As Dustin puts it....

...One year older and balder.

Dustin turned 28 this weekend and we kept the festivities pretty low key, just as he prefers them. Could we be anymore different? Happy Happy Birthday!

New Years in Mexico City

We decided to go to Mexico City for New Years weekend to visit Dustin's brother Josh and his wife Amanda and their kids Zach and Tyson. Even though we were there for a little over 24 hours, we had a great time eating Mexican food, going to an art market and spending time with family. We even had time to stop by the Mexico City Temple and walk the grounds on the way to the airport. This is the second time we have been down to visit and we love it! It's a really fun city. Thanks again for letting us crash at your place Josh and Amanda.

Just now posting about Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in Seattle with all my family. Lots of food, games, movies, and rock band!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I love Christmas trees, even though we just have a small artificial one. I hate when the holidays are over and we take the tree and decorations down and our apartment feels so plain and bare.

We laughed, I cried. We loved this movie, Sandra, and the fact that it was a true story. It was so good! And worth the $10 per ticket which I can't say for a lot of movies.

LOVE Archie! His Christmas album is good and not too 'teen pop' like you might expect. My parents are the ones that told me about it and it has been repeat in my car for a week. My Snuggie! This definitely comes in handy when you have a husband that is the most warm blooded person on the planet. I think Dustin starts to break out in a sweat just looking at my Snuggie. I'm always cold on the other hand so it's just what I need. Don't be jealous of my pink Snuggie.

What are your favorite things??

Thanksgiving

The day after Dustin and I flew in from Paris our Sherwood family from Missouri came to us for Thanksgiving weekend. Dustin's parents, Dustin brother Jake, his wife Rachelle and their 3 cute boys were kind enough to make the drive here this year. I have never planned or hosted a Thanksgiving dinner before but I had lots of help and all the food turned out so good. Thanksgiving morning we decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It was a perfect day to go because it wasn't too crowded and everyone, especially the little boys, had a great time.

All the 'big boys'

Pete, Joni and Kayden looking around in the glass tunnel

Jake and DJ touching the slimy sting rays and sharks

The brothers. (We sure missed Josh and Amanda and their kids in Mexico)

The whole gang

After the Aquarium we went straight back to our apartment and started cookin'! We made a ham (no turkey this year), mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, Rockwood's favorite cheese ball, and Joni made and brought pumpkin and chocolate pie. I'm getting hungry thinking about it again.

The last night they were here we went to downtown Newnan to see Santa. Unfortunately the line wrapped around the block and was hardly moving. So we walked around for a little bit, looked at the lights and went home for hot chocolate, leftover pie and a Christmas movie.

The rest of the time was spent just relaxing, shopping, watching movies, playing with the little boys, golfing(for the big boys), and I took the girls into the salon to do some hair. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family to spend the holidays with and were grateful to the Sherwoods for coming.

These are too good (and cute) not to share...

These are so festive for the holidays and so yummy. They really do melt in your mouth.

Peppermint Meltaways

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1-1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

Cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1" balls. Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are very lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Frosting:

2 TBSP butter, softened

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 TBSP milk

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

2-3 drops red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies/candy canes

Beat butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, milk, extract and food coloring and beat until smooth. Spread over completely cooled cookies. Sprinkle with crushed candies.

Paris-Day One

As soon as we landed in Paris we took the metro straight into town to the Louvre. We were there for hours and hours and still didn't see everything there was to see.

After the Louvre we made the very long walk to our hotel.

Our hotel was just a few blocks away from the Eiffel Tower, so we were able to walk by it at least once a day.

Our hotel was very small and quaint. Dustin did a great job picking it out. I loved the turquoise glass counter top in the bathroom.

Outside of the hotel.

Out and about in the streets of Paris.

I would say that the Eiffel Tower isn't much taller than the Space Needle but the base of the Tower was enormous and so substantial.