wait, what? christmas has already come and gone? and new year's?  somehow i missed this. ok not really. but it all happened so suddenly and so quickly that it sure feels like it.

colorado was a great visit. spent the first few days playing with my sisters, the kiddos and hanging out at the little mountain homestead. it was the first time that i had been there since the parents got back from fiji. while they were away, they had some friends living there and they did a lot of cool improvements on the house. including a better wood stove, new counter tops and my favorite:

i know- who cares. but i love the little details in hardware pieces. the bathroom sinks have these killer vintage pump style faucets and i am pretty sure that i washed my hands 37 extra times just to play with them. 

like these knobs:

they are so great. i just wish that i had more places to put them. and by more places i suppose that could mean furniture that is my own, not crappy particle board that comes with my overpriced apartment.

speaking of the little pieces, i also received this for christmas:

i had been wanting a large, goldtone, menswear watch for quite some time. but as they are far more pricey than my average time pieces (do $10 running watches count? or the watch of the person sitting next to me?) i have been hesitant/too cheap to invest.  i rarely wear anything more than a pair of pearl earrings and pinky ring for daily accessories. but this little piece adds something fashionably functional and i love her.

i also like little things like,

nasty phone pictures with baby bugaboos. we went on a few snow hikes, saw a couple movies, ate non stop, played wii until we were sore, read books, and took naps. it was fairly ideal. including having jared come spend time with us (thanks mama and daddy for flying us home). this was the first time that i have ever had a boyfriend (notice that is ONE word. meaning we like each other...not just a friend that is a boy...ok moving on) come to my house, meet my whole family and spend an entire 4 days with us. it all went smoothly and was a lot of fun seeing him interact with everyone. em and josh were especially gracious and spent a lot of time with us and catered to our boredom with a lot more food, kids, laughter and games. it was great.

oh and mama made these for part of our christmas feast:

olives, carrots and cream cheese... in penguin form. vegetable appetizer perfection. nancy is the best.

i will have to do another post about the rest of the christmas gifts that i received, because this was definitely a good year. and those gifts deserve a post for themselves. i was so happy to spend my holidays with my family. it was just what i needed. lots of love and jesus and food. what else do we really need.