Hello Helloooo!

Hello friends and family!
its been awhile since we last wrote! We have just been getting back into the swing of things, with the start of the new semester and all. Here's an update of our past few weeks:
We had a GREAT break, despite our last-minute change in plans. We had been planning on going to PA for Christmas, but when we got to the airport we found out that they had just canceled our flight due to some major snow storms in the DC area. Luckily, we were able to switch all our tickets around and flew to Oregon the next day. Whew! What a relief! We were so grateful for the help of our families to make that work, and that we were able to maximize the time with the families! This past Christmas was one of my favorites, here's a few reasons why:
- being home for christmas with the whole family for the first time (minus Tayler). It was so fun to just hang out with the family.
- being home for my birthday, and doing our tradition of going out to lunch, and watching a movie (claim jumper - yum!- and "Julie and Julia")
- talking to tayler on the phone when he called- it was so good to hear his voice, and hear how upbeat he is. I am so proud of him and how hard he is working.
- Watching Gabe open up presents - he was A-DORABLE!
- being there for the annual Arave Family Sing-along was wonderful. It always makes Christmas feel like Christmas for me.

The day after Christmas, we flew out to PA, and spent the next week with Richard's family. We had a great time there, with them. Some highlights:
- Second Christmas (the siblings decided to wait to open the majority of their presents until we got there)
- Girls' day out - shopping was so fun!
- Snow day! - we woke up to a fun day of snow, and went outside for lots of sled racing, snowball fights and playing
- Philadelphia - so cool! We got to see Constitution hall (where the constitution was signed), and the Liberty Bell. That was pretty neat.
- Day with the parents - Richard's parents took us out to lunch at a really yummy italian restaurant, and then took us to the DC temple with them. We really enjoyed our time visiting and doing that with them.
- CHILI'S restaurant TWICE! Oh my...I was so happy. We went there for dinner once with the whole family, and then there for dessert with the parents and Diana. Can you guess what we all ordered?! Three words: Molten. Chocolate. cake. OH MY... so good. if you haven't had it, you should.

On that delicious note, I'm signing out for now!