On The Third Day of Christmas...

Wooahhh.  It's been five days since Christmas.  Tough to wait for our third blog post?  Lots happening here in Montana with family, friends, eating, more eating, church, gifts, more food, appetizers, cookies, dinners, breakfasts and brunch, snowboarding...  Hopefully you all enjoyed our savior's birthday!

My True love gave to me:

A Wonderful Household of Three

You can stop the cute "aww's" ....now. But here is the reality: I LOVE our little family, Andy, myself and...... FRANK!

The most important thing to know about our family unit is that at least 70 percent of all communication between Andy and I, is medium'ed through Frank. Let me give you an example:

Andy and I are sitting on the couch and I'm hungry. Instead of saying, "Hey dear, I'm hungry do you want to get something to eat?" the conversation plays out more like the following: (It is important to note that I have a "Frank" voice that blends the tone of Eeyor and with the conversation skills of Debbie Downer.  All of my text below should be read in said voice):

Mimi: I'm gonna bite ya
Andy: Oh no, Franky, what's wrong?
Mimi: Well daddy, I don't like you.
Andy: Franky Boy, don't say that. How 'bout we get you a little treat?
Mimi: Oh ya that would be good but I'm pretty mad and I still wanna bite ya.
Andy: Why don't you ask the mommy what she would like to have?
Mimi: I'll bite her too. I"m so mad, but she worked so hard today and doesn't want to cook so lets go to Noodles.

Boom! We've figured out my "need" and then the conversation progresses until we have a solution. Anyways, just a little insight to our horribly anti-social, ridiculously unstable antics. I pray for our future children.

Hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!

A & M

On the Second Day of Christmas...

We are on a roll here in the Salonen household, and are thankful you are reading our version of a Christmas newsletter.  God has blessed us in so many ways this year and taught us so many things.  Follow us in the upcoming days and read The Twelve Days of Christmas!

On the Second Day of Christmas, my true love gave two me: Two married siblings!

I think people heard we got married, saw how wonderful it could be and decided to tie the knot too.  Okay, maybe Liz and Tom had different reasons.

Andy, Mimi, Tom, Diane, Liz, Ryan at Fort Hamilton

Mimi's sister, Liz was the first and married Ryan in July.  They couldn't have chosen a better venue: Vegas!  Between the stretch Hummer limo, drive through ceremony, delicious steak dinner at Gallagher's Steakhouse and Fremont Street experience, the weekend celebration was a lot of fun.  Ryan and Liz are an amazing couple and we are very excited for both of them.

 Tom and Diane were married over Labor Day weekend in September, Big Apple Style.  That's right, Diane grew up in Queens, and the couple decided Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn would be a perfect wedding location. Fort Hamilton is the only active military base in metropolitan New York City, and I recommend visiting if you're ever in the area.  The original fort was a perfect place for dinner, dancing, cigars and lots of fun.  Mimi and I both visited New York previously, but this trip was really special, and we enjoyed time with family, friends celebrating this great occasion.

Congratulations Ryan & Liz and Tom & Diane!  Married life is sweet.

Tom & Diane Allen - September 1, 2012

Ryan & Liz Gage - July 25, 2012

12 Days of Christmas! ...

Well we said we'd do it-- in fact you may even get a Christmas card telling you so-- but here is a a look at the 12 days of Christmas Salonen style. A wrap up, if you will, on the year from our perspective! Did you know the 12 days of Christmas actually begins on Christmas day? ABC Family has been lying to us all for years!  Our 12 Days will start right now.

So with out further ado....

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... 1 NEW HOUSE! 

HOME OWNERS! 

In march we purchased our first home! An "A" frame as I like to call it. We have had a blast and some nightmares fixing it up. Things I thought we'd fix right away have taken the back burner to things I thought we wouldn't have to do--- you know the story :) But-- we have had a great time turning Snowmass place into our first little home!  We removed somewhere around sixteen trees from the backyard and Andy still had 50+ bags of leaves come fall (notice how I said Andy). We still have much to do but feel extremely blessed to be homeowners!

Someday I plan to get a garden going and some flowers planted. This year I was able to kill everything in sight... except the weeds.

Our cozy little living room scene... ahhh 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

& check back tomorrow for another post :)