Holiday Recap

I've gotten very behind on our blog. Sometimes when I get behind on things, I get scared, paralyzed. But, here I am, conquering my fear and posting a post.

So much has happened! I feel like an official recap is in order. Cue fancy music.




Paris Trip
December 8th—14th



Paris was amazing, obviously. I mean, it's Paris! It was cold and kind of desolate, but also historic and breathtaking. For more pictures, click here.


Christmas in California




We spent Christmas with the Panians in California, and it was a festive family feast! For more pictures, click here.


Anniversary
December 28th



We celebrated our Anniversary with a night on the town. Hollywood town! We saw WICKED in the Pantages, which was amazing! For more pictures, click here.


New Year's in Vegas




We cruised over to Vegas to relive our Honeymoon over New Year's. We stayed with our fantastic friends Tyson and Mary. So much fun! See more photos here.



Happy Birthday, Tyler!
January 10th




My wonderful husband is 25! I couldn't be prouder! We went go-cart racing with crazy fast cars, and then ate a delicious dinner, courtesy of Boston Market. For more pictures, go here.



Happy Birthday, Angie!
February 9th



Tyler surprised me with presents and cake and dinner at an Indian restaurant. Delish! For more pictures, you know what to do!

We gave thanks, then stuffed our faces!

Our first thanksgiving as married people! It was nice and casual. Our turkey had no legs, but that's ok. Someone somewhere is enjoying some turkey legs without a body.

We know a cute thing when we see it.

And peanut is a cute thing!


She knows how to be a pest though. She loves to bite things, soft things, like our hands and faces. And she jumps (flies) up on the couch with no regard for which of our body parts she lands on. And she uses her claws on our faces and arms to tell us things. Oh, but she's a cute puppy. And she's cured me of wanting babies for a while.

We Voted in our Hearts.

Despite all my efforts and punctual preparedness, when I got to the polls they had no record of my registration. I couldn't technically vote! But I tried. I tried! The person I was going to vote for won, so in a way, I feel as if my ballot was counted, in spirit.

Tyler however, was registered (even though I mailed our forms out on the same day—huh) but decided to voice his opinion by not voting for either candidate, a very clear and decisive declaration of his distaste for personal qualities in one man, and policy issues with the other. Tyler is smart, and I am proud of him for exercising his own freedom of speech. I think he has the right idea though. Where is this country going? I don't think anyone really knows, and I don't think either of the candidates are going to do a perfect job of handling the unforeseen problems that lie ahead for this country. One things for sure, I'm more interested politics and the general direction of America than ever before. This good, responsible adult thing is all new to me.

We love Peanut, yes we do!

So we finally found and acquired our new puppy, and we named her Peanut. She is a 3 month old Rat Terrier (sort of like a jack russel or a fox terrier). She is cute. She is also a handful. And, man, she loves her rope!

Peanut would like to say something:

h;pxxxcdexeeeeeeeee
";;;l;k ccd vxkl

Thanks Peanut. She's still working on the whole typing thing.

We sheltered in place, Pt. 2

We sheltered in place.

We lost power Friday evening. We were in the dark. We lit candles and waited for Ike to come.

We slept in the closet. We couldn't really hear the storm very much in there.


We listened to our crank radio and ate cold baked beans. I ate uncooked ramen noodles, but Tyler refused. He has limits.


We drove around on saturday to assess the situation.

We noticed much of the city doesn't have power either. We quickly get frustrated at all the stoplights which were turned into 4-way stops. No stores are open. We went home. We got bored. We read a lot. We played games like stratego.

We took Queen-esque pictures of ourselves.

Sunday. Still no power. No church either. All the missionaries are sleeping in the church. No power there either. We went to help clean up some poeple's yards on Monday with the Church group. It was rewarding, both in our hearts, and becuase when we got home, our power was back on. We were overwhelmed. We cooked food! We went to help people again on Tuesday. We tarped the roofs of people who were much worse off then us. We again felt rewarded in our hearts.