MONDAY
We left after rush-hour morning traffic, headed for a campsite in southern Virginia to break up the ten-hour drive. On the way, we drove past Natural Bridge State Park and the adults thought it was the perfect time for a move-your-body break. We loved it! Not sure we'd come this far just for it, but of course we'd stop on the way.
We did a two-mile hike to this waterfall.
Then it was back on the road again. That night we stayed in a U.S. Forest Service campground, which was nearly empty. We had an easy pull-through site near a river.
This is a "pretend you love each other" picture. We really enjoyed this little place. Dinner was delicious tacos on Doritos (Rhett's choice). We bought the cast iron skillet only days before the trip and loved using it on the campfire.
TUESDAY
We got back on the road pretty early, knowing the campsites in the park were first-come, first-served. We had planned on doing a small hike that afternoon, but Plan A's hike was closed. So Plan B it was! And really, I think the boys preferred this. It was a relatively short hike to Grotto Falls. Clearly you can see why they loved it.
It's always fun to hike behind the falls.
This was NOT a "pretend-you-love-each-other" shot. More like an "act natural" kind of shot.
Dinner was this delicious pasta, again on the skillet over the fire. Good choice, me. Sorry my boys barely touched you.
Over spring break we went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Let me get it out there: this is my new favorite place on the east coast. I love it so much. Maybe I'll become a missionary for them, preaching the word of the Smokies. It was that good. (Deanna and Todd--take note. Move it up on your National Parks list NOW. Or not.) Why? Because there were mountains and streams and green and it was just perfect. For reals.
Before I get into all the details, here are some random shots. The necessary park sign shot.
My boys (like most kids, I imagine) were complete pyros. They wanted to throw everything into the fire. Plates, cups, dinner, each other, whatever. And within reason, we let them.
This is as we were leaving. Isn't it a gorgeous sunrise? So pretty!
Wild turkeys! Most mornings we'd see them by the roadside, but they weren't usually all puffy (like the one on the right). But on our way out, one tom decided he wanted some action. Who could resist such a display?!
Other observations: I hate that the Park Service doesn't take reservations for the campground until May! This was my biggest worry about the whole adventure. Even as we pulled into the campground, the sign said "Campground Full." You know I wanted to cry, right? But we drove in anyway, hoping we'd catch someone leaving...and we did. Ugh. It would have been so much better had we been able to make a reservations.
The trips that I plan are NOT restful. I have something planned for pretty much every waking second (although I don't plan to the second; I'm not that nuts.) I just can't handle my boys running around aimlessly. I'm this way at home too, which made Monday (a day when school was still out) incredibly painful.
Our daily schedule looked like this: morning hike, afternoon activity, dinner/books by campfire. And for the most part, we followed this. We hiked just over 20 miles during the week. Which means my boys hiked over 20 miles. Chuck and I are so, so proud of them for this! And I am especially grateful that they didn't ruin something that I love doing. Hiking power beans may have been a strong influence, but I don't care. They did it.
We ate pretty good. Breakfasts varied (cereal, oatmeal, yogurts, etc.), lunches were always sandwiches we'd pack at the campsite and bring with us, and then dinner by the fire. One night we ate in town, but otherwise, it was camp cooked. Of course the boys didn't care for the one dish I picked out (a delicious pasta), but they ate everything else.
We gave the boys camelbacks to hike with because they're always complaining about how they're thirsty. Ollie usually drank the entire thing by the halfway point, and then peed it all out before we get back to the car. This led to him trying to "break the record" on each hike. I think on our last hike he peed seven times, which was his record.
We had perfect weather! Highs in the low 70s, sun, no rain at all. In the morning the boys wore vests, but that's it. It was incredible.
Being in the south was, um, different. Obviously it's still America, but it had a different feel for sure. When we go back (because we're for sure going back--who wants to come with us?!), we don't feel a need to touch Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge again.
When we do go back in a few years, I think I'd like to try summer (so hello reservations!). We'd stay in the park but maybe try some river rafting. This year we were just too early.
Okay, I think that's it. Starting tomorrow I'll post the details about each day.
Your addiction to Hamilton has affected me in the following ways:
1. Your reading habits were disrupted by your desire to read Hamilton's 730-page biography. (But when it was finally marked "Read" in goodreads, you got an email congratulating you on finishing the book, so that was nice.)
2. Your vacations are driven by a desire to see the play, even going so far as taking advantage of your parents so that you can see it in Utah next year.
3. Your five-year-old (who, admittedly, is weird) draws himself dead. When asked how he died, he responded, "In a duel."
But, seeing as these three things are not terrible, carry on. It's totally worth it.
I used to borrow Chuck's sweatshirts. There's something about being only 5' 1" tall and wearing an XL sweatshirt. So when he asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him my own XL sweatshirt. And that's what I got. But then I made it better. You see, most XL sweatshirts are meant for tall people with long arms, one thing I am not and the other I have not. I found a tutorial online that helped me hem the sleeves. And check it out: AMAZING. It's my "cozy clothes" outfit. Come to my house any time after 7:00 most nights (or pre- or post-church on Sundays) and this is what I'll be wearing.
You know how people start book clubs so they can read books and then discuss them in a social forum? I'm in one. It's fun. But I want to start a TV club. The first assignment would be to watch the O.J. Simpson show on Netflix. I must discuss this with someone!
I want to go to New York City for my birthday this year (it's kind of a big one), just me and Chuck (anyone want to watch my kids?!). If we do, I would LOVE to do this. I'm pretty sure Chuck would not be on board, however.
I'm now convinced there is no tiring my boys. None. No matter what we do, they will always be moving. Want them to sit still for conference? Try a 3.5-mile morning Billy Goat Hike! That doesn't work? Between sessions add a 4.5-mile bike ride with a playground intermission. That doesn't work? Just fall asleep (because you're old and those activities successfully wore you out) and then you won't know how crazy they are.
I forgot to mention that we had a "snow-ish" day a couple of weeks ago. We were in a 6-8" band, but ended up with about 1.5" of icy slush--but of course that was enough for school to be cancelled. (I got to work from home.) The stuff was heavy. But seeing as though it was all we had, we made it work (after Rhett's morning tantrum due to disappointment, that is). We got out of the snow gear, played, sledded (the boys wanted to go out at 7:30 a.m. when it was still precipitating--ugh), watched movies, even had our one and only fire of the season. Not a bad snow day!
Separately, Chuck and I recently came up with something we each thought was pretty clever. Of course, now we disagree on whose was more clever. So you get to decide. (And by "you," I mean "emily" unless anyone wants to come out of the shadows and comment.) Obviously, this will be a blind study and each clever-ism will be presented anonymously.
1. A family in our ward with the last name of Cranney had a baby. One of us named the baby, "Cranbaby."
2. A youth from our newly-married days named Rae is getting married to a man named Brandon. One of us named the couple, "Rae-bran."
Rhett had another birthday last week! It was not a party year, but instead a low-key, one-friend-event type of year. We did the family thing on his birthday, celebrating with a mystery dinner and oreo pie (it's the only kind of pie he likes). I also brought in oreos to school, and can you believe that those darn kids didn't even leave even ONE golden oreo for me to eat? It was easily the saddest thing to happen to me all week.
And then on Saturday, Rhett got to invite one friend to do something special, like bowling, a movie, or this diy escape game (which was more like a scavenger hunt). He and his buddy had a lot of fun. Then they got to go to McDonald's. Whoa.
Most of the time, Rhett's a pretty good kid and we're happy to have him in our family.
A couple of weeks ago, I learned that our county's library systems offers a free subscription to a music and art instruction site. And seeing as I hadn't quite spent all the money my parents gave me for Christmas, I thought, I'm doing it. I'm buying a ukulele. So I did.
I have taken guitar lessons in the past, but struggled because I have the world's smallest adult hands (just like my feet). I thought the ukulele would just be a better fit. Also, at the most-recent Mothers and Kids campout, my friend Shannon brought her guitar, and let me tell you: there's just something amazing about sitting around the campfire singing (nevermind that my boys HATE my singing voice).
So the past couple of weeks I've been doing my lessons. I haven't made it past drills and stretches, but I'm a busy mom. I'm enjoying it and hoping that my boys will come around to my voice.
A couple of Wednesdays ago, Rhett and I were driving to Scouts when he tells me that he'd like to play ice hockey. Uh, where did this come from, son?! I didn't know and I didn't care. He wanted to do something. Something that doesn't involve a book or a screen. DONE. Twelve hours later, I found an ice skating class. Twenty-four hours later, he was laced in ice skates for the first time and hitting the ice.
Is he good? Nope, but he's learning. In addition to class time, he gets additional free ice time each week, something we're definitely taking advantage of. (Which means either Chuck or I has to lace on skates too.) But he likes it. And he's sticking with it. And he's not freaking out when he falls. So...victory!
He'll do two sessions of ice skating classes and then he can start the hockey classes. Who knows. Maybe this summer he'll even do a hockey camp! Who is this kid?! (Equally valid question: Who are these parents carting their kid to weekly classes and summer camps?)
If you're an adult who doesn't care for cold or snow, then this winter in D.C. has pretty much been heaven. If, however, you're a young child who loves the snow and wishes for nothing more than a snow day (so much so that you wear your pajamas inside out AND backwards, ahem, OLLIE), then it's been disappointing. Presidents' Day weekend was no different: temperatures in the 60s with no rain.
When given this weather, I feel like we need to be outside ALL THE TIME. So we had a nice weekend mix of trampoline jumping, walking, riding bikes, dinner with friends, and hiking on Monday. Ollie wanted the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls, but something told me that place would be PACKED, so we opted for Catoctin Mountain Park (such a weird designation, no?). It was gorgeous. The boys did great. It was a four-miler (like Billy Goat), but rockier. The boys had a tougher time, but still did a great job.
We found a loop hike that connected two rocks: one a vista and the other, not.
The clouds were awesome!
This was at Chimney Rock, which you can't see.
This was taken on Wolf Rock, which was the un-peak rock. It was this crazy long piece of rock with tons of deep crevices that made me nervous to cross.
The weather was perfect. Crowds were manageable. And we all loved the Swedish Fish as "hiking power beans."
Last year, the LDS church's Christmas initiative was to Light the World, the idea being to share the light of the Savior by doing kind acts for others. Sounds great, no? But I just couldn't. Could not. December is already crazy enough. Between the boys not even getting off the bus until nearly 5, their early bedtimes (thanks early wake-up times), and our own advent activities, I just couldn't add one more thing. And, of course, I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. I mean, erin, c'mon: you can't just open a door for someone one day? Give a compliment to someone? Help a lost stranger on the Metro? Well sure, I guess I could. But could I get my boys to? Could I get them to every day? No, sorry, I couldn't. So I didn't.
BUT you know when I did? February! Why February? There's nothing else going on. Weather is miserable (at least it's supposed to be). It's the shortest month. Also, Valentine's Day is in here! What a perfect opportunity to do it. So I got a big list of kindness acts kids could do, and each night at dinner we'd discuss what we're going to do the next day. (Although I will say, that after about two weeks, we just kind of went rogue and expected the boys to find their own opportunities). And of course, because they're little, there was a reward. At dinner, if they could share the kindness they did that day, they were rewarded one Hershey's Kiss from the jar (which is adorable, right?! Can you see the word "love" on it?).
Sure, sometimes we got to dinner and the boys had done nothing, so they'd run over and give me a surprise (!) hug, or decide to clear a brother's dinner dishes, but still. It was something. And something is better than nothing. It worked well enough that we think we're going to make it a forever thing.
And if I'm honest (which I hate to be, SIGH), it's been amazing for me. I've been able to look for opportunities in a way I've never made a habit of before. I don't always see them, but I'm thinking about others and keeping my eyes open for needs way more than I was before. And remember, something is better than nothing.
Remember when I said our FHEs were going to focus more on just having fun rather than teaching our young sons deep doctrine (as if that's what we'd been doing)? I got this ridiculous idea to make a book-based movie. Why? I don't know. I think it was mostly because I knew I could stretch it out to three-five weeks' worth of FHEs and let's be honest: coming up with a different FUN activity each week is hard. But it turns out that making a movie with little boys is also hard. Oh well, they loved it...mostly. You can see that Ollie is a bit surly at times.
My dad recently asked about the construction on the school, so I thought I'd show you my latest picture. I always take one from the back, but the front is pretty interesting too so I'll include that as well. According to the most-recent Board of Ed meetings, the building is 66% done (although they should be at 70%). I'm guessing that opening in the fall is still a reality (the Board's meeting minutes give an anticipated completion date of 7/14/17--only five months from now). So exciting! It's going to be enormous.
Remember that update on my bed? Well, I finished the bed runner, made a curtain, and bought two throw pillows just to make that plain grey duvet cover less plain. I think it worked.
You can't see the curtain very well, but it's this funny almost-kitcheny fabric we got at Ikea. But it's yellow and grey, so I don't care what's on it. I didn't line it, so I'm afraid of the sun in the upcoming months. I may have to address that later. My boys and dog get me up early enough; I don't need the sun making it worse.
Close up of the runner. In my head I'm obsessed with gingham, so I'm glad to find a place to use it. I'd put it everywhere if I could.
This is all so much better than that grey thing all alone. Trust me: it was hideous.
I figured it's about time for one of these, as nothing else is really going on.
Ollie: After a good stretch of tough times with this kid, I think we're on the up. Sometime last fall, his teacher got pregnant, but she ended up with twins and hyperemesis: not a good match (either one of those is enough for you to opt out of everything in your life). She decided to leave teaching for now, and Ollie got distributed to another class. He knows this new teacher and has spent time with her, so the transition was easy. And thankfully, she's aware of Ollie's behavior issues and has a good handle on things she wants to try. But I really think we're making progress (Monday's bus riot excepting). This boy. At least he's doing great academically! He's addicting to spelling. Quite often he'll spell something he wants, instead of just asking for it. It's adorable...and time-consuming. And he's reading so well! Watching kids start reading is one of the great milestones in parenthood! (I contend that reading and biking are my favorite things for my boys to have learned so far.) He loves being on the trampoline, no matter the weather. And of course, he can't stop touching/punching/spitting on his brother. Sigh.
Rhett: Thankfully our school problems exist in only one child. Rhett is doing great in school, so not much to say there. He recently competed in his first pinewood derby and loved every second of it. Chuck helped a lot with the sawing, but Rhett painted and helped put everything else together. He lost only one race and ended up first in his den and second overall. Not bad! Did I mentioned he fulfilled all Wolf requirements for Scouts in November? Well, he did, so we're just waiting for Bear stuff. I kind of like finishing before Christmas so that there's no rush come the beginning of the new year. Although, with a March birthday, we probably would have been okay. He also cannot keep his hands to himself at home. But what we're struggling with him is his attachment to #1. Not that he has to be the best, but he wants all of his choices to be his top choice. Dinner must be his favorite dinner, activities have to be his favorite activity, movies have to be his favorite movie. But because he doesn't really know his favorites in all of these categories, he usually just says no to everything. This is hard. And frustrating because he ends up liking most things (food excepting) that we end up forcing on him. Argh.
Chuck: He's pretty much the same. We adults don't change too much. He's been reading a lot of Game of Thrones which means we're both catching up on the series as he finishes each book. At work he's creating online math curriculum, which he enjoys.
me: I love being released from Gospel Doctrine and am trying to figure out this Stake Girls Camp thing. Work is good, busy, but good. I'm traveling to Kansas City for work in April (unless the current administration decides federal employees shouldn't travel), and I'm still a little mad about it. I mean, Kansas City, really?! We can't think of anywhere better to go? Ugh. Whatever. I'll likely spend the entire week in the hotel anyway. I'm loving the slowness of post-Christmas. Swimming is going well. I've worked up to swimming a mile, but I'm so slooooow. So now I'm working on that. I'm also considering doing a triathlon but I suck at biking!
Our Bed: After I tried and tried to make the quilt work, we were just too cold at night. So I bought a duvet cover (to replace the one I gave away) and brought back the down quilt (which, thankfully, I had not given away) and now we're toasty warm at night again. Once it warms up again, I'll bring back down the white quilt. Meanwhile, I'm making a bed runner for it because the new duvet cover is awfully plain. And I might need a new curtain in there too and possibly a throw pillow. Hmmmm....
D.C. Winter: We've made it though most of the winter without a big storm! I feel like one could come now and I wouldn't be too devastated. Obviously the boys feel differently. They could have five come through and be completely happy.
Upcoming Plans:It's really important for me to have something to look forward to. Our next big plans are a trip to the Smokies in April. I've never been there and am excited to explore a new-to-me national park. We're going to San Diego with my family in July. And I'd still like one last trip in August, especially since the boys don't go back to school until September.
2. The first two runs of my Ragnar experiences. The road one was bad because (1) it was dark, (2) it was rainy, (3) it was on the side of a highway for seven miles. Blah. The trail one was bad because it was so muddy and after what I thought was two miles turned out to be only about three-fourths? My spirits were so very low. It was the longest 3.6 miles I've ever done.
3. As much as it pains me to say it, but that half-marathon last year was pretty bad for me. Had it not been for the great everything else, I would have been really bummed. But I went out too fast, wore a jacket (which I definitely shouldn't have done--it was raining too hard), and didn't train for speed. Plus, the RAIN. Oh that rain! Not sprinkles, not mist, just RAIN for two hours.
4. The run wherein I totally fell and got scraped like a three-year-old child. It doesn't help that I was running on a sidewalk next to a busy six-lane road (Rockville Pike, for you locals). I guess in 2007 this was the worst, but the other three have since eclipsed it. (HOLY CRAP. That run is almost ten years ago. I can't believe I used to be 29.)
5. I have no idea of the date, but there was a track run last summer and the weather was the WORST. And I mean WORST. It was probably still in the 90s with equal humidity, and this was at 7 p.m. I was so grumpy. I think we girls got in only three (maybe two?) miles before we went to Safeway and got Magnum bars, a much better decision.
6. And of course, there was the time I was running and ran right past a man masturbating in the bamboo along the trail. But that's all I'll say about that.
After running that amazing trail run in Arizona, it got me thinking about my favorite runs ever. Here they are:
1. The half-marathon I ran in 2014 where I broke the two-hour time. I trained for it, and it felt SO good to achieve it!
2. Ragnar trail's last run. Note: this applies only to the last run. The mud slowed everyone so much, Ragnar let everyone run together at the end just so that everyone could get their runners off the course. I think three of us ran together, in the day, on the drying ground, on a beautiful trail.
3. Arizona's trail run (Beardsley Trail)
4. All but the run from the 2016 St. Michael's Half (Does that count? The run itself wasn't great AT ALL. I went out way too fast, and came back weighing 20 pounds more due to all the rain I was carrying. But everything else about that 24-hour period was the BEST.)
5. Christmas Story Run. Sure, it was a slow race time, but it was such a fun race environment and doing it with my family was awesome (except for the part when Rhett was bawling about that dumb trash bag).
I have no idea how this happened, but I failed to post about my half marathon last May. While I can forgive myself for forgetting the race (which was pretty terrible), everything else was perfect.
We left Friday afternoon and headed straight to our airbnb. We were able to snag this incredible place with an even better location. It had a kitchen, dance studio (which we didn't use, but still), plenty of bedrooms, a pool table, and a movie theater. Oh, and a slightly-nosy host, but more on him later.
After checking out the house a bit, we headed to dinner. Chuck and I ate here in 2014 and so we came back for good reason. The food is delicious.
In the morning it was race time! We could walk to the race start in about one minute, which was super convenient as it was raining. Not just raining, but pouring, and it continued to pour the entire race. The race itself was pretty terrible. I didn't train for speed but thought, HEY! I'll try to run fast anyway. Big mistake. Ha. My time was a 2:03:11, not bad thanks to my speedy start, but I felt that run for days. I swear I ended up weighing 20 pounds more than I did at the start because of all the rain I was holding in my hair and clothes and shoes and socks and...
The race was definitely the worst two hours of the trip for me. After we finished, we headed back to our place and made breakfast. We all brought something and it was quite possibly my second-favorite breakfast ever. Cinnamon rolls. Quiche. Yogurt and homemade granola. French toast casserole. Fruit. Just everything delicious. Turns out our penthouse didn't have an oven, so our host let us come down and use his, but that meant he stayed and chatted and ate our food. Ha. But the food was incredible, and probably would have been so even if we hadn't just run 13.1 miles. In the pouring rain.
I love that I have these women in my life. For reals. If I didn't run, I think I'd consider starting just so I could run with them.
Last week we went to Arizona to visit Chuck's family. The first couple of days were gorgeous, the second couple were cold because we went to the Grand Canyon, and then the last two were rainy. It could have been better, but hey, it could have been worse. We got to hang out with Chuck's oldest brother and his family, I got in some AMAZING runs (one that is included in my top ten runs ever; and one where I almost ran into an elk whilst on the Grand Canyon Rim Trail), and we got to see what the desert looks like when they have a rainy January: green! Oh, and the boys got lots of hot tub time, which they used as pool time because the pool and too cold and they're little enough.
Ollie was clearly not having any of it.
My parents were in St. George and took a "little" detour to come hang out with us for 20 hours! Wahoo!
Thursday morning before the deluge, I took everyone to where I had my top ten run so they could hike some of it. They hiked three miles and didn't complain once. It was amazing. Also, no rattlesnakes, so bonus.
Ollie may not look happy, but that's just the picture. In fact, he requested that we hike eight miles (he changed his mind near the end, but still). But that cactus! So cool.
Arizona is really growing on me. Chuck's parents happen to live in a part where the desert is quite pretty, in my opinion. I feel like we need to experience it in the summer to get a real feel, but then I think, WHY?! Maybe we'll try it in April, so at least the pool will be warm enough to enjoy.
For a ward service auction last fall, I offered to sew something. A friend of mine won it and asked me to make her a birthday banner. This is the result. I'm kind of in love with it. Seriously. I love the fabric so much. I wished that she didn't like it so I could have it back. I haven't heard how it was received so there's still hope. I even made the binding. Intense.
Here they are. This concludes what I'm going to do with these ridiculously expensive pictures of some ridiculously cute boys.
Third Grade
Kindergarten
P.S. What you don't know is that Rhett wore the exact same shirt for second and third grade school pictures. Ha. Also, this is Ollie's retake after the first one looked a bit, um, shall we say, constipated?! I'm kicking myself that I turned it in before scanning it.
P.P.S. These pictures make five school pictures we've done with LifeTouch. Of the five, I've had issues with TWO. NOT a good track record, LifeTouch.
A couple of months ago, we got a letter from school asking if we'd be willing to erect a little lending library in our yard. Of course we said YES! There are a couple around our area and I think they are the adorable (as well as a super good idea). Plus, our local library is closed for renovations and our school is under construction, which is why I think the principal wanted these.
Big kids from the county's technical high school built them, we helped finish, and then we got to take it home and put it in our yard. The boys check it all the time. I love it. And kids in the neighborhood are using it! So happy.
Christmas break week was mostly staying home and doing nothing with a bit of activity thrown in. We got one incredibly warm day and so we used that to go to Six Flags. We watched lots of movies at home, jumped on the trampoline a lot, went to the library, and even played tennis. (Ollie is constantly asking us to play tennis, even if it's nearly bedtime and completely dark outside; nevermind that he can't even play.)
But by Thursday, as I worked from home with all three boys driving me bonkers and Chuck and my anniversary coming up the next day, I'd had it. I started looking for things we could do to get us out of the house Friday. I remembered this post about shark teeth hunting and thought it would be right up my boys' alley. Turns out it was the right activity, but the wrong season. It was windy and cold and Ollie just wasn't feeling it. Chuck found some teeth and the boys found some cool shells, but we only lasted a couple of hours. So then we headed back to our luxury hotel (cough, cough, or not, but at least it was a suite) and watched lots of TV from bed. (We did make it out of the room for dinner and a tour of Christmas lights in La Plata.) The next morning we ate hotel breakfast and watched more TV from bed. In our TV-watching defense, I had a cold and was super tired so it felt really nice to just rest.
So that was our 12th anniversary. According to Wikipedia, the modern U.S. 12th anniversary gift is pearls. While we might not have traded pearls, at least we did get some sea treasures in the form of fossilized shark teeth and shells. Win!
And on New Year's Day (or New Year's Day Observed), we destroy those beautiful gingerbread houses. But not before we salvage all the good stuff off them, like the caramel chimneys, or the airhead ice rink, or all the sour patch kids.
And this year we destroyed mine by sitting on it. Not my most attractive moment. But still.
This is what everything looked like at the end. Another year, another tornado.
I love making gingerbread houses. This year Chuck and I constructed them in advance so we didn't have to spend that time on Saturday doing it. I was really impressed with Rhett's stamina and skill this year. He had some really creative ideas. I also think it was Ollie's first year doing his own, and he is the king of putting jelly animals on his house. And because I made all the parts and had some leftover dough, I tried to go BIG this year. I won't make that mistake again, even though I liked it. I might, however, try to create something of the same size, just different architecture. I should enlist my brother's help in the design.
