Baby, it's cold outside...

It has been so cold here! It's currently 25 degrees, but feels much more chilly. We went sight-seeing this afternoon, walking from our apartment to the mall.
The Washington Monument is much bigger than I imagined.

Jason took this wonderful picture. For some reason, I had a difficult time taking any good pictures of him (see below!) but he produced fantastic shots every time. Note the building far in the distance: work! We'll see how that goes on Tuesday.
This is probably the best photo I took of Jason. I wonder if President Bartlett is home...
Me by the White House!!
Another one of Jason's pictures. We hit the White House, the Washington Monument, the WWII memorial (VERY cool!) and the Lincoln Memorial before heading home. We stopped at Trader Joe's and picked up some grub for dinner. It's been a long/productive day!

We're here.

We officially checked in yesterday morning and have moved into our apartment. Thanks to Jason's wonderful familia, we have groceries, pots and pans, and linens. They left this morning to go back to CT. We will miss them.

The apartment is bigger than we expected and has a lot of mirrors. Unfortunately, we don't have any hot water, and apparently the problem will not be fixed until Monday. Ugh. Thankfully, we have not had to shower here yet; we spent last night with the Frosts in Bethesda and the night before in Baltimore.

We haven't taken any pictures yet, but will post some eventually. We're trying to decide what to do for the rest of the day. I think we might pick up our metro passes and go into downtown (is it called downtown here? I do not know). It is really windy here, and the forecast says it will snow on Monday :/

We have not really had any crazy adventures yet, but we did go to a really delicious restaurant last night called Rock Bottom with the Frosts and had an amazing breakfast this morning at the hotel. Watch for an upcoming picture of the entire family together at the same time.

Dad--We saw the Department of the Interior Building and I put my hand over my heart.

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

We put up our Christmas tree in the middle of November right after we purchased it from Target. It's a magnificent 3' Ernie Pine Tree (pre-lit!) and looked really Charlie Brown-esque at the store. With some extra lights and tiny ornaments, however, I think it looks pretty stellar. We made Chiles en Nogada (a.k.a. Chiles in Walnut Sauce) last week. Those red things on top are pomegranate seeds. This is probably the hardest thing I've ever cooked in my life, but it ended up being very delicious. Thanks to Hannah for roasting the peppers over a burner!
Jason and his DMB shirt. We had a wonderful Christmas morning!
Some highlights:
Jason got me a fantastic watch and some killer perfume (and gloves, so my hands will stay warm walking from the metro station to the Hill)
We got to talk to Jason's immediate family in the morning and then to his extended family--including Grandma Funny!--in the afternoon. We're getting excited to see them while we're back east.
Christmas dinner/night with the Pullans was phenomenal! Because our flight was changed, I don't think we'll be able to see everyone on New Year's Eve, so it was nice to spend some time with them on Christmas.
No work!

We hit Jason Barrett's homecoming on Sunday. His talk was muy bueno. I love the crazy-eyed dog in this picture.

The end is near!

Of finals, that is. Thank goodness.
Only two weeks (exactly!) until we leave for DC. Hopefully our flight doesn't get changed again before then...
I think we are just about ready to go. I'm glad we get to have Christmas in our little apartment before we leave, though; our tree is very tiny and cute.

31 days and counting...

Yes. This is a dog snuggie. A blanket with sleeves that is perfect for your little pooch. I am trying to count the things I would purchase at Target before the dog snuggie...

Wow! It's a little surreal that we will be leaving for D.C. in ONE MONTH. We have both secured our internships (hurray!) and are trying to get all the last little things done before we go (i.e. purchase appropriate attire, learn the ins and outs of a large/complicated/important building, move out of our apartment, etc.).

Right now it is 18 degrees warmer in DC than Provo, which makes me even more excited about this trip.

Roni! I want to be on the top of your blog-following list!

David Gray is cool.

We celebrated our 6 months-of-marriage anniversary by attending a David Gray concert. It was a blast!! Our seats were very close and he played a ton of songs from the new CD. Muy bueno.