Too Late for Christmas Cards...

So, I think it's kinda too late for me to get on the ball with the Christmas Card thing. Next year I'll have to plan way more in advance, but at least we attempted to get Christmas Cards out and here are a few of our favs from our Christmas Card Photoshoot. Hope you enjoy and also, Hope you all do what our Christmas Card would've told you to do and have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful Holiday!!

A Letter to Chi-Town

Dear Chicago,

We are coming to see you. We will be there in a few days. We are so excited to visit your streets. We plan on having a lot of fun and we know you will not disappoint. We already know you are going to be really really really cold, but don't worry, we are coming prepared. Chicago, we will see you soon.

Love,
Your BFF's Grant and Callie
and first time visitors Anne and Carrie

Our Gingerbread Home

As we sat down to decorate our Gingerbread Homes (yours are houses, ours are homes), Grant made the remark, "I don't think I've ever done this before..." What?! I guess his grandma made German egg noodles for Christmas (which I'll be learning how to do in a few days) instead of Gingerbread like mine, which is fine. We will have two traditions to uphold. We didn't do these last year because we were crazy all over the place moving and traveling, etc. I was happy to be there for my husband's first time decorating a roof with candies galore. I did one side, and he did the other and the whole rest of the house. He had a lot of fun methodically picking out which candies should go where and he was very OCD about the whole thing. He's quite the artist when he takes the time. Of course the art gene runs in his family as you can see here, his sister Danielle does amazing equine sculpting work.

Ward Christmas Party Photoshoot

Roller Bootin' is for Birthdays

What it is, what it is!
Because Lori had a Birthday...

We had Disco Fever, 70's Style to the max. And that's not all...

We felt tha funk and got down at Roller Rink.

We officially had the bunkest 70's outfits we could buy at Goodwill. Well, actually Grant owns his suit, and this is the first time I've seen him wear it. We bought his shirt at Goodwill, my (groovy) shirt, and I even found some insane platforms. We hit the 70's jackpot.

Foxy

The Dudes

Grant smooth talked me and convinced me to sit next to him, and even do a couples skate with him. That suit don't mess around.

Can you dig it?

Grant's Birthday Weekend

Grant turned 29 on December 7th and because his birthday was on a Sunday, we had to celebrate all weekend. On Saturday, I planned an excursion to San Diego for us and a few guests which were Anne, Jared and Todd. We started early in the morning, so we had Krispy Kreme donuts and milk and orange juice for breakfast for everyone.

Then, we walked out to the car and this is what our guests found waiting for them...

Our activity was a surprise for Grant and we needed to get pumped up for what we'd be doing. We timed it right so that we would open our cans and be totally amped and good to go by the time we got there. We opened the cans all at once and toasted to 29!

Grant got crazy with downing two at once! He's an animal! (The funny thing is Grant doesn't drink caffeine and when he does, he feels the effects really quickly and intensely but since it was his birthday... he went all out)

We got to our destination and I was so excited for Grant to see what we'd be doing. At Sarah's Smash Shack, the concept is, you pick out what you want to break, you get all geared up, you go into a specially designed room, crank up the volume to your personal music via an iPod attachment, and throw your breakables up against the wall and get out all your aggressions. Since Grant has been having a hard time at work lately, and I had never heard of such a place, I thought it would be unique, fun and effective for getting out his frustrations and celebrating his birthday all at the same time! Anne cooperated with the signing-your-life-away rules.

Then, we got to pick our poison. What kind of thing do we want to throw up against a wall and break? We got ten plates, and two mystery boxes. Everyone got to choose 2 things they wanted to throw, and Grant got to choose 4 things. They had ugly things, pretty things, things that are hard to break, things that are easy... Decisions decisions.

We got all geared up and went at it. They have an MP3 attachment for an iPod and we got to blast whatever tunes we wanted while we went bananas. We started out with "It's Your Birthday" by 50 cent of course, while Grant started our session off by throwing his item of choice.

They have markers there that you can use to write on the pieces of breakware what it is that has been frustrating you lately. For me...

The three ninjas did a finale of going all at once. Everyone had a great time and we were all totally invigorated. We all want to go back and we all thought it was a great fun activity. It's everything you want it to be. If anyone is looking for a unique idea for a special event, check it out.

Getting dressed again, Grant decided to use my headband as an eye patch. Wear the eye patch Grant, wear the funky funky eye patch.

Here we are waiting outside the Hash House a Go Go which was recommended to me by a San Diegoan and I'm glad I took her advice. It was so good and only a couple blocks away from Sarah's Smash Shack. We ate there for lunch.

The plates were literally the biggest plates any of us had ever seen and the food was unbelievably good in unbelievably large portions. They are known for their breakfast and we can see why. Jared ordered the French Toast and we all agreed it was the best French Toast we had ever tasted. We were not disappointed. It was a perfect note to end on.

On Sunday, we had a bit of a dinner party. I cooked up Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri sauce (Tyler Florence recipe which is a croud pleaser), Cauliflower that tastes like mashed potatoes (I don't think any of our guests knew it was cauliflower, I'm pretty sure they thought it was potatoes and there were no leftovers), brussel sprouts with chestnuts and shallot butter, salad with red onion dressing and rolls. And Grant requested a giant cookie for his cake so we made it into the shape of a heart. We served it with Cookies and Cream ice cream, Pizookie style (the key is slightly undercooking the cookie and we put cream cheese frosting on top-surprising yummy).

After that, we relaxed and opened a couple of presents. Here is a scene. The brothers are having a laugh with Jared's friend Trisha.

I'm not sure if this game was Chris' or Bailey's idea?

Some people got all riled up. Typical. Happy Birthday Grant and thanks to David, Chris, Bailey, Levi, Anne, Carrie, Jared, Trisha, Todd and Sona who came to celebrate with us. It was a great way to bring on 29. His last year of the twenties!

The Hexberg Holiday Heyday

Lori asked me a few days ago if I would exercise my sweet skills on their behalf and do a Holiday Photo Shoot for Christmas Cards. I of course said yes! Anne came with me and we met at a tree lot and had so much fun. I edited a few really cute ones and here are a few they are not going to choose (so I don't blow the surprise, you are going to have to wait to get their card to see the one they chose which is not one of these). I thought they turned out super cute and it was a lot of fun.

Where's the Birthday Boy?

Head in Hand of course. More to come on our excursion. We went a little Craazzyy!

You Know It's Thanksgiving When...

You see your husband passed out on your grandmother's couch, not caring about the girly blanket draped over his face so he can get a peaceful nap. Ah yes, this is Thanksgiving.

Check it out my food blog Fresh Cracked Pepper with one of my bff's Steph. We are bringing out the big guns.

Between the LInes

Mom: (yelling through the house) Who wants to help??

Me: (yelling back) Grant! (Grant is sitting in the room I'm in and looks at me with a smile)

Grant: (yelling) I'm being Volun-told ya'll! (and walks out of the room to see what my mom needs)

voluntold: Being told to do something (probably by your wife) for someone else that needs assistance.

BWOOP Future Heartbreaker Alert BWOOP

Grant, being the good brother-in-law that he is, taught Levi how to throw a spiral and gave him some tips for passing (he was QB in highschool). Next thing we knew, Levi made it as the first string QB on his 7th grade team! Nice. Here is Levi being down with his bad self giving one of his friends a high five after they won their first game. As I said before, FUTURE HEARTBREAKER ALERT!! Ladies between the ages of 9 and 14, watch out.

Grand Continuation

So here is our first impression of the Grand Canyon as we approached the South Rim. Pretty typical I guess of a National Park. We're excited. What's behind the A frames?? Show us!!

Once we paid to get in ($25 for 7 days, but we weren't there that long. It was the only choice), they HOOKED US UP with tons of Grand Canyon, uh, stuff. Really helpful were the brochures. There were also park rangers (yes, I just said rangers) willing to help with any questions or suggestions we needed assistance with. We made good use of those rangers.

Here is a picture of Grant from 1950.

They had a complimentary shuttle that would take people to different stops along the ridge. It was really helpful and allows you to see as much or as little of the canyon as you want. We got out and explored a little. We also held on for dear life on the shuttle. There were a lot of peops in there, we had to stand for part of the time.

Here's a picture of the couple in front of the breathtaking views after we watched the sunset. The glow of the set sun cast a beautiful purplish glow onto everything, including us. Amazing.

After the sun set though, it became very freezing and we booked it back to our car. Whew, it changed in a hurry.

One of my experiments...

Here's the rock where we (along with an intimate group) watched the sun set. It jet out into the middle of the ridge. We had a perfect view of the sun going down down down. Probably the best part of our visit.

Half way gone.

What, the sun's going down? Time to kiss the day goodbye.

This photo isn't retouched. Gorgeous.

Rockin the Grand Canyon

Hi babe.

I see you.

We had such a fun relaxed time for our first visit to the Grand Canyon. Who knows, maybe in a fews years we'll be seeing it again with a couple kids through the windows of an RV! After we left the park, we went to the IMAX Grand Canyon movie that was really entertaining and a good end to our day. After that, we were on to Sedona for another day trip. More on that later...