Merry Christmas to you

In our Christmas card we also sent out a timeline highlighting our year. If you click on it, you should be able to read the whole thing.  If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know everything that it covers :)

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Happy Times

We have been loving this time of year so far. It all started off with an early Thanksgiving/Christmas party in with Scott's side of our family. We had a blast being together and it was a great start to the holidays!

We have also been spending time with my side.  Most of it was intentional, but we did end up as refugees at my parents house for several days after the crazy windstorm that knocked out our power! My brothers family didn't have power either, so they stayed at Mom and Dad's too!  It was a lot of fun!

Our house fared very well in the storm. My parents lost several trees, unfortunately one of them was my favorite one.  Scott cut the whole thing up, he had a good time re-living his logger days.

Speaking of trees...here's one that was cut down on purpose!  We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and we've loved having it in our home!

We've also been loving our fireplace.

 

Christmas Snapshots

Our home at Christmas time

 I'm loving all your Christmas posts! We had a great weekend with family.

 

It's a tradition at Mom and Dad's house for each couple to perform a Christmas song on Christmas Eve, and Scott and I always try to embarrass ourselves as much as possible. This year we sang the Chipmunk Christmas Song, hence the costumes.

We slept over that night, and stayed up until 2 am playing Cranium with Ash and Luke. We had fun opening presents at 9am...ahhh the joys of sleeping in!

I got Scott some clothes and a power saw. Like usual, he was amazingly creative and totally spoiled me! I'm so excited about it I made it its own post...I always want to remember all the awesome details he put into it.

We had a great time getting to talk to Scott's brother Jeff, he's on a mission in Georgia.  The whole family conference called in from four different states, it worked awesome!  It was definitely a highlight of the day.

We were also able to go to my Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas, it is always great to see family and eat awesome food! (Colleen, that salad was incredible! )

Happy new years this week to you all!

Recently:

We're still here, let's just say the first two weeks of December could be summed up in one word...FINALS.  Gross!  I'm glad to have some quality time with Scott now that doesn't include words like "quantitative research" and "AP Style".

My little brother snapped some backyard shots of us all geared up for winter (for Christmas cards). I like this one (and we like our X mugs from Pier 1).

Other non-homework happenings:
We have been updating a journal we keep- it was a Christmas gift from Scott last year:

We write down quick one-liners about what went on during the month.  It is fun to go back and remember funny inside jokes and things.  We fell behind so we have been working to get it up to date.

My view for the last five nights:

My fingers are tender but it has been good.


We have also been able to see a lot of family recently- can't beat that.  Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Trees Galore

Scott has never been to the Festival of Trees before, so that was at the top of our list of things to do this Christmas season.

Actually, we really do have a list.  We wrote down 25 things we want to do this month- some of them big things (like the Festival) and some very small (kiss under mistletoe).  We have checked off five things so far.

The trees were all incredible. We looked at every single one!  Our friends Kory & Amy came too, we always have a blast with them.

 

  My own lumberjack brought in our beautiful tree.  We had a lot of fun decorating our house for Christmas.  It's all silver and ice blue, our little winter wonderland!

Thanks for the fun

Our Thanksgiving was totally fun this year.  We stayed at my parents house for a few days and celebrated with the immediate family (We've gone from 6 to 9!  It's so fun to grow!)  We had Nana there as well, so it was an even 10.

We started off the day with all ten of us going to the movie "Tangled".  I have hoped that Disney would make a Rapunzel movie since I was little, so I have been excited about this!  It lived up to my expectations :)  I loved it, and cried at least twice (it doesn't take much). 

I take a lot of pics of Claire these days :)  Can't help it...soooo cute.

After the movie, we went home and had a feast...of Chinese food!  Ha ha, we all decided it would be fun to have a non-traditional meal.  So while others had turkey and stuffing, we had General Tsao's chicken and wontons.  The best part was, there were hardly any dishes to do!  Don't worry, we still had awesome homemade desserts later that night.

Scott took a nap for a bit and little Claire was kind enough to share her chips with him while he was sleeping.  Too funny!

As if seeing a fairy tale movie wasn't enough, that night the 'kids' (I use that term loosely since we are all 18-25) turned the clock back even further and played sardines (like hide-and-go-seek...but backwards) for hours.  It was a blast.  One round, poor Luke hid so well that no one found him for about 40 minutes!

 It was a great holiday, we had fun letting loose and not taking things too seriously.  It's nice to do that once in a while.

Fun Fall

We sure have been having fun around here!

Scott went hunting with his dad and brothers.  They got 80 birds!  Jeff, the 2nd from the right, is leaving on a mission in a few weeks so they wanted to get in one more trip together.

We are expecting our first nephew soon, we're all excited! Last week, we had a 'man shower' for the little guy. After eight nieces, we had fun getting to shop for a boy! Scott's mom made this adorable blanket for him.

Scott's sister Lisa made these cupcakes, they were awesome! And those are bread bowls (for soup) in the background...one of my favorite things to eat in the fall.

Speaking of food, we were excited that an In N' Out opened just a few minutes from us.  We paid them a visit.

I had a fun symphony concert this weekend, we all dressed up and played Halloween music.  Can you tell who I was trying to be?

My brother Luke looked awesome.  The symphony members had candy for kids after the performance, and some little girls were too scared to go near him.  My parents took us all out to dinner after, and it was funny to walk in there dressed up!  Luke hoped they wouldn't think he was trying to rob them or something. 

Good times.  Oh, and if you would like to see what Luke looks like sans joker makeup...look here at his senior pics!  The baby of our family is 18??? I can't believe it.

FYI...this post says it is by Scott, but it's just me, Heather.  I guess I was logged on under our other email address.

Christmas Surprises

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! From what I see on your blogs, it looks like everyone had a nice holiday. Thanks to everyone that sent us Christmas cards, we got excited every time one came.

This year we stayed with my family on Christmas eve. Christmas morning Scott was up at 5am ready to start the day. We made him go back to sleep, poor guy. Around 7:30 or 8 we woke up again :)

When we were all gathering around the tree, not quite ready to open presents yet, I heard a faint squeaking sound. I turned around and noticed it was coming from a big wrapped box in the corner. I got closer and put my ear to it and yep, there was definitely something squeaking in it!

I was curious, and I guess I finally just assumed it was for me. Without waiting for anyone, I opened the lid and peeked in the box. I saw a tiny furry thing run from one end of the box to the other and I threw off the lid!

Scott bought me the cutest little hamster for Christmas! I have wanted a pet for six months, but never thought Scott would want us to get one, let alone go and buy me one! What a sweetheart. (Scott, not the hamster. Well, actually she is too...) I was beyond excited and was so happy! We named her Belle.

I think I surprised Scott with his gift too. When we were in New York two years ago, he saw a shiny gray suit at a store in Soho and fell in love with it! He didn't buy it (partly because it was $400) and often says he regrets not getting it.

Well, gotta love Amazon.com, I found him an awesome shiny suit for less than half the New York price! I don't have a picture of him in it yet, it's getting hemmed, but this is at least a picture of the suit. Trust me, he looks incredible in it :)

Later that day we went to the Cutler Christmas party at my grandparents house, and it was so nice to get to see everyone.

On Saturday we went and saw Princess and the Frog with my family. It was pretty cute. More than anything, I was just happy to be seeing an animated Disney movie again.

That just about sums up the weekend. I'm excited to wrap up this year (which has been an awesome one) and start 2010 now!

A post by Scott

Thanksgiving was special this year we had the whole family together with the addition of Grandpa & Grandma Hendrix.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Having Grandma to represent the "WestSide" in Jeffs Baltimore Orioles hat. And playing her favorite game Dominoes (chicken foot) where the boys completely dominated.

I took a minute to teach Grandpa & Grandma about new.familysearch.org while Grandpa wore Darren's big headphones. A bunch of regular thugs at the Hendrix home.

We took three hours to get to know Grandpa a little more and it turned out to be the highlight of the trip for me. He talked about what his youth was like, his parents, birthdays, holidays, car accidents, and his one and only fight. Don't mess with Grandpa or you may just end up with a head ache.

Julie and Heather played some violin pieces for us and it was beautiful as always. Then Heather took a minute to let the neices fiddle (double meaning) with Julies little violin. The girls were very good at it and Heather makes a fine (double meaning) teacher.

Fishing as usual ended up with Dad catching the most and Brad coming in second. But I didn't get skunked.

On Friday we went shopping, and one sister in law (who I won't name in case she joins shoppers anonymous) went six times in a 24 hour period.

We returned home Saturday and during the BYU Utah rivalry football game, Heather accompanied me to the showing of New Moon.

After work today we hopped in the Xterra and went in search of our Christmas tree. We found the perfect one and hauled it home.

We are enjoying the holidays (except for us both being sick!)

Three-day weekend

Our fourth of July holiday started on Friday with Scott's brother (Darrin)'s baseball game in park city. We were glad that a lot of Scott's family was down here for the weekend!


Later that evening we went to dinner with my family at Rooster's in Ogden. We were celebrating my parent's 30th wedding anniversary!!!


After dinner we had fun walking around 25th street, stopping in shops and looking at art. It was a really nice time.



Jeremy and Marilyn were there too...but I guess I didn't take a picture of them with my camera.










I don't know why I didn't take any pics on Saturday or Sunday either.

Saturday morning we had a fun breakfast with our neighborhood- we got there at 6:30 am. After that, we went home and slept for a few hours. Scott went golfing with his brothers and had a lot of fun.

In the evening, Scott's family came over to my parents house for a BBQ and fireworks! It was a lot of fun- they hadn't seen each other since our wedding. It was so nice for us to be able to be with both families at once! After eating we all went over to Layton High to see the fireworks. It was so fun to have Jenna and Frank there too. The grand finale this year was so great- we were all screaming and cheering. I love the fourth!!!

Shower and Shrimp

We had a baby shower on Friday night for Scott's sister Lisa. She is having a baby girl in May. I was happy that my little home could fit 30 people- it was a great turnout. It was fun to see relatives from both sides of Scott's extended family. It's always fun when a bunch of girls get together.

The adorable little lady in green is Scott's youngest sister, who is in kindergarten! It is hard to believe she was 10 months old when Scott and I started dating! She and I are great friends. This year she started taking violin lessons and I am so proud :)

Check out that cake! One of Lisa's friends made it. It even had a little baby made out of fondant.

Easter was great. In keeping the tradition of my obsession with holidays, we did have easter baskets. We also had a fun egg hunt at my parents house (now that we are older the eggs are filled with $ instead of candy- how cool is that?) We got to see my Cutler-side extended family at a gathering on Sunday. It was great! (p.s. Colleen I want your jeans! They were sooo cute.)

I don't know if any of you like shrimp (I know for a fact a few of you don't :)...) but Scott and I LOVE coconut shrimp and I found a great recipe for it. I thought I'd put it on here in case anyone wants to try it. If you don't want to cook it yourself but want to taste it, just come to my house and I'll make it for you!

Coconut Shrimp
24 jumbo shrimp (1 1/2 pounds total) shelled and deveined- leave tails on
1 bag (7 ounces) sweetened flake coconut (2 2/3 cups)
3/4 cup blanched whole almonds (I used macadamia nuts instead because that's all I had)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dipping Sauce
3-5 Tablespoons of Apricot preserves
3/4 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Chop up 2/3 cup coconut and the nuts untily finely ground. In medium-size shallow dish, stir together the ground up mixture, the remaining cocounut, and the flour. In small bowl, whisk together eggs and salt. Set up an assembly line for coating shrimp,

2. Slice the shrimp (not all the way through) from top to tail and flatten with your palm (to open it up). Dip it in the egg mixture allowing excess to drip back into bowl. Then transfer to coconut mixture, gently pressing with fingertips to help mixture adhere. Place shrimp on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.

3. Bake in a 450 oven for 10-12 minutes (or until brown) turning once.

4. If you want dipping sauce, combine ingredients, then cover and chill in fridge.

Enjoy!

So Fun

Merry Christmas! We had a great time with Scott's family in Idaho Falls. It was a blast to have everyone there. We laughed a lot and came away with some great inside jokes.

It was fun to get some family pictures taken. I am loving being an Aunt!

Here is our little family picture :)

Awesome time of year

We loved Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncles house in Paragonah, UT. Aren't holidays the BEST!?

It was so fun to watch the parents play rockband. They were really good!

And congrats to cousin Matt, who proposed to adorable Mary when we were cutting down Christmas trees! It was awesome!

Valentines Day Observed (February 12th)

Hope you had a great valentines day! I love you all! Here in L-town we celebrated a little early. Here's a pic of our 5th annual heart shaped breakfast. This year: french toast with well-sugared grapefruit. Yum!

Also, I am now the proud owner of a shiny (and very sharp!) buck knife. To be honest, I was really touched by this gift. I'll admit I got a tear in the eye when I flipped it over and saw the engraving!

Let me explain a bit...ever since I've known Scott, he's always kept a knife in his pocket. In the beginning, I thought it was a little scary and figured he just had it to look cool or something. Oddly enough, he uses it all the time! When we're together I always end up needing a knife and don't have one. Scott just grins and pulls his out.

Now I have my own! I love how creative he is. It makes me smile every time I think about my little knife.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Oh boy...I'm excited for this time of year!!! Thanksgiving was great, it was so fun to see family and friends (shout out to Jenna!). I'm even a little excited for it to snow. So here's 10 things I love about this time of year! (In no particular order)

1. Fireplaces
2. Hot Chocolate
3. Christmas carols
4. Buying gifts for people
5. Christmas lights
6. Peppermint ice cream
7. Family gatherings
8. Christmas movies (Muppet's Christmas Carol!!!)
9. Reading about Christ's birth
10. The FEELING in the air

Early Christmas for me!

I must have been a good girl this year, because I've already received 2 Christmas presents! First, Scott was up visiting on an absolutely beautiful fall day and he surprised me by taking me shopping for my present...golf clubs! He wanted to get me them for Christmas but it was such nice weather he decided to do it early so we could play. On the driving range I hit one 170 yards...that's my farthest yet! I love the clubs, I'm so excited to get better!

This week Mom and Dad gave me sky miles for Christmas! I get to fly to Philadelphia for ten dollars! Planning the trip and getting excited for it has been so fun, I can't wait! Looking forward to it is getting me through the last month of the semester.