thanksgiving & the holiday market & advent calendars

Here is what our holiday season has looked like thus far, starting with Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving has slowly been earning more and more stock on my list of favorite holidays over the past few years, it's biting at the heels of Christmas. It's like Christmas, without all the pressure of Christmas, ya catch my drift? Thanksgiving is totally chill and that's how it is supposed to be and I dig it. Plus, I've never been a huge turkey fan, but can you REALLY dislike a holiday dedicated to lavish meals and naps? That on top of all the warm fuzzies from friends and family and recognizing how much you have. I mean really.

Around here we're putting our best foot forward to make this the cheeriest of Christmases. As the only woman in the house I have taken it as my sacred duty to bring the festivity in full force for the men who never realize how wonderfully necessary it is until it has all been done (am i right, ladies?? lets be honest, these things would rarely get accomplished without us). The halls have been decked, the wreaths are out, and the advent house is stuffed with candy.

Side story about advent calendars. Growing up in the Burnham household, we had one sole advent calendar. I had a friend whose Mom got an advent calendar for each kid in the family, and she had the idea right because the advent calendar was a source of much strife for the Burnham children each December. The calendar was this Christmas tree with a golden string that ran from one side of the tree to the other, and on the string were 25 beads. Each day of December you would turn the bead to countdown until Christmas. I don't know what it was about that countdown but it was a family favorite. I'm sure that the star on top of the tree had to be hot glued back on more than once, and as it got old we had to fit the beads over the knots that held the string together, but we held onto that countdown for a long while and I'm not entirely sure when my Mom decided to retire it to its final resting place. You can imagine though, how well it works sharing one thing between five children. No matter the age, every single one of us really just got a thrill from turning that bead each day. I'm fairly certain that Steve would wake up just to turn the bead and then go back to bed (even on weekends!). If you woke up later than everyone else, you were at a HUGE disadvantage because odds are there was at least one person who woke up before you that remembered. It was pretty regularly a conversation of "You turned the bead yesterday!" or, "I haven't turned the bead all month!" You'd think we'd establish some sort of system, but my mom was one who liked to let us figure things out amongst ourselves, and in this case that meant we whined about it for a month and accepted that he who wakes first gets the honor of the ceremonial bead turning. Isn't it funny how some of our memories of what seemed to be terrible at the time (okay, terrible might be an overexaggeration here) turn out to be some of our favorites? One of these days I'm going to have to write about our Lake Powell house boat vacation.

So AAANYWAY for Thanksgiving this year Scott and I were on our own. My Dad flew to Utah to be with the family and all of Scott's family is in Utah as well and since we're flying out for Christmas we decided to stay here for Thanksgiving. We figured, who knows how many Thanksgivings are we going to ever have again where we can just do our own thing? So we embraced it full force and did a non-traditional meal at a Brazilian steakhouse called Fogo de Chao in Minneapolis. Scott was, naturally, in heaven. It was worth it for me just to see him so excited about it, but it was also sooo good. We always have a good time going to fun places like that.

The next day, we went to the Holidazzle Village and Holiday Market in the cities. I will say, we came for the fireworks, but we stayed for the hot fresh apple cider, brats, and European danishes. Holy food coma. There were so many amazing goodies too at the Holiday Market; beautiful hand painted dishware, hand made nativities and ornaments, it was amazing. I really hope we have an opportunity to go back before it closes because it was so cool!

Now we're down to almost a week (whaaat!) until we leave for Utah and I'm trying to decide, do I pack all Scott's presents, open them before we leave, or save them until after?? Important decisions here in my future.

1 year + a novel

For our 1 year anniversary Scott and I wanted to get to know our new home a little bit better. The drive along Highway 61 hugs the North Shoreline of Lake Superior and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful drives in the country (although, I think the Al-Can beats it). My older brother had taken a day trip up there earlier in the summer with his family, and the whole highway is dotted with charming resorts and restaurants, we thought it would be the perfect place for an intimate little getaway for the weekend that wasn't too far from home.

We stayed in a condo at the Lutsen Resort about 2 hours north of Duluth that was absolutely perfect. We could see the lake from our balcony! I was especially pleased because when I called to book a room, they asked us if we were visiting for any special occasion. When I told them it was for our anniversary they offered to have champagne waiting for us in our room when we arrived. When I said no thank you, they offered for sparkling cider! I was so pleased. I didn't even have to ask for a non-alcoholic option (I didn't even know that was an option.) So, when we arrived on Friday night they had left us 2 champagne glasses and sparkling cider. I was so pleased to have a nice little souvenier to bring home from our first anniversary.

On Saturday morning I slept in while Scott fished, then when he got back we had a late breakfast, then went kayaking with a group from the resort. I was really looking forward to this but I sat in the back and was in charge of steering and I am TERRIBLE at it. I am still convinced there was something else wrong because I swear I was doing everything I was supposed to! But I was just doing an awful job and I got so frustrated! There was nothing poor Scott could do but deal with grumpy little me sitting in the back of the kayak totally failing at life. Oh man. I am terrible. The lake was really beautiful though! It is HUUUGE. It does not look like a lake, it looks like an ocean, which I loved. Our guide told us that one guy got lost kayaking because he got too far from the shoreline and accidentally kayaked across the whole lake. Can you imagine?! There aren't mountains in Minnesota, it is so easy to get turned around and disoriented, to be lost in a kayak on a giant lake...no thanks!

After our kayaking adventure was over we spent the rest of the afternoon playing horseshoes and exploring shops along the highway. Scott even spent some time fishing in a little fishing hole right by the main lodge catching one fish after another. We went out to eat at a restaurant about 20 miles north called the Angry Trout. We went because severeal people had written in the guest journal in our room that this place was good, and they were right! We waited almost an hour for a table but it was definitely worth it. All of the ingredients were fresh and in season, locally grown, and the fish had been caught fresh from the lake. It was an awesome anniversary dinner.

I am all about traditions so I decided to save the top tier of our wedding cake to have on our 1 year anniversary. I had heard from multiple people that saving it was a waste and that it would taste weird or gross, but I really wanted to keep the tradition, and I'm so glad I did! I lugged that baby in an iced cooler from Utah to Minnesota, and then up to the resort for the weekend, complete with our own cutlery, plates, and napkins (because we didn't have any in the hotel). After our dinner on Saturday we came back to our hotel and had our cake and our sparkling cider on a little table I pulled up by the fireplace. It is one of my favorite memories from our anniversary. We sat and reminisced about our wedding day and our past year together and how much we have learned, how quickly the time goes, all of the fun things we want to do together, and our cake was still good (yay for good cakemakers!).

We checked out of the resort on Sunday morning and slowly made our way back home. We drove down highway 61, enjoying the view that we didn't get when we drove up since we drove up at night. We stopped at the Split Rock Light House and were too cheap to pay to get in, so we stopped at a pull off further down the road to take pictures. We also stopped at Gooseberry Falls and spent some time walking around, and taking pictures. We found this awesome flea market on the side of the road, and of course we stopped and grabbed a pie from the famous Betty's Pies (soooo gooood *droooool*). When we made it to Duluth we grabbed lunch, and went to see Bob Dylan's childhood home (guess whose request that was). THEN, we finally made the drive back home. It was a perfect, relaxing, and long (I have a feeling I'm doing to like having our anniversary fall close to labor day) weekend.

I remember before Scott and I got married I couldn't even imagine fighting with each other, I didn't even know what we would fight about. But, I learned very quickly that there are plenty of things to fight about, even when you're super compatible. I also learned that even though Scott and I are super compatible, we are also very, very different from each other (it is possible!) A large part of our first year was hard! I learned a lot about myself and discovered parts of my personality I didn't realize were a part of my personality. It was tough to face that, and figure out how to make things work. The best thing about marriage, though, is that even when things are really frustrating, you know that neither one of you is ever going to give up on the other. Yeah, our personalities clash occasionally, but we figure it out when that happens. Maybe it happened more at first than it does now, but only because we never gave up on one another. I have learned more about relationships and what love really means in this first year of marriage than I ever learned when I was single, and I am so grateful for that! Marriage is tough, but so much fun. It is worth every frustrating argument or uncomfortable conversation we have to have with one another. For everyone one of those, there are a hundred positive memories. I will never get tired of having someone to come home to every day, or taking a free Saturday morning (rare as they may be) to wake up slow and make breakfast together. I love little texts in the middle of the day just to see how the day is going. I love having a human furnace to curl up next to when I'm freezing at night (which is most nights). I love having someone who will laugh with me when I feel like being silly, and laugh at me when I'm being ridiculous. I love having someone to celebrate my pointless victories with, and comfort me when I'm disappointed in myself. Scott gives me perspective and reminds me constantly of what is really important. There is nothing more comforting than knowing you have someone who is always going to be cheering for you in your corner of the ring (like that boxing reference, Scotty?). I am so happy that I have someone who keeps choosing to love me despite all of my flaws. Marriage is tough, but marriage is the best, you guys. The absolute best.

this bridge took us from our condo to the main lodge and over the little fishing hole that Scott spent a couple hours in

the view from our balcony

i am totally pretending to have fun here, convincing, yes?!

the trail leading to the main lodge was full of raspberry bushes!

pre-anniversary dinner selfie

oh my gosh, we didn't even have plates! keeping it suuuuper classy with our paper towels. ah! let this be a lesson that the greatest memories do NOT have to be picture perfect ;)

and so.

Here's to an eternity of anniversaries with my favorite human, love you Scotty!

back on the grid

Lets be honest, this blog post is LONG overdue. So much has gone down in the last few months. Number one, we moved to Minnesota (!!!!) in June and I started my dietetics internship (which, I am now halfway through). 

Minnesota has been so, so great. We're living in my parents basement in their home just outside of the twin cities. Since my mom spends most of her time in Utah and my dad spends most of his time traveling, it's really just us most of the time. We definitely recognize what a charmed life we are currently leading, and are enjoying every second of it while we can. 

I LOVE the twin cities. They are big, but small, if that makes any sense? There is so much to do, but things don't feel so accelerated. There are lakes EVERYWHERE and walking paths everywhere, and everyone has a dog which has made me seriously puppy hungry. In the summer the leaves stay green through the season, and it is green EVERYWHERE. It is so so beautiful. Fall was late this year, but absolutely gorgeous. There are so many trees and lakes, I mean, everywhere you look is a photo opportunity. 

I've really loved the walking paths everywhere and have taken full advantage of them. I don't know what I will do without them when we go back to Utah. It is so nice not to have to share the road with cars. Plus, everywhere you run is gorgeous. I have 4-5 lakes to run around that are less than 10 miles from my house. I run pretty regularly now and am doing my best to stay with it through the winter! Last week I had my first winter run and it was 8 degrees out, there were frozen eyelashes, numb legs, and a very hot bath afterward. That didn't scare me away though! The humidity and lower elevation make it easier to breathe here. In Utah, it hurt my lungs to run when it was cold, but I don't get that here at all, which makes it SO much easier.

Scott has been spending all of his time either working or fishing for musky. Of course he made friends quickly with the local fly shop owner out here and had fishing friends within 3 days of moving out here. He did catch 1 musky this season after a day trip up north. The lakes are all frozen now, but before the season ended he was fishing at least twice a week and only caught 1 musky. They say musky are the "fish of 1000 casts" so while he has been putting his time in those fish have continued to elude him (all but one). 

Because I married the most hardworking, charismatic man out there ;), Scott has gotten some tickets from his work to various sports events. We have had some phenomenal seats at both football and baseball games. Seriously, I am not kidding when I say we are leading a charmed life.

By the time winter is over here, I may be ready to pack up and leave, but as of right now I am so happy here. The snow is here to stay as of 2 weeks ago and the temps are already in the negatives with wind chill. As long as I don't look at the "real feel", or the weather anywhere else, I do alright with this. I'm happy to have snow, and I'm excited for the holidays in the cities. 

So yeah! That's the basic run down of our life these days. We are busy and tired a lot of the time but so so happy. And now we'll let pictures take us out!

 a couple photos from some of my runs, this is in Lake Elmo park reserve. We boat here in the summer, and they have several great trails to run, and it is only a 10 minute drive from my house!

we have caught more than a few gorgeous sunsets off our back porch 

apple picking at a cute little orchard close to home. Scott and I tag teamed to get the best apples waaay up top 

we went to the county fair in the Summer, naturally, Scott made a connection with the animals

50 yard line, 22 rows back for the viking game, and 10 rows back behind home plate at the Twins game, we're spoiled and we know it 

 goodies from ours and a ward members garden we were tending in the Summer, look at those carrots!

This lake is about a half mile from our house, some Sundays I can get Scott to walk with me around it.

We found this little guy on one of our walks!

found on one of my runs (basically how I feel about paved running paths)

this was at the zoo here which was FREE. free! They have a beautiful conservatory and Japanese garden there too that I really wish I had gotten pictures of.

there's lots of snapping turtles out here. Scott found this little guy on a run and brought him home for me to see, then we set him free in the pond behind our house.

**separate post about our anniversary coming soon**

henries do highway 1

scott and i got back from our graduation (i graduated! yay!) vacation on monday and holy cow you guys, i needed that. i can't even remember the last time that i went on a vacation without having some sort of side project that i was also working on (program/scholarship applications, homework (summer school was the WORST idea) or wedding planning). even on our honeymoon i was thinking about homework because we had already been in school for a week. being in school has basically had me on gogogo mode all the time, which mostly i love, i'm a do-er, but being able to leave the world behind for a few days was chicken soup for the soul, man. most of the time we were camping, and in and out of cell service/wifi zones. there was no email checking to be had, no back of the mind to-do list nagging at me that would make me resent my vacation when i came back to real life, it was a fantasy!

initially i had planned to plan the whole trip day by day on what we would do (i'm the type of person who makes plans to make plans? i may need an intervention) but i married scott, who hates being stuck to an agenda, so we compromised and i booked campsites/hotels ahead of time, did some research on places i'd like to go, and we hopped in the car and followed our gps. free souls, if you will, blowing wherever the wind carried us. if you're reading this scott, you were right, and this is one of the few times i will agree and say that less plans was better.

driving down highway 1 makes you feel like you're in a car commercial. the roads are narrow and go around all these crazy hairpin turns and the views are seriously unreal. i couldn't stop saying how gorgeous it was. "it's so beautiful." "it is soooo beautiful." "oh my gosh scott i can't believe how beautiful this is!" scott was like "i knooooow, lay off it girl" (only joking of course ;)  but really though, it's beautiful.

next best thing on the trip definitely had to be the food. we made it a goal to only eat out once a day, which we stuck to pretty well up until the end of the trip (trying to keep food fresh with ice in a cooler only works for so long. ugh.) but the places we ate served meals i still fantasize about. i think it is really important on vacations to SEE and DO, but scott and i are total foodies (me? nooooo) so TASTE is right up there as well. spending good money on a good meal is just as fun for us as going on a hike or catching sand crabs on the beach (which we also did). we had incredible seafood in san francisco that was sent out to us on a sizzling platter, and our meal in monterey was just. ugh. it was so good! when i feel strongly about something i just repeat the same thing over and over again (see above). and that meal, so good you guys. so good... fresh seafood really is phenomenally better than the alternative. remind me why i live in a landlocked state? we also went to an italian restaurant in tahoe that had lasagna i could write poetry about (that ricotta, droooool).

anyway, it was a great trip. our first real vacation as a married couple, put that one in the record books. on the drive home we talked about where our next big vacation should be. we're hoping to make it down to brazil sometime in the near future (post-internship, during our winter, their summer), and i mentioned hawaii because everybody goes to hawaii and i've never been so we obviously have to fix that, but who knows!

here are some photos from my fancy new camera that i'm still totally learning the ropes to. loving it!

 at our first stop in eureka, naturally scott found something to catch

 this was literally a 10 minute walk from our campsite. we sat and watched the sunset over the water that night

 the trees are like a dr. seuss book all along the coast. they grow sideways because of the ocean breeze

 listening to the all the sea lions bark at the pier was a riot, some of those guys are huuuge! we liked watching them climb all over each other

 so it costs 6 bucks to drive across the golden gate, which we only had to do once, except we ended up doing 3 times because gps didn't take into consideration road work. there is definitely a learning curve learning how to drive through san fran

 one of the beaches along the 17-mile drive in monterey. the sand on this beach was amazingly soft! i was bummed that we didn't get a great view along the drive though with the weather being so foggy and misty

 we stopped here and walked down to a beach where scott attempted to catch some fish, no luck. but we DID see a couple getting married there! the bride seriously looked SO beautiful, and how romantic is that to get married in big sur overlooking the ocean?! it was seriously dreamy you guys.

 i only thought we would spend a couple hours here, we were there ALL DAY. it was so much fun!

driving through avenue of the giants, scott is no small man but those trees made us feel like little hobbitses

thus concludes the henrie vacation journal for now, til next time.