A Texas Thanksgiving

We visited Jason's family for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time!  Wednesday night started out with a visit to Ryan and Erin's new house (gorgeous!) for Rudy's Barbecue and a chance to catch up a little bit.  Since Jason was still struggling with pneumonia, we called it an early evening and headed back to Mike and Sue's house to rest up for a big Thanksgiving.  Despite being really sick, Sue was hosting a houseful of people--dinner for 18 on the big day! It was such a great day with delicious food and lots of fun friends, just like Thanksgiving should be. Since it was a Texas Thanksgiving, it even included Amanda becoming a gun owner.  Seriously.  Mike has a tradition where each of the daughters-in-law get to pick out a gun from his collection.  Jason even got to pick one out--perhaps as a reward for getting hitched.  Keep watching the blog  for pictures of us at the shooting range as we use our new weapons ;)

Friday was super relaxing, which was perfect with two sickies in the house, and Amanda even got to watch the Iron Bowl, leading Sue to question where her mild-mannered daughter-in-law went--Roll Tide!! Saturday we decorated the Stremels' church for Advent, and ended the day with a Mannheim Steamroller concert with the Kellys and Kosteleckys.  It was such a fun way to kick off the holiday season! We were sad to leave on Sunday, but we are looking forward to Mike and Sue visiting for New Year's Eve!

A Little Intrigue....

So, it turns out that Amanda is a murderer.  How unfortunate for Jason. ;) We spent last Saturday night hanging out at a great Murder Mystery dinner thrown by the Cannons, and joined by the Larsens and the Whites --fabulous food, wonderful company, and plenty of laughs. Jason was a Colonel who carried a whip and a monacle everywhere, and Amanda was a none-too-bright social butterfly/lingerie designer. They know us so well!

Girls' Weekend in Des Moines

Girly weekends are so much fun!  And when those cute girls are family--so much the better! I got to fly to Kansas City to pick up my awesome cousin Maddie and then road trip with her out to Des Moines, where we visited Katie, Aaron, Aunt Linda and the girls.  We had a fantastic time going out to an apple orchard (with slides, a jumping pillow and a pool full of corn), watching movies, getting manis and pedis, and a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  Thanks to the Allreds for being great hosts, and Maddie for being a great road trip buddy!

I Heart Halloween

After a long battle with the flu in the Stremel household, we decided to cancel the Halloween party we were planning, which was a big bummer. However, we were feeling decent enough to get out for a little while on Halloween night. We headed to Savers to pick up some last minute costumes and were able to throw together a fairly convincing Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. We met Kristi and Eric Coppus at Frog 'n' Firkin for pizza and to enjoy some people watching. We entered the contest they were having and were semi-finalists. Since we had put the contests together in about 2 hours, we were proud of ourselves ;) Our favorite costume of the night, however, was Kristi's last-minute "oops" costume!

 

Fall Fun in The Old Pueblo

I love Halloween!! We were super excited to kick off the fall here in Tucson, even though the weather didn't feel much like autumn. Steve and Katie Craig and little Ava headed down from Phoenix to spend a Fun Fall Weekend here, and we packed it full! First, we met up with the Coppuses for haunted houses and creepy shows at "Nightfall," the Halloween theme for Old Tucson Studios. Then we got up Saturday morning to watch College Football (Alabama won!) and headed out to Buckelew Farms Pumpkin Patch for a hayride to pick out the perfect pumpkins. After chili and cornbread, we watched a scary movie, although we had worn ourselves out and all fell asleep. So sad! Before church on Sunday, we all carved pumpkins, and even stuck Ava in one. Since we don't have a little goblin of our own, it was sweet of Katie and Steve to share Ava with us--it makes Halloween so much more fun!

Rocky Mountain High

We packed in another fun weekend trip--this time to Colorado Springs and Denver! We started down in Colorado Springs visiting Amanda's grandparents and Uncle Mark, Aunt Jan, and cousin Sophie. We visited the Olympic Training Center during the day before heading to Sophie's volleyball game and then out to dinner. It was fast, but we fit lots of fun in! That night we drove up to Denver to meet up with Jason's buddies. Mike and Diane Mirowski were great hosts for everyone! Saturday started with breakfast at the Village Inn, per tradition, and then all the guys headed to the GABF, and the girls went for massages! That night we all met up for dinner at Rock Bottom. Sunday morning started with trials of Mike's new sword before we headed over to see Jason's Uncle Phil and Aunt Vonnie for a wonderful picnic at the Denver Botanical Gardens. Our friends and family took such great care of us, and it was a fabulous weekend away!

All Settled In

Well, we are all settled into our new place, and we are so happy! It already feels like home, and we are so grateful to our friends and family for the help in this adventure. We put a few shots below, mainly of spaces that were painted or changed, so that everyone can see the work we have been talking about. Casa Stremel is officially open for visitors, so we can't wait for you to visit!