Thanksgiving 2011 (a.k.a longest post ever)

We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year. It was just myself, Brad and my bro-in-law Jeremy.

A quiet Thanksgiving is always kind of weird to me.

I always get a sense of nostalgia this time of year. I used to spend all the holidays at my grandparent’s house. With aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and all of my 11 siblings there. The house was full of NOISE. Children running around playing. People talking over one another. Beer. Football. Laughter. Disfunction. Chaos.

I miss every detail.

However, I do not want anybody to think I am unhappy this year. I was unhappy last year because I had to spend the holidays without my beloved. No, I am nostalgic but very very happy.

This is our 4th Thanksgiving together and my first time cooking a legit Thanksgiving dinner.

And. I. Rocked. it.

I spent all day cooking in sweatpants and a yoga top. I didn’t put on normal clothes until 5 minutes before the turkey came out of the oven. The only sounds were my music in the kitchen and the football game in the living room. I delegated all the tedious tasks I usually dread to Brad. Every few minutes I took a cutting board out to the living room with instructions on how I wanted the fruit/vegetable cut, and he brought it back a few minutes later done exactly as I had asked. It was completely stress-free.

Everything turned out great.

Behold….

...my excitement over my first turkey ever...

...my turkey-carver husband and me...

...my brother in-law looking like he wants to start without us...

..my little Alaskan family...

… and my turkey-eating husband :)

The day after Turkey day (or recovery day as I call it) we went skiing.

Saturday was a bit lazy for me. The boys however, stayed busy building a snow cave.

After the snow-cave, they apparently still had a little energy left over because they wrestled for like five minutes. I should have taken some pictures, but I was just sitting on the stairs watching it, afraid to get in their way. I saved Jer’s glasses that were hanging off his face but was unable to save him when they rolled under the table and a chair fell on his face. By the end, they were sweaty and breathing heavily, and smiling.

The battle wounds.

Here’s just a few more random pictures of...

Jeremy shoveling my driveway.

The Charlie Brown Christmas tree on our trail.

Nali’s big stick.

And the view from my street.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Bouldering

This is one of our favorite hobbies for when the weather is absolutely miserable. We also belay some, but don’t have any of the gear and don’t always feel like spending the 30 bucks to rent it all. Obviously, we're amateurs and should probably have something holding us up besides our weak spaghetti arms (I’m actually just talking about myself there). I had a few videos but couldn’t get them to load. A sad story really because one of them was quite funny. Lets just say it’s about 2 minutes long and Brad is trying to tell me where to put my left foot. He’s as hopelessly impatient as I am confused. Anywho, all I have are these regular pics. Enjoy.

Our climbing styles couldn’t be more different. I climb slowly and meticulously. Note that in most of my pictures, I am staring at my feet. Brad's like a little spider monkey. Seriously, I can’t get any good pictures of him because he’s so fast!

I have discovered the internet...

And how I love it.

I have discovered that the world wide web is actually the entire world in my computer. Full of brilliant things, countless of recipes, amazing pictures, witty quotes, how to guides, anything you could ever want. Usually, I am too ADD to remain stimulated for any prolonged period of time. Seriously. Just try watching a movie with me. I will get distracted, do something else for a while, then come back and try watching again; only now with tons of questions because I just don’t get it anymore. And I don’t understand why you’re yelling at me to shut up and WATCH. But I digress.

I joined that site stumble-upon a month ago (I know, it’s like 500 years old in internet years but that just shows how much of a novice I am with cyberspace) and it has quickly started sucking hours out of my life. It’s awesome, you simply save a few of your interests and click stumble. If you like what you see, click like and eventually it adapts its webpages for you. Stumble upon over-stimulates me. Every time I start thinking that I should stop and tackle those filthy dishes, or fold that pile of laundry that literally covers the entire queen mattress in our spare bedroom, or think I should go for a run, or do some yoga, I then think to myself, what if this next stumble is the greatest thing I have ever seen? And thats it, the suspense hooks me. All those other things can wait.

This is my world right now. Stumble. Like. Stumble. Stumble. Stumble. Like. Stumble...

Brad keeps makin' fun of me, calling me an addict, but you know what? All he does with his time is channel surf (thats right he doesn’t even watch TV) and play his new batman game, which honestly looks a little lame. But he doesn’t even know… I’ve been way more productive than him, I just learned a new use for lemon rinds, an awesome recipe for white cheddar mac and cheese, and the Dalai Lama’s 18 rule for living… So he can suck it. I’m sorry Brad, that was rude. What I meant was, you’ll shut up if you want any of this awesome mac and cheese that I’m totally planning on making just as soon as I can get up.

However, I can’t get up right now because I have a beautifully hideous, stinky, old, cancer ridden boxer that I’ve had since I was 14 years old sleeping (and snoring really loud) on the couch next to me, her head in my lap. And I have my laptop balanced on that head. And I'm totally enjoying this moment with her.

Anywho, I am planning on limiting myself to 15 minutes of stumbling each day. So I can spend my time figuring out pinterest. Just kidding… Not really.

Have a good day internet world.