Christmas 2012

This was the second time Eric and I spent Christmas by ourselves. The first time was 2 years ago right after we moved to Kansas, and we were pretty bored during the break. But for some reason, spending Christmas just the two of us this year was PERFECT. Seriously, I could not imagine a better Christmas. We got to relax, open presents, and hang out with each other. It may have something to do with my 4 day break feeling like it went way too fast or seeing a bunch of family in the past couple months, but I'm glad we didn't take time away to travel somewhere else. Another plus, I worked from home every day but Thursday so Eric wasn't as bored as he normally is when alone.

Here's our lovely 2012 nutcracker next to our beautiful tree and presents!

We didn't wear our PJs this year because I wanted cuter pics haha. And we have awesome matching shirts that I couldn't pass up wearing for the occasion (courtesy of Audrey).

Eric has a problem with his squinty eyes looking like they're closed in pics so I love it when I capture him trying to train his eyes to stay open. 

Because we already had a million presents under our tree (thanks mom and pops!) Eric and I exchanged stockings this year.

And what a good husband to get me Pitch Perfect :)

Which one is the poser here?

Not sure what was going on here, but we set up our tripod and used our nifty remote to get some "candid" shots. There's usually at least one of us posing in these (whoever is holding the remote).

Eric complained that I opened my iPad mini too fast so he didn't get it on camera. But here's my pink cover!

Eric got one too for his iPad!

Christmas love.

Matching shirts from my favorite Christmas movie, Elf!

They say "Smiling's my favorite" and "Son of a nutcracker"

After talking to family all day, starting a puzzle, and watching Pitch Perfect, we made ham for the first time! Thankfully, Wendy told me to make some glaze for it that made it quite tasty. 

Caught in action!

A couple days later Eric finished puzzle #1! He's still working on his other one, but it's good to have around since he has such a long break from school.

We hope everyone had just as good a Christmas as we did! Thank you for all your thoughts and gifts :)

Our favorite time of year...

Candy Cane 10k

On December 15th Eric did the Candy Cane 10k. He barely trained for this, yet he went out there and ran 6 miles just for fun. I personally think he's crazy, but I'm quite impressed with his running capabilities. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous December day for a run (or so I assume). 

I love love LOVE this picture of Eric :) He looks so pensive...

 Eric at the start of the race feeling like a million bucks. 

 I was a wonderful wife and sat in the car during the race until he was finished. Why didn't I run you ask? Let's just say running and I don't really get along. Plus, I had a cold so I'm glad I didn't sign up. 

An hour and six minutes (keep in mind he didn't train for this) and 6.2 miles later, Eric ran full speed towards the finish line. Yeah, he's a pretty big deal in this picture. 

 And all that running paid off with this new medal!! Woo hoo. Good job Eric!

And as a bonus...I just discovered a new feature on my camera! I had no idea it did this until I tried so ignore my commentary. Enjoy!

Natalie's Baby Shower

In the beginning of December, Randii and I threw a baby shower for our good friend, Natalie. It was supposed to be in November, but baby Reed decided to grace us with his presence early so we had to postpone :) He is adorable and basically slept through the entire shower. 

I whipped out my fondue set and made chocolate fondue for the first time. It wasn't too shabby if I do say so myself. All the food was really delicious!

 Thank you to everyone who was able to make it and support Natalie!

 Randii was a wonderful Vanna White for this matching game. 

 And for Eric, the best part is when everyone leaves so he can eat leftovers. Yum!

THANKsgiving Weekend

The whole Walker gang came to visit us for Thanksgiving weekend. I know what you're thinking...no, they did NOT all stay at our place. Although we would have been more than happy to have one giant sleepover!! 

Thanksgiving dinner is not so overwhelming when there are plenty of helping hands. Everyone had their own parts to play...

We had turkey carvers:

Gravy stirrers:

Drink pourers:

 

Those who helped with everything:

And those who helped with not much but we love them anyway :)

And those who just looked cute (Christian):

As Eric would say, Christian needs a lot more smile and I need a lot less. 

And together we made a fabulous meal!

As if Thanksgiving wasn't enough, Eric had to go and turn 27 on Black Friday. This birthday he achieved his lifelong goal of owning an iPhone. Seriously, he has been begging for one for YEARS! Thank you parentals for his awesome gift! 

He loved his other gifts too!

We didn't do much the rest of the weekend. The girls mainly shopped while the guys played paintball. But before their flight, we stopped by Liberty Jail and got some family pics in!

We haven't changed much from 2 years ago when we took this exact picture!

 It was so nice having family here for the holidays. Come back anytime!!

Results

On Friday, October 26th we got some great news. 

Eric looked like this:

 And I felt like this:

ERIC PASSED PART 1 OF HIS CHIROPRACTIC BOARD EXAMS!! Eric studied his butt off for over a week, barely sleeping or talking to me. He wasn't sure what to expect but he went in to 2 days of test taking and came out feeling like he failed (apparently this is a pretty common feeling when taking boards). I was an internal wreck. Sometimes I feel like I stress over Eric's tests more than he does. On top of that, we had to wait over a month to see if he passed. Luckily I forgot all about the results during that time so I couldn't stress too badly. Anyway, looks like I had nothing to worry about! He's very happy and I'm very relieved :)

Onto my news...I started a new job at my company a couple weeks ago and Eric surprised me with a present to celebrate:

I have been listening to this CD every where I drive. I'm constantly humming T. Swift songs and I love it. I tend to listen to CDs over and over until I have them memorized, so look out world--this is probably going to go on for quite awhile. 

As for my new job, I now support the sales team in our Middle East and Europe offices. It's a combination of inside sales, project management, and operational. I love getting to talk to people with accents. Is it just me, or is everything that's said in a British accent so much funnier? The time difference takes a little getting used to, but so far I like my new role!

Welcome to Kansas!

My dad and stepmom came to visit us last weekend and got their first glimpse of good ol' Kansas. We had a great time eating tons of food, shopping, and hanging out. On Saturday we went to the Plaza to walk around and shop and we found tons of zombies like this:  

This guy was one of the better ones.

 Even the statues were getting into the spirit of Halloween...

Me with my dad and Cyndee.

Look how happy we are shopping for shoes!

I was shocked when I found out that Cyndee had never carved a pumpkin in her ENTIRE life (apparently it's not big in North Dakota) so I insisted that ALL of us carve pumpkins. Eric made a movie to document Cyndee's first pumpkin carving experience! I know, I know...my pumpkin is pretty IMPRESSIVE. And so is Eric's movie making skills! 

Come back to Kansas soon!!

Money Money

Since the government was kind enough to take away our subsidized loans, we've been looking for other ways to get some more mullah. Eric was willing to sacrifice a few hours of his day to write essays  and won himself a scholarship! WAHOO!!

Eric was presented with 1,000 big ones last Saturday during a dinner at his school. If only I could spend it on clothes instead of tuition...

Good job Eric!

Washington DC

Eric and I travel to a new place every year that we are married. This year we were able to use our Skymiles to go to Washington DC. It's one of those places that you have to go to once in your lifetime, and now I can cross it off my bucket list.

The first couple days were spent site seeing. Luckily it wasn't too hot, so we were able to hit up the major sites pretty quickly. 



The White House



Jefferson Memorial



Part of the World War II Memorial

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is only about a year old. This one was Eric's favorite because it's different than the rest of the memorials. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

The Korean War Memorial was probably one of my favorites. It was cool to see actual veterans looking at these. One of them pointed out that all these statues are wearing different uniforms because more than one military branch fought in the war. 

Korean War Memorial

This one looked exactly like it does in the movies!

The Lincoln Memorial



The Washington Monument taken from the Lincoln Memorial.

What would a trip to DC on an election year be without protestors?



Eric was able to get us a private tour of the Capital. Funny enough, our Kansas tour guide was a student from BYU Idaho. She pointed out a lot of interesting things that we wouldn't have heard on the general tour.

Every state has a statue held in the capital. Our guide showed us Brigham Young for Utah! Apparently Kansas is going to get an Amelia Earhart statue soon because no one knows anything about the current guy.

We didn't want to spend days looking at the Smithsonian, so we just went to the National Air and Space Museum. 

We headed to the Archives to check out the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Apparently it is not the entrance and they only open this door on the 4th of July. This picture is so funny to me. 

Eric also got us a tour of the Pentagon. That was a bust. They don't really show you anything, but the one cool part of the tour was seeing the 9/11 Memorial. For the rest of the vacation, we went to the Arlington National Cemetery, went swimming, ate lots of food, and relaxed.

The night before we left, there was a nice thunderstorm. Eric took TONS of pics before he got this great shot!

The Washington Monument from our hotel window.



We can't wait for next year's trip!