January in a Jiffy

I can't believe January is GONE. Where did it go?!? I think it went by faster than December! January we were all back to the grind, work that is! Not very exciting, but it's nice to get back to a set schedule.

This is how my new years started--pretty flowers from my man! (he did the flower arranging too!) I'm so lucky!

Cookie making:

Our first time to Trader Joe's was back in January...we LOVE it!! They actually have some pretty good prices on a lot of their stuff!

We headed back to Trader Joe's just days after we had our first trip. We found something we REALLY loved, so we went back to stock up on it! : )

This was a new Chinese takeout place we were going to try out. It had a drive through, so we pulled up to find this. We thought it was hilarious and total picture worthy. Needless to say we did not call to order, but it was definitely worth the laugh!

January 13th was my Father-in-laws birthday. I made him some chocolate dipped pretzels:

Spencer wrapped his present for his dad. Pretty impressive!!

The next weekend we had a three day weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We started the weekend off at Pradaria for dinner. SOOOO good!! All you can eat meat, and a salad bar with stroganoff and all kinds of yummy things! This was our second visit. We went last January for the first time. 

My favorite stuff-the Brazilian cheese bread--pao de queijo

Then Spence got us a hotel room down in the Galleria. It was the Omni Hotel. The drive there was so pretty. It was a long drive through wooded areas to reach the hotel. It was nice and secluded looking. After a few mix ups from the hotel check in we ended up in a suite, SWEET!!! : )

And THEN we ordered dessert!

Our room even had a doorbell!!

It was such a fun and relaxing night. Such a great way to start off the long weekend!

The next morning Spencer ordered room service for breakfast.

We shopped around the area all day. We even made a trip to Ikea!

Later when we got home I made some brazilian cheese bread in honor of our dinner the previous night. 

The following day we FINALLY made a trip back to my second home--College Station! I hadn't been back since I graduated in May 2011. That was just WAY too long!! Spencer and I both have really good memories stored up in that place, so it was time to rekindle some of them.

Could we have picked a prettier day to go?!?!

We drove through campus:

Then we went to visit our park. This is the thing I miss MOST about College Station!! My first semester in college I ran at an elementary school close to our apartment. One day I went to the school to run and there was a daycare outside on the track. So I left the school in hopes that I would find somewhere else to run. I drove STRAIGHT to this park (not knowing it was there). It's in the middle of a neighborhood and secluded from any main roads and lots of traffic, unlike the elementary school. Let's just say we were meant to be. I fell in love that day, and I've loved being there ever since!

MANY MANY hours spent here studying, running, and just enjoying beautiful weather and feeding the ducks, or just using it as a stress reliever from school.

Then we went to a friends house, went to dinner and then a movie. Such a fun day!! Seriously!! Spent it in a happy place, with beautiful weather and great people!!

Look what Spence won for me at the movie theatre on his first try!! He was actually going to try and get something else, and hit the wrong button...and won this! haha..I definitely didn't mind! ; )

It was seriously the best 3 day weekend! 

The following weekend Spence and I went downtown for the gun show with the BEST intentions on buying a shot gun. The shot gun collection was pretty lame so all we came home with was some summer sausage...LOL..random, I know. We definitely had fun though and it was the perfect day out!

We did some more shopping and ended up at Pappasito's for dinner. I don't know if they put crack or something in this virgin strawberry daiquiri , but it was RIDICULOUSLY good.

We went and saw the Klein High School play-Into the Woods. It was really good and fun to see so many kids that we knew in it!!

That's all for January! Life is good. Thanks for following!!

Last of December

December was so much fun! I can't believe how fast it flew by, and I knew it would! December is always one of those months that's a blur looking back. It's always full of family, Christmas parties, get-togethers, crafts, baking, shopping and FUN. : )  It's so busy that sometimes it's hard to just sit back and enjoy the month. It's one of those high energy months, for sure!

Christian got home from his mission!

I bought a big bag of cinnamon smelling pinecones at Target, I was going to make them glittery ornaments but I never attached string to them so they could be hung in our tree.Instead I put them on a tray and left them as a centerpiece on our table. I actually really loved it because they left our house smelling so yummy. Holiday perfectness!!...It was a mess, but totally worth it!

Everything in our tree this year had glitter on it. Cute to me, but messy to Spencer. Haha...I was constantly picking glitter off of his face! ; )

We had a ridiculous amount of presents under our tree this year!! This is MAYBE half of our presents:

Christmas Eve our families got together and had dinner and played games. Spencer and I stayed the night at the Sevy's so we could open presents with all the kids on Christmas morning.

Look who left their magic boot prints and buttons on the living room floor!!

Queen Victoria opening up her present from us. She's so cute!!

Maddie --happy about a new pair a shoes!

This picture cracks me up. Look at that look she is giving me!

This was pretty funny! You wind it up and the eyebrows and mustache move up and down. Also a little creepy. ; )

Merry Christmas to me!!! Spoiled. That's all there is to it! I love you Spencer Sevy. 

We had breakfast and hung out at the Sevy's before we headed home to shower and get ready for the day. The weather we were having was crazy! It got super hot and windy outside, then it would get dark, then it would change dramatically and be super sunny with very strong winds. We were under a tornado watch. There were actually tornadoes really close by! The electricity went out right as we were leaving the Sevy's. 

After we got ready for the day we headed over to my parents house for Christmas festivities. A bunch of people were over when we got there for lunch. Right after we finished lunch the electricity went out-right around the time the sun started going down. So we got to open presents in the dark! haha...a different experience for sure! 

All the pictures look a little weird because they were taken in the dark. Definitely a Christmas to remember. 

Favorite quote of the night as we opened Christmas presents in the dark with one lantern for light:

My mom opening up one of her presents from me:

Mom: "Oh that's a cute sweater!What color is it? Purple??"

Natalie: "No, it's gray."

That's how Christmas went this year! lol. I kept saying I felt like I didn't see everybody opening their presents, probably because I literally couldn't!

The boys playing with their nerf guns. 

Gary passed out...

More pictures in the dark...kinda sad we didn't get one with the lights on the tree.

Cousins!! We had the tv hooked up to the generator.

THEN it was time for birthday presents!! I think this picture was in the dark, but right as I started to open birthday presents the lights finally came back on. It was a Christmas miracle!!!

Afterwards we went over to Sevy's and played some games. Then around midnight we headed back to the Kunkel's to do our new traditional scratch offs!

Oh....and did I mention another awesome present from my husband this year??? Meet Icy blue : ) I love it!!!!!

I was messing with my Cricut here:

One of my favorite presents from my brother:

Pretty sky the day after Christmas!!!

Dinner with the Sevy's a couple of days after Christmas:

Wii games at the Kunkels. Always entertaining!!

Bananagrams!!

We also made a visit to one of the happiest places on earth (in my opinion). This was Spencer's first time to go--The Bake Shoppe! I think it's the cutest place ever! We got a homemade ding dong, double sided cookie with icing filling, and a loaf of bread on the way out. Keep in mind that the cookie and ding dong were sprinkled with glitter. Just one of the many reasons this place brings me happiness. ; )

Sigghhhhh....I want a place like this someday.

On new years eve both family's went to the Sevy's. We played games, ate, did puzzles, and ate some more. It was a fun night, but you could just tell that everybody was exhausted from all of the holiday festivities. Sometimes  Usually the holidays are WAY less relaxing than we want them to be.

That about sums December up!! January posts to come! I can't believe it's already February!! One of these days I'll catch up. Thanks for following!!

          ~Nat