Outside & Inside

Outside: over a foot of snow and our car is completely covered

Inside: staying warm and having fun

Making It Through The Winter

• Joseph and I got to go to Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway at the end of December. We always enjoy a night in the city on our own, especially when we know the kids are at home and asleep! It was a cute show and we had a good time.
• Anna will be 6 months old tomorrow! She rolls over and scoots around in circles, eats carrots and avocados, squeals and squawks all the time, loves her brother who can make her laugh like crazy, and is a very sweet baby.
• I had a fun "Girls Night Out" in Manhattan with some of the girls in our ward. Mmmmmm, Rice to Riches is yummy.
• Matthew is always busy with his train sets, dinosaurs, and rubber ducks - when he's not hiding in the cupboards or running around in circles. He's a great boy.
  

M&K

Sis Megan & brother-in-law Kyle came to NYC for a visit last week. We hadn't seen them since the day they got married last June, so we were really excited! They had big plans for hanging out in the city, and I got to tag along with them a little bit.

Matthew loved having "the guys" here, and it was fun to have them meet Anna for the first time. We ate at a super nice Mexican restaurant, fed the ducks in the FREEZING cold, visited the pet store at the mall, and laughed a lot. We love them so much and miss them already!

Our Home: Office/Guest Room

We finally finished putting our office/guest room all together. It is a tiny room with a big couch and a big desk, but I think we were able to organize it well enough to not look too cluttered.

My favorites are the animal print fabric I got on eBay, the magazine files to hold all of Joseph's school stuff, the shoe rack to hold all of our supplies, and the mouse pad that I covered with cute fabric. Now it is all ready for our next visitors that are coming tomorrow!

Next task: the kids' room!

Merry Merry

new pajamas on christmas eve

our traditional chinese take-out for christmas eve dinner
(started the first year we were married when i didn't know what to make for christmas eve dinner...)

matthew in action on christmas morning (my mom made that awesome snake)

We had a wonderful little Christmas together. Lots of family time, homemade presents, treats, packages in the mail, toys, wrapping paper, movies, and smiles. It is amazing how fast it comes and goes! Hope you all had a merry merry Christmas!

Christmas Storm

Did you hear about the winter storm warning for the east coast? We got about 8 inches or so out of it. Church is canceled today and everyone is busy plowing and shoveling. As Matthew watched Joseph shovel the sidewalk outside he said "Thanks for cutting the snow ground, Daddy."

This is actually Matthew's first time really playing in the snow and he loved it! Thankfully Joseph will be home for the next couple of weeks so he can play outside with him. I usually find any excuse I can to not touch the snow all winter!

But this sure does help it feel a little more like Christmas!

Holidays

We are grateful for good friends that make it a little easier to be far away from home and family during the holidays.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a great group of friends and lots of delicious food. Now we're looking forward to a relaxing Christmas holiday with a couple weeks off school and our own little family traditions.

Happy December and Happy Holidays!

Our Home: Kitchen

There wasn't much we could do in here, but I did get our shelves organized and we made a pegboard to hold our keys, pens, paper, and calendar.

I'm loving making our apartment feel more like our own!

Next task: getting the office/guest bedroom ready for our visitors in 10 days!

Sleepy Hollow

The Allens let us tag along with them to Sleepy Hollow a few weeks ago. It was more colorful than last time we went, and we got to see a little more of the cemetery. It is always nice to get out of the city and enjoy some time as family and friends!

Oh, and I got my hair cut and I love it!

Wanna Take a Trip?

If you feel like making a spur-of-the-moment decision here you go:

JetBlue tickets from SLC to NYC are only $89 each way if you buy them today! You have to travel between Dec. 2-16 or Jan. 6-28. There are great deals from other places, too. Click here to see the flights.

The Gedge Hotel located in Staten Island is already booked from Dec. 10-14, but we would love to have visitors any other time!

Just so you know....

Our Home: Living Room & Dining Room

After living here for almost 4 months, we finally hung something on the wall! Moving, having a baby, entertaining lots of visitors, and a very small budget kept us from getting our place decorated for a while. It's definitely simple and inexpensive, but that's how we like it!

I love our NYC picture collage (pictures taken by us and sis Robin) with the satellite map of NYC that Joseph found at his Grandpa's house. I also love the toy storage in the bookshelf, the G that Robin gave to me for my birthday, and the silhouettes of our little family.

Next task: the kitchen.

Dog & Cat

Matthew loved going trick-or-treating for his first time! He was good at knocking on the door and saying thank you, but he never quite got the hang of saying "trick-or-treat"! He eagerly ran up all the driveways and stairs to knock on the doors, got the candy, and then bounced on to the next house. But by the end I was carrying his heavy pumpkin and his doggy ears, and he was distracted by all the colorful suckers he had been given, so it was slower going. It was a fun Halloween!