If All the Snowflakes Were Candy Canes and Cupcakes...

Oh what a snow that would be!  And we would have a yard full of candy canes and cupcakes which would be delicious.  :)  After last week's snow storm we were hit once again Wednesday evening with about 8 more inches!  Church dinner and activities were cancelled and Jay's classes were cancelled Thursday.  I wanted so badly to stay home in the warm bed and cuddle cozy all day, but unfortunately that is not an option in the "adult 'real' world".  :(  I made it to work safely but things were PRETTY slow at the office Thursday and Friday.  Winter is always a tough time for the construction industry...  Jay and I made plans to go sledding with Jenny and Asante Thursday night since the snow was still fresh.  We had an awesome time!!

Jay has done a superb job of shoveling with our $14 shovel from HyVee! :)

Some cool icicles on our house.

Saturday I went sledding again with my sister Leslie.  She had the day off and we got to hang out almost all day!  The hill at the college was so busy and there was barely any snow left but we still had a fun time.  

This was our hill.  As you can see it was a little worn down.

Sissies.

After sledding, we came back to the house and built a snowman in the backyard!  Great bonding time.  :)  We forgot to name him, but his eyes are made of Hershey's Kisses, his nose a mini carrot and his mouth dog food.  Ha ha.  Hey, we had to get creative.  

Then we came inside to warm up with some hot chocolate and GLEE!!  After glee we headed down to the Hy-Vee for some dinner items.  The necessities of course being Wan Chai Ferry, Pagoda Express Potstickers and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies for dessert!  Yummy.  We also stopped by the redbox and rented The Social Network which was pretty good.  I didn't think it was necessarily deserving of "Best Picture" at the Golden Globes, but I am also not a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.  

Today has been a good, relaxing day.  I did my grocery shopping early and came home to take a nap then watch the Chicago Bears!  Jay has a midterm tomorrow so he has been studying vigorously all weekend.  Tonight I am making cheeseburger soup with beer bread and we might rent another movie or watch more playoffs.  C'mon Jets!  :)  

A note to Blogger:

Dear Blogger,  

Why can you not upload my videos??  Seriously please try harder.  I really want to share them.  Thanks!

No New News

Well it's the beginning of another week and really it's a lot of the same around here.  Jay has started up school again and is already studying harder than before.  Work has definitely slowed down and we are still in the midst of winter.  Jay and I had a fun and really relaxing weekend together and with friends!  Friday night we had dinner at the house and watched a movie On-Demand.  We love our AT&T UVerse! :)  Saturday was very relaxing including sleeping in, running a few errands and meeting Rachel and David for dinner at KONA Grill.  The food was delicious and the company was even better.  After dinner we came back to our place and watched the Miss America pageant all together.  We really just wanted to see how far Miss Arkansas would get and she ended up being 1st Runner-Up!  We totally thought she was going to win, but alas, Arkansas was overshadowed by the Big 10 (Miss Nebraska won).  Thanks for hanging out Dave and Rach!  After Jay had the day "off" - no school that is - we are back in the groove of things and I don't know about you, but I am ready for March Madness and spring time!!! :) 

There's SNOW Place Like Home

Well it is definitely winter here in Kansas City!  It has been snowing ALL day and it is really beautiful.  We got about 6 inches of snow throughout the day today and it is truly a winter wonderland.  Jay's school was dismissed early and I actually got to leave work a little early, too!  After I got home from work we pulled out all our ski gear and dressed to go outside to play.  The pictures are much more telling than my words...

Back yard

Front yard

W. 77th Street

Dash LOVING it.

 Millie HATING it.  (Jay did this without my consent- poor thing)

 Close-up of "mommy and daddy" :)

Doggie in the snow!

 My snow angel got partly demolished by Dash.

 A cool snowflake we found on Dash's fur before we came inside.

Check out this new video of Dash and Jay running in the snow!  He kept plowing tunnels in the snow and ran through them over and over again!  He was a tired puppy when we came inside...

Tonight we are making chicken spaghetti and are going to watch the BCS National Championship game!  Go SEC! :)

Not So Sweet...

Well as most of you know, last night was the 2011 Sugar Bowl: Arkansas v. Ohio State.  David and Rachel invited us over for dinner and the game.  We are all so pumped up for the game!  I wore my red cardigan sweater with my hog earrings and Arkansas pin to work!  We were preparing all day for the biggest game of the season and couldn't wait to hang out with Dave and Rach.  The game started off OK and the first half was a major bummer (28-7 at half).  Then second half came on and Arkansas was totally revved!  We were really dominating and scored a lot to catch up with OSU (31-26).  It was such a good game with so many ups and downs but in the end, Arkansas couldn't capitalize and OSU won.  :(  It was such a disappointment for us all and we were really sad but we definitely still had a great time with the Rainwaters!   Thanks for having us over Dave and Rach!  

Really angry-like.  Tusk 'em!

 Deuce dog got sleepy...

 Cheer us on boys!

 Smiling faces before the sadness kicked in.  From :) to :(

Oh and Happy New Year, Too!

Well happy new year everyone!  It is the first day of 2011 and we are really looking forward to this year.  We hope you are richly blessed this upcoming year.  Last night we went to dinner with some YAMs friends at Cactus Grill.  It is one of our favorite places to eat and we ate with some of our favorite people!
 

Still working out the camera issues... a little dark but still cute nonetheless. :)

 The group minus a few that left before we could snap a pic.

After dinner we went over to Andrew and Leah Kneisler's house to eat more and play games before ringing in the new year.  We played Balderdash for several hours and it was really a fun game!  I had never played it before and it was so funny and crazy.  Then about 10 til 12 we gathered all around, got out Leah's pots and pans and counted down to 2011.  Jay assumed the role of Dick Clark as he watched the second hand tick down... We all shouted 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and ran outside to bang on the pots and pans and shout "Happy New Year!!!!"  It was so fun.  Then since it was about 15 degrees outside we came back in to cheers sparking grape juice and watch the fireworks from the kitchen windows!  Then of course we were about to fall asleep so we came home and went right to bed!  No pictures though... sorry guys. :(

Today we had to get real and take down our Christmas decorations... so sad.  I can't believe it is already over.  Our house looks so empty and boring without the decs all up!  Although that was an unfortunate event, we had the special treat of seeing our good friends David and Sarah Camp today!  They were in town for their anniversary and we had lunch and went shopping on the plaza together.  So fun to see them and hang out for a few hours.

This was taken AFTER we devoured the 6 rolls of sushi we ordered.  So delish.

Now we are back at home relaxing together watching the Fiesta Bowl (Go Sooners!) with my little sis!  A wonderful long weekend for relaxing and celebrating the new year.  One more day before it's back to work again... :) or rather :(

Yes It's Christmas Everywhere

Well we are back in KC after spending a long weekend in Little Rock for Christmas.  I can't believe it's already been a week since Christmas.  Time is just continuing to fly by and we are gearing up for a wonderful 2011.  We look forward to a happy new year, but first- Christmas blog!  We really had an excellent visit in Little Rock.  We got to leave Tuesday after I got off work (a little early-yay) and headed down US 71 to the good ole LR.  We arrived late Tuesday night and had 4 whole days to hang with the fam.  During the days on Wednesday and Thursday we got to sleep in and just hang out, do some last minute fun shopping and chat with family and friends.  Wednesday was Maw Maw's 80th birthday and we had a celebration at Hunan Chinese restaurant.  She is such a special woman and we are so grateful for her love and support.

 Thorpe Family minus Wes & Catherine and children :)

 Maw Maw and Deda... so sweet

Friday morning (Christmas Eve) we all headed down to BB and BoBo's for our Christmas celebration there.  Wes and Catherine arrived late Wednesday night (from OHIO) and were able to come with us!  Yay.  We had a great time there eating yummy snacks and exchanging gifts (although I was feeling a little under the weather).  We didn't go to Hot Springs when we had Christmas in LR last so it was fun to celebrate there with everyone.  

Cute nieces all dressed in red!

Friday night we celebrated Christmas (well, Jay, Matt and I waited to open gifts) at Rob and Billie's because Wes and Catherine were going to her mom's for Christmas morning.  It was a little chaotic but still fun nonetheless. :)  The girls were going crazy ripping open the presents and everyone was smiling and completely distracted!  

Christmas morning was lazy and carefree!  Jay and I opened stockings with Rob and Billie and then got ready for Matt and Akina and the girls to come over for breakfast and more presents!  We had fun opening gifts and got some really great stuff.  

The best MIL ever!  Love you Billie! :)

This one's for you Momma! :)

  

Merry Christmas from the Thorpes.  :)

We hope you had a joyous Christmas and got to share it with many friends and family.  We built more memories and look forward to many many more in the coming years!  Love to you all.