Christmas Eve Recap

On the morning of Christmas Eve, my dad and Adam went ice fishing for a few hours, while Mom, Christine and I worked on getting everything ready. They returned around noon, and we sat down for our nice ham dinner at 1.

Then Christine sorted the gifts while everyone else cleaned up and I did a little Chester photoshoot. He looked so sweet in his little Christmas tie that my mom got him!

 He really wanted to "help" Christine sort the presents. Love that cute little tail!

Finally, it was time to exchange presents!!!

Chester got to go first (he is the youngest afterall) and had a blast ripping open his present.

He got an adorable MN Golden Gophers outfit!

Then it was Christine's turn. We gave Christine a few Build-a-Bear items from our trip to Boston; like a Boston t-shirt,

and adorable Green Monster slippers. We also picked up some red velvet hot chocolate mix for her,

along with a plain no-player name Twins shirt (since all her favs keep getting traded...).

We gave my mom a photobook that I made of our super fun trip to Disney last Thanksgiving.

She loved it!

And for my dad, a new pan.

Chester gave his grandparents a photo of him with Santa. He's so thoughtful!

We received many generous gifts like the Crate & Barrel table cloth I loved,

an ice bucket I was obsessed with also from C&B,

a really cute lantern from Christine,

and Adam got some fun Bass Masters Tournament stuff.

Chester had fun trying on Christine's Build-a-Bear hot dog costume,

but ultimately, all the gift opening wore him out and he climbed up on my lap for a little nap. Notice his cute new "Woof" tie!? That was another fun gift he got.

On Christmas Eve, we always get together with my mom's side of the family. On the way over to Carey and Bill's we drove through the Rotary Lights display. It was lovely. It was a lot of fun to be together and see everyone. A big THANK YOU to Carey and Bill for hosting everyone again!!!

We took the annual "boys,"

and "girls" photos.

The kids opened their gifts first. And then it was Godparent gifts.

I gave Ava some furry purple earmuffs,

 and a sparkly grey dress that I was in love with. Wish it came in my size!

We also received some nice gifts.

And finally, it was time for the adult exchange. It was our first year in the adult gift pool, and we enjoyed it. For our gifts, I gave a Trader Joe's food assortment (a few of my favs like pasta, garlic olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, etc), and Adam gave a beer variety pack. We ended up with some really pretty Waterford glasses and wine for me, and RumChata and SoCo for Adam. It was fun!

Weekend Recap: Twas the weekend before Christmas

It was the weekend before Christmas, so down to my folks house we went. We luckily missed the big snowstorm of the day before. My fam was at the Aquinas basketball game at the center, so we hung out with Chester for a few hours. Around 9, we headed downtown to meet Joe at Del's, our favorite. I had a few delicious Bloody Mary's and Strongbows. Adam was enjoying the PBR tallboys. We had so much fun, that I ended up calling my mom at midnight to come pick us up. Thanks mom!

We enjoyed sleeping in on Saturday morning, and then went to the dealership to look at GMC Terrains. We were planning on getting one in the spring, but they had just got one in on trade with low miles. It had the options we wanted (V6, heated seats, remote start and the towing package). Unfortunately, the color was a no go for me - Mocha Steel Metallic. While we were there, we gave it a test drive. We also compared a new Terrain with the 2.4 L 4 cyl standard engine to the V6 (3.6 L 6 cyl). We preferred the V6, by far. Then we talked numbers and decided it wouldn't be that much more to just buy new. They had the perfect one in stock - Carbon Black Metallic, V6, AWD with remote start, heated seats and the trailering package. After looking at ordering in a new one, we decided to just go for it (or so we thought) because there had been some significant price increases.

 We relaxed at home, and then went to mass and had a relaxing evening at home.

On Sunday, Adam and dad went ice fishing all day. Mom and I did a Sam's Club run and I stocked up on all our supersize favorites. Who can say "no" to a giant bottle of Tabasco? or Nutella? Not I!

On this little trip mom also planted the seed of "you should really get the power lift gate." Which is something I really wanted, but it only is available with leather. But that's another story entirely...

At home, mom, Christine and I decorated Christmas cut-out cookies. I also made Adam's favorite wreath cookies.

Anyways, the guys had a great time fishing and came home with 14 fish! They cleaned them up and then dad fried them up as part of our FRIED FOOD EXTRAVAGANZA!!! We had fresh deep fried perch, onion rings, pickles, cheese curds and Oreos. Yum!

As usual, Adam was the "Fry Master" for everything but the perch. Dad fried that up on the stove because of Christine's fish phobia.

The rest of the night we watched TV and I wrapped a bunch of presents for the Christmas BINGO game. Good times...

Weekend Recap: Hollidazzle & Christmas Shopping

After work, Adam and I briefly hung out with Chester and then headed downtown for the Hollidazzle Parade. We met my dad at Brit's and had a drink before heading outside to watch the parade. Since Christine is a senior, this is the last parade she'll march in. Sad! Carey and Kelly were there as well along with Ahna, Sam and Lori.

When the band went by, I had a hard time finding Christine. I realized she was on the opposite side from where we were standing, so I raced up a block and a half and crossed the street to get a photo as they went by.

I had a nutella crepe from Brit's and watched the rest of the parade. We headed back home and ordered Savoy's pizza, while Dad, Mom, Carey and Kelly waited for Christine. We had a nice evening at home visiting and eating pizza.

They headed out Saturday morning. We dropped Kelly back at her dorm, and then went Christmas shopping. All day. It was exhausting, but not too bad. It was nice to get it all done with, even if it was a really long day.
I somehow developed a headache (how unusual), so spent most of that night in bed with an ice pack. I did venture out to the couch though so we could watch a movie.
On Sunday, we slept in. I of course still had a headache. For the noon Vikings game, I made nachos, which I proceeded to dump upside down on the oven door as I put them in. UGH. I rescued them though and they were fine. And the Vikings pulled off the win so it was a good day!
That evening, I wrapped a few presents, but mostly spent it trying to get rid of my ridiculous headache.

Vegas Day 4: Evening on the Strip

Back at the hotel, it was the usual parking hassle, so we ended up parking next door at Bill's. We relaxed in the room for a few, got ready and headed down the Strip.

We walked down to the Monte Carlo where we picked up our tickets for the 7 pm Blue Man Group show.

Our seats were in the 4th row which is considered the "splash zone," so we had awesome ponchos to wear. I had read reviews online though and knew it was very rare to get anything on you.
My camera didn't like the blacklights.

The show was actually a lot better than I expected. It was Adam's pick; I had actually tried to talk him into going to another Cirque show, with no luck. It was fun though and actually pretty funny. My only disappointment was that their famous drumming with paint was only for about 1 minute at the very end. I'd probably go to another Blue Man Group show though. I think sitting up close was key as a big part of it was seeing their facial expressions.

The show got over around 8:45, and we headed north on the Strip towards Paris for our 9:15 dinner reservation at Mon Ami Gabi. We walked through Aria and I admired the lovely Chandelier Bar. So sparkly!

On our way, we stopped by Bellagio to catch another fountain show. I'm obsessed.

Dinner at Mon Ami Gabi was excellent. We split some duck confit to start. I had seared sea scallops with mashed potatoes and Brussels Sprouts & bacon.

 Adam had steak au poivre with frites.

Mon Ami Gabi is on the first level, so the view out the window of the Strip was neat.

We walked back to the hotel where I gambled for the first and last time of the trip. I had a $5 Total Rewards certificate to use at the Flamingo from signing up (for the shorter hotel check-in line). I found a fishing penny slot machine and sat down. I kept winning (very small amounts) and ended up playing for about half an hour while Adam watched. The cocktail waitress came by and I kindly got him a beer. "I'll have a beer."

By the time I hit $12, I was bored and cashed out. High roller, right  here.

I was actually kind of embarassed when I redeemed my cash out certificate the next morning. Haha.

Then we went up to the room and just enjoyed the view for the last time.