drive to Lyon: 1hr 15min.

● 9 a.m. - take the first tour of Palais des Papes in Avignon, open from 9am-8pm; audio tour - Adults 10.50 E, Students 5E, kids free

We didn’t actually do the tour, and it was too expensive to justify walking onto the Pont d’Avignon, but it was cool to see!

● 11 a.m. - Leave Avignon, drive to Orange; have lunch in Orange, visit Roman ampitheatre

● 4 p.m. - leave Orange, drive to Valence for dinner

○ If some people want to leave Orange early to visit the caves in l’Ardeche they can, but they would have to still plan on being to Valence by 5:30 p.m.

● 7:00 p.m. - visit the Chateau de Crussol (hike up a hill to the ruins of a castle built in the 12th century)

In Avignon at the Palais de Papes where we were asked to leave because our children were so loud that the workers could not do their jobs. Bahaha.

Baby James eating his foot as we tried to decide where to go next.


The central plaza of the palais de Papes.

Roman Amphitheater Ruins in Arles.

This was really cool! We hiked up to the ruins, and the view was INCREDIBLE. To think that the ruins were once a little city was awesome. The walls of the structures were still there, but all of the wooden parts, like the roofs and any other structures that would have been wooden, are long gone.

● 8:00 p.m. - drive to Lyon; stay at the Novotel Lyon Gerland, 70 avenue Leclerc, Lyon Cedex 07,+33 4 72 71 11 11

Day 10: Tuesday (8/2) – Breakfast at the hotel

● Fly out of Lyon Airport

What a great trip this was! Rachael and I had such a great time visiting France and Switzerland, enjoying some great cuisine, and learning about the history and culture of that part of the world. But, even with all the incredible cultural experiences, delicious meals, and fun activities, the best part of the trip was being able to spend so much time making great memories with family. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to be with them, and we are so thankful to my parents for giving us that amazing experience!

Finally...

2011-07-14T00:37:00.051-06:00

Ok, so I'm not a very good blogger. It takes me forever to get around to uploading my pictures and then once they are uploaded I just worry that I am not witty enough to entertain the 5 of you who read this. I decided to update though because seeing the pictures of little baby Koda make me miss him being so tiny. So here is an update of photos of our cute animals.

We had some friends visit with a baby and we laid out this mat for her, Star decided that it was a cat mat, not a baby mat. Don't worry, it is washable.


Koda eating with his momma Misty on the day we picked him up.

All tuckered out when he was still small enough for that bed.

Star likes to snuggle when Koda is not around.

See what I mean about being small enough for the bed? And he's even bigger than this now!


He gave up on squeezing into that tiny bed, opting instead to use it as a pillow.

See, they don't hate each other. These next few pictures are not in age order.

Sleeping near one another. I am pretty sure she was still bigger than him in this picture.

I look crazy, but they were so close to snuggling I had to share.

They got even closer when Jon was trying to sleep.

I'm not sure who liked this little bed more, Star...

Or Dakota.

Last but not least, Koda's favorite hiding spot. Under our bed where Star hides as well.

Sorry if this is a picture overload. I figured it was better than trying to write about our boring day to day life.

He's Home!

2011-05-15T20:48:00.000-06:00

We brought Koda home tonight and man is he one cute little guy. Star did not want to be near him at first. She did everything she could to get away, but now that he's asleep upstairs, she's walking near him, sniffing him, and just trying to decide if he's friend or foe. I have more photos on the camera to add, but here are a few to keep everyone happy.

Star trying to get out of the laundry room/ bedroom

Koda testing out his basement bed and checking out his toys

He likes his basement bed and his upstairs one too

In the last photo you can see Dakota snuggling his pheasant. When we saw this pheasant yesterday Jon NEEDED it because his Kodi dog had a favorite pheasant growing up. Let's hope that Koda loves this one just as much.

Expanding the Family

2011-04-25T23:15:00.000-06:00

As you've seen over the last few weeks our little family is growing. After having Star for a few months we decided to get a puppy as well. Last week we announced that it would either be Almond Joy or String Bean. Well... We made the official decision tonight and the newest member of the Hamilton family is... STRING BEAN!!! (His name will now be Dakota, but I thought String Bean was pretty sweet.)

We fell in love with the way that he sleeps on his back when we were visiting with the puppies tonight and loved that he has a ticklish spot on his tummy. He's also a total snuggle bug and we are hoping that he and Star learn to snuggle each other quickly. He'll be coming home with us on the 15th of 16th of May and we could not be more excited.

And since a post isn't very enjoyable without pictures, here are some shots of the whole brood of pups.

The five of them all cuddled. Dakota/String Bean is in the middle with the green ribbon.

See how he's cuddled up by the runt's head? So cute right! The one at the top is Almond Joy, the other boy.

They were in a puppy circle. So, so, so precious!!

Just so Star doesn't feel left out

2011-04-20T09:18:00.001-06:00

Wow, two posts in one week!

I was worried that Star would be jealous of the new puppy, so here is a post of my favorite Star spots in the house.

She loves to hug Jon.

Hiding under the entertainment center

Coming in and out at her leisure

I call this the roast pig

Jon is her favorite. She loves to lay on his legs.

See, another Jon's lap shot.

Avoiding the snow

This is how she sits ALL night. On either one of us.

Curled up behind Jon's booty. So funny.

I guess the sun was too bright for her.

All stretched out

Meet Dakota!

2011-04-17T20:45:00.000-06:00

I thought about writing a few posts in the last month, but they were all about Star... and I was worried everyone would think I was a crazy cat lady. So... instead of writing about Star all of the time, this is a post about our puppy Dakota.

Jon grew up with a cute dog named Kodi. That is short for Kodiak Marshmallow Bear Hamilton. Well, since Kodi got "hammered, I mean tooled"(see story below) a few years ago, Jon has been wanting a puppy of his own. He wanted one just like Kodi though. A yellow lab that is almost white who loves life and being with people. Well, lucky for us, one of my co-workers has a yellow lab who just had a litter of the cutest yellow lab puppies. Jon wanted to have a dog just like Kodi, so he specifically asked if we could get a boy dog. Lucky for us there are two boy dogs in the litter. Here are some pictures of the cute boys. We have to wait for the sire's owner to choose the pick of the litter before we know which boy we can bring home. They are equally adorable so we would be happy with either.

Jon with the boys

This is the blue puppy, Almond Joy

This is the green puppy, String Bean

Me with both of the boys

Are they not just the cutest?

This is String Bean's favorite sleeping position. He will probably be the boy we bring home and rename Dakota in about a month. Either he or Almond Joy would be a wonderful addition to our family.

Here is the hammered story according to Erin, Jon's older sister.

"Growing up we had a yellow lab named Kodi. He was a member-of-the-family pet. He died about three years ago, and Sam only saw him a few times before he died. So, a couple of days ago I took the kids to San Diego to help my mom put up the Christmas decorations, and while we were decorating the tree, Sam found an ornament in the shape of a doghouse with a picture of our beloved pet inside. I asked him if he remembered Kodi. He said yes, and then asked what had happened to him. I explained that he had gotten too old. "Oh no" Sam exclaimed with genuine concern and sadness. That was all he said about it, but he seemed thoughtful after my explanation. Later that night, Sam was saying the prayer at dinner. He prayed for the food, and every member of the family, and then he said: "And please bless Kodi, who got hammered - I mean tooled." I just about fell off my chair I was laughing so hard!!!! Ah, I needed a laugh, thanks Sam."

A Look at Our Paint

2011-03-01T20:19:00.001-07:00

I mentioned on my group blog last week that Jon and I are repainting the majority of the upstairs of our house. It's been a long project and we lost a little steam so we are taking a break from painting for awhile. We have successfully finished the paint in the hallway and living room though. The living room is called barefoot beach and although I don't think you can tell from the pictures, it is a light tan/gray. In the hallway we have country beige. The two colors were on the same paint chip and the color we selected for the kitchen and bathroom was as well. When we get the motivation those rooms will be tattered sail.

The first finished corner with crown molding in the living room. Barefoot Beach is the color.

Here's another shot of the wall color and our cute kitty Star.

Tired after all of the painting, Star curled up with me.

In other news, I rearranged the basement a bit this week. I was sad that Curt moved and the basement seemed lonely, so I spent my spare time this week reorganizing it. Ask Jon, that's my favorite leisure-time activity. So, rather than thoroughly explaining what I did, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The storage room now has a second makeshift guest bed in it. Inflatable mattress on a bed frame.

Fully covered the green couches look better and I found the perfect spot for showcasing the plaque my mom made us for Christmas.

I moved the LoveSac and put our game collection on the shelves downstairs so it can be more of a hangout room. I know the pheasants look weird, but I haven't found a better home for them.

I moved my awesome secretary to the basement with some help from Jon. I wanted it in the family room down there so I can sew with the TV on.

Folded out with my sewing machine on it. The drawers are full of scrap fabric, yarn, and current projects.

Meet Star

2011-02-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

Notice the adorable line that runs down her nose.

Meet Star, our adorable new kitty. Paws moved to North Salt Lake this week. Curt moved back home while his parents finish out their mission and Paws would have missed him if we kept her here. With no Paws to curl up at the foot of the bed at night, Jon and I were very lonely. So, to solve that lonely problem, we adopted Star. Star lived with Curt's brother's family for a the last four years and they have loved her. With their two cute kiddos though, they felt like Star might enjoy a little more attention. Problem solved, we would love to give her oodles of attention and cuddles. Jon just took these pictures so she blinked with the flash, but you can tell how cute she is anyway.

Showcasing her cute tortie colors and the new paint on our wall.

She's very petite compared to Paws, but we still love her.

Hopping up to the top of the chair.

Detroit

2011-02-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

For those few who actually read this blog, I am sure that you were aware that I hail from Detroit, Michigan. I am very proud of this fact and I love my home state and my home town. A lot of people scoff when I tell them I am from Detroit, saying things like, "aren't you glad to be out of there?" Well, honestly, no. If it were plausible for me to live and work in Michigan I would be back there in a heartbeat. Jon might protest that a bit, since he hates the cold, but I love where my roots are. I love that you can trace my parents history and everything goes back to that beautiful place.

If it were up to me, I'd go back every summer and take a trip to the UP with my mom, driving the back roads and visiting the Edmund Fitzgerald via glass bottom boat. We'd drive out to Holland for the Tulip Festival in the spring. We'd paddle boat and hike at Kensington, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and maybe even along the coastline of Lake Michigan. I really wish that people could just go there and understand how amazing it is. Rather than protesting and saying that Michigan is one of the last places they would ever want to go, why not give it a chance. Sure, some of the Detroit area looks very sad, but the people who are rebuilding it have a deep love for it. The trees, the water, the hearty people, everything about that place makes me feel loved and warm inside.

Well, rather than trying to convert you all to a love of my home, here are a few videos that remind me why I love Detroit. Kid Rock, Eminem, and Tim Allen are all featured in these, and they really do show their love through their words. Enjoy. Warning to my friends from Detroit, these might make you uber homesick.

Chrysler Super Bowl Ad

Eminem's Letter to Detroit

Pure Michigan Ad Campaign featuring Tim Allen's voice

Kid Rock's AMA performance

Kid Rock's Summertime in Michigan

And just for fun, you should probably read this article too. The Freep does a really good job of summing up the spirit of the Chrysler commercial that aired during last night's Super Bowl.

Prepping for the Superbowl

2011-02-04T22:27:00.001-07:00

Neither Jon nor myself are big NFL fans. Actually, of all of the professional sports, I think that football is my least favorite. Don't get me wrong. I like college football and I enjoyed watching high school football when I was in high school, but professional football just seems so fake to me. I would rather watch baseball, hockey, or even curling, before I would choose to sit down and watch an NFL game.

That being said, Jon and I will be watching the Superbowl on Sunday evening, but just for the enjoyment of the company and the awesomely hilarious commercials. Prepping for the commercials, Jon found this jewel on the internet this morning. His eyes start to water from laughing so hard every time he watches it. It reminds both of us of Sam and his Star Wars fanaticism. So, sit back and enjoy some amazing marketing from Volkswagen.

Ice Fishing

2011-02-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

I posted this twice, once on my group blog and once here. So... enjoy.

Okay, so I know some of you probably think that fishing is an evil sport, but Jon really enjoys fishing a couple times a year. Rather than being left at home to be lonely all day, twice a year I hit the water with him to catch some fish. We go once in the summer and once in the winter. Our summer trips have usually been really productive. We catch a lot of rainbow and cut throat trout and bring them home to eat. Our winter trips on the other hand, have, in the past, been horrendous.

Two years ago when Jon and I were still dating, I drove up the canyon to meet him at Strawberry Reservoir. On the way though, I hit some black ice and my car spun twice, hitting the guardrail both times. It was a pretty scary experience, but I escaped with only a few bruises from my seat belt. I made it up to Strawberry and we were skunked. No fish caught that day.

Then, last year, Jon bought himself an auger so that we could drill our own holes for ice fishing. We loaded up the car and drove to Pine View Reservoir. We slid down the embankment with all of our gear and I started setting up the chairs. Jon, using his brand new auger, started drilling the holes. After drilling two holes, the wife of the family we were with asked Jon how thick the ice was. He leaned down and put his hand into the hole to show her that it was about 10 inches thick. As he was getting up though, he lost his balance and steadied himself by setting his hand in the snow... right on the blade of the auger. He stood up and Joann (the wife) noticed that he was bleeding. It was gushing pretty bad so I ran up the hill and found what I could to bandage him up before heading to Insta-care. Duct tape and a maxi-pad was the solution and the doctor at Insta-care thought it was pretty ingenious. Jon got 4 stitches and we did not catch anything, yet again.

Well, after such awful experiences in years past, I decided that this year would be the final decider. If something bad happened this year, I'd never go out on the ice again. Lucky for me, ice fishing this year was wonderful. We went out with Curt and some of his buddies from High School and they kept us entertained. Mostly by teasing me, but hey, I can handle it. I got a line in the water and 5 minutes later pulled up a cute little rainbow trout. We kept the fish to give to some people we were fishing with, but it ended up being eagle food within a half hour of our fishing escapade. Jon caught two fish that day also. Here's some pictures of our ice fishing adventures. If you haven't tried it, it's worth a shot. Even if you don't bait your line. The experience of sitting out of the ice and hearing whoops and hollers of excitement from the people fishing around you every 20 minutes makes it worth it.

Me holding my little Rainbow. Notice that my finger is sticking out of the mouth.

Jon with his first catch of the day.

Jon and Curty being goofballs with their fish.

An eagle stealing one of our fish. The kids we were with threw the fish over there when the noticed the eagles circling.

Jon looking in his fishing hole. It was so warm and clear that day that he could see the fish swimming around.

And... since we all love youtube, here's a hilarious rendition of "Ice Ice Baby" about ice fishing. I love that their accents are soooo Canadian and that they specifically mention putting on their Sorelles.

So, give it a try. But... maybe not this week. The temperatures aren't supposed to break 30 for a couple of days, so maybe wait til it's a little bit warmer.

Jess

2011-01-25T09:09:00.002-07:00

I wanted to post about Jessiy today, but I have work. So make sure to read my post on the group blog. I'll try to update this tonight.

http://every-day-is-awesome.blogspot.com/

Spirit of Christmas: Day 30

2010-12-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Christmas with the Raymonds

Just like I talked with my mom and Dar, I talked with my Dad about his favorite family traditions. My dad mentioned first off how much he just loved having the whole family together for the holidays. He loved as a kid going over to his aunt and uncle's house to celebrate on Christmas Eve with a giant family feast. We reminisced about having the feast at my grandma and grandpa's house in St. Claire Shores. It was so nice to remember those times. He laughed as he remembered me and my sisters and cousins putting on a play of the nativity story in the basement for all of the parents. Grandma always had the very best chip dip. We then talked about the way those traditions have shifted into some of our little Raymond family traditions.

Me and Dad at The Henry Ford before Christmas

Jon, Mom, and Me at The Henry Ford

Now, we don't have a giant feast, and in the last few years, we haven't all been together, but we do have Turkey Casserole and Jello Salad as Christmas dinner. It's an important Christmas tradition at the Raymond house. My mom also makes the VERY BEST dinner rolls on earth. She makes 3 dozen, and sometimes even 6 dozen so that we can have them with Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner.

Another thing my dad remembered as a child was always reading the Christmas story from Luke 2. We have carried this on in a fun way. My mom puts the pieces of the creche into paper bags and we take turns opening our "gift" of the story of Jesus' birth and reading the verses that go with that person. I am so grateful that my dad was able to open up and share with me his memories even if they do make us miss our family members who are not here.

And just to share, this is a video from the new MormonMessages DVD. The Spirit of Christmas, exactly what we have been discussing over the last 30 days. This DVD is so awesome and almost all of the videos make me teary eyed. The 20 most viewed are on the DVD and the rest of these awesome messages are available on the Mormon Channel. Check them out.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 29

2010-12-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Christmas with the Morris Family

My mom grew up a Morris, not a Raymond. Just like I grew up a Raymond, not a Hamilton. When we were talking about her favorite memories from Christmas she got a little sparkle in her eye as she talked about my grandpa's workshop. I never got to meet my Grandpa Morris, but my whole family tells me what an amazing carpenter he was. He built scale models of forests and camps. He ties lots of fishing ties. He also made lots of awesome homemade Christmas gifts.

My mom remembers that from Thanksgiving to Christmas none of the kids were allowed in the workshop. She said that it was always so exciting to come down on Christmas morning and see what her dad had made for them. At their house it was a rule that Santa and Dad left the presents unwrapped. They were opened and ready to be played with as soon as the kids came down for Christmas morning. My mom remembers one specific Christmas where they were visiting a family member quite a ways from home and she hadn't seen any presents loaded into the trunk or packed. On Christmas morning she still came down the stairs to find an amazing wooden baby cradle and doll set.

Another important part of Morris family Christmas morning was breakfast. Every year they had ruby red grapefruit with sugar on top. It was extra special though because my grandparents would slice the grapefruit the night before and let the sugar completely crystallize on top. My mom still thinks this is an special treat, but she usually adds the sugar in the morning now.

For our final day of Christmas, let's visit the Raymond family one more time.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 28

2010-12-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Christmas with the Hamlins

Dar is a very important person in the Raymond family and I thought it would be a treat to learn about some of her family's Christmas traditions. When I asked Dar about her favorite memories from Christmas as a child, she said that her most memorable Christmases were the years when they were charitable. Dar said that there were some years when they could not afford gifts and on Christmas morning they would be surprised with gifts and donations from friends, neighbors, and community members.

I've read many stories about people being blessed with Christmas surprises like this before, but it was really special to hear it from Dar. Dar has to be one of the most charitable people I know and I think she was just raised in a family that was that way. Whenever I needed a ride to flute lessons, or someone to get me from school, or someone just to listen as I complained (as I often did as a teenager) Dar was there for me. At church when there are crying babies, she is the first one to hop up and offer to rock the baby so a frazzled mom can enjoy the message. She and my mom got involved with making fun pillowcases for the local Children's hospital and they buy the fabrics, wash, iron, cut, iron, sew, iron, and package them. Dar is just always helping people out. So, the charitable Hamlin Christmases turned into a whole family of charitable Hamlins who never cease to amaze me.


Here's an example of their pillowcases. This is the set they made for Beth and Mike. Jon and I got University of Utah ones.

This is just a little update, after reading our blog post about kid friendly Christmas, Dar got us this awesome kid friendly nativity.

Make sure to check out tomorrow's post on Morris family Christmas Mornings.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 27

2010-12-21T11:07:00.003-07:00

Christmas with the Masons

Jon's sister Erin married into the Mason family and with that marriage came a whole set of really fun traditions. As we celebrated Erin's birthday with them on Monday we even got to participate in one of these awesome traditions.

Erin, Jon, Sam, and Ben in Utah for Christmas 2010

Every night in the month of December the Mason family gathers together around the Christmas tree and sings Christmas songs. They start out the evening with fun ones, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and gradually the songs turn to our favorite Christmas hymns. It's so nice to be all gathered together in the evening as a family, but it was even more special to have our thoughts turned to the birth of our Savior at the end of the day as we all hug and head back home. I think this Mason home tradition is one that I would like to copy some day.

Another tradition that Jon Mason mentioned as a favorite of his from childhood was a white elephant gift exchange with a couple of other families that they were friends with. Everyone would bring a silly gift and the opening and trading would begin. Rather than continuing this at Christmas in the Mason home, they have started a family reunion white elephant gift exchange. During the 2010 reunion Erin and Jon won best gift with the amazing deer hoof gun rack that Jon and I got at a yard sale. The Jon and Erin Mason family have shared the white elephant exchange with the rest of us Hamiltons during our summer travels as well. It is always a challenge to see who can find this most ridiculous gift. Jon and I have come home with a framed scorpion from Thailand and on occasion our house smells like Bob Marley incense from the gift exchange in Jamaica. Here are some pictures of the event.

My first white elephant that was stolen, a broken elephant.

Jon's first white elephant, a bobble lobster. Sam traded him for it.

And just because these boys are adorable, here are the Mason boys right after James was born this November.


Clockwise from the top, Ben, Sam, James.

Make sure to check back tomorrow for Christmas at Dar's house growing up.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 26

2010-12-20T09:33:00.001-07:00

Using Your Gifts

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but the privilege of using any item for the first time is always to exciting and fresh to me. I love getting new clothes and wearing them for the first time, or taking the first bite of a sandwich. The first of everything is always the best. So, on Christmas I am a devout believer in the use of a first immediately. When I got the Barbie Minivan with the carseat for the Kelly doll, it was assembled and had its stickers stuck to it as soon as we were all done opening gifts. My Bitty Baby doll didn't even stay in her box through gift opening the year I got her. I do not know if my siblings or anyone else feels this way, but I still love trying out all of my new gifts on Christmas day.

So... for your viewing pleasure, here are some of my Christmas firsts.

December 25, 1989, Maggie and I got awesome snowsuits to go sledding on the hill behind our house on Hillview.


December 25, 1990, Beth got me those awesome U of M boxer shorts, I got the knitted hat, see and say, Cabbage Patch Kid, shirt, and Mickey Mouse slipper socks for Christmas that year.

December 25, 1994, My Grandma Raymond bought me a soft (not itchy) sweater for Christmas and my parents got me cool new dark jeans.

December 31, 2008, Christmas at the Hamilton house I wore my brand new shirt and awesome sock monkey slippers and helped Jon Mason set up some of Sam's new toys so he could enjoy his first.

P.S. Happy 31st Birthday to Erin Mason! We are so excited to celebrate with you tonight!

Watch out tomorrow for a few Mason family traditions.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 25

2010-12-19T22:16:00.003-07:00

Hamilton Family Pictures

Let's begin with Happy Birthday to Miranda Rose Barrie! My niece is turning 15 today and I am so happy for her!

I am not sure if this is really a Christmas tradition of theirs, but the last two years while I have been with them for holiday festivities, the Hamilton family has taken their annual photo during the Christmas break. Generally we pick a color theme and go with it. In years past the kids have worn matching outfits. So... here are the family photos from "Christmas" since I have known Jon. I have older photos... but I think Jon might be mad if I post the ones where he has braces.

Family photo 2008, David was on his mission this year.

Family photo 2009, all of the kids are married and have their other half with them.

Family photo 2010, four grandkids and David and Aimee have one on the way

In a few years we might need to take a panoramic photo because the family just keeps getting bigger.

Tomorrow we'll look at Using your Christmas Gifts as fast as possible.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 24

2010-12-18T22:14:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve Clothes

Just like the Greens, Raymonds, and Hamiltons, the Neeley family has a Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift. The one gift that they regularly open is not a book, a pair of pajamas, or an ornament. Every year on Christmas Eve they open up a nice Christmas outfit. This outfit would be perfect to wear to church on the Sunday after Christmas and for the rest of the winter season. I think that this is such a great idea. It would be so fun to be able to utilize your Christmas Eve gift further into the year than the couple weeks around Christmas.

If I were to pick a Christmas outfit to get this year, it would have to be this adorable dress.

It's so festive and would last all winter long!

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the Hamilton family photo.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 23

2010-12-17T22:12:00.004-07:00

Kids Gifts

This is a Hamilton family tradition, one that I think is pretty fun and that we tweaked a little bit this year. In the Christmas frenzy of gift opening, it would be difficult to say, "I got that for you," every single time a person opened gifts from one another, so, to reduce the confusion on Christmas morning, and to really appreciate the gifts that the kids give to one another, the Hamiltons open kid gifts on Christmas Eve. We gather around the tree and take turns opening the gifts. In my experiences with the Hamiltons we have all opened the gifts from Erin's family, then all opened from Jon's family, then David, then Alyssa. It's so a fun thing to see what the kids have all selected for one another and to really have the time to appreciate them and offer thanks for them. That way Santa can't take the credit for a gift from one of the siblings.

This year we did tweak things a little bit because Jon and I brought our gifts down to California at Thanksgiving. We had everyone open their gifts, but they still are not allowed to say what they are because my siblings haven't opened theirs yet. The rest of the sibling gifts will be exchanged on New Years Eve when the Hamilton clan gets together to celebrate again. Jon and I will be celebrating in Utah this year, but it was fun to be able to see our gifts opened in advance.

Here I am with Sam and his Christmas present from me and Jon the year before we got engaged. I am wearing my matching jammies from the Hamiltons too.

How does your family exchange gifts from sibling to sibling? Do you have any rules for it?

Aimee's family tradition of Christmas Eve clothes will be our tradition for tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 22

2010-12-16T22:10:00.004-07:00

Christmas Trees

I absolutely love sitting at home on December evenings with the tree all lit and Christmas songs playing, snow falling outside the windows. It's just the best scene ever. The one thing lacking in my Christmas scene is the smell of a natural pine tree. In all of my life, I do not have a memory of a real tree in our home. I am sure that as a little, little girl we had one, but I do not remember that. What I do remember is putting together the artificial tree with my sister Maggie and getting stuck in the corner. I am not sure if this is a true thing, or if I just remember it this way, but from what I know, my sister Sarah is allergic to pine trees. After visiting with friends who have real trees though, I feel blessed that we did not have a real one, because those needles are super sharp and annoyingly sticky.

I mentioned yesterday that this tradition has an emphasis on my sister Sarah, but it is not because of an alleged allergy, it is because every year, no matter where she celebrates Christmas, she has a tree. Three Christmases ago when my family got together in Las Vegas, Sarah even brought a cute little tree with her from California to put at the rental house. That way both houses where the family was staying had a tree.

So, just for fun, here are some pictures of trees from years past.

Christmas Tree 1982 (I wasn't even alive yet)

Tree 2006 in Michigan, the presents were color coded that year

Tree 2008 in Vegas at the rental house

Hamilton tree 2008 in San Diego (Theirs is artificial too.)

Tree 2009 in Utah, it looks nicer this year, but I am too lazy to take a new picture today

Want to read about another awesome tree tradition? Check out Kurt and Helena's blog. This makes me wish I had a real tree. P.S. Helena's posts are hilarious and both she and Kurt are from Michigan so they are good people.

Kids gifts will be our topic for tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 21

2010-12-15T20:47:00.005-07:00

Who Beast Feast

My dear sister Maggie has a love for someone special at Christmas time. Now, I know you might be thinking that he's a heavy set guy with a white beard, suspenders, and a large sack full of toys. If that's what you were thinking, you probably did not read the title of this post. Maggie absolutely LOVES the Grinch. Every year she sits down with her family to read the story of the Grinch before they have their Who Beast Feast on Christmas Eve for dinner.

Aaron gets in on the celebration by cooking and carving the roast beast. Anything that can have green food coloring added, does, especially the mashed potatoes, also known as who hash. For desert they enjoy worms and dirt or more commonly known as Who pudding. I am pretty sure that during their dinner their hearts and tummies grow three times in size. Just kidding. The fun part at the end of their holiday Whoobilation is that they snuggle up together on the couch and watch the cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. No creepy Jim Carey as the Grinch at their house.

Here's a cool picture from last year when the Gaylord Texan had their ice exhibit completely devoted to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Maggie, Aaron, and Hunter all enjoyed it so much that they are going to go back this year for the Charlie Brown Christmas display.

Maggie, if you read this, I found something you might need.

Tomorrow we'll look at Christmas trees with a special emphasis on my sister Sarah.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 20

2010-12-14T07:33:00.001-07:00

Santa Baby

I am pretty sure that a lot of families do this, but I had a set of really cute pictures for this post. Each year my siblings talk to their friends and get the scoop from the other parents in the area to find out which location has the best Santa of the year. Whether the line is two hours long or the Santa is located in a mall an hour away, it is totally worth it to them to get an"in" with the very best Santa. So, without further ado, here are the best Santa's of 2010.

Katie and Jack Green with Santa in North Carolina

Matthew Barrie with Santa at Ethel M's Cactus Christmas Display in Las Vegas

Hunter Anderson with Santa in a town a fair distance from Dallas, Texas

Tomorrow we'll delve into Maggie's magnificent Who Beast Feast!

Spirit of Christmas: Day 19

2010-12-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

A Green Christmas Eve

While talking to my sister Sarah this weekend, I was able to learn about a few of her families fun traditions. Her favorite tradition for Christmas Eve is not only Christmas jammies, but matching Christmas jammies. Sarah has two adorable kiddos, Katie, 8, and Jack, 2. When the kids were younger finding matching jammies was possible because you could get matching ones from Gymboree, Children's Place, etc.

This year, however, it was a challenge to find a set that would keep the kids matching. It was so fun to get a call from my sister during Thanksgiving weekend telling me about her shopping escapades. Going to Old Navy first and not finding anything cute that matched for the two age groups and almost resigning herself to the fact that the kids would just have to be happy with not matching this year. Just in case, she purchased a pair of unrelated jammies for each child at Old Navy.

She did not give up though. She headed to Kohl's, just down the street, and by chance stopped by the toddler boy pajama area. Guess what she found? The perfect matching jammies for Jack. Katie's from Old Navy had striped pants and a reindeer head top, well, Jack's also have striped pants and a reindeer head top. So perfect!

Sarah is not sure how much longer the kids will want to match, but if I know my niece Katie and her love for family traditions, she might not object for a few more years. I'm so glad Sarah could find the perfect Christmas Eve jammies.

Take a look at matching jammies since Jack was born. I love these kiddos.

2008 Gingerbread Jammies

2009 Monkey Jammies

2010 Reindeer Striped Jammies

P.S. As I was perusing blogs today, I found this amazing post about Santa Claus. It brought a tear to my eye. Since Sarah's husband Gabe is a Marine I thought it would be appropriate to share it on this post.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at pictures with Santa from the years.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 18

2010-12-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

Christmas Evening Cinema Experience

This tradition is one that I experienced with the Hamiltons last Christmas. On Christmas Eve in the afternoon we headed on down to Edwards Cinema to catch a family movie. This seems like a pretty standard tradition, but the part that is fun for us is the feeling when we get to the movie and the feeling when we walk out.

Having grown up in Michigan I kind of expect there to be snow on Christmas. If there is not snow, I at least expect it to be cold and gloomy. A California Christmas is very different from a Michigan Christmas. Its sunny all day and although the temperatures are cooler than usual, they are warm for us Utah snowbirds.

On Christmas Eve afternoon as we head to the theater to check out a movie, we go in while it is sunny and warm. By the time our movie has ended though, we walk out into a dark winter's night, with crisp cool air. It just feels like Christmas as we pile into cars and head home to enjoy the last few hours before bed on Christmas Eve. As Alyssa says it, "We have always gone when the sun is up and leave the theater when it's dark, so it makes it feel like Christmas morning is coming faster."

Last year we enjoyed The Princess and the Frog and this year we hope to catch Tangled at some point in the season.

Look forward to a Green Christmas Eve tomorrow, coming from the traditions of my sister Sarah.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 17

2010-12-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas Morning Coffee Cake

source

At my parents house there are four times a year that we eat coffee cake. Spring and fall general conference Sunday mornings, Thanksgiving morning, and Christmas morning. All four mornings we have the most delicious breakfast ever. The great thing about this coffee cake? It's pretty easy to make, but the Raymond family has tweaked the recipe a bit.

For pancake mix and biscuits, my family has always gone to Bisquick mix to make life a little easier. On the back of the Bisquick box there was a coffee cake recipe printed for the majority of my life. This is what the recipe says.

" First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Get your round, 9 x 1 ½ inch pan ready by greasing it. Next, make your Streusel topping and set it aside:

1/3 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (I like to add a bit more since I love cinnamon!)
2 tablespoons of margarine or butter

Mix the first three ingredients together. Then cut in the margarine with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly.

For the batter you’ll need:

2 cups of Bisquick
2 tablespoons of sugar
2/3 cup of milk
1 egg

Mix all the batter ingredients together and spread in your prepared pan. Now sprinkle that with the Streusel topping. If you’d like, you can take a butter knife and zig-zag it through the topping for a marbled effect.

Pop it in the oven and bake it for 18 to 22 minutes. It should look golden brown on top when it’s done. Let it cool for just a few minutes so it will come out of the pan nicely, but to experience this coffee cake at it’s best, it should really be served warm." source

Here's how the Raymonds have changed things though. We triple the streusel topping recipe and double the batter. Rather than putting it in a round pan, we use a 9" x 9" pan so the cake is thick warm and super sugary. It tastes best with a short glass of cold milk.

Jon's family also enjoys this coffee cake, but add some Cream of Wheat on the side so that it is more filling.

Tomorrow we'll look at the Hamilton family Christmas Evening Cinema Experience

Spirit of Christmas: Day 16

2010-12-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas Morning with the Andersons

Christmas morning at my sister's in-laws is very, very different from the Christmas morning celebrations that we remember from growing up. I mentioned before that Maggie likes to get up as early as she can to spend the wee hours of Christmas morning talking with Dar and waiting for the rest of us to wake up. At the Anderson's house, there is no such thing as getting up early for presents on Christmas.

Aaron, my awesome brother-in-law, grew up with the tradition that you get up on Christmas morning, take a shower, put on a nice festive outfit, have a good hearty Christmas breakfast, and make your way over to the tree sometime before noon. I don't know if we were just impatient little kids, but I cannot imagine having to get ready on Christmas morning. I have a hard time getting ready for the day before noon on the days that I don't work, and those aren't even holidays.

Maggie and Aaron do enjoy the tradition though because it gives everyone the chance to look nice for family pictures and no one can get cranky half way through present opening because they have had a good hearty meal. I do enjoy getting up early, but it would be fun to gather around the table and guess what Santa brought before just diving into the gift opening.

The other really valid part of this tradition, is the blessing on the food. If the goal and spirit of the season is to think of Christ and what a beautiful gift he was to the world, shouldn't we pray and thank our Heavenly Father for him before we get lost in the gift wrap? I'm not sure what Jon and I will do with our kids on Christmas mornings, breakfast first or stockings first, but I hope that somewhere in there we can incorporate a prayer of thanks and a prayer for blessings to all of our friends and family.

Here is baby Hunter. He gets to enjoy waking up early every other year and having breakfast the opposite. What a lucky little guy.

Hunter's First Christmas

Hunter's Second Christmas

Hunter's Third Christmas - This year

Christmas Morning Coffee Cake will be our tradition for tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 15

2010-12-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve Birthday Bash

Earlier this month I mentioned how my family celebrated Jesus' birthday on Christmas Eve. Nate, Alyssa's husband also celebrates birthdays on Christmas Eve. He has an uncle who was lucky enough to be born on December 24th and every year they have a huge family celebration for their uncle's birthday. They make the whole evening about having fun and focus on Christmas the very next day. They sing Happy Birthday and eat cake and in general just have a great time together.

With birthdays in January, Jon and I both know how often a birthday gets forgotten in the season. The Christmas spirit is so wonderful and uplifting and it is so fun to remember Christ's birth, but it is refreshing to know that the birth of another person into your family can be celebrated as well. With my niece Miranda, and Jon's sister Erin's birthdays coming up, we'll definitely pause from the jingle bell ringing, and egg nog drinking to say Happy Birthday to all and to all a... great year? I'm not as good at the rhyming/ poetry as Jon.

In celebration of Christmas/winter time birthdays, here are a few pictures from Christmases close to both of our 2nd birthdays.

This is Jon and his sister Erin, close to both of their birthdays back in the day.

That's me, my mom and Dar right before my second birthday. Yes, I do still own that rocking chair and the Little Foot stuffed animal. Also, notice the amazing advent calendar tree in the background. Aunt Ida made it and my mom still uses it every year.

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Christmas Morning with the Anderson family.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 14

2010-12-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Kid Friendly Christmas Decor

This tradition is one that my sister Maggie has just begun in her home, but my sister Beth also follows it. With little kids around, baby Jesus has a tendency to disappear. (There's a book about a "missing" baby Jesus. It's a really touching read.) That, or there are only two wise men and no sheep for the shepherd. So, my sisters both thought, why not decorate with items that kids cannot break? Enter Fisher Price and Lego Nativity decor!

This is the whole scene (Little Town of Bethlehem, Three Wise Men, Nativity) on display in Maggie's living room.

This year Hunter has the Little Drummer Boy set in a spot where he can access them more easily. Notice that there were trains in Bethlehem back in the day.

See how much fun Christmas decor can be?

When a cute kiddo gets interested in pulling all of the decorations off of the bottom of the tree, these are an easy diversion.

Beth's kids are branching out from Little People this year to include Lego Christmas in their home. I hope they keep making fun sets like this for when I have kiddos of my own. Although I might need to learn to share the building experience. Do you decorate with items your kids can play with?

Look out tomorrow for a Christmas Eve Birthday Bash.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 13

2010-12-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Elf on the Shelf

Coming home from Las Vegas this weekend, Jon and I were both suffering from colds. We were tired and it was foggy, then snowy here in Utah. It was the perfect time for some holiday cheer. Going out to get the mail on Monday afternoon we were both surprised to find this guy, waiting ever so patiently for us.

We haven't yet picked out his name, we're trying to decide between Gunther and any other name really. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments please.

If you've never heard of this tradition, it comes from a book that a mother and daughter wrote together in honor of a tradition they created in their home growing up. The elf comes to your home during the month or so before Christmas. Each day he watches what you do and at night he travels back to Santa to tell him if you have been naughty or nice. There is one major condition, you cannot touch the elf, or he might not make it back to Santa to tell him how you have behaved. The next day he finds a new hiding spot to watch how you are treating your friends and family.

This is the book that our elf came with, it explains the tradition and also tells you how to name your elf. So.. help us out guys, will it be Gunther? Or can you come up with a better name?

Look out tomorrow for a Kid Friendly Christmas Decor.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 12

2010-12-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Felt Nativity Story Board

This tradition is one that I borrowed from my brother-in-law Nate, although each family had some tradition that was very similar in its origins.

Every year on Christmas Eve Nate said that his family gathered around and told the story of Christmas using a felt nativity board. Each part of the story was told with verses from Luke 2 and each character (I know that's not the right word but I can't think of the right one) was represented.

This is the advent calendar that I bought at Deseret Book this year. It has all of the pieces, including the star and the stable animals, so that we can tell the story of the nativity with all matching pieces.

In years past my mom has even gone as far as wrapping each of the pieces of the nativity and having us open a "present" to read a set of scriptures on that nativity piece and then sing a song related to their part of the story.

Jon's family also has the fun tradition of acting out the story and somehow always joking that the baby Jesus falls out of the manger. It comes from a family video when the kids were tiny where none of them can stop laughing to tell the story.

Tomorrow we will have fun with The Elf on the Shelf.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 11

2010-12-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

Cookie Baking Extravaganza

I've mentioned Mama Dar in previous posts, she is my mom's best friend and basically my second mom. Growing up I did lots of things with Dar's amazing family. When I was in elementary school Dar's niece, Denise, invited me to come to her house for a cookie baking sleepover in preparation for the Christmas season. It became a yearly tradition.

Usually the second weekend in December Dar would take me over to Denise's to meet up with her and Bethany, Dar's other amazing niece. We would pick out 6 or so cookie recipes and begin with making the dough. We always made sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, homemade thin mints, no-bake Christmas wreaths, candy cane cookies, and then a few varieties that we would sample from year to year.

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After making all of the different doughs and letting the ones settle that needed to, we rolled and cut out angels, Santas, candy canes, and stars galore. We made homemade frosting and whipped up 5 or 6 colors and just had a blast. Without a doubt, every year we ended up covered in flour, not because of food fights, but because we were so focused on having fun we could not notice the mess. Since it was back in the late 90s we also rocked out to N*SYNC Christmas and Hanson's Snowed In Christmas album. All in all, we had a really festive time.

Come Saturday afternoon, when the cookies were all finished and put in tins, Denise would drive us over to Hallmark to pick out a Christmas ornament for the tree for that year. I remember the first two years I picked out Snowbabies ornaments and I think that might be where my collection began.

I have my jingle bell and stocking stuffed Snowbabies hanging on the curtain rods in the living room to remember those fun times this year.

Tomorrow we'll celebrate the Felt Nativity Story Board.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 10

2010-12-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

An Ornament a Year

To put together these daily traditions, I knew that my family alone would not have enough traditions, so I reached out to my in-laws at Thanksgiving and asked them to help me compile a list of traditions. My sisters have each mentioned a few traditions that I added to the list as well.

Today's tradition comes from my sister-in-law Alyssa. It was fun to find out right after she told me about this tradition that my sister Beth does it as well. Great minds must think alike!

So, here is how the tradition works at the Quigley home. This is a quote from Alyssa's message, "Every year on Christmas Eve we also opened up a new ornament for each of us. Nate and i have carried that on as well. We do a family ornament (you probably remember the "Quigley Familey" ornament mishap in Park City) and we get Charlotte her own ornament each year (and we'll do that for each of our kids)."

The Quigley Familey ornament was purchased at the Rocky Mountain Christmas store in Park City when the family visited for Memorial Day. Alyssa looked through each of the three character moose ornaments looking for the perfect one. Once she found it, she took it up to be personalized. I think the lady that was working must have been tired because this is how it turned out.

In case you were wondering where the error is, spell check familey.

Jon and I attempted to carry on this tradition last year as well, when we purchased this ornament.

And his parents shared with all of the kids when we received our very own Christmas pickles.

Can you spot it in this picture?

I mentioned before that my sister Beth also follows this tradition. In her family they get a new family ornament every year also, but for the kids, their ornament follows a theme. Miranda gets an angel/fairy every year, Maddie gets bears, and Matthew has a collection of snowmen. When the kids are all grown up, they will be able to decorate an entire themed Christmas tree.

Look forward to Cookie Baking Extravaganza tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 9

2010-12-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

Stockings First

Have you ever watched a Christmas movie where everyone tears into their gifts simultaneously and paper is flying everywhere? Christmas at our house is nothing at all like that. At our house, Christmas morning is very organized and begins in a really funny way.

For as long as she's been able to persuade people, my sister Maggie has convinced our Mama Dar to come over on Christmas morning before the sun is anywhere near rising. Dar usually gets to our house around 5:30 and for the next hour and a half to two hours, the two of them hang out in the living room chatting while the rest of us sleep. The rest of us girls would slowly get up and make our way down the stairs to join them, waiting only for my dad to wake up, shower, and finally come downstairs for Christmas morning.

The next thing that would happen was the only bit of chaos we have on Christmas. Rather than opening our Santa presents, or exchanging gifts, we begin by opening our Christmas stockings. They are usually filled with sweets, practical items like socks, hand sanitizer, and an orange. After the mayhem of stocking has been completed and all of the gift wrap is in a garbage sack with the stock stuffers stuffed carefully back into our name embroidered stockings, then the gift giving begins.

Each year we designate someone (usually me) to be the Christmas elf and pass out the gifts. We take turns opening one gift at a time. The other fun part, is that this process always proceeds in age order.

Some years we have deviated from our stocking first rule, allowing the little kids to enjoy Santa gifts first, but traditionally, this is how we open gifts Raymond Christmas celebrations.

Look forward to An Ornament a Year tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 8

2010-12-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve Mass

As most of you know, I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My parents decided to join this church when they were living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My grandparents were supportive of my parents' choice and they continued going to their own churches.

As a little girl, I remember every Christmas Eve we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa Raymond's house in St. Claire Shores, Michigan, to celebrate with the whole Raymond side of the family. After making dinner and enjoying dinner, my grandparents always invited us to their church's Christmas Eve Mass. Rather than attending midnight mass, I believe we went to the 9'o'clock service. I remember somewhat listening to the story of Jesus birth, but mostly I remember staring in awe at the beautiful stained glass windows that depicted the life of Christ all around the chapel. I loved sitting there and imagining those parts of His life as the sermon was shared of His entrance into the world.

The church that my grandparents went to also had a couple of traditions that I think fit well into this month of memories. The first, that the children were all invited to the front of the congregation to receive a gift. The gift was always a cute metal Christmas ornament with the nativity scene, similar to the one below.

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I think my parents have a collection of those from our childhood. The second tradition was the lighting of the candles. At the end of the service each person held a candle and we passed the flame, until every candle was lit and sang Silent Night.

Since we are going back to Michigan for Christmas this year, I'd love to attend another Christmas Mass to bring back this beautiful tradition.

Tomorrow look forward to Stockings First.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 7

2010-12-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

A Stocking for Jesus

I'm not sure who came up with this tradition, but it's one that we did with my parents. After we had all opened our presents and spent Christmas afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Raymond's house, we came home and pulled out the last Christmas stocking. It's a really pretty homemade stocking that I think used to be Aunt Ida's. We would pull out the slips of paper that were inside from the year before and read them for the whole family to hear.

The way it works is like this... We each get so many things that we like and want at Christmas, shouldn't we give something back also? So, we give back a goal of something kind we can do, or more righteous that we can do and give to Jesus during the rest of the year. It could be as simple as smiling at someone every day. Whatever the goal is, you write it down and put it in Jesus' stocking to check back the next Christmas and see how you did. It was always funny to hear what people thought they'd put in before we read the slips, only to realize they had accomplished both goals.

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Since we are headed to Michigan for Christmas again this year, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to put on my slip. Maybe reading my scriptures on a more regular basis or finding opportunities to be the answer to someone else's prayer. What would you want to give to Jesus for Christmas?

Look forward to Christmas Eve church service for tomorrow's post.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 6

2010-11-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

The Christmas Pickle

The Hamilton family loves to visit the town of Solvang, California. It's a cute little Danish town where the family found a fun new tradition. The Christmas Pickle is a much disputed German tradition. Why is it disputed you ask? Because no one can confirm its origins being in Germany. This article was pretty funny to read because the author has been trying since 2003 to prove or disprove the origins.

Here's the tradition as we follow it in the Hamilton home. Mom Hamilton hides the tiny glass pickle on the tree when no one else is home to see where it is placed. (Crazy thing about the pickle Mom uses, its only half an inch long.) Then, we all search for the pickle, all the way til Christmas morning. Whoever gets to the pickle first, gets the extra Christmas treat. Usually the extra present is a really yummy treat that the pickle finder shares with the whole family.

Here's the tradition as explained on most Christmas Pickle packaging.
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Last year Mom Hamilton got each family their own larger Christmas pickle to carry on the tradition in the years we are apart.

Want your own Christmas Pickle? Just be careful that no one charges the Christmas tree on their way to find it.

Look forward to a Stocking for Jesus tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 5

2010-11-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Christmas Jammies

Growing up in the Raymond home, we had a set of matching red Christmas nightgowns that were passed down from when Sarah, Jessiy, and Maggie were little. I thought it was so fun to wear the matching nightgowns because they had my sisters' names on them and as I got older I got to wear them in sequential order. Other than those nightgowns, we did not really have matching Christmas Jammies until I was in college.

These are the first matching Christmas jammies I remember. Gray bottoms and lime green tops. We picked more functional colors after that.

Christmas 2008 in Las Vegas. It's so fun to have all sisters.

The Christmas jammie tradition is one that they follow in Jon's family as well. They get their new jammies on Christmas Eve and some years they match, other years they don't. It is the one present from their parents that they get to open on Christmas Eve. Since we won't be with the Hamilton's for Christmas this year, Jon and I got matching jammies to wear on Thanksgiving Eve and we will wear them again Christmas Eve. Sometime I will have to post a picture.

Look forward to tomorrow with... The Christmas Pickle.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 4

2010-11-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Christmas Morning Train

This tradition is a fun and silly one that Jon and his siblings created when they moved to Poway. This is the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve at the Hamilton home.
You'll notice that there are no presents under the Christmas tree. At the Hamilton home, Santa arranges all of the presents under the tree when he brings his presents. He makes sure that none of them are stacked on top of one another and basically they fan out from under the tree to the middle of the room. It is a sight to behold.

Growing up, the kids did not want to peek at the tree until after they had waited patiently in their mom and dad's room. Mom and Dad's room is located at the top of the stairs across from the Christmas tree, so the kids would create a human train with their eyes closed and shuffle from the kid wing of the house past the living room, kitchen, and family room, until they got to the base of the stairs. Then they climbed up and waited patiently while their dad went down and got the camera ready to see their first Christmas morning reaction.

Even though the Hamilton kids are grown-ups now, they still have a fun time shuffling down the hallway and waiting in Mom and Dad's room until the cameras are ready. With Sam, Ben, and Charlotte's reactions, who wouldn't love this tradition?

Look forward to tomorrow for Christmas Jammies.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 3

2010-11-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Candy Advent

This tradition is one that comes from Jon's side of the family. Every year after Thanksgiving Jon's whole family would get together and make a candy countdown to Christmas morning. It's so simple and fun. The things you need are

about 2 feet of thick Christmas ribbon (for each countdown)
hot glue gun
25 pieces of individually wrapped quarter size candy.
4 inch piece of skinny coordinating ribbon

To assemble, glue the candies in a straight row down the thick ribbon, spacing them out a little bit to make it look prettier. Once all of the candies are attached take the skinny ribbon and cross it so it looks like this

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Glue the part where it crosses together and then glue to the middle of the top of the thick ribbon. This is what you will hang it on the wall with. Now, all you have to do is take off one piece of candy for each day in the month of December leading to Christmas.

I'll post pictures after we make ours. They are super fun and easy.

Look forward to the Christmas Morning Train tomorrow.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 2

2010-11-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

As I've worked on my list of Christmas traditions to share, I realized that almost all of my traditions relate to Christmas Eve. I love Christmas Day also, but I think Christmas Eve was the memory making evening. Today's tradition involves books.

The Aunt Ida Book

I think this tradition began before I was born. My mother's Aunt Ida would send some money to my parents every year to get each of us girls a Christmas gift. I am not sure if she was the one who came up with the book idea, or if it was my mother. But, every year on Christmas Eve we got to open one gift at home with my mom and dad. Every year, that Christmas Eve gift was a Christmas book from my Aunt Ida. We would curl up on the couches, all 5 girls, the two cats, and my parents, with a million blankets and read. Some years the TV was on for those people who got chapter books that would take longer to read, but most of the time I remember us just hanging out with our books all warm and cozy. Even after Aunt Ida passed away, we carried on this tradition in her memory.

I am pretty sure that my mom has one of the largest private Christmas book collections. My favorite book from her collection though, is The Gingerbears First Christmas. It may seem weird, but all of my favorite books in general seem to have only been published for one year in the 1980s.

This year I had my eye on A Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman, but Deseret Book beat me to the punch. I guess it's one of the perks of working for a bookstore. So this Christmas Eve, I'll wrap up my copy and probably this book for Jon and we can curl up on my parents couch to read yet again.

Look forward tomorrow to Candy Advent calendars.

P.S. To the readers who are in my family. Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving with the Hamiltons. We had a really fun time, but watching them do their Thanksgiving traditions made me miss ours. And by ours I mean, I really miss Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Raymond's house. Sitting in the TV den at the card table on the wooden folding chairs. Jessiy goofing off and doing the "paper shredder" with mashed potatoes. Laying on the front room couches with multi-colored knitted blankets. Playing with the old school phone in the basement laundry room. I guess I'm just a little homesick for Michigan. I hope we can all get together again for a holiday some time soon.

Spirit of Christmas: Day 1

2010-11-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Let me first begin with Happy Thanksgiving to all!!! And to all a tummy-ache free night!!!

Like I mentioned before, for the next 30 days, I am going to post about a Christmas tradition that I have enjoyed, or those that I love have enjoyed. So to start off the season, I will mention my favorite of all of my family's Christmas traditions.

Jesus' Birthday Cake

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Growing up, my family loved to make homemade hard candy. My dad was in charge of melting the sugar and checking the temperature. We just had the all important job of picking the flavors and cutting the candy. My favorite taste of the candy was always Wintergreen, but the way the Anise made the whole house smell delicious for days was really fun also. For those of you who have not made hard candy before, here are the basics. You follow this recipe choosing flavors and colors that match well. When the candy is cooked, you pour it out over a buttered, cold marble slab. My dad would then fold it until it became firm. Then he would cut manageable ridiculously hot pieces and toss them to my mom and sisters and myself on a pan covered in powdered sugar. It was our job to cut the candy with scissors into suckable sweets and roll them in the powdered sugar. Rather than throwing out the used powdered sugar, my mom would save it in a bag for Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve my mom would bake up the most delicious white cake. Then using the saved powered sugar with extra candy bits, she made pure white frosting. Then as a family we would gather around and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and enjoy the white and pure cake celebrating the purity of our Savior.

This year we probably won't be making the hard-candy, but a white Birthday Cake will be enjoyed on December 24th.

Look forward to tomorrow with Christmas Books.

Haircut and Nephew

2010-11-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Check out my cute new haircut here.

Jon and I are excited to be heading to California bright and early tomorrow morning. Hopefully the "life threatening storm" can hold off a bit so that our flight can get out of here. We are so glad that we can spend the holiday with family, including our brand new nephew James Owen Mason, born yesterday at 3:28 pm. I'll post more pictures this week.

Christmas Spirit

2010-11-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

So.... I know Christmas is 37 days away, but I'm way in the Christmas mood this year.

Last week on my day off I decorated the house for Christmas, this week I worked on finishing up the last few gifts. I also had a fun time watching Bones season three. I just finished the Christmas episode of the show and it was adorable. It made me think about what makes a "real" Christmas. For me Christmas is only Christmas when I am with my family. That is the number one most important part of the season. Jon and I get to start our Christmas season next week when we fly down to San Diego for Thanksgiving with his family, the first of three family gatherings we get to enjoy this season.

In thinking more about what makes Christmas real for me, I realized that my list is probably very different from Jon's list. I grew up in the nice cool climate of suburban Detroit and Jon grew up in sunny San Diego. Starting on Thanksgiving day and ending on Christmas day, once a day I will post about a different Christmas tradition that my family or Jon's family enjoyed over the years.

I got the idea from an awesome new book that they are selling at Deseret Book. It's called Christmas with the Prophets. It's all about the different Prophets of my church and the ways that they celebrated Christmas with their families over the years in all of the different places they lived.

As all of our siblings' families are expanding we know that Christmas with our extended families will get more and more difficult, so it will be fun to decide which Christmas traditions to keep for our own little family in the years to come.

Christmas 2008, our first Christmas together

If you have any wonderful family traditions that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about them.

Try Me Tuesday

2010-11-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, you can be shocked and amazed as you read yet another blog update from yours truly. But, I am here to announce that I joined a group blog with a few of my best friends and I will be posting there at least once a week. I'll try to do the same on this blog, but no guarantees because I feel the pressure to put actual photos on this blog rather than ones that I steal from the internet.

So... speaking of pictures, here's a few manly pictures that I meant to put up for Manly Monday but never got around to. Jon was really excited for his car to hit 100,000 miles, so we took pictures.

99,999 miles

100,000 miles!

This weekend Jon and I were also manly in the fact that we tried to get the yard ready for winter. Jon finished putting up most of the trim on our shed and I "broomed" the yard because when I went out to find the rake it was missing. And if you are wondering if I jumped in those leaves, the answer is yes, of course I did. It's on my list.

Jon working on the trim.

The leaves wouldn't all fit in our garbage cans. P.S. We grew all of those pumpkins.

Leaves galore.

Furry Friday

2010-11-05T11:23:00.000-06:00

If you ever had a chance to ask my family what type of animal I would be if I were an animal, I am pretty sure they would all answer, a cat. The whole idea of napping all day, basking in the sun, having warm fur everywhere, getting massages all of the time, who wouldn't want to be a cat?

Well, being the cat lover that I am, I asked Jon if we could get a cat when we got married. The answer, no way. He said he was allergic. Then Curt moved in, and his cat Paws was going to have to live with his sister. So, only being concerned for the well being of the cat, I mentioned to Jon that maybe Paws would be happier if she could live with us too.

Introducing... Paws the wondercat. She is so named because she has 6 digits on every paw. Curt's had her since she was a baby and now she's about 8 years old. She's chubby, reminds me of a bunny rabbit, and really likes to yell at us when she gets locked out of the house. She sleeps in the bed with whoever goes to bed first and that usually means she sleeps at my feet. For your viewing pleasure, here she is.

Paws curled up on my lap while Jon and Curt were at work one day.

Sometimes she sleeps in the weirdest positions. But only before the bed is made.

See, when the bed is made she sleeps like a normal cat.

Oh, and sometimes she pretends she's a hunter and blends herself into the surroundings.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2010-11-01T22:26:00.000-06:00

To the few people who actually read this blog... I didn't start blogging to join any bandwagons, but I did join the dayzeroproject just for that reason. The idea of completing a bucket list of 101 things within 1,001 days just seems so fun to me. If you want to join me and a few of my friends, Anna, Ruth, Sarah, Emily, and Jaime, feel free. Share your list with the url in my comments.

You'll notice from my list of goals that one of them is a 30 day themed blog. Look forward to that (a daily post) from Thanksgiving day through Christmas day. I've been awful at blogging this year, and rather than trying to catch up, I am just going to do better from here on out.

And, since no one likes a blog post without a picture, here is a picture of me and Jon in our amazing Charlie Brown and Lucy Van Pelt Halloween costumes.

Mid-Diet and the Yard

2010-05-17T10:52:00.000-06:00

Well, so much for posting the pictures the next day. We did take some though. Jon is down 17 lbs and I am down 13 lbs now. We are pretty excited but at the same time stoked to eat normal food again.

Here's skinny Jon. His shirts are all getting to be loose.

I haven't lost as much as he has, but my jeans are fitting way better.

In other news, this weekend we got four new fishes for our tank from one of the ladies at my work.

Here are most of the fish. There are: a bala shark, koi, angel fish, and bottom feeder. The others are our tiger barbs, gourami, and placostamus.

We also worked a lot in the yard. It's looking pretty good but it will be even better by this time next week. We planted the flowers and put down some dandelion killing fertilizer. Jon will be rerouting a few of the sprinklers in the back yard this week and we will plant our vegetables and a couple trees back there too.

The flowers in front are red, white, and blue. The bushes are a new addition as well.

Last on our update, we have a family of birds living above our porch and it is so fun to go out and hear them in the mornings.

That little black hole is where the nest of birds live.

Free Advertising

2010-05-11T13:00:00.000-06:00

Nope, it's not Jon like I bet Maggie would have guessed, it's me, Rachael. Since completing school a couple of weeks ago I have decided to declutter our house. Not that a house that has only been lived in for 8 months can really be that cluttered. We moved all of Jon's things from the basement of the North Salt Lake house and went through them. I cleared out the storage room getting rid of papers from elementary school and receipts that Jon had in boxes since before his mission. With his permission of course. Together Jon and I cut down some branches from one of our trees, gutted both flower beds and moved our rose bushes.

We are finally getting down to business and fixing up the things around here that we said we wanted to. I have not taken pictures yet of these projects because we haven't planted new flowers and the office is deskless until this weekend when we move the BEAUTIFUL wooden desk into our house finally. We did frame Jon's documents though and we are just waiting for my diploma to get here so that it can be framed with Jon's and posted on the wall in there also. So, where does free advertising come in you ask? Well, in all of this decluttering I found a few things that we NEVER use and they just take up space in our basement, so they are for sale. I posted them on KSL, but thought mentioning them here might not hurt. So, check it out. We have a full weight set, a printer, and a 300 disc CD changer. I know, not a whole lot of excitement but maybe something you could use? If not it's all good. Just thought I could mention it.

In other news, Jon and I are doing well on our diet. The Biggest Loser competition with the Hamilton family is still around and it will be interesting to see how everyone does this Memorial Day weekend as they come out to Utah to visit and celebrate. Jon and I are looking forward to that and I am definitely looking forward to my visit to Vegas the first week of June to hang out with the Barries. All of this weight loss will be worth it during our summer of travels. Hopefully we get better at keeping you all updated on those travels. Oh, and since no one reads a blog without pictures, here is a pre diet picture. We will take a mid-diet picture tonight that will be added to this post when I get home from work.

Not the best for pre-diet, but you will see in the mid one how much of a difference there is.

Summer is in the Air

2010-04-26T10:38:00.000-06:00

Well, it's official, I am a college graduate. Yay!! That means never driving to Provo again, unless I want to. Never turning in lesson plans to a BYU professor who does not read them. So basically, life is great.

Since finishing school I have cleaned out the storage shed and reorganized it to fit all of the stuff from the basement at the North Salt Lake house, cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, and today I plan on pulling out everything that's left in the dog run and flower beds. Life is great now that I can live it at a pace of my choosing. So, here are some fun pictures from our recent escapades, because we all know that no one reads a post without pictures.

While my mom was visiting we bought these frames and picked the pictures to make a family photo wall.

Right before I went for the last week of school I ripped out all of the weeds in the dog run so that we can plant a garden.

One of the mornings when I was doing laundry Jon thought it would be a good idea to wrap me up burrito style in a giant blanket. It was very comfortable.
The last day of school we loaded up the 4Runner and headed down to Zions with some great friends. On Saturday we even went for a hike.

The hike lead to the top of this, Angel's Landing. I wimped out right about here, but Jon made it all the way to the top.

Here's the view from the top.

A fun little spot on the trail on the way up. We all took turns taking pictures in there.

These are the Wiggles. This picture was so fun, every set of us waited on a different level. So beautiful.

The Monday night after camping Jon took me to my first Bee's game of the season. I am so so so so so excited for this year's baseball season and for more outdoor time this upcoming summer.