What now?
So I went to the Inauguration concert on Sunday night and also to the actual Inauguration on Tuesday and got some amazing photos…check it out!
Yes, I was actually this close. It was amazing! There were sooo many people there, those of you that watched it on TV have an idea, but it was hard to move. It took me an hour and half to walk three blocks because there were so many people. For more pictures of the inauguration check out our flickr link on the right.
I’ve always thought that the holidays should be a little later in the winter. It seems like they are right at the beginning and then they’re over and you’ve got nothing but yucky winter for a few months. Which in Maryland apparently consists of gloomy skies and rain…no snow to make it at least a little pretty!
Before heading home for the holidays we made a trip to DC to see the national Christmas tree…it was pretty! We thought more of DC would be decorated as well, but it turns out it really wasn’t.
Then we headed home for our wonderful holiday vacation to both our parents’. Nick got to experience being an Uncle for the first time now that we’re married…below is a picture of our nephew playing in the snow.
Our holidays were wonderful! We flew into Spokane where my parents picked us up. We spent the week of Christmas with my family. I love Christmas as my parents’ house because they have a Christmas tree farm in their front yard, so there’s always someone out there cutting down a tree, it’s quite festive. It was nice because it was the first chance Nick has really gotten to spend some time with my family. And oh boy did we spend time together! There was no escaping it! We were snowed in half the time; Northern Idaho has been all over the news for the amount of snow they got this Christmas. The picture below is my Dad trying to dig us out…it took ALL day!
But lucky for us, the roads did miraculously clear up and we were able to make the drive down to Utah. We spent the week of New Years with Nick’s family. We had Cafe Rio 3-4 times within the week and Nick got to go skiing. (Grrrr. not me cuz I’m prego!) It was nice to be in Utah, to be home for Nick, and semi-home for me (I spent my college years mostly there).
Then to top it all off, that weekend we had our LONG awaited reception! We got married in February in South Carolina. We spent a few hours together and then had to part ways due to Nick’s training and my job commitment. Then in May, I moved here to Maryland. But Christmas was the first time we’ve both been back home since we got married so we decided better late than never and we had a reception. It did feel a little strange to wear a wedding dress while five months pregnant…but I was determined to get some nice wedding pictures and have a semi-normal wedding experience. We had a lot of people there and over all it was a success! Since it was in Utah, my mother-in-law Julie had to do a lot of the footwork to make sure everything worked out, plus she made my amazing cupcake tower! I’m so lucky to have great in-laws! Thanks to everyone that came to support us! Nick wasn’t all that excited to have a reception but ended up really enjoying it! I’ll get some pictures up when I get them from the photographer.
And here is the first belly shot! (And I AM wearing clothing, you just don’t see it in this shot 🙂 This is my belly at approx 23 wks and I’m pushing it out as far as I can for dramatic effect!
In honor of the gender of our baby (which we found out right before Christmas) I have changed the color of our background to this lovely blue…that’s right! It’s a BOY!
Oh and by the way, try out my new widget on the right there. Just click “get name” to see lots of different names…some of them are weird, but let me know if you see any good ones! (Nick and I can’t seem to agree on a boy name!)
We just had our first snow here on the east coast (the first one that stuck to the ground anyhow). It wasn’t much but it was enough that we decided that our poor shivering beagle needed a jacket. I don’t usually like the little doggy sweaters so I was really excited when we found this cute pink jacket and it even has a hood! Ok, so maybe we’re a little ridiculous about our dog, but it’s fun! We tried to make the jacket look red and created a cute Christmas card too…(below)
I have a very important announcement to make. For those of you who have been to New Zealand or Australia and have had a “tim tam slam” but are now back to the USA and can’t seem to find that delectable cookie (biscuit) anywhere……
GO TO TARGET!!!!
Pepperidge farms is now selling their own “tim tam” at Target. That’s right, a tim tam slam may be in your near future!
Now, for those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about…let me fill you in. The “tim tam” is Australia’s equivalent of America’s “Oreo”. Only better. And if you really want to eat it the way it should be eaten, you gotta slam it!
1. Make some hot chocolate/tea/coffee whichever you prefer.
2. Get a tim tam biscuit ready
3. Nibble off opposite corners of the tim tam
4. Stick one nibbled corner in your mouth
5. Lower the other nibbled corner into your drink
6. Suck the drink through the cookie
7. Once you get some drink, quickly shove the cookie in your mouth
VOILA!
Nick’s response to his first tim tam slam…”MMMMMMMM!” (and then he reached for another, and another…)
Our latest puppy problem is that this cute little puppy…
Can now jump over this little gate!
Little demon! I love her but man she makes things complicated! We even raised the gate a little to give it more height but true to her mischievous beagle ways, she can still get over! I had heard that beagles can get into things, but I’d have only known! Just think, if she can jump high enough to get over this gate…soon she’ll be able to jump onto the kitchen table or counter top…AAAAAUGH!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! This was our first Thanksgiving being married. Since there are only two of us I decided against cooking a whole feast and we went to the “chow hall” on base where the officers were serving a full Thanksgiving meal. My favorite part? They had chocolate milk!
Then on Friday, Nick and I headed to New York City to see my good friend Rachel who was home for the holidays (she lives in Colorado, I met her while doing my internship there). And of course, to see New York. Friday we went to town, saw time square, walked around the fashion district and topped off our evening with dinner and a broadway show! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nick so excited. We saw “The Young Frankenstein” it was amazing. The set was incredible and the music was great. Nick had this look on his face like it was Christmas morning through the whole show. 
Walking around the city was overwhelming (especially considering it was black Friday so there were A LOT of people!). All the Christmas decorations were up though so it was fun to see all the lights and the Macy’s window display and the huge Christmas tree at the Rockefeller center. Yay for Christmas coming soon! (For those of you who love the movie ELF as much as I do, here is a picture of the skating rink where they go skating and the huge Christmas tree that she shows Buddy, with the amazing crystal star on top. There were HUGE cables holding this tree up, it’s big.)
Saturday Rachel took us around Long Island (where she lives) to some local spots including a cute little town called “Lloyd village” and the close by “Woodbury”. We took a walk down this cute path to this huge historic mansion on a hill. For dinner, Nick and I had some authentic New York pizza.
Sunday morning we drove home. And instead of taking 3 hrs like it did to get there, it took us 8 hours! But we made it, and we were glad we went. I hadn’t realized how much I missed Rachel! Plus it was really fun to meet her family, they are such a nice family and were very good to us.
So within the same week it has happened AGAIN!
Not only can our little Zoey reach the magazine on top of the toilet, she can also get to the top of the washer/dryer where we set the toilet paper (so as to be out of her reach!). And she did. While we were out getting some Mexican food that Nick was so desperately craving, Zoey tore apart a whole roll of toilet paper. I gotta admit, it wasn’t quite as funny this time!
Nick and I went to the D.C. zoo a few weeks ago for his birthday (that’s what Nick wanted to do for his Birthday! I think he is trying to feel younger cuz he thinks he’s so old now). They had some cool animals that we’d never seen before…impressive zoo for being free! Anyone heard of a sloth bear? Couldn’t get a picture of it but it was cool!
