Christmas Break

Josh and I agreed when we got married that we would alternate every year which family we would spend Christmas with & this year was a Utah Christmas with my family. Besides looking forward to having a week off from work, we were both excited to spend time with friends and family! A week before Christmas we celebrated with Josh's family so our Holiday felt extra long!



Since we would spend most of the Holiday in Utah, I bought a tiny 4' tree so we'd still feel like it was Christmas before we left. It was so cute!



Christmas Eve we split the evening between Dad & Mom's houses. Dad had fun treats and gifts for us including paper guitars!

Christmas Morning

Mom's cute Cristmas tree!!!

I was a little sleepy...it was 11am afterall

Sleepy faces =)

I love my "little" brother

My cute Mom

New Victoria's Secret PJ's!

I made Mom about 35 greeting cards for her gift. They turned out cute!

Spoiled for Sure

Black Friday Splurge!

Recently Josh and I have talked about getting a new camera. I had bought Josh a decent digital camera while he was deployed...but after it was dropped while snapping some shots of a nasty camel spider in Iraq, it hasnt quite worked the same. So we decided to splurge this year and buy a nice 18 megapixel SLR. Josh found a great deal at Best Buy for the Canon T2i that came in a nice bundle so he made the sacrifice of waiting in line at 4am to get the sale. I'm sure we will get plenty of use of out it! Can you believe there are 18 mega pixel cameras and higher? Crazy!

It was perfect timing to buy a new camera seeing that we had been planning on making a trip out to the coast to take some photos for our Christmas Card. Our friends Courtney & Jared came out with us along with their puppies Macey & Penny. We had a great Saturday & I managed to eat some Dungeness Crab while we were there! Here are some of our favorites from the trip.


Just South of Cannon Beach



It was soooo windy while we were there!!! We managed to take a few shots inbetween the crazy gusts of wind and were able to get a few good photos.





Jared Courtney Penny & Macey!





I was too cold to take any more photos without my coat!





My photogenic Cutie



Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving was spent at Meme & Pa's with most of Josh's family. I was so excited to bring my Turkey & Indian Corn cupcakes to share!

They were so yummy!

On Black Friday after a day of successful bargain shopping, we decided to have our own traditional Thanksgiving meal with Jared and Courtney (I love having our own leftovers!)

Very thankful for good friends and good food!

We had all my favorites! Turkey, homemade rolls, garlic mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, jello, green bean casserole, Martinelli's, little smokies, & cupcakes!

Happy Turkey day!



My Bestie makes a visit!

Josh and I moved back to Oregon after spending 2 years in Dahlonega GA, and we have been so excited to be back in the West Coast. Oregon has so much to offer, and although I miss Georgia, it is nice to be living closer to family. Now if only our good friends we made in GA would move to this side of the country we'd be set!

With a little over a weeks notice, Brittney and Tyler came to Portland so Tyler could attend a training for a new job. We were so excited and I couldn't wait to show my best friend my old "new" home!

We made so many fun plans for while there were here and I hope they enjoyed their trip as much as we did!

We love having fondue nights & decided to make our own version of the Melting Pot at home. So yummy!

Brittney, Tyler, & I made a trip downtown to the Saturday market. It was so cold but fun to show them a little piece of Portland culture!

We took advantage of a fairly short line at VooDoo Doughnuts while we were downtown and it was well worth the wait! A must see in Portland!

  

 Trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory!

I could go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory every day! We had lunch, ice cream, & hit up the samples more than a few times.

We stopped at a lookout near Cannon Beach to see the view and take some pics. The coast is so gorgeous!

My Mom and younger siblings also came into town for the weekend and were able to come to the coast with us. We have been horrible at taking pics each time they have been in town, so at least we have this one picture with Aubrey and Dan!

Although I had sworn that it NEVER snows in Oregon, we ran into a huge snow storm on the way back from the beach. A usual 1 1/2 hour trip turned into close to 4 hours to get back to Portland! We managed to have fun in the car while being stalled due to multiple accidents.