This past week was a busy one! We went to my in-laws in Raleigh for New Year's Eve/my father-in-law's birthday and I have lots of pictures to show for it...
Here's my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law beautifully modeling the aprons I gave them for Christmas. Don't they look like the perfect homemakers? (We thought the rolling pin was a nice addition.)
This is our nephew, who turned one in November. Isn't he adorable?
He was opening his grandfather's birthday present while we were eating dinner! 
We played Family Feud on the computer and Ryan and I were a force to be reckoned with.
My low G.I. ice cream birthday cake my brother-in-law made for me. Isn't that sweet? Actually, it was artificially sweet, and very good!
Sophie taking a nap before ringing in the new year. She always looks for a pillow to put her head on.
Here's Abigail!! We stopped at Lifehope's beautiful home on our way back to Richmond and our dogs were able to meet. Sophie and little Abby got along great. And I say that because Sophie gave her the time of day. She usually prefers humans.
It helped that Abby was totally submissive to Sophie. Abby spent most of the time on her back like this!
But she also gave Sophie a run for her money, which Sophie needs!
And, last but not least, my birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory:
I had built up in my mind what I was going to order for a long time now, and while I still had a ton of fun eating out, the meal actually turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I've come to the conclusion that fattening food just doesn't do it for me anymore! Perhaps God has blessed me with the grace to not be tempted and let nothing get in the way of this diet! But we did share a piece of low-carb cheesecake that was just amazing.
Ryan was actually sick with a cold yesterday (he worked on Friday so we celebrated on Saturday) but he still let me drag him all around Richmond as I searched for a comforter set for the guest bedroom we are doing over. Isn't he the best? Thanks for a great birthday, sweetie!
