Extreme makeover kitchen edition...

So for Christmas Lisa got me a gift card for Lowe's which I gladly redeemed for paint and supplies to re-do my kitchen...

With Albert's help I ripped out the cabinet over the sink and painted the entire kitchen...

Before:

After:

As a Christmas present Albert, Shelly, and Lisa had my downstairs bathroom made over so the new colors went perfect... I was happy with the job... makes the kitchen way more open to the rest of the downstairs...

Good Christmas

So Christmas was good - we made it back home in time to get cleaned up and head to Lisa's new man's parents house - they had some mediocre food and festivities - then we left just in time to make it to midnight service at church - I love the tradition of singing "silent night" while holding candles in the courtyard... It makes Christmas special...

Christmas morning we all went to Lisa's house (she is flagging that holiday) (as if she could really compete with my thanksgiving - PLEASE....) anyway - the second I walked in the door I got thrown into the kitchen to make breakfast... (I was thinking... hmmm nice - she shines as the one who put on a great Christmas when it was all my cooking) but I was nice and not bitter...

We had a lovely breakfast, opened presents (dad bought me a new dishwasher HALLELUJAH!)

After the festivities dad and I went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks... what an awesome movie... Gosh I remember them from when I was a kid... so cool... such a blast from the past...

So ended the Christmas extravaganza... I'm glad its over and I still have a weeks worth of vacation left...

Sin City Christmas!?! Almost!

OK so not the most Christ-centered place to spend Christmas - thank God we decided to leave on Christmas eve and not stay-

The trip was awesome though - Dad got us all tickets to see Purdue play basketball and the games were a blast - good family time. We invited my Dad's manager from the store Carmen and her husband Doug along for the trip too - everyone enjoyed.

This time we stayed at the Rio - I had never been there before just seen it from the freeway but I have to say it was one of the nicest hotels in Vegas I have stayed in. We were in the old tower which had been totally renovated and the rooms were beyond posh. To boot the buffet downstairs was awesome! Crab, shrimp, salad, Asian food, taco bar, breads, pasta, desserts, ham, prime rib, all you can drink champagne! I was in hog heaven.

The second night after the game I met up with Mimi (she was in town) and her sister and some debbie downer girl. We hit the strip for some gambling, drinking, and tried to dance at this club at Ceaser's but this large group of Asian line dancers dominated the floor - (hmmm - yes that's what I said; a large group of Asian line dancers) It was an fun night! I don't get out to party much anymore at my ripe old age so it was nice to feel young and cool; even if it was only for one night.

We packed up early on Christmas eve and hit the road - (THANK GOD) the thought of actually spending Christmas in Vegas didn't really appeal to me - but I didn't want to be the party pooper...

Christmas way too fast!

To echo my friend Jenn - Christmas is coming way too fast... I should have thought ahead like Nicole... Last night I went rummaging through the ravaged shelves at Kohl's, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond - thankfully the lines were not too bad.

I try to remember that Christmas is about remembering the joy that Christ gives us through his birth, but all I can think about is making presents, buying presents, cleaning the house for parties, buying food... Ugg I'm borderline overwhelmed - and to boot we are spending Christmas in Las Vegas watching Basketball - GO PURDUE!

I did homemade gifts again this year for many friends, hopefully they come out ok...

MAMMOTH!

What a super vacation! Lisa and I hit the road on Thursday night - it was a little rainy down south and lightly snowing once we got up into higher altitude... Lisa drove very safe and slow and we didn't need to put the chains on the truck - we pulled into the hotel parking lot and praised the Lord with all our might - we have both spun around or slid off the road enough times to be terrified to drive on ice.

The room was pretty nice (nothing fancy) - two beds and a coffee machine (I love Savage Garden) - and right outside were 2 lifts and the gondola! It was just starting to snow heavily when we went to bed...

We woke up in the morning to TWO FEET of freshy powder! Oh it was amazing - and cold - about 20 degrees.

Visibility was pretty poor the whole first day but we still got a ton of skiing in (and lots of hot chocolate breaks)

The second day we woke up to another five inches of snow fall overnight but this time bird blue skies and groomed packed powdery snow - we skied ALL DAY LONG - Lisa even got me up on the Cornice Bowl - a black diamond slope at the tippy top of the mountain... scary but super fun!

We went to town for a nice dinner that night and had some yummy fish and chips at a pub down in the village...

The next morning we packed up and hit the slopes for one last day - it was a little cloudy but we still had a blast - we decided to go off roading for a few hours so we veered off the slopes and just kicked up the powder between the trees - it was fun...

The drive home was amazing - awesome views! We got back at a decent hour - in time to get up and go back to work on Monday - boo...

Definitely chalk it up to an awesome trip! Lisa and I got along and had a blast... I love my little sister - hmmm well sometimes...