Thanksgiving 2012

It is now time to catch up on my blog. I have not posted anything for quite some time.  

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Pierre and I drove to Wichita. I have not been home for Thanksgiving since 2003, so I was VERY excited. Pierre was able to use quite a few PTO days for the break, which was nice. We had almost an entire week there.  Chels and Rod were visiting for the holiday as well, so it was a full house.  Everyone was around except for Kayla and Jordan and Jess.  

Some of the fun activities for the week included watching Christmas movies, going to the park to enjoy the nice weather, baking, Elf party at Brandon's house, Black Friday shopping and setting up for Christmas. Of course we ate a TON as well.  It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without family and food. 

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving break for Pierre and I.  It sure was nice to go home to Wichita and to not have to drive far to get there.

Playing in the backyard

At the park

Filling up the 'grateful tree'

Craft time with the kids

Finally, time to eat our feast!

Our Effort to be Educated

Pierre and I have a similar dis-interest.  We don't like art museums. Well, we had an idea to try to get ourselves to enjoy museums and learning about art.  So on a Saturday morning, we drove to the Denver Museum of Art in downtown Denver.  The building was pretty cool and it was a neat area.  We walked up the stairs to each level and explored all 7 levels of art.  Unfortunately, I don't think we stopped to read anything or stopped at any picture. I believe I looked at the people that were actually looking at the art, more than the art itself.  We did walk around the whole museum though and were able to explore Denver a little more!   Maybe next year we will try again.

Projects, Projects, Projects...

I do not have a job.  So...I have been keeping myself busy with projects at home!  It actually has been pretty fun to get things done and try new things. 
I ordered some new sheets online the other week, and we ended up not liking them.  They just weren't working out for us.  So I decided to make some curtains out of them! Our bedroom was needing some curtain action anyway, so it ended up working out.  The pictures are a little dark, but here is the new addition to our bedroom.  If you ever come to visit, just don't look at them closely.  It was definitely my first time making curtains.

 

Zazu

Meet Zazu.  He is our chicken that we bought and then cooked and then ate.  This was the first time Pierre and I have cooked a whole chicken. It was quite the experience. One weekend, I was asking Pierre what meal he thought we should make together that would be fun for us to cook. He said he really wanted to eat a whole chicken.  So, we found a recipe and bought a chicken!   
Little did I know that Pierre was only interested in eating the chicken, and not actually preparing the chicken.  I found this out when I took the chicken out of the fridge and put it in the sink for him to prepare. So I was left with all the dirty work.  I had to clean it out by myself!  There was some definite screaming, and Pierre having to leave the room from being grossed out.  Ha.  What a wimp.
After all was said and done, the finished product ended up looking pretty good. And most importantly, it tasted great.  I think next time, I will make Pierre take a turn at cleaning out the chicken though.

Please ignore my face and hair... blah.

The finished product. So good.

ONE YEAR OF MARRIAGE!!!!

Pierre and I have now been married for one full year!  The past year has been SO fun and my life feels so much more complete with being married to Pierre.  We are so blessed to have found each other. He is perfect for me. 
It sure is fun to have anniversary celebrations. Our official anniversary was on a Monday, so there wasn't much to celebrate on a Monday. Pierre had his normal work day, then we had a romantic picnic, dessert, and a chill night.  It was fun to think back to our wedding day and look at all our pictures; it was the happiest day of our life. 

Our (windy) picnic

The lovely strawberry tart I made for dessert

My 50 roses :)

The following weekend was when we had the actual anniversary celebration. We left for Colorado Springs when he got off work on Friday. We first had a nice steak dinner at Outback, and then spent the weekend exploring Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, and the Garden of the Gods.   Colorado Springs is a neat city with a lot to do, and it was a pretty time to visit with the fall colors everywhere.  We loved it!  It was a perfect weekend to celebrate our year of marriage!
 

Our fabulous hotel

I think the hotel was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Hot tub fun

We had breakfast at a French restaurant.  Pierre was excited about his croissants!

Walking the streets in Manitou Springs- a cute town at the foot of Pikes Peak with shops & restaurants

We found a random, cool chair there.

On the way up to Pike's Peak, we found the North Pole!

He was excited about finding Santa's workshop

Also, on our drive up to Pike's Peak, we stopped by this lake.  It was pretty, even on a cloudy day.

We could only go 13 of the 19 miles up to Pike's peak, because it was snowing! We were sad we couldn't drive up to the very top, but Pierre was happy about the snow.

We stopped at a lodge to get some hot cocoa...yum.

See all that snow? Crazy.

We could see Kansas from the lookout point!

 

We stopped by Garden of the Gods to see the cool red rock formations.

  

 

 

Finally, a Birthday at Home!

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago, #27.  Since Pierre felt bad I didn't have any family around to celebrate with this year, and we are only 7 hours away from my parent's, we went to Wichita for the weekend! Isn't my husband great? I haven't had a birthday at home since 2003.   
He took the Friday off of work so we could have a 3 day weekend in Wichita.  It was so nice to only have to drive 7 hours, instead of 15, to get home.  
We had fun being with Brandon's family, going to the highschool football game to see Sarah perform in the marching band, and of course, having a family birthday party. 
  
Here are some pics of the weekend:

My sweet birthday gifts from Pierre. 

Picking up Weston from school.  Love that kid!

Sitting at the football game with my fabulous parents.

The hubster.  It was a chilly night at the game.

My chocolate ganache cake! It was beautiful and heavenly.

My momma, the baker.

My sweet birthday chair for the weekend.

Cake time!

Pierre with my cat....

Family walk

 

Enjoying the walk