The Beginning of the Season

First, this week was Connie's birthday, happy birthday! What a fabulous woman she is. Tony made dinner (take out Costa Vida) and we all watched the Carry Underwood remake of The Sound of Music. 

The same week was the last week of finals and it was packed with fun (aweful) projects (busy work). I quit working at El Matador the week of Thanksgiving so that finals would be that much more manageable. And I am glad I did. By the time Friday night came, Chase and I were both ready for a fun weekend. Chase and I headed to Park City for the Tanner company Christmas party. It's always a very formal affair. The event took place at the beautiful Stein Erickson hotel. The drive up through perfectly lit trees and a slow falling snow was romantic. The party was darling; an opening social with exotic cheeses and nuts, dried fruits, hot cocoa, and a view that kills. The company is lovely too; everyone is so friendly. The food was filling to say the least. The entertainment was Peter Brianholt and his band. He ended the night with the whole group singing Silent Night. I love this season. 

Chase and I had planned on staying in Deer Valley that night, but we got a call from our neighbor; Chase's car alarm was going off! We had no way to fix it so we had to go home. The next night, we decorated the tree. I love the fancy, formal trees. I really do. However, I adore the Charlie Brown, memory lane, eclectic tree more. Looking at our tree is like a scrap book; totally mismatched and meaningful. I love the ornaments from our first Christmas. The gardening angel that my grandma Pat gave me. The pop can that chase painted. And the three ballerinas that my mom have me. I think she may have been trying to tell me something. Then we decided to go back up to Park City during a snow storm, but not before Chase gave a poor guy at a bus stop a ride to work. Such a sweetie. We went to dinner at Kneader's to warm up with some soup, headed to the outlets for some killer shopping, and went to the house for the night. In the morning, Chase's car decided to give us more fits; on the way home we thought the transmission was going out on the freeway. It turns out we had run out of gas! Apparently the electrical is having issues because the gage said we had 40 miles left! It turned out to be an adventure though. We were able to roll up an exit ramp, walk a block to a gas station and buy a gallon. And a hot chocolate of course. It was fun! 

Aaaaand the fun promptly ended when we got home; finals week. Chase manages to work and do REALLY well on his finals. I managed to study all day everyday and barely survive. Waiting for scores to come back is a sickening feeling. But being done with my very last full time semester ever feels euphorious (unless I do a PhD... In 20 years). 

On Tuesday of finals week we attended the Utah Broadband Christmas party. It was so so fun! We went to Hale Theater for the performance of The Christmas Carol- I highly recommend it! It's quite something. We then had dinner at the theater catered by Goodwood- delish! And just when we thought the night was over, the owner got up and announced a company tradition- Costco giftcards!! What?? We had 30 minutes to spend $300 or give it up. It was a blast! They closed the whole place down for us to run around like crazy. It was the funnest!! 

The next night, I was able to go to The Forgotten Carols with Lauren and my mom (ok, so finals week wasn't all pain). Some people hate it, some people love it. We had never been, and we loved it. It's definitely cheesy, but there is sub a sweet message. And wow, Kurt Bestor's son has an amazing voice! We enjoyed it. 

And the end of the week, we started a new tradition! Love traditions. Megan, Connie and I went to Salt Lake for a girls night! We checked in to the Marriott (right next door to Nordstrom!). Such a perfect location. First thing, we went to... Nordo's!! Duh. We shopped hard for a couple hours before having dinner at Sixth and Pine- cuddos to Connie for making a reservation or we would not have eaten at all... And for the little red envelopes. Hello! Afterwards we shopped some more before heading to the hotel for the night. NOT. We decided we neeeeeeded ice cream. Have you been to the Harmon's on State Street? Can there be a pretty grocery store? Yes, and Harmon's is it. We each got our own pint of ice cream (Ben and Jerry's whaaaaat) and a beverage and breakfast. Bagels and shmear. After realizing we totally over estimated how much dessert we needed, we laid around talking till 3 am. Waking up, we all felt hungover, whatever that feels like. Nonetheless, we shopped more! We ate more! And we gabbed like school girls the whole time. I must disclose; we went into baby gap and all about died. We need babies in this family! No pressure on either of us, but that will be a fun time whenever it comes! Finally, we got pedicures. How could Connie have planned that any better? My shopping feet needed it! Thank you, Connie and Tony and Megan, for a perfect weekend. 

Chase's Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Trees.

There is just too much to be thankful for. Every year it kind of surprises me how excited I get for the last part of the year. This year in particular! Chase's birthday this year was perfect (from my humble point of view). He got spoiled on Sunday with his family- all of his favorite food and the whole family. The next day, his birthday, I invited all of his friends over to our place for a surprise party! It was great. I am pretty sure I gave it away, but whatever, it was a blast. We had homemade chili (that turned our perfect) and hot cocoa and cake! I surprised Chase with a grill/smoker! He wanted one, and I got a screamin deal--it doesn't get better than that. Thank you too all of the friends that made the trek down to Bountiful to celebrate with us!

My best friend is getting married. MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED! Emily, I am so happy for you. We were invited to attend a surprise engagement party for the lovely couple the night he popped the question. A few days prior, I happened upon the most gorgeous ring holder that spoke to me, and it told me it needed to be for Emily. I cannot believe how perfect her ring is on her finger. I am in love with it. I am so grateful to have such an amazing friend be a part of my life. I think a lot of people have that friend that they can see less often than they would like, but it never puts a dent in the bond. That's Emily. Love you sister. I am so glad you found the man that is eager to take care of you for a very, very long time. 

Halloween- we put our costumes off until the last second, but wow, did they turn out. We love The Big Bang Theory. Further, I love Sheldon Cooper. The day before Halloween, we decided to be Amy Farrah Fowler and Sheldon Cooper. #shamy. It just worked. We had a little party at my moms house with he homemade beef stew and Lauren's homemade donuts. Too much fun. The best part had to be Hudson showing up at the front door with a binky in his mouth wearing a dragon suit staring at us all dying over his adorableness--all while ten other kids waited for a piece of candy. When the grand baby comes to the door, no other child stands a chance at getting an ounce of attention. 

For Thanksgiving this year, Chase and I spent the morning at Snowbasin! Opening day is not full of face shots, but the novelty is fun! We stop at Old Farm for hot chocolate of course. We then headed to my moms house for a bit to visit and pick up our Christmas decorations that I was storing in my old room. Chase spent the afternoon cleaning his car… and he was happy about it. I stayed inside where it was warm decorating and making corn pudding!! Corn pudding is one of those things that is totally Calton. I am sure other people make it too, but it reminds me of home. It reminds me of holidays when I was little. I love traditions, and corn pudding is a delicious tradition. We had the big dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds home. I love that side of the family for being so small. It isn't too hard to get all 18 of us in one place to celebrate. Grandma is such a classy woman. She has place cards for each of us, some of which are written in her father's beautiful calligraphy. We drink from crystal goblets and eat off of gold trimmed china. She has gorgeous serving dishes that get passed around the table during the feast. And it was a feast. Turkey, potatoes, the best sweet potatoes I might have ever had, a pretzel and jello salad (it's way better than it sounds), corn pudding, rolls, green beans (to make us feel better about everything else on the plate), and pie. I was shocked when I went to bed that night not feeling like I had stuffed myself sick. Finally, my fabulous in laws always extend an invitation to my family to join them, so my mom, Avery, and Zach come over for dessert. I just can't get over the love of family.

I did something I am not proud of on Thanksgiving, too. I shopped. Thanksgiving is like a Sunday for me (although, I did go skiing, but that's a tradition too). It just felt wrong to go to target at 8 pm and leave the family. But, Megan and I did anyway. I spent way too much money, ended up taking a lot of it back, and had a lot of fun, too. 

Chase and I then headed to Park City. I love that place. My mom's condo in Deer Valley is for sale, and I pray three times a day that it doesn't get snatched up. We have spent countless days and nights there including Easters, tub tubs in the snow, late night movies, and everything else. I love that place. We spent one short night there with Lauren, Sean, and Hudson and a couple of their friends Corby, Amberlee, and their baby Ryus. Such fun, normal people. Our plans to shop the outlets all day got interrupted with a trip to the ER. Hudson was up all night (and so were his parents) throwing up. He was so dehydrated by the time we were on our way to the hospital that he didn't even have tears! It was weird seeing him so sad. For the next three days he was slowly getting better. The day he decided to run around laughing, he was definitely back to his old self. Then everyone else we know got sick, including Zach man. #fluseason

That night we attended a wedding dinner at the beautiful "This is the Place"…place. Gorgeous. Mike and MarLeice are a darling couple! Chase and I then went to City Creek. We spent less money than I had at target, and got better stuff. Blasphemy, I know.

Saturday night we met the Calton side of my family at my aunt Susan's house for Thanksiving dinner. My mom was invited too, something I am so grateful to Susan for. A delicious meal with people I don't see enough of. I made my best apple pie ever-- another tradition that I can't get enough of. The tradition I miss most about this holiday is Grandma Pat. That apple pie recipe is her mother's, and I think of them both when I make it every year.

Something unique to my family-- we don't trade holidays between mom and dad or in-laws. If my mother doesn't get all of the kids for any given holiday in any given year, she reschedules the holiday. Thus, we had Thanksgiving on Sunday too. #takethree. We all slept over at my mom's house and attended church together at our old family ward. All four of us girls went to Relief Society together, something that doesn't happen almost ever. Then mom showed me how to make her cranberry thing. I don't know what to call it because there aren't words. Yet again, a foodie tradition. I will never buy a can of cranberry sauce, ever. Thanksgiving at it's finest. 

This leaves us with December. Weather has been tuned in perfectly-- we have freezing temperatures and a blanket of snow. We bought our Christmas tree on take two- the tree farm in Bountiful that we went to had a sparing selection and the tree I wanted was $55. Um, no. The next day I was up north so I stopped in Riverdale at Robinson Tree Farm. My family has bought the Christmas tree there every year for a very long time. I ran around, ran, the lot comparing the trees. Chase and I like the skinny trees, the bluish ones. Mind you, it was about noon so I was the only one there. Also, it was like -10 degrees so I was in a hurry. I found the perfect, perfect, tree for $28. Ya, no thank you Bountiful. #PointOgden. I told the man at the lot how much I love them for having the best trees for the best price, and that I came from Bountiful to find our tree. He smiled and thanked me for my family's business. I paid for the tree and Chase picked it up on his way home. Chase is now part of the Subaru club, so it just makes sense that the rugged outback do the tree hauling (it took us less than 24 hours to find his car on ksl, test drive, buy it and sell the Passat. Good riddance VW). The tree remains undecorated in the stand in our living room-- which I kind of like. We had to give it some time to dry out, like a real tree, because it got covered in snow, like a real tree. The next morning the apartments smelled of pine, like a real tree. Not the stuff you put in a candle warmer to fake the scent, but like a real tree. In this family, we do real. Including trees.