Happy Week Happenings

Happiness for this week was:

A visit from Dad!! He was in the area for a work conference and we were able to have dinner Tuesday night and lunch on Friday. So glad I was able to have him here for awhile :) Love you Dad!

Going to the temple with Jenn for her first time. Always a special experience and glad I could be there and a part of it.

 Eve, Me, Jenn, and Zach. The temple is always a good place to be :)

 Visiting Great Falls, VA! This was wandering nature trails through beautiful forest and since it wasn't hard core working out, I decided it was okay for Sunday :)

 So I spent Sunday afternoon wandering up and down the VA side of the Potomac viewing the waterfalls...

 chilling with my feet in the Potomac's current...

 and exploring the locks that were part of the C&O canal system. Love the random historical things that are everywhere around here :)

 Just a sampling of the trails I was walking along.

 And some of the wildlife!

Overall, a good Sunday walk and a great end of one week and beginning of another. So excited for my hike later this week to Harper's Ferry. Sometimes I just really love life :)

Mud Butt the turtle

Once upon a time we were driving on the back roads of Maryland...

 We happened upon a turtle crossing the road and decided to name him Mud Butt.

 Mud Butt was quite shy at first and didn't want to come out of his shell.

But with a little coaxing, he emerged and gave us a smile.

We eventually bade good bye to our little friend and he quickly escaped into the bushes on the road side. Live long and prosper my turtle friend :)

National Zoo and random wanderings

Once upon a time, Christian and I decided to go to the Zoo. We saw lions, and tigers, and bears- oh my!

 Christian's favorites were the elephant and the turtles.

 Meanwhile, I took a shining to this big guy. Isn't he adorable?!!

 After the zoo, we started wandering around downtown. Christian loved the architecture of the Old Post Office building and Ben Franklin's statue in front.

 We decided we needed to take a bunch of pics with the Washington monument too. We wanted to touch it, but it's roped off. Lame. But still good photo moments!

 Christian's patriotic moment :)

 My goofy moment :P

And one of the two of us. A wonderful day to wander through the city, see new things, and go a little crazy with the camera. Good times!!

Dinner at Violette Lock

Friday evening Christian and I went for a picnic dinner at Violette Lock! It was once part of the C&O canal system just off the Potomac River.

We saw lots of wildlife including turtles, birds, and flying fish! Or at least fish that jumped out of the water for their insect dinners :)



We walked around before we found our river side seating arrangements. This is me near the edge of the Potomac.



 It's a pretty historic civil war era site too, so Christian has now conquered this strech of river for the Union side- good thing he's one of the good guys :)

 Christian and I by the Potomac- a dirty river, but some great views!

 On our drive back, we witnessed the most amazing sunset I've seen in months! The camera doesn't capture just how awesome it was but just believe me when I say I was dazzled!

Wonderful dinner, beautiful sunset over horses feeding in their fields, and excellent company. I'd say it was a pretty perfect evening for this girl!!

Embassy Week!

Embassy week in DC!! Christian and I went down and hit up a few of the European Embassies. So much fun to see so many different cultures-and eating their food was yummo too :)

 Christian in front of the Dutch Embassy. He served his mission in the Netherlands, and to my untrained ears, his accent sounded pretty genuine. He even got interviewed and will soon be on their facebook page!

Tulips in front of the Dutch Embassy. So pretty!

 Christian and the epitome of dutchness- a bike!!

 This one's for you Greg. The UK Embassy had an awesome car display. Gotta love it!

The English phone booth- so Britain :) In all we went and saw Estonia, Croatia, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, and Sweden. A full day of walking and crazy metro riding and totally worth every minute!

My Life Lately

 So I know I've been a blog slacker lately. Here's a few moments to help illustrate what's been happening with me the last 2 months!

 My favorite Chicago dwelling family, the Hanks, came to DC for Kevin's marathon. I love it when my BFF Naomi is here, and since I like my cousin Kevin and their girls tons too, it was all around good times :)

 Right before they got here, I finished the jean quilt I'd been working on. I wanted them to have a blanket for their bed-good incentive!

 I week later, I took myself down to the Tidal Basin for the Cherry Blossom Festival. They were just blooming when the Hanks were here and a rash of warm weather was making the festival a short one. Still, glad I was able to see some of the beautiful cherry blossoms.

 Something about the blossoms just makes me all kinds of happy inside :)

Finally, I worked out my schedule at the hospital so I had 8 days in a row off, and so mid-Apri I went to Chicago to see Naomi and fam! We didn't take many pictures, although we did paint their kitchen and Naomi has those photos on her blog. It was so wonderful being there with Naomi, Kevin, Brooklyn and Lily. Love them so much! I'm so glad they let me be a part of their lives. Above is from our last night's trip to Carrabbas. Lily loves her spaghetti- and Kev was such a good sport when she decided to...share :)

My cutie pie's growing up so fast!!

Me and Naomi! I couldn't ask for a better best friend in the whole entire world. There's no way to describe how much I depend on her! She's so amazing, beautiful, giving, loving, and supportive. I'm so lucky to have a friend like her!

New Clothes :)

This one's for you, Mom. Because new clothes happen so rarely, I decided to share my recently acquired church outfit. I think it looks pretty nice if I do say so myself :)