Christmas Decorating

 Lindsay enjoying some hot chocolate!! We miss having Stephen's hot chocolate out here, but Swiss Miss is just fine. Don't you love Lindsay's presents pants? Awesome!









 Me also enjoying some hot cocoa!

Setting up the tree!

 Lindsay, the star of my life, placing the star on our tree.

 Me placing one of our cool Disney ornaments on the tree! We decided to go with ornaments we had purchased over the time we have been married on the tree this year rather than our nicer red and gold ornaments. It reminds us both of Christmas growing up.

 Lindsay placing another Disney ornament on the tree.

 Lindsay looking cute by our tree holding an ornament.

 Here's the finished product! O Tannenbaum!

 The stockings were hung by the computer with care in hopes that St. Nicholas comes to apartment buildings.

 Garland in the kitchen.

 A wreath on our front door. Lindsay made the bow!

 Here's the view as you walk in our front door. Our apartment feels very Christmasy and cozy! We love the holidays!!!

Labor Day Weekend in Williamsburg, VA

Lindsay and I spent Labor Day weekend in Williamsburg, VA!! It was an awesome weekend. We started out at Busch Gardens! It has 4 or 5 different themed areas centered on different countries in Europe. The park has consistently been voted the most beautiful theme park in America, and Lindsay and I can attest to that. This picture is us in front of the Italy area. 

 Here's Lindsay reconnecting with her German language skills. We had an authentic German dinner in "Das Festhaus". Very yummy!

Colonial Williamsburg!! This is the Governor's Mansion at the head of the main street. 

 You can see the Governor's Mansion at the end of the main street mall area. But the most beautiful part of this photo is Lindsay!...

 Lindsay on a replica of one of the three ships that brought the first English colonists to the Jamestown Settlement.

 Me on another one of the ships. We actually learned that the sailors, and Englishmen generally, drank ale mostly instead of water because the alcohol content kept the water clean enough to drink at sea. But they didn't offer any ale to us. Must be the BYU shirt...

 This is one of the bunks the sailors would have slept in. The ships were all quite small and they crammed up to 70 men on them. Tight quarters!

 Lindsay and I in a carved out canoe! The local Indian tribes would hollow out large tree trunks by lighting controlled fires on the trunk. The hollowed out trunks made for nifty canoes!

Me donning some colonial armor...I'm no John Smith, but Lindsay says I'm cuter...that's all I need!

Islands of Adventure and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!

This is the view you get as you first cross into Harry Potter world. It's Hogsmeade village with the Hogwarts castle in the background! It is truly an amazing sight.

The Hogwarts Express has arrived!

The castle they have built for this park is unbelievably cool! So realistic! We couldn't get enough of it.

Another view of the castle as you enter the queue for the Harry Potter ride. The queue takes you all the way through the castle!

Perhaps the coolest thing in the whole castle are the talking portraits. You obviously can't see the effect through this picture, but the portraits look amazingly realistic.

 Lindsay and I savoring our butterbeer in Hogsmeade! It was a caramel-flavored ICEE kind of drink. Delicious!

Another awesome shot of the castle.

Watch out! T-Rex has arrived! 

Spider Man was our favorite ride at Islands of Adventure, with the exception of Harry Potter of course. We're getting our Spidey on before we go riding.

Channeling some Hulk before going on the Hulk coaster.

 Outside Poseidon's temple. This ride was really cool as well.

Lindsay forgot her invisibility cloak in Hagrid's hut. Oh well, she is so beautiful that it's better this way.

Lindsay casting a spell with a wand from Ollivander's: I believe the spell was "Kisserium the Cameramaniosis"

 

Voldemort is shaking in his boots at my magical prowess!

The Beauxbatons and the I-Dont-Remembers are getting ready to engage in a magical duel!

Outside Honeydukes...we passed on the Every Flavor Beans and the Chocolate Frogs.

 The Hogsmeade village again as we are about to leave the park.

I'll board the Hogwarts Express any day if Lindsay is conducting!

Disney's Hollywood Studios!

So I totally embraced being a Disney pin geek on this trip. I am sporting my lanyard while we wait for the shuttle bus to take us to Hollywood Studios!

Here we are outside the gates to the park. You can see the tip of Mickey's sorceror hat in the background. The weather during our whole trip was amazing!

Outside the entrance to Rock'n Roller Coaster with Aerosmith. It is an indoor roller coaster that is a lot faster and more intense than Space Mountain. We went on it three times!

Mommy, don't make us go on the Tower of Terror!

We splurged and had lunch at one of the Disney restaurants in Hollywood Studios. We had read that this 50's Primetime Cafe was a cool place with a lot of theming. It was decorated just like a 50's diner and they even had old TV's that played black and white re-runs of 50's shows like Mickey Mouse Club and Dick Van Dyke. I got chicken pot pie and Lindsay got a chicken sandwich. We loved it!!

 And for dessert...a yummy brownie sundae with awesome Mickey Mouse sprinkles!

Us in front of the Sorceror Mickey hat

One of our favorite things in Hollywood Studios was the American Idol Experience. Real people that had come to the park that day sang for a chance to go to the front of the line at an actual American Idol audition. We in the audience got to vote for the person we thought should win. The stage was way realistic and they had judges as well. It was awesome!

Maybe my favorite ride in all of Disneyworld...Toy Story Mania! The queue for this ride is so cool. It's just like a kid's playroom filled with toys. You can see a Scrabble board on the ceiling and the monkeys swinging around too. The queue in Disneyland is not nearly as cool.

Mr. Potato Head as the carnival barker.

Epcot

We obviously didn't take this picture at the beginning of our day at Epcot but it is the iconic Spaceship Earth which you normally see when you enter the park. 

 They had just wrapped up a flower and garden festival at Epcot when we went, but they still had these amazing topiaries of Disney characters around the park. Donald has always been one of my favorites.

Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto topiaries. 

 Mickey saw our anniversary buttons and posed us like this. It was cool!

 

Us with Pluto...

With Minnie...

And Donald...

And Goofy!

Lindsay by the entrance to Spaceship Earth. This ride simulates a space launch and space travel. It has some tremendous G-forces. Our eyes were watering when we got off the ride it was so bad.

Welcome to China! I will be your native Chinese tour guide...

Lindsay feeling at home in Germany! We passed on the beer and pretzels though.