Hello Monday, Hello New Year

I say every January the official start to the new year for me is this week, sometime five or six days into the month. Christmas is still up at my house, but today is the day. Hubs took down the outdoor lights yesterday, but inside I'm still fa-la-la-ing. 

We had a nice weekend beginning with a walk to a nearby waterfall Friday morning. Let's go ahead and call it day date episode 12. 

I was wearing a hat. I forgot there would be a picture. 

The little brown dog loves this particular hike, and in fact he'd made this same walk just last week when he spent Christmas with my daughter1 and her family while we traveled. 

The minute he gets out of the car he starts panting like crazy because he smells the water and wants to get to it pronto.

We came home and had lunch, then mid-afternoon hubs and I went to the movies (episode 13). We were trying to remember the last time we went to an actual movie theater and couldn't be sure. I think it was way back in May when Mission Impossible came out, and before that who knows? We don't go to the movies often, but happened to be there twice this weekend. 

We wanted to see Song Sung Blue and had to drive a couple of towns over to where it was still playing. We loved it. Neither of us had read anything about it, and turns out it wasn't at all what we thought it was going to be. Still we loved it. I thought Hugh Jackman was playing Neil Diamond, but he's actually playing Neil Diamond in a tribute act. So good! The camera absolutely loves Kate Hudson, and the story was unexpected. Bring your kleenex. Just sayin'. 

We're rarely in this town so I checked the always trustworthy internet for a dinner rec. We ended up at a place called The West End Dinner Club which we enjoyed. It has a speakeasy vibe and the food was good. I had salmon and hubs had mahi and both were tasty. 

Saturday we did a few things around the house and I picked up a few groceries we'd be needing for the grandkids overnight visit. These two were celebrating their wedding anniversary and we said the kids could spend the night so mom and dad could have a night out in the city. 

They arrived just in time for us to load them back into the car to go see the new film David. This was the first movie in a theatre for Little Miss and she had a grand time. I mean there was popcorn and a comfy recliner so what more do you need? We liked the movie a lot and the message is excellent. It's an especially good boy flick which is rare. Also very true to the Biblical account which was nice to see. 

We came home and had a fondue party. You haven't lived until you've made fondue with a three year old lol. Little Miss pours and mixes with great confidence.  

I thought ahead and covered the table with a disposable cloth, but it still felt like there was chocolate everywhere. 

We started with cheese fondue and hubs also grilled some small steaks because it seemed like we needed more than cheese and chocolate for dinner. And popcorn. 

Hi. We're the grandparents.  

There were vegetables for the cheese and fruit for the chocolate so calling that a win. 

After dinner it was showers for the boys and a bath for little miss, and then pjs and basketball on tv. Everyone slept and we had bacon and waffles and leftover fruit before church. Shout out here to parents getting three kids dressed and fed and in the car along with themselves for church every Sunday. I felt a little like I'd run a 5k. 

Our sermon yesterday was on 1 Samuel 17 aka David and Goliath. We'd just seen the movie the day before so my ears perked up when the pastor mentioned the chapter he would preach from. Coincidence? Not likely.  In short...we all have our giants. Be like David and think less about my giant and more about my giant God. 

Wishing you a wonderful start to this brand new year. 

Joining Holly (Pink Lady) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books) today for their regular Monday morning hop.