Christmas Eve 2008

Dan was like a kid this year. He just couldn't wait to open his gift on Christmas Day, even though he already knew what it was. haha

Meet his new espresso machine!

Can you tell he's happy?! Thumbs up and all. :)

It's so cute.

My in-laws bought me a new camera! I love it.

Dan bought me the Sookie Stackhouse Series (the books True Blood is based on) and a cute wallet. My parents bought Dan some books he wanted, some espresso cups and they bought me a pair of Juicy Couture pants. They also bought us a new roasting pan, a Martha Stewart green pan and a giftcard to the movies! They spoil us!!!

We bought my parents a popcorn machine. They love popcorn!

My dad was so excited he opened it right away.

And of course he had to have a taste! :)

Thanks Everybody!!! Love you!

Baking Cookies

This may sound very strange to some of you, but before this year I had never made Christmas cookies. My mom and I never baked cookies together when I was a child so this year we made up for those past years. :)

I made two different cookie doughs earlier that day. I rolled them out and my mom helped in decorating them and she did all of the gingerbread outlining.

You will see that we made all sorts of crazy-looking gingerbread people. :)

This was the first one I made.
It's pretty cute.

And they were pretty yummy gingerbread...I've got to admit.

And the sugar cookies that were my favorite.

And my mom adding sugar to the cookies prior to baking.

The finished cookies. Mmmm Mmmm.

Thank you Mama! Together we make memories.

New Ornament!!!

On Christmas Eve I received "Our 1st year as Mr. & Mrs." ornament.
Do you recognize it? That's right it's a smaller version of our cake topper.
I love the way it turned out! Laura did a fabulous job. :)

Our Christmas Tree

I just love our Christmas tree! It's a tall (9.5 feet) and skinny one. :)
I love having it up, it makes our house feel so warm. Something about having a lit tree in our house is so nice.

I'm going to show off just a few of our special ornaments.
I love ornaments!

I think I'll have a few more before the year is up. I'll post those later. :)

Our tree lit during the day.

Our tree lit at night.

A couple of my first ornaments from my childhood.

I still love my Pooh Bear!

Our first house ornament.

In 2006, we spent Christmas in NYC.

For the grill master in the family. :)

Our engagement ornament.

A gift from my mother-in-law.
We are NO angels. :D

Perfect for the chef of the house. :)

Spam Sushi (Musubi) from L&L Hawaiian BBQ.
What can I say? We're foodies. :)

A gift from our friends Kirsten & Barry (Kiki & Baz).

A gift from my sister-in-law.
I love my Juicy ornaments!

And my new favorite ornaments!
Take 1

Take 2
We had to redo them because Baby Dan's was cracking, I think it was too thin.
We decided to make the second set round.
We're keeping both! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy Birthday to Weena!

Today is Weena's 14th Birthday!
She is the mother of my "kids".

She lost her right eye about 5 years ago when she ran into a bougainvillea bush. :(

This has not stopped her from being the same spunky, happy, photogenic, dancing girl that we know and love! What a pretty girl. She just loves having her picture taken. :)

A Snow Day in Houston

Last night, Houston had its first and most likely only snow day of the year.

See the pretty flurries?

The first look at our grill
And then later that night it looked like this.
We didn't think the snow would actually stick, so we didn't bother to cover the plants.

It's okay though because most are winter veg. Oh so cold! I should have been wearing gloves.

Dan and I had a good time making snowballs!
(The last 3 pics were taken with iPhone)

It was fun while it lasted, but I hope it doesn't get that cold again. :) I hate the cold weather!

Garden Update

Here's an update on Chihuahua Berry Farms:

Bell Peppers
Some peppers didn't make it. :(

Ball Carrots
To be such small carrots they carry a lot of carrot flavor.
I'm not a fan. But they are so cute!

Mint
Yum!

Our 1 Lemon
It didn't get a chance to make it to yellow. Dan went to check on it and it fell.

It was still delicious! I hope we get more next year.

Strawberries!

We are officially Chihuahua Berry Farms. :)

So pretty! I can't wait to have a taste.

Box 2: Check out the Fennel!
And look at the huge squash leaves.
Unfortunately, we have yet to get a pumpkin, despite having the blossoms.

Acorn Squash
Yay! We have squash. :)

We lost one. :(
I really hope the one we have left will make it.