Out with a bang

Wanna know what I did on NYE? Celebrated Christmas for the second time, of course. I must say that is one nice thing about having families in different states---multiple celebrations spread across a few days! Since both Nate and I had to work on New Years Day [boooooo!] we were forced to have a very "old" New Years, including hitting the hay before the ball dropped. Such old hags, aren't we? At least there were presents involved in our low key evening.

Speaking of presents, look at this baby
My mother-in-law is the bomb and bought us a KA mixer! We registered for one but never received it and I decided it wasn't a priority to buy for ourselves. But secretly I've always wanted to own one of these bad boys simply to make me feel more like Martha Stewart. Maybe it will inspire me to bake more often, right? It's so freaking cool....cookies are calling my name.

Also, you may have noticed that all of us are decked out in winter gear. Nate, me, Jon [N's bro], and Emily [Jon's girlfriend] all received a ridiculous amount of warm attire and I'm pretty sure REI's stock went up strictly because of our family. I counted NINE jackets/vests/pullovers/fleeces between the four of us. I mean, seriously?
That pimped out fuzzy brown thing on the right side is my new vest and I'm obsessed with it, along with my new long sleeved fleece. But Nate defnitely took the cake with five new outdoorsy garmets [plus two more from his Missouri Christmas!] It's a like a sickness, you guys, he just can't get enough Patagonia---and now he'd died and gone to REI heaven.

Speaking of heaven and other non-worldly things, please look at these cheese heads.
Nate got an old school Packers tee shirt and Jon's bumper sticker says, "And on the eighth day God created the Packers." So incredibly red neck....I love it!

I also love our new book from Jon:
Out of the 150 things listed Nate and I like at least 100 of them, making us extremely white. For instance, #1 is coffee. Duh! Then there is studying abroad, tea, international travel, microbreweries, marathons, brunch, apple products, hardwood floors, not having cash, and scarves. Yes, yes, and yes! The book is freaking hilarious and highly sarcastic if you can't tell already. In fact, I just can't resist quoting #27 right here for your entertainment.

#27 Marathons
In life, there are certain milestones of physical activity that can define you: a 40 yard dash in under 5 seconds, a 40-inch vertical leap, and so forth. To a white person, the absolute pinnacle of fitness is to run a marathon. Not to win, just to run.

White people will train for months, telling everyone who will listen about how they get up early in the morning, how they run when it rains, how it makes them feel so great and gives them energy.

If you find yourself in a situation where a white person is talking about a marathon, you must be impressed or you will lose favor with them immediately. Running for a certain length of time on a specific day is a very important thing to a white person and should not be demeaned.

See what I mean? Hilarious. I love making fun of myself.

Okay, let's move onto our dogs [which is #53 in the book, of course]. Here are Sammy and Henry looking cute with their new toys.
Here is Henry in front of my in-laws' tree.
And this is what Henry did while we opened presents.
Then he did the tripod pose on the back of the couch.

What a fun NYE/second Christmas. Hello 2009!

Also, I never posted about our stint in St. Louis over Christmas, but Kristen's shower was amazing. This was only part of the food spread and I'm drooling just looking at it now.

Then there was the adorable white Christmas tree that held each ornament we gave to Kristen. Do you see the massive number of presents down there?

Kristen got some adorable gifts at her shower like this apron. She will be quite the little homemaker someday:)

And it's official: Kim is leaving for Korea tomorrow! Their contract goes until February 2010 and they might even stay longer to travel around Europe. The cliff notes version is this: Kim was born in Korea and adopted by her American parents shortly afterwards. She never had contact with her birth parents until our senior year in college, when her birth father contacted her. He does not speak English and she doesn't speak Korean but they started to communicate. The first time they met was when he flew in for her wedding. Stop for a minute and imagine that.....a little stressful for the bride-to-be, no? It was awesome seeing them reunite at the rehearsal dinner and it was quite emotional as you could guess.

They continued to stay in contact and her birth father wanted her to come and visit him in Korea. Kim and her husband Mark decided that in order to fully understand Kim's Korean culture they would live there for a whole year, teaching English to little Korean kids. They had to sell their house in STL, quit their jobs, get someone to watch their dog for a whole year [probably the hardest part, right Kimmie?], and leave America behind for the experience of their lives. I am SO proud of them for doing this and cannot wait to hear about this journey in a far away land. I am going to miss Kim dearly but at least she has a blog to keep us all updated. It should be a fun ride if you want to tag along:)

So this is the last picture of our 'Fab Five' until 2010. I cannot believe it:( And of course, two of the five have their eyes closed which is totally typical.
And finally, let's get back to some dog pictures again, shall we?

Here is Henry and one of his best STL buddies, Bailey.

Henry traveling in the car, totally ticked as usual.
And my new favorite pic of our little man. Again, ticked.
What a way to leave 2008 in our dust: a fabulous trip down south to see family and friends, followed by a typical northern Christmas on NYE.

I am blessed, and am so grateful for it all. Bring it on, 2009!