A yuletide bash

We had a Christmas gathering at our home this past weekend. At one point there were 18 adults, 6 children under the age of 2, and 3 babes in the womb. Goodness! If you've ever been in our humble abode, you know that this means we were quite snug.

I bought some fabric at Ikea and asked my mom to make us some stockings. She's amazing! They turned out awesome!

My dad even helped by taking the little magnetic letters that cover our fridge back home and tracing them onto the felt. It truly was a team effort. :)

And now on to the party:

 If you haven't ever had eggnog covered almonds, you're missing out!! So good!

I know this might sound silly, but I was SO excited to use these napkins. :)

 White elephant gift exchange. We had some of the oddest gifts!

 This was one of the odd gifts. :)

Overall it was enjoyable and a real hit. But man, we were tired! Planning get togethers are hard work!

Toasty

I would like to introduce you to someone very special to me.

His name is Earl. Earl the owl.

And he's a hot water bottle. He keeps my aches and pains away and warms up my bed before I hop into it. I never knew how much of a wuss I was when it comes to the cold until this winter. Little comforts like Earl the owl make everything a little more bearable.

Things have been good out here in Minnesota. Every day we move one step closer to our big move out east (in case you didn't know, we're moving to Pennsylvania the first week in January). We're excited and expectant and ready to put down some roots. This coming weekend we're hosting a big Christmas party for a bunch of our friends and I'm really looking forward to it. The only problem is that it makes me aware of all the sad goodbyes we'll have to say. We're getting pretty used to transitioning so often, but it doesn't make it much easier. We're also facing some new areas where we'll need to really trust God in. We're once again praying for a place to live, jobs, and possibly a car. Does this sound familiar? We love new opportunities to have our faith tested. It's awesome to see God move in amazing and unexpected ways. Until then, we'll just keep praying and looking on Craigslist.

So this is Christmas

This year marks my first ever Christmas as a married woman. For the past week or so we've been taking small steps to make our house ready for a proper Yuletide celebration. We had our lovely friends the Beilers help us with lights

 And, you can't decorate without some tasty treats to go along with it. How about some peanut butter milk shakes.

Then on Saturday Jake and I headed over to his parents house and made Christmas cookies with his mama. They were delicious and really fun to make.

After that, we were inspired by all the white flakes falling from the sky to buy ourselves our first Christmas tree!

The star on the top I made and I also turned the little yellow crocheted circles from my wedding into ornaments. Then, Jake had all of the ornaments that his mom had bought for him every year at Christmas to add to the tree. My favorite one is a disco ball that if you spin it just right all the lights from the tree dance all over the walls and ceiling. I'm excited to spend this time with Jake as a family and feel blessed to also be apart of his family's traditions. This time of year I'm really in the mood to take lots of pictures so I'm sure I'll be posting more.

Twins!

A few weeks ago I made some hats for two boys that will be coming into the world any moment now. My friend Laurel is pregnant with twin boys and we're all so excited to meet these darling little men.

Photography done by Ria (check out her blog)

But since I'm showing off these hats I made, I'd like you to also check out Laurel's blog and her etsy shop. She is so talented and creative and I'm daily inspired by the things that come from her imagination. She's working hard to put up a bunch of items so that she can take a little break once her bundles of joy come. I have bought two headbands from her that I absolutely love.
here's one:

Also, she made all of the hair clips and boutonnieres at my wedding:

My wedding was made possible by all of the generous and talented people that I am blessed to call friends. You should definitely check her stuff out and support her wee little family of two that within hours will be a family of four!!

Honeymoon

For our honeymoon we traveled West to California. We stayed in a few different cities as we traveled south from L.A., finishing up in San Diego. But first, we spent a fun day in Minneapolis together.

Our adventure had a bumpy start when we realized while standing in the check in line at the airport that my boarding pass said Lindy Paurus, but all my other forms of identification said Lindy Beamesderfer. As we explained over and over again to the supervisor that pulled us to the side that we haven't had the chance to change any documents because we got married less than 48 hours ago, I discovered that I had one of the "Save the Date" cards in my purse. He let us through on the basis of that card and we made sure to have a copy of the marriage license for the rest of our travels.
Our first stop was Anaheim and the very cute Lemon Tree hotel. We spent some time visiting the coast, hanging out at a cool coffee shop, and exploring the area.

Next we ventured to Long Beach where we stayed in the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary was an elegant cruise ship that transported the likes of Winston Churchill,  Fred Astaire, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and was considered to the elite of high society "the only civilized way to travel." Now it is permanently docked and converted into a hotel. Trust me, we were a little out of place there in our T-shirts and sneakers but we loved every minute of it!

Long Beach was a really cool city and we spent most of our time there exploring the funky and artistic neighborhoods with plenty of vintage stores, tasty food, and quaint coffee shops.

After Long Beach we journeyed to the desert. Palm Desert to be exact. You might be wondering why we would leave the beautiful Pacific coast to visit the desert for two days, but trust me, we had our reasons.
Reason #1 - we found a coupon for a great deal on a hotel.

Reason #2 - going to the desert meant that we were about an hour away from visiting a place that Jake had longed to see for many years.

Welcome to Salvation Mountain. Leonard Knight's car broke down in the middle of the desert some time in the 70s when he felt compelled to make a monument that declared God's love to all who saw it. He built the mountain with adobe clay and covered it with layers and layers of paint. He's lived in a small shack on the back of a flat bed truck next to the mountain for years until recent heart problems sent him to live in town. The mountain has become quite the attraction and people from all around the world have traveled to the desert to chat with Leonard under the hot sun and explore the 'Grotto' and walk up the yellow brick road. He would never consider himself an artist, but merely a lover of God. So cool!

Next we made it to the city we were the most excited about; San Diego! We stayed in two different places in San Diego, but honestly only one is worth mentioning and boy oh boy was it a doozy! We stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast called "Vintage Sol." It was amazing! Not only was it colorful, creative, and cozy, but the owner was so friendly and personable. She made us amazing breakfast and even treated us to some homemade drinks one evening.

 She also made some 'tourism' binders for all of her guests with her own personal suggestions and commentaries on all of the must-see spots in San Diego. Every night we used the advice from her binder and we were never disappointed.

Overall we had an amazing time and we're so thankful that we had this once in a lifetime opportunity to have so much fun and visit such unique and beautiful places. After the honeymoon we went to PA for a reception with my friends and family, but that will have to wait for another post.