playing holiday catch-up

kendrick finally wrapped up finals last week, and I am thrilled to announce that we are filling up every spare moment of every single day with festive holiday activities. last year, Kendrick decided to forego the fall/winter semester, as we were busy planning a wedding. so, this year, I definitely wasn't used to Kendrick being buried in books and studying the first half of december. but, with finals now out of the way, we are finally able to play holiday catch-up with the remaining week that we have before christmas.

challenge accepted. 

last thursday night was my team's holiday dinner party. being the executive assistant of the operations department, it was my responsibility to plan and make arrangements. it didn't take me long to decide on a dinner with spouses at Benihana. almost every single person from the team showed up, and we all had such a great time getting to know one another and watching shrimp and utensils thrown into the air as the food was cooked. with money not being an issue, kendrick and I loaded our plates with chicken, steak, shrimp, and some of the most terrific sushi.

friday night was kendrick's holiday work party. it was held at the natural museum of history, located right behind the university of utah. it was such a gorgeous venue with ceiling to floor length windows that overlooked the entire salt lake valley, and I couldn't help but think how lovely it would be to have a wedding reception there. the party started with an open bar and some of the most delicious appetizers I've ever had. Kendrick and I loaded (and I mean loaded) our plates with an assortment of cheeses, crackers, bruschetta, and Indian spiced chicken skewers. we also helped ourselves to Italian sodas from the bar, and learned the secret to making them the most heavenly concoction ever- cream soda instead of club soda. honestly, it's life changing.

there was a raffle held after dinner, and while we missed out on the big screen tv, kendrick's name was drawn for grizzly tickets in january- dinner and suite included. yeah, it wasn't a tv, but our names are never drawn for anything, so we will take what we can get.

saturday morning was my extended family christmas party. the theme of the party was "star wars", in honor of my uncle bret who passed away earlier this year (he was a huge star wars fan). the party included a delicious breakfast buffet, trivia games, a white elephant gift exchange, and a pinata. kendrick and I both walked away from the gift exchange with two pretty great gifts- a five dollar target gift card and the game scattergories (my favorite!)

the rest of saturday was a craft day with all my sisters. harmony helped jade and nicole sew some clothing, wendy and my mom worked on their own sewing projects, and i painted a canvas.... let's just say the sewing gene that runs deeply in my family did not transfer over to me.

sunday afternoon was the "december birthday party" with my family, as we have four birthdays in this month alone. we pigged out on fajitas, opened presents, and devoured a delicious birthday cake and pie. afterwards, most of us headed over to temple square to look at the lights- definitely my favorite christmas tradition!

it's safe to say that our weekend was filled to the brim with holiday cheer... not bad for half a month's worth of catch-up, right? i'm so excited for what this week holds, as both kendrick and i took work off wednesday through monday of next week. we'll probably fill the week with last-minute christmas shopping, a visit to christmas street, gingerbread house making, christmas movie watching, and a trip to the temple. we are especially excited for my company's party, as they rented out four theaters for everyone and their families to come and watch the new star wars.
 I just can't think of a better week.

merry christmas!

also, p.s. remember how I said we were waiting to get snow in salt lake? yeah that happened, like literally the next morning. crossing my fingers that it sticks around- i want a white christmas!