Goodbye 2010....Hello 2011

This was our 2010.....

January

Hiked Diamond Head one last time!

(I hate to admit it, but I miss that place)

Hawaii was the best 4 years of our lives and we cherish every friendship,

experience, tradition, and memory.

We said goodbye to wonderful friends, but think of them everyday....

February

Bought our first home

Experienced our first Colorado snow!

March

Celebrated Hubby's birthday!

April

We took our first road trip to PA!

Visited my favorite sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law

May

Finally discovered my beloved frozen yogurt

(Nothing compared to Hawaii's version of course)

June/July

Our families came to visit

(I don't have any pictures from my parents' visit) :(

August

Met some wonderful friends from church

Joined a family....

Wonderful co-workers!

September
We went to our first PBR event!

Celebrated our 5th Anniversary!October

Dressed up for Halloween and hung out with awesome friends

Got a new family member....Buck!
Ran (walked, fell, and completed) a 5k together!

November/December

Celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with wonderful friends!

This year has been wonderful! We have experienced so much from leaving wonderful friends to meeting new ones. The only thing we both wish we were able to do more of was travel. We planned a trip back home to South Carolina that was cancelled for a few reasons. So, we hope 2011 allows us to visit our many many many family and friends back east.

This year we also began additional fertility treatments. We are praying for a 2011 baby!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, blessed, and fulfilling 2011!

Christmas 2010

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I know we did....

This year we had to stay home in Colorado instead of going home to visit family, but it was the best decision for us. We have wonderful friends and a church family that we never felt alone. The secret is out, we opened our presents days before Christmas. I kept a special one for Jeff to open on Christmas from Santa and of course the pups opened their gifts as well. We were so blessed this year that we decided to have a low key Christmas (as far as gifts go) because we just moved across the country, bought our first home, and experienced many medical issues with one of the dogs so a low key gift exchange was in the books. I'll post about my special gift later from Jeff.

Christmas Eve we watched a Christmas movie in our new theatre upstairs (more to come on that) in our holiday pajamas (well, just me...not Jeff). It was nice to cuddle up to Jeff for the second year in a row on Christmas night. I feel so blessed to have another year with him HERE and not overseas. I just pray next year will be the same.

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas morning I made homemade french toast sticks and we opened our gifts from our families. They were so good to us this year. I wish we could have gone home, but maybe next year they will all come to us :) hint hint.

After we ate and opened gifts we went over to Gary & Annie's for a huge breakfast. I made 55 french toast sticks and could not believe there were leftovers.

Christmas Eve we had some great friends over for food and games. I made lots of goodies and reallllly enjoyed our company. For your enjoyment, here are a few pictures that will make you laugh.

You wouldn't believe it but this man is our preacher, but don't worry Southwest members...he won't quite his day job...even though sometimes he might think he has potential in the acting/singing/comedian field.

Here are a few pictures of our cherades game. The only picture I did not get was Jamal (sorry J) I promise next time I'll get ya.
The photo below is the guys' team realizing they lost to the girls!

Overall, it was alot of fun. I enjoyed spending time with this family...and new friends. I hope that next year brings us just as much joy as well as a special joy :)

Well, my weekend went very slowly due to the anticipation of hubby coming home today. My day today started off with me waking up and realizing how much I hated being Colorado (just for the moment). I have neighbors who whine and complain about my dogs, don't bother to wave, and really need to move to retirement homes. I spent the morning cleaning and preparing for hubby to get home, but at the same time wishing we were still in Hawaii; surrounded by great friends, beautiful sunshine, and beaches. After a big pity party for myself, I realized that I am very thankful for our Colorado experiences. We have a great church family that I wouldn't change for the world, a job & team I love, wonderful friends (and more to come), and a foundation to finally begin a family with.

So, after finally getting my honey home today and settling in to our normal routines I am also thankful to be mixing a little bit of this......

and this.....

to make my famous PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE.

Thanks to some of our wonderful church friends we will not be spending Thanksgiving alone. I will be preparing the cheesecake and my mom's famous sausage cheeseballs so we have a little bit of our tradition at their family dinner.

This weekend we are going to watch the local parade, cut down our christmas tree, and take some much needed holiday pictures up in the mountains :)

I hope everyone has a very very blessed Thanksgiving and creates lots of memories this year.

Glitter, Ribbon, Fake Snow Vomit

It snowed today on the way to church....briefly and it melted before it touched the ground. But, there's nothing better than snowflakes and a peppermint mocha to get me in the decorating mood. It's been a few days of pulling out boxes, unwrapping ornaments, and making lots of bows. Here are a few photos of what I've done.....so far. We still have 2 boxes left that I have not even touched yet and we (well, Jeff) have yet to touch the outside yet. I can't wait for him to come home so he can get in the Christmas mood too.

Our coffee table....don't mind the boring couch. I've yet to pull out all our Holiday pillows.

My favorite part of the kitchen decor....I love the little santa on the stove...it's probably hard to see, but he's a cook with a mixing bowl :)
This shelf is a working progress.

Still waiting for some more inspiration for the counter.

I'm working on Christmas curtains for the very plain window....please do not mind the sink full of dirty dishes....sure wish I had a dish fairy.

My FAVORITE part of the living room so far. The gold tree is a card holder....looking forward to all the family cards we'll be recieving this year.

The downstairs bathroom....I definately need more on the back of the toilet and the counter.

I got this plant from someone at church and it's just thriving, I'm so proud of myself for keeping it alive....I'm horrible at this. The tree on the table I bought after Christmas last year in Hawaii for $.25 and the "Hope" ornament means alot to me....many of you know why.

Bathroom corner

Thinking I need some toule for this table....hmmm, I'll be going to Hobby Lobby soon.

Our entertainment center.....it seriously needs help. I need glitz and glitter!

Stay tuned....for more decor vomit!