Culture...in Arkansas?

You know, most of you who are unfamiliar with Arkansas, would probably assume that in Arkansas the word 'culture' means learning how to eat your ribs without splattering on your Razorbacks shirt, or understanding the difference between a crawfish boil and a shrimp boil.  If I were to ask you what you thought 'modern art history' meant in Arkansas you would probably answer "the first rendering of the Razorback bumper sticker" or the Duggar family picture.


But indeed, with the help of a small donation from the Walton family (the family of Sam Walton who started a small chain of stores known as Walmart), Northwest Arkansas is now home to one of the world's greatest art museums.  Please, don't take my word for it.  The opinion of someone who force dropped Art History in college after syllabus week would not be a good census.  The New York Times called Crystal Bridges "a genuine cultural contribution, and possibly to become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world."  Nicki and I thought we would go and provide our own review...surprisingly no newspapers asked for our editorial.


In all honesty, Crystal Bridges is spectacular.  From what I understand the museum is dedicated to modern American art - which ranges from rooms filled with revolutionary war heros to Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter (again - I write that not as someone who knew what that painting was before Saturday).  The art collection is spectacular, but the building and the surrounding grounds make the event worthwhile. 


As you will see below, the building was set in the middle of a forest area and the developers envisioned areas for local residents to enjoy walking paths, benches, overlooks, etc. year-round.  What makes this possible is that, thanks to a donation from the Walton family, the museum is free of charge - and is set-up to be that way for the next 20 years.


We went on our visit with our friends the Reinerman's, and enjoyed a 'night out' in Bentonville afterwards.  The addition of the museum makes for just another compelling reason for you to come visit us!  We even promise to show you how to eat a crawfish.

This was an incredible display of spools of yarn showing the last supper upside down - which could be seen in focus through this lens.

I'm fairly sure I doodled this in a notebook in 8th grade - who knew it would have been art history...

This is the interior view of the buildings - the building is set to represent the 'natural state' of Arkansas - and is wonderfully designed.

Christmas in OHIO

A few highlights of our Ohio Christmas Extravaganza!!

Awaited at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati - One of our favorite events in December that is an amazing production of the Christmas Story.  From the music to the dancing to even the drummer (that Nick is obsessed with) it truly portrays what Christmas is all about.

Our family picture at Crossroads minus a few because Pattie, Ray, and Connor were getting things ready for Spicher Family Christmas later that night!

Abby - 10 going on 16

B

Ben - the biggest Browns fan who doesn't live in Cleveland

Connor - quote of the night "I love it!  I love it"  It was so much fun watching him open all of his gifts

Just before heading up to Akron for Christmas we got to celebrate with Izzy and Dan at their baby shower.  Baby Bobshaw is due the end of March and we are so excited for the new addition to their family!

Of course, we had to have personalized cups for the occasion!

AKRON - We drove up to Akron on Christmas Eve morning.  We were very excited to see my parents and Jack who had been at "camp" aka my parents house since Thanksgiving.  As you'll see in the pictures below, my mom is definitely attached and spoils him just a little.  Jen and John joined us in Akron on Christmas Day.

Nick's gift to my dad - can I refill your eggnog Eddie?

Christmas Day Fondue!!

Never a trip to Akron without the annual Christmas Ale Taste Test

Mom and her grandkids

My gift to Nick - and he would say the only thing he's been waiting over two years to receive

Jack and Mom

Stan Hywet Hall - Touring the house and Christmas lights...an Akron Christmas Tradition

A Few December Highlights

Well we are off to Ohio for the holidays!  Literally we are writing this as we drive through Missouri.  But we have had such a fun December thus far we thought we would share a few highlights of our first December in Fayetteville.  We are looking forward to time spent with friends and family over the holidays, and have been celebrating the season with wonderful friends here in Fayetteville.

1. SNOW!! In the South...Really? 

The first snowfall of the year!!  While we woke up to less than one inch of the white stuff on the ground, it did cause quite a bit of havoc on the roads of Fayetteville.

2. Fayetteville Lights on the Square

These are the talk of the town!  The entire town square of Fayetteville is decorated in Christmas lights.  There is not one square inch of space that doesn't have some kind of light on it.  It is truly a sight to see.  The square is packed with families, hot chocolate, carriage rides, and camels...yep...camels.  I don't have pictures because the night we drove around, it was pouring rain so I had to just steal a picture of the lights from Google. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some when we return after Christmas.

3. Christmas Pictures/Cards

As you read this, you're probably thinking, well we didn't make the Spicher Christmas card list this year.  Wrong.....hopefully.  We had some fun with two of our couple friends and their kids a few weekends back and took some family Christmas pictures.  I literally went home that afternoon and made our Christmas card on TinyPrints because I was so excited.  Despite paying for expedited shipping, we still do not have our cards.  AND we are currently en route to Ohio.  So, after some polite yet firm discussions with Tiny Prints, a new shipment of cards are "supposed" to be delievered to my parents' house this weekend.  So, we apologize in advance for our Christmas cards - not New Year's Cards - arriving in January but now you know you know the story...and my thoughts on TinyPrints.  Below are the adorable kids that joined us for the Christmas photo shoot. 

Walker

Miss Norah

Jude

4. Baking Christmas Cookies
Great idea - limited execution:  in an attempt to be good neighbors, and get a chance to meet some of the neighbors we haven't had a chance to meet yet, we decided that together with some friends of ours here, we would have a day of baking cookies and other Christmas delicacies.  We would use these creations to make little bags and take them to our neighbors to introduce ourselves and wish them a merry Christmas.

Baking cookies (check), bags made (check), deliveries made...well - that's where we got hung-up.  The days before we left for Ohio slipped by us so now the bags are in the car coming with us to Cincinnati.  So now it's time to figure out what says "Happy New Year Neighbor"....nothing says "we're your extremely friendly neighbors" like a pan of sauerkraut balls.

5. Wonderful Christmas Parties and Holiday Dinners!!  Nick won best ugly Christmas Sweater at my work Christmas Party (first picture below).  We've also had the chance celebrate the holiday season with a number of different friends here in Fayetteville.  It has been a time of great celebration of the Christmas season.

6.  Pintrest Wrapping:  I found an example of creative wrapping paper on Pinterest and thought I would give it a shot.  Plenty to improve on - but I thought they turned out pretty well.  Here is an example of the wrapping for Connor's gift.

Finally, we thought we would pass this along - we heard a great message at church last Sunday, reminding us that with all of the fun festivities, and potentially stress, the holiday season can bring, we must be purposeful about taking the time to keep the true meaning of the Christmas holiday in focus.  While lights, gifts, ugly sweaters, wrapping paper, and cookies are good things - it is the gift of the birth of Jesus that gives us the ultimate reason to celebrate.

Merry Christmas!

The Hap Hap Happiest...

You know Bing Crosby really hit it on the head, or was it Danny Kaye...or Michael Buble?  Anyway, there really is no place like home for the holidays.  Throughout my life I've often wondered what the experience of going back home for the holidays would be like - and if it would rival anything out of Christmas Vacation - and, wow, have I been missing out!  And all we've done thus far is experiencing being home for Thanksgiving.

Nicki and I were fortunate enough to spend a week back in Cincinnati over Thanksgiving.  The trip started off a bit rough as we drove to St. Louis and spent the night in a 'historic' Drury Inn.  It was our first experience with Jack in a hotel, and it just might be the last!

It was a week that reinforced how incredibly blessed we are with amazing family and friends.  A week that started with the annual Thanksgiving with Friends Cookoff and ended with a perfectly executed family Thanksgiving.  We were able to spend the week connecting with so many important people in our lives.

Nicki and I have settled in here in Northwest Arkansas better than we ever could have imagined.  The first nine months here have exceeded even the highest of expectations.  That said, there really is nothing like going home and seeing the people who mean so much to us.  Being able to have Nicki's family and my family enjoy one Thanksgiving celebration is about as good as it gets!

As you can tell from the pictures below, we had two fantastic celebrations and two opportunities to really enjoy the people in our lives.  We can't wait until next week when we get to do it all over again!  First is a trip to Cincinnati and then Christmas in Northeast Ohio!

Nicki prepares her baked bird for the cookoff...pay no attention to the fact that it looks like just maybe she prepared my bird for the cookoff too...

How many college degrees does it take to fry a bird?

Don't stand too close to the pot of 400 degree oil...

Your 2011 Thanksgiving With Friends Cookoff Winner (if you ask me)

Nicki's bird was prettier...

Add your own caption.

The feast was great, but the time with friends was even better.

My dad does the majority of the cooking on Thanksgiving - an impressive feat for a group of 13 people.

We are so lucky to have Jen and John and Nicki's parents join in on the Thanksgiving fun.

Not one of us is paying attention to the pot of burning oil.

Only thing that could make this better is if Ben had a Bengals jersey on.

A Little Pre Thanksgiving Fun

Well well, seems like just yesterday it was fall and we were tailgating and celebrating Halloween.  Now the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us and we are screaming towards Christmas.  It seems like this year is determined to sprint by before any of us can slow down enough to appreciate it.

Before we get to our Thanksgiving celebration and trip to Cincinnati (in a blog post forthcoming), it is worth looking back at a few fun outings we've had over the past few weeks.

Our friends Katie and Jeff Enger and Bob and Lindsey Horner came down to experience an Arkansas gameday experience.  In addition to that Ryan Young flew in from Cincinnati (well - technically he flew in from Charlotte - but what Delta doesn't know won't hurt them).  The Razorbacks played South Carolina in a pretty big SEC matchup and we did our best to show them what Fayetteville had to offer.

We followed that weekend up with a trip to Orlando to visit Nicki's family.  Her aunt and uncle live in a beautiful home five minutes from Disney.  We took in Epcot Center (my first trip to Disney ever) and had a wonderful visit with her family.  Their home is located on a man made water ski lake.  As you will see - Nicki is quite the water skier.  You may be wondering where all the pictures of me water skiing are...well...you see there are sports I was meant to do and those I was not meant to do.  Let's just say that water skiing is one of those I was not meant to do.

Nicki's parents enjoying a quick break on the steps of the temple in Japan

Outside a "French" bistro...

Celebrating my Norwegian heritage...

Back in our comfort zone...

This was about as close to water skiing as I got - this is me asking advice from Nicki's cousin Kelly...

And this is me slolem skiing - believe that?  Okay no, this is Nicki's cousin Steven showing off...