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I was fortunate to be invited to attend a conference in Washington D.C. as part of my job. Chris, Davin, and Rowan decided to join me and I think they had more fun. We stayed in an amazing hotel on the Potomac River. It had a large glass atrium filled with Christmas lights and decorations that overlooked the river, and we were lucky to have a great room on the atrium side.  While I was conferencing during the day, the boys got to see the city. They had a great time riding the Metro, going to museums, and visiting historic sites and eating hot dogs with their dad. They even found people camping near the White House!  In the evenings Tiffani and Johnathan met us for dinner (which was a huge sacrifice given their busy schedules and we were on the opposite side of the city from where they live). We stayed with them one night as well and it was so fun to see their cute apartment. We went to the DC Temple to see the light display and ...

Rowan's fourth birthday was an eventful day. He started by going to his new school; he is in a pre-k class for kids with hearing loss.  At the moment, there is only one other child in the class, so Rowan has practically the full attention of his teacher and her assistant. Rowan has the same schedule as his big brother in kindergarten (5 full days a week) and I wasn't sure how he would do being away all day, but he has done really well. It helps that he has an amazing teacher and we are so blessed to have this resource. On his first day, they had cupcakes to celebrate his birthday and his teachers gave him a gift bag filled with books and games. So sweet! After coming home from school, Rowan had an hour to unwind before welcome guests for his birthday party. We had four friends from church and their families join us for carnival games, pizza, and cake and ice cream. He was spoiled with gifts from his friends and his family as well. Rowan ...

In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving, we had the great fortune to celebrate three birthdays. My dad's birthday was on Thanksgiving day and Amy and Rowan had birthdays the week after. Rowan had to watch everyone open their gifts before it was his turn, yet he didn't seem to mind. When my dad opened a gift with pants and shirts, Rowan exclaimed "pants!"  Of course he was all the more enthralled when his turn came and he got a carrier ship from his grandparents. Way better than pants... On Friday, we went to the new Muppet movie at a vintage theater which proved to be an excellent choice (if you've seen the show, you'll know why). We stopped at the light display at the Lowes Motor Speedway, the local NASCAR track. The lights were great, but I think everyone was more impressed with driving in the track and seeing the stands. We said goodbye to my parents and Matt the next morning; Tiff and John stayed one more night with us and we ...

The week of Thanksgiving was a marathon event at our house. On Monday, we welcomed my mom who flew in from Utah. We we so glad to have her a few days earlier than everyone else and grateful for her help! On Wednesday, my dad and brother joined us as well. We had a great time playing at Freedom Park together.  We welcomed Amy and her boyfriend, Kyle, later that evening. They didn't know my parents and brother were coming for the holiday, so it was a fun surprise. Hopefully Kyle thought it was fun; he had never met my parents and wasn't prepared to have a "meet the parents" event, but he handled it gracefully. We roasted homemade marshmallows in our fire pit and had a great evening. The next day was Thanksgiving. We got to work on making our dinner. We also welcomed my sister Tiffani and her husband Johnathan. They were also surprised to see my parents! As much fun as it was to have everyone there, we weren't quite ...