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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Ha ha ha...Little Correction...

Ok, so my cute hubbie just emailed and told me he loved the blog post...but that I had the wrong song! :) Yes, apparently there are TWO cheesy Washington Christmas songs, and the one that WE always hear is NOT the one I used as the whole theme of my last post. Oops. :) And since I DID use it as the whole theme, I can't very well change it! (Call it the annal writer in me :)) So, here's a new post, saying I'm a spaz, and giving you the link for the REAL song. It's kinda a fun little video...ok, so maybe not, but it shows you lots of stuff we see all the time if you're interested! (Believe me...after hearing this song, you'll be soooooooooooo glad I took the time to make the correction. Sooooooooo glad. :))
Christmas Eve in Washington

Christmas Time in Washington

So, there's this song that plays on the Christmas radio station here... a LOT. "Christmas Time in Washington". It's one of those songs that made us laugh really really hard the first time we heard it. It's got all the qualities that make you say, "Huh..." : amazing cheese-head lyrics, a lady singing bravado...it's got it all. But you know what? It's also one of those songs that we will probably download and listen to every Christmas after we're no longer here because it will remind us of our first Christmas. If you'd like to hear it, turn off our great playlist and click here.

Anyway, it IS Christmas time in Washington, and there are so many fun things to see and do. Before we leave for Utah tomorrow (woo hoo!!!) I thought I'd share how we've celebrated in the capital.

Our first Christmas activity was Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home). They let us take a special tour of the rarely seen third floor, had a giant Mt. Vernon gingerbread house, and even had a Christmas camel on the property. The picture of him isn't the best, but no matter how I baby-talked, or smooched, or flirted (yes, I flirted with a camel) I could NOT get him to have anything to do with us. (I never was much of a flirt...) Fun fun fun!




Next, was the Festival of Lights at the Washington DC temple. We loaded into Sophie with our good friends the Jacksons (sorry it was such a tight squeeze guys!), and were off to see lots of pretty-ness (not a word, is it...). It really was gorgeous.



Our next adventure was to tromp through the city in the freezing cold (seriously, I think we picked the coldest night EVER) to see the two big trees: the Capitol Christmas Tree, and the National Christmas Tree. It was awesome to be there, and worth the cold (my legs DID eventually regain feeling, after all). The Capitol Tree is decorated with homemade ornaments from school kids of the state that provided the tree (Montana this year, I think). It was TALL and skinny, and somehow I loved it.

The National Christmas Tree is in the coolest spot. Turn one way and you see the Washington Monument, turn the other and you see the White House. It has more lights than I thought possible, and it's also surrounded by a walking path lined with 50 smaller trees--one for each state. Lots and lots of lights! And lots and lots of people!

In the midst of our tree hunting, we stopped to warm up in the Botanical Gardens, and were glad we did! They had a really neat exhibit--some guy had carved a cute little village (I think out of cedar because it smelled delicious), and trains were running all through it, and...it was just sweet! The pictures don't do it justice...it was like a winter wonderland!



Our last shabang of the season went down last night (huh...kinda sounded like a really bad, amateur wannabe gangster in that sentence...interesting...). We had such a Serendipity moment! Brian took me ice-skating at this cute outdoor rink! It's in the middle of a sculpture garden in the city. It was a gorgeous night (I think in the high 50s!), and I seriously could've believed I was in a movie. We had lots of fun, and even though there were some close calls, we made it through without falling. It was hard to get a decent picture with the lighting and the trying not to fall, but here's the best we could do. Magical!



And there you have it. Christmas time in Washington. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Friday, December 12, 2008

I haven't laughed this hard since...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Thanksgiving Highlights

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone! Next stop...Christmas!


We had a lot of fun in South Carolina over the holiday. The dinner was delicious, which is more than enough for a great Thanksgiving, but there were lots more highlights:

*Our baby, Sophie (usually just Soph), hit 100,000 miles! Brian was pumped. I think this cute, white Saturn deserves a party. Over the past 5 years, she's been part of so many fun memories!


*Brian's mom taught us how to make one of her famous gingerbread houses. The fresh gingerbread coming out of the oven was quite the tasty little perk, too!


*The weather was mellow enough that we went mini-golfing at a cute little outdoor course. I got two holes in one (unheard of in my world!), and Danna and I showed the boys up, coming in first and second. Girlpower! :)


*Black Friday Brian and I headed to the stores and came away with a sleigh full of gifts and goodies. Being out in the hustle and bustle together was a blast.

*Alisha and Matthew (Brian's sister and brother-in-law, parents of the cute girls) drew our names for Christmas and we've decided they should be Santa. Yummy bath products, BYU gear...and (my favorite) a subscription to House Beautiful! To top it off, they let us steal some fresh branches from their tree, which led to a whole new sweep of Christmas decorating when we got home. Thanks Palmers! We love you guys!



*As always, Sienna and Miya, our cute nieces, provided some of the biggest highlights.


Sienna is so beautiful and smart--she read a 64 page children's book to me one night, and wore a pilgrim's hat she made herself to Thanksgiving dinner. She also spoiled us with pretty pictures and notes that are proudly displayed on our fridge.

Little Miya is at that perfect age. She's just learned to talk, and it was soooooo cute to hear her break into Twinkle-twinkle-little-star-old-McDonald-had-a-duck at random moments. She's got impeccable manners ("Dank you Bri Bri"), and dances around endlessly with a build-a-bear that sings Happy Birthday (my favorite...can't believe we didn't get a picture).


Anyway, we love Sienna and Miya!!


We had a great Thanksgiving and hope you all did too! We're so grateful for all of you--we're always talking about how we've both been so blessed throughout our lives with amazing families and friends. So thank you!

Now...bring on the Christmas season!