Wait... I have a blog?

It happened. I promised myself it wouldn't, but it did. My blog went the way of the many, many diaries that proceeded it. Ugh, for shame!

I really enjoy writing this blog, capturing both my mundane and exciting moments, but life just seems to get in the way. Time slips away, planned posts forgotten. However, I don't want this to be another abandoned diary stored away with two pages of completed thoughts. I want to keep up this memory book, recipe catalog, random thought capturer (is that a word?). So I'm back!

Here's a very brief view of what I've been up to:

September
Celebrated one year of marriage!

Incidentally, we celebrated in the same spot Kyle proposed! 

Kyle completed the Ragnar Relay, a 200 mile continuous relay race across Maryland

Side note: this guy ran 4 legs of the race and completed them all with sub 7:30 mile pace! 

Trip to Miami to see friends

Hanging out in their AMAZING pool!

Kayaking through the mangroves

Family trip to the Poconos

...where my brother proposed! Thrilled to have Rosie *officially* joining our family in November of next year. 

October
Trip to Pittsburgh to see my college roommate!

They were fabulous hosts even if their sweet yorkie, Olive, wasn't too thrilled with her house guest.

I completed my first 5K, a night color run with girlfriends

Halloween - or as I like to call it 'Any excuse to dress in costume'

Pierce was a shark and we were shark attack victims

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi. She hates us now...

November
House updates (more to come on this)

Zoe's birthday weekend in the city (she is 7! How did that happen?!)

Three Thanksgivings (and the resulting 5 pounds)

Thompson family Thanksgiving - and Kyle sporting his Movember foo man chu to raise awareness of prostate cancer

December
Holiday parties galore!

My company party was Roaring 20's themed. Such a blast. 

And throughout all this time, our main focus has been our wonderful Pierce! She is six months old now and a ball of energy. Her training is going exceptionally well, but I'll likely do an update on that in another post. Here are a gazillion pictures to hold you over.

Before she conquered the stairs

Muddy after swimming in the river

First time patrolling at a bar. She found it thrilling.

On duty in her vest

Relaxing at the lake

8 weeks vs 5 months!

My little shark

She loves destroying toys

Part of Zoe's birthday was playing with 6 of Pierce's 9 siblings - impossible to get them all in one picture

Pro swimmer - I'll share more on this later

Zoe and Pierce are best buds

This is what she does while I'm working

She is a snuggler

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!

xo
Alison

Family Vacation: Award Night

Just as we did in 2013, this year we capped off the theme nights with an Award night! Last year each person was assigned another family member to give an award. This year, we decided to give teams awards and had each of the family vote using the always fabulous Survey Monkey. The survey also captured feedback on this year's planning and ideas for next year (Pirates, Slumber Party, NASCAR, and Family Olympics for our awards).

Signs for the door reminding everyone who was on what team

The awards all lined up

Table set-up

Right before we announced the winners, each member of the family was introduced and walked the red carpet to show off their outfits. 

The tennis shoes really makes it

She claimed to be an aging, bitter movie star

What an entrance!

Top hat ftw

Fabulous!

The princess arrives

After the awards were all distributed, the victors sojourned to the porch before dinner for the family shots.

The stunning matriarch

God I love this crew

After a wonderful week it was nice to celebrate and get a little goofy. Ok, we spent the whole week being goofy, but still. Such a good week that it's August and I'm still writing about it. That or I need a life. Probably both. Until next time!

Don't forget to check out Luau night, Western night, Zombie night and Medieval Times!

xo
Alison