My sister got married!

My little sister is now married! We only had a few days to spend with my family so we made the most of it.
The family bachelorette party happened Thursday night. I presented my sister with a "Soon to Be Mrs. Huddleston" hoodie that she wore the entire weekend. (Thanks to Jenn for the idea. She made one for me when I got married)
We visited a Country & Western bar in Scottsdale with a great live band. The evening ended with my sister dancing a jig in her stiletto boots to "Devil Went Down to Georgia" while one of the band members smacked her butt with the bow from his fiddle. Oh, and she stole his cowboy hat and used it as a prop in her dance. It was hilarious!
Saturday went by in a whirlwind. We made breakfast and had mimosas out for all the ladies who wanted to come to the house and get their hair or make-up done. My sister looked like a perfect, little Barbie doll! Absolutely gorgeous.
The weather was perfect for their outdoor ceremony. My uncle officiated the ceremony, which made the wedding that much more personal. He did an excellent job and made tears well up in all our eyes.
The reception was fantastic. It was filled with delicious food, friends and family I haven't seen in years, and my beautiful sister and her new husband. Besides two people stepping on my sister's dress and tearing a few buttons from the bustle, the night was a big success! We ate, drank, danced and had a great time.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture. I was busy living up to my "matron of honor" title and helping my sister with everything I could.
I have one picture someone took and sent to me. I'll post more once I get them from a friend who took numerous shots all weekend.

Kreative Blogger Award

Nicole and Becky gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. Since I unintentionally avoided Becky when she tagged me I figured I should post now before I see both of me tomorrow and they harass me for not following through.
Here are the rules: List six things that make you happy. Pass the award along to six more bloggers. Do not give the typical answers and go for the less obvious, as you all know that family, friends, God, etc would be on the list.

Finnish chocolate. It is truly heaven on earth. My husband has to hide it when his family sends it or else he'd find me in the corner devouring the entire bar until I was giddy with delight and on a serious sugar high. I suffer a short bout of depression when the final piece is gone.

Hot showers. The kind where you get out and your skin is red and splotchy and you feel warm inside and out. I know it's a waste of water, but it's so relaxing and soothing, especially during winter.

Having exact change. I'm not talking about having a quarter and getting five cents back, I mean the exact amount of dollars and cents. You have nothing to put back in your wallet and can zip out of the store. Highly satisfying.

Working out. Yes, I'm crazy for putting this one down. A good workout always makes me feel better about myself and pulls me out of a bad mood if I've had a bad day. It also makes me sleep soundly.

Twilight series. Laugh all you want, but I can't help but adore these books. I was hesitant to read them, but was hooked a few chapters in. Maybe it's because the author is great writer or it's a refreshing twist on a love story or that she writes about the most perfect man we all dreamed about at one time or another? Whatever it is, I adore them and even sat through the cheesy movie with a bunch of tween girls. By myself. Yes, I have a problem.

Perezhilton.com. It's my guilty pleasure. I like reading the smut he writes. It's like a legal form of voyeurism.

Eh, I have no one to tag because all my blogging friends have already been tagged.

Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year

The holidays were a low-key event around the Monttinen household. We dog sat our neighbors dogs, who bought the doggie sombreros for Noki and CJ. Christmas Eve consisted of a low-key wine and cheese meal while watching Christmas movies. Our neighbors came over for a nice Christmas evening dinner, and New Years was spent watching TV in our sweats.
Although we missed our families, we enjoyed spending time with our friends and each other.

I hope you all had a great holiday and wish you a very happy New Year!

Love,

Jarmo & Erica

Thanksgiving post...a little late

We had an un-American Thanksgiving this year. Yes, all the traditional dishes were there cooked by yours truly, but our company was of the Finnish variety.

They all volunteered to bring a dish. One couple arrived with a homemade cornucopia! Yes, an edible cornucopia made from scratch with a decorative ribbon tied around it. Inside were traditional cheese-like quiches. They also brought a heavenly sweet potato casserole with pecans and brown sugar sprinkled on top. Mmmm!

Ah, yes. They bring wonderful food and we serve them turkey we dropped on the floor before it went in the oven and homemade gravy that could’ve doubled for tile grout. Awesome.

One couple stayed the night with their children, who don’t speak English, and proceeded to get absolutely drunk. The husband, who lapped Jarmo in beers several times, stood up in front of the TV we were watching and broke out a total rock star move for us. You know the one where the rock star goes down in the splits and you know that no normal man should be able to go separate his legs like that? Yeah, that one. For the remainder of the evening he danced about the house doing the splits and other random moves while asking his wife repeatedly, “You hate me, don’t you?”
It was an interesting evening.

Friday morning, after our hungover guests left, we realized we had enough food for another Thanksgiving. Two sets of our neighbors came over Fri. evening to help us eat the leftovers. It was nice to have dinner guests who knew what stuffing was and weren't afraid to eat it.

After all the cleaning before the event, cooking all day and then cleaning up afterwards, I quickly realized that we will not be doing this again anytime soon!

Baby Kelker arrives!

A little late, but last week my friends, the Kelkers, welcomed their new baby boy, Will, to the world! You have to read Nicole's story of labor. It's crazy!

Backtrack

Yes, we had a great Thanksgiving, but I will post about that later. I thought I should begin where I left off a month ago.
My little sister is getting married in January! We flew out to AZ in November for her bridal shower. It was so nice to see my friends and family and celebrate with her. It'd been six months since last time I saw my family.
This a picture of my sisters, aunts and cousins taken at a family get together we had after the bridal shower.

They're creepy and they're cooky...

Halloween was low-key for the Monttinen household this year. We handed out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we had, ordered pizza and went to bed at 10:30pm. Yes, we're that lame.
I did, however, make some fun cupcakes to hand out at work. They're cupcakes with crushed Oreos on top and doll hands sticking out. There's something creepy about buying dolls at a store knowing you're going to rip their arms off.



The following day we went to the evil Wal-Mart and picked up costumes for the dogs at half price! Enjoy the pics below!