Christmas 2010

I can't believe Christmas is next week, this month has flown by. I feel like Thanksgiving was last weekend.

This will be me and Ryan's first Christmas "home." We are on the every other year plan Kimball/Meador. This year is Meador year, and I am glad it worked out this way because this means we get to have our first Christmas (of being homeowners) in our new house. Our first Christmas as a married couple happened to be on our honeymoon. It was a special Christmas, even though we were away we still got a little mini tree to put up in the place we were staying.

We didn't have any decorations so we cut out snowflakes from newspapers, this will be a continued tradition for our tree year after year.
On the 15th we celebrated our anniversary, Happy Anniversary Ryan!

Kimball Kitchen: Chicken Parmesan

Tonight we made chicken parmesan with homemade marinara sauce courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis.

It turned out really good! I love the homemade sauce and fresh herbs, they really make the difference. Our one complaint is the recipe didn't call for the chicken to be breaded. Ryan and I both agree the chicken needs to be breaded, after all the chrunchy texture is the best part. Next time.

Giving Thanks...

For family, friends, and food!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Tom and Annette flew in from California. The time went by way too fast. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Boulder Contemporary Art Museum, a trip to the Denver Aquarium, lunch with extended family, movies, decorated the Christmas tree, black Friday shopping, and of course Thanksgiving dinner. I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Setting The Table

This year we are hosting Thanksgiving! This may be tricky without a dining room table; I will have to get creative to solve this one. But none the less the food will be fantastic. We just reserved our 14lb organic turkey @ Whole Foods. Ryan is in charge of the Turkey, this takes the pressure off me. No Griswold dinner here. I wish all of you lived closer, and we could enjoy each other’s company.

My table top inspiration

I wish I had a picture of the invitations I sent out. They turned out super cute. The invitations read:

You’re invited to join us in a Thanksgiving celebration
At the Kimball residence
November 25, Dinner will be served at 4pm

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Menu

Herb Roasted Turkey

Honey Baked Ham
Whipped Mashed Potatoes
Chestnut Stuffing
Butter Greens
Candied Yams
Monkey Bread

Please share with us your favorite pie

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Cleopatra and her Mummy

We hand made both our costumes, so crafty this year!

We had a great Halloween this year! Ryan and I have been working on this Halloween "project" practically all month and it finally made its big debut the weekend of Halloween. We got two pieces of black fabric drew two skeletons, cut them out, and backed it with white fabric. We hung them in the front two windows and put the strobe light on. It looked pretty cool! I couldn't get a good picture, one with lights one with out.

Goodbye Summer

Horsetooth Reservoir
Mason never misses out


We toured a local brewery in Ft Collins.

We did a few hikes above Boulder. The view is always gorgeous!
I had a birthday. I was lucky enough to celebrate with Mom, Dad and Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Brasserie Ten Ten in Boulder. It was memorable, and the food was great.
Afterward we celebrated with Chocolate Better Batter ice cream cake from Maggie Moos. My absolute favorite. The only promblem is the closest one to us is about 45min away. This made for an interesting outcome when the cake finally made it home. Thank you Ryan it was worth it!!

Meador Faces

Brush Brothers Painting

Thank You to Brush Brothers Painting for painting the interior of our home. They did such a fantastic job! We did a reverse two tone through the whole house, and we love it. The bedroom is completly monochromatic. Everything from trim, doors, and ceiling are all gray. We did two accent walls in a dark gray running from the front of the house to the back. We are very pleased with their work and highly recommend them.

Brush Brothers information: (801)388-6266 brushbrothers@gmail.com

422: Living and Master

The Fourth in Monterey

Lucky for us we spent the Fourth in Monterey, California. The Kimball family has their reunion every other year, always in Monterey, always over the fourth of July (at least sense I've been around). To my disappointment there were NO fireworks this year. NO fireworks. Tom says because California is bankrupt. Tragic. I love fireworks, but to tell you the truth no one does fire works like Utah does fireworks.

This was my third time to attend the Kimball reunion, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the previous years. We did all of the touristy things, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Warf, 17 mile drive, walked around the shops in Carmel. I am a real sucker for tourist traps, they never seem to get old.
When we first arrived (after we stopped at in n out of course) we all met at Phil's Fish Market, famous for their chipino. It may look familiar because this is a frequent stop when we are in town. Ryan loves this soup! I however...well that is why we went to in n out first.
We went traipsing through the rocks at low tide. I could spend all day out there looking for creatures. This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We found so many cool things.Don't worry I just fell right in the water, it was graceful I am sure. I landed right on my bum, and saved the camera. The worst part is I had a perfect abalone shell in my back pocket and completely crushed it.Uncle Allen is in the Seafood Business, and has great knowledge of marine life, it was like having our own personal tour guide. He knew right where to find all the little creatures and what they are. Monetery Bay AquariumOne of many walks on the beach. So gorgeous!Women of the Kimball Family
A few trips ago I made a sweet discovery. I'm not sure which I like better Maggie Moos Chocolate better batter, or Thrifty's Chocolate Malt Ball Crunch.We played a couple games of Tennis. (One of my most recent hobbies, I've been taking classes at the rec center and really enjoy the game.)Ryan and his challengerCarmel Corn is the BEST on Fisherman's Warf. Every piece is perfectly coated with crunchy delicious caramel. Thank you Tom and Annette for a wonderful trip!