Skipped Thankgiving

Since I never posted anything about Thankgiving...I thought I would throw in a few pictures.
Justin and I spent a week in Utah. On Thanksgiving day, my family came to his Dad's house and we spent the afternoon together. It was a fun and, I'm assuming, rare time.

Top to Bottom
Hai Minh & Brad
Kay, Carol & Judy
Sabrina, Luke, Isabel Ruby, Natalie
Matt, Marissa, Tristin, 1/2 of Justin

San Antonio

Justin and I, along with his Dad and Judy, went to San Antonio on Friday Dec. 29th. There was a pretty crazy thunderstorm on our way down there. We went to the San Antonio temple, which is gorgeous inside. We then went to the Alamo (pictured) and the Riverwalk. We had terribly overpriced and horrible Mexican Food there...but the Christmas lights were still up and it was really pretty. The Alamo bowl was the next day...Texas vs. Iowa...so all the fans, band members, parents, etc. were there getting pumped up. It was crowded but fun to be in on the excitment. We didn't even know who won until Sunday...go Texas Longhorns. We had a nice evening with great company and good converstation.

No empty stockings here

So this was the extent of our Christmas. Justin and I filled each other's stocking for under $20 each. We figure that our house was our Christmas present to each other. Christmas Eve was spent watching movies after church and reading the scriptures of Christ's birth. We sang a few Christmas carols at the appropriate times. Christmas morning Justin made breakfast and we checked out our stockings. More movies and relaxing. Justin did work a little...he can't help himself. It was a nice, quite and memorable Christmas.

Pretzel Salad

My favorite thing that I made this Christmas was Pretzel Salad. It is really easy and so good. My step-mother-in-law gave me this recipe because Justin really likes it. Top: all the ingredients separated and below that is the delicious result. Here is the recipe:

Pretzel Salad

2 C crushed pretzels
3 T sugar
3/4 C margarine (melted)
1 (6 oz.) pkg. raspberry gelatin
2 C boiling water
1 (6 oz.) crushed pineapple w/juice
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen raspberries
1 (8 oz.) coolwhip
1 C sugar
8 oz. cream cheese

Mix pretzels, sugar and margarine and pat in 9x13 in. pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 7 min.

Mix gelatin w/ water and add pineapple and raspberries. Chill until softly set (leave out on counter). Mix cool whip, sugar and cream cheese. Spread over cooled crust and then add gelatin mixture on top. Cool.

Red & Grey

One of the first rooms we got set up was our office. I painted it a grey color called Porpoise and accented it with red vases, pen cans, lamps, etc. Justin is so happy to have so much space. Our walk-in closet serves as a "shipping room." The desk shown is mine and the window with the leaning Live Oak is to our backyard.

Power tools

Justin's art studio didn't have insulation in the attic so we put it in today. The insulation sat for a week before we actually made time to install it. We had exactly the right amount...to the inch even. I didn't think I'd get too involved but I even used the staple gun. I used the electric drill we have this week too...power tools give me a sense of...well, power.

Sack o' Potatoes and Flannel Board

More fun

PuNkins

Katie made a delicious pumpkin bread. I made apple dip for Fugi and Granny Smith apples. Laurel let us borrow her pumpkin carving stuff and we had so much fun.

red umbrellas

MY daily painting...
but I'm not going to commit to the daily part. I just thought it would be fun.

Oahu

Natalie & Justin at Pipeline

Justin at Manoa Falls

Kenny & Tristin Duncan...Natalie

My favorites

Isabel...Sylvia...Luke

Sisters

Sabrina and I always forget to get our picture taken together
so this will have to do. Do we look like twins?

Sylvia turns One

We had a party for Sylvia.

Lunch

My family had lunch with me in Century City.
Natalie, Lee Sr., Lee Jr., Kay, Carol, Jean

Austin

Austin sky, Austin Lake, Austin downtown, Vern and Natalie, Natalie at St. Edwards Park

Our new home

Justin and I will move to Austin, TX on Dec. 1st. We bought a perfect 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a studio in the back yard for Justin. He doesn't need to take up 1/3 of the living room anymore. We'll both like that. We'll be sad to leave family and friends in Los Angeles but Austin is such a cool city. We're really excited to live there.

Labor Day

Breakfast on Labor Day. What else do you do with fresh strawberries?

Helen Ruth

After the funeral service
(Natalie, Lee J. Oldham Sr. , Justin)

Helen Ruth Oldham
March 3, 1914 - August 23, 2006

Blue silk

Here I am prepping my sister, Sabrina, to be Justin's next painting subject. Her daughter, Isabel, wanted to pose just like her mother.

Palm tree cake

My friend Katie is a great hostess. She threw a birthday Luau for her husband Spencer (not pictured) with great decorations and even made a palm tree-shaped cake. She thought of everything. Justin didn't cooperate very well when Katie and I decided to get some pictures, as you can see by his expression.

Austin, TX

Here we are downtown Austin, TX. We just saw the bats fly out from underneath Congress Ave. bridge which is behind us. It was 104 degrees F most of the time. The city is clean and full of fun things to do. The people are nice and we really didn't see very many cowboy hats. We loved it. That shining light in the top right corner of the photo is a street light.

She's Gone

Justin and I said good bye to Sam and Tatum this week. They're moving to Chicago. It was sad. We got free pizza when we went over there because they bought it for those who helped them pack up the truck. Justin helped more than I did...I only carried 2 bags and 2 chairs. Hopefully they'll come back to California and we'll karaoke again. I'm going to miss Tatum.