The Marks Come to Utah

We were so glad that Patrick's parents and brother were able to come up from Texas for Christmas this year.

The holidays are that much more wonderful when surrounded by family.

Temple Square

Temple Square truly is magical at Christmastime.

In addition to our date at the Roof, 

we had multiple opportunities to spend time downtown amongst the lights.

We attended the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with our upstairs neighbors,

were lucky enough to tag along with my parents to the Mormon Tabernacle's Christmas Concert featuring the Muppets and Santino Fontana,

and we of course made a trip or two to City Creek to finish our gift shopping.

 

  

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!  After very little snow up to this point, we were thrilled it turned out to be a white Christmas!

We spent a quiet, laid back holiday in Erda...

Just my parents, Garrett, Austin, Patrick, and me.

We had a Mexican-themed meal, opened presents, had a white elephant exchange, passed gag gifts while mom read from "The Night before Christmas," and played a few games.

 And we ate homemade apple pie!

Christmas Details

I love seeing our holiday decoration collection grow a little bit each year.

Here are some new details that were added for Christmas 2014...

Once again, our bookshelf served as our "mantle."

I was so excited to put out the Nativity pieces we were given by my mom last year.
She plans to gives us another set in the collection each year until we have the complete Nativity.

I tried to mix in the Christmas decor with things we already had out around the house.

This fun poinsettia is from a little shopping trip we took with Noni and Pete on Patrick's birthday.

Finding a couple of Christmasy pillows was on my to-do list this year.

And keeping with the little tradition we started our first Christmas together,
here is this year's photo ornament.

Gingerbread A-Frame

Building a gingerbread house each Christmas season is a fun tradition I so look forward to.

Most of the kits you see in stores basically have the same style house so I was so thrilled when Patrick and I spotted this charming kit at Trader Joe's...

 I've always loved the cute A-frames that you see in the ski towns and knew this was the kit we had to  buy this year.

 We decided to cheat a bit... We never eat our gingerbread houses so we hot glued the pieces together and then covered the seams with icing.  I wish we had thought of this brilliant idea sooner!

 The front view...

 And the back.

It isn't a complete project without our trademark "P+M."

Year of Dates: December

December marked our final "Year of Dates" date.

I wanted to make sure we ended with something extra special.

Every Christmas, we go and see the lights at Temple Square. I decided that for our final date, it would  be fun this year to view them from The Roof Restaurant. 

 The Roof is considered Utah's premier dining buffet. Perfect for a husband who loves food and a pregnant wife whose appetite has greatly increased!

 In addition to the fantastic food, we enjoyed the live music and the overall atmosphere of the restaurant.

 I could have filled up on the french onion soup and the creme brûlée alone.

So amazing!

 The whole experience exceeded Patrick's expectations. He was planning a return visit before we even got to dessert!

 I am now convinced this is the only way to see the lights.

I think it is safe to say that the "Year of Dates" was a huge success!

I can't think of a better gift than time with the person you love.

Mamacita, It's Your Birthday!

It's this wonderful lady's birthday today!

We met up earlier this week to celebrate with a lunch date at The Cheesecake Factory.

It has been so nice to have a less hectic work schedule this school year.  It has allowed me and my mom to get together almost weekly to work on projects, go for lunch, or just sit and visit.

I can't wait until Baby Marks can join in on the fun. I know our little one is just going to adore his/her Nana Banana!

In honor of mom's birthday, here are some fun facts:

*Mom is known for her great legs.  When she started married life on the farm, she took it upon herself to name the horses.  One horse received the name "Nancy J" because horses have great legs, too!

*Mom is very athletic.  She could have easily pursued skiing or speed skating competitively, but in the end, she decided that a family was a much more important goal.

*Mom can hold Crow Pose as long as she pleases.  This yoga instructor still struggles to even balance in the pose for longer than a few seconds.

*When we were little, Mom used to make up and tell us stories about Lulu the Long-Arm Monkey.

Now, she is working to put the stories down on paper with illustrations so she can share them with the grandchildren or even have them published!

Love you lots, Mamacita!