A December to Remember...

Could I possibly be the worst blogger ever? Possibly. I'm not going to lie. My new year's resolution is not to be a better blogger. But I will catch up on December. This is a long one.

We had a lot of fun this Christmas season.

SEASONAL COOKING

Gabe and I cooked our own Turkey! There's a first for everything right? The task was extremely daunting to me... but we did it and it was delicious!

TEMPLE LIGHTS

We went and saw the Mesa Temple lights with Meg and Dev. It was so fun and so so warm. (compared to frozen bum cheeks in SLC). The lights were beautiful and started the season out right.

My running buddy meg.

Notice the lovely blurry smudge on all the pictures. I thought my camera was lame-o. But really... It was grease from the turkey we made. I took a rag to the lens and wala... brand new!

It would have been such a cute picture...

We used Meg and Dev's nice camera for this gem...

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY #2!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Gabe and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on 12/12/10. I can't believe it has already been 2 years! We decided to get out of town and hit up Vegas for the occasion. It was a blast.

We ate at a super fancy shmancy restaurant in the Venetian. Of course. We ordered burgers. They were awesome.

Notice my large side of Ranch to complete the burger...

After lunch we walked around the Venetian and met the Italian statues and such...

Its on my bucket list to someday ride in a gondola in Venice Italy. I didn't want to waste the experience in Vegas, so we watched on the bridge as the others floated the fake river.

The anniversary year #2 gift is cotton. Gabe got me the super cute gray jacket I'd been eyeing. Loved it.

I got Gabe this motorcycle... Just kidding. I did get him a smaller model motorcycle for his office and a cotton polo... But I thought this motorcycle was awesome and pretty ironic that they modeled it after me ;)

I made Gabe go the m&m factory with me. I'd never done the m&m thing in Vegas before. Realized I should have done it when I was eight... but it was fun anyway.

We did go to the Coca Cola Factory. Loved that...Loved it...

We hit my favorite hotel of course, The Bellagio. The Christmas decorations were amazing.

And my absolute favorite part of Vegas... The Fountains.

Can you believe this H&M?!!! It was magnificent. 3 floors of pure clothing goodness. It was a little overwhelming.

Gabe and I stayed in the beautiful Marriott Grand Chateau. Not going to lie, I kind of felt like a big deal...

How could you not?

I loved spending the weekend with my sweetheart to celebrate two years. Two whole years. They've been amazing. Can't wait for a million more.

Love you babe.

THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS

So my amazing friend Kate was the producer of The Forgotten Carols. She is such a Rock star and traveled with the show all over the west coast. They finally landed in Arizona for their last night. Gabe couldn't go with me, he was studying for a test, so I took my self. Kate got me an awesome seat, front and center for all the caroling action. I got to meet the star, Michael Mclean before the show started and he signed my book. That's him in the pic. He look like such great friends. I sound like a mormon groupie right? The show was really amazing and it was so fun to hang out with Kate for the day. Thank you darlin'! Plus I'm pretty sure I made their merchandise goal on my purchases alone.

HOLIDAY DECOR

I loved decorating my house this year. It was definitely a lot more fun than decorating that apartment in California. I actually had a place to put all my crap! And... you can kind of see my cute little house. We rearranged the furniture a bit for our Christmas eve party, but you get the idea.

I love our tree we got this year. It was a black Friday Christmas miracle. It was the last one on the shelf. I'm pretty sure it was meant to shine in our living room.

My favorite nativity I got from Ecuador.

The reason for the season...

My cute kitchen which I love...

And my favorite... the red stars that hang above the island, with little tea lights glowing inside.

CHRISTMAS EVE PAJAMA PARTY

We stayed home in Arizona for Christmas this year. We still wanted to party on Christmas, so we invited friends from school and the ward to our house for a Christmas eve party. I suggested we all wore P.J.'s. Gabe thought it was a little cheesey, but humored me anyway, and it turned out to be really fun.

A picture with the yummy spread...

We played fun games, exchanged white elephant gifts, read the Christmas story from Luke, and...

Lit fireworks... you heard it. Fireworks are officially legal in Arizona.

CHRISTMAS DAY

After a morning of opening gifts, spending the afternoon in the movie theater, and calling all our friends and families, we made our way to Tony and Lindsey's for Christmas dinner.

Lindsey made the most beautiful yule log and let me help her decorate it. It was delish... and gorgeous.

Gabe beat me a checkers so I took a picture. In my defense, it was my first time. I am terrible at checkers!

Tex and Tessy were two spoiled Christmas puppies.

RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

Gabe and I were asked to ring in 2011 as chapperones at the young men/young women's regional dance. We actually had a great time, dancing the night away, looking a little goofy. I felt so lucky with the cutest date there. The clock struck 12, the baloons dropped, I got a new years kiss, and we headed home to toast to a new year.

Hope your Holidays were happy.

Happy 2011.

Its going to be a good year... I can feel it.