The Smiths

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cake!

Happy Birthday Brooke! Thanks for taking lots of pictures, Jen!

Friday, January 21, 2011

My niece's first birthday party is this weekend! I wish I could be there to help her celebrate.
Happy Birthday Brooke! I can't believe I just met you for the first time three weeks ago and you are already one. I love you!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Smith Family Christmas

Glenn and spent the night at Blair's house and the next morning we finally got to meet Mike, Blair's fiance. They are getting married in November and we had never met him. Lucky for him, he seems like a pretty cool guy and we're excited for their wedding.

Glenn's dad arrived on the afternoon of the first and we enjoyed a late Christmas with the whole family. Apparently, I didn't take any other pictures besides Blair's little family- Blair, Mike, Oscar and Larry.

And cake balls. Blair ordered these from the bakery that is making her wedding cake. They were yummy!

We relaxed, watched football, ate dinner and opened Christmas presents. Cheryl got me the cutest shoes that I can't wait to arrive in the mail! It was nice to see the whole family.

We spent the next day relaxing and picking out dresses and tuxes for the wedding in November! It's going to be here quickly!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Happy New Year #2!

Glenn and I landed in Minneapolis right on time even after a 45 minute delay out of Chicago. Cheryl was at the airport waiting for us! Home at last! How did we forget how cold MN is?! We dropped our bags off at Glenn's sisters, brushed our teeth and got back in the car for Glenn's friend's house.

We were barely there for a bit before it was midnight...again! This time change thing really messes with your body. I was exhausted, but not sleepy. It was mid-morning Japan time.

So even though we had flown 14+ hours and traveled ~7000 miles we were ready to party longer than some of our friends! It was great to catch up with Glenn's friends/wives/girlfriends. Some of which we hadn't seen since our wedding in 2007!

It was great to see you all! I wish I had gotten a picture of all the boys together! Who knows when that will happen again. Hopefully less than 3 years this time!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happy New Year from 32,000 feet...

Glenn and I seriously spoiled ourselves on this trip home. We upgraded ourselves to business class. OMG, it was the greatest thing we've done in awhile. Access to the Admiral's Club (which has a self serve open bar in Japan!), champagne before take off, real meals that aren't served in boxes. It was pretty amazing and for those of you that are wondering, worth every bit of the 50,000 miles and $700.

Happy New Year #1 (aka Japan time)!

Lastly, I would have paid extra just for the noise canceling Bose headphones. How did I not know about these?! I think I need some for every time I fly. I loved the horizontal bed/chair as well. I think I got 6 or 7 hours of sleep on the flight.

I think we might have to upgrade ourselves on our last flight home from Japan as well. It made getting home and heading straight to a NYE party pretty easy!

Monday, January 17, 2011

We're back....again

After only 1 night at home and less than 18 hours, we hit the road again. This time we weren't headed too far though. We headed north to Nagano for our annual squadron ski trip. It snowed the entire time we were there...it never stopped so by the time we left, some of the cars were covered with more than 3 feet of snow. It was a great trip and excellent snow conditions. I wish I hadn't been so tired from our jet lag, but it was nice to get back on the slopes especially since we are headed to Hokkaido in just a couple weeks.

I've been slacking on my blogging this month so far, but hopefully after this week, I can get my schedule back to normal. I'm pretty exhausted!

More posts coming soon! Lots of pictures from America and Nagano!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

And we're back...

So it was a wonderful trip. I'm so happy I got to see all of my friends and family while we were home with the exception of my grandma and grandpa. They were scheduled to come up to Minnesota, but my grandma was diagnosed with brain cancer while we were home and she will start treatment soon. Another reason I was so happy to be with my family.

We met the newest members of our families- Blair's fiance, Mike, and my almost one-year old niece, Brooke.

We had 3+ Christmases with our families.

Most of my family shared a flu that spread at Outbreak speed thanks to baby Brooke. Seven family members caught it with the exception of my father, Jen, me and my nephew. So happy I was able to escape that family bonding!

I got to see two of my friends who are pregnant and will be mothers before we return to the States.

We got to spend an extra night in Chicago and delay our trip home thanks to the snow, but I got to catch up with my oldest friend over dinner. An unexpected perk.

So a trip of ups and downs, but together with family and friends and that's all that counts. Thank you to many of you for making the trip to see us while we were home. We can't wait to repay the favor when we get back to America in the fall.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

What's for Dinner? Cosmopolitan Chicken Salad

I had a leftover can of jelly cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and wanted to use it up. I found this recipe on my favorite Allrecipes.com. It was pretty easy to make. I already had everything in the pantry/fridge. I made the dressing/marinade one day and put it in the fridge overnight and then had salad for dinner the next night. Oh and I used apricot jelly instead of orange marmalade...close enough.

I still have half a can of cranberry jelly to use though....what to make next?