a new addition

Our dresser! Our friends Pat and Becky gave this pine dresser to us as they received 2 from their wedding! The gold is going to go, but we're liking the new addition.

tuckered out after raging about with Drew

This is Maupin's new way of sitting on the hardwood floor b/c her feet don't grip...poor thing.

simple pleasures a dog brings:

1) They are always happy to see you

2) They are always up for a good fight...no matter how tired they are

3) Once in a while a good cuddle comes along

4) They can get you so mad (like get into 2 full bags of leaves, or chew threw a cable, or poop in your house...), but you can never stay mad for longer than 10 minutes.

5) They are super photogenic, even with a permanent sad face!

more of christmas

I realize Christmas pics have already been posted, but wanted to put a couple more pictures up since I am still thinking daily about how cute our nieces and nephews are and how much fun we had at home! The first two were from Julie and I absolutely love them!


This weekend was all about cooking and reading. I finally got through (not because it wasn't a good book) Same Kind of Different As Me which I am highly recommending. I also made for the second time in one week Chili from the "Real Simple" Magazine. My favorite Apple Pie was made too and is already half eaten. oops!


Now, for the pictures:


In't Hout nieces and nephews (thanks julie!)

dad, drew, ryan, kev and uncle henry playing hearts

Livi...best ecpression ever when Ashlyn opened her American Girl Doll...then came Bitty Baby!

Tay and Drew

De Vries Family

Love this picture...Cameron was such a good boy all day long!

Ave, Mookie, Maupin and me

Samuel J.

1 Year Anniversary

We made it! Drew and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! What a blessing. Yesterday we woke up at 8am (which is now sadly sleeping in for both of us). Drew put on the movie Julie and Julia for me while he made some breakfast. I think it was also an excuse to take some time to make the plans that he sad he was going to do :)
At about 12:30pm, we drove to Breckenridge with the dog of course. We got to the hotel, which was at the base of the mountain, and took the dog for a little walk down the streets lined with foreingers, adorable shops, and pubs galore. We enjoyed dinner at one of the English pubs, enjoyed the hot tub after, took a stroll which landed us outside a bar in front of a massive fireplace. We sat for about 40 minutes, meeting some locals, drinking a brewski and watched the sleigh rides come down the mountain.
This morning we woke up at 7:30 (again, sleeping in) and went to a creperia we had spotted the night before that had been absolutely packed the 3 times we wanted to try our own crepe. We were the first customers of the day and minutes later, they were slammed...only to be that way until 9pm again tonight. Mine was Nutella with Banana and Drew got a Brie-filled crepe. Mmm... We were good about sharing, which really means that I couldn't make up my mind as to which crepe I wanted to devour, so I just kept asking, "shall we trade". And Drew would say willingly, "Yes!"
We caught some fresh powder at 9am and were back to the room, had packed our things, were checked out of the room and on the road by 11am!