Own the Night like the Fourth of July

My parents and brother were never huge into fireworks and then I married a man who felt just as underwhelmed. But I'm still spoiled. When my dad lived in DC, we sat on his roof deck to watch the fireworks. When we moved to VA, we walked down to the Iwo Jima memorial and picnicked. Once, when my family didn't want to do our normal walk down there, I huffed and puffed about the fact the fact that they were going to sit and watch the fireworks on TV when we have some of the best fireworks in the country and could go out and see them in person. My dad kindly drove a little ways and stopped in the middle of the road to see them (all traffic that can actually see the show comes to a stand-still and people get out of their cars). Another time when I couldn't convince them to go with me, I walked about five minutes from the house until I got a good view and stood there with some neighbors who had the same idea.

This year was similar. I convinced Jason at the last second to drive until we could see them. Slowly more and more people showed up at our spot - they had the same idea. Just keep driving until you get a good view! It only took us five minutes to find this view. I'm thankful to be so close to the city so that I can convince my less-than-excited family to go with me at the very last second. We were at the lake last year so great to see them in DC this year too. These were COOL fireworks - it's always a great show on the mall, but I was pretty impressed this year!

Someday I WILL go down to the mall.
Neither of us are huge crowd people and most say once is enough, but...

it's ridiculous that both of us have grown up here and have never done it.

Maybe next year?

*Yes, I continued with the Katy Perry themed titling. I have no shame.

Baby, You're a Firework

Well, our adorable little niece is definitely the star of the show.

She's a little firework in our lives and we love having her and her mom & papa around.
There was a big crowd down at the lake this weekend and we all had so much fun
floating in the lake, playing games, eating lots of food, watching fireworks...

Happy 4th of July!

*Title courtesy of my new obsession with Katy Perry seeing her in concert. I swear I haven't been listening to her music non-stop since then or trying to convince Jason to get pit tickets to see her live again while we're on vacation so we can be THIS CLOSE to her... That certainly doesn't sound like something I'd do...  No way...
You just gotta igniiiite the liiiight and leeeet it shiiiine, just ooown the niiiight like the fourth of July!

A Utah Christmas

On Christmas day, my brother, parents, and I flew out to Utah.

When we landed there wasn't any snow, but the next morning, on our "Christmas", we got a white one.

We got to see quite a few relatives, including Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Pat and Uncle Boyd, cousins Wil and Connor, and Aunt Merna and Uncle Willis. We spent most of our time playing games and laughing - both things that my family is known to do.

Opening presents, Grandma got what she's been waiting over a year for - wedding pictures. I gave her some prints as well as a book. She loved it.

Another present hit was Jakob's new shirt. Very fitting.

By the end of the night we had a pretty cool surprise.

The next day, Jake really wanted to see Uncle Willis' Buick that he's been restoring.
It looks pretty awesome!

On our last night, we convinced our parents to walk around the town center so we could see their Christmas light display. It was amazing. It was multiple blocks of amazing Christmas houses and lights!

The next day, we said goodbye to our family, the mountains, and the snow.

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! What are your plans tonight?

Jingle Bells

We spent Christmas morning with the Bells before I headed off to Utah. The funniest moment was actually on Christmas Eve. Linda found a temporary tattoo on her grandbaby and asked her, "Do you have any other tattoos I should know about?" To which Esme responded, "Not yet!" Esme's parents have many tattoos and they have always joked with Linda about tattooing the baby - the jokes started before she was even born. Needless to say, Esme's response generated many, many laughs. That is a story that is bound to live on forever.

For the record, we always laughed at people who dressed their dog.

Then we got a chihuahua mix who has the chihuahua shakes.

Rufus gets cold and needs clothes.
We don't love doing it, but the pup needs them!

Hope everyone had just as merry a Christmas as we did! 

Our Christmas Eve

  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care... 

*Those stockings (minus the snowman) are my favorite knitting projects.

Dad got cashews in his stocking... and Al got a yak that Jakob made out of clay. 

Yes, a yak. 

I think it might be her favorite present.

Dad created DVDs of all of the old family videos he could find as a gift to Allison.

We watched footage of Jakob as a newborn through one year old. 

He was the cutest kid ever.

Watching the videos now you can see his brilliant mind developing already at only a year old.

In contrast, 

that tape also contained a video of me and two friends in middle school performing 

"The Killer Salad Dressing" - an extremely compelling movie that we made up for a school project.

I remember we thought it was fantastic and hilarious at the time.

...It was terrible. Simply terrible.

Oh, the memories.

Twas a fantastic Christmas Eve.

Merry Merry!

Rufus in his Christmas morning PJs.

More pictures to come later this week!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Celebrating Christmas at home we'll enjoy this tree

And celebrating on Christmas morning we'll enjoy this one with this company, along with a lot more family.

Hi, dearest in-laws!

We'll also be celebrating Christmas with my family tomorrow on Christmas Eve before we (Dad, Al, and Jakob) fly out to Utah on Christmas day. I'm very excited to visit my relatives along with the mountains and snow. I love Utah. Unfortunately, Jason is staying at home because he has to work, but we'll get to celebrate together before we leave. 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! 

Love to all.

Thanksgiving

Since our families live in the same town, we are lucky enough to be able to bounce back and forth from house to house to see both of them. We're certainly thankful for that. Hopefully someday soon we'll live in the same town too!

We did our annual Turkey Trot, which Jason walked all of but I cut short so I could cook pumpkin pancakes for everyone! I didn't take the camera out much this year, but the ladies cooked up a great feast.

One of my favorite things about spending time with my with my family is hanging out with my brother. He keeps me young!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We are most thankful for you - our family and friends.

Twinkle, Twinkle

I get excited for the holidays early. We put these pretty lights up last weekend. I might be your worst nightmare if you don't like people that start bringing the holiday stuff out early... but I'm super happy with my lights. They put me in the best mood! Even Rufus' eyes sparkle to match their glow (haha). See our tiny Christmas tree on top of our bookshelf in the corner there? That is where it lives in the non-holiday months. Once it comes down, we'll light our pine-scented candle and pretend that we have a real tree... but maybe not until after Thanksgiving :)

Does anyone else get excited about the holidays this early or is it just me?