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We are ON OUR WAY

San Felipe here we come :)

Indianapolis, ID

I know these posts are backlogged MAJOR, but, better late than never I guess! Just a quick overview of our morning downtown:If you go on the right day at the right time, you can climb to the top!

This HOT CHOCOLATE was the BEST we have ever had!!! They melted actual chocolate into steamed milk, then covered it with actual whip cream (not the can kind) and shaved fudge/white chocolate on top. With a cherry of course. It was DELISH! We only got 1 to share b/c they were like $3.25 each, but looking back, we should have each gotten our own!

Here I am by the river. Indianapolis really does have a lot going for it!

This is a famous (read: sports stars and politicians had signed the walls) pizza parlor just opposite that big tower pictured above. Im holding a PIZZA stick, not a breadstick!

The few hours we spent downtown was a fun getaway that we will always remember!

We got together with a friend once who asked us, "What are we going to do to make a memory tonight?" I just loved that! It seems it is always better to do something unique and memorable when you have the chance! What did you do to make a memory today?

Christmas in November!

We celebrated Christmas as part of "Thanksmas" in November!

Santa Came early :) I LOVE how Santa lays out the presents so beautifully.

We all gave my parents a book detailing 1 service activity each of us did this year. This was the first year of our (hopefully) annual tradition. I think they really loved it!

The boys got tats. How cooool.

Heather has a rockin' costume box. I would say Bryan usually gets into character the best out of all of us. Mom and Heather give him a run for his money though :)

The kids always want a SILLY picture!!!
We had a great Christmas in November and
look forward to our California Christmas in December!!!

Happy travels (for all of you travelling) and
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Indy Raceway

The Indy 500 Raceway was pretty incredible.

We took Tanner and Shannon to check out the sites. Here is the finish line:

The historic name for the track is "The Brickyard" because it used to be all brick. Now, just this finish line has the original bricks. One age old tradition of the big race is for the winner to drink a jug of milk at the finish line!

Scott and I got to take a child under age five on the tour around the track with us. Shannon LOVED it! "We'we gonna gwo oun the bwig wracetwack!" Very exciting!

Here's the whole crew. The boys and Shannon! That metal gate has caught plenty of cars in it's time.

What a good day to be in Indianapolis :)

It's Just "Nothing"

I grew a cyst.

The doctor basically said that my cyst is "nothing" and I should worry when it's the size of a golf ball. What a nightmare!

Can you imagine?!?!?

It doesn't really hurt. Only kind of. It's just sore some days, and when something pushes on it, it hurts. Apparently it is directly over the nerves for my fingertips or something. I would need a hand specialist/orthopedic to remove it because of it's location. It is an optional or "cosmetic" surgery. That is code for NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE.

So, I guess it is nothing. I will go on living with this bump on my wrist. As long as it never grows to the size of a golf ball, I'm okay.

No problem :)

Christmas Tree Crafting

TOTAL COST: $8.29

Okay, maybe not TOTAL, I had all the ribbon in my ribbon stash, and 2 pieces of decorative paper from a garage sale earlier this summer. So really I just bought the wood cut outs and that beautiful gold pointsettia paper.

This project took maybe just over an hour, and was SO fun and easy! I watched 2 episodes of the Cosby Show with my Modge Podge, a pencil and scissors :)

I am sort of obsessed with this tree. Isn't that a beautiful damask? And the ribbon flows so naturally!

Scott is learning to appreciate crafts. As long as our house doesn't look like an explosion of Relief Society, he is okay :) But he does wonder why everything I make has to mis-match. The stockings, these trees, and a few other things I'm sure, are all mismatched! Wait until he sees our new Christmas tree skirt!!! Hahaha.

Not this Christmas, but maybe some day I will have a wood cutter in my garage that I could use to cut these wood blocks. I would have a LOT of fun with that!

Merry Christmas!

Stefanie

Eden round TWO

I haven't blogged for a YEAR which is a shame because we have been living very full lives in the meantime! We didn't take too many pics on our weekend away to the Kitchen Cabin in Eden, but here are a few:

Scott built Joey a KILLER igloo, but the camera was already in the house by then. Vess buried bacon in the snow to get her to go in, and now poor joey is convinced that she will find bacon if she just keeps digging!

We went to some Mexican restaurant Angie calls "Carlos and Harveys" but is really called "Roberto's and something else..." We are not super sure. But this dude was excited to have us all sign his guitar. For some reason he didn't even play for us though. I even asked.

And the lowlight of the trip was burning the brownies

You would have too if your controls looked like this:

We had a great weekend just relaxing and eating junk food and clementines (better than junk food!) I also took Christmas card photos for the couples up there with us. They turned out really cute, but I won't post them here so that they can be a surprise in the mail :)

I hope you get to a snowy cabin sometime this winter to RELAX and enjoy the season!!!

Merry Christmas!

TAG, I'm it!

I guess it took getting TAGGED to jump back on the blogging bandwagon!

4 Shows I watch:
1. The Cosby Show. My ALL-TIME Fav :)
2. The Amazing Race- it really is amazing!!!
3. I Love Lucy
4. I usually do projects while Scott watches NCIS- so I sort of watch that in my peripheral.

4 Things I'm Passionate about:
1. Photography
2. Crafting
3. Macs
4. Travel

4 Phrases I say a lot:
1. Are you for real?
2. Let’s GO!
3. Shoot, why not?
4. You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit!

4 Things I've learned from the past:
1. Always show gratitude toward the people around you.
2. Keep your commitments. No matter what.
3. Make sacrifices for family.
4. Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful!

4 things I did yesterday:
1. Ate delicious pineapple curry and missed Thailand
2. Scraped the ice off my car in a hurry!
3. Got prescription cold sore medication. And LOTS of it :) WOOOO!
4. Packed lots of boxes and moved some friends into a storage unit (their stuff that is!)

4 places I would love to visit:
1. Hike the Incan trail in Peru
2. Jump rope with African children
3. Cooking class in Tuscany/Italy
4. Island hopping in Greece

4 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Going to the Festival of Trees in Sandy
2. H&M in California
3. Our next BIG vacay!!!
4. Being caught up with laundry and dishes at the same time!

4 Things I love about winter:
1. Snuggling

2. Stephen’s Hot Chocolate with milk
3. Cute coats
4. Just staring at the Christmas tree

TAG list (But only if you want to):

Ali Spencer
Noelle Bastian
Carly Curtis

'Tis the Season :)

We were not going to get a Christmas tree this year.

And then Saturday night, it just happened!

And it is the BEST. Ever.

The past two nights I have just sat and stared at the tree and loved my life. We really feel the Christmas spirit now :)

See how tiny that box is? Scott doesn't even have to worry about storage!

Now we have stockings AND a tree. Pretty posh eh?

He was having a bit of trouble wrapping that ribbon. Don't worry, it worked out later on...

I can't help but quote Scott as we were putting this beauty together. He's all

"I would say that we are a very good example that you can have classy things without spending too much money." All in all, this tree experience was less than $50 and will hopefully last for years to come!

And why not end the night with some YUMMY peppermint ice cream?

Tis the Season!