HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

How is everyone? We are doing fine--very, very busy though! We have probably spent two hours home over the last three Saturdays! Sheesh!

Well here are some things that we can not cover with the pictures below.

• Cristy and I have begun Marathon training training, meaning we are building our base-mileage up before we actually start training for the Marathon. Confusing, I know. The Marathon will be in April.
• Cristy and I have dug up our Christmas decorations from storage and will be putting them up within days (if not tonight!) I think you will be surprised with how much stuff we have...I kind of "like" Christmas. Du Du Dah! More to come...
• Cristy and I are still looking for new jobs; I had a job interview today that went pretty well. Our move-out date for this apartment is November, and we are pretty excited. We don't really love it here and look forward to becoming ambitious enough to move again. Will that move be the West Coast? Du Du Dah!

OK, now for the pictures...

Our pumpkins...from left to right (Cristy, Nathaniel, Carly)

The pictures we took at my company's Election Night party. We didn't know what was going on in the first picture, we were looking "political" in the second one, and we kissed on the third.

Cristy's nifty coupon book--she made it herself!
Cristy PROUD of her coupon book :)

The ballroom where we had our Election Party. There were actually about eight rooms that we went into, but this was the main one. D.C. is VERY liberal, so there was a lot of cheering that night.

Kodak moment! Our badges could be flipped around--one side was blue, the other red.

We found this creepy light on the walk back to our car. There are lots of them in D.C. and they are about as big as me. None of them as supposed to be green though...

My siser turned eighten the day after! What a bummer! Cristy doesn't seem to mind :)

The Moreira's are a people of many talents, and many faces...like this one...

...and this one...I was asked to give my John McCain impression...needless to say..I am not going to be on SNL doing impressions anytime soon.

And this is my best Barack Obama impression.

And my parent's plants in for the first frost of the year--Brrr...shiver me timbers!

My sister got a Mac! Yippie!

We went to "Tents for Hope" on the Mall, an event sponsored by DarfurNow. Basically, people assembled these tents to certain specifications (PVC poles and canvas cloth), painted them, and after this event (four days long) they were sent to Darfur to home refugees. It was a very moving experience.

A close-up of one quilted tent. I thought it kind of epitomized the event.

These people were really getting into the music. You cankind of see them dancing a little in the shot. It got us thinking about how these people see our country (many appeared to be native Africans) compared to how we see it. Kind of brings a new meaning to "freedom," if you ask me.

Sometime I will try to get a close-up of the Capitol rotunda. (We were in a hurry and had to beat the sun for some of the other pictures shown below). It is beautiful and extremely detailed. (Note: it was dedicated by George Washington in a Masonic ceremony).

A part of the Mall--very spacey and pretty in the Fall.

National Air and Space Musuem. In here you have many historical artifacts, including the Moon Lander and the original airplane from the Wright brothers, to name a few.

The Smithsonian Institute. This guy here in the statue made it so all of the musuems could be funder and built. He is also the reason it's all free. Yay for Smithsonian!

The White House from Pennslyvania Avenue. Very far away from the public, as you can see.

With some zoom...

The Washington Monument from another angle.

Blurry Cristy by another tree and another monument. Shoot! My favorite picture ruined by blur...if only I had a brother-in-law who rocked out at Photoshop...hmm...

This is actually the building where we had our Election Night party--The Widorf Hotel or something like that. It's a few hundred meters from the White House and EXPENSIVE!

Contrary to what this administriation would have you believe...not everything smells like roses at the Treasury Department ;)

These people have been here protesting for a long, long, long time. Like over a decade or something. I've seen them in person twice, and both times one of them were getting arrested (it first time it was violently--this cop jumped off his still moving bike and tackled the guy--it was awesome)

The back of the White House, where you can get a much closer (and scenic) view. Less tourists too :)

A CRAZY squirrel attacked Cristy.

ANOTHER crazy squirrel staring her down. Note: this tree is seven feet wide!

I have no idea. There are way too many monuments and statues in D.C. for me to know what this one is. It looks cool though.
My favorite drive in the whole world, and it just happens to be the short cut from our house to the Temple. Thereis almost ten miles of this--beautiful when the seasons change. Can't wait for snow!
A scenic overlook off the side of the road. I work in one of those buildings off in the distance.

The San Fernando Valley in CA. Also, why I will never move to the hills in California!
Who says man can't fly? Ask this guy, who flew 90 mph a few months ago, making aeronautical history. Yawza!

November Already!

Oh my goodness, what a three weeks it has been. I don't even know where to start...maybe the highlights.

• We both still have jobs (though we both had close encounters). My situation is so screwed up that everyone I talk to about it raises their eyebrow and tells me it's time to move on. Cristy's company downsized and, though she was spared, got demoted from regional dietitian to facility dietitian a few months earlier than planned. Oh well--we're doing better than some of our friends and she got to keep her raise and laptop!
• Cristy is no longer traveling to Warsaw once a week (see above).
• My Dad is on book four in the Work and the Glory series (he started in September).
• I am officially an Election Official, all set to work the polls from 5AM - 7 PM. After Cristy and I will kick it at an Election Party sponsored by my company on Pennsylvania Ave. (just a few hundred meters from our country's favorite politician, President W. It's an all night event so we'll see how long we make it.)
• Pit Crew (Marching Band parents) obligations are over, culminating in the Band's achievement of a Superior rating in the State marching competition. Carly's senior year! Crazy!
• Cristy found amazing pumpkin recipes that she wants to post (next time) and the Pumpkin soup is coming up later tonight! Yum. Ask her later about the nickname I gave to her pumpkin seed recipe :P
• We are both looking for new jobs to start before December (mine is a long story, Cristy's is shorter). We both should get paid more with less work, which is win win for us. Unfortunately, we just resigned our lease in October, so moving to Oregon is out :(
• Cristy taught me to sew and I suck at it (per Cristy, not true - he is a natural).
• We're still not pregnant, even though 95% of the Ward Missionary Council and all of my best friends are expecting soon
• We carved pumpkins and mine said "Just Married" and Cristy's was a skeptical face (irony not intended...pictures to come...)
• I voted absentee and Lani won't be happy ;)

In closing, we would like to apologize to everyone for not keeping up with our blog--work has really been rough for us both, so much so that I didn't go in to work on Thursday and didn't have to take an PTO. This week should be much nicer :D Unfortunately, our pictures are also reflective of our lack of free time together...sorry!

FHE two weeks ago! Sewing! Yeah. I'm too embarrassed to show you the close-up :(

Cristy thought it was funny that I was eating on the ground in such an awkward position and so she took a picture. Also, she thinks the Mad Bomber Hat is embarrassing to me. Little does she know--little does she know...

These pants aren't flattering at all, which is good because I busted a six inch rip down the backside. You can kind of see it if you look lol

That's right...that's how they roll in China. Beat that America!

Back to Sweaters! Yes!

Hello Family. So we missed the last two Monday blogs, but this Monday we are on the ball. Cristy is in the kitchen cooking some pizzas for the missionaries and I am out here uploading pictures to the blog. After supper (some Chinese stir-fry that Cristy pretends tastes good so I will keep cooking it) we will officially begin our FHE, which will be two conference talks (the lesson) plus the second movie in the Work and the Glory series. I have already seen it and Cristy has already read the book, but we are watching it again because my father has taken an interest in the series recently (we got him book one for his birthday two weeks ago and he already finished it!).

Now the switch, Nathaniel cooks and Cristy blogs. I had a wonderful birthday! Thank you to my whole family who called to wish me well (actually most of you called me old, but that is what family is for! :) Mom your comments were touching to say the least. I loved growing up with you as my mom! Nathaniel hid all my presents and we played "hot and cold" to find them. He planned a dinner with my old roommate and Tim and made a YUMMY dessert. My birthday didn't end of Friday... I got breakfast in bed on Saturday and didn't have to do a single dish!

OK, now back to Nathaniel because Cristy is sewing! Aren't we busy! Well it's getting late for us so I think we will try and let the pictures tell the story.

A late picture of Cristy's new haircut with the highlights! (Background Song: Pretty Woman)

My parents old bed frame--now ours! My childhood bed frame!

Just one of the many delicious nutritious suppers I get from Cristy.

Our old living room set-up...

...and our new one! Yay for the futon!

My Dad gesticulating during Catch Phrase...

...and finds a scarf and some shoes...

(close-up of the shoes)
...now practicing on her new yoga mat :D
Greek supper that night with her close friends...

Greek pasta... (allrecipes.com)...
Greek chicken pitas (allrecipes.com) ...
the desert thing that I made...still not really sure but I think it's called a truffle?
Day 2...Breakfast in Bed :D
Don't really know what I am doing...but it's supposed to be Salsa...

That's more like it! The Cuban Tango...look at them go...
Dad helping the white girl dance! Haha...
Sisters practicing there turns...not sure about this footwork :)
...or the dance faces ;)
Ibid.
That's better!
More catch phrase! What are you Mom? Strong?
Really surprised man? Stroke? Seizure? I don't know!?!
...and I guess he doesn't either lol

And the moustache monkey...because we have no kids...so this is our kids "placeholder". Awwwww...