Christmas week

This past week has been filled with so much wonderful-ness (is that a word? If not, it should be!).  We've had quite a few friends in town, we've been able to spend time with lots of family, and we've pretty much been on a holiday high for the past week.  Plus, Henry has added a whole new level of AWESOME to all things Christmas.  I keep thinking forward to next year when he is 13 months old and how amazing that will be.  It's all just very exciting.  One thing I'm really really looking forward to is getting our house all decked out for the holidays.  We had barely moved in when Henry was born, so we've hardly got to decorate in the first place, but our holiday decor was severely lacking.  Next year I'm looking forward to really doing it up and putting into motion all of the fun holiday ideas I have floating around in my head.  But first things first, we need to finish getting our house in order!  Now that things have calmed down a bit I can't wait to start getting our home just the way I envision it...and it's times like these that I am SO grateful for my Anthro discount. ;)

I think the photos below do a better job of telling the story of our week better than I can at this late hour, so enjoy!  And again, happy holidays!

In the beginning of the week, Lisa and Mary Alice came to visit Henry and brought him the cutest presents!


The Peters family came up and visited for an evening and we had the best time. Here's Henry and his Auntie Erin- he adored her.


H. also decided to really examine Uncle JP!


We enjoyed Hugo's, as usual.


Later that night we had a handful of friends over to enjoy some pie, it was delicious.


cherry pie I made




gift from the Peters :)


I love this photo of Amber so much!


the next night was Christmas Eve, spent with Hank's family...

Henry II, III, and IV - pretty awesome huh!


Henry and his Aunt Brooke


we played Pictionary- the guys won, boo!






Henry's gifts started piling up...




Later that night we headed to my parents' house so we could wake up there Christmas morning!


Mom and Henry's stocking (Henry too!)


how pretty is my sister?!


Aunt Lauren and Uncle Abe


my favorite Christmas present


dessert!


our cousin Tim brought Henry a hat back from Peru (he is a geologist there)- Henry clearly LOVED it! haha.


and finally, we spent Christmas evening with Sar and Andy. So much fun and Henry loved meeting his Uncle Andy.

Saturday

This morning Hank and I woke up fairly early and went to visit my Grandma on my Dad's side. It was wonderful to see her, but at the same time incredibly sad because her speech and mental capabilities have dramatically diminished since her last stroke, about a year ago. It's heartbreaking because she knows what she wants to say, but the speech area of her brain was badly damaged, so it sounds like gibberish. The only bright spot is that wherever her brain has gone to is a really beautiful, happy place, and she seems to be in good spirits, considering. It's just so sad to see a family member go through that and not recognize the people they've known their entire lives. I had to fight back tears throughout the visit, and it was hard to leave and see her waving from the window in her wheelchair. I wish people didn't have to get old and be in pain. It's so upsetting...

When we left my Grandma's Hank and I had to do some returning, so we stopped by H&M and then went to Green for a quick lunch. The rest of the day was spent doing errands- we dropped my Angelique print off at the framer's, got Hank new shoes and button ups, and stopped by Coldstone so Hank could get a milkshake. Besides this morning this visit has been incredibly jam packed with all of our family in from all over the place, and we still have to celebrate another Christmas! I am hoping we get the Flip cam we've had our eye on, so we'll see. We are heading back up to Prescott in a bit and I am excited to get there and organize all our new stuff. I also got some new wood cleaner for our floors and I can't wait to try it out! Sounds weird but organizing and cleaning gets me excited. Annnnd...tomorrow is a certain best friend's birthday! Fun.

I'll leave you with some photos-

Good morning!


Saturday shoes


dropping off my print- soo excited to get it back next week!




another little Angelique print, matted and framed

Answers, Part Two!

Alright, here are the next round of answers to all of those questions in this post!

First question, from Kristen-

I'd like to see a post about how you dress for work, or: looking professional but not too frumpy or teacher-y. thanks :)

I did a little Flickr series documenting the first two weeks of work this week, so click here to be transported to the set! Here's my "first day of school outfit." My main staples are pencil skirts, dresses, and tights!



Next, from an anonymous commenter:

how is it possible that your tattoo is on your chest and on your right arm in some pictures while it is on your left arm in other pictures?

For a lot of my quick pictures I use photobooth, which is actually a flipped view! So the tattoo many appear to jump arms from picture to picture!

Third question(s), from Ashley-

What's your biggest pet-peeve? What are your favorite TV shows?

Pet peeves...hmmm...this is hard. I don't know if this is necessarily a pet peeve, but something that is extremely annoying to me is when people can't just LIVE and LET LIVE. I believe in equal rights for ALL people. Example: I'm a supporter of gay marriage and it's upsetting to me that people can't just let other people be happy. On a smaller and less important level, here are some things that annoy me: the sound of clipping nails, when things in a cupboard or cabinet are unorganized, people blowing their nose around me (weird I know- but I think this comes from sniffly students doing this in my classroom), people who are "short" via text or email, and sharing drinks or food with ANYONE other than Hank and a handful of my best friends- no thank you. And I think that's about it. I'm sure I could think hard about this and make a huge list but this is all for now!

TV shows- I love love love Lost, Mad Men, Freaks and Geeks, Big Love, Pushing Daisies, Carnivale, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, True Blood, and then about a million reality shows, including but not limited to: Biggest Loser, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Jersey Shore, etc.

The next question is from Katie!

but now i want to know how you do your hair and what products you use. it seems like you always have a lot of body and it's shiny and sometimes curled? my hair is flat and blah. tips please!

I've gotten a lot of question about this, so maybe I'll do a little tutorial when we *hopefully* get a Flipcam at our last Christmas on Sunday. But to give you a quick overview, I use Biolage shampoo and conditioner. I switch between three different types, depending on the stage my hair color is at. Those three are the "Color Care" line, the "Hydrating" line, and the "Body" line. Color for right after I get my hair done, body most of the time, and hydrating when I feel I need it. I also only wash my hair 2-3x a week, and use dry shampoo between. After I get out of the shower, I wrap up my wet hair in a towel for about 10 minutes. Then I apply Catwalk's Root Boost to the roots of my hair- top, sides and back. After that I spritz Bumble and Bumble's thickening spray all over. I don't put any products in my bangs though. Then, blowdry time. I use a round brush to dry my bangs for literally a second, then I blowdry to the side with my fingers. Following that I dry all over my hair, flip it over and dry upside down, then use a paddle brush to dry the rest (getting the roots, etc). I finish with a cold shot all over. Once my hair is dry I spray the underside with Sebastian Hairspray and then pin it back while I apply makeup. Once my makeup is done I tease my hair a bit, then use the curling iron to add waves! Done! That seemed kind of strange to explain that in such detail but hopefully that was what you were looking for! :)

This question is from Ashley (no link given):

i also have a question about your tattoos... do you have any that you don't particularly love anymore and wish you could change or remove them? and... how do you decide what to get??

I love every single one of my tattoos, and I'm lucky enough to not have any regrettable ones. I attribute this to waiting until I was 21 to get my first one. If I would have gotten any of the ideas I had when I was younger than that you can bet I'd have some regrets and cover ups to do. I also had the benefit of only having really amazing artists tattoo me, thanks to the direction of my tattooed friends when I was younger. As far as deciding what to get, most of mine are things that I find pretty or inspiring, or things that have meaning. Sometimes I'll have weird thoughts that kind of turn into a tattoo idea, but for the most part I'll just know what I want and then my artist will run with it, and make it awesome.

Awesome! I hope you guys liked reading these, they are definitely fun to answer! I will continue with the next batch sometime soon!

In the meantime, here are a few photos from later tonight!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! <3

my sister and Abe


Hank, Tim, and Daron




dinner time


opening up presents








my beautiful Daron Grace :)


Big Kindle and Little Kindle PJ Party! I love this.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Part One

Hank and I originally planned to do Christmas Eve on the eve of the eve (make sense? haha), but later decided to just wait until the actual night to open our presents. He had to work during the early afternoon, but once he got home and we both got ready for the evening, it was present time! I'll just mention a couple of the presents we exchanged- and one in particular made me so, so happy. That special gift was one of my most favorite Angelique Houtkamp paintings as a print. It's a big piece, limited to just 200, and is so, so beautiful. It's signed and numbered by Ms. Houtkamp herself, and it's such a great addition to our art collection. To say I'm stoked is an understatement. He really is the most thoughtful husband in the whole world and I feel so lucky he always goes out of his way and is so generous. I got him a lot as well, and a couple of his favorite things were the two prototypes of toys he loves. Our dear friend Alex helped me get some of the toys for him (as I am clueless), which was very kind. So after we did our presents at home, we headed out for the night, armed with huge bags and boxes of wrapped presents. As we do every year, we spent Christmas at Hank's mom and step-dad's home. It's a really fun time- we do a secret Santa exchange with extended family, and then once everyone goes home the immediate family gives each other gifts. Hank's mom is THE BEST gift giver- and this year was no different. A couple notable gifts were Hank's sought-after Wii and a huge box of games and corresponding gadgets and toys. He is in heaven. Another is my Kindle DX, and I am blown away with it. I AM IN LOVE! Now I don't have to lug around a million books on vacation, amongst many other pluses.

I am so thankful for everything we received, but those don't overshadow our "reason for the season," which is not god or anything related, but family. We aren't religious by any means, but we do still celebrate the holidays and enjoy an excuse to shower our loved ones with gifts, our time, and most of all, love! :) It's really neat to have such big families and I feel fortunate that we are all currently in great health and spirits. That isn't always the case so I am extra grateful this year.

After Christmas Eve festivities we headed down the mountain to Phoenix, so we could spend the night and wake up at my parents'! When we got to my parents' around 2am we were met with our annual Christmas pjs! Every year since we were kids my mom has always gotten us new holiday pajamas to wear to sleep. Hank and I put them on and hopped into bed!

When we woke up this morning we were met with a gorgeous tree and holiday music. All of us spent the morning opening up our awesome and very generous gifts. It was my sister's boyfriend Abe's very first Christmas EVER so it was SO MUCH FUN watching him open his presents and get excited. It was neat to be a part of that. So right now we are currently hanging out, waiting for a million of our family members to arrive, both from the airport via NY and up from Tucson. It will be a busy day, so I will be back with part two tonight!

Until then, have a fabulous afternoon.

Photos from last night and today (so far!)

Christmas Eve
















In the tube is the print, the paper on the left is a picture and a letter of what the print is. It goes in for custom framing tomorrow, and Hank didn't want to damage it by taking it out of the container...hence the little letter that he wrapped up in a box. :)












Grandma Jean sneaking in a nap!




"My big Christmas tree is on strike until there are Grandchildren!" -Hank's mom, in reference to the small tree! hahah




family Wii session!




Christmas morning at my parents'!


my overstuffed stocking! I've had this one since I was little :)


Lauren and Abe


Abe's first Christmas!


I love my sister


Take 2 :)


KINDLE DX I LOVE YOU!


Christmas dress paired with black tights and oxfords, sorry for the half pic! Better pics later :)


holiday colors


Mr. and Mrs.