The Nutcracker

The weekend before Christmas, me and some of the girls in our small group at church had dinner downtown & went to see the Nutcracker. Dinner was great, but think the Nutcracker might just be a once every 10 years or so event though. I think I am more a musical kind of girl than ballet.

Christmas Party

After we returned from our ski trip, we hosted a Christmas party at our house for our small group at church. Jarrod made a huge pot of gumbo that we are still eating on!

After we ate, we had an elephant gift exchange with some very interesting gifts which I don't think I can display on our blog without blushing.

Ski Trip to Canada

Neither Jarrod or I had ever been to Canada & I had an itch to go skiing so we took a vacation to Whistler/Vancouver, Canada to go skiing the week before my BIG birthday. I won't mention the age, but let's just say I've entered into a new era.Our friends Stacey & Josh went with us and we had a great time. It was beautiful and we had the slopes practically to ourselves since it was still pretty early in the season. We stayed right at the bottom of the mountain so was just a short walk to the lifts. We got our fill of skiing, along with some bruises and sore muscles, but the hot tub & Eucalyptus steam room at the resort was also visited every night! This was also the first time Jarrod & I went skiing together so was a fun, new experience. Jarrod managed not to wipe out during the trip, but one of the slopes got me a couple times and I slid a good ways down. Jarrod said one time he wasn't sure if I was going to stop before I got to the edge where he wasn't sure what was on the other side & he didn't run to my rescue! I think he was too busy laughing at me. The Olympics are set to be held in Whistler in February so it was also a lot of fun to see all the preparations. We got to ride the peak to peak gondola that has just been built for the Olympics. It is about a 3 mile ride from the peak of Blackhomb mountain to the peak of Whistler mountain to allow skiiers to easily go back and forth between both mountains. It also offers some amazing views!

The trip was definitely a great way to move into the next era!

All Ski Trip Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40137&id=1070915343&l=dcb2c3f5e9

A Tiger Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we headed over to Baton Rouge to spend time with Jarrod's family, do some tailgating and go to the LSU Tigers vs Arkansas game. There are a few little ones in the family now so we were quite entertained by them. Our nephew Cayden is running around and very busy now. He has some definite "Cayden" looks that he gives, which are too cute. His little cousin Grant and he had a time playing especially out at the tailgate where they had space to run around. I think the tailgate before the game might just become a tradition.

We had a photo shoot in the big tree near our tailgate site

Notice, I pulled out a purple shirt to be supportive of Jarrod's team, but I definitely got some looks with my Aggie lounge chair at the tailgate (far left in pic below)

nephew Cayden & my sister-in-law Amanda

Cousin Grant & Cayden

Tiger Quarterback in Training Grant's sister Camille playing with Jarrod
Jarrod & I at the game

Meeting Olivia

We made our way down to College Station back in November before Thanksgiving to meet Erin's newborn, Olivia and also visit a couple other friends while there. We got to see the Reeds and their new house they are renovating. Had a great time catching up with them and their house looks great, but I failed to get a picture while there. :( Then we had dinner with Rachel before we headed back home. It was a great day seeing friends. We must go back though because Amber & Will have now added another one to their clan -- baby Annie.