Pictures of January

As I was reaching my mental break point for the day (typically this occurs around 9:30 PM...after I've been studying and in class since 9:30 AM... just before Tom to gets back from school), I decided to blog about our quarter thus far. Much to my surprise, Tom already did that today! 

Well, I will add some photos to his narrative so that we have online proof of our good times of January. As has become tradition, we had about 24 hours (maybe a few more than that, but not many) with my parents before they flew off to the tropics and left Peyton with us for a doggy vacation. Here we are on the night before their flight enjoying some gelato in Capitol Hill-- YUM!

After they left, Tom was right in what he said--we have quite a schedule nowadays. We weren't sure we'd have time to walk Peyton as much as she would like, but taking the time to walk with her every morning (usually at sunrise) has brought a sense of balance in our lives--it's nice to connect and check in with each other every day. I always knew walking was good for you, but who  knew that January sunrises were this beautiful? (not me, I'm usually a lazy bum, snuggled up in the warm covers!)

We have had a wonderful streak of no rain (I've actually been avoiding writing a blog post for fear that this will jinx the weather and the rain will return...it is January after all). But, since it's been dry, we have gorgeous mornings but they are CHILLY! Here we are bundled up on one of the 24 degree mornings (what you can't see is Peyton jumping by our sides with a stick, anxiously awaiting us to be done with our boring human stuff).

 This morning there were actually paddle boarders out on the water (look for two vertical looking specs just below the horizon on the right side of the image, next to the tree). I don't know what kind of heavy duty wet suits they had, but they would certainly not be enough for me! Particularly considering the fact that Peyton had icicles on her fur when she jumped out of the lake this morning!

 As is usual, Peyton has been strutting around with her over-sized sticks at the dog park. Most dogs just look at her and wonder what she's up to and all their owners look at her like she's a crazy or supernatural dog. She doesn't care, she just loves her sticks :). 

 Fortunately, Tom is there to actually throw them, because goodness knows, I wouldn't be strong enough or willing to get my hands (and feet) wet every morning at the start of a walk!

 After being alone in the apartment all day she is certainly anxious for play time again. She loves tug-of-war but we have such a small amount of carpeting in our apartment, that she has to try to figure out new ways of getting traction. This technique is one of my faves--so funny!

 In non-Peyton news (I'm sure some of you are thinking...geez, do they do anything but think or talk about Peyton? ...well, not really...just grad school...a small thing) but we do fit in some other things. We finally got to go see the Book of Mormon that we bough tickets for LAST YEAR. It was so great to have a night out on the town. And, more recently, we joined some of my classmates for the playoff game between the Seahawks and the Falcons. While the outcome wasn't what we hoped for, there were a lot of exciting moments throughout the game. Here are two of my classmates, Mitch and Ansab, celebrating one of the touchdowns--so excited that they joined hands and did a little happy dance--you should have seen it.

Okay, that about sums it up. It's about time to call it a day and hope for another day of sun. But, we've got a long weekend ahead of us and a few highlights to come -- a UW gymnastics meet on Friday night, John and Jean's birthday party on Saturday and don't forget, a whole day off on Monday to catch up on the warp speed of classes that make up medical and business school! Happy Wednesday!