Holiday Season Part 1

Sorry it's been so long since our last post...
the end of the semester and traveling are not helpful to blogging.

Here's a belated post about the first part of our holiday season.

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We went to Drew's Grandma's house in Fresno for a delicious Thanksgiving meal, lots of family and of course the second annual extreme croquet tournament!

My sister Leah and little Abigail

Drew playing with Nathan

As many of you know, I can not wait very long after Thanksgiving to get my tree.. I think it was three days this year. So I took Joanna to the local tree lot- she had never been to one before- and we had a little too much fun picking one out!

The I went over to my friend Michelle's house to make gingerbread shacks and mansions (I say that with bitterness, does it surprise you that the one in the middle is not mine?) Actually it was a lot of fun and mine is on the left if you care...

Drew putting on the tree's finishing touch

Well, almost finishing... I can always find things that need tweaking!

Natalie came over and we made delicious sugar cookies from scratch!



We even learned how to make homemade frosting... here's the result!




Andrew being silly rather than helpful (and wearing two kinds of plaid??!!)


A little non-holiday celebrating of Parris's birthday (black hat)


We went to East Village Tavern downntown for some ritzy high-class bowling



I think I am confusing bowling with figure skating

... so Andrew took me figure skating!

On Coronado island, the Hotel Del has "skating by the sea"

Not sure why this one makes him laugh... ok yes I do, I'm a huge doofus

... but he skates with his tongue out so it takes one to know one

Look ma! One leg!



Stay Tuned for Holiday Season Part 2!

...oh and P.S....

I just snapped this as they were leaving for the Chargers/Colts Game and I thought it was cute how happy they are to see each other (Matt and Jake live 6 hours north).

Love these guys... that's all.

Harvest Party 2008/ Pictures of our place

Welcome to our home!

I finally got around to snapping some pictures of our place.

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If you look carefully, you can see the ugly tile that has bunches of flowers on it! Not our first choice in countertop decor.

Here's the Master bedroom... those aren't giant spots on the wall just some weird reflection from my camera.

My rudimentary painting of a lady in a big gown to go with our shower curtain.

Dining

Wine Bar

Hearth

...and the participants in the 5th annual Harvest Party!

Back L-R: Tina, Joanna, Kasey, Emma, Lindsay, Nicole

Front: Natalie, Shannon, Yours Truly, Michelle

Tina carved me into a pumpkin!

Gettin warm by the fire with Kasey :)

About as fall as it gets around our neighborhood.

I thought this tree was kinda pretty

The Ramos Wedding

Drew and I were working on picking out photos for our wedding album today, when it dawned on me... I still hadn't posted pics from Brooke and Jerrod's September wedding. I was waiting for the professional ones to come out without the copyright stamp on them, but I don't know how long that will be so I'll just post the ones I have so far.

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Brooke and Jerrod were married on September 26, 2008 at the Darlington House here in San Diego. It was incredible to see all of Brooke's hard work come together in such a beautiful event. She planned everything down to the tiniest detail- including the corner-stamped programs! The night was so elegant, and it is always a treat to watch two of our friends take their vows. I've included a mix of my poor-quality snapshots and my favorites from their photographers' blog. Even though they now live far far away, we cherish all of our fond memories of them! Congrats you two!

The ceremony

Darin as my escort

The handsome groom

The absolutely beautiful bride

Laughing with the girls!

Some of the attendees during cocktail hour.

The newly married couple

Dinnertime with some good friends

the cake cutting

...and the sendoff! I just love Jerrod's expression here!

If we get more of the good photos, I'll put them up!

My Mom's Visit/ Our Julian Trip

My Mom came to visit a couple weekends ago because, well, she loves us! Not that my Dad doesn't love us too, but he's not a big flyer. Anyhow, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit the apple orchards of Julian.

Yes, I sometimes skip, sometimes frolic, what have you.

A not-so-scary scarecrow

Look at that old rusty gem... and

how about that truck?

At first we were only picking the normal sized apples, but then I decided that these little ones were pretty cute and would make adorable mini caramel apples!

I wonder why he's so interested in my left hand...

The apple don't fall too far from the tree :)

Pumpkin Time! Drew was designated pumpkin carrier.

Mama and Drew in the little corn maze

And we also went to Drew's restaurant to enjoy some crab.

(awful picture of me, but it shows how much I love her)

She relished the chance to capture me in a bib.



We love you, Mom!