Our first Christmas

Our first Christmas was really great -- started out with some cinnamon rolls and pumpkin roll for breakfast. An odd combination, I know... but Tony really wanted to have the pumpkin roll I made the day before. :)

It took a long time to open all of our gifts...

This is one of Tony's favs from his twin. SKYLINE!

I really enjoyed the double gift wrapping job from Gmma and Pa. haha :)

The aftermath.... way too much trash.

We headed over to Dan and Lana's for Christmas dinner... I made another turkey and an apple pie. Delicious!!

Before

After

This is what Tony was doing while I was busy baking... yes... those are earplugs. haha

We did a white elephant gift exchange at the Pas'. We got a portable radio and handcuffs.

Tony and Dan. We all sported PJ's on Christmas. It was my kind of day. :)

Lana and Dan

I had a complete lack of photos from the day so I stole these from Lana's blog. Thanks Lana! :)

The whole clan.

Christmas Eve

After church, Tony and I drove down to SLC to go ice skating at the Gallivan Center. It was an outside rink with lots of Christmas lights surrounding it.

Even though I was completely terrified, it was a lot of fun. Tony was great at holding me up the entire time. :) Maybe my third time ice skating will be better...

Gift Overload

We decided that we may have gone slightly overboard with the Christmas gifts this year. It seriously looks like we have 5 kids!! Tony even pulled the tree skirt out quite a bit so you could see it underneath all the presents. he-he :)

Needless to say, we're super excited about the Holiday, but wishing we could spend it with everyone in Ohio.

Cookies!

Tony and I spent Friday night and part of Saturday morning baking and decorating cookies...

Sugar Cookies, Lebkuchens, Peanut Butter cup cookies, dark chocolate truffles and chocolate covered pretzels.

Cutting sugar cookies!

Rolling truffles in some walnuts.

My favorite... peanut butter cookies with reese's peanut butter cups inside. YUM!

Lots of tempered chocolate for dipping!

I iced... Tony decorated.

I think it's a rule that there has to be really ugly cookies. :)

Tony's fav - lebkuchens!

Zoo Lights!

We went to the Hogle Zoo down in Salt Lake City last weekend.... definitely not as good as Columbus or Cincinnati, but it was fun just the same.

More decorations!

Tony working on day shift this week has been so awesome! I love actually getting to see my husband for more than 20 minutes a day.... PLUS we've been quite productive this week! We decided to actually make a few ornaments for the tree. We made cinnamon-applesauce ornaments for our Christmas tree. They smell so yummy.... Here are some pictures of the finished product!

I found my hobby.

I seriously love cooking. It could be something complicated or something totally simple. It helps to have a husband that will eat pretty much anything too. :) Some things I've made this week...

Apple Pie - My first time baking a pie completely from scratch. IT WAS SO GOOD! I can't wait to make it again! Here's a picture of the last piece. It went really quickly. haha :)

Next was some potato soup with kielbasa. It's one of my favorites... and it makes for really yummy leftovers. (sorry, no picture... it's already gone!)

An easy dinner was next.... PIZZA QUICKIES!

Brought me back to my childhood when this was all I knew how to "cook." :) So simple yet SO yummy.

And last night was one of Tony's favorite dishes.... goetta and eggs!

We (yep...Tony helped me!) made a ton, but I don't mind because it is delicious!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

Needless to say.... there was an eventful trip to the thrift store to purchase our fine clothing. :)

Dan and Tony.... oh so tough in front of the pretty tree.

Christmas Time Is Here.... Happiness and Cheer...

CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!!

...We ended up buying everything for the tree (I LOVE Hobby Lobby!) ... Everything we thought of making didn't really match the ornaments I wanted. (I know what you're thinking, "Chelsea wanted to match something?!?" I don't know what got into me. :) Anyway... I love our jewel toned theme. It looks so pretty in our living room!

Side note: Tony picked out the topper. he-he :)

Tony starting to put together our tree. 7 1/2 footer!

The last piece of the puzzle...

All done!

Thanksgiving 2010

Let's just say we have a ton of leftovers. I don't think I'll ever learn how to cook for just the two of us. It was my first time cooking an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself and I must say, it turned out delicious. :) I made: Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Salad and Pumpkin Pie.

We've got moves

check it out:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/juhdFQNZs2ri0qLU

Food Glorious Food

One thing we miss about Cincinnati is our favorite restaurant, Al-Madina. This hole in the wall Indian Market has quite possibly the best chicken sandwhich I've EVER eaten. It's so simple, but packed with flavor. This past weekend we decided to try making it ourselves. Now we don't have a tandoor to cook the chicken in, so we just put it on skewers and grilled it. We bought some naan from the grocery store and heated it up in the oven...

Next, I thinly sliced some onion and green peppers along with some tomatoes. I also made some garlic-yogurt sauce (so yummy) and bought some sriracha sauce.

The final product:

It didn't taste EXACTLY like Al-Madina, but it was darn close. Savory-Spicy yumminess. Mmm!