christmas is around the corner!!

Last weekend we went to a "fancy" Christmas party 

at our friends charming house on the "Hill" ( Capital Hill) in downtown DC. 

(Actually this friend is the girl, who talked Colton into the friends trip to LA, to visit Tyler....which is why we met! He almost didn't go...so we LOoOVE Katie! She is the one next to me :)

I'm so lucky Colton had such fantastic (girl)friends that I can now adopt as my own! These girls are all driven, successful, and a total blast to be around.

When Colton is around his good friends you know because he gets REALLY loud. 

He also gets SUPER HYPER and SUPER Hilarious ...but sometimes it is a bit much. SO I have learned how to calm him down, I squeeze his nose. It causes him to stop talking for a second and breath through his mouth...works every time :) Although I do love his hyper hilarious side....

Before we left, i did snag a kiss under the mistletoe! I can't wait for this Holiday weekend!! 

Merry Christmas to ALL!!

i'm an aunt...again!

Congrats to my sister Tara, her husband Adam and my other little niece Rhea... they have a new addition to their little fam as of last Thursday :)

{ Little Amelia }

..I cant wait to kiss that face!

laying wreaths

Last Saturday I tagged along with the guys. Colton's scouts were heading down to Arlington Cemetery to help place wreaths on all of the headstones, and I didn't want to miss out!

I guess I assumed a few different scout troops would show up, we would each have over 200 wreaths to lay a piece and it would take around 2 -3  hours. FALSE. Anyone could come and TONS were there!

We couldn't even get to the exit on the freeway there were so many people, scouts, buses, youth groups, all coming to help lay wreaths.

They had large trucks placed through-out the cemetery. Anyone could walk up, grab a box for their group and then pick a spot and start laying. Colton said it felt like how it would be when the world is ending. Huge crowds scavenging for whatever they can get out of the back of a truck..... and he was right! Those trucks ran out fast then you would see HUGE groups migrating to the next one. 

Before laying the wreath, we were to say the persons name, place the wreath, then have a moment of silence for that person. It was a pretty powerful and humbling experience. 

(Colton instructing his scouts.) 

I love this. I love watching him interacting with the young men. You can tell they really all look up to him. At one point he pulled out his phone and pulled up some key that told what the religious symbol on every headstone meant. The boys LOVED it, and as we walked all around they kept discovering new religions.

(We don't know Clarence, he just happens to have a good view from his plot.)

Wreath laying was nice way to get the month of focusing on Christ and serving others started off right. 

a year of firsts continues!

 I am proud to say I am finally an owner of my first real Christmas Tree! Colton spoils me. I think he was realizing how much I LOVE Christmas... so he took me to Home Depot (I am learning everything you could ever need is at Home Depot).. and told me to pick out whatever I needed for Christmas!

We bought a beautiful Noble Fur, lots of lights, a few filler ornaments, and we headed home to 

set it all up. 

** Please ignore the makeshift tree skirt made of crumpled sheets. That will be on the "to buy or to make" list next year :) **

My Mom had given me all of my ornaments, which nicely filled up half of the tree. 

We have been soooo fotunate to have so many people visit this year. Makes family and friends feel not so far away. 

This month it was my Dad! The weekend after Thanksgiving he flew into DC before heading to NYC on that following Monday for work. 

It was so awesome to have that much one-on-one time with him, can't remember the last time that happened. 

We did a lot of eating, monuments, saturday morning markets, fresh apple cider donuts, museums, checked out National Geographic Museum that is currently showcasing the Anglo-Saxon Hoard... Unbelievable!!! Read about how it was discovered HERE.

   

Saturday Night we had dinner at a phenomenal restaurant in Georgetown. It is called Restaurant 1789 .

It is set in this very old property with tiny halls and stairs leading to different dining rooms. The dress was fancy and no one was in jeans. My dream restaurant! Oh, and the food was sooooooooooo good. 

Afterwards we went down to the White House to check out the National Christmas Tree ( it looks kinda sad, I know. It is actually wire net forming a Christmas Tree shape around a smaller tree.) I liked the mini train track and mini town at the base of the tree. 

(view of the White House from the Christmas tree)

Sunday we had a great day at church, although Dad kept freaking everyone out. They thought he was Elder Ukdorf. The Bishop said his heart dropped when he saw him and had to take a good look before approaching us to say hi, haha. Then another girl chased me down the hall when I was heading to my 3rd hour meetings and said... "Hey.. hey! is that your dad with you??? Or Elder Ukdorf??" I assured her it was just my Dad... no German accent there :) Mormons are funny. 

Sadly, Monday morning I rode the metro down to Union Station to see Dad off on his train. It was such a nice weekend and we were sad to see him go. BUT we will be in AZ in a week in a half for Christmas!!