Christmas Date

Our evenings before, on, and after Christmas are mostly spent at parties with family and friends.  This year was no different, except that we had one night with no plans - the Friday before Christmas.  We decided to plan a relaxing night out together in the midst of the busyness of the season.  


We spent the evening in Grand Rapids - starting with dinner at a new restaurant to us - The Green Well.  It was excellent...seriously...go there!


Our next stop was Frederick Meijer Gardens.  They have a Christmas tree exhibit displaying trees from around the world. The middle picture on the left is a representation of an African Christmas tree.  They also had a cool train exhibit and thousands of Christmas lights outside to see.

For our last stop we planned to go downtown to Rosa Parks Circle to ice skate, but the wait was way too long for skates.  We decided to just watch the skaters for a bit and then get some dessert...not a bad 2nd choice!  Plus, while we were there it started snowing!

Our Small Group Ugly Sweater Bowling Thai Palace Christmas Party

Ok, so this was not a typical Christmas party, but we had a blast.  Our small group decided to go bowling for our Christmas Party this year- and made it even more fun by wearing ugly sweaters!


The whole gang- even the kids had ugly sweaters!

Nice turtlenecks!

Scott and I wore these sweaters a few years ago for an ugly sweater party- but we forgot how ugly they really were until we pulled them out again.  I also forgot that my sweater had shoulder pads- bonus!

We all decided that Matt was the winner of the ugliest sweater!  Congrats Matt!

After bowling we took our ugliness to Thai Palace for dinner. This was our first time eating Thai food- we loved it and will definitely be back!


We are so thankful for these friends and the way our relationships have grown in the past year!  

Cookies and more Cookies!

It has been tradition for my mom and sister(s) to get together to make Christmas goodies.  This year- Katie was not at home due to just having a baby, so it was just the three of us...and a few "helpers".  Colton and Cassidy made sure all the spoons and beaters were clean!  


As usual, we made way too many goodies!

It has also been tradition to get together with Scott's family to decorate Christmas cookies.  Lauren and Allie worked hard to get these looking good...with a few taste tests too!

New Niece!

Today we welcomed a new niece to our family!  My sister Katie and her husband Andrew had a little girl- Peyton Lydia Gent.  She is a little cutie!  Unfortunately we have not been able to meet her yet since they live in Philadelphia...hoping to be able to meet  her soon (hint, hint Andrew & Katie:).

Chicago Weekend

This weekend was our annual Chicago getaway with Scott's family.  We love going to Chicago...especially this time of year! The weather was quite mild for December, which was nice...although a few snowflakes would have been a nice treat:)

On Saturday we did some shopping in Lincoln Park and then headed to a show mid-afternoon.  It was a musical called The Christmas Schooner in a small theater in Lincoln Park.  It was very good and the music was great!  After the show we headed out for some good eats at Maggiano's!  yum.  It started raining after dinner so we took a quick walk to Michigan Ave to see the lights and then headed back to the hotel so the guys could watch the Big 10 Championship game.

On Sunday we spent the day in the city- doing a little Christmas shopping and taking in the sights on Michigan Ave.  And of course...a stop at Trader Joe's!