Taylor & Michael's first apartment

On Wednesday night Taylor (my niece and Eric's daughter) and Michael had a little house warming open house. So we went over to see their first apartment.

Here is the master bedroom. The bed pretty much takes up the entire room. I think the bedding was a wedding gift. The end tables came from Michael's parents. I think they had been his brothers.

Between the master bedroom on the left & the bathroom on the right hangs this picture that Taylor did.

Here is another one of Taylor's paintings. This one hangs on the stair case.

This is the extra bedroom upstairs. They are using it as an office. Sorry the photo is so dark. I don't like to use my flash.

A wall in the extra bedroom.

Another one of Taylor's drawings. You always have something to put on the walls when you are an artist.

One of their wedding gifts.

The other wall & Taylor in the extra bedroom.

This was on the bathroom wall. Another wedding gift.

And this Indonesian looking statue. I want to call it Buddha. But isn't Buddha fat? He resides in their bathroom as well.


Looking down into their living room area from the stairs. This is the right half of the room. Taylor's friends Ashley (the blond) and Michelle.

Left side of living room with Mike (mine), Michael (Taylor's) and Danica. The couch and coffee table came from Eric & Jeannette's.

On the living room staircase wall resides the "Eternal" picture I made for them as a wedding shower gift.

Taylor & Michael opening up my house warming gift.

I gave them a jar of home made hot chocolate mix. Yes, I made it myself with the help of Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming. Got the recipe and the labels over at her website. She also has a recipe for making your own marshmallows. But I wasn't that adventurous. I bought my mini marshmallows at the store. And I also gave them a couple of Christmas mugs to drink their hot chocolate in. They loved my gift.

Here everyone is drinking hot cider. And boy was it hot!!! Here we have Eric, Mike, Jesse and Michael. You can see behind Eric an opening beneath the stairs. Here is where Taylor and Michael have their TV and their dog Tonk's dog bed/cage.

They have some wedding photos hanging on this short wall in their living room. On the other side of this wall is another bathroom. I totally forgot to take any photos in there. And they had a cute tile someone had made for them with a temple silhouette and something else on it (I've already forgotten). Cute idea for a wedding gift.

Here is Taylor and Michael's first Christmas tree. It was so cute.

The kitchen area has room for this small table and chairs. This came from Eric & Jeannette's as well as the bench in the back. Aren't parents the greatest? I've always loved hand me down furniture. Hand me down clothes, yuck, but furniture, I love.


To the left of the table and chairs Taylor has a set of 3 small Christmas trees (another hand me down from mommy).

And finally the other half of the kitchen. Here is Taylor and her friends Amanda and Ashley. Taylor is lucky to have a dishwasher. The fridge is located to the right, I forgot to get a photo of that part of the kitchen. I should have also taken a photo of her cute red microwave.

I loved Taylor and Michael's apartment. It was so cute. They have done a great job furnishing it (thanks to the moms and dads) and decorating it (thanks to cute wedding gifts and Taylor being a talented artist).

Sorry that I couldn't get complete rooms in one shot. Their apartment is pretty small (but just the right size for the two of them), so I couldn't back up far enough to get entire rooms at once.

And I didn't get any photos of their dog Tonks. She was sleeping the whole time we were there.
But you can see what their dog looks like in this photo. Except she is already twice as big. She is going to be a huge dog.

Thanks Taylor and Michael for having us over and for letting me share your apartment with the rest of the family. We love you!!!

Aunt Kim

Another Arizona Vacation

Got back yesterday from another yearly vacation in Arizona. This is the first year we have gone in December. We usually go in August (call us gluten's for punishment). December is the perfect time of year to visit Arizona.

This year we went to Scottsdale instead of Cave Creek. We again went with Mom, Dad & Jodi. This is our Christmas gift from them. Jesse decided to stay home this year.

It was almost the perfect vacation. The weather was perfect and we shopped, ate, shopped and shopped and ate some more.

Brandon and Dad stayed at the condo most of the week. Mom and Jodi mostly shopped at Walmart, Target and Kohl's.

I really didn't take many photos with family members. But I did get a few photos. Here is Brandon & Jodi watching TV.

Mike and I spent the week shopping at thrift stores and antique stores. We did eat lunch one day at the Cheesecake Factory. Only because I had won a gift card at an insurance class awhile back. It came in handy while on vacation.


On Thursday night we all went to the Mesa temple to see the lights. It was quite beautiful.

Mike and I stayed longer than the rest of the group. We caught the tail end of a musical concert. And then spent time just walking around the temple grounds taking in all the lights.

We then went inside the visitor center where they had different nativities from around the world on display.

After leaving the temple we drove around to check out the Christmas lights around Phoenix. We found this one house that had sooooooo many lights and displays. The guy there said it takes 4 people 2 months to set up all the lights and displays.

There was just sooo much to see and take in. It was sensory overload. I should have asked the man what his electric bill was like.

I did take a few photos the morning we were packing up to leave. Here is Jodi putting ice in one of their coolers for the long trek home.

Brandon and Dad waiting for the "round em up and head them out" signal.

Mom waiting inside while the truck is packed up.

And finally when it was time to leave. The perfect vacation came to a screeching halt. Dad's truck had a flat tire. But don't worry, AAA came to the rescue and changed the tire.

And everyone made it home safe and sound.

Kim

GivingThanks for Family

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

For me and my family. We went to Eric & Jeannette's house. To spend time with....

And to.....
for what we are most thankful for. Which by the way is family. Next to that, I would have to put eating turkey and all the trimmings.

There were 17 of us for dinner. So we needed 3 tables. I only took a photo of this one table. And yes, we used my turkey plates. It's not Thanksgiving without the turkey plates. At least for our family.

Whenever food is involved, you will find everyone gathered in the kitchen. Here is Mom, Mike & Jesse.

This is the newest member of the family. Her name is Tonks. She is actually Taylor & Michael's new puppy. Taylor & Michael had gone to San Clemente to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of Michael's family. So Eric's family was babysitting Tonks. She is such a cutie pie. Everyone fell in love with her. Except for her biting. But Jamey took care of that. He just bit her back. It seemed to work, for at least a little while.

Here is Danica, Mom, Jesse & Andrea eating the snacks that we had while dinner was cooking.

Brandon & his Pepsi.
Jase


I should have taken photos of the food. It was very good. The turkey was so moist. Jeannette brined the turkey the night before. I made green bean casserole & our family Thanksgiving jello salad.

Before everyone left, we took some family photos.

This was Andrea's family "most normal" photo. I'll post the other ones on facebook. I took like 4 or 5 and this was the "most normal" shot of them all. Andrea's family doesn't do "normal". From left to right is: Simon, Nate, Andrea, Jamey with Noah in the front. Zak is on a mission in Michigan. But I hear that the ward members there, hooked him up with food.

Danica loves her brother Cade.

We had to get a photo of the pets as they are part of Eric's family. Jase is holding Tonks, Cade is holding Jack and Danica is holding Luke.

Eric's family minus Taylor & her hubby Michael. From left to right: Jase, Cade, Eric, Danica with Jeannette in the front.

And my family minus my stepson Brandan his wife Crystal and our grandson Gunner. From left to right: Brandon, Kim (me), Mike, Jesse.

And last but not least, Jodi, Mom and Dad.

We sure missed not having Todd's family with us as well. But we did talk to Todd on speaker phone for a few minutes after dinner. So it was almost like he was there. NOT!

It was so nice to get together with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. The food was great and the company was better. It took me a long time to make up my mind which of the two was better. It was a hard choice, but in the end, family wins.

I loved having Thanksgiving at Eric & Jeannette's house. I didn't have to clean my house, I didn't have to cook (only a little) and I didn't have to clean up. But the down side of not hosting Thanksgiving is, NO LEFTOVERS! Boo hoo.

What did you do for Thanksgiving? And do you like white meat or dark meat better? I like the white meat. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that each of you has a fantastic Thanksgiving.

I will be spending the day with most of my family at Eric & Jeannette's house. Everyone in our family will be there except for Todd's family. We will miss you Todd, Mari, Julianna, Daniella, Erin Grace & Tyler. And Taylor and Michael have gone to Orange County to spend the day with Michael's family.

We will also miss my stepson Brandan, Crystal and my grandson Gunner. But we already had a Thanksgiving dinner with them a couple of weeks ago.

Oh and we can't forget my nephew Zak who is on a mission in Detroit. But I hear they had lots of offers for Thanksgiving dinner. So I know he won't be going without.

And Colin. How could I forget about my nephew Colin. Colin is serving in the military in Iraq. But I'm sure the military fixes them all up with a tasty dinner.

Even without the missing family, we will still have 17 people for dinner at Eric's.

I want to take this time to tell you what I am most thankful for this year.
1) Family
2) My Faith (yes I do still have it)
3) My health
4) That I have a roof over my head
5) That I still have a job
6) That I still get to enjoy doing the things I like to do. Even if not having money sometimes gets in the way.
7) My blogs. Gives us a chance to all be connected.
8) Friends

And I know there is more, but I don't want to tax my brain too much this morning. Plus I still need to go to the grocery store to buy milk so I can make my green bean casserole.

So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I wish that everyone in our family could be together today to celebrate. But if we can't all be together in person. We can at least be together in spirit.

Love to all of you.