A Fun Snowboarding Video

Lent

I think Lent is a great time to reflect, pray and just appreciate our faith. So often it seems like holidays like Christmas get so commercialized and blown out. I do love Christmas but there is something about Lent leading up to Easter that also makes Easter seem very special as well. I also think I enjoy lent because it signals spring time, daffodils, Easter eggs, new growth and renewal. This year I gave up drinking for lent both alcohol and also pop. I don't drink that much but I do enjoy a glass of wine and a coke occasionally. I also read a great article called 40 bags in 40 days, it is where you go through your home during lent to simplify your life. You can donate clothes and books to charity and just get your life organized again. I have not started this yet but hoping to get going on it this weekend. Brendan is on board to help me with the 40 bags in 40 days for his lent as well.
We have been busy lately just enjoying winter in the mountains. Most weekends have involved Brendan skiing both days and myself cross country skiing. I have also started getting together with some girlfriends each Saturday to do "crafty bitch" time. We craft together, Martha Stewart would be very jealous! Life is good, big things coming up Brendan has his level one certification class for back country skiing. I am finishing up a sweater class so I will hopefully have two sweaters that I have knitted, pretty exciting!

Love
Alyssa and Brendan

January 2012

I love January, there is something about the high from the Holidays that lingers over and the mindset of a fresh year that inspire me. It strange, even when we get two feet of snow which we did last weekend but we really needed, I still find reasons to stay positive. My goals for the year involve a lot of different things but for the most part I have already started on most of them.
For knitting I signed up for a Scandinavian mittens class I am taking with my friend Sara tomorrow night. I am so excited to learn how to make mittens and do it in a stranded Scandinavian class. I attached a picture to this post of my friend Lexi and I, I have the hat that I knit this past fall. I did all the color work myself and I feel extra smug every time I wear it!
I have already gotten out cross country skiing as well, I even got to go snowboarding this last weekend which was great. I did not get a season pass this year because of hopes that I won't be able to go snowboarding. No news in the perambulator department yet, always trying and waiting... Cross country skiing is awesome and I really enjoy it for the great workout and chance to be outside.
I also cooked two new recipes this month, Brendan' Great Grandma Kate's Swedish meatball recipe which is a fantastic winter time meal. Funny enough, my lovely mother in law Kathy and I think alike and both made the same recipe within days of each other not realizing it! It was delicious and definitely one to make again. I also made a chicken salad from cooking light magazine to put on sandwiches, that was another winner! Maybe I will do something new this weekend, we'll have to see.
Brendan is great, he was in Vegas last week for his job, he is really loving his company and is seeming to find balance with his last semester of school back in progress and work. He has not taken his level one avalanche certification class yet but with all this snow I do know he wants to make it a priority.

Life is good, as is 2012!
Love
Alyssa

2012

I think it should be a rule on New Years Eve that we are required to wear something sparkly and drink something bubbly! I successfully did both. Brendan and I had two fabulous new years this year. On New Years Eve we actually spent our very first NYE together, just us! We literally did whatever we wanted that day, made a yummy dinner of lobster and shells salad, and seared tuna. The recipe was special because it was from a special restaurant in Kinsale, Ireland we went to during our honeymoon. As a wedding gift they gave us a personalized Fishy Fishy cookbook. We watched movies, played chess (I am terrible at but bound and determined to be better) and watched movies. We counted down at midnight, had a NYE kiss and went to bed. We saved our energy for the next night when we celebrated with the Mays and Hallocks. You know it was a good time when the night ended at 2am with a random Charlie Brown-esq dance party in the kitchen (no there are no videos of that!).
As per our usual my new hobbies for 2012 are cross country skiing and more Scandinavian knitting. I would also like to make a new recipe at lease once a month. Brendan is planning on trying to learn to navigate back country skiing and getting his level one certification to do this. We are so lucky for all the blessings we have in our lives and I truly believe 2012 is going to be another incredible year!

I'll be home for Christmas!

Christmas at home this year so was so much fun! My parents decided to do something really special and the Friday night prior to Christmas eve booked a huge limo to go see Christmas lights. It was so much fun both for the kids and also the adults, I am hoping this becomes a yearly tradition. Christmas Eve and Christmas day both were amazing just full of the usual people and traditions we love. We don't go home for many holidays but Christmas is one that is special to both Brendan and I. I love our families so very much, I posted a video below of a few of my nephews throwing down in a good dance party. The twins figured out how to turn on my parents electronic keyboard and proceeded to wake Brendan up this way Christmas eve morning, it was pretty cute. Christmas day we spent mostly with the Whites, which was awesome but I also did sneak over to see my Grandma Brecke who will be 100 in 2012! Monday night when we were home we went the MN Wild hockey game, it was a good game although would have been better had we won. All in all a great vacation home and a wonderful Christmas seeing all the people we love!
Love
Alyssa and Brendan

Favorite dance party from Christmas!

Thoughts on 2011

Its been about a year since we have started this blog and I really enjoy writing about our lives and also following our friend's blogs as well. I asked Brendan what his thoughts on 2011 are and in one word he said. "Awesome". Awesome, indeed. What a great year it has been I think we have broken some kind of new record for us by not just taking on one new hobby this year but many hobbies. The two biggest ones have been mountain biking and rock climbing. I never thought I would enjoy these two sports as much as I do. There is nothing like screaming down a hill or climbing a rock like a little kid again to remind you that you are capable of anything. I did knit my sweater this year and bake some bread as well but none of those hobbies compared to everything else we did. The best part was always having my best friend by my side to do all those things!
Besides my best friend and husband this past year has also included some great, life long friendships. I am so grateful for our friends Andy and Lexi and Sara and Zane. Through almost all of these fun hobbies we always have company, which makes everything so much more fun. We have also been blessed to have more family here in Utah in 2011 with Brandy and Tommy only three miles away and Charlie down in Salt Lake. As much as I miss people in Minnesota, I have not been homesick here.
We are looking forward to spending Christmas with our MN families and friends but ringing in the New Year here! I believe 2012 will be another incredible year with big plans!
Love
Alyssa and Brendan