The end of a Journey

Fire?














After a successful trip to Utah, it was time for the second leg of our journey to Illinois. Wednesday morning we had one last extravagant Jimbo sponsored breakfast, waffles.  It was the first repeat of our ten-day stay.  Who knew Jimbo's breakfast repertoire had so much depth?  We were truly spoiled which made it all the more difficult to leave.  Chris was so sad to go I had to cheer him up at the airport by taking him to his favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio.

The next day we were in Marion! We decided to head to Sikeston Missouri to pick up some fireworks at Boomtown to set off on New Years Eve. One the way we took a pit stop for dinner at Lamberts "Home of the throwed rolls". Lamberts is a famous southern food restaurant, it's known for its large portions and throwing rolls to their customers. You feel like you are in the deep south as soon as you walk through the door. There are license plates and lots of southern memorabilia cluttering the walls. The rolls are the best part, they literally throw them to you from across the room over the heads of all the other customers. It's fun catching them and then smothering them in butter, they taste so good. Ryan got some frog legs and Chris decided to try some for his first time. I don't think that he liked them so much. You can tell by his face in the picture lol. 

After our southern themed dinner, my family posed for a photo shoot in front of the restaurant on the trains before heading to the firework shop. At the store is was fun seeing the boys get excited over the different types of explosives. My mom limited my dad to buying just one packet of fireworks. I don't think she wanted the house to catch on fire. 

Unfortunately, despite Ma's exhaustive preparations for the New Year's Eve extravaganza the house of Joyner was abruptly plagued with the dreaded gombu.  Most of us spent the day in a state of comatose brought on by severe nausea which rendered us unable to move from the couches. The only comfort we found was in our shared misery. It was so fierce that we couldn't even be tempted to partake in the homemade Cafe Rio feast. Gratefully, by around 10 pm all except Ryan felt well enough to get on our feet and light some sparklers to ring in the new year and celebrate Mama Joyners big five-oh.  Don't be fooled by our forced smiles, this was mind over matter exercise of defiance.  We could not forgo an opportunity to welcome a new year, especially since the last one had been so very good to us.

Happy New Year 

XO Meg Robertson 

Merry Christmas from the Robertson's

The Kids Table is SOOO cute... I wanted to sit there 

The other day I was trying to fix my iPhone which has been glitchy lately and randomly turns itself off. So in my attempt to back it up to my computer I somehow restored my iPhone back to 2013!  It was so creepy, all of my text messages were ones I had sent to people I knew from Utah State. I also lost all the photos I had taken since 2013. So, unfortunately, a part of my Christmas break won't be featured on the blog including all the photos for my Hot Cocoa post:(. Fortunately, we got a new camera for Christmas and I have all the pictures from Christmas day and after.

So... jumping to Christmas morning, we awoke to a fresh, perfectly thick blanket of snow on the ground. I haven't seen that much snow in a while, super beautiful.  Chris was so excited, it was a picture perfect white Christmas morning. We woke up, ate some delicious monkey bread and cocoa, then gathered 'round the Christmas tree and began to open up gifts. I always love seeing everyone's faces when they open their gifts. After we finished tearing into Santa's surprises, we put on our Sunday best and decided to brave the slick roads and head to church.  It was good to take a break from the hectic fun and reflect on what the day was all about.  It was also great to hear our niece and nephew sing in the children's choir for the congregation.  

After church, we made the journey to Chris's aunt's house in Layton for Christmas dinner. It was still so snowy I was worried we were going to slide off the road. Luckily we were in good hands, Jimbo got us there safe and sound.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by lots of family and good food. I've heard Chris talk about his aunt's rolls and cream cheese lemon bars since we started dating and I finally got a chance to try them.  It all certainly lived up to the hype. For people who don't eat, they do pretty well.

For Christmas, Chris' brothers and cousins all got race tracks where you race cars controlled by your phone. It was so cool! After dinner, we combined sets and made a mega track. We were entertained for hours and hours. After all the fun was over at Chris' aunt's place we headed to my Aunt's who lives nearby. We made some extremely ugly sweater cookies. It was great to see so much family all in one afternoon.  When we got home we all played a game of trains, watched a movie, and ended our Christmas snuggled up by the fire. Chris and I's first Christmas together was definitely one for the books.

Xo- Meg Robertson

A Very Utah Christmas (part 1)

Chris writing a letter to Santa Clause letting him know what he wants for Christmas. 

This Christmas was spent in Utah with Chris' side of the family. It was my first Christmas away from home. Although I was sad I was going to miss Christmas at home I was excited to experience Robertson family Christmas. We had a laundry list of things we wanted to do in Utah. Chris said we have six months worth of activities to fit into ten days.

The first day we decided to take it slow and recover from our travels. In the morning I was greeted by my father in law Jimbo making breakfast. His breakfasts are the best, always something delicious. He made us his famous waffles, only a teaspoon of batter each, or so Jimbo says. This day we visited Chris' old job, a cute donut shop called Tasty's.  He and three of his brothers worked there in high school. I had a delicious chocolate cake donut with sprinkles and Chris had a plain glazed. He raved about how good their sandwiches were, so we decided to split a roast beef sandwich. I have to say it was very tasty ;). It was cute listening to Chris tell me all about what he use to do when he worked there. I felt like I was getting the inside scoop on Tasty's.

The next day we made a trip to the Grand America hotel in Salt Lake City. They have a Christmas scavenger hunt set up in display windows around the hotel. You had to figure out the word based on the display and in the end you came to a large gingerbread house and you received a cookie. It was so cute and fun exploring the Grand America. It is such a grand and luxurious place to look around. So many great interior design and architectural inspirations. 

XO- Meg Robertson 

Christmas tourist

I've been away from blogging for a bit because I was finishing up my semester and getting ready for the Holidays. The next couple of post I will be catching you up on what we did this holiday season. Enjoy!  

The second weekend in December my family came to town to partake in New York Christmas festivities. I had the whole weekend planned out for them. Still deep in the thick of finals and sickness, I wasn't missing out on hanging out with family. The highlight of the weekend was taking my little sister Abby to the American Girl doll store. When we walked in it was so cute seeing the excitement on her face. She was so enthusiastic seeing all the different American girls on display. The best part was getting her doll pampered. Her doll needed it desperately. Let's just say Abby loves her dolls a little too much. After the doll salon, we headed to lunch with our dolls. It was so cute. My friends and I didn't have dolls so they let us borrow ones to eat with us. It was so fun seeing Abby's excitement of having everyone there enjoying lunch with her. She said it was one of the best moments of her life. 

The next highlight of the weekend was ice skating at Rockefeller Center. It was one of my mom's dreams. I was surprised she wanted to do it because it was so coooooold. We toughed it out and got on the ice. Chris was skating circles around everyone and Matthew was hugging the wall. Despite everyone's different skill levels and the bitter cold, we enjoyed skating with each other. When the cold became too much to bear we headed to shake shack to warm up with some burgers and yummy hot cocoa. This was my family's first trip to the shack so the steaks were high. After the long build up of how yummy the shack is, I have to say it was a hit. It was fun to share a piece of new york that is so special to Chris and I with my family.  

More posts to come about our Chrismas break and a list of my favorite places to get hot cocoa. 

XO- Meg Robertson