Happy Birthday Chase!!!

This is Chase. My sweetheart for the past 8 years. It's his birthday today so I thought I'd embarrass him a little. Here are a few things you didn't know about the man I call my best friend.
1. He cries whenever he sees him mom or sister cry. He also cries whenever we say goodbye at the airport (mostly because I am misty myself). He still gets choked up watching the Red Sox win the world series. When we sold the Jeep....that's right...serious tear drops.




















2. So you might be thinking my man is a wussy man. Oh how wrong you are. My man is an IRONMAN. I hope I get these facts right. Chase has completed 2 full Ironman Triathlons. This is a 2 mile swim, 115 mile bike ride, and then after all that, he runs a 26 mile Marathon. His goal is to one day qualify for the Hawaii Ironman. I hope he does too so I can go to Hawaii. He has also completed several 1/2 Ironmans for training purposes and ran a 50 mile race in October of last year. I hate to mention this next one because I am still mad about it, but he ran a marathon with his equally foolish brothers in Death Valley. This was in the middle of July. He still wears his shirt that they had made that says "I conquered Death."
3. Chase has always been the one who gets up in the middle of the night to make sure Sadie is breathing or to put an extra blanket on her. I wonder if Sadie knows that he goes in there every night to look at her. Sometimes when he gets home late from school he'll pick her up and have her sleep on his chest for a few minutes. He just can't get enough of her.




















4. You all know him as the "hot bald man" but I'll have you know there was a time (very long ago) that he had a full head of hair.























5. He shaves his whole body sometimes. He always shaves his head (an occasional mohawk if he's feeling sassy), chest, and if he's running a race he shaves it all. His legs look better than mine when they are shaved.






















6. He is a serious sun glass snob and won't even wear them unless they cost over $100.


















7. He'd rather save up for a ski boat than a house. The kid can water ski!!!
























8. He is an amazing cook. He makes a delicious salad and even caramelizes the nuts. When I was preggers with Sadie he took over the cooking duties because all the smells in the kitchen nauseated me. He became pretty good.


9. He does the best cookie monster impersonation I have ever heard and Sadie LOVES it!!






















10. You knew this but he is the sweetest person I know. He waited 18 months for me while I served a mission and waited a year after that for me to become normal again. I'm so glad he's more patient than me. I LOVE CHASE!!! I'm so glad I found someone like you to spend the rest of eternity with.

You got it WRONG America

WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

Kenwood, Maryland

Another great place my Grandma suggested was Kenwood, Maryland. If I had known about Kenwood before, we would have skipped downtown D.C. altogether. Kenwood is a community in Maryland. The trees have grown in such a way that they create a canopy over the street. During the spring season these streets become tunnels of beautiful pink blossoms. It was a slice of heaven being there. The homes reminded me of the one I grew up in so it was a little nostalgic. I told Chase that I didn't care what I lived in (trailer home, shed, some one's garage) but that I wanted to live in Kenwood one day. I don't think it will be anytime soon but it's always fun to dream right?



There was a little brook so we of course had to throw rocks.
Every great community has a park. Well, we found it.
Too much excitement for one day.
My nerdy husband. I got out of the car to take a picture and this is what I saw looking back at me.

Cherry Blossoms!!

When we heard we'd be staying in D.C. for another semester I was a little bummed because I love San Diego so much but then I remembered that the cherry blossoms would be coming out. I wasn't sad anymore. These blossoms are incredible. I saw them one other time when I was an intern in 2000. They were just as spectacular this year as I remembered. It was fun taking Sadie even though the only thing she cared about was feeding the ducks some cheerios, riding the "neh neh" (carousel) or the "choo choo" (metro) there and back.
We went down to the tidal basin twice. Once on Saturday and again on a Wednesday morning. To all of you ever thinking about riding the metro on a Saturday during the Cherry Blossom Festival, DON'T!! It was extremely crowded and I felt like cattle as they rounded us off the train and out of the metro stop. Once we were outside it wasn't that much better. There were people everywhere and we couldn't get our stroller around any of them.
We decided to go home (another congested train ride) and try again on Wednesday. Much better!! We rented a paddle boat and ventured out into the tidal basin with blossoms surrounding the entire river. Sadie wore her life jacket for a total of 5 minutes and then it was off for good. Again she was more interested in feeding the ducks her cheerios than enjoying the boat ride. I even tried singing "row row row your boat" and she hushed me up immediately. Not in the mood I guess. The seagulls (rats with wings...sorry Utah) got word of the Cheerios and nearly attacked. The poor ducks didn't have a chance so we put the cheerios away.

After our "fun" boat ride which ended early due to a screaming toddler with a runny red nose, we went to see the blossoms. Here they are in full bloom. Breathtaking aren't they.

Gravely Point

I have the best Grandma. She used to live in McLean, VA a long time ago but has a sharp memory of all the fun places to visit. She often tells me about her favorite spots and we've had so much fun visiting them. One of them is Gravely Point next to the National Airport. There is a park where the airplanes fly right above you before they land. These pictures don't justify the experience. The planes are so close!! It's funny because when I was an intern out here in 2000 I only thought about Wayne's World when they flew over me. Now when these monstrous planes roar above all I think about is 911 and what those people must have thought when they saw those planes fly over them into the WTC and especially the Pentagon. Creepy!! Sadie sure loved it and we even found the Potomac River nearby to throw rocks. Sadie was in HEAVEN. It's her favorite activity!!