Our adventure begins...

Gas to the airport: $25

Breakfast at Einstien Bagels: $12.99

Arriving in DC without luggage: priceless

Yup, that is right, we arrived and our luggage did not. We were promised it was on the flight arriving at 4:19 pm, but we don't know whether to believe that or not.

Our morning started out well, we got to my parents on time, only to find out our flight was delayed and had not yet left Colorado Springs. We hung out with my folks for awhile, then headed to the airport for some yummy breakfast/lunch. We arrived at the gate to find it very crowded. They deplaned, cleaned, and then began boarding. First, she called First Class Passengers and people that needed assistance boarding. Then it was Gold, Silver, and Elite. Then, "Now boarding all rows." WHAT! Who says that. You have never seen 200 people rush to a gate faster than what we witnessed this morning. It was chaos to say the least, and loading took forever.

The flight was nice, we doozed most of the way. Landed in DC no trouble, then off to wait for our bags. And wait, and wait, and wait. Yup, they didn't show up. So here is Mike wondering where in the world is our luggage?

After we spoke with the nice baggage claim folks, who promised us our bags would be delivered tonight between 4:30 and 10:30 pm, we headed for the metro to get to our hotel. As missing bags go, it was pretty nice not to have to lug our stuff on the metro. We rode around and got off at Union Station.

So then the photos in front of famous buildings began. Here we are off to the side of the Capital.

I got us to our hotel mostly directly. We didn't walk past it at least! It is really close to the metro which is perfect. We checked in, and the nice lady at the front desk said we had one of her favorite rooms. That sounded good to us! We took the elevator to the top (only 10 floors mom, no worries!) and found our nice corner room. Mike looked at the price on the door and it states the room should cost $510 for two people per night. Needless to say, that is not our rate. Who would ever pay that anyway?

Here is a picture of the room:

So now we are just chilling, trying to relax a bit after traveling. We are going to dinner at Cosi, which is a short walk away. We'll put some more pictures up later tonight if we get any good ones!

Christmas Eve

Taylor

In her Gustavus outfit! She is just too cute.

Korv

Taylor Dec 22

Ikea!

I went shopping with my good friend Melinda today. We spent just about 4 hours in Ikea! I hadn't been there since right after we bought our house, so it has probably been about 2 years. I do like their stuff. We love the desk and bookshelves that we bought there. Melinda found a desk that she likes for hers girls...it is a corner desk. Click here to check it out.
We also had lunch there...the always yummy kids mac and cheese. You can't beat it. They have lingonberry juice in the pop machines. Yum-o.
Off to Todd and Lori's tonight for our youth staff Christmas party. I'm going to attempt to make little hot dogs wrapped in cresent rolls with a little cheese too. Should be interesting! I wanted something that would appeal to the kids as well.
So I better get cooking!

Past New Years...

So here are some older photos from new years eve...2001, 2003, and 2004. No pics from 2005! I guess we didn't do anything that year.

Xylon Rd

So the house that I grew up in is for sale. I really want to walk through it and see all the changes. I would love to take Mike through it because he has never been there! It is so weird that I spent 18 years in that house and Mike has never been in it!
You can check out the house here.

Taylor

Taylor is sixth months as of yesterday. So she had a doctor's visit today. She is 25 inches long and 13 pounds even. Her head circumference and length are 25th percentile and her weight is 5th percentile.

Just perfect!

Cute Christmas Cartoon

This is a cute Christmas cartoon of the song White Christmas. Make sure you can hear it!

we made lefse!

Taylor dec 8

we got to hang with her over night!

Taylor Dec 8

Snickers Bars Recipe

Snickers Bars

Bottom Layer:

· Melt together: 1 C. milk chocolate chips
¼ C. butterscotch chips
¼ C. peanut butter

· Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan; let cool.


2nd Layer:

· Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly: 1 C. sugar
¼ C. milk
¼ C. butter or margarine

· Add: ¼ C. peanut butter
1 small jar marshmallow crème
1 tsp. vanilla

· Pour over bottom layer.
· Sprinkle with 2 C. dry roasted peanuts.


3rd Layer:

Melt together: 1 bag of caramels
2 Tbsp. hot water

Drizzle over peanuts.


Last Layer (same as bottom):

Melt together: 1 C. milk chocolate chips
¼ C. butterscotch chips
¼ C. peanut butter

Spread over top.
Let set in refrigerator.
Cut.

sick!

So I found out today officially that I have a sinus infection. The doctor gave me a bunch of drugs and I'll start taking them at lunch today. I'm just so relieved to know that the pain is real, not just imagined!

Thank God for drugs!

Unaccompanied Minors

So we saw Unaccompanied Minors this weekend. It was pretty funny, kind of like this generations Home Alone. I love movies that make me laugh, so of course I liked this one. It was stupid funny, but that is okay with me!
I'm waiting for Mike to get home now so we can have some dinner and then I'm heading out to visit with some of the small groups. I have a killer sinus infection that I had hoped would go away but isn't. I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow and am hopeful that he will give me some strong drugs so that I will feel better by Christmas!
We are almost done shopping! We did some more this weekend and now just have a few things left to buy. I'm ready to be done shopping and spending money. We need a month or two to catch up on our saving, just in time to put the money away in our IRAs. That sucks, but I know it is important to save. But still, that money would be nice to have!

I'm listening to a jazz Christmas CD...I love Christmas music!

Taylor Dec 1

Trying to decide which hand pic I like better. Any thoughts?

Taylor Dec 1

Books and TV

Today was an odd day. It is the end of November, and here in Minnesota that usually means snow. But today I woke up to thunder. It was pouring rain...with thunder and lightning! Just odd, that's all. I am ready for snow, I love snow. Bring it on!

I want to promote some good books and shows! We are huge fans of Jericho, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Ugly Betty, Heroes, The Office, and The Girls Next Door. I also really like ER and The Class. If you aren't watching these, you should be! And, I just heard that Scrubs is starting up again! Mike also likes Top Chef alot, but we both agree that Project Runway is better! It is a toss up between Jericho and Heroes for best new show this year. I like Studio 60 because it makes you think to keep up with it, but the plotlines in the other two are better! We just DVR all these shows and then catch up with them when we can.

Right now I'm reading Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn. It's been pretty good so far, I'm so used to reading fiction that I'm enjoying something a little different. You can check out the website about it here.

So now that it is almost 5, I'm going to settle in on the couch with my book until Mike gets home and we eat more leftovers for dinner. Have a great day!

Cleaning...

So I'm supposed to be spending the day cleaning and baking, basically getting ready for tomorrow. I have absolutely no motivation to clean. Our house isn't bad, it really just needs to be picked up and organized. But do I want to spend a day off doing that, no of course not. So I had swim class this morning, went to Caribou (meduim soy chai), went to the recycling center to get rid of four computer monitors that were just taking up space in our garage, the met Raul and Trinity to go to the mercado to look for Christmas gifts. Now I'm home, attempting to clean, but not really doing much. I would like the house to be ready by the time Mike gets home so that we can just relax tonight and tomorrow, but I'm not sure that is going to happen!

The pumpkin pie is in the oven, but I overfilled it so I'm not sure it will turn out! The apple pie is next on my list, then I can think about trying to clean the kitchen. What else...polish the napkin rings, set the table, do the laundry, dust everywhere, pick up downstairs, try and stuff all the food on the counter into the cupboards. Oh yeah, put up Christmas lights on our deck. I already hosed off the front entry way...it gets so dirty!

Okay, gonna try and work. I'll be back later to post pictures from our fun night last night. We'll see how much I can get done!