My dad's party

My dad and my uncle used to throw epic New Years Eve parties when they were in college.  Then they grew up and left home and got married and had kids and the parties stopped.  Until probably 15 to 20ish years ago when they decided to start throwing them again.  Except they are now "holiday" parties.  And they no longer start at 10:00 pm and run until the next morning.  In fact, this year's party started at 3:00 pm, and we've been joking about making it a brunch affair in the future.

The big day was December 30th.  My mom's sweater wasn't drying fast enough so she stuck it in the tree.  There were several other sweaters in the tree too and I was hoping she would forget about them so everyone at the party could be puzzled by the decor. 

One of their guests always brings an amazing spread of baked goods.  It took me a solid ten minutes to break into and unwrap this thing. 

It was worth it. 

Desserts

Food table

I considered just picking up the whole thing and sitting down at the kitchen table with it. 

This was the 4th year that I got a picture of my parents with every guest.  I promised them I would put them in an album for next year.  My dad was wearing the same shirt two years in a row, so that will be fun.  One of their frequent guests wore the same shirt three out of four years, so that will be fun too.  Especially if she wears it next year so she can look at the album while wearing the shirt and see herself in the shirt in 2014, 2015 and 2017. 

And now, enjoy a bunch of pictures of people you don't know and I don't know either despite seeing them every year. 

Or, just scroll all the way to the bottom.  The last three pictures are the best, with the last one being the grand prize winner of them all. 

Three boring days and our anniversary

I have three licenses/certifications that I have to maintain on three different schedules.  My Department of Education certification requires 60 hours of continuing education every six years.  My Department of Health Services license requires 20 hours every two years.  My American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) certification is 30 hours every three years.  

Unfortunately I went into the month of December with 1.5 hours for the year 2017.  I needed to do 8.5 more hours to renew my ASHA certification by December 30th.  I got 1.5 hours done earlier in the month, so on the 26th I sat down and started pounding out 7 hours.  It was about as delightful as you would imagine.  I was still really sick though, so it's not like I could have gone anywhere. 

I did a bunch of stuff (1 hour and 30 minute classes) on aphasia, and then I finished it with three hours on stuff about the passy-muir speaking valve. 

I finished and then submitted all of my hours and paid for my renewal just after midnight. 

On the 27th Ginger got a bath. 

And Spencer was on the nebulizer every four hours. 

This is how Ginger felt about being clean. 

I actually left the house on Thursday the 28th.  Spencer and I went to Ross for about 15 minutes.  The mountains were gorgeous when we got home, but I missed them at their peak red glow by about 5 minutes.  

I bought new poop bags for Ginger at Ross.  They matched my nails. 

That evening I re-did my nails to match my dress for the next day. 

I also tried to match my bracelet. 

Friday the 29th was our 16th anniversary. We actually had to set an alarm and get out of bed before 10:00 am.  It was brutal. 

We went to breakfast at the Baja Cafe.  We both got amazing benedicts.  

Mine

Michael's.  His was spicier than he thought it was going to be and he almost died. 

Our first movie of the day was Father Figures. 

After the movie we went back to my parents.  My mom was having a play date with one of her friends, and her friend's grandson.  He's three months older than Elliott and happens to be my birthday twin. 

Then we went to see Downsizing.  We got a snack during the show.  Loaded greek fries. 

Back home to get ready for dinner and take official anniversary pictures. 

Then to dinner at Feast. 

We had cocktails. 

I had the duck. 

I think Michael got some sort of steak. 

Bottle of wine so we could save the cork and put it in our anniversary cork bowl. 

Cake for desert. 

We went home and changed after dinner and then we went to see The Last Jedi.  I forgot to take a picture.  It basically ruins this whole post.