Thanksgiving

Chris and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year. We will have 11 adults (ages 9 and up) and 4 children (ages 6 and under).... that's a lot of bellies to fill!

I am a little bit concerned because 1. I have never cooked a turkey before 2. It's Thanksgiving dinner, it's kind of a big deal. 3. If it sucks I will be hearing about it forever i.e."...remember when Tara's turkey went up in flames and we had to eat Dominoes for Thanksgiving?"

I was researching a blog for work (yes, I get to read blogs at work!) and she had this fantastic post about Thanksgiving mishaps and I just had to share!

"Ladies – Bedlam will strike this week, and we have a choice. We can either react or respond.

Turkeys will not be thawed in time. Pies will burn. Company will be late. Kids will throw up. Kids will fight. Dogs will throw up. Dogs will fight (well, maybe just my dogs.). Grandparents will lose their patience with said kids and dogs. Jokes will be misunderstood. We will be misunderstood. Our food may be misunderstood. Our new recipe may not be enjoyed….

This list could continue for awhile, but I think you get the point. But guess what? Amongst this all, we can find beauty in the midst of those bedlam moments.

So when your turkey is dry, and your tablescape isn’t what you want it to be, it’s OK. When your bread dough over flows onto the ground, just laugh, so you don’t cry, and remember me whispering that you have a choice: to take a deep breath, and JUST LAUGH. Enjoy the beauty in the midst of the bedlam. (But please make sure you take a picture and share it with me next week.)" seen here on www.beautyandbedlam.com.

So in the midst of the chaos this holiday season, I hope we can all find a moment or two and see the beautiful things around us and to remember the true meaning of our celebrations.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers!

Happy Holidays

...see you in 2010!

Happy Thanksgiving Tomorrow!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow and enjoy your Big Birds ;)




P.S. Check out my latest project @ Pretty'n Peach! Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Halloween

The curse of Chris working at Melaleuca is that he ALWAYS has to work the last day of every month. New Years Eve and Halloween are no exception, such a bummer! So once he got done working (at 10pm) our Halloween started. We had a quiet but fun night together.

It started with making a trip through the Taco Bell drive through for FREE BLACK TACOS!! (have you seen those? with the black shell and pepper jack cheese?) They tasted so good plus they were free, so I was one happy lady. After inhaling our taco's (and wishing we had more) we settled in to watch

The Haunting in Connecticut

It was so scary!! If you are in the mood to be really freaked out I recommend it!

I absolutely did not want to be left alone after watching it! I probably shouldn't be admiting this publicly on the Internet but lets just say Chris had to use the bathroom and he ended up having company! :o

Sorry, you didn't need to know that, but I had to emphasize the scariness of the movie!

Hope everyone had a fun and spooky night!

PS. for FHE tonight Chris and I are making homemade pizza! I'm super excited about it! Photos to come!

p.s.s We are trying to spend as little money as possible right now so we are going to see how long we can go without grocery shopping (minus the essentials like milk and bread). I foresee a lot of ramen, cereal, and rice in the near future! Look forward to hearing about it!

Memorial Day Weekend

Chris and I have been home sick with the flu since Thursday. Even though we have been feeling pretty lousy it has been a fun weekend still. We blew up our air mattress in the living room and thanks to our new best friend NETFLIX we watched the entire first season of HEROES

via Chris's XBOX 360.

We freaking love modern technology :)

Chris' brother Kim and his family were in town this weekend for a family reunion on his wife's side. Since they live in Alabama and never get out to Idaho this is a big deal in the Andrus family so another brother, Cody and his wife and kids drove 4 hours from Boise just for a couple hours to see them. On their way out here they stopped in Twin Falls where their sister, Staci, lives and picked her up for the trip too! So our small gathering of 8 turned into a house party of 14! It was a tight fit in our apartment but it was a lot of fun! (and yes, we sanitized the place before everyone got here...there are no reported casualties yet). Watching Sleeping BeautyCute Cousins

Siblings (Cody, Chris, Kim, and Staci)

Day of Love

February 14th, 2009 was our third Valentines day together. It was also our third Valentines day apart! Chris has always found a way to make this day special for me though, even at a distance. Our first V Day apart he sent a bouquet of tulips, my favorite flower. Last year we had just gotten engaged 2 weeks before, so needless to say he got me a pretty diamond ring!

This year we were going to be lame and buy season four of LOST as a combined gift... or so I thought! That morning we were on the phone and I asked Chris what he WOULD have done had we been together (giving him a chance to say ANYTHING and get bonus points..) and he said he would have ordered one of those candy gram people that show up with flowers and sing love songs to you. I laughed at him, "oh that would be fun!" So since I was just planning on chillin at home all day I was still in my pajamas at noon when my sister and her family show up. They asked if I wanted to go to Costco with them, I said no. Josh, my brother in law, was all, "Oh come on! Go get dressed and come!" (hint hint, little did I know). I never did get changed, and they hung around for a couple hours, I wondered why they weren't leaving to go to Costco but didn't say anything. So lo and behold we get a knock on the front door. Its two High School age kids, the boy in a tux and the girl in choir dress. They had roses and sang love songs to Tori and I. It was so cute! I had absolutely no idea Josh and Chris had planned anything, and I was so embarrassed to still be in my PJs at 3pm!

Thanks for the awesome Valentines, babe! I love you!