Christmas cards?

I love getting other people's Christmas cards. Like, I REALLY love it. And the longer the letter that goes along with it the better! I even like to read the ones my parents get from people I don't really know. So with how much I love them, how is it that I can never bring myself to send them out? Not even email them? Sigh. I don't know. Someday I'll get my act together and send them out. But this year I figured I would just update my long overdue blog instead. So let's jump back a few months, because lots has happened...

Granby Colorado

This summer we had a wonderful Giraud family reunion in Granby, Colorado. It was wonderful! I lived in Colorado until I was 18 years old so it was like coming home for me. I didn't realize how much I had missed my beautiful sunshine state until we landed at the Denver airport. I walked off the plane and immediately got all misty eyed and choked up. There's nothing particularly lovely about the airport that got me all emotional, but just seeing the mountains through the windows...breathing that Colorado air...knowing my feet were standing in the state that my heart will always love...it just made me really happy. I love Colorado. 

Besides all the beautiful scenery:

There was so much fun to be had with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles! Here's the group:

And here's some pictures of the little girls shirts they decorated so beautifully:

Uncle Kellen, "Right here, Emery! Come stand right here!" Emery wasn't having any of that stand in line business

"Good job, that's it, just stay there for 1 second, just stay...there..."

And she's off!

"I've got places to go and there are adventures to be had!"

"Such as this."

"And this!"

One adventure we all took was in Rocky Mountain National Park up to the Holzwarth Homestead. It was fun learning about a family who "took on the mountain" and tried to carve out a life in the woods.  I think that Gavin might love a life like that. He looked pretty happy dressing up in their clothes...

It was a such a great trip. Here's a few more pictures that I have to post because my nieces face CRACKS me up!

FHE Temple Trip

For our family night activity a few weeks ago we took a trip to the Houston temple to walk around and enjoy the grounds. I don't know why we didn't get any pictures of us in front of the temple, but here's a few random shots!

The group:

Emery contemplating the truths of eternity and the beauty of forever families:

And now she's trying to swim in the fountain:

Here's a shot of the entryway:

A shot of the steeple:

Garage sale finds

Whitney and I went garage-saleing on Saturday and hit the JACKPOT! We stopped at 3 sales and practically filled the van with our treasures. One was an estate sale and we scored so many awesome kids toys for cheap. It was the BEST garage sale trip I've ever had. One of the favorite things I found was this train set. It was filling 2 boxes and looked kind of chaotic but I could tell there were some really cool pieces (see the clock tower and windmill?). It was $10, which for a garage sale made me wonder if it was worth it, but I took the chance, bought it, and I am SO happy I did. I had Gavin sit down with me the other night and try to sort through what I bought. 

 Here's the chaos all dumped out:

Here it is after a few minutes of piecing together what we have:

Here's another shot:

See that frame in the background of the last picture? Scored that for $1 at a sale. The picture doesn't do it justice, it is so pretty. 

So, apparently I have a couple of sets of a FisherPrice GeoTrax train set. It doesn't have the remote controlled engine, but it does have the remote and a bunch of push trains. This is no sissy train track people, it is the REAL DEAL. Eventually I think I'll buy a new engine car because I think Emery will really like it (and I think Gavin will too, let's be honest). We're planning on giving it to her at Christmas, maybe even setting it up around the Christmas tree! Ooooh, so fun!

Look Mom!

I was putting on mascara the other day, when I ran off to answer my phone. I came back to find Emery hiding in the closet like this:

She actually did a fairly good job of applying it...until she started brushing it all over her feet, hands, and legs. Haha, what a cutie-pie! I'm just glad it wasn't nail polish!

Hatch Peppers

Have you ever cooked with hatch peppers? I hadn't heard much about them until a few weeks ago when I started seeing them EVERYWHERE in the stores: hatch pepper salsa, hatch pepper jelly, hatch pepper EVERYTHING. Here's an internet picture of the little beauties:


So I wasn't surprised when we got some in our bountiful basket this week. One day I was trying to make a salad and I thought I'd cut one up and see what it tasted like. I cut off the bottom inch and popped it in my mouth and was pleasantly surprised to discover it tasted just like a green pepper--mild and fairly sweet. I chopped up the whole thing, put it in the salad, picked up a bunch of seeds that had fallen out and threw them away and went on my merry way.

Twenty minutes later I itched my eye and when my finger touched my eye, SEARING PAIN!!! I couldn't rinse my eye enough and had to take out my contacts because it felt like they were going to melt onto my eyeball. Apparently they weren't as mild as I thought! I don't know what gives off the heat in those peppers, maybe the seeds, but I cut up one pepper and half of the pepper slices in the salad were very spicy and the others were just mild.

The next morning I got yet another gift from the peppers as I went to put in my contacts and there was still some hatch pepper heat on there. Those suckers have some KICK!

Housemates!

We have a few new housemates and we couldn't be more excited to have them here! Tobin is Gavin's brother, then there's Whitney, his wife, and their two adorable girls Maylee and Hanna Banana. Whitney is actually also my cousin, which is how Gavin and I met. I told Whitney that she must be one of my favorite people in the whole world because she keeps getting promoted in my life: from cousin, to sister-in-law, to housemate! What's next?! Oooh, business partner? The wheels are turning...

Tobin recently got a job at a high school in Spring, which is just a smidge east of us. So they are hanging out with us until they find where they want to settle down. It's going to be party every day, but instead of a live band we will have screaming little girls, which, depending on the band can be kind of the same thing. Also, they have a tv. That's right folks, Gavin and I finally have a tv in our house. (sidenote: Gavin and I aren't anti-tv hippies, which people always assume when they come into our house and don't see a tv. We just watch it on the computer. Also, Gavin thinks the longer he waits for a tv the bigger it will be. This is false.)

So welcome Tobin, Whitney, and crew. We are so glad you are here!!! Texas is the place to be people, EVERYONE MIGRATE TO TEXAS!