Trip Home

I took three days off work to fly home to Oregon for Megan's wedding and to see my family. In true Oregon fashion it rained almost the entire time. 

 I saw a whole lot of these two kids and my stister. Kelsey likes to keep them out of the way in cupboards.

 I wanted to take a pic of my dad's new car for Andrew, but I had no idea my dad would suddenly instruct me on which angles were best. Instead of taking just one shot for a photo text, I was in the middle of a photo shoot.

 Obviously we went to Sezchuan Kitchen. I can't go home without paying a visit to the best Chinese restaurant ever.

 Everyone enjoyed it.

 At Megan's reception. She looked fantastic, as all brides should. It was so nice to go to her wedding!

 Lucy and I went and picked up a pizza together.

 She also insisted I take many pictures. This may be a family trait.

 Kelsey's kids are really good at smiling for the camera. Exhibit A: Thomas.

 Exhibit B: Lucy.

 Thomas is a believer in good hygiene and needed his hair combed and his teeth brushed.

 Dominoes! 

I had two good rounds and it all went downhill from there. Remind me not to play with my mom again.

Other things the family is good at: dancing and playing the kazoo.

(Short) Christmas Break

 We kicked off the holiday season right with a tour of beautifully decorated homes. And by beautifully decorated I mean lights that Clark Griswold would approve of. Highlights: large blow up M&M people (see bottom right corner of photo)

 Parents of my students made up for being high-maintenance by giving me a gift card tree. Nordstrom=way to my heart.

 Christmas Eve and Christmas day were spent with the Harrisons. We went with twinner outfits for Christmas church.

 See? It may have been unplanned but I always love a good matching outfit.

 Katy posing with the tree.

  But I may have been the better model.

 The whole Christmas morning gang.

 

Christmas night I flew back to OR (Andrew followed that Tuesday) to be with the Hansen family. We continued our Annual Extended Lord of the Rings Marathon on Dec. 26th. The food spread gets better every year.

Thomas made himself comfortable and found a nice cushy seat. He is a slight little thing, so Grandma may not have noticed he was even there.

I got to babysit this thing for a night. He cuddled with me and Mom for hours and it made my day.

Best event of Dec. 2011: Tate was born! He is so cute! (Props to Dane and Ash. 3 out of 3 kids are cute---not bad.) I'm dying to get myself over to Utah to see him in person.

DAPAIGE Visits

                                        

 Paige and Dave came to visit us! I've never been so happy. We hit up a few of the sights, and they did some solo trips around town while Andrew and I were at work. Mt. Vernon was my second fav thing we did while they were here. Paige and I are real into George Washington now. Such a silver fox.

 Aladdin the camel. We weren't too enthusiastic about Aladdin's smell.

 But Aladdin seemed sure that eating Paige's foot was a good idea.

 Mt. Vernon.

 So good looking.

 

We may have spent like three hours at the Cafe Rio with Lauren instead of heading to the National Christmas Tree. So worth it. It felt like we were back in Provo.

We also visited the temple to see the lights and got to attend the best Christmas presentation I have ever witnessed. The performers may not have sung in tune and it may have been entirely in Spanish, but there was a young boy who was killer at the triangle, sticks, and jingle bells.

 

 Second camel of the trip. Paige was embarrassed to get on the fake camel, but I insisted.

 DaPaige.

 

I always love me some Paigmy time.

 

Day Trip

 We took a day trip to New York City on Saturday. Andrew had the pleasure of asking a lot of strangers to take our picture.

 It was real cold, but beautiful. We checked out Central Park and saw a woman pushing her dog in a stroller.

 I've never been to New York around Christmas so this was my first time seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center. It was big.

 Times Square. We found a burger place that had TILLAMOOK CHEESE on all their food items and they also had spicy sour cream that I put on my burger. Spicy sour cream? I've never been so happy in my entire life as I was whilst eating my burger with Tillamook cheese and spicy sour cream.

 Check us out on the billboard.

 A little zoomed in. We're in the bottom left corner. I'm wearing the brown boot and my arm and leg are out. We're famous!

 The New York Public Library was beautiful. It was also nice to warm up, take off my coat, and regain feeling in my hands. 

 This lion is made of Legos (clearly). This excited me.

Andrew putting those modeling years from his childhood to good use in the subway.

Sightseeing

 Working full time kind of sucks the life out of me, so I never really have a lot of motivation to go downtown, which is really a shame. A few times Andrew and I have mustered enough energy to do some short sightseeing visits in DC. One weekend we went to the Library of Congress (see above). It was beautiful! 

 Last week we visited the National Cathedral. It was awesome as well, and it was a fast trip (I get bored so so easily).  The gargoyles and such on the outside of the building were pretty cool to look at.

 I loved the stained glass on the inside.

The architecture really was amazing. There was an orchestra of sorts practicing and so we got to listen to some pretty music. I mean, it was no BSpears, but it was still cool.

We almost went to Mt. Vernon when my parents came a few weeks ago, but it ended up raining/snowing. And I have no desire to go outside when there's inclement weather, so we played card games instead. I feel like that still counts, though, so add Mt. Vernon to the list.

Paigmy Reunited

 Since Andrew works for United now, we can fly on standby for free. First order of business: 24 hour trip to Atlanta. Reason: Paiger. We only slept like 7 hours over the two nights I was there (on sheets that felt like the clouds), but it was totally worth it. We went shopping, ate Chick-Fil-A, ate at the Varsity, and took a haunted Segway tour of Atlanta.

 It's a good thing Dave wore that helmet since he crashed into a car an hour later. With the owner of said car standing right next to it. So embarrassing.

 SO HAPPY to be together.

 Pave. Or Daige? Whichever you choose, they showed me a good time.

 Paigmy kind of rules at the Segway. Which is more than I can say about Dave.

Traveling standby is nerve wracking, but totally worth it. We may already be planning our next trip.