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!!

King Louis' romp

Sucking in?
Two little ladies.


At the National zoo there are these cables that the orangutan can swing on that go right over the walk ways. At first I couldn't believe that the monkeys were outside of their cage but now I think it's pretty cool. So did Sadie and her little buddy Lizzie. This video cracks me up more so because of the distinct ways the girls dance. Sadie does squats and Lizzie just bobs around. Hilarious!!

Say Cheese!!

Trying to get a picture of Sadie in her Easter dress is much harder than it looks.....actually it's as hard as it looks.

Our little bowler

We went bowling with the McNair's last weekend. It's wasn't too competitive seeing that Sadie wanted to bowl during both Chase's and my turns. She also loved dancing around to the disco/rock music. Even if we decided to compete, there's no way we could have been defeated the McNair's. They are both amazing bowlers. I can't even remember how many strikes Matt got. Good thing we didn't bet on the game.

Easter Fun

We had an easter egg hunt at the Mecham's house with the Gardner's as well. The three little ladies had a great time running all over the park to find their eggs. Sadie was very particular about which eggs she wanted. There were some eggs that were glittery. She examined each egg as she picked them up and if they were glittery, they were discarded. It was hilarious. We also hid a stuffed duck in the trees for them and Sadie didn't want it. She only wanted her non glittery eggs. We love hanging out with these guys. It was a blast!!

It's a bear!!

We have this Wiggles CD and there is a song that Sadie gets very excited about called "We're going on a bear hunt." Every time they get to the cave and find the bear, this is what happens. I love how slyly she tries to take the camera away from me.

Supporting the locals

I love to support all the local gals I know that are amazingly creative. I have already sent a lot of you ladies a link to my friend's Etsy store (blue dandelion or http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5162160)and I just found another website that makes really cute clips too. I was a Chi Omega with her at the U. You can totally tell that she used to work at Anthropology. http://tatertothairclips.blogspot.com/ So if you need some cute clips check out Jaime's Etsy store or Chelsea's blog for a little treat. Sadie finally has hair so I'm getting all excited about accessories.

Let the "Madness" begin

Being married to a sports fanatic has really influenced me over the years. For the first time I decided to join instead of fight March Madness. There are usually many arguments in our home over all the television that is watched over the these next three weeks and I decided that I couldn't win. Chase is just too obsessed!! So I filled out a bracket of my own and am actually more into it this year. Just so you know, I am doing better than Chase.

Our Little Diva

Sadie has really light blue eyes that are super sensitive in the sunlight so she always asks for her "Gasses" whenever we go outside. They really help and it's doesn't hurt that she looks absolutely adorable as well.

Spring is Here!!

Yes, Spring has finally arrived and I'm feeling it. I have never had allergies before and always felt so bad for people that had them. It has finally happened. I CAN'T BREATH!!! I've tried everything and nothing seems to work. If any of you have some advice, let me know. I'm dying here. However, the blossoms and pollen haven't stopped us from getting out. We were out every day last weekend. Chase surprised me with a night on the town in D.C. for our anniversary and had his brother watch Sadie for the night. We stayed at the Marriott and went to a hilarious show at the Kennedy Center called "Sheer Madness." We then watched Juno on demand in our hotel room. I felt very pampered.
The next day we picked Sadie up and brought her back to the hotel pool to have a little fun. She swam all the time in San Diego and I think she must have missed it because we couldn't get her out. She was having so much fun blowing bubbles and swimming like "mermaid" or "nemo."





After wards we went out and toured downtown. We of course chased squirrels, skipped in freedom plaza (Andrea and Jess..you know what this is), and just enjoyed the sunshine.

When we weren't looking we noticed that she had run back to her stroller and climbed in by herself. I guess she was telling us it was time to move on. I love how proper she looks in this picture. We must have really worn her out because she zonked the second the car started.