Family Time

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I missed getting a post up before the big day.  I think this might be our (David and my) favorite holiday.  This was the 6th Thanksgiving David and I have spent together, which hardly seems possible because I feel like we met just yesterday (and also like we've been together forever)!  Traditionally we spend all day cooking and we go for a nice long hike in the foothills.  We watch movies and just enjoy relaxing.  It's delightful.

Most of the time, my grown-up nephew Cody joins us with a friend or two, but this year, he is spending it with his girlfriend's family.  We missed you Coder!  Instead, David's parents, the infamous Francie and Damaso Lopez, joined us for the festivities.

They arrived on Wednesday evening at 9 pm and left at around 4 am on Monday morning.  It was a fun albeit exhausting long weekend.  But mostly a good time visiting with family.

David, Damaso, and Francie Lopez, Thanksgiving 2012

And, if I do say so myself, this may have been my best Thanksgiving food to date.  I've really got the recipes down pat, and my turkey was superb!  I also got it all cooked in a very timely manner and was able to take a nice long nap while David and his parents went on a hike in the foothills.  When they returned everything was ready to go!

The day after Thanksgiving, we all went to brunch at Le Cafe de Paris and on the way home we bought a Christmas tree.  While David and Damaso watched football, Francie and I got out all of the thousands of Christmas decorations I have (my mother is obsessed and has sent them to me in huge boxes... I think I have enough ornaments for 3 Christmas trees!) And we decorated the entire house.  The tree looks beautiful!

That night Francie decided to sleep on an air mattress in the living room because Damaso was sick, and guess what?  The tree fell over at about 6 am almost crushing Francie in her sleep!  She screamed.  We all came running.  It was actually pretty funny.  We lost only a few ornaments, and luckily Francie came away unscathed.  David and I tied the tree to the wall after that, and it looks good as new.

Damaso, Francie, David, and Anabel Lopez

On the last night of their visit we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Boise, Fork, and then we drove up to Quail Ridge to see the famous massive display of Christmas lights.  Isn't it amazing?!  Chevy Chase has got nothing on this guy.  Damaso thought it was tacky, but I say, although I wouldn't put something like that in my yard, I'm really glad someone else does so we have something to come and see and  it makes the holidays fun!

The next morning I took Damaso and Francie to the airport because at this point, David had caught Damaso's cold and he was sick as a dog and could barely move out of the bed.  They could hardly believe it only took 7 minutes to get to the airport from our house... It was 4am after all.

And just like that, family time was over.

I certainly have so much to be Thankful for... I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving too!  Happy Holidays!

Middle Earth

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I am a HUGE science fiction geek.  In fact, I convinced my younger brother to name his dog Arwen after the Elf Princess in Lord of the Rings.  I am patiently awaiting the prequel, The Hobbit to hit theaters this December.

Today I came across this fantastic short video by Air New Zealand.  Such awesome creativity from the people of the land they call "Middle Earth", I had to share... enjoy!

Rabbit Rabbit!

In honor of the Day of the Dead... and wishing you a lucky November!

Rabbit! Rabbit!