{Its Starting To Feel A Lot Like Christmas!}

With the help of my friend Ashley, who just came out to visit, I was able to get up a few decorations. We had quite the adventure getting my Christmas tree this year (details to come). I got the creepy Mrs Clause from a friend at work who always manages to find me something ugly for my ugly sweater party every year. The manger silhouette came from Lynn last year, and the mini tree set came from Dustin's mom this year. Snow is in our forecast for the next few days so it should be a white Christmas!

Ugly Sweater Party!

(From top Left clockwise- Chris and Katie, Justin and Amanda, Me and D, Larry and Carma, Jordan and Rochelle)

(Amy and Sky, Laura (with a bun in the oven) and Scott , Cayte and David, Christa and Brennan, Andy and Sara)

(Andy and D, Tina and Me, Jordan and Sky, Michael Brad and Sky)

(Amy and Link, Kristen, The whole gang, creepy lurking Sky)

There is nothing quite like being in a sea of ugly sweaters! This years bash was held at Carma and Larry's home. We had quite a few people show up as you can see from the photos above. I think the sweater I found this year is probably my best ever...I mean look at it it had a purse knitted in! And the purse is functional! The best male ugly sweater went to Sky, hands down that homemade vest (which he picked up at Goodwill) and the creepy turtleneck really pushed the awkward look over the edge! It is sad to say the vintage girl in me found a few of the sweaters actually kind of cute (like Rochelle's).

{1 year}

Dustin and I have been dating 1 whole year! I don't know where the time went...but I do know that I have enjoyed every minute of it. He and his family have helped make this new state really feel like home.

(Click to enlarge picture)

Dustin took me to his new favorite restaurant called Chit Chat Bistro located in Arvada CO. It is the cutes little European feeling restaurant with great food and very personable service. The ower's Nicko and Julie are right there in the mix. Nicko is the head chef, he makes everything from scratch right as you order, and Julie is out waiting tables and getting to know her customers. We had a wonderful dinner great wine and a little guitar serenade.

Thanksgiving

Road Trip!

Dustin and I ended up hitting the road on our own the day before Thanksgiving because D's dads back went out. In order to make the long 13 hour drive through the night we were armed with sugar in the form of jelly beans and some good tunes. It was quite comical when one of us popped a tiramisu jelly bean in our mouth...the pic of D bellow pretty much sums up how they taste.

We arrived in Phoenix AZ around 6am and slept in that morning. We headed over to D's Brother-in -laws (Mark) family for turkey dinner. We had a great time and I met a lot of new people.

To work off all that food we went out with the extended family on a desert MTN hike the next morning.

We filled our last night there with homemade pizza, competitive round of Mad Gab and a little pool fun. The progression above is hilarious, it was really funny because Bailyer (D's nephew) would copy every thing Dustin was doing. Below you can see us girls getting hit by the awful smell of Seba's (their dog) gas!

Bailyer kept taunting me that girls were better then boys and that the boys would win! So I had to throw down a wager...losers jump in the pool. Remember the nights get chilly in AZ, it was about 40 degrees out and the water was not much warmer. The older boys did not agree to to the bet (good thing b/c they lost) but Bailyer still wanted to try it. His dad didn't think there was any way he would jump in, but as he walked away all he heard was a big splash (and I caught it on film!) The dares continued to grow until eventually all of us were in the cold pool.

For some reason the videos will not work...sorry!


We headed back up to CO via Utah this time. It was a beautiful drive home, so much to see but no time to stop and enjoy.

Catching you up!

I know it may seem that I have fallen off the face of the planet...but i am still here! I will try and catch you up over the next few nights!