Oxford Recap

I (Emily) was lucky enough to spend a week in Oxford over spring break to attend a seminar on international human rights and humanitarian aid. What a week! I learned/saw/ate so much and would go back in a heartbeat given the chance...with James this time though. Pretty sure he was the only thing missing from making the week absolutely perfect. That said, I still had an amazing trip. Below is a quick recap in photos:

This was where I spent most of my time - in the classroom...

...or at tea time. What a great tradition. Pretty sure American should adopt the European tea time and the South American siesta. We would be much happier people :)

The weather and vegetation is actually very similar to Eugene...just way more beautiful because they actually make space for nature there.

I felt like I was walking around in a movie or a fairy tale or one of Jane Austen's books the whole time.

We studied in Merton college - which happens to be about 750 years old and the old stomping grounds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and I believe Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. 

The Bodleian Library

The entrance to the Ministry of Magic.

Dobby! There were a ton of scenes from Harry Potter that were filmed in the area. 

An old pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to be a part of a literary group called The Inklings.

Chicken and mushroom pie. Yum.

Awesome hot chocolate.

Pretty sure I need one of these - a map of the earth and sky all at the same time. Called "The World in your Pocket."

From the Ashmolean museum before my camera tragically died there. I could have spent the entire week in this museum and still not seen everything there was to see.

So grateful to those that made this trip possible - this will be something that stays with me for a very long time to come.

Redwoods and New Year's

More catch-up from winter vacation...I promise this is the last one though.

This one features our day trip to Big Basin in the Redwoods and our New Year's Eve/Day celebration. Lots of fun. Lots of pictures. Enjoy :)

This was our New Year's Eve celebration, complete with extreme games and prizes, Chinese food, and the annual Dr. Pepper (and other soda) belching contest at midnight.

Poor Dad got this fortune at about 10:00 p.m. on the last day of the year. He did have "much happiness" for those last two hours of the year. 

Baby Michael really wanted to participate in the soda drinking. 

Precious.

James and Jess picked out the prizes for our extreme games...James was super excited for his Spiderman hand sanitizer. He picked it out, especially for...him.

The prize bag...featuring lots of snap bracelets and fake locks of hair.

Dad rocking  a new pink lock of hair.

Bananagrams...my new favorite game.

How clever is this? Someone spelled "winner" and I think they won. Wasn't me, that's for sure. 

Things got a little loopier as the night went on.

Mom threatened to fall asleep. She didn't stay like this for long.

Dad's game face.

Mr. Tumnus's game face.

After the midnight celebrations and our belching contest (which Jess won, of course, though her performance last year was far superior), we headed out to Chubby's to prepare the pork for Lisa's wedding reception the next day. Mind you, this was about 2:00 in the morning and we were dealing with half a dozen pork butts...the jokes ran wild. I'll let your imagination take it from here. But seriously, who needs alcohol when you have my very overtired family+half a dozen pork butts+2 AM. Hilarity. Nothing could beat that.

 The next day...I just couldn't get enough of this baby. He is such a goof!

 And right before we left Utah, we had a lovely visit with one of my very favorite people, Karuna. I love this girl so much and wish we lived in the same country or state or city or something. Australia is WAY too far away.