Catch Up :)

Happy New Year!
We hope 2010 finds and leaves you each happy and healthy.
Here's a quick catch-up from December to now:

December was a hectic month for our family! Alliyah caught pneumonia and Anthony caught a bad cold. They were sick and frustrated for a couple of weeks (yes, right through our week of final exams! Craziness!). They recovered in time for us to do some fun Christmas activities.

Q and I were asked to play Joseph and Mary for the Ward's Christmas party which meant little Anthony was baby Jesus! It was pretty funny. I played a blond, high-heeled Mary (with a shawl and a pillowcase over my head to keep it authentic!). I had to feed baby Jesus (who donned puppy PJ's and a blanket) pumpkin cookies to keep him quiet during the reverent songs on stage. Q, surprisingly, looked just like I imagine Joseph did once he put on his pillowcase and shawl. The whole thing made us laugh, it was a fun time :)

Christmas Eve we went to see Q's family in Reston. Their tradition is to have an enormous party on Christmas Eve up until midnight and right at midnight, everyone opens their presents. I've never seen that much food before...steak, fillet minion, ribs, swordfish, and basically anything imaginable. After Santa came and distributed the presents to the kiddos all of the adults stayed up playing games. It was so much fun we didn't leave until around 4am! Meanwhile, our babies (the youngest ones there) fell asleep at 11pm and missed Santa and everything. Maybe next year babes :)

Christmas Day we spent the morning with just our little family playing with the babies and their new toys and baking cookies. That evening we went to my grandpa's home to meet with my family. It was nice, quiet, and relaxing.

New Year's Eve we had big plans but at the last minute decided to try something new. We put the babies to bed on time, ordered dinner from El Agave, and snuggled up to some of our favorite movies. We rang in 2010 quietly, just the two of us...it was fantastic :)

We are excited to start our new semester this week. I have to admit how glad I am that we've successfully finished 2 semesters without completely wiping out from exhaustion! I admire Quiriam for working such long hours and still having the discipline to come home and study. For myself, I had no idea how hard it would be to raise the babies, take care of the home, and then study. During our week of finals last semester I thought I was going to go crazy but it was worth it. To describe our life right now, I feel like there's a huge concrete wall up against us and we're each pushing with all we have to move that wall forward. It may move just a little, but it's enough to give us hope to keep pushing! Quiriam usually gets home around 9 or 10pm and as exhausting as it is to stay up past midnight studying, I LOVE that we are doing this together. We sit opposite of each other with our laptops and books, put some music on, put some snacks in between us and get to work. I love looking up over my computer and seeing him with his "serious" face as he studies :) I love it even more when he catches me watching him and he leans over to smooch me! Yes, I'm a romantic.
So, babe- here's to another semester of late nights, good music, yummy snacks, and sneaky kisses!

Q and I often talk about this to each other but don't say it to YOU often enough: we are SO grateful to our amazing extended family and the support and love they give us. We love you and thank you for all of the things you do to help our little family :)
May this new year be all that you hope and want it be!

I want to leave you with this 5 minute video. It's a concert piece by Jenny Oaks Baker. We saw a performance of hers in November when she visited our Stake. She. Is. Amazing. My favorite song was "Be Still My Soul", especially the last 2 minutes of it. This song is both calming and inspiring...two things I hope 2010 will be for us all. Enjoy! (Updated pictures will follow soon.)