Kentucky Livin' and Kentucky LOVIN'!!

I have one thing to say...I was born to be a southerner! We are LOVING Lexington! We arrived right smack in the middle of the worst snow/ice/winter storm in 9 years, but it didn't put a damper on our new love affair with Kentucky!

Those of you who know me know I love a good top ten list...so to sum it up here is the...

TOP TEN THINGS WE LOVE (SO FAR) ABOUT KENTUCKY...

10. Our brand spankin new apartment. Is it sad that the boys kept talking about how white the walls were and how nice the carpet felt the first few days we were here? Yes, yes it really is.
9. Listening to everyone's southern drawl and having perfect strangers call you "honey" "dear" and "sweetheart". They are so warm and friendly!
8. All the Walmart Super Centers. Kentuckians LOVE Walmart, and I am fan. Everything here is SUPER affordable. I still have sticker shock when I am shopping.
7. Todd loving his internship with Amazon.com and the project he is on...
and we love having him around a whole lot more!
6. Living in the lap of luxury with a dishwasher AND a washer and dryer. I feel so spoiled!
5. Our Ward. After hearing the first few speakers our first Sunday Todd and I turned to each other and said, "Sold". It really has been wonderful. Thatcher is LOVING Sunbeams, and has the nicest teachers. I am so relieved. Tagg loves Nursery here, mostly because they have a slide. I am basking in the normality of the Relief Society and Todd is amazed at how great the Elders Quorm is. It is like a breath of fresh air, let me tell ya!
4. All the fun things they have to do for families and kids.
3. The gym and tanning bed at our apartment complex...ummm hello?! SO nice.
2. The rolling hills and all the horse farms, it is really so beautiful! I can't wait until Spring, I hear it is breathtaking.
1. Having this fun new adventure together as a family!

So in a nut shell we are liking it so far!
Here are some highlights of what we have been doing the last couple weeks.

Todd's welcome gift from Amazon. Good ol' Kentucky made BBQ sauce and Maple Syrup. It doesn't get much better than that folks!

I love these pictures of the boys drinking at McDonald's Playland, a favorite place of ours for the boys to get some energy out.

Friday Night Pizza and Movie Night!

Classic Tagg face, so glad I caught it!

Todd perfecting his english muffin masterpiece!

Thatch and Tagg all ready to watch the movie!

Thatcher with his missing front tooth! This kid is going to be the end of me!

We went to this awesome place called "Kids Place". Basically it is like a giant room full of ropes to climb, slides to slide, polls to slide down and balls to romp around in. A little boys dream.

Do you think they look worn out enough? They slept well this night! :)

I have been baking a lot lately. I don't know why. I just got the baking bug. In the spirit of Valentines Day I made these cookies for a church function. These, my friends, are the cookies that de-veganized my dear Todd. Oh yes, it is true. These are his weakness. Peanut butter cookies with candy kisses.

Tagg has been talking more and more...here is a cute little video to show off his new skills.

FINALLY....an update....

It has been a whirlwind of a month! We had a wonderful Christmas. We had lots of snow, played lots of games, ate lots of treats and yummy food, laughed a lot, rested a lot, had lots of TV marathons, and most of all had a lot of fun! We have also survived two rounds of colds and coughs, and two weeks without Todd as he went on a Plant Trek around the US for his MIT program. Here are some highlights...

Thatcher playing in the snow for the first time!

So I forgot their snow boots in Cambridge...

My parents house all festive and snowy

Good times in the snow

Burrrr!

Hot chocolate. The boys new favorite treat.

David so excited for Christmas!

The stockings were hung...

Nativity puppets

The frenzy beings...

Jon and Rebecca having a hoot!

Christmas morning and the boys playing with their new toys

Jon and Rebecca cooking on Christmas morning

Jon, Rebecca, Todd and I, and my Dad and Mom at the Boston Temple

Todd at Boeing

Seattle Space Needle

Todd's summer team

Todd with some of his classmates at Powell's Bookstore in Portland
holding up one of their teachers books.

Reno

Todd at Harley in Kansas City

We are in the process of packing everything up and moving to Kentucky. We get there next week and we are really excited for this new adventure!

It's almost that time!!!

Well we are heading off to Rhode Island for what I have entitled "Monsonfest 2008-09". We are all going to be together for Christmas this year, and I am very excited. We want to wish all of you a VERY Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year!

Christmas Card 2008

If you lived in Boston, this is what you would have gotten from us...one of my favorite Christmas traditions, baking!

Joy School Nativity

Thatcher had his Joy School Christmas party and Nativity Program this last week! He was the angel, which we thought was very appropriate because that is what Daddy was when he was in Joy School. He did a great job, and all the kids were VERY cute. We have LOVED this Joy School experience, and hope to continue with this cute group next year when Thatcher is 4!

Thatcher and Elijah as the angels coming to Mary.

Our little Shephard Tagg.

All the kiddos with baby Jesus. Notice that cute little Ella is Joseph. We thought it was totally fine since this Joy School is in Cambridge, and in the Cambridge 1st ward, that's how we roll. :)
Side Note: Some members of our ward were "Mormon's against Prop 8". Lets just say that it has been pretty WILD in our ward
the last couple Sundays. I might blog about it soon, let me tell ya, it has been NUTS!

Thatcher the angel...

I will have a SHE someday and she MUST have this....

So, Todd is at a basketball game tonight with my Dad and brother. I am surfing the net, while I should be Christmas baking. Look at what I found while browsing on Etsy...

No this isn't an announcement. But WHEN (trying to be optimistic here) we have a little girl, she WILL have this dress. It is perfect.

Even though I long for a little girl, as I looked in the rear view mirror at my boys today eating McDonalds chicken nuggets and sharing fries all while playing with their happy meal toys, I was overcome with gratitude to be their mommy. I wouldn't trade them for 100 girls.
They are perfect.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

SEATTLE! Seriously. It has been raining here for THREE days straight. I don't even know why I blow dry my hair in the mornings. By 10:00am my hair is a frizz ball that slightly resembles shrubbery. Rain, rain, GO AWAY! Where is the snow people? Are we not in New England?

Last weekend was the Westgate Christmas party. It was delightful. The theme was international holidays, and it was awesome. I love things like this. There were several booths set up about countries from around the world and how they celebrate the holidays. We did an Italian one. I wanted to do the table half Italian and half Maltese to be true to my heart, but didn't have access to any pastizzi. Maybe next year if I research ahead of time. Luckly for us, we live in Boston, aka: Italy in America. You don't have to go very far to get Pandoro, or Panatone, both of we served at our booth. When I opened that box of Panatone and smelt that unmistakable smell, I was brought right back to Consenza, and my heart was warmed. Such good memories. Anyway, it was a very cool night topped off with a visit from the big man himself. Santa. The boys almost died. It was pretty much the same reaction as when they saw Micky Mouse for the first time. Thatcher reminded me of little Ralphie on "The Christmas Story". He was half in shock, so much so that he almost forgot to tell Santa what he wanted. Just before he got off his lap he told him and was very relieved. HO. HO. HO!

Todd and the boys sampling some of the international goodies...

The Hanukkah Booth...a big hit with all the dreidles, donuts, and candy money! I couldn't keep Todd away from the dreidles, I don't know what is with that guy! :) Also, I learned something so cool. They serve donuts and basically anything fried because of the "miracle of the oil". Very interesting, and very yummy!

My cute friend Kate with her Irish booth

Germany

My friend Pam did a French booth, because they lived there for a few years.

My good friend Becky did a Swedish booth, her mom is Swedish and she has a lot of fun traditions that go along with her heritage.

The shock factor of Santa.

Trying to smile, but still in shock that he is on Santa's lap.

Tagg on Santa's lap.

A little shout out!

This is a little shout out to my friend Amberli McCoy who took our family pictures last Saturday. She was awesome! So fun to work with and the boys really loved her. For those of you in the Boston area, she is starting up her business, and she is great! Thanks Amberli, you are the best!

Christmas Cheer!

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