Back from the land of Mary

Get it. . . land of Mary. . . Maryland!! haha! I thought really hard to come up with that! :)

Gosh, the holidays always go by so fast! Now that I'm back to work, I guess it's time to update our blog! Haha! Sam and I did get to go to Maryland and we had a fabulous time. We got to Maryland late Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, we got up early and drove down with my parents to Williamsburg, Virginia. It was pretty cold, but we had a good time. We even got to put Sam in the stocks. . . right where he deserves to be. Heheh! j/k.

On Wednesday, aside from playing in the stocks, we also saw the Governor's Palace. It was pretty cool to see it because it reminded us of England with the decor, the gardens, and the maze (but like half the cost, huh Sam?! :) ). We also walked around and saw some of the cute little shops.

The gardens at the Governor's Palace.

We have a picture just like this that was taken at Hampton Court Palace outside London.

Some of the cute homes in Williamsburg. I was surprised to learn that there are people who actually live in these homes. . .they just have to make sure that the home looks true to the times. Interesting!

Sam and I in Williamsburg

On Thursday, we began our day by taking a Christmas decorations tour. Our tour guide looked like he was old enough to remember the original Williamsburg, and it was INCREDIBLY cold that day, but it was an interesting tour. All of the homes in Williamsburg had to put up decorations that would be authentic to the times. So we saw lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, etc in all the wreaths and garlands.

This is one of my favorite wreaths. It was made by a baker, and so the wreath is made out of gingerbread and orange slices. So cute!!

Sam and I found the most picturesque home ever in Williamsburg! We totally want to buy it, so Sam's going to have to work really hard to get us that home! Hahah! :)

They had this really cool outdoor nursery where they grew all their plants just like how the people in colonial Williamsburg would have. It was pretty interesting!

We headed back to my parents' place Thursday night. On Christmas, we did the normal opening gifts and staying in our jammies for half the day. That afternoon, Sam wanted to go for a "winter walk". So, Dad took us to one of his favorite running trails and had a good little walk. There was so much snow and everything was just so beautiful! (This pic is of Dad and I walking)

Sam was really excited because we saw a deer right off the trail. We're city folk. . .we never see any cool wildlife.

As we were returning home, it started to get really foggy. It just made for a really cool pic. Right when we got home, it started to rain really hard and it melted most of the snow.

On Saturday, Dad, Sam and I headed into Washington D.C. We began our tour by taking a quick peak at the White House (Sam was pretty underwhelmed, but Buckingham Palace is no better).

It was raining pretty hard that day, which made for an awesome pic of the Washington Monument. We did lots of museuming that day by visiting the American Heritage Museum as well as the Aero and Space Museum. Then we took a peak at all the monuments and the Capital Building.

The view of the Washington Monument from the Capital Building.

Sam and I in front of the Capital.

Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Then we headed back to my parents'.

Ok, Dad bought this puzzle of George Washington "to promote family togetherness" before Sam and I arrived (we would've talked him out of buying it). This puzzle was a nightmare. It seriously had like a million pieces, all of which looked the same. It took us 3 days to put it together (Dad gave up after day 2). We had slaved away for so long on this stinking puzzle, that we had a take a picture, because we'll never do that puzzle again! :) .

After church on Sunday we headed to the Washington D.C. temple to look at the temple lights. Inside the visitor's center, they had all these Christmas trees set up that had ornaments from all the different embassies in D.C. The trees were all so pretty, but this one was my favorite.



After the visitor's center we headed outside to look at the lights. There were so many lights that it was just incredible!



More of the awesome Christmas lights.

What a beautiful temple! The next day, Sam and I flew home. I had 2 more weeks off from work once we got back from Maryland. But, I caught a really nasty stomach bug for the last 4 days of my break (all those shopping trips I could have done!*sigh*). So, I guess that's it. Now Sam and I are back into the routine of work and grad school. I guess the next that we'll see each other will be during Spring Break! Haha!