Monday, February 14, 2011

Holiday update....Finally!

Well, I am behind as usual but better late than never, right? We had such a great Holiday season, I just haven’t had time to update our blog!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was a little different this year. We stayed in Omaha, but Matt’s parents came out for the week so we had some family around. We had dinner with our friends here in Omaha. Matt volunteered to smoke a Turkey on his new smoker (well relatively new). He got up at 3:00 AM to get started. He was up every couple of hours putting more charcoal in the smoker….it was only 7 degrees that day, so it took some work to keep up the temperature. But...all of his hard work paid off…the turkey was AMAZING. We will never go back to the oven again. We had a wonderful dinner with wonderful friends. We had so much good food and even better company. We are so grateful for the wonderful people we have around us in Omaha.

























































































Did I mention the turkey was AMAZING!!!

After dinner we went with Matt's parents and some of our neighbors to the lighting ceremony and Christmas concert in downtown Omaha. It was a great way to kick off the season.









Christmas

For Christmas we also stayed in Omaha. It was the first time I have not been with my family on Christmas, but we still had a good time. Luckily a lot of our friends and neighbors also stayed around so we had lots of fun and activities during the break. For Christmas Eve we had the traditional Jacobsen Christmas Eve dinner and Program. Matt did a great job running the show. Our friends the Hjorths came over as well as a couple that were investigating the church. As sad as it was to be away from family it was a great night that will always be a cherished memory.

Matt and I had opening a few presents Christmas morning and then had breakfast with the Hjorths. I attempted to make Danish Pastry (a tradition in Matt’s family). I have a lot of work to do to perfect it but at least I have now attempted. To end the day, we had Christmas dinner with some friends.

























Matt got me a Bosch mixer (I was so excited) and I got him ticket to see Wicked and Les Miserables tickets.









For New Years Eve we had our friends, the Millers, over for dinner and games. Given it was negative 5 that day, we didn’t do much outside.

It was a nice to have time off work and Matt enjoyed his two weeks off of school. Like always the time went too fast and we were back to work and school before we knew it.

Other Random things….in November Matt and I ran the “Living History Farm” 9 mile cross country race in Des Monies Iowa. The course runs through rivers and cornfields and all sorts of crazy stuff. It was lots of fun but cold at the end. Matt beat me by a long shot, but I can’t remember our exact times. It was definitely a change from other races I have done but would do it again.











































New Hampshire
I also had to go on a work trip to New Hampshire. It made me fall in love with New England. I missed the fall foliage by a few weeks, but it was still beautiful. We stayed in a bed and breakfast (it was the only hotel in town) in a little town called Hancock. On one of my morning runs I had to stop at the church and cemetery, which were both build in the late 1700’s. It was interesting to see the history. I can wait to take Matt back there when we have time to explore. Our last day we left work early to go to the coast for dinner. We literally got to the beach about 5 minutes after sunset so we didn’t get to see much (expect the enormous houses along the way) but the shrimp was amazing and worth the drive!




















This hotel was so cute, the picture doesn't do it justice.





























Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower for one of my neighbors in December. I decided to do something a little crafty (this is a big step for me) and made a diaper cake. I turned out okay (not as good as the ones on the internet) but for my first time I think it was okay. Their cute little baby was born right before Christmas.



















































Well, that about covers through December....and it only took until February to get done.!!