I have issues!!

Ever since I got pregnant, had a baby and nursed for a year, I have hated eating because I thought of it as a chore. Nothing ever sounds good and I sometimes won't eat until I am light headed and nauseated. I'm great at feeding Sadie but after all that work the last thing I want to do is make something for myself. So lately I've been working on making my meals look more appetizing. Wouldn't you want to eat this? It has been working but I still have to prepare the food which vexes me greatly!!

Finals Week!!!

There are a few things that I can truly say I HATE. Some of them are leaf blowers (waste of gas...use a rake!!), high frucose corn syrup (why can't we sweeten yogurt with fruit...Dannon or Yoplait are way behind the times), love handles, sun burns, putting sun block on Sadie, forgetting my canvas bags (that I bought because I inteded to save the world) when I go to the grocery store, march madness, and losing my wallet. But of all these things I'd say Finals Week is pretty close to the top of my "Hate" list. Chase has been studying forever!!!!!! All I want to do sometimes is wisk him away so I have him all to myself where his books and law professors can't find him.
Chase hates it too but he loves the fact that I allow Coke and Fruit loops in the house (diabetes runs in his family so I am a Nazi about sugar). He's also likes finals week because I cook a lot more and shower more frequently to attract attention that the computer usually gets all day.

My Birthday

I had a great birthday!! Em and Patrick were in town so Chase and I could go out on the town. Free babysitting!! Chase took me to Cheesecake Factory (my favorite are the avocado egg rolls) and afterwards we sat on a blanket at the Iwo Gima monument with candles and Rummicub. Chase gave me a book with my Blog printed inside. What a treasure. I often wonder what will happen with all the work I put into this hobby of mine. That Sunday Em and Pat gave me the royal treatment. They made me dinner and bought me a delicious fruit tart. Yummy!!! I blew out all the candles but I can't remember if I wished for anything of not. I am 28. EEEEEK!!!

A heavenly week!!

I am very close with my family and we live so far apart!! Emily and Patrick came to visit in April and we had such an amazing time. It was fun just having Em around to talk to while the babies took naps. Sadie and Ruby totally hit it off!! Sadie usually gets a little nervous around other kids her age because they are a little more affectionate than she wants them to be. Ruby is just like Sadie. She keeps her distance and isn't a threat at all. Sadie all of a sudden gained a ton of confidence and loved having Ruby around to play with. For the first time she wasn't parallel playing anymore. She was actually playing with her play mate. They loved sitting next to each other while reading their books. This picture was taken after we sang "two little monkeys" as they jumped all over the bed. They wore themselves out!!

Arlington Cemetery. It was raining quite a bit but the moisture made the foliage all the more green. It was beautiful!! Sadie and Ruby had fun stomping in the puddles so the rain didn't bother them a bit.
The great thing about having visitors is that you can finally get a family photo with out having to ask some random person to take a picture that will either turn out blurry or with someone's head cut off. You also don't risk the possibility of never seeing your camera again.
Cute little peanuts wanted to hold hands this day. We got a pretty cute shot of them looking at the Washington Monument. Looks cheesy but it wasn't posed.
Reading with Uncle Patrick. Sadie really likes Patrick. She's lucky to have so many fun uncles.

I almost forgot about little Andrew. This little guy cracks me up. He could win any staring contest. Often times I would turn around to have him staring at me from behind his mom's shoulder. We watched their kids one night for their anniversary and because he missed him mom so much he cuddled up with me by putting his cheek next to mine. Em says he always does the "cheek to cheek" with her so I felt pretty honored.
Em doesn't have anywhere to shop in New Hampshire (biggest place is a TJ max..no malls...no nothing) so she was really excited to hit Tyson's Corner. We at first went with the kids and realized we made a big mistake. One cannot try on clothes with two toddlers and a baby. We came back the next day while the boys watched the kids and had SOOOOO much fun. We danced in the dressing room, took our time trying on anything we wanted and nothing stood in our way (like a nagging child, a running nose, demands for a snack, or the dreaded tantrum.) I forgot how much fun it is to shop w/o kids. It was especially fun with Em around. We must have the same taste because we bought all the same things and we must have enjoyed ourselves because we were there for four hours!!
When I dropped them off at the airport Sadie and Ruby were pretty sad. Sadie just kept crying out "Ruby Ruby" and to this day still asks where Ruby went. Hopefully one day we will live closer to each other so they can play every day!!

Sadie tumbles!!

These last few months Sadie has been enrolled in her first tumbler class (her first class ever) and she LOVED it. All I had to do was say "circle time" and she would get so excited to go. It was great to have somewhere for her to play during the cold winter months and she learned to interact with other kids. She had a HUGE goose egg that day (right in the middle of her forehead) so we decided she should wear a hat.
Thanks to her dad, Sadie loves basketball. March Madness was a good month for her. She and Chase watched a ton of games together.




Little monkey!! She'll hang from anything these days.

Hermana Hague!!

For Chase's birthday we went down town to see the blossoms and tour a little. We also went because I knew one of my favorite people was going to be there....Hermana Lori Hague!!! There were a couple of sisters on my mission that I felt I could totally hang out with because they were so fun. Lori was one of them. We would often be seen doubled over in the street catching our breath from laughing so hard. She was there when we danced on top of our piso roof to light sparklers on the fourth of July. She also sang at the top of her lungs the Star Spangled Banner into the dark Spanish night so everyone would know it was our nation's capitol. I even got her to wear the billy bob teeth. What a gal!! She survived Badalona (the gypsy town of Spain) with me and left with a boom. What a great missionary!! It was such a great reunion. She's preggers with her first baby and it's a girl!! Hooray!!!

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!!