Christmas in St. Louis

WARNING---LONG POST! SORRY

Jason and I decided to go to my parents house this year for Christmas. Back in August my parents moved to St. Louis (which is a lot easier to get to than Dubuque). We arrived on Saturday evening (after a very short delay in Salt Lake). The next day, Sunday, we headed to the St. Louis Rams vs. the San Fransciso 49ers football game. My dad's company has box seats so that was quite a treat for my first NFL game. (and the 49ers won!!)

Jason and I before the game

Our $10/each treats (man were they good)

The "kids" after the football game

After the football game it was time to decorate the tree....

Everyone works on the tree

Missy investigates.....

The finished project (sorry blogger wouldn't let me rotate photo)

The next day we headed over to the ever popular Arch. It was quite the site and an amazing experience. We got soooo many good pics, it is hard to pick the best ones. Before going to the top of the arch we watched a movie about how the arch was made. What the endevor it was and no one died in the process!!

view of the arch from the other side of the Mississippi River

Jason hiding...

View of the arch from the courthouse

Now here are some of the views from the top of the arch:

Baseball stadium

downtown St. Louis

view of the Mississippi (notice the ice chunks)

view from the top--football dome off to the right

Jason and I at the "top"

The following day we went to the Science Museum of St. Louis. It was an AMAZING museum...one I wish we had in Salt Lake. There were hundreds of exhibits, all kinds of movies playing, hundreds of hands on activities, and it even was FREE!! The only photos I took were of the dinosaur exhibit and the film reel (room) before we saw our movie "Sharks" that was in a dome like theater (I forgot what it was called--not an IMAX). I wish we could have stayed longer cause there were so many exhibits we didn't get to see!

T-REX

The film for these movies was HUGE!!

For Christmas Eve, Jason and I went to the mall for a little bit (they had a Coach store) and than we went and saw "Yes, Man". It was hilarious. We than had the Avery traditional Christmas Eve dinner (steak, mashed potatoes, cheese cauilflower). We than opened our pj's (Jason and I even got some) and than headed out to look at lights. We even managed to find several neighborhoods with luminarias! One neighborhood was COVERED in them!! It made me miss being in Albuquerque. No pics from Christmas Eve.

The next morning we all slept in until about 10am. It was WONDERFUL! Jason and I were definetly spoiled for Christmas! Thank you all so much!! After opening presents we had our standard Christmas brunch (egg casserol by Shaun) and than headed out to some state park (don't remember the name) for a nice walk and than played games for the rest of the night.

Jason Christmas morning

Christmas brunch with the family

The missouri forrest

The boys go marching one by one....

Jason and I

The last day of our trip we headed down to a small town called St. Charles. It is where the Lewis and Clark mission started at. We went thru the small museum there and than headed over to the small town to do some wandering and some shopping. I was amazed at how friendly people are in the Midwest (much different than Utah). Jason and I had a great trip and arrived safely home (after a medical emergency on our flight and all flights in/out of Chicago being canceled) We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we look forward to the New Year and all the possibilities it brings!

Jason outside the museum. The Missouri River is in the back.

GO JAZZ!!

The Thursday before Christmas, Jason found tickets online to the Jazz game for $6 a piece!! So, Jason, me, Leslie, and Ben went to the game. The parking ended up being more than the ticket price (and we were one row from the last row in the stadium), but we all had a good time.
view of the court from our seats

My hubby can never take a "normal" photo

me...Crafty????

So since Jason and I decided to fly to my parents house this year for Christmas, I decided to try and be a little "thrifty" on some Christmas presents this year and make them myself. I thought they turned out pretty good for my first go at it....(and none of them took terribly long)
frame

frame

Magnetic bulletin board

picture frame

7 YEARS!!!

Today marks 7 years that Jason and I have been dating! Where the last seven years have gone I am not sure, but man have they been an amazing seven years!!!! We have been thru quite a bit in seven years from graduating college, our first real job, trips to Vegas, surprise trips to New York, being rear ended in California, multiple moves, family weddings, poker nights, 2 puppies, etc. I can't imagine how my life would be if he wasn't mine. He really completes me. My weakness is his strength. He is my best friend. He knows how crazy I am, but still loves me just the same. I love you honey! Here's to another 7 years!

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving complete with good food, good friends, and good family. We had a not so traditional Thanksgiving this year. We decided to stay at our house and host all the couples (or individuals) who didn't have any family in town to go to.

But before the buffet of food could start, Leslie and I ran a 6k race up City Creek Canyon, which is right by the capital. The race actually started on the east side of the capital. There were a few crazy people dresses up very festive. It definetly wasn't my best run, but it was still fun and a good way to start out a day of eating.

The state capital

The Indian and the Turkey...but seriously these guys finished so fast!

The race is done....time to EAT!

Everyone that came for dinner was in charge of some food item. Jason was in charge of the turkey. There was only one minor setback. He did NOT want to take the guts out of the turkey. He just about REFUSED to. It's a good thing my brother came down from Provo to eat with us cause he had the job to take out the "guts" and butter the turkey. I wish I would have gotten a picture of this special occasion, but I missed it. He would have made my mom proud. Here are the boys preparing the turkey:

Jason and Craig getting the turket ready

Jason stuffs the turkey

Craig cleaning out the turkey

In order to make sweet potato biscuits, you have to roll out the dough. Well, we don't have a rolling pin, but we do have wine bottles!!

Once everyone arrived we their assignment, we had quite the "feast!" Also, Ben and Leslie brought over Izzy for Dash and Gus to play with. By the time dinner was ready, they were too tired to even beg for food. They all sat and slept on the couch while we ate.

Our lovely turkey!! It turned out SOOO good!

Our feast!!

DIG IN everyone!! From left to right...Ben, Craig, Tanya, Mike, Ashley, Leslie

Izzy all tuckered out

Gus looks so comfy!

Dash is in his usual spot...

Dash's other favorite spot....

All tuckered out from the yummy food!!

I would just like to say that I am so thankful for my amazing life. My amazing families, my amazing friends, my fun loving dogs, my house, my job, and lastly (but not least) my amazing husband who loves me unconditionally. Happy Holidays everyone!!