New Traditions

Even when we were dating, Nick and I had never spent Christmas together, so this year was our very first one. We got a small, fake Christmas tree from Target and decorated it together a while before Christmas. Our tree looked really full thanks to Nick's childhood ornaments him mom sent us, my collection of ornaments from working at a Hallmark, and the small size our our tree. :)

On Christmas Eve, we decided to go out for dinner. We really love Buffalo Wild Wings, so we were thought we would see if they were open for Christmas eve and they were closed. There aren't really any good restaurants close by, just places like Apple Bee's, Chilis, Ruby Tuesday.... nothing special. But we remembered seeing another sport's bar similar to Buffalo Wild Wings called Micks and decided to try it out. Luckily, they were open until 6pm and we were able to eat there. We had drinks, burgers, and even splurged on cheesecake. We really missed family and big home-cooked meals, but we had a nice and relaxing Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day, we woke up with coffee, stockings and gifts under the tree. Lucy had her own stocking, and it was so cute watching her open her wrapped toys and treats. We played card games until our families in Washington woke up and started their Christmases, and the day of Skyping began :). First, we Skyped with my mom's side of the family: my mom, my sister Rachael, my grammy, my poppy, and my cousin Arielle. We opened our gifts from them and watched them open the gifts we sent. Then, we skyped with Nick's family: his mom Shari, his step dad Steve, and his sister's Morgan and Stephanie. We had a little break until my dad was ready to Skype, so we played on our new wii (thanks grammy and poppy!) and ate chips and dip. Then, we skyped with my dad's side of the family: my dad, my sister Rachael, my brother Shane, my grandma, and my dad's girlfriend Shelley. We opened gifts, and watched them open gifts we sent. We watched my brother Shane open his gifts, and he was so excited! Santa left him a scavenger hunt of notes leading to a bike in the closet, so he was really excited that he was on the nice list this year.

After spending time with our family, we made dinner. We decided to start a new tradition with each other for Christmas. Since thanksgiving wasn't that long ago, we didn't want to cook a huge meal again, especially for two people. SO, we made breakfast for dinner. We made homemade waffles, sausages and bacon. It was really fun to make the waffles and super easy too. You can NEVER beat the taste of homemade waffles. After dinner, we relaxed for the rest of the night.

We are so thankful for such an amazing family. Even though we couldn't all be together this year, they definitely made us feel so loved and blessed us with a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas in New York

This year for Christmas, Nick and I decided to go to New York for a couple of days. Living only 4 hours away from the city, we thought we should take advantage of being able to take a bus instead of a plane. And, we might not be living this close to New York ever again. We took the metro (not a bus, it's like a subway) to DC Union Station and rode the Bolt Bus to New York City. It was nice taking the bus- cheaper than gas money and tolls and no stress of trying to drive in the city. We got to New York around 2pm on Monday and immediately started wandering around and seeing all we could see in just a short amount of time. On Monday, we walked around in Times Square, walked through Central Park, tried to find Rockefeller Center, ate lunch at a great pizza place, walked down Broadway, and checked into our hotel. Once we were all checked in and ready, we ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, found Rockefeller Center and looked at all the lights, went into Toy's 'R Us (it had a Ferris Wheel inside!), and wandered around Times Square and Broadway some more.  We stayed at the Milford hotel right in Times Square. The room was really nice and very small. It was perfect for us because we didn't spend much time in the room.

Tuesday morning we got ready and headed to the Garment District where Macy's is. The NYC Macy's is the biggest store in the world, and we had to see it. It's 10 stories, has 3 Starbuck's, a Ben and Jerry's (we might of had ice-cream at 10am....), a pizza place, and lots more. It's like a mall inside, and the store covers over an entire block. The Empire State Building is right next to Macy's. We got to see it, but didn't want to pay to go in.  After Macy's we walked around and shopped at some more well known stores and then went on a hunt for a hot dog stand. It was $12 for 2 hotdogs, but SO worth it! After lunch, we walked around random streets until we were tired, and decided to go play some games at Dave & Busters. We had so much fun, and it was nice to relax for a couple hours.

We were SO tired at the end of the day. Walking around for 2 days is really exhausting; we didn't use a cab at all. We loved loved loved New York, but we were excited to get home. We have a list of things to do for next time, and hope to go back very soon!

Washington, DC

Last Saturday, Nick and I took the metro to DC for a day. We started at the Arlington National Cemetery and walked through it on our way to meet Nick's roommates for brunch at the Liberty Tavern. We didn't get to spend much time at the cemetery, but from what we saw we could tell it's a very special place full of history and honor. After a delicious brunch buffet, we went sight seeing at the White House, Lincoln Memorial (I always think of Forest Gump), Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. Washington DC has SO MUCH to do, so just walking around and sight seeing took up our entire day. Unfortunately, the pool that connects the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is drained and under construction, so it wasn't quite like the pictures we have seen. We are definitely planning on visiting often- especially for the Smithsonian Museums. The Campbell's gave us a gift card to a restaurant in DC, The Founding Farmers, for a wedding gift, so we were able to enjoy a very nice dinner together after a long day.

Capitol Building

Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Capitol Building

Nick and his roommates from TBS

White House

First Thanksgiving Together

I had high expectations that a lot of things would go wrong my first time cooking thanksgiving dinner, but it went very smoothly with only one exception. I timed everything almost perfectly. I cooked the pie, potatoes and stuffing the day before. When it was time, Nick helped me clean and season the turkey breast and we put it in the oven before he left to pick up Justin. I was feeling really good about everything, and decided to check on the turkey about half an hour after we put it in... And the oven was on fire. Okay.. that's dramatic, but there was a small electrical fire on one of the coils on the bottom of the oven. So, I turned it off and waited until Nick and Justin were back to continue cooking. Luckily, the oven survived the rest of the night, but it definitely was a scare and I thought for a minute that we were going to have to go out to eat. Unfortunately, I didn't get a ton of pictures of our thanksgiving because we were all enjoying the night. But here are a few that I got.

Lucy begging

this is what the boys did while I cleaned :)

Homemade pumpkin pie

Instead of facing the crowds on black Friday, we spent the day showing Justin around base, took him to the Marine Corps museum and went out to dinner. We had a great time, and it was nice sharing the holiday with him.