Since last time...

It has been forever since I've blogged! It feels like life just ran away with me. Here's a little update on what's been going...

I turned 30! It was a lot less traumatizing than I thought it would be. I think my 30's are going to be great. We will finally be done with school, have a house, and be able to take that vacation we've been planning for the last however many years.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with our families and Cala got to spend time with her cousins who were visiting from Arizona.

I got a really tall Christmas tree, but when we got it home I discovered that an even taller one could have fit :( Where Christmas trees are concerned I say "the bigger, the better". It was still pretty great though.

My good friend Cindy moved to Indiana. We are still missing her!

We resurrected our long lost family tradition of decorating graham cracker houses at Christmastime. So fun!

Ethan became mobile! He can army crawl and it's super cute to watch but now he gets into EVERYTHING!

We celebrated Christmas with our families.

Cala, Mark, and I went to Candylane at Hershey Park. I thought it would be a great night for it, not too cold and all that, until we stood in line for 30 minutes to ride the Scrambler. Brrr!

We celebrated New Year's!

Cala and Ethan watch cartoons together.

Ethan started eating solid foods!

My parents came to visit for the weekend.

Mark and Cala had their first Daddy/Daughter date to the french fry place (McDonald's).

Cala got to make cupcakes with pink frosting, as requested, after days of begging.

We took the kids sledding in the 25,000 feet of snow we have gotten so far this winter. Don't be fooled, they look happy in this picture only because we had just gotten outside. By the end they were both crying and I was pretty sure I was the worst mom in the entire world.

I made this cute pillow for Cala's bed. She calls it her "special pillow".

Cala got a much-needed hair cut. Note to self: Next time, pay to have someone else do it.

Mark finally got an iPhone. To say that he's excited would be a massive understatement. If only I had a video of the dance he did when it came in the mail :)

And Ethan just keeps getting cuter!

First snow.

Today was the first snow of the winter. I couldn't believe how much it snowed! We went outside after it had been snowing for a few hours, but then it turned into big, fat snowflakes after we came in. Cala was in heaven, Ethan seemed bewildered, and it got me excited for Christmas!

Wedding.

A couple weeks ago my father-in-law got remarried, so we packed up and headed down to Pennsylvania for the big event. We had such a great time! We got to see Mark's sister, her husband, and their kids who came from Arizona and Mark's brother who came from Utah.

They got married in the LDS temple in Washington, DC. It was the most gorgeous day, sunny and 75 degrees.

The happy couple!

Another happy couple.

My cute sister and brother-in-law. I had them kissing for quite a while because I kept telling them to hold it while my camera took the picture. They finally looked over and saw that I had put my camera away!

Mark fixing his Dad's boutonniere.

The new family. Mark and brother and sister, their dad, new wife Chris, and her daughter Julia.

The wedding was at 2pm, but because we had to leave early and drive 2 hours to get there we had forgotten about lunch until our tummies started rumbling during picture taking afterwards. Don't worry though I was prepared with some of Cala's Halloween candy!

Mark with his brother Dave and sister Beth.

Mark and Dave are best friends if you can't tell.

Silly boys.

The reception was held the following night back in Pennsylvania. It was beautiful, although the weather was quite a bit chillier.

Cala with her uncle D.

Cala holding my bouquet at the reception.

Me and my brother.

Blowing bubbles.

Our sleepy little man.

First dance.

We had the best time! Dave, you are up next, so hurry up and find a wife!

Happy Halloween!

I started off the Halloween season with a candy corn (my favorite Halloween candy) craft. This wreath turned out pretty good!

The week of Halloween we were visiting family in Pennsylvania so we went to that ward's Trunk-or-Treat. Cala got her face painted with a pumpkin, which she loved, but really she couldn't wait for the candy!

Where my parents live in Pennsylvania they do trick-or-treating on the Thursday before Halloween. Since Mark and I were at a wedding that day, my mom, grandparents, and brother's girlfriend all took Cala trick-or-treating. It makes me laugh to think how that must have looked... 4 adults taking one 3 year old. They had a great time though.

When we got back to New York we went to a Halloween party, which was so fun. Here are my little muchkins.

It was so fun how everyone dressed up for the party. My costume was totally unimaginative, but I used the excuse that we had just gotten home after a 5 hour car ride...

I just love this picture!

Clown Car

Rain, rain, go away!

It has been raining here almost everyday for the last two weeks. Just as it was starting to feel like we should start building an ark, the sun has peeked out from behind the clouds! Hooray! These pictures were taken on one of those rainy days, Cala LOVES to jump in puddles!

Funny girl

The other night Mark was talking to Cala about why she had knocked over her lamp (which shattered the lightbulb). Their conversation went like this...

M: "Why did you knock over your lamp?"

C: "So I could get a pink one!"

M: "But we don't have money to just go buy a new lamp."

C: "Daddy, it's ok. Mommy has all the money. We go to the store and buy stuff."

Ha ha! Smart girl, she sure knows how things work!

When we were at a store recently, a woman said to Cala, "You're so cute! I just want to put you in my pocket." Cala replied, "Sorry, I no fit in you pocket."