Merry Christmas!

TJ and I had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was our first Christmas as the Grier's, so we wanted to make lots of memories. Our Christmas memories start with the traditional Christmas Eve Fiesta with my family. My sister Calli is here from Kansas with her family, and my sister Lindsey came out from Goodyear with her family so it was great to have everyone all together again! There was so much food, we spent the majority of the night eating. After we stuffed our faces, it was time for the sugar! TJ and I worked together to decorated our gingerbread house. It really wasn't a competition...until TJ thought it would be best to cut up the gummy bears to make more "realistic" Christmas lights. And if Taylor eating half of the frosting wasn't enough sugar for us, it was time to bust open the pinata. We let Taylor do the honors, even though it took a while longer! Afer the pinata, it was time to channel our inner "geezer" by playing a little bingo! Unfortunately, TJ and I never won but we did have fun! All these memories, and this is just Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning we were able to spend with TJ's family. We went over to TJ's mom's house and got to watch as TJ's little brother Jake opened up all his gifts. It looks like a ton of presents, and it was...the majority of them were Star Wars toys (I think TJ wished he has gotten all those toys!). We were grateful for the gifts we received from TJ's family...we weren't expecting anything since Montana had already given us a gift, so we were very grateful! After we ate breakfast with TJ's family, we headed out to my family's house. There was a lot of excitement over there all caused by the new game they got for their PlayStation...Guitar Hero III. We spent the rest of Christmas day rocking out to Guitar Hero, only pausing for short break when our arms were too tired!

We Are Family

While we were in Washington we were able to meet more of TJ's family.

This is the Grier Family, including Grandpa Jack and Uncle Steve in the front chairs, Jenda (Steve and Shon's daughter) pointing at the camera, Deb (Tom's wife) and Sal (Shon's son) are sitting with Lisa on the couch, and Shon (Steve's wife) is behind the couch. Missing from this picture are Grandma Dorothy and Tom because they were taking the pictures. The Grier's all came to Tom and Deb's house Sunday for the football game, then on Tuesday I went to Steve's to go shopping with Grandma Dorothy and Jenda. Tuesday night we all went to dinner together at this great restaurant on Silver Lake. It was great getting to know everyone!

Our last night in Washington, Deb's two sons, Jesse and Joe, and their girlfriends, Maria and Alena, came over for dinner. Both boys are really nice, and the girls were very sweet. We had a great time during dinner, laughing and enjoying ourselves.

Oh the weather outside was frightful!

The day after graduation, TJ and I finally got to take a much needed vacation. We headed up to Washington state to visit TJ's dad and all the family he has up there. The weather was pretty cold, but nothing we couldn't handle with some thermals and lots of layers! It rained, hard, pretty much ever day we were up there. I never realized how much I would miss the sunshine until I spent a week in Washington! But the beautiful scenery really made it all worth it. We had such a great time up there in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We took so many pictures so we could share our vacation with everyone.

The first day we were there, we went to a restaurant in Seattle that was right on the water. The view was pretty (except for the rain and all the clouds!) and we were able to see all the ferries out on the water.

Since I am not a fan of seafood, TJ felt that being in Seattle would be a perfect place to make me try new things. I had clams, which were alright if dipped in enough butter; halibut, which I actually really liked; and of course, the oyster...the only thing I can say about the oyster is that I am very proud I did not throw up right there at the table. It was AWFUL!

After we ate, we headed over to the famous Pike's Marketplace. No one was throwing fish that day, but it was still neat to see all the little shops there.

TJ's dad lives about 30 minutes outside of Seattle in a city called Duvall. His house is literally in the middle of the woods. It is extremely beautiful out there, with all the moss growing on the trees and a creek right next to the house.

Another day while we were up in Washington, we went to see Snoqualmie Falls. Tom, TJ's dad, said that the day we were there the water was pretty low...normally, there is so much water that the spray gets you from the parking lot! Luckily, we were able to stay dry.

One of my favorite parts of our trip was our visit to Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a little Bavarian town that was all decked out for Christmas. We went into a bunch of really cute shops and even saw a guy walking around in leiderhosen. The best part was all the snow! There was probably about 4 feet of snow, which made everything look so pretty. Next to the gazebo in the center of town was this little hill that all the kids were sledding down. It was cute to watch these little kids slide down the hill. One of my favorite shops was the chocolate shop. All the chocolates are handmade at the back of the store and they were all so tempting. TJ and I were able to try a few of the chocolates, and I had to bring some home for mom! There was also a cheese shop where we tried some different types of cheeses. They had some that were stinky and some that were not so stinky! We were there overnight so that gave us time to visit all the little shops at take some great pictures of all the snow!

Pomp and Circumstance

Woohoo! Today is graduation! At 1:00 today, I will be graduating from ASU's College of Education. I am so excited to be finishing up and moving onto the next stage of my life. TJ is probably more excited because in just a few months, once I have a full time job and am bringing in a steady paycheck, he gets to quit his job and live off his "sugar mama!"

TJ is also very excited today because his final grades were just posted and he got straight A's! In his first semester at ASU, TJ has been able to maintain his 4.0 grade point average. He worked so hard this semester to get these grades and I couldn't be prouder! We are both so excited that the semester is over and we have time to relax before it all starts up again.

Update: Lindsey and Lisa are now officially graduates of Arizona State University!

VIVA LOS PANTELONES FRUTAS

Brr...baby, it is cold outside. Tonight, TJ was so cold and desperate for a pair of pants to wear to bed so I was generous enough to allow him to wear my fruit pants. Now you may mock the pants, but I am very proud of these fruit pants. This pair of pants is the very first thing I ever sewed on my own several years ago...and these pants are going to last forever! You only wish you had a wicked sweet pair of fruit pants. Now these pants are definitely not meant to keep anyone warm, so TJ is currently snuggled up on the couch underneath a blanket. I suppose I could tell him where I keep the sweatpants...but these pants just look so much cooler!

Oh Christmas Tree!

So TJ and I are getting set to celebrate our first Christmas together and we now have our very first Christmas tree! Under my careful supervision, TJ was able to assemble our beautiful tree.

Piece by piece...

TJ was so careful to place each piece just right

And we have a tree!

So far we just have lights, no ornaments, but hopefully by Christmas our tree will be looking beautiful. Just having the tree up makes it feel more like Christmas and helps brings the holly jolly spirit into our home!

Happy days are here again!

Yesterday TJ took his last two finals, bringing this semester to an end. Now that we are both finished with school, we have time to relax, sleep in, and spend time together...at least until it starts all over again in January! Here's just a few things I plan to do during this brief vacation:
1. Sleep in
2. Stay up later than 9:00
3. Read a book that doesn't have pictures on every page
4. Wear jeans and sneakers every day
5. Spend more time with my family
This semester was a trial for both TJ and I, but we are so grateful for the support everyone gave us! We are both looking forward to being able to relax and enjoy the holidays.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Today was my last day in my current student teaching classroom. The day was bittersweet...I was so excited to be done (and out of that classroom!), but it was so sad to leave all 52 of my students behind. My students were quite sad too as almost all of them proceeded to cry hysterically for over 30 minutes! This semester has been rough, to say the least, but I sure did get attached to those kids! As sad as it was to leave my classroom, I will be much happier tomorrow when I am sleeping in!

coMITTed

TJ has become heavily involved in the campaign for Mitt Romney, and by default I suppose I have too. TJ has organized the Students For Mitt organization at ASU and has already begun to volunteer for different events. Today TJ spent his time at the Gun Show, manning the Mitt Romney booth. In the next few months, we might even have the opportunity to travel to some different early primary states to help with the campaign. Remember...Vote Mitt!

Grier Family Blog

Since all the other Knight families have their own blog sites, I've decided to dedicate a site to the lives of TJ and Lisa Grier. I know we are extremely fascinating people, I want to be able to update you on the daily happenings of our lives. With TJ and I both being fairly busy people, I can't promise to update this blog daily but I will do my very best!