Happy New Year

Time to play catch up after a busy couple of months with the holidays. We had a good Christmas and New Year. We spent New Year's Eve in Maine and had a wonderful weekend. It's always nice to get away and we love going to Maine.

Christmas was pretty low key this year. We had some friends over for dinner and just enjoyed a quiet day. The dogs got "me" a Duke snuggie. I'm not sure which of us enjoys it more.


Colin also got a snuggie- Oregon of course!


Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without a prime rib dinner and Christmas crackers. Tyler and Mitra hadn't experienced Christmas crackers before, but they wore their crowns proudly and were fascinated with the little toys inside. :)


We had a party to celebrate the Super Bowl with our friends. I was rooting for Green Bay, and my brother and nephews were rooting for the Steelers, so it made it that much sweeter when the Packers won! Much trash talking took place via text message during the game. We had the NFL Sunday ticket this year, so many Sunday afternoons were spent with friends at our house watching the games and eating some good food. Here are some pictures from the Super Bowl party.

Colin with his Super Bowl cake


Go PACKERS!


The mini footballs were a cute decoration- too bad I'm still finding them all over my house!


The winners of our friendly football pool


It's always a let down when football season ends. I'm certainly hoping that there is an NFL season next year but that is still up in the air. Right now I am gearing up for March Madness! My Dukies are pretty good this year and I'm hoping for back to back national championship wins! GO DUKE!

Thankful

I have always loved Thanksgiving. It's the holiday filled with family, friends and good food without the stress of having to buy gifts and brave the craziness of the mall. Although I have much to be thankful for, we have gone through some things in the last couple of weeks that have made it difficult for me to remember to count my blessings. Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to take some time to reflect on what we are thankful for. Here are just a few things I'm thankful for today.

-A loving, supportive husband who puts my needs before his own.
-My extended family.
-My friends.
-My little fur babies Wally & Skittles who show me love every day- even those days when I don't deserve it.
-A job that I enjoy, and the great people I work with.
-A warm house to live in and enough food to eat.
-My faith.
-My freedom.
-My health.

We are truly blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!

It's That Time Of Year Again!

The time has finally come for us to tag our Christmas tree. We always go on the first day that they are open for the year so that we can get a good tree. Colin was at work when I found out when opening day was this year, so I texted him because I was certain that he would be as excited about this as I was. This is how that conversation went.

Me: Oct. 30th is the day! Mark your calendar! Christmas tree tagging!

Colin: You do realize this is before Halloween right?

Me: Only 1 day.

Colin: You do realize this is like 56 days before Christmas right?

Me: You do realize that you have to go on the first day they are open to get a good tree right?

Colin: Can we at least pick a thin light tree near the exit?

Me: Ummmmmmmmmm..NO! We will find a nice full one in the back like we do every year.

Colin: Are you going to decorate it?

Me: With your help.

Colin: Bah Humbug!

Me: Scrooge!

This year we actually did pick a tree that was thinner than we normally get and near the exit because we didn't ever see a really full one that we liked. I guess it's good to try something new once in awhile.





Let the holiday season begin!

Finally FALL!

My favorite time of the year has arrived! I suffer through the heat and humidity of summer which makes the return of fall that much sweeter for me. I absolutely love fall! The nip in the air, the colors of the leaves on the trees, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, NFL football...I LOVE it all!

It has been a busy fall so far. We are in a volleyball league and a bowling league which keeps us busy during the week. Colin's parents came out and spent a week with us in September. We celebrated Colin's birthday on Oct. 2nd, and Colin and I managed to take a quick getaway trip to Maine for his birthday and our first date anniversary. Here are some photos of the last few weeks.

Colin's mom enjoying some lobster.


Colin and his parents on the tram we took up Cannon Mountain


Celebrating Colin's birthday a few days early while his parents were here


A fun gift from his parents and a book that Colin admits he could have written



At Cape Elizabeth






Sunrise at Wells Beach


Sunset

Kickball

Our kickball season ended last Thursday. I would like to be able to tell you that we finished the season as strongly as we started- or even that we won more games than we lost- but that is not the case. I can say though, that we did have lots of fun!




Kickball may have ended, but we are continuing the fun in a few weeks with volleyball. Good times.

New York City

When Jeff and Amber were here we took a few days and went to New York City. Colin was the only one of us that had ever been, and that was about 10 years ago, so we were all excited for this adventure.

We decided that instead of trying to drive around the city, that we would take the train from Boston and it was an enjoyable, no stress way to travel. We found a great penthouse in Manhattan to rent on the homeaway.com website. We had a view of the Empire State Building from our "crib".

It was unbelievably hot the days we were there. Mid 90's every day with horrible humidity. We have decided that any future vacations we take together will be in the spring or fall! To make good use of our time and get to see the most that we could while we were there, we purchased tickets for a double decker bus tour. We all agreed that this was definitely a good way to see the city.

As it is with any of our vacations, food was always a priority. We ate at some great places. The first night we were there we ate at Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants. Jeff wasn't feeling well so he didn't go with us that night, but the rest of us enjoyed it. Of course we had to eat at the famous Carnegie Deli, and let me tell you- the pastrami is to die for. I had never liked pastrami that well until I had a bite of Colin's sandwich. YUM!

Jeff and I opted for the turkey club. As you can see by the size of this thing, we should have shared one!

We had another great meal at LaMela's. I dropped the ball and didn't get any pictures of the great food, but here is a picture of Jeff and Amber outside the restaurant.

We had a little fun in the M&M's store in Times Square. If you know Jeff, ask him how his $40 M&M's were the next time you see him. :)


Times Square at night.

I loved New York and can't wait to go again!

Jeff & Amber

My brother and sister-in-law came to visit us at the beginning of August. Jeff had been here a few times before, but this was Amber's first time in the Northeast. Since they live in Idaho and we are in New Hampshire, we usually only get to see each other once a year. We had a great week and it was nice to be together as adults enjoying each other's company. More than once during the week they were here, I thought of how lucky we were to be family that love each other and enjoy spending time together.

We did a lot of eating (of course), a lot of travelling, and a lot of sight seeing. Amber has cousins in Maine that only live about an hour from us, so we got to see them and have dinner with them one night.

Jeff & Colin both had lobster. If there is anyone that actually ever reads this blog, they can probably guess what I had at the seafood restaurant! lol


A picture of Jeff & Amber in front of the most photographed lighthouse in Maine- Cape Neddick ("Nubble") lighthouse.

While we were in Maine, we stopped at an antique store and they had a Porky Pig glass like the one that Jeff and I use to try and give each other at dinner when we were kids. Too funny since I had just mentioned it in my previous post.

We took a dinner cruise around Lake Winnipesaukee. Colin got a great picture of Jeff and Amber with the sun setting. The food wasn't great on the cruise-as Jeff kept pointing out to me- but like I kept telling him, we were there for the scenery! :)

Boston took up another day. We walked a little of the freedom trail and had dinner in the north end at a great Italian restaurant that one of our friends had recommended. Colin and I will definitely be going back there. For anyone in the area that might want to check it out, it was called Massimino's. A trip to the north end would not be complete without cannoli's from Mike's Pastry. YUM!

Jeff & Amber at Boston Harbor

The highlight of our time together was the trip we took to New York City. I will give that a post of its own. Jeff & Amber-thanks for coming to visit us! We had lots of fun!