New Year's Cleaning

"Honey, if you see a report on How Airplanes Fly, don't throw it away!!!  I've been looking for it."

Turns out that report on airplanes is from Matt's 3rd or 4th grade class.  I wouldn't know how awesome it is, because we haven't found it yet.  But Matt's enthusiasm for potentially coming across it was very adorable.  We spent most of New Year's Eve "cleaning" out our basement.  By cleaning, I mostly mean going through the dozen or so boxes that Matt's parents brought this summer from his home in Minnesota.  Report cards.  Crafts from Sunday School. Learning cursive. Twins this (world championship rings, t-shirts, winter hats), Twins that (cups, pins, posters). It was all very adorable. 

Things I learned during this time cramped in our freezing cold basement (it was somewhere between 0 and 10 degrees today, and about 20 degrees warmer than that in our basement):

* You can never stop being proud of geography or spelling bee appearances

* Posters of MC Hammer are still awesome

* Rec-specs still aren't

* The excitement of coming across tapes or floppy discs labeled "really cool stuff" is dampened when you have nothing to play/read said tapes/discs

* Matt's mom is an amazing keeper of sentimental things (we came across pieces of his casts, a card he received from his grandparents for losing a tooth, notes from his first parent-teacher conference in kindergarten, a report on "Goerg Washington and his soilders", and much MUCH more).  And when I say we "threw away" half of it, I really meant "stored it away lovingly" ;) 

At any rate, our basement now has about half the contents it did when we woke up this morning.  Happy new year to us!  And happy new year to the three of you that may peruse this blog from time to time.  :)  Thanks for your loyalty to our boring stories!

Off to really celebrate 2011!

[Coming soon: the Larsonland Year In Review, and Ali's Tribute to her Twenties.]

Christmas Time Was Here!

Still no snow in Denver, so no White Christmas (aside from the movie).  But that didn't stop us from having an amazing one.  I mean, top 3 of all time for sure :) 

The week started out well seeing old friends and reminiscing fabulous days of old. 

Get together at Kari's house with friends from high school:

Noah opening his gift from me:

Hanging out with Bryan while he was in town:

Meeting up with some old coworkers from DC:

While Matt was working hard to pay our bills (thank you honey!), my sister and I spent much of the remainder of the week finishing Christmas shopping and getting ready to host the festivities at my house.  It's been so nice getting to spend time with my sister, and I was reminded this Christmas of just how thankful I am to have her in my life. 

My mom, Jason, and Ethan (along with their 3 new puppies) arrived on Christmas Eve and the fun began!  We spent time catching up, playing games, drinking wine and cider, playing music, (Amber, Matt, and I went to the Christmas Eve service at our church), and having a wonderful dinner.  I had planned to make my very first roasted chicken (along with a delicious corn fritter casserole and veggies), but thanks to an abnormally large chicken, dinner wasn't ready until about 9:30pm.  Oops!  It was delicious nonetheless if I do say so myself.  We exchanged gifts and had a terrific time with them. 

Pre-guests' arrival:

So many amazing gifts:

Lincoln was incredibly well-behaved with the puppies!

Singing in the kitchen, always fun:

This is not a joke - Lincoln opened his own present!  

(Thanks mom, he loves the bed you made!)

He was tired of all the Christmas festivities at this point:  

My mom wearing BOTH of her new sweaters at once:

Lincoln enjoying his new toy before going to bed:

Christmas morning arrived and I woke up early to get breakfast started (and clean up the house we were able to so quickly clutter/mess up).  By the time my dad and Arlene arrived we were ready for more celebrations of Jesus' and my births :)  Breakfast started with some tasty cheesy potatoes, a sausage/cheddar strata, and some croissants (don't forget the delicious mimosas!), and we had a great time chatting and playing Cranium with everyone. 

While my mom, Jason, and Ethan left to see Tron at the Imax near us, Amber, Matt, and I had our own Christmas with my dad and Arlene, which was wonderful.  As usual, we were completely spoiled and just had a great time sharing laughs and hugs :)  We also enjoyed some yummy chili I had cooking in the crockpot for lunch.  Christmas was turning out just as I had hoped!

Dinnertime was here, which marked the beginning of my birthday celebrations!  My mom, true to tradition (with either my mom or dad), made her amazing chicken enchiladas (with sauce she makes herself from New Mexico chilis... YUM!), and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner - my whole family at one table.  It couldn't have been any more perfect (with the exception of the presence of my in-laws, now that would have been perfect!) :)  I opened some more birthday gifts after dinner, we watched the Blind Side, and overall, I think it was just about as wonderful as it could have been. (Matt's family even sang me a gorgeous "Happy Birthday" chorus over video chat!) Having everyone together at the home that Matt and I have made was more special than I could have imagined.  And now I'm 30!  (More on that later this week... stay tuned for the tribute to my 20s) :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has enjoyed their holidays.  Only 362 days til the next one! :)