I Love You More Today Than Yesterday

Happy Anniversary, Babe!



Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.
-Tom Mullen

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong admit it;
Whenever you're right shut up.
- Ogden Nash

Washington D.C.

Our first stop in Washington was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. There is SO much stuff in there! We saw some of the materials that were used on the Wright brothers original airplane to space ships that have been to the moon!

A couple weeks before our trip we saw Wally Herger (a California Congressman) at church. We told him we'd be in Washington and he gave us a business card with his office phone number on it and told us to give him a call when we were in town. Well, we did and he hooked us up with a personal tour of the Capitol building. We got to see the same stuff that a regular tour would see, but instead of being in a group of 30-40 people, it was just us! Justin's favorite part was sitting in on a session where the House of Reps were discussing the economic situation and the bill they developed (which at that point had not yet been passed). It was really interesting (more so than watching it on C-Span). Representative Herger also invited us into his office and we got to sit and chat with him for awhile. It was very cool, and nice of him to take time to do that with us.

The weather was a little gloomy, but (1) It prepared us for England; and (2) We decided that we preferred it that way over it being hot with all the walking that takes place to get from monument to monument. There's a ton!

The Washington D.C. temple is exquisite. We were also surprised by how big it is! We haven't been inside a big temple in a long time. I was able to talk to some missionaries from the area who gave me directions to the closest stake center to our hotel so I could watch the R.S. broadcast. It was very good. However, in one of the talks an experience was recounted of living far from their mother for a time. It got my tears flowing, which didn't stop for nearly the rest of the night. Justin was a little late picking me up and when he saw my tear-stricken face he thought I was upset with his tardiness. He felt terrible. Unfortunately when I tried to explain why I was crying it just made me cry more. Poor guy had to live with the guilt of driving his wife to tears until I was able to clarify a couple hours later. I share this to simply reveal that while our trip was great and our move has gone smoothly, I'm not a robot. It is terribly hard adjusting to being so far from family and dear friends. Justin has been amazingly patient and comforting. I couldn't ask for a better husband.

One of the unpictured highlights of our trip was The Office season premiere. Oh, how we love that show. We've discovered that in order to watch it over here we'll have to buy each episode from iTunes. It's worth whatever it takes.

I'm probably forgetting a million things from this leg of our trip, but this posting is already long enough, so oh well.

Gettysburg, and a little Hershey

Gettysburg has a very beautiful, hushed, almost reverent atmosphere about it. You can sense the sacrifices that were made there and the significance of the events that took place over 200 years ago.

So much to say

You know how when you have a million things to blog about, you don't have any time to blog about them?  That's been the case in my life.  There has been so much going on, I hardly know where to begin.  I'm sure you're probably all interested in hearing about our new overseas residence (or maybe you feign friendship and couldn't care less), whatever the case may be you'll have to wait.  I have to update about our Tribute to America vacation before I move on to Oxford.  

The trip was amazing!  We went to Philadelphia (my favorite destination), Gettysburg, and Washington D.C. (we also made a short stop in Hershey, Pennsylvania for all you chocolate lovers out there).  We saw so many things that have contributed or are currently contributing to making America great.  We saw other less significant but equally cool things as well, like the playground where Will Smith was "chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool, and shootin' some b-ball outside the school" in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  

Another favorite part was driving from place to place.  The countryside in the East is unbelievably beautiful!  We decided to take that area into consideration when the time for selecting a permanent residence rolls around.  Mom, I know it's far, but at least it's closer than England!

Here are some of our photo memories from Philadelphia:

.5 ounces of BIG news

After:

- 8 months of "trying"

- 9 home pregnancy tests (yes, 9)

- 1 definite miscarriage

- 1 suspected miscarriage

- 4 OB appointments

- 12 weeks of pregnancy

- And 8 weeks of waiting to tell...

We are thrilled to finally announce that I AM PREGNANT.  Hollahh!!    

T-Minus 14 Days

I can't believe we are leaving 2 weeks from today.  Crazy.  We actually won't be arriving in London until the 29th, but we've scheduled a "Tribute to America" vacation that will have us spending time in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington D.C. for about 6 days prior to our UK arrival.  I'm very much looking forward to the trip.  All our stops will be firsts for me: the White House, Gettysburg, Lincoln Memorial, and all those other classic tourist places over there.  So fun, and so appropriate before our overseas move.  

We have so much to do between now and the 23rd, but I'd have to say my biggest concern right now is selling our car.  Anyone interested in an '04 Honda Pilot??  I wish so badly we could take it with us, but we might as well buy a brand new Mercedes Benz once we get there with what the shipping costs would be.  Plus, I'm not really sure their cobblestone streets are big enough for our American SUVs over there.  It is such a great car, and I will be very sad, yet very relieved to see it go.     

Last Hoorah to Summer

We took a spontaneous trip to Tahoe over Labor Day weekend. It was beautiful (as Tahoe always is), a little chilly, but even that was enjoyable in comparison to the hot temps we've been having at home. It was fun to take one last family vacation before Justin, Cody, and I leave for England in just a couple weeks. We enjoyed the beach, an intense game of miniature golf (congratulations to Winner Cody), a crowded hotel room, lots of good food, strolling through the shops, and some of us even enjoyed some classic casino gambling (Way to go, Mom! +$100; Better luck next time, Casey and Justin. -$100 accumulative).

Me & my cute hubby

I'm going to miss my mom!

What a good/semi-questionable looking group!

Cody's girlfriend, Victoria, came with us. She is so cute and fun. We like her a lot.

Cody, Casey, and Victoria braved the cold wind for some fun times on a wave runner.