Its almost christmas!!!!

Wow, I cannot believe that Christmas is in 2 days!!! This time of year is my favorite from all of the christmas spirit to the lights then of course the christmas movies and music,  and of course Traditions!!  ..reminds me of a little song from fiddler on the roof ... :) (Curtis thinks my family has too many traditions, but thats the exciting part!) There is also so much more to love about the season. Also to remember Christ in our lives through the birth and his life here on earth. I am so grateful for all he did for us.
Curtis and I have been pretty busy here! There are so many things to see and do that we try to do as much as we can.
I am working at the National Archives doing research on civil war soldiers for a company here in Virginia. Its an amazing experience (I kind of like history and old documents, so its super cool to me.. lol). Curtis just finished his finals for his first semester and we are glad he now gets to enjoy Christmas!
I am going to just update on a few things and I will post pictures too!

-Thanksgiving-
We had a great Thanksgiving too, my sister-in-law Sarah (Curtis's sister), came and stayed with us and we celebrated Thanksgiving and we toured some sites with her and her friend Cleo too! It was so much fun!! We had alot of fun with them here (it was also nice to have another girl to gang up on Curtis with me.. haha)
Sarah got here on Wednesday night and she and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner while Curtis played football. Cleo then came over and we ate our wonderful food and had a lazy rest of the day which included having a pajama party and watching 'Fiddler On the Roof'... which is a REALLY long move... but SO good. I love musicals most of the time.. lol
The next day we went and did touring at the US capital, Library of Congress, and National Archives (where I work) and other places too. On Saturday we had more visitors stay with us Curtis' brother Dough and his Wife Lisa and their two kids.. It was a full apartment but so much fun! We celebrated Joel's (nephew) 3rd birthday and had cake and stuff. They left on Monday morning but it was great having them here! It brought our quiet apartment to life! :) Before Sarah left on that Monday afternoon we found out that the Cafe Rio (yes, they just opened one here by where we are living, it is the BEST) was opening on that same day! So we got ready to go and found out that for lunch they were giving everyone who came in FREE MEALS!! It was awesome. The only thing better then getting cafe rio after a long while is getting it for FREE! haha So after that it was time for Sarah to fly back home. We were really sad to see her leave because it had been so fun with her there.

How we set the table. Notice the plastic utensils... ;) (we ended up using normal utensils when we started eating)

We were so proud! 

Curtis fell asleep after we ate, he said its his tradition

pajama party!

(notice my leopard blankets that curtis doesn't admit but he loves them..)

*Sarah and Cleo*

Curtis loved the planes at the air and space museum

Sarah and I figuring out what to do next..

Lisa and Jared

The boys watching Curious George... So Cute!

We have done alot more the past few months also. I don't have the pictures for it but we went to New Jersey and New York to visit Alli and Travis and my mom was also there visiting! It was so much fun being able to see them and spend time with them! The day me, my mom and my sister were planning on having a girls day it snowed about 6 inches or so! It was crazy, we still went out and walked a few places and were freezing and soaking wet but we had so much fun! We went into the Cake Boss bakery and to a bar and grill and ate lunch and went into some shops where i found some super cute leg warmers! Alli and Travis' apartment is so cute. I'm glad that they live pretty close to us so we can visit like this time! I will try to find the pictures from that visit.. they are somewhere..  

Anyways, we wish we could be back home with our family and friends for the holidays but we can't. haha We hope everyone has a good Christmas though! We love all of you! 

We are also so excited for our nephew Ryan! He gets baptized tomorrow (Christmas Eve, how cool is that) and we wish we could be there! Its such a big moment in his life and we are proud of him! 

Merry Christmas everyone!!! 

ps.. here are some more pictures... sorry i keep blabbering on and on but Curtis and I are taking a lazy day so i thought this is the perfect oppurtunity to catch up blogging.. i haven't been too great at it, but it will be my new years resolution?! yeah! 

our christmas photo (obviously not too planned because we are wearing our awesome pj's)haha

I made this really good cookies on, thats right, pinterest! haha they had peanut butter suprise in the middle. SO delicious

here is also some pictures i took when my friend Meghan and I went into DC for veterans day...The fall colors were beautiful!!

The colors are beautiful!

we got a miniature tour of the statue behind us from this guy

This is a pic i took from the side of the lincoln memorial 

Lincoln memorial