December

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything in here! My last post was about halloween and now it's February.

Possible reasons for my lack of blogging:
1. I am easily overwhelmed (exhibit A- while Richard's at work today I am supposed to clean our house, go running, and work on my relief society lesson. While sitting on the couch thinking about what to do first, I decided to write in my blog). As it relates to blogging, I was gung-ho about blogging my trip to San Fran to visit my sister. Then I was so busy that I never did that. Then we went to Idaho and I didn't blog that either. The thought of playing catch-up made me want to avoid it altogether so here we are.
2. Lazy.  Our desktop computer is now (since we moved into a 2-story place) upstairs, not in front of the TV like it used to be. When I come home from working with toddlers all day, which many times involves administering a complete assessment of every area of their development which runs about 2 hours (can you imagine administering a 2-hour standardized assessment to a 1 or 2 year old? It's hard.), I basically crash for the rest of the night on the couch. If I want to blog and watch TV at the same time, I have to use my laptop. Because my laptop was a graduation gift from 2006 (two thousand and six!), it freezes about 10 x throughout the course of blogging and I have to start over. Not ideal.
3. I've gotten a little better about going running. Almost all of my blog posts used to happen when I was supposed to be outside running. It was just hard for me to get out the door. Unfortunately I'm in that same boat today. Maybe because the last time I went running outside, I ran across a poor little old man who had fallen down on the ice and it turned in to 5 people stopping their cars to help us, a makeshift Spanish interpreter, an ambulance, and firetruck. I'm glad I could help, although not eager to relive that experience. It made me too sad. It might also be the cinnamon roll I just ate for breakfast.

That being said, here is my attempt to catch up! Some pics from December. I was all over the place this year; I went to San Francisco with my sister Jenny and her girls for Thanksgiving, then to Idaho in early December, then to Maryland for Christmas!

Here is San Fran for Thanksgiving:

 I painted the girls' nails, it was so fun! I gave them (and myself) one "surprise" nail that was sparkly on each hand.

Then we were off to Idaho to see my broseph come home from 2 years in Hungary! Here's my mom at the airport in Boise.

                                  And here he is getting off the plane. I got a little teary eyed.                                       

                        

        

So fun having him in the US again! Especially because he's in Provo just like us!

 

                             (my niece Brielle, she loved Richard! In this pic it looks like she's ours)

Then before we went to Maryland...

                                                              

SLP and nurse's office at my work decked out for Christmas. "we have ways of making you talk"

oh. and we bought a car!

 she's a beaut! I get to drive her around.

Then we went to Maryland. We did so many things in Maryland, his parents spoiled us. I don't know if I even have pictures for all of the things we did but here are a few:

Hershey, Pennsylvania! Oddly enough I had actually been there before a couple years earlier. Always a blast in a town that centers around chocolate!

                                        

 Twins in their Rawlings gear from our brother in law Dave!

 This tree had so many presents under it it was unreal.

 Visitors center at the DC temple, featuring nativities from different countries- this one was for Ryan! And above is my sweet little niece Camden. She was my bff during this trip to the temple

 Christmas morning- got my lamb-ajamas on, as I did for most of the trip

 Christmas morning was chaos and also a blast! Richard's dad wrote his mom a poem that gave her clues for what and where her gift was so we got to watch her find it and open it. I was also introduced to boulah boulah to find another Christmas present. I was nervous to spend my first Christmas away from home but his family made it so much fun, they are so great!

 Trip to the aquarium in Baltimore!

 They had a dolphin show! Those things are hard to capture on camera, believe me.

Air and Space museum in DC. Probably my dad's favorite place on earth. He was jealous.

 Richard's family humored me and allowed me to fulfill a lifelong dream- to go to DC (Georgetown) cupcake shop! I've watched the entire TLC series on netflix so going there was pretty exciting. Great cupcakes too

                                 
                                         
New Year's eve got a little wild! We had a fun party planned by our sister in law Katie Jane

                                                       and Happy new year from us! That's a wrap.

But in case you want some more, this is for you.

 If this isn't the most disturbing thing you've ever seen I don't know what is.