An Ode

Recognize these beauties?

Also pictured here.

And here.

If you've known Tyler at all over the last 13 years then you'll recognize those sassy Oakley sunglasses that were probably pretty good looking when he got them...13 years ago. If you know us then you know that I sometimes give Ty a hard time for wearing clothing and accessories that are a bit outdated. He takes great care of his stuff so it lasts for a long time, sometimes a little too long.

I've never made fun of these sunglasses though because Tyler is so emotionally attached. His dad bought them for him when he was 13 and so they have a special place in his heart, which is understandable.

Fortunately Unfortunately, while body surfing in this beautiful ocean...

... a big wave came up from behind and knocked those Oakleys right off Tyler's head. And despite our frantic searching, they were lost at sea.

I was seriously nervous that Ty was going to have a mental breakdown but he handled it surprisingly well. We had a little ceremony for the glasses and Tyler said his goodbyes. 

I later gently told him that it's probably for the best that they got lost because they were pretty darn dorky, which he also took surprisingly well.

So here's to the good times we had with those orangy-blue shades and here's to looking forward to a new pair of sunglasses for Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday this year with the Spears and the Moores because our friend Randi is a nurse and she had to work Thanksgiving. We divided up the dishes, got together and cooked up a storm and then ate at this beautiful table at Randi's house.

Not too shabby for some first-timers.

Love these people! We had a fabulous time eating and chatting the night away. 

I think this was my first Thanksgiving with less than 20-30 people in attendance. We sure missed our big and fabulous families but we had a great time with just the seven of us.

 

We spotted Santa's reindeer on the drive home.

We threw together this little meal on Thanksgiving for just the two of us.

We also hosted Tyler's cousin Connor and his two friends at our place over Thanksgiving break. They came up from SVU. Connor knew someone who works for NCIS so we went and toured the Pentagon with them on Black Friday. It was much more enjoyable than crowded malls. 

We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend Getaway

We used more of my parents' timeshare points to spend the weekend in Shenandoah with friends. It is such a gorgeous area and we had so much fun just hanging out, playing games, eating, watching movies and hiking.

Superstorm Sandy left us quite a bit of snow.

Baby Shower

There has been a baby explosion in our ward. There are about 10 girls who are either pregnant or recently had a baby. All of these babies means lots of baby showers. This one was particularly fabulous. We met at our girlfriend's office in Georgetown, stuffed balloons up our shirts and walked around Georgetown taking pictures with strangers and in front of iconic places for a scavenger hunt. It was quite hysterical!

Ellen's balloon baby was my favorite! (blue dress)

Costume Party

Gotta love a good costume party. Chad and Randi threw another fantastic Halloween party and we had a blast! We also stole their costume idea. Randi told me what they were going to be and I just happened to have an old sheet and a sewing machine. Thus the togas were born. Thanks for letting us copy you!

I stole this collage from Randi's blog. Our friends are all so creative and I loved all of the costumes, especially with all the little babies that are joining our group of friends.

 

Tyler dubbed himself "Claudius Maximus Can'tResistHimus Octavius." His sword he named "Fidelitus."

Delicious spread.

The group that stayed to play Telephone Charades.

We sure love all these wonderful people!

Pumpkin Carving

 We got together with some of our new friends, Kelcie and Taylor, for a pumpkin carving party.

We did a double sided pumpkin. One with a goofy smiley face and the other a vampire biting a woman's neck. So seductive...

This is our reenactment.

North Carolina

My parents had some timeshare points that were going to expire and they were gracious enough to let us use them. After Tyler's crazy weeks of testing we were so excited to hit the road towards the sunny Outer Banks in North Carolina. The Outer Banks is a strip of long skinny islands off the coast of NC. It was so beautiful. Because we were there during off season there weren't very many people there and it was so laid back and relaxing. The place we stayed was a pretty small town, about 30 minutes from a grocery store. It was a great respite from city life. 

View from our deck.

We loved eating our breakfasts overlooking the ocean.

Wildlife refuge we found on a Sunday drive.

Darling beach houses by our place.

There were crabs ALL over our beach. Tyler wanted to find one so he thought it'd be a good idea to try and dig one out of its hole. He said he wanted to feel what it was like to get pinched because he had "seen Bear Grylls do it and he survived." My husband is sometimes a bit crazy.

He was able to catch a couple of the baby ones.

What's a beach vacation without seafood? It was SO delicious and fresh.

There were some sand dune on one of the islands that were pretty cool.

Beach by our condo.

Cape Hatteras lighthouse. Believe it or not, they moved the lighthouse from its original location on the beach because it was sinking  into the ocean after over 100 years.

It was such a great time and we're so grateful to my parents for giving us this opportunity. We had a blast!

The drive home was also just beautiful with the tree-lined highways changing colors.