First things first. I promised Halloween pictures! In my opinion, Halloween costumes are always more fun when coordinated with a group. Now before I get into too much detail, proper credit must be given to all others involved in this group. I had almost nothing to do with the creative aspect of this costume. I'm actually not sure whose idea it was first, but I'm going to say it was Jesse because that was the first time I heard it. He thought it'd be funny if we were the "Fierce Five" from the Olympics. I think there's an extra level of humor added to this costume from Alex and I, who are both about 6' tall, pretending to be gymnasts from the Olympics whose average height is probably about 4'11". So the Fierce Five was born and consisted of me, Alex, Liz, Brynn, and Bethany (our new intern friend). Once the ball got rolling, we thought it'd be funny to have a complete Olympic Squad and convinced a few guyfriends to come as swimmers - specifically Lochte, Phelps, and Adrian. So we all bought matching black sweatpants and ironed on USA and our last name onto the sweats. Then we ordered red leotards and painted glittery stuff on them to match the Olympians. It was quite the production, but the efforts were worth it! We entered our YSA Halloween party as a squad and did a lap around the gym, inspiring dozens of people to chant "USA! USA! USA!" We also won the costume contest. Not a bad night.
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| Prep Night. Lot of ironing going on that night. |
Who's Who:
Me - Aly Raisman
Alex - McKayla Maroney
Liz - Gabby Douglas
Brynn - Jordan Wieber
Bethany - Kyla Ross
Joseph - Nathan Adrian
Jesse - Ryan Lochte
Sam - Michael Phelps
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| The team that stretches together, stays together. |
It should also be noted that no one was committed to their character more than Alex. She did the "not impressed" Maroney face in EVERY SINGLE PICTURE. That is dedication, people. If you are not familiar with this "not impressed" look, shame on you, Google it.
Also, please note our friend, James, the elf in this picture. He'll come into play in the Christmas pics.
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| The Olympic Squad 2012 |
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| Oh yeah, those are medals. Accurately counted for each athlete, I might add. Good work, Alex! |
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| SweatCinema club - Sam missed the sweats memo. Come on Phelps - get it together! |
On to Christmas!! Once we saw the AMAZING costume that James pulled off for Halloween, we immediately decided that a party needed to happen. So we gathered at Alex's apartment to have an "Elf Party" with the real "Elf." James came in costume and character. He can quote that movie about as well as anyone I've ever met. This is also the beginning of our "SweatCinema" club. We have decided that due to cold weather, most of our activities will probably consist of movie watching, so in order for us to make use of our USA sweats, it is required to wear them at each movie viewing. James is also allowed to come as long as he always wears the Elf costume. JK, James (like you even read this).
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| "Someone needs a hug." |
We also had our Ward Christmas party a couple weekends ago and unfortunately I did not think to take pictures of the event. We used the theme "It's a Wonderful Life" and tried to incorporate aspects of the movie into all our decorations. I helped out with it because I'm on the committee that was in charge. A lot of people worked hard on it and I thought it turned out great! One of the best Christmas parties I've ever been to.
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| Brynn, Me, Liz, and Alex |
Yesterday Brynn, Liz, Alex, and I undertook a Christmas delivery mission unlike any I have been on before. We each made a Christmas treat of our choosing and gathered at Alex's apt Saturday morning at 10 to begin assembling plates of goodies for our neighbors and friends in the ward.
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| I kinda just wanted all these plates for myself....Liz said no. |
These treat plates came complete with caramel-chocolate dipped pretzel rods (Alex), chocolate chip cookies (Brynn), Jingle Bell Balls (Liz), and peppermint bark (me). Plus some classic Reese's, Hershey Kisses, etc. We mapped out a route and went on our way. We had set aside the whole day for this activity, but I don't think any of us anticipated the actual amount of time this would take to drive around Maryland and the District. As Alex put it, "we could have driven to Canada in the time we spent doing this today." We made a couple Christmas Mix CDs, which cycled through a couple times before we got sick of them...a couple hours into the trip...
It was totally worth it though! I always feel such joy out of brightening someone's day with something as simple as a Christmas treat. A lot of our friends were studying for finals, so this was a welcome distraction (at least we think it was) and for others it was just a pleasant surprise. We loved it. Reminded me of the old ring and run days of my childhood in AZ.
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| Ready to get on the road! |
Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be flying out to Utah Thursday night and I AM SO EXCITED!!!
