sweet holiday moments & the last day of school before Christmas!!!

***We celebrated Andres' birthday on the 14th with our parents and his grandma @ Carrabbas!!! 

When we got home, Tanner had wrapped up some of his favorite books and put them under the tree for Andres to open for his birthday! 

***Kynlee discovered the Christmas tree and the warmth of the lights on it and loved it. She'd often leave the table after dinner and go find the tree so she could play with the branches and feel the lights while we watched a movie or read from the scriptures before bedtime!

***The kids had fun shopping for, wrapping and handing out gifts to some of their friends this year!!!

 ***I enjoyed cutting out paper snowflakes with the kids to hang from the chandelier and in the window, and taking lots of pictures too! 

***We all loved admiring and sitting by the tree!

***Mr. Yummy & I celebrated our 16th anniversary together and I took my very first instagram picture with my new iPhone he gave me! Yay for instagram & my man.. I'm totally hooked!

***Last minute Christmas shopping with the kids.. instagram caught 'em bein' silly on the sleds in Walmart!

***And finally.. the last day of school! Pajama day, the Christmas around the tree program and class parties!!! All the kids were so excited, I surprised them with new pajamas to wear sitting outside their bedroom doors when they woke up in the morning on the last day of school!

15 YEARS OF LOVE & MARRIAGE~

A + S 

= 

True Love Forever

Andres & I celebrated our anniversary on the 21st!

Well acutally.. 

we started celebrating the night of the 20th.

I've always loved the day we got married,

21 is one of my favorite numbers,

I'm an "odd numbers" kinda girl.

Christmas cheer & twinkling lights fill the air!

It's a time to bundle up & play in the snow together,

have flirty snowball fights,

make snow angels that end with a kiss,

walk hand in hand down city sidewalks

window shopping for those you hold dear.

It's the most cozy time of year.. 

a time to snuggle up under a blanket 

by a warm crackling fire with a cup of hot cocoa..

romancing your one true love!

+

December 21st is the longest night of the year...

The Winter Solstice 

&

Our Anniversary!

Carly, our favorite baby sitter of all time 

is home from college for the holidays,

so we were able to spend lots of time together.

We were going to sleep over night somewhere the 20th & 21st,

but instead of spending a bunch of money just for a place to sleep...

we decided to go out 'til late on the 20th,

come home..

have Carly come back in the morning,

and go for the whole day 'til late again on the 21st...

It was so much fun!!!

The first night we went out to dinner at Magelby's, one of our favorite restaurants! 

It probably sounds funny to say that they have the best dinner salad ever..

but it's true! It is SO GOOD.. I crave it, and their rolls too... Oh my!

Love, Love, Love that place!

After dinner we went to the old dollar theater to see the movie RED!

The next morning we were off again. 

We started out at the mall,

Andres got a haircut while I shopped,

and then we shopped together!

He bought me a really cute eggplant knee length jacket with ruffles,

and a deep teal sweater cardigan that I'm in love with!!! 

After some shopping for loved ones...

we decided to get lunch.

We went to a place I've heard a lot about

and have been wanting to try for a while now.

-Communal-

The food was a-mazing!

I seriously can't wait to go again.

The side of chopped yellow beets with fresh parsley & cream...

Mmm--- I can't stop thinking about 'em!

For the rest of the afternoon,

we took care of some more Christmas shopping.

Come evening we still weren't really hungry for a big dinner,

so we grabbed some drinks & treats 

and went to the movies.

2 movies..

a double feature!

Remember those?

Growing up my parents used to take us to this old theater on State Street called The Avalon.

The movies were always oldies but goodies..

with actors like Cary Grant, Doris Day & Rock Hudson...

and they always showed 2, making it a double feature!

No wonder I'll always be fond of Cary Grant..

I've had a major crush on him since I was a little girl. 

Anywho.

Our double feature consisted of:

Harry Potter

&

The Tourist

..and that was us celebrating our 15th anniversary..

and the longest night of the year

the winter solstice,

cuddled close together 

in our cozy little home

whispering sweet nothings,

or somethings... I guess I should say.

Anniversary in the City

The weekend before Christmas Andres & I escaped to the foggy city in celebration of our anniversary! Andres was given a generous gift certificate to The Anniversary Inn last year from a good friend that he has done contract work for over the years, so that's where we stayed.. in the Jackson Hole Suite both Friday and Saturday night. We even had enough left over on the gift certificate to also enjoy a special package that included two 1-hour in room massages, rose petals scattered throughout the room, a box of chocolates, and a late check-out on Sunday. Things have been so busy for quite a while now.. that having that weekend away just for us was really nice.

Friday night we had our massages, Saturday we went back to the temple we were married in, shopped around at some little consignment shops I've been waiting ever so patiently to visit since they are uptown and went out for a late lunch & to see the movie Avatar. Andres really liked the movie, I thought it was entertaining yet a bit long and I even had to laugh in a few spots. Sunday, we of course slept in... milking that late check out time for all it was worth, how often do ya get to do that. Once we left we went back to temple square and visited the old and new tabernacles before returning home.

{searching for the addresses of the little shops I could hardly wait to behold...}

~The Old Tabernacle~

Thanks to Aaron for the gift certificate, to Andres' parents for watching McKynlee and to Carly {the best babysitter ever} for staying in our home with the rest of the kids! We really appreciate your gracious gifts and willingness to help out so we could have some time away and celebrate 14 years together!!!

Hey Sweetie, what d'ya say next year we pick up where we left off 15 years ago and celebrate our anniversary back in the romantic city of San Francisco! Until then... thanks for everything, for being you, for growing with me through all the ups & downs and for still looking at me like we've only just met! I love you.-

Anniversary Visit to Temple Square

Sunday the 21st was Andres & my thirteenth wedding anniversary. The past two years we've kind of considered our Platinum trip a way to celebrate our anniversary since it's so close and we get all that time to ourselves, so we went out on a date Friday and then Sunday we took the kids up to Temple Square to see the lights and celebrate our anniversary as a family where we got married that wintery day thirteen years ago, it was just as beautiful, glistening in fresh snow.. as it was that Dec. 21st in 1995.~