DC visit and Visitors

My brother, Jade and his wife, came to visit us in Virginia.  We had a great time. We stayed a couple days in Charlottesville and then headed to DC for a couple of days. I love to visit DC, there are always so many things to do. 

Scarlett and E got to hang out.

Arlington Cemetary. It was our first time and I really loved it there.

We had to walk the mall. 

We walked up to the capitol one night from our hotel room.

These guys love food like us and so we had a great time taking them to some of our favorites and also trying new ones out. My must visit if you go to DC are Founding Farmers for any meal(some of the best meals of my life were eaten here) and Good Stuff Eatery. Best burger and get the toasted marshmallow shake. Heaven right there.

visitors and d.c.

my parents came to visit the beginning of april and we had such a great time. we were able to sightsee with them quite a bit but i wish we would of had more time in dc to see more.  there is so much to do there!

 monticello, thomas jefferson's home.

 the white house. we were able to visit everything on the mall and we did a few more things in dc.  we stayed right downtown, it was like a block and a half from the white house and it was so fun to be close to everything.

 tj statue

 i think my mom forgot what we really wanted in the background. haha

 i love the capitol building.

 founding farmers for breakfast.  i made our reservation 10 days in advance and there was only one time left! nate's french toast was above and beyond the best french toast i've ever had. 

time with grandpa

 my parents bought her a cupcake since they couldn't be there for her actual birthday. she loved it.

thanks mom and dad for such a fun trip!

dc temple; frankenstorm

i had the opportunity to go with my relief society to the dc temple a couple of weeks ago.  i rode up with friends and had such a fun time. our ward is so great! the temple was amazing.  it is definitely one of my favorites now.  i also couldn't believe how big it was.  it was so nice to just feel at peace and get the feeling you get being in the temple.  i really never appreciated being so close to a temple. we literally had the provo temple 10 minutes from our house.  now we are 2 1/2 hrs. away. it definitely makes a difference. so all of you with a temple close, go! i've never regretted going to the temple. i couldn't help taking a few pics, it really was so beautiful.

 group photo shot of all that came. 

well hurricane sandy came and went. we feel very blessed that the predictions for our area did not come true. we had wind and rain but nothing serious. the news had said power outages were very likely so we were stalked up on candles and flashlights but nothing came of it.  i'm not grateful the hurricane came because all of the damage and lives lost, but i did get two unexpected days off of work so that was nice. nate also didn't have school so we hung out a lot.  this cold, windy, rainy weather got me in the mood for homemade chicken noodle soup. i called my mom for a recipe for homemade noodles and we had a delicious meal tonight.

i also made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. i used the worlds easiest recipe.

1 spice cake mix box
8 oz. pumpkin
chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350 and bake for 12 minutes.

they were fabulous, you won't be disappointed if you make them.

happy halloween tomorrow!

not much going on...

so i haven't blogged for a while...again!

basically, here is my day in a nutshell:
7:20 wake up and get ready
8:00 be at school
8-3:00 in school all day
3:30 time to go home!
3:45 arrive home exhausted

the rest of the day i try to make dinner. then i have pretty much had it for the day. kindergarten is so exhausting!!! i can't even describe it, but it is very tiring. i have managed to watch two seasons of dawson's creek and the 1st season of lost(what did you all think? don't tell me how it ends though!) also all of you that have a washer and dryer-be thankful. i will never not appreciate a washer and dryer in my home again! i am already so sick of hauling my laundry back and forth to the laundry building across the street.

nate gets home between 6-8, we eat dinner, and nate studies until 10-11. so. much. fun. ha i'm quite bored. but the weekends we try to have some fun. our ward is awesome also and there are quite a few other lonely bored wives, so that has been nice. i have only taken a few pics since we have been out here so lo and behold, here they are.

 do any of you watch diners, drive-ins, and dives? we love this show. we went to metro 29 diner this weekend while we were in dc and had their famous french toast. it was delicious, and even better the next day as leftovers.

 when we first moved out here we went to dc with my brother john to show him some of the sites. we also went to another diners, drive-ins, and dives-tortilla cafe.  this was just okay for me.  john and nate both got what they made on the show and it still was just okay. fun, hot, time in dc though. john and i are sweaty people(tmi) and we were sweating everywhere that day! heat with humidity is so different.

 this last weekend we stayed with friends for nate's fall break and it was so nice to have him not studying all the time! we went to the great falls outside of dc. they were so pretty.

playing with the panoramic photo option on the iphone. so fun.

p.s. sorry that was a very scattered post

hope everyone is having a lovely fall!

virginia trip

this post is very belated but that's okay. we went to virginia 3/22-3/25. it was fun to see where we might be moving too, and of course we are moving there now. we stayed with friends right outside of d.c. it was fun to see so many sights that i had never seen before. there are so many things to do that require short trips from where we will be.

first up, the law school. we spent a day in charlottesville and it was great. i can't wait to explore the area. it was so beautiful and green there. although i did feel a little claustrophobic because of the trees everywhere, but i'm sure i will get used to it. also we found an apartment! it took many, many hours of searching to find one. pictures will come when we are actually out there.

the front entrance of the school.

where nate will be spending most of his time in the next three years.

yes this really happened. nate's idea. kneeling in front of the white house.

the cherry blossoms were everywhere and they were so beautiful!

this was my favorite monument, the lincoln memorial

the zoo, it was free so it wasn't that great but it was still fun.

i am excited to get back out there and start the next chapter in our lives.