First, here is a shot from Maurice's somewhat impromptu birthday party at our house. Sweet hat, eh?
In November I went to the American Society of Human Genetics Conference in Philadelphia. Here are me and some of my labmates at the poster session. 
This just begged to be posted somewhere.
We spent an afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This was I think my favorite painting. 
For Thanksgiving I easily convinced Mom and we together more difficultly convinced Dad to go see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Here is Snoopy in all his glory. 
Getting back in NH just in time for the Joseph Smith Memorial Christmas lighting was definitely worth it.
Surprisingly I got a new calling! I'm now in YW of all places! This chocolate musical note was given to me by one of the Valiant girls to commemorate my being Primary Chorister for 2 1/2 years!
And here we arrive at Christmas. Everyone was home and it was really really fun! Dave and Naomi are expecting their first, Polly, February 18th. Ashlee's putting in mission papers, Crystal got engaged, and Arielle is still up to her schemeing ways, as you can see below.
We decided to go all out and revisit the old days of acting out the Nativity since there were so many of us and we actually had a pregnant woman. I was the angel. We even recruited some Christmas dinner guests into the action.
As is tradition, we challenged the Wades and Palmbergs to a Christmas-time sporting event. This year it was volleyball instead of basketball and we invited the Binghams as well. I am pleased to report that we totally schooled all the other families. Or at least that's I choose to remember it. Since this is my blog, that's how it's going to be.
We played a lot of games. This years big hit "The Great Dalmuti", also called scum in some circles. A really bad hand would be one of every number. Guess who was dealt that hand. 
We got to take Kedrick (Crystal's betrothed) on a tour of NYC. Ashlee and I and my friend David (not to be confused with my brother) went down and had a really fun if not terribly productive day. Here is a carousel ride in central park. 
This was David's first carousel ride ever! Such a thing should definitely be immortalized. 
This is how ground zero looks now. It's a sobering place, but they are actively rebuilding. 
As I mentioned before Crystal got engaged over Christmas! Whoo hoo! She's getting married March 14th in Bountiful, UT. We're all pretty excited and really like her fiance Frederick, uh, I mean Kedrick. He proposed at Wickham park on the sledding hill. Cute, eh? Here's the ring. I thought people would be interested to see.
Crystal challenged us all to bowling. None of us could take down Dad, though I did come REALLY close. Anyway, we're still good at looking intimidating.
Just for fun we made a movie with David's new video camera (I'm talking about the brother here). This is Ashlee dressed up as her character, "Clare deLune". I was Anna Sassin. But I'm choosing not to put that picture up. 
Alright- phew! Last leg of the blog post. Hawaii.I got to fly out with Ashlee a few days early and go to Oahu before heading out to Kona on the Big Island. Surprisingly enough we ran into Crystal and Kedrick at the Chicago airport! Random!
This is my only make-you-jealous sunset beach picture, I promise. This one happens to be Waikiki.
It was really really fun to go back and visit BYUH and take Ashlee on this walk down memory lane. I even got to see Dr. Day and Dr. Goodwill. Good times.
Here we are in the eucalyptys tree outside the biology department. I've spent a lot of time in/underneath this tree. 
The Laie temple with Ashlee and her roomate Lindsay. The temple's closing down for a year and a half for renovations. 
I got to see Beth! It had been so long! It was really fun to catch up. 
Alright, here's Kona. This is the beach at the hotel we stayed at, with its own private lagoon. All this first-class living we do at conferences is totally spoiling me. Maybe I am an elitist after all.
I got to go down to the Kona temple which I'd never seen before. It is very beautiful.
I took a trip out to Hilo one afternoon. I didn't have much time but did get to see some things from back when I visited in the BYUH days. Here's me on the hike down to the caldera of Kilauea Iki. Some obliging fellow tourists took my picture :)
OK. I'm done. And sleepy. I look forward to many more adventures and keeping you updated as possible.
