Alex at the Jamaican restaurant

On the way home from the dog park             Alex by the waterfall we saw on our hike

We were supposed to visit Jenny's family this weekend, but several people felt sick so we stayed home! We spent yesterday at the dog park and ran some errands. We also tried a Jamaican restaurant that was amazing! Today, we tried a new church and hiked to a waterfall. Tonight, we are going to watch the Chiefs game. Fingers crossed they win! 

One of the cool things our city does is hold a Restaurant Week every January. This is the second year we have participated. A lot of local restaurants offer special menus and lower prices during this time so that people can try new places. This year we went to a sports bar after church on Sunday.  The next night, we went to an Asian restaurant with some friends. Both were places we hadn't tried before, but really enjoyed! 

I still feel childishly excited when it snows. I woke up to several inches and spent the morning meal planning, cleaning, and checking in with my mom and siblings while Alex was at work. Here is a picture of our husky-shepherd mix, Tsunami. He loves the snow more than I do! 

Alex and I love to cook and try new recipes, but I feel like we eat lots of warm, cheesy meals in the winter. Here are five of our favorites: 

1. Fried potatoes and onions

2. Biscuits and gravy 

3. Roast chicken and mashed potatoes 

4. Pizza

5. Spinach artichoke dip

We opened presents and ate brunch with Jenny's parents, siblings and their families on the morning of the 31st and then celebrated with friends and family that night by playing rock band, ping pong, and eating too much! We love hosting big events at our house and our New Year's party is one of our favorite traditions. It started when Alex and I moved to Kansas City  8 years ago. 

Here's Alex looking slightly insane while we play Sorry! We got this for our wedding and actually played it on our honeymoon (which we spent in a remote cabin in the woods). Tobight, my family is getting into town so that tomorrow we can open Christmas presents and celebrate the new year! 

Alex and I tried bottling our own vanilla extract this year! A lot of our family members bake, so we're hoping they enjoy it. 

This weekend Jenny visited her family to decorate her 84 year old grandma's house for Christmas. On Sunday, we put up lights outside our house. The temperature is about to drop here and we are starting to get ready for the holidays. Here's a picture of our lights and our Christmas tree. 

Alex and I were both off work today. We walked the dogs at a local park. We made lunch together and then drove to see the Sporting Kansas City soccer game. Our team didn't win, but we still had a good time. Afterwards, we did some quick Christmas shopping. We made thanksgiving egg rolls and Brussel sprouts for dinner. All in all, it was a good day! 

We had a fun couple of days! We played games, cooked a couple turkeys, chatted with family, and the guys watched football while the girls went for a walk. Our last couple of guests left today after lunch and we started decorating for Christmas! 

We went for a walk in our neighborhood before dinner and the sunset was amazing! We are grateful for the slightly warmer weather and are planning to hike with the pups on Sunday. 

Alex says stuffing! He makes homemade stuffing with mushrooms, onions, and celery in it. Jenny   had a tough time choosing, but says maybe pecan pie. We host Thanksgiving at our house and this year Alex's parents and his brother are coming. Jenny's parents and her youngest brother and his wife are coming too. Here's a picture from last year! 

This school year has been tough. I teach sixth grade and the adults in my building are struggling to maintain their patience as we near the Thanksgiving Break. One of the things that has brought me joy this week is my Christmas cactus is about to bloom! Alex says something that brought him joy this week was hiking on Sunday with our friends Chris and Josh. We went to an Irish Pub afterwards to eat lunch and walk around the shops. 

Alex's favorite flavor of cookie is snickerdoodle. Jenny's favorite is a monster cookie, which has peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips and m&m's. One of our holiday traditions is giving plates of cookies to our families at Christmas. It allows us to try new recipes and not eat all of the cookies!  

Today we relaxed by hiking four miles. It was a gorgeous day and the fall colors were beautiful. We watched the Chiefs and the Sporting KC games. I made bread and we tried to get ready for the week by  meal planning and deciding when to exercise. We hope you have a wonderful week! 

We won a costume contest this year as Mr. And Mrs. Potatohead! 

Last night we held our annual pumpkin carving party. Four of our friends came for dinner and we all carved pumpkins on the back deck. Alex's design was a ghost (but it kinda looked like the grinch!) and Jenny did a Day of the Dead skeleton face. 

One of our friends got married this weekend! Jenny was a bridesmaid and made the wedding cake. It was a lovely wedding and we are so happy for both of them! 

This weekend we went camping! We played Uno, built a fire, and watched the stars surrounded by dogs! In the morning, we visited the lake and ate breakfast while we watched the fog rise off the lake.

Alex loves pecan best in the fall and strawberry-rhubarb best in the summer. Jenny's favorite year round is her mom's apple pie. Below is a pic of a strawberry-rhubarb pie that Jenny made for the 4th of July. 

We have been super busy, so this post is going to be an attempt to bring you up to speed! Alex was a clown in the county fair. We celebrated his birthday just the two of us, then with friends and family. We went to the pumpkin patch and got lost in a corn maze. We had one of our foster puppies get returned, so we have three dogs right now. I am a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding in a couple weeks and I am making the wedding cake, so I practiced that this weekend. And I found a live snake at school and had to help escort it out of the building. Life is crazy, but we are still hoping to be parents. We've had our profile shown a few times this month and have our fingers firmly crossed! Here are some pictures of our shenanigans the past few weeks.

Jenny's favorite subjects in school were reading and choir. Alex's favorite subjects were history and PE. This has been a long week. Jenny was sick and Alex's job was super busy. We managed to pick tomatoes, jalapenos, and tomatillos from the garden. We're hoping to have enough to can some salsa this year!

This picture is from one of our hikes at a state parks near our home. For Labor Day, we are planing to bbq with friends. Enjoy the weekend!

This last weekend, we hosted a tea party for our friend to celebrate the fact that he graduated college. Our sister-in-law helped decorate and Jenny spent a lot of time making scones, cookies, and a cake. Alex contributed a smoked roast beef, that he sliced for our tea sandwiches. Everyone wore hats and had a very silly time! Afterwards, we played pool in the basement and chatted. We also watched the Sporting Kansas City soccer game on tv. 

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Football is very important to Alex and my brother, Jameson. See how serious they are? A couple years ago, I bought Alex and his dad and both of my brothers tickets to go see a game right before Christmas. Football isn't my favorite sport, but all of the guys in our families have cheered for the Chiefs since they were kids. I tend to nap or hide in the kitchen and make snacks when the game is on! 

We had a BUSY weekend full of chores. Alex had to work Saturday and Sunday, so Jenny tackled laundry and grocery shopping. We managed to dig up all of the potatoes and garlic in our garden and we watched the olympics and a soccer game on tv during Alex's free time. Jenny is a teacher, so she has a few weeks before she has to return to work. We just started fostering two 8 week old puppies for a local no-kill shelter. They are the 6th and 7th pups that we have fostered. Our personal dogs are older, but they really enjoy playing with the pups and teaching them how to behave. Here is pic of one of the pups lounging in our backyard with our dogs, Tsunami and Scout. 

Alex's favorite summer dessert are lemon-blueberry cupcakes. 

Jenny's favorite summer dessert is chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. 

This picture is of a tray of lemon-blueberry cupcakes that Jenny made! 

I spent part of the weekend in southwest Missouri with my family. I got to hang out with my two younger brothers, chat with my parents, and play all sorts of silly games with my nephews who are 3 and 1. We read books, picked blackberries in my parents' backyard, and we played with the train set. Alex wasn't able to visit, because he had to work. Below is a picture of my mom reading to my oldest nephew. 

After I got home on Sunday, Alex and I watched part of the Olympics and a Sporting Kansas City soccer game. Alex made us dinner and we were able to chat and relax with the dogs in our living room. 

Alex and I just got home from our 9 day camping trip. We hiked in six of the National Parks in Colorado and Utah and saw as many waterfalls as possible! This picture is from Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We try to go on one long roadtrip every year. Last summer, we were able to drive to Portland and see my sister and her husband. Being able to spend that much time together really helps us set goals for the upcoming year. This year, we are each working on fitness goals. Last year, we finally sorted out a plan on how often to do the dishes! 

We started a tradition last year of making the super bowl a weekend long celebration. We shop and make pizzas  together on Saturday. On Sunday, everyone comes over for the game and lots of appetizers!