Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Washington DC + Kenyons





Richard's sister suggested the international spy museum so we spent the morning there and then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.


DC has many museums...We really only went through two of the Smithsonian's.



We did a fast walk through all the monuments at the Capitol mall.




The Capitol building...







The Washington Monument-it was so beautiful at night!



We had such a great time in DC. What a fun city. Plus it was so great to see our old friends the Kenyons. They have the cutest family. We met them at BYU-yes Chris attended a married BYU ward. Now they have two beautiful little girls.
I even saw Twilight in the theater! I have to admit I have not read the books so now I might have to start.

Thank you so much Kenyon's we had a great time and would love to see you again soon...

Christmas


Merry Christmas!


We had a great relaxing Christmas. Slept in late, opened a few presents, ate berry pie for breakfast and then off to DC.

Monday, December 22, 2008

a little snow storm..

Chris and I had a 1/2 snow day on Friday! Work sent us both home because the weather was too crazy. We are still trying to recover. Today the wind is blowing everything around and Chris has shoveled the drive way over and over again.







Today I played Santa and took all the donations to my families at work. It was so fun and now it really feels like Christmas. The kids and parents get so excited, and are so grateful for the toys and the few gift cards that we get. With all this driving and the weather being bad I had some trouble. First the little side streets have not been plowed so my little Saturn was slipping and sliding all over. On one street in particular though I got stuck twice and had to rock back and forth by myself because no one was out in that weather. And then when I got out of the car my hands full of toys and gifts I did the ice skating thing and my feet started running on the ice under the layer of slush! I thought I was OK until the next thing I knew I was looking up at the blue sky with my toys and keys and phone strewn across the street! It hurt so bad! I dropped off the gifts and on my way to the car, I again began to slip and slide but managed this time to catch myself on the mirror of the car. The snow plow then showed up and passed me, laughing and finally cleaning the street. So nice...
I called Chris to tell him my sad story and he could not stop laughing.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

it is beginning to feel a lot like X-mas





It is not Christmas without plates of goodies...We had so much fun planning what recipes we wanted to make and then baking together. Chris is a great cook. We ended up with pecan logs, fudge and molasses cookies, plus candy canes. The kitchen was a mess but we made 8 plates and took a few around for FHE.
Our plans for Christmas include Christmas Eve with the Elders, a quiet X-mas day and then off to DC to visit with the Kenyons and hopefully Workmans again. We could not be more excited. Fun stuff!!


We just have to make it through the next week....ah!

Monday, December 8, 2008

fall family photos..











We just got these in the mail the other day and we were not thrilled with the outcome. But it was fun. First the last one is supposed to be in color-the fall colors are so pretty plus Chris is bald-yes but in black and white his head looks a little crazy white! Sorry chriser....
Next there are spots in the larger photos that we had printed that are blurry. The quality of print was just bad. We could have done the same on own printer at home with the same kodak paper. I do not think we would have minded too much if we hadn't paid hundreds of dollars total! Yes over two hundred dollars. Next year we will go with a different photographer. Sorry to complain.
Despite all the mistakes and realizing just how much weight we both have gained, etc, etc. we did have a lot of fun. Plus we realize looking back how much we have grown and done together and learned in five years of marriage. Or almost five years. Crazy how time flies...

Friday, December 5, 2008

Para bens para voce....

What?


How did that happen so fast...



I had a busy but great day and cannot believe that I am 28. I should enjoy it now while I am still in my twenties but this is weird, closer to 30 than not. After a long day of work and doctors appointments we grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the Park Ave Fest. It is a trendy strip downtown with great restaurants and local shops. So fun! Santa was there, ice sculptures and slay rides.

Here I am sporting our New York cash city lottery tickets that Chris got me. We won-not the jackpot but $25. It was really fun and I have never scratched lottery tickets before. We got so excited every time a big amount came up.

Thanks everyone for the calls, cards and presents. It was such a great day!!


To finish off the birthday celebrations we went out to dinner Saturday night-Belhurst. It was a fabulous meal down on lake seneca in an old castle. It was really beautiful and the food was some of the best we have had in town. Highly recommended! thanks honey...

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Jared + Krystal...



We had the best trip on Saturday! Krystal and Jared called to say they were traveling to Niagara Falls; we are only an hour away. So we drove up for the day. It was sooo fun to see them and get away for a day.

We drove up to Niagara on the Lake which is the this quaint little Canadian town outside of the craziness of the falls. We shopped, ate lunch, laughed, bowled and chatted about life and the past! It was really so fun! I wish they lived closer to us but DC is not that far away. We will need to make a trip down this spring. It made my week.



So in honor of Krystal and reminiscing about the BYU days here are a few highlights from the past.....


We had some really great times skiing up in the canyons, BYU football games, early morning kick boxing classes and tanning! Trips to Lander, pinching co-ed's bottoms (that is right-guys rear ends) We were always laughing. I love it!
Don't we look the same....(well krystal does anyway)




I met Krystal our freshman year while living at DT. She is the most dependable, loyal friend I have ever had. She has been there for me through many things in my life and is always positive, always happy and always uplifting and serving others. She is a great friend and a great example! I am a better person because of her. It was wonderful to see her and her cute hubbie Jared.
Thanks for a fabulous day!

a little too early...

No! Never. It is never too early to start decorating. I am so excited Christmas is weeks away. I think because we get to decorate our own house and it will be our first x-mas in it. We have no time off to travel since we played too much this summer. Plus traveling home for the holidays is so hard in the winter. We are already making plans for a summer trip.

We had such a great time on Friday cutting our own tree. There is this really cute little Christmas tree farm in Webster called Wilbert's, and it is family owned and operated. It looks like the middle of the night in these pictures but it was 6:30pm.


So this is it... our perfect tree.




After setting up the tree we could not resist unpacking all the decorations and hours later with x-mas music playing we were still not done. But loving it! We will have to post a done picture when we get everything out and up!

thanksgiving with the branch



Happy Thanksgiving!

We had such a relaxing, laid back dinner and day. It was nice again to spend this holiday with the members of our branch. We ate at the Palmyra Inn. They have a projector and screen, a hot tub, and it feels like a home with comfy couches and x-mas trees. It was really a great thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for.

Molinari family

way too many desserts



chris is the turkey king. he makes a great turkey-it soaks in a brine overnight. yum! this year we ran into some trouble with a turkey that did not want to cook. 6 hours later it was still pink. Ah! but is tasted great. thanks honey..



there were 16 of us including the missionaries. as far away as family is we feel surrounded by great people who have become friends and make us feel less homesick.
This is an old picture that someone sent to us from the branch. But what a fun picture to remember all the good times at the GVB.
Jared Bushman, Gary Molinari and Chris.
Good times..

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

service auction

This was a great idea for a Thanksgiving activity. The activities committee at the branch organized a service auction where members brought food items for Thanksgiving. In exchange they got fake money to bid on services donated by members. Such great services like dinners, car washes, babysitting, music lessons, original paintings, fun dates, anything and everything. It was so funny what people offered! And so funny who bid on what. Chris was the auctioneer. It was of my favorite activities. We ended up with 16 turkeys and bags and bags of Thanksgiving food. The food will be delivered to families in the stake. Plus members of the branch will continue to get to know one another by serving....



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

borders...



Ok so my points are off and there are many more mistakes. Hopefully, the picture does not show all the mistakes. Good thing you cannot see it close. I am loving the crazy colors and patterns though. And I think it is coming together. So I will love what I have created!

I reread Elder Uchtdorf's RS talk about "Happiness, your heritage." What a great reminder- I love these quotes!

"Our birthright-and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth is to seek and experience eternal happiness."

"Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before. What you create doesn't have to be perfect. Don't let fear of failure discourage you."

I am hardest on myself and am working on enjoying the things that I do create and love it! I think that is one of the best parts of being a woman.

no more fall..

hello snow..
our fall leaves and cool weather disappeared overnight! It is winter. We prolonged it as long as possible. I am loving our attached garage. I just jumped in the car and off I went to work. Poor Chris woke up early to get to work and ended up shoveling the walk, the driveway and scraping his car. What a sweetheart!
It is really pretty that first snow before it all turns black. It might be time to try the fireplace.




On Saturday Chris & I had a few minutes between activities and work so we laid down for a few minutes thinking we would take a nap. We ended up talking and then watching the birds. We have a big window overlooking the trees. We saw a blue jay, a cardinal and many robins. It was really fun to watch them! What a simple thing to enjoy if only for a few minutes!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Creative Thursday...


Marissa introduced me to Esty about three years ago and I feel in love with her work. Last year we got Christmas cards done by her. And she has a blog now, fabric and many new paintings.

Curling...

A few weeks ago we took the youth Curling. Even though I had no idea what it was before going it was a really fun activity. I am not very good on the ice so I did not have much luck but it was so fun to watch! We had 52 youth attend! Very fun.




Isn't this the funniest sport ever...

We had a great time though!

YW in Excellence

This has been a really busy week. We were still playing catch up from being sick last week. Work was really crazy and then we had the last minute details of YW in Excellence.

Friday night I found myself doing this...




Making 100 high heel shaped sugar cookies. Yes 100! It took me four and half hours. Ah! They turned out really cute though and totally worth it.


Our program was called The worth of SOLES is great in the sight of God." And we focused on the individual qualities of each YW. That also took every spare moment we made a slide show of all the YW sporting their favorite shoes. It was really funny what pictures came up and what they wrote about each of them. So cute as well.



like these are one of the YM's legs and shoes but sam turned it in as hers with a write up about what makes her unique. Others took pictures of track shoes, dance shoes, bare feet. They were all really different but really fun.
We found these cute little charms online and gave them out with a tag to remember the worth of your soul. They were really cute!
I was really disappointed I forgot my camera in all the chaos that morning because the decorations and the setup just turned out so cute! Thanks everyone for all your hard work!