Christmas Day 2012

I was up by 6:30, along with Cooper. We were tired, but too excited to do anything about it. I gave Devin about 30 more minutes, and then woke him up. We had our own little Christmas morning, where we opened a few gifts from each other, including our ornaments this year. 

< Devin got me a red Hunter boots ornament, because he knows how badly I want actual Hunters

> I got Devin this classic piece: Ralphie in his bunny pajamas from "A Christmas Story" 

We had a lot of fun getting cooper a few treats, a new tennis ball, and his very favorite: a big stuffed alligator. That thing became his new best friend, and even though it was just as long as him, he carried it everywhere. He loved it so much! It was just like how he was as a baby puppy with his little stuffed lion. He has since ripped all the stuffing out and his friendship with Gator ended far too soon. Gator found his way to the trash within a few days. The joys of a dog! haha

 

After we got ready, we went down to my parents' house and did Christmas morning with my family. I love my family so much and we had so much fun just being in each other's company. I'm sorry I failed miserably at documenting our Christmas! 

From there, Devin and I went to Grandpa Willis and Virginia Rae's for some food and more celebrations. Grandpa Willis is the most stylish and classy guy around. We love seeing them, along with Devin's aunt and his cousins. 

Next up was Grandma Houston's, where we missed breakfast, but made it in time for everything else. We opened a few gifts and had a blast hearing all about Santa's visit from my cousin's 2 small kids. My grandparents gave all of the couples in the family a Belgian waffle maker for Christmas - which is perfect, because ever since Devin and I discovered our obsession with Bruge's Waffles and Frites in SLC and our lack of funds to fuel that obsession, waffles are happening at our house at least twice a week! 

My mom LOVES owls so this was one of her christmas presents from her mom. Creepy or cool? I really can't decide...

She has already titled herself "Grandma Hootie" even though she has no grandchildren yet, and none on the way. Ha! I love my mom :)

After that, we went back to my parent's house to relax a little. Devin, Sean, Kelli and I spent most of the afternoon outside in the hot tub at my parent's house. It was a pretty sunny Christmas Day, but deceivingly chilly. We finally got out once we realized how pruney we were! 

Devin and I headed home once we were cleaned up, because we had left Cooper there all day. It was so hard for me to leave Cooper! Devin kept reminding me that Cooper doesn't know the difference between holidays and regular days, but I couldn't help but miss him. 

When we got home, we cleaned up the house and made waffles! haha! We ended the night with the second half of The Polar Express, and just like that, Christmas was over.

It was a day full of lots of family and lots of parties and lots of things to do, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It was stressful at times to rush from house to house, but I'm glad that we even have that option. I love that all of our families live so close, and we don't have to trade off which holidays we spend with who. We wouldn't want to have to choose anyway, because our families are so amazing! 

This year, Devin and I have had a lot to be grateful for, and instead of focusing on presents and material things, we spent most of the holidays feeling extremely humbled. We have been on the receiving end of a lot of service, and could not be more thankful for the people in our lives. It definitely wasn't a big, showy holiday - but it meant so much more to us than any gift ever could. I am so grateful for Devin, and the example he sets for me, and everyone else, and for his willingness to serve and work hard. He and I have been our own little team lately, and we've been handling everything that comes our way as best we can. I think this Christmas, we were most grateful for the opportunity it gave us to take a step back and look at our lives and be truly grateful for where we are and what we are doing, and it's been the most meaningful Christmas yet.

Oh, and although I did fail miserably at documenting our Christmas, we at least remembered to take a family photo by the tree, even though cooper is blurry and we look like giants! And, we do have a few photos from setting up our Christmas tree, thanks to Devin!

as you may remember from last year, almost all of the ornaments on our tree, I made. we do have some small gold balls that we bought, but I have had so much fun making the ornaments. This year I added pinecones I collected from the park and spraypainted gold, and the salt dough ornaments I posted about earlier. It's coming along! 

Christmas Eve Funtivities

Man! Christmas is no break! We were constantly on the move, seeing so much family and doing so many fun things. We had a blast, but it was exhausting! That being said - I hardly had any time to take any photos! I'm so sad! I think I'll add "be better at taking photos" to my list of resolutions...

Christmas Eve, we slept in and when we got ready, we headed down to Devin's parent's with Cooper. From there, we went to Nana and Grandpa's for their "Christmas Eve Open House" they've been doing for the last few years. We helped Nana make some chicken salad and we feasted (literally. Nana is such a good cook!) and munched and snacked while we skyped with the babies in Vernal. They had been tracking Santa all day on norad.com.

From Nana's, we headed up Rock Canyon to give Cooper some time to run around and get out some energy. Next we went to my parent's house, just in time to see my dad's best friend Kevin, stopping by with a big box of oranges, just like he has every single Christmas all my life. When I was younger, I legitimately thought Kevin was one of my uncles. It was indistinguishable. He and Dad have been friends since they were kids.

From there, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Houston's for a chinese food dinner (Christmas Eve is also my Uncle Tim's birthday, and this year he turned 50! So he got to choose dinner). We couldn't stay to eat, because we had another party to go to (naturally!).

Devin's parent's was next. We did all of our family gift exchanging and had the Wagstaff's on skype again so they wouldn't miss anything. We had a pretty great time watching Koda and Cooper rip up all the wrapping paper (Koda's an awesome teacher). And Riley was the fun police, he would come growl at them when they were having too much fun, ha!

 

Amanda made all the dogs bandannas! Cooper loves his and looks so handsome in it. Yellow is a perfect color on him! 

One of my favorite gifts this year was what I got from Brandon (devin's brother). He drew my name for the family gift exchange and this year we decided to go home made. Remember how Brandon is an amazing chef? His gift to me was the meal of my choice, cooked by him in my home! What more could you ask for!? Devin and I have gotten really close with Brandon this year, and spend time with him as often as we can. He is very quickly becoming one of my best friends.

Devin and I drew Sean and Chloe for christmas this year and had a ton of fun making these racks for them!

After that, we went back to Houston's and just missed the white elephant gifts, but don't worry. The family left us some awesome movies (including Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!! i love that movie!) and a bunch of airplane toiletries. Classic. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with my cousins and laughing hysterically at their funny stories. We also spent most of the night trying to tackle the Logo Quiz app game - unsuccessfully!

We went home pretty tired, and finished the night off in bed with the first half of The Polar Express - my favorite christmas movie. (I need the book!)

What I love most about Christmas is the chance we have to set everything in the world aside and spend 2 full days (at least) solely with our families. Devin and I are surrounded by some pretty incredible people, and devoting this time to them is such a blessing - but also a lot of fun! We are so lucky to have so much family all in the same city - or at least really close.

mckayla lavee

so, i have this baby sister. and she's the most gorgeous and hilarious human being i've ever known. she's very much so a little sister (you know. we have our moments), but man. this girl is so smart, so talented, and absolutely beautiful. when she was really young, she was burned very badly, and several surgeries have left her with a very scarred shoulder. i hardly ever notice her scar. most of the time i forget it's there. i don't remember her without it. so when i saw these photos pop up on my news feed, i had to look twice. she is so optimistic and pretty, regardless of her zigzagged scars. she's made it a part of her. she doesn't hide it, and she's not ashamed. she still rocks a tank top, and even makes up funny stories when people ask her about it (shark attack, what scar?!, voldemort, you name it!). she takes it all in stride. in just a few days, kayla is having another skin graft on her shoulder. i know she's probably nervous. and i wanted her to know that she's tough, she's gorgeous, and this scar doesn't define a single thing about her, except maybe her confidence. i love you, cheech! you're a rockstar! 

*in this blog post on kayla's blog, she writes the whole story of her burn, and has the pictures i took of her last surgery, 2 years ago.

 

The 10th Date of Christmas

After spending the afternoon at the dog park, we got home and relaxed for awhile. Then we watched "A Christmas Story" - such a classic. We can't have Christmas without it! And we made a big steak dinner. 

I can't tell if I'm just getting lazy, or if our Christmas Dates really aren't that cool, but I'm pretty sure it's a little of both. Depending on next year, we may just toss out this tradition! haha!

Also a head's up? Dates 11 and 12 were Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They count :) 

And also? We definitely spent both those nights watching The Polar Express (split into two parts). 

The 7th, 8th and 9th Dates of Christmas

On the 7th date of Christmas, we did Christmas pajamas! Yes, early. But Devin couldn't wait, haha. This post is a lame catch-up, non-picture post because i'm lazy and also busy, and also it's Christmas time, so there's that.

On the 8th date of Christmas, we finished our christmas shopping, got some groceries and came home and had a big waffle dinner while we watched the christmas episodes of some of our favorite shows. it was maybe relaxed and uneventful, but that's just the way we like it.

Yesterday was the 9th Date of Christmas! Holy cow. We're almost there! Devin had to work all day and also teach a class at the gym. Luckily for me, Kelli didn't have any plans, so she took frontrunner down to Draper and I picked her up and we spent the whole day together. We got lunch, made a ton of christmas treats (recipes to come. trust me. you'll want to try them!), finally watched Pitch Perfect (hilarious, but not worth the hype), and then tried to round up some last minute things on her list (we were totally unsuccessful. and we walked right of gordman's once we saw the line, even though i FINALLY FOUND starbucks hot chocolate mix there and had armfuls of boxes of it. i'll just have to go back. fine.) Awesome day. Loved it. And cooper? He loves kelli. He cuddled with her the whole movie, and was even SMILING. you know how dogs do that? he was totally doing it. it was adorable. he loved her.

When devin got home, we watched Pitch Perfect again (it was funnier the second time) and finished all of our wrapping. We went out for a late night burger and milkshake and called it a night. We've been having so much fun together lately, even when all we're doing is driving to In-N-Out with our crazy dog. I love my life.

my week via iPhone

 

the cutest pup around

< throwback from my wedding day, saying goodbye to ky at the reception

> my boss getting a lump of coal from santa for christmas

 

< the snuggles. i just can't get enough

> lights and snow in the trees at riverwoods

 

< sees candies toffee-ettes. my newest addiction, fueled by people bringing boxes of chocolates in our shop

> finally snapped a photo of the stockings (coop's is in the middle), and the shelf devin and i built!

 

< lounging by the tree

> lounging on his mama

bein' boys

A Very Merry Throwback Thursday

Miss this girl and the rest of her family! Merry Christmas from A-rae!

The 6th Date of Christmas

The 6th Date of Christmas was also spent in the company of awesome people. We celebrated 25 years of Josh Hancock. He and his wife Amy are some of our closest friends, and they just had a baby, Nolan, which has been quite the journey for them! Good news is, he's healthy and handsome as ever. I love that baby already and I haven't even met him! Nolan was taken to Primary Children's Hospital earlier that day so the doctors and specialists could run some tests. Pray for Nolan! He's a strong kid, though :) Anyway, we had some dinner at Tucano's, which I absolutely love to eat and absolutely hate paying for. Every time we go, I completely forget how to say no and end up with a giant pile of meat that I can't keep up with. It is so delicious though! When we were finished eating, we grabbed some hot chocolate (hello, 15 degrees) - and Devin and I snagged a dog bone for Cooper, of course. Then we headed to Josh and Amy's for awhile. It. Was. A. Blast. I forgot how much I love the Riverwoods at this time of year. When I worked at the Bath and Body Works down there 2 years ago, it was so fun to see everything going on and be a part of it - that was such a fun job! I miss it. Anyway... Christmas time. It's awesome. 

The 5th Date of Christmas

For the 5th Date of Christmas, Devin had to work late. Cooper and I hung out all night, and when Devin got home, we fell asleep to a Christmas episode of The Office. It's lame, but it's still a Christmas date! Plus, the Christmas episodes of The Office? Priceless. Those things are television-gold.

The 4th Date of Christmas

The 4th Date of Christmas was on Monday (i'm way behind. as usual). We spent it in the company of some of our very best friends, the Holdaway's, doing what we and the Holdaway's do best: classy dinner partying. They brought the caesar salad and Ryan made some homemade alfredo that was creamy perfection. Devin made his signature gnocchi (an exceptional batch, i might add). We included the traditional (and mine and danica's favorite) french bread dipped in olive oil / balsamic vinegar / herbs / spices, and had chocolate mousse cake for dessert. We even went a step further in classiness and had sparkling peach cider. It was a total success. And in true Katie fashion, by the time I remember I needed documentation of our date night, all that was left were dinner's remains. The puppies played on the floor the whole time, and we played a few rounds of bananagrams, until we all got sick of Ryan winning, and then we called it a night. One of the best CDP's ever! This date wasn't too christmas-y, but we were in the company of some of the coolest people we know, so it counts.

The Christmas Card

Here it is! Our official 2012 Christmas Card. I'm pretty sure everyone we mailed them out to should have them by now, but I wanted to share it here, too! Devin and I designed it ourselves, after I found a few different examples on pinterest that I loved. Devin was so patient with how picky I was being about the details and his illustrator skills are awesome! Not sure why it's sort of blurry - but oh well!  We sent a 5x7 card and a 4x6 picture to all our family and friends. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. Plus, we had fun! Merry Christmas! Love, The Ashby's :)

The 3rd Date of Christmas

Devin and I woke up sick this morning, so after a Walgreens run (of course, we had ZERO cold medicine in the house), we spent the entire day in bed. We finally got up around 3:30 and got some housework done. I made cookies and devin made dinner. While he was cooking, he asked for the 700th time if I wanted to try and see if I could find a Christmas movie on hulu plus or netflix for us to watch (since we don't have cable), so I finally let him open a christmas present early, which was a bunch of our favorite christmas movies. We ended the night with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (just like last year). Such a classic.

my week via iPhone

< the softest christmas socks

> this guy loves the snow

 

< chocolate crinkle cookies (recipe in previous post)

> some chamomile and mint tea

 

< my weirdo puppy

> still loving our christmas shoot

 

< does somebody want to explain to me when and why this happened?!

> i mean, he was just so little

 

< survived by diet coke

> 5 minutes with the toy and it's cappa was detated. (get it? the office? hehe)

< my very favorite are his sleepy cuddles. so affectionate

> 5 minute, 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies (recipe in previous post)