Washington DC and a trip to the aunt and uncles!

On New Year's Day, we drove down to Washington DC!

My sister and brother in law live down there, and we have wanted to visit them for forever.  

We had gorgeous weather, and the drive was surprisingly a lot of fun.  

We went through 7 states in about 7 1/2 hours! (MA, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, and DC!)

C was an absolute dream to drive with.  Seriously.  We cannot figure out why he can be happy doing absolutely nothing in a car for that long, but he was and it was great.  (Who knew shoes were such great toys???)

We got in that night, and enjoyed a fun dinner and opening late Christmas Presents.  L and J were so nice and let us sleep on their super nice bed, and C enjoyed his room in their closet. :)

The next morning L took us and we hit up some museums.  We first did the Natural History Museum, and then the Aerospace Museum.  C was probably a little young for both of these, but he did LOVE the airplanes.  And the space wing.  He kept pointing and saying "SPACE!!!"  Mr. H took C back to the apartment for a nap and L and I made the rounds to the monuments.  DC is SOOO pretty.

Thanks L, for capturing this fine moment....

Just keeping it real in the museum :)

Happy again.  :)

 

We got back home and went out to dinner, and then to a fun free concert at the Kennedy Center.  

The next day J was able to join us and we did a Washington Monument tour which was fun!  It was cool to see all the places in DC from the birds eye view.  

We then headed over to the capitol.  C had a BLAST chasing his aunt L and J around....I think he run after them the entire way.  This might have been the highlight of his trip. :)

The capitol tour was fun and we lucked out with a fun tour guide.  We went home, napped and then L and J took us on a tour of their super cool town!  Seriously, what a cute town.  We had fun perusing some of the stores and enjoying the charm. :)  We got some dinner and had a fun night of games.

Sunday we were able to attend their church, and it was great!  It was a fun congregation, and it was fun to see how adored L and J are.  We got some more naps (what happens when a pregnant lady travels) ate a nice dinner and chatted away.

We left the next morning and had a delightful drive home.  C was amazing again, and it made it very enjoyable.

C loved their kitty Ernest, and still tells me all about when he played with 'Ernie'.

It was so nice to spend some good time with L and J.  Thanks again for making our visit so delightful!

Thanks.

Thanksgiving was awesome this year.

To start it off: Mr. H is done with his college applications!!!! So proud of him!

We headed into Centerville on Wednesday night and made some delicious pies.  It was my perfect ideal: aprons, Christmas music, people I love and making delicious desserts.  

We made four pies: 2 pumpkin, 1 blackberry, and 1 chocolate. 

We learned that in Korean one woman in the kitchen is the symbol for peace, and two women in the kitchen is the symbol for war. :)  We still had a lot of fun together, and it was fun to be together!

The next morning I went on a run, and then met up with miss K for a little hike up our mountain.  It was so fun to have it be like old times, and we had good conversation as usual.

Baby C had so much fun playing at my parents house, Mr. H played with my brothers and I helped make the delicious dinner.  My parents sure know how to do thanksgiving. It was wonderful.  My dad decorated, we all cooked and it was really fun.  

The beautiful table

My mother is the queen of multi-tasking

 Both sets of grandparents, two uncles and my dad's second cousin were able to come this year, and it was a blast.  I love my family.  We were all able to chat and enjoy being together.

Most of the group

Baby C loved the food

We then took everyone on a hike up the mountain again.  Mr. H and I didn't get too far with baby C, as he just wanted to throw rocks, but it was still fun.

picking up rocks with grandma

 Thanks mom and dad for the awesome day and night---it was perfect.

Mr. H, baby C and I then headed down to Moab.  The only mistake we made on the drive was we didn't pack any food, and to our surprise, EVERYWHERE was closed along the way.  ha. 

Mr. H's family had rented out a house just out of Moab, and all of his family were there.  

The next morning we got to on an awesome hike up to Double O arch.  (my favorite!).  The kids did pretty well, and it was really pretty.  The snow and fog were gorgeous in the red rock. 

Start of the hike---it was freezing!

The group! (minus Aunt A)

Landscape Arch

Double O Arch

Baby C was exhausted and zonked out for the last part.  Poor kid.

The hikers :)

 That afternoon, some of the group went mountain biking and the rest of us stayed in and napped, chatted and had a good time.  It was fun to have everyone together and let the kids play.  They are getting to be so cute together!!!  Our niece E was a complete doll and it was fun to be able to snuggle her, while our nephew M and baby C played and chased each other around.   

The next day, we rented jeeps and went off roading.  That was really fun!  The trail we picked was on the difficult side, and I tried to act calm during it all, but it was fun!  We all got to drive and it was fun to get some adrenaline going.  

The Crew

Later that afternoon while the boys went mountain biking, Grandpa W took me and baby C on another jeep ride with the two Aunt A's in the other jeep and we did a nice, simple ride to picture frame arch.  It was really fun, and baby C loved playing in the dirt.  

Random cave with a fire lit inside

Baby C with his dirt

Picture Frame Arch

We had a great night, and everyone was able to pack up in the morning and get home safely.  

It was a great trip!  Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa T and W for the awesome time.

Christmas is right around the corner, so today I'm trying to get motivated to get everything clean and ready to decorate.  

Happy 2nd day of December!!!!