Attempted snowshoeing...and other holiday 2012 adventures

What? You don't want to look at the black eye any longer? 

We had an absolute blast this Christmas, celebrating our first as an engaged couple and last as "single" people. And, I feel like we crammed as much ho-ho-ho-ing into two weeks as possible. Next year, we might try to tone it down a bit and spend more time relaxing than going. Try being the operative word here. 

Highlights, in no particular order: 

• Experiencing the gift-a-palooza at the Bethells' house and also at Nanny and Bobby's house on Christmas day and night. 
• Egg nog lattes and mani/pedis with Stefanie.
• Festivus at the Kurians' with a grand group of friends. 
• Witnessing Taylor trying on every item of clothing from his parents as soon as he opened it...and setting up every other gift as soon as we got home. 
• Blazer game with brother-in-law Jordan. 
• Dinner dates at Team Schadys'.
• Our little exciting Christmas morning at the condo...a two year tradition now. 
• Winning the scavenger hunt at the "Warrior Workout Girls" Christmas party with Schady and Stina. 
• The Aforementioned Warrior Workout Girls Christmas party in general. Seeing all those ladies dressed up instead of in training pants certainly was a treat. Rarrr. Foxy cougars on the loose! 
• Meeting our new dog-nephew, Barney. 
• Traveling to the Gorge to see my Pullman grandparents and have the best buffet dinner ever. 
• Christmas Eve service and accompanying prime rib and Yorkshire pudding fest at my parents'.
• Hazel. Need I say more?
• Holiday tae bo classes with the teacher in a Santa suit and Santa thong. Hilarious. 
• Snowshoeing Hiking in Mt. Hood Forest with our buddies Rob and Erin. We didn't hit snow like planned...we tried to hit a spot where there wouldn't be so much traffic, and of course we left too late in the day. Hitting up the Carver Hangar and seeing the most Griswald-esque festival of lights on the way home made up for my Christmas wish of 'shoeing not granted.
• New Year's Eve with the Folskes and Team Perk. After contemplating a trip up to see Em and Greg, we ended up staying home and having a low-key evening. I think we fell asleep watching a movie around 10:45. Sad.
• Catching up on sleep. 
• Cooking and eating. Eating and cooking.

The quest for a new camera is on. Until then, phone photos will have to do. 

Roll that beautiful holiday footage... 

Bonneville Hotsprings with the Pullman fam...photo'd here with The Lady. 

Christmas Eve service. Only my sister Stefanie would have her phone out to capture all the moments. Here's that little Hazel Diane, checking out the manger with Big Poppi.

HD was such a hit the whole time. She went to everyone, didn't cry, and made those around her smile. 

Dinnertime with the Klars. 

Cracking up with Hazey, Sara, and her new baby, Barney. 

H likes to wave at all doggies and kitties and gives them kisses. Barney got lots. 

I spy a dog on Uncle Taylor's lap. Hazel really got into the clam dip and kept going back for more. My kind of girl. 

Aunt Kay made scarves for all the ladies, and H wanted one, too. 

Booty booty booty...rockin' everywhere. 

Christmas morning, reading with Uncle Taylor. 

My mom and dad, opening their fire pit...with the help of a lovely assistant. 

Reading with Auntie Kate. 

Checking out a new toy with Daddy.

These pajamas were Stefanie's when she was a babe. Note the extra pair of socks over the footies. I don't think companies thought about traction back then. 

Hazel loves the grocery store just like all Benz women. Here she is with her new cart and fake food.

So...this is the only photo from the Albany Christmas Extravaganza?! What? Well, Taylor's dad is distilling his own spirits these days, so Tay and I got him his own bottles and labels. They turned out well. 

Auntie and Uncle Joe.

Bust-a-bucket. Oh. This is a photo of the ushers doing a half-time dance. It was too cute. We sat in the rafters, hence the far-away shot here. 

Thanks to all our friends for sending Christmas cards. I was so sad to take down the wall. 

101 ways to use Aunt Kay's rolls: PB&J for Taylor's post-Christmas fishing.

Here's a shot of Rob in his awesome homemade boat. Is it OK to say the boat is homemade? I think it's amazing. He and Taylor spend most weekends on some body of water fly-fishing. 

Our attempted snowshoeing outing up past Estacada, OR.

Neat little bridge.

Hey! Guess what? Less the four months until we say, "I do!" Whoop! 

Rob and Erin. The best!

Tay and the waterfall.

It's a Christmas miracle! This bad boy lights up the entire town of Carver. It's right across the street from the Hangar...where you can find the best burger in the surrounding area. 

We're definitely coming back here again next year! Best line of the trip, "Huh. You guys are all wearing the same jacket!"

I hope you had as much fun as I did this Christmas season. The best part was--and always is--celebrating Jesus's birthday with family and friends. Christmas would be nothing with out Him! I love how generous and enjoyable people are during the month of December in general. I just wish more people were able to carry it on throughout the year a pinch.

Here's to 2013, which is going to be one heck of a year. A slew of our friends are having babies (so exciting!), we have a few special weddings to attend--including my cousin Mark and his fiancee Kristine's, and Taylor and I will be husband and wife. Isn't that just nuts?!

All I want for Christmas is...a black eye

Look beyond the bushy eyebrows and acne, people. Personal hygiene flies out the window when your eye is the size of a tennis ball.

The culprit? Skiing accident. 'Bow to the face during a gnarly noontime pick-up game. Tae bo class gone wild.

...

Laundry.

Laundry, people. I was rushing around and swung the dryer door open a little too close to my face (the washer and dryer are stacked at our house) Monday morning. It hit me and my eye immediately puffed up like you see in cartoons. Except in real life. I've seen that happen only once before in college hoops. Unreal. The best part? I had a doctor's appointment the next day for severe dryness on my left eyelid. The same lid. "Sorry, doctor. Can you please look through the bruise?" I should also mention I sound like a man with my seasonal cough and cold and could be having an allergic reaction to something I ate...or maybe it's bed bugs? Why not, huh? I asked the nurse to write, "General Basket-case" under Reason for Visit.

And, if my clumsy injuries weren't enough...poor Taylor did a doozy on his ankle about two weeks ago.

We're quite the pair. Move over silver and gold. This year's hot holiday colors are black and blue.  

Oh the weather outside is...weather

For some reason, Taylor's buddy Cheddar kept singing this all weekend long. It made me chuckle every time he sang it. "Oh the weather outside is...weather." 

We spent the weekend up at Swift Lake for our friend Mike's annual birthday getaway. This is my second year of attending, but Taylor's been celebrating Mike's birthday at some sort of cabin for several years. The stories are epic. And sometimes embarrassing. OK. MOST of the time embarrassing.  

This year, the mood was a bit tamer as Mike was a smidge under the weather, and the crew included two pregnant ladies, Mike's wife Kathleen, and my nearest and dearest Allison. The rest of us (Taylor, me, Kat's bro Bobby, their bro-in-law Shon, Al's hubby Andy, and the aforementioned Cheddar) tried to hold down the fort while indulging in holiday bevvies and plenty of merriment. 

We took Ranger rides (please don't call it a Rhino!) around the property and down to the lake for happy hour, ventured out for a little excursion to find snow (only to return to the cabin and find plenty of snow falling there, too), stayed warm by the bonfire, barbecued brats, sang happy birthday to the guest of honor, and lounged around catching up with a fun group of friends.  

It'll be interesting to see if the birthday weekend continues its traditional run now that the Greenbergs will have a baby boy in the mix. They swear we will be back next year, and we're certainly crossing our fingers for more wintry memories in December 2013. 

Man and dog.

Look closely and note Bear's special shoes for the trails. He's the most spoiled dog ever, but we love him. 

The view from the deck of the cabin pre-snow.

On a hunt to find some waterfalls. 

Found!

Oh you should have seen Taylor. Jonse-ing for his fly rod.

Next, we drove to higher elevation to find some snow.
Take One on the couples photo.

Take Two.

We had some trouble with the sideways snow flying in our eyes.

View from the deck post-snow.

Saying our goodbyes. Wish I had a better shot of the whole gang.

We stopped on the side of the rod en route home to watch a herd of elk. They were bugling. It was pretty unreal.

Holiday hurrah catch-up

Well, I haven't written a word since before Thanksgiving. I'd say I'm a bit behind on the recaps. 

Highlights form the last month include (but are not limited to) the following: 

• "Thanksgiving for Two" cooking class at In Good Taste with Mariel.
• Receiving word my friend Matea and her hubby had a baby BOY! The suspense of not knowing whether the baby was a he or she made it so much fun. He and mama are happy and healthy, and my (VC) high school friends and I couldn't be more excited to be first-time aunties to baby Sebastian. I wonder who will be next?!
• Starting a minor inferno in the kitchen while attempting to make whiskey-glazed carrots for Turkey Day.
• The Turkey Trot in Albany with Taylor and his sister, Whitney. Gobble gobble! 
• Thanksgiving dinner at Taylor's grandparents' house. Everybody had to bring something "new" to the table this year. I must say, despite the fact that Taylor was upset broccoli corn casserole didn't make an appearance, everyone got super creative. Mmm. I'm licking my lips just thinking about it! 
• Decorating not one...not two...but three trees in the condo.
• Interviewing for two jobs, receiving two more interview requests, accepting one job, and turning down the other. I'm going to need to write a separate post for this one. It's been a whirlwind on the employment front. I couldn't be happier or more thankful to have a job, but it's been quite a journey. I've been working for just a pinch more than a month now. It is nice to have that extra income, especially at Christmastime.  
• Sending out our combo Christmas/save the date card! Things are getting official here, people! 
• Prepping for our first holiday as an engaged couple. It's the little things, I tell ya. 

And here are some photos to do the rest of the talking...

The infamous whiskey-glazed carrots. Taylor's dad has been distilling his own whiskey, so I thought it would be creative to use that in the recipe. Let's just say it's pretty potent! Lesson learned!

My mom made these...almost too cute to eat.

Forgot to mention we headed to Taylor's alma mater, Linfield College, for a D3 football playoff game. Here we are on the campus tour. Do you like the finger on the lens? Oh yes. Now I'm using my camera phone, and I still can't figure out how to take a solid picture.  

How adorable is this? Leslee and her mom made this special wreath for us. I don't want Christmas to come and go, because it is so fun seeing it every time we walk up the stairs to come home. 

It's not quite Griswald status, but I've certainly enjoyed decorating the condo. Since we compromised with white lights on the tree, I had to put up my favorite old-fashioned big lights outside. 

This tree has a sweet backstory, as we hauled it home from Albany after last Thanksgiving. It's a fake tree, one of Taylor's grandmother's. We probably won't get a real tree until we have a house, but it is special and perfect for our space. Taylor has a wonderful collection of Christmas ornaments his grandma started him on as a baby. I LOVED unpacking them and hearing about each one.