Friday, November 28, 2014

Turkey Day 2014

As always, I am thankful for my family. This year, we all gathered at my parents’ house (every stinkin’ member of my mom’s side—23 in all!) for plenty of food, wine, and lots of family time. It was crazy, it was loud, and it was lovely.

 
Fam bam—with my cousin Caitlin...

and the ever-darling Nova, of course. She was Mimi's helper in the kitchen.

 

 
What a spread! Good work, Mama!
 
  The Scanlon fam
 
Love this little Boo-Boo!
And we all got to meet the newest member of the Christensen clan:


 
Baby Dean! Boy oh boy, is he darling! I kept telling my cousins to call Gerber—he could easily be the newest Gerber Baby. I mean....too cute!

Everybody loved Baby Dean…he got passed around to Uncle Lee…

 
and Uncle Clark.
With his Daddy-o, Chad.
We took a Christensen family picture—first one in a few years with everyone. With this many people, it turned out surprisingly well—eyes are open and almost everyone has a smile. Gosh, I love this family more than I can even say.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family and many blessings!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Someone's Turning Two!








 
Happy, happy birthday to my most favorite girl in the whole wide world!

Miss Nova Sophia is TWO today.

We celebrated her big day a few days early, on Sunday…

poor little bug had the “chicky pops” (chicken pox...poor babe!), so her big party was postponed.

We celebrated with a mini-party with the Scan fam, with presents and cupcakes, of course.





 
Xs and Os, and Happy Birthday Boo-Boo! MoMo loves you!

Monday, November 24, 2014

I Just Skipped Right Over September...and October...But Hello, November


Hello, hello! I join you again, fresh from several work trips and plentttty of Netflix. Can we talk about something for a hot minute? Revenge. Oh. Em. Gee. (Get it? “Em”? Emily? Unintentional, I assure you.) As per usual, I’m last to jump aboard the popular non-reality TV train, and so I stumbled upon this gem on my last trip to Taos, New Mexico. SO. GOOD. So forgive me for a second, while I get this out of my system: Victoria Greyson? Wicked Witch of 2012. (Also, she was in my favorite movie of all time, The Last of the Mohicans, so….this kind of weirds me out.) Declan Porter? Eric from Gossip Girl. And did anyone watch Greek? No, just me? (Another perk of this job—I go on Netflix binges and can’t stop.) Anyway. There’s a chick from Greek on this show, too! Argh! Add all this to the craaaaaaazy dramatic plot I can’t even follow (Emily? Amanda?), and you know what I’ll be doing for the next week. (It’s on while I’m typing this. I have a problem. Clearly.)


Okay, that’s out of my system. On to something more exciting—Taos, New Mexico! While on my unintentional blogging hiatus, I have traveled to several places (a la work, of course—no fun vacays or anything), but I was kind of getting sick about venting on the ol’ bloggity blog about Canada and this crazy job. (I’m sure anyone reading was, too.) So, let me tell you how refreshing this last trip was. I started training on a new product (after a year—but no, no, I’m being positive! Positive thoughts!), and with that comes traveling on your inaugural training trips with—wait for it—another person! Hooray! Finally, I had a companion to talk to and vent to and drink wine with (and oh yeah, train with) on a trip. My fellow trainer Brad and I had a successful trip in the pharmacy, and got to sneak in a few fun meals and sightseeing to boot.

Neither of us really knew what to expect of Taos, but were pleasantly surprised with the quaint little town and delish bistros. Here's part of the downtown…including the cutest bookstore, “Moby Dickens.”





The whale in the top hat? I die! Too cute!


Funny story about this pic...we ate at this super yummy wine bar, but it was freeeeezing. The hostess brought us over blankets, and Brad thought it was funny that I immediately wrapped mine around me. Hey, I'd rather be bundled up whilst I drink my vino, okay?


Ready for some food photos? I had the most delicious beet salad and sea bass at Lambert’s (thanks for the tip, Grandma! You did not disappoint!), and Brad chose the duck.






Our pharmacy we were training at was in an Indian Health Clinic on the Taos/Picuris reservation. We took advantage of our lunch break one day to go visit the last standing pueblo of the Taos tribe and the Royal Gorge. I have to say, while it was interesting to see these sites, seeing the reservation (and the packs of stray dogs) was a humbling experience.









Finally, we couldn’t get out of Taos without a few authentic New Mexican dishes, so we hit The Taos Inn for blue corn tortilla enchiladas and chile relleno. Soooooo good!




 
So glad I got to experience Taos and see its history (and try the cuisine!). Coming up this week—lots of celebrations, as Miss Nova turns the big TWO and our family comes together for Turkey Day. Have a great holiday week!