Happy Kris Kringle Day!

Happy Kris Kringle Day! For those of you who might not know about Kris Kringle Day (I totally did not make it up) it is a German (I think) holiday that is every December 5-6. On the night of the 5th, each family member puts a pair of shoes out in the hall before bed and when they are asleep, Kris Kringle brings them small gifts if they are good, and coal if they are bad. So, on the morning of the 6th, you get to "open" your shoe and receive a gift. At least, this is how my family have always celebrated it. This year, I received an enlarged family picture of Chris, Gir and I and a pirate nutcracker. Chris got a goofy Jim Shore statue, some Mountain Dew, some microfiber towels for his car, and some cacti. He really got a good load; he must have been really good this year! Well, even if you don't celebrate Kris Kringle Day I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing December 5-6th.

Thanksgiving in California

Thanksgiving in San Simeon was amazing!! My family started going to the beach for Thanksgiving while we lived in California. We would get together with some of our neighbors and go camping on the beach. It was always a highlight of the year and we looked forward to it for months. Since we moved to Utah 7 years ago, we haven't really been able to make it out again to renew our tradition until this year. My parents, Thomas, Chris and I went with the Gehmliches this year and it was sooo much fun!! My parents drove down on Monday, but due to school and work, Thomas, Chris and I couldn't come down until Wednesday night/Thursday morning. After getting to San Simeon at 2:30 am California time (3:30 Utah time) we crashed for a couple of hours and than as soon as Thomas woke up, he went to the beach. It was a little cold for my tast to be on the beach, so, I spent the day playing card games with the Gehmliches and my family. At 3:00 we ate our turkey and Thankgiving goodness which was amazing! When we were done, we played around on the beach and just goofed off. At night, we all huddled around the fire and talked for hours! On Friday, my parents, Chris and I went for a drive up to a nearby bay where we walked around, got some ice cream, and watched some sea lions. When we got back, we went to the beach and watched Thomas, Nicole Gehmlich and Aubrey Gehmlich dig their fort named "Phil." Later that day, Chris' sister Lorie and her husband Adam who live in LA, drove up to spend the evening with us. They brought their surfboards and Adam took Thomas out and tried to teach him how to surf. Thomas was so excited! They tried to surf for a while, but the waves were a little rough, so, they decided to bring it in. While Thomas and Adam were surfing, Chris and Lorie were catching up on old times as well as talking about the new times. Chris was really excited to talk to Lorie and I think that they had a good time. When we got back to their car to put the surfing aquiptment away, we discovered that the keys were locked in their car!! We called their car insurance who sent out someone to unlock the car. So, we got to talk alot more together which was nice. After the car situation was taken care of, Adam and Lorie stayed around for dinner and to talk around the fire. It was really nice to see them again (the last time I saw Lorie was at our wedding and I had never met Adam before) and to have a chance to talk with them. I'm really glad that they came so that I could get to know them both better! On Saturday, Chris and I decided to take a road trip to Monterey Bay which was about 2 hours from where we already were. So, we drove up and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (which is SOOO cool) which was crowded but lot's of fun! We got to see a Sun fish (which is really ugly), sea otters, river otters, Asian otters (can you tell that I like otters?), sea dragons, sharks, and tons of fish! When we were done at the aquarium we ate lunner (lunch and dinner) at a really nice sea food restaurant right off the ocean where the waves would come up and crash on the window. The food was amazing and it was nice to spend some quality time with Chris! We then went to Fisherman's Wharf and than we began the long drive. We drove about 5 hours to catch up with the family as they were camping for the night on the boarder of California and Nevada. We got there about 12:00am and crashed for a couple of hours in the back of the Jeep (which is not the most comfortable place to sleep). Sunday we all just drove home which was an adventure in itself. Chris, Thomas, and I arrived home at about 6:00 and my parents got in about midnight! Well, we had a blast and many adventures. It will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember!!

Thanksgiving Top 10...

With Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away, I thought that i'd list my top ten favorite things about the holiday. Here they go:
10. Not having to work
9. TURKEY!!!
8. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
7.Remembering what i'm thankful for
6. Rolls (My Mom makes the best rolls)
5. Stuffing
4. More Turkey!
3. Having Thanksgiving at the beach in CA
2. Left over turkey sandwiches
1. Spending time with the family

Well, there you have it. My list of favorite things about Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember what you're thankful for!

It's time for birthday's!!

Alright, I'll admit it...I'm a way big daddies girl! One of the reason's for this may be because we practically share a birthday! My Dad's birthday is November 5th and I had the fortune to be born November 6th (at around 3:30 am). So, if I had been born a mere three and a half hours earlier, we would be birthday twins. As it is, we usually share a birthday party with the family, although we each get our own cake (which is usually the same thing). For my 9th birthday we had a combined birthday trip to Walt Disney World which was so much fun. For my 13th birthday we went to Paris for our birthday's and in 2004 (for my 19th birthday) I was working in Disney World and my Dad came up for our birthday's (which incidentally was our ten year anniversary from when we went the first time, which was really fun!). We also like similar foods so, deciding on our birthday meals are usually pretty easy! While many people would enjoy having all the attention on their birthday's I honestly can't imagine what it would be like to have a birthday party without sharing it with my Dad. It has been one of my life's great pleasures!

So, as our birthday draws closer and closer, i'd just like to wish my Dad an awesome birthday and to say I love you!!!

For my Dad's blog check out http://www.iprusso.blogspot.com/!

The joy of carving pumpkins...

Last night, most of my family got together and carved our pumpkins. I know that we are carving a little close to Halloween this year, but this was the first time that we had all the right ingredients (pumpkins, almost all of the family, and most importantly time). Chris and I had picked up our pumpkins on Monday at a local farmer's home (if you live in the Sandy area, the Rassmussen farms have really great and inexpensive pumpkins!), but with every one's schedule, we didn't have time to sit down and carve them until yesterday. I love carving pumpkins because after we are all done scooping out the seeds, my Mom will clean them off and bake them which is one of my most favorite things about Halloween! It's also just a fun activity to do with the family and even the dogs enjoy pumpkin

carving because they sometimes get the insides of the pumpkins which they love to eat.

This year my Dad got the biggest pumpkin and ironically, he carved the smallest face onto it! I had the smallest pumpkin and instead of carving out a face, I dedicated my pumpkin to James Bond and carved a 007 on the face. Thomas made Jack Skeleton from the Nightmare Before Christmas, while Chris carved out a fearsom pirate onto his pumpkin. My Mom left hers a blank canvas but still sat around the table and had fun with us!

Well, now that are pumpkins are complete, I can't wait for Halloween when we can put them on display!

Jackson Hole, WY

This week, Chris and I have our fall break for school, so, we decided to take a short trip to Jackson Hole, WY. I was so excited to go because the last time we were there, was on our honeymoon. While on our honeymoon, we got some sweatshirts but during the summer, those sweatshirts were lost by UPS (I am still very, very bitter towards them because along with our honeymoon sweatshirts, they lost a lot of our wedding gifts!). So, we have been wanting to return to Jackson Hole to get ourselves some new sweatshirts.

We drove up to Jackson Sunday afternoon, and just chilled for the first evening, which was really nice and relaxing. Than on Monday, we walked around Jackson Hole which only took us about an hour and a half. By that time, we had found some new sweatshirts and a few little trinkets. We than decided to take a drive, so we drove towards Yellowstone National Park which was about 30 miles away. It was so beautiful! It is not a very populous area, so all that we could see was mountains and open grassland. There were occasionally herds of deer roaming around, but the land was mostly empty. When we found the entrance to Yellowstone, we discovered that it was going to cost us $25 to enter the park. That seemed a little high priced for a couple of hours in the park, so we decided to drive back. On the way, we found a cool historical cabin owned by some of the first ranchers that settled in Wyoming, which would have taken lots of courage seeing how there was nothing around and the weather can be unpredictable. After we had walked around the little log cabin, we took some pictures and headed back to the car. Our next unexpected stop was for the Teton National Park Visitor Center. It was a really nice, new building which gave some great information on the Teton mountains and surrounding wildlife. With new souvenirs in hand, we went back to our cozy hotel room and watched a movie until dinner. We went to an amazing steakhouse for dinner where they serve not only cow steaks, but elk steaks, Buffalo meat, and venison. Chris and I ended up sharing a plate of Elk medallions, Buffalo chops, and Venison bratwurst (which tasted just like regular bratwurst). It was sooooo good!!! I was amazed! If you like steak, I highly recommend trying different varieties! This morning, we got up and checked out by 10am. We than went back to the town square and had our picture taken under the famous antler arches that they have in downtown Jackson Hole. We had gotten a picture here when we were here for our honeymoon in our old sweatshirts, so we thought that it would be fitting to have pictures in our new sweatshirts. Overall, this trip was a blast and i'd love to come back again!

Thomas is home!

An event two years in the making has occurred. Thomas has come home from his mission to Seattle, Washington. Yesterday morning, Mom, Dad, and I headed down to the Salt Lake City airport to pounce on Thomas as soon as he came down the escalator. His flight was supposed to get in at 10:22 am and we arrived at about 9:40. We went inside around 10:00 and got our position at the end of the stairs and held our banner (made by Brett) high. As we were waiting, we noticed that we weren't the only ones waiting for a returning missionary. There were about two other families waiting with us and we chatted with them for a while. One of Thomas' young men leaders met us at the airport to be with the welcoming committee when he arrived. We found out soon after we found our spot, that his plane had already landed, so we thought that we wouldn't have to wait long. Well, every time a young man came down in a suit we prepared to see Thomas, but most of the time, they were just young business men coming home. We began to fidget and make jokes that maybe Thomas is just sitting on the plane teasing us and purposefully taking longer. By 10:30 we were getting pretty antsy when suddenly, there he came down the stairs. It was an awesome site! After two years, we finally got to see him, and it didn't look like he'd changed too much. As soon as Mom laid her eyes on Thomas, she started to tear up, and I grabbed the banner so that she could run and give him a hug. It was a tearful and happy reunion. After lots of hugging, we picked up his luggage and went home. On the way, we updated him on the latest news from the family and prepared him for the changes he would see at home. When we got home, I let the dogs out of the house to run up to Thomas, but Gir, didn't recognize him and started to bark and bark. It took Gir most of the day to feel comfortable with him again and I'm so excited that Thomas played with him and helped him become less shy from the start. We had lunch and began looking at all of Thomas' photo albums and hearing the stories behind them. After lunch, Thomas opened his belated Birthday/Christmas present (the airsoft gun he's been looking forward to his whole mission). For a couple hours we just sat around and talked about mission and chilhood stories, and the changes in the neighborhood. Around 4:00 Brett and Brenda arrived and reunited with Thomas. Thomas immediatly showed Brett his new gun and they had so much fun strengthening their brother bond. At 5:00 Chris came home from work and we all went out to dinner at one of Thomas' favorite resturants. We talked together until about 7:30 when Amanda and Liz came over for some rootbeer floats and to see Thomas released as a missionary. The member of the stake presidency that came over gave Thomas some great advice and said some really nice things about his mission. After he left, the first movie that Thomas wanted to see was Transformers, so, we watched it. He loved it!! He has a huge stack of movies that he's missed while away and is determined to watch in the next week. Well, yesterday was so much fun and we are thrilled to have him home again after a good and faithful service. Welcome home Thomas!!