Merry Christmas!

It has been a few years since we made the trek to Utah for Christmas, so we decided to do it again this year. Once again, we were blessed with amazing weather all the way there and only ran into a bit of snow coming back - all in all an uneventful drive, just the way we like it.

We spent the whole week with the Hamblins, and with the exception of a few moments (kids throwing up and a little Cheney drama) we had a great time. Sure wish we didn't live so far away from each other!

 Making sugar cookies!

We also spent a couple of days over at Weldon and Julies house - Christmas day for a yummy dinner and the next day for pizza and a movie. It was so great being surrounded by all of our family! We love them a lot.

 

Our Pre-Christmas Party

Since we were going to be out of town for Christmas, we got together with all our favorite peeps the weekend before to have a celebration and exchange gifts. We had such a great night together eating and hanging out! I love these people!

 

Chrome Molly at HD Hotspurs

The big Christmas gig was a blast. Getting all decked out for the holiday was super fun, and you know me, I love to dance all night long! I wasn't super impressed with the restaurant but it was still a fun night.

Chome Molly at Gonzos Sports Bar

Well, I was involved with my first bar fight this weekend. Was I in the fight? No! But I had to break it up. Here is the sum-up version of what happened.

I was talking to a gal I had just met that night, he boyfriend is an old friend of Aaron's and played a song with the band. As we were talking a drunk girl jumped up on stage and started using Debbie as a stripper pole and you could tell Debbie wasn't quite sure how to hand the situation. Kristie (the gal I was talking to) was pretty disgusted by the whole thing and we were talking about it.... well, the girl on stage saw her point at her and it was obvious that she was talking about her.... nuff said.

It was a pretty intense situation for about 5 minutes, until a hit was swung and the bouncer finally decided to waddle his fat ass over to see what was going on. Ya, thanks! Where were you 10 minutes ago when said drunk girl jumped up on stage to begin with?!

At least I have a good story to tell now.

On a more happy note, the band played great! They were all really on, the crowd was very responsive and it was a fun night. I had a blast! It is SO fun for me to see Aaron have so much fun with this band and following his passion! I'm very proud of him.

A Victorian Christmas

Mom and I did our annual visit to the Victorian Christmas bizarre. It really helps kick me into the Christmas spirit to surround myself with so much Christmasness ;o) Music, decorations, Santa, shopping - it's just awesome. I think I wear her out whenever we go, but I think she goes home happy.

I found some really fun treasures this year that I am excited to give people for gifts. One of the things I love so much about going is most of the vendors there are local, small businesses. A lot of the stuff is hand-made things, and I just love to see the creativity that other people have! I also am a HUGE advocate of supporting the local economy when I can... I know what it's like to try to have your own local business so I try to support that as much as possible.

This cute little Christmas moose and snowman were gifts to me from mom. She kind of spoils me some times, but I won't allow  her to do it too much. As a matter of fact, she told me she was buying them for herself, cause she knows that, and then gave them to me as I was getting ready to leave the stinker. But, they are so cute I have forgiven her! I LOVE them and can't wait to get the decorations up and incorporate them in! (Decorations are going up late this year because I am waiting for Jess to get home to do it together).

I had a great time spending the day with mom and wandering around the bizarre. It's one of the things I look forward to every year.

Chrome Molly at Baxter's

Aaron's gig this week was clear up in Mill Creek, which is quite a drive for us (the better part of an hour). That, in and of itself, isn't too bad - ya go where the money is - but I honestly didn't think it was all that. 

The bar was clean and nice, but the staff was cold and uninviting. The didn't give you free soda, or even free refills: it was $2.50 a glass! They had a long list of "rules" the band had to follow and the clientele was.... shall we say, interesting. There were a couple of girls that jumped up on one of the speaker cabs and started dirty dancing up there: all they needed to complete the routine was a pole, and yes, it was that bad.

The dance floor was nice and big though, which is more than I can say for a lot of places. I usually love to dance, but this particular night there was a guy sitting on the side oogling all of the girls and I wasn't about to become one of them: like I said, interesting clientele. 

I guess they can't all be wonderful places, but at least we had to dive 50 minutes to get there and finally got into bed around 3:30 a.m. Wonder how many years we can keep that up?

Black Friday

Jess and I really look forward to our Black Friday morning. It has become something we look forward to almost as much as Thanksgiving itself. Not so much for all the "shopping deals" that are out there, but just as some girl time. Shopping, breakfast and pictures with Santa - who could ask for a better day with a better friend?!