Christmas 2011

We attempted to do every other year for the Holidays, but it was more difficult than we thought it would be for Christmas. We ended up having a crazier schedule than we expected, but it was nice to squeeze everyone in. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that we live in the same state as our families, and that both of our families live close together. We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had a lot of little ones running around this year. It is crazy how fast a family can grow. I now have eight nieces and nephews. Six of them were there, and all but one of my brothers were there.During the day we played twister and baked/cooked, and that night we wore ugly Christmas sweaters to put a twist on our tradition. As we get older it has been nice to have this night to come together and continue family tradition.

everyone that was left at the end of the night

Kyle and I stayed up until midnight and he opened his birthday gifts from me. We spent Christmas morning with the Aamots. A much quieter and smaller tradition, but we will enjoy having one side smaller while it lasts.

The Aamot Family

Merry Christmas!! Love, us

Cohen B. Ingram

Another baby boy for the Ingram Family. Baby Cohen is the sweetest little guy. We stayed with Eric and Bridget over break, and spent every minute we could snuggling with their new addition. Kyle woke up every morning, picked up Cohen and fell back asleep with him on the couch. Pretty cute. I never had a lot of extended family growing up. I only knew a few of my cousins, and had two uncles. Most of our family still lives in Texas. It's nice to know that the next generation has no shortage of aunts, uncles, and cousins to love on them. So Cohen, get ready for a lifetime of being spoiled and loved on by your crazy relatives. 

 Love you, Love Us

I Freaked Lisa out by walking out on a frozen reservoir, and Steven and I tried to break the ice with a bunch of big rocks, but it was pretty thick. She left this part of the story out.

Steven and I standing on a frozen reservoir 

 

Christmas Tree Adventure 2011

      This year is our second Christmas together as husband and wife. Trust me, it's weird to us too! Last year Taryn and Steve, our old neighbors, bought us a Christmas tree permit. This year we decided to pay it forward and bought our new neighbors their permit. We decided to go this morning, since Sunday's have proven to be great adventure days for us in the past. I set my alarm early so I could bake some pull a parts and make coffee to take with us. By bake, I mean warm them up in the oven. We left our house at 8am and met Steven and Alanna on the way. They decided to go on a Christmas tree adventure with us, and we were happy to share it. 

     We hit the road and drove for about an hour until we got to the turn off to hunt for a tree. Last year it was snowy the whole way there. I was thinking it wouldn't be as pretty of a drive, but I was surprised by how beautiful it was even without being a winter wonderland. Once we got to the logging roads I was just excited that there was NOT snow, because no snow means no going in the ditch! Of course, what is a Kyle and Lisa adventure without something terrifying or hysterical? Kyle usually is in charge of terrifying me, and I'm the queen of awkward and hysterical. We were driving along when Kyle slammed on his breaks. He spotted some otters or beavers or something and was really stoked on that. Don't worry that is just a side note. A few moments later he slammed on his breaks again. This time he saw a creek (not a little baby stream, a creek) and decided he should drive down towards it. There wasn't no snow. Just no snow on the roads. This was not technically a road. We slid a little, but snow has nothing on our 4-wheel drive. Steven and Alanna pulled their jeep up next to ours. Kyle had crossed this with Steven in the summer apparently and thought it was a genius idea to do it again. Half of it was frozen over, and if you know me, you know all I was thinking about was WORST...CASE...SCENARIO. Deep dark freezing jeep eating hole under the ice. Waiting for a stupid boy with a 4-wheel drive car. He promises me we won't go across and he is just going to turn around. Lie. He started driving down the hill and into the water. I started screaming bloody murder(: I almost lost my voice when the ice started breaking and the jeep was not getting very good traction. Then the jeep started sinking into a huge hole...just kidding. We got across safely, and Kyle got a dead arm. 

driving back across

not happy

After my voice box and Kyle's arm were damaged we drove back across and kept going on our hunt. We spotted a couple of trees in the distance and decided they were worth hiking to. We found a few really perfect trees but decided to explore a little more. Kyle's tree needed to be cut about half way up, but that's how he did it last year as well. We wandered to a little baby meadow with moose tracks! (or we think that's what they were) and a frozen over little stream. Steven was walking on the ice so Alanna went to search for a tree, and I don't blame her for not wanting to witness the ice breaking. He was jumping on it, pretty sure because Kyle was standing next to him saying "jump steven, jump". It didn't break, and Alanna was off giggling to herself about a tree she found. Steven turned to look at the Whoville tree and when he turned back around the ice broke. He didn't fall in, but it was a little funny. If he fell in it would have been a lot funny. What?! I had extra socks in the car he could have borrowed...

our ridiculous family

steven and alanna

barbed wire. check!

 Anyway, we snapped a few photos. Taylor was uncooperative as always. That dog hates getting her picture taken more than my mom. Finally Kyle just picked her up and was going to bring her back over for a photo, and we decided a ridiculous picture was all that was going to happen. Sometimes you have to just go with it. Alanna and Steven made the wonderful choice of the curvy Who tree, and we picked the giant one. 

While the boys sawed down the trees we mustached ourselves with old mans beard. Cannot believe how helpful we are. Our productivity is wonderful. 
After the trees were cut down and trimmed a little we (and by we i mean mostly just the boys) took the trees up to the jeeps. I had to get a traditional picture of me pulling the sled and Kyle doing most of the work...

We trimmed them up and they looked quite nice. Not as out of control as last year I know, but it was still our annual Christmas Tree Adventure. It was a good break from studying and our busy lives. It should be Christmas time more often.

finished!

Merry Christmas!!!

 Love, us.

Old and New

Being married comes with a lot of changes. Some you adjust to right away, and some I think I may never get quite use to. Changes go with living though. Unfortunately I still haven't found the rewind or pause buttons. As surprising as it may seem (or not) there are hundreds of moments I wouldn't mind going back to…and they all have two common threads: traditions and loved ones.

In my family the holidays have always been that time of year I knew what to expect. I found comfort in knowing no matter what happened we would always go to a Christmas tree farm and drink cider, and help my Dad pick out the best tree. I think he got most of the votes, but he always chose the best Christmas tree on the whole farm. We would go home and eat my dad's cookies and decorate them, and by decorate I mean I was suppose to put maraschino cherries on them but I ate the cherries when no one was looking. No matter how old my brothers get they still argue over whose ornament is whose. Hint: our initials are on the bottom boys! Christmas Eve for me always meant being together, laughing a lot, and attending a candle lit service that night. We would wake up for stalkings and mom frantically cooking for Christmas dinner the next morning. I would help her crumble bread and open cans. The contents of the olive cans would end up on my ten fingers. New years Eve my Dad always makes homemade ice cream. We all expect it even though we are grown up for the most part. Traditions bring comfort when everything else may be falling apart. Maybe because we know we always have our family, or maybe it's because it is stability in this far from stable life.  

Last year Kyle and I tried to be two places at once. Guess how well that went? So this year we are testing out the every other year. Kyle doesn't talk about any deep rooted traditions, at least not beyond the normal dinner and time with at least immediate family. I contribute that to him being a boy. Even if families don't have a million quirky things they do together like my family, it still means so much to have the traditional dinner and time spent with them. For Thanksgiving we spent our weekend with the Aamots and Kyles extended family in Spokane. I was nervous that I would be insanely homesick and fall apart at some point or other, but I actually felt welcomed. I left a sobbing message to Bridget while she was in labor. I missed it, and if I could have I would have flown home just for that night. We had Aunt Karen and Uncle Rob and Kyle's family over Wednesday night. It was so good to see everyone, and feeling blessed with some great new relatives helped being away from my family. Karen and Rob are full of hugs and I LOVE them for that. Baby Cohen was born Thanksgiving morning healthy and happy. We headed up to Spokane and had dinner at Kyle's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob's house. I think I filled up on cookies before any of the actual food was done! Kyle's cousins found a dead deer in the woods…newly dead…so Kyle kept it. The next night we went to a Thanksgiving parade and firework show. Rob almost gave Matt a hernia on the drive home, probably had to be there. We went back to Kyle's cousin Charlie's for soup and the unveiling of her Christmas lights. She goes ALL out. Like people driving by stop and stare. I guess these may become our every-other year traditions for the time being. I am okay with that though (minus the dead deer). As long as I don't miss any more Ingram births on my year away! It is nice to have family and new family that can make you laugh and feel loved. One thing I have to remember for next time though: do not try to keep up with a Catholic family when it comes to drinking wine. I will fail, and my body will hate me the next week, even if it is so good at the time.

Thankful for our family (old and new) and friends. Love, us.