yurting with paul and sara

aaron's brother, paul and his girlfriend, sara came to visit us for a week over christmas. i had met sara twice, but only for brief moments, and i hadn't properly hung out with paul in a long time. so it was really nice to get some quality time with them.

on christmas eve, we hiked 2 miles to a yurt in the woods. rapid camp yurt. the hike in was easy, and beautiful. see?

once we got there, we promptly started a fire in the cute wood stove. it took an hour or so, but the yurt slowly started warming up. once it was warm, it was never cold again. in fact, the yurt felt downright tropical. we occasionally stepped outside to cool off. 

our christmas eve dinner consisted of pork and pumpkin chili, which was delicious, and cheese and crackers, of course. 

we welcomed christmas morning with breakfast burritos and then packed out of the yurt and headed back to the eagle river nature center. 

tis the season, for agu

ah, december. lights, gifts, decorated christmas trees, and agu. agu is a conference in san francisco. thousands of scientists go to this conference every year. and i do mean thousands. aaron guessed around 22,000. i'm not sure why it is in december, it makes no sense. it's the time of the year that stress is highest, so probably not the best time to add additional work stress, but alas.

for years, i hated agu. years. this year, will be aaron's 11th or 12th year attending. and i think i've come to terms with it. i would rather have aaron around this week, but honestly it's worse for him than for me. for two weeks prior he worries about getting his science together and presentable, then there is poster printing, or some years, speech practicing. and then when he gets there it's science all day and schmoozing all night. the introvert in me cringes, but he handles it really well, and i think has fun in spite of himself.

each year during this week is my one time to watch it's a wonderful life. i watch it every year religiously and always when aaron is at agu. mostly because aaron hates this movie, really hates it. he thinks george bailey had an awful life..."trapped in bedford falls, no travel, or education, or career he chose for himself- but he has friends! great! you can have friends AND do all those things" he does have a point, but i don't let that ruin it for me.

halls are decked

fact, i never put a tree up until after thanksgiving is over. i know that's a little strange, but i feel like thanksgiving gets trampled on by people in a mad rush to make christmas get here sooner. the weekend after christmas is when we get our tree.

we always get our tree at minnesota bob's christmas tree farm. always because we did it last year and this year (and will continue to do so in the coming years). their trees are beautiful, prices are decent and they do everything but drive it home for you. 

stockings are hung

also i have been listening to my favorite christmas album of all time, a very she & him christmas. m. ward and zooey deschanel are yummy together. topping my christmas song list this year is "lumberjack christmas", and the hark! songs for christmas album, by sufjan stevens. and, of course, "nutmeg" by john legend which probably isn't for the younger ears

happy day of thanks!

we obviously have a lot to be thankful for this year (and previous years). do you ever feel so fortunate and lucky that you are afraid it will all go away one day?

what did you do to celebrate? we went to a "friendsgiving" at our friends sara and steve. there were about 20 people there. yes, 20. does that seem like a lot to you? usually get togethers with 20 people would require me to be drinking some wine, due to the introvertness in me. however, as you know, that is not to be. i think it is actually good for me to to be forced into these social situations head on. and it was fun. we both had a good time hanging out with friends, and making new ones. and, of course, the food was delicious. we got home around midnight and we still so keyed up that we went for a walk around the neighborhood. perhaps, my favorite part of the day.

the next day we watched planes, trains, and automobiles. i love that movie and haven't seen it in years. its awesome that a movie that old can still be relevant, and funny by today's standards. 

happy halloween!

we finally got around to carving our pumpkins on halloween day. we procrastinated a little due to aaron being away at a workshop. so after our sonogram on friday we went home and did a little carving to get them ready before our first trick-or-treaters arrived. see if you can guess who carve which one...

i like that every aspect of our pumpkin carving technique/design is different. 

i, of course, saved all the seeds an roasted them to salty perfection. the secret to the perfect seed is to brine them first. i soaked the seeds in a solution of 3 cups water with 1/2 fine sea salt and let them sit for 3 hours. drained them, patted them mostly dry and mixed 1-2 T olive oil and sprinkled a little more salt. then roasted them at 350 degrees for 40 minutes total, flipping once during the halfway point.

stay tuned for the big gender reveal. you have to wait a bit, because i want to tell my folks first. and, besides, you like the anticipation, right?