Christmas

 Rich and I got to go home for Christmas, and we were so stoked to be able to spend the holidays with our families.  First we flew out to Cali and spent some time out there - hit up some shopping, our favorite prime rib joint, and Disneyland too.

 This was at The Grove in LA.  They had everything decked out in Christmas and I was LOVING it!!

 Disneyland was decked out in Christmas decor as well.  And California definitely beat Boston weather

Nightmare Before Christmas

 fish eye lens.  My dad said "you wouldn't want to run into that in a dark alley"

 i look like tweedle dum

this has Disney written all over it

you can't see it in this picture, but during the fireworks they start letting all of this faux snow out and you feel like a kid in a movie

Sully

 really neat to see - "world of color" in California Adventure

Kare and Nick on the Matterhorn

So, the rest of our vacation when we got home to Utah I was HORRIBLE with picture taking.  We were so busy running around that I guess I forgot how to take a picture, but at least I got a few. 

 Spent time over at Nikki and Steve's on Christmas Eve (Rich's sister and her husband)

Ian opening up a present

 These guys are the cutest (niece and nephews Ian, Caitlyn, and Alex)  Always a great time 

Dializ and Bob fed us to our heart's content with Rich and my favorite foods on Christmas Eve.  mmmmmmmm!!

And I didn't even get any pictures of Christmas Day.  What.

Hopefully we will be back to Utah sooner than later

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Holiday Fun

 Rich and I decided we were going to not be hacks for Thanksgiving and try to cook everything for real this time.  We for sure thought everything would be a disaster.  If anyone knows anything about us, cooking is not our forte.

Good news for us, everything was edible ;)

grandma hawker's cherry pie

Rich took the reigns on preparing the entire turkey and stuffing from scratch.  He cut up all the bread for the stuffing and even bought fresh herbs and the whole shabang.  See that little can on the counter?  That was Kensi's savory turkey dinner with gravy.  Oh yes we did 

 Rich's stuffing.  It was soooo good!

our tree - we can always hardly wait to put this up

if you look closely you can see a little black and white fuzzball underneath

Boston Opera House

At the Nutcracker

Man, I love the holidays!

L & J in Boston

 Linds and Jared came to Boston to visit us at the end of October - it was such a great time, and although the weather was freezing our faces off, it was still beautiful fall in New England.

 Boston Common

The "Chahls"

candid photos

 waiting for the T

 tickets to Salem

miss this girl!

type of folk you see scrappin around Salem on Halloween

Whitey ;) what a good costume

Witch Dungeon Museum

 eerie, wouldn't you say?

Joker.  And, I see you Linds

 Jared and Rich

 good costume pointers for next year

one of our favorite memories of Salem was when we took a stroll around the neighborhoods while people were celebrating Halloween night and kids were running around trick-or-treating.  It was straight off a movie set - I'll never forget it

 crowds poured in to downtown salem as the night crept further

 

Jared and Linds takin care of business at the subway station

 Another Halloween thing we tried was the jack-o-lantern spectacular in Rhode Island and it was unbelievable.  Thousands of illuminated pumpkins and all of these brilliantly artistic carvings.  I was in awe

All of these were really carved by hand -  no joke

this jack-o-lantern could have smashed me it was so big.  all of those tiny pumpkins around it?  Those are an averaged sized pumpkin someone would have on their porch - just to give you an idea of scale

same with this one

thanks again you guys :)  Such a great time!