Knit Knit Knit

I made a little hat over the holidays for Mia. This one is called the neopolitan...with cherries on top! It was a fun project, but there's so much more I want to learn. I've got to steal my friend Trish for a day so I can learn all her secrets - she's been selling her hats by the dozens! I'll post more with our photos from Christmas a little later. For now, it's late and it's time to go 'night night' as Mia would say.

All I want for Christmas...

Is a signed painting from Greg Olsen! If you don't know who he is, you may have seen him at Costco during the holidays (both in SLC and Boise) where he hand signs and personalizes his paintings. Thanks to Trish, I fell in love with his art and decided that it's all I want for Christmas this year. We followed his schedule and as soon as he returned from Boise, we caught up with him locally and had him sign a painting for Mia. Look at the two of them - Mia loved him!
9 days before Christmas! Ready or not...here comes Santa. :)
HO HO HO!

Only 10 days until Christmas!

The holidays have been really fun with Mia this year. She's already got a big stash of presents even though we're trying not to go overboard. The nice thing about buying for toddlers is that even the smallest, most inexpensive thing could provide so many hours of enjoyment! (I'm sure that will change as time goes on) It makes me wonder what next year will be like since she already loves going down the toy aisle. She NEEDS to touch and hold everything, especially the stuffed animals she calls "baby".

We're just about done with our shopping and plan to be home for the holidays. My brother will come stay with us, but other than that, it should be quite peaceful. Three weeks to go on the sabbatical and then it will be time to pry myself from home and get back to work. We're still not talking about it yet.

Hope you're enjoying the holidays as much as we are! Here are some photos...one showing Proof of the Tooth and one of of our Big Smoocher- she loves to make fish lips to give you a kiss. TO DIE FOR!

Sabbaticals are Grrrrreat!

Wow - 2 whole weeks have come and gone and YES, it does go by fast. But we've enjoyed every single minute of it and we're getting quite attached to the little one. What will it be like trying to go back to work? Don't make me think about it.

The tree is up, cards have been sent and now we're just planning for a few Christmas parties. We've really taken some time this year to enjoy the holiday spirit. We've already been downtown to see the lights, but sadly, there's no snow! Travis and I have already mentioned a couple times that it just doesn't feel like Christmas yet.

And in case if I forgot to mention it before, here's a photo we took while out with some of our good friends/neighbors on Travis' Birthday weekend. We even got to sing to him, which he thoroughly enjoyed. It was especially neat that he was serenaded by a Japanese lady who didn't really speak English. My favorite part was her tambourine. ;)

Coldplay

Although I don't have any photos from the concert (I don't want to talk about it), Coldplay was amazing! We've seen them once before in Austin, but when they decided to come to Salt Lake, our good friend Kristen flew up from Austin to stay with us! We haven't seen a concert like that in a long time. They were such a fun band to watch and they had risers that went out to the floor allowing for many closeup views. At one point, they blocked off an entire staircase and played in the stands just 10 rows up from us...it was like our own personal concert! Highly recommended. :)

Later in the weekend, we visited Temple Square. Can't wait to see what the lights look like this year! We are missing Kristen already. :( She's off to Lubbock for the Texas Tech game this weekend.

Home At Last!

We've been waiting for Thanksgiving to come, at least I have. Starting this week, I've had a sabbatical planned that goes through the new year (no work and all play)! It's a great benefit from my company after you have worked for 5 years. It's been nice to finally get things done (around the house, with my mom)..some of the things on my list have been there for years! (I won't bore you with "The List")

We went up the canyon today to take some snapshots - here are a couple to share. The best news in the whole world to report is that Mia finally broke through with her very first tooth! It's a bottom, front tooth and we are celebrating by taking her to the Jazz game. :)

Aloha!

We had a fabulous time in Kauai and most of all, we were very lucky that Grandma Nina could come stay with Mia while we were gone. After much debate (should we take her, should we not??), I think we made the right decision. We didn't have to worry about a thing and I think that's what made the trip so enjoyable.

The island is one to go to if you just want to relax in a beautiful setting with some occasional sight seeing. After several recommendations, we took the helicopter ride and it was to die for (thanks, JJ!). The island is filled with secret beaches and waterfalls on all sides. After the helicopter ride, we were able to rent a car one day and drive to the areas we knew we wanted to go see. Our room was on the waterfront so every night we left the sliding door open so we could hear the waves. Most memorable were the wild roosters everywhere and just how green everything is. Can you imagine living here and seeing this every day? I have to admit, even the pool area at the Beach Club was hard to leave.

From heaven to 12 inches of snow, we arrived home during a blizzard! Now, it's all just a memory!

Above is the view from our room at sunrise (yes, we were up every morning BEFORE the sun came up - the joys of a 4 hour time change). Below are all aerial photos on the helicopter ride.

The photo above is of the waterfalls in the TV Show, "Fantasy Island." We took these photos form the air, below are the falls up close when we drove to them.

Here's a couple photos from our day trip around the island. :)