Sunday, November 27, 2011

So Thankful

Preparations have been underway for several days.
We have family and friends coming over for Thanksgiving dinner :)
 A short drive to the local market and soon the mini is overflowing 
with good things to eat. Let the feasting begin. We are so blessed.

We enjoyed a houseful of dear family and friends this year.  We had three delicious turkeys to choose from and scrumptious sides of all of our favorites.  Missing those loved ones who were far away.
Here are a few photos that tell our Thanksgiving story.  I was so busy preparing and enjoying that camera didn't get picked up too much.  We had 30+ for dinner and most everyone stayed at least one night. We had the best time playing Pictionary Thanksgiving evening.  We also had some great "funniest home videos" to share.  We all not only had very healthy helpings of delicious food - but our share of laughter as well.  Sweet memories to tuck away.  The last holiday for awhile with our nephew, Tyler who leaves shortly for his mission in San Antonio.  We were truly blessed.



It was so wonderful to have two ovens this year!!
Cute nut cups...remembering our Pilgrim Ancestors, the Whites.





zzzzzzz  right where Grandpa and Grandma should be after a lovely meal with family.


And the pies...
Coconut Cream, Pumpkin, Apple, Berry,
Banana, Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake and  Lemon Meringue
  

We deemed Grandma Joan's Berry Pie as the winner.  
There was only one small sliver left.  
Hey...who got that last piece??

And now our house is very quiet. 
We certainly enjoyed having it full to the brim!
The studio was well broken in.
Hope you can come visit soon!!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

A Bowl Full of Jelly

Ahhh...Grape Jelly.  I love it and have never made it...until this week!
Mark picked some yummy concord grapes at his parents house last week.
If only you could scratch and sniff the amazing aroma wafting around our house.
mmmmmmmm




Monday, November 14, 2011

eleven eleven eleven

Lunch. We love trying new little eateries.  Love it!
If you are ever in the neighborhood, give Penny Ann's a try!
The Reuben was delish.  We shared the sandwich with a side salad so we 
would have some room for PIE!

 This is Cindy.  She is from New York and has slowly coaxed all of her siblings out west.  The cafe is named after her sister Penny.  It's a family endeavor.  The brothers are in the kitchen and her sister-in-law bakes all of the pies. We tried the Banana Cream and a Heavenly Peppermint-fluffy delight with a sweet layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom.  Oh my. 
It's on Main Street about 1800 South in SLC. It's hard to see as it is adjacent to a big apartment complex. We wondered if it was once a barber shop :)  Anyway - Cindy was a delight and we will be back for seconds!!

That was a sweet beginning to our 11.11.11 get-away.  We sure had a nice time.  Funny that we even need to get away...there are really just the two of us now.  But there is something about a new perspective and freshness when you can escape.  Even if it is just a few hours south. We chose to spend our weekend celebrating our quirky little love of 11 11 at Sundance.  We were falling in love those many years ago when the clock either said 11:11 or 1:11.  And we took our fair share of drives and hikes up Provo Canyon. It was just the perfect place. Low key, memory provoking and not too far away.

On our way down we stopped at IKEA for cabinets.  We are finally getting the kitchenette up and going in the studio.  So exciting!!  The little cabinets are awesome!  Hopefully we will have some photos later this week. I will tell you that they are that spunky red color we love! Hoping to have it all finished for Thanksgiving. 

We stopped in at a Brick Oven Take out.  Now that is a place full of crazy fun memories for us!  We loved hanging out there with friends back in our dating days.  So much fun and laughter...it was the perfect dinner to tote up to our little cottage in the woods.







 We woke up and drove up to the Draper Temple.  
Quite simple on the outside, but inside it is so beautiful!  
The gorgeous dark wood and painted murals.  
We had a sweet morning there.






 Our little cottage in the woods...We stayed in the north side.  Really sweet little place. 
Below our simple and tasty lunch. 


 We opened a fun package form our cute family in Maryland! How thoughful were they?
Goodies from Trader Joes :)  
We loved it! Especially the note and art from Liam.





Loved the quilt on our bed!  It was made from beautiful crushed velvet. Really pretty and cozy.  
The place was filled with antiques! The toilet was awesome!  Blogging about a toilet??  
I thought the old script inside was very cool.  No idea how old it was but we 
had never seen nor used one this old.  
What a blessing plumbing like this must have been back in the day!


We enjoyed walking around the grounds of Sundance...very pretty.  We so love being in the mountains.
As you can see, we carried around our Portuguese Phrases books.  We are trying to have some
understanding of very new language before our big trip.



Always thinking of three special little ones and so thrilled to be
getting a tiny one new so very soon!


We enjoyed a dinner by the fireplace at the Foundry Grill and movie in Redford's screening room.
The Conspirator. If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it! 
We learned things (well, especially me!)we didn't realize about the assassination
 of Abraham Lincoln. Sad story, but very interesting history.

And before you knew it, our sweet get away was over.  
11 11 11
Hope you all had a great one!



Sunday, November 6, 2011

Birthdays


 Happy Happy Birthday, Janell.  
Hope this year will find sweet things for you.
We miss you and love you so very much!


Ahh...where are the years going?


We celebrated a day early with Camber
19...wow!
We had lunch at California Pizza -
(Jake left before we took the photo)
then some shopping at the Gateway.
Hope you will have sweet year, too. Hugs!


and Happy Halloween, Em!
We had a quiet holiday this year without you!
Looks like Brazil is treating you well xo