Engagement Party!

Lest I leave Seth out of all the fun....

Ryan Morley & DeEtte Chatterton got even MORE of our friends together for an engagement party before we left for Utah. It was SO classy and SO fun!! They had a chocolate fountain (with amazing chocolate I might add) with fresh fruit and amazing cheese and crackers. Amanda Stanfill made this AWESOME "Mormon Punch" consisting of Pineapple Juice, Ginger Ale, and Mint leaves. It really was YUMMY and added another touch of class.

I don't have a ton of pictures from the party, so if anyone else has some I'd LOVE copies!!

Two of my girls, Belle & Laura

The Punch!!!



DeEtte:



Thank you for ALL of your love and support, our great DC friends!!!

Tea Party Shower in DC!

My dear DC friends threw a shower for me in DC!!! It was AMAZING.

This is the AMAZING FOOD:



And the tea party costumes :)



And my Girls:





Hats!



Millie:


Newly Engaged Jocie:


My Julies:



Mrs. Pressley & Jocie:



THANKS Girls!!!!!

Our First Wedding Gift!

Yesterday I got home from work to a big package at the front door! It was from BB&B, so I could only assume it was our very first wedding gift!!!

I anxiously waited until Seth came over, and we opened it together. As Seth was reading the note, he groaned...

Rewind three weeks: We were registering. A "High Heel Cake Server" caught my eye, and I said "Oh, this this. Scan it!" Seth said "Nope!" and laughed at me. We then got into a very detailed discussion of what it meant to use a cake server in the shape of a high heel to serve cake. Normally something like that would gross me out, but the cake server is ADORABLE and I wanted it. Normally Seth wouldn't care, but he REALLY didn't want a high heel for a cake server.

I said "beep it" and seth pretended to scan the server and said "Boop beep." It just happened that there were several people around us at the time, and everyone started laughing. I even cracked up.

Well...somehow it ended up on our registry....and dear friend Terrah saw it and must have KNOWN there was a story behind it. I told her this lovely story, both of us laughing.

Fast forward to present. Terrah & Tyler save the day with the best first wedding gift EVER, complete with a tray to serve the cake on. Thanks guys!!!!

Sacrament "Creativity"

Just an observation...

The past month, our ward has made some very interesting choices in sacrament bread. I think we're getting a little "creative" as a singles ward...and I'm not sure I agree with it. In fact, I think we need to get an authority out here quickly to rectify the situation!

A month ago it was hardcore thick homemade sourdough bread

Three weeks ago we had some hardy wheat

Two weeks ago we had a mix of Yellow Potato and Cinnamon Swirl

And this last week we had Pita bread.

Hmmm. So I know it doesn't matter what we use, but I would imagine that if white bread is readily available and not a sacrifice, it would be the standard use for a congregation in America.

Bachelorette Party!

I have a lot of catching up to do!! Some posts I started a month ago, so I'll just post them as they were... :)

A Month Ago....I had a great weekend!! I think it started out right by going to Bread and Chocolate for Lunch with Jenell. Who can go wrong with Chocolate Fondue for lunch? (don't worry, we had side salads, too!)



Friday Night was The Office "Bachelorette Party" with Jess, Heidi, Mel, & Lauren.


We drove up to Annapolis, MD, for a fancy dinner at the Chart House, a seafood restaurant that's right on the harbor. We actually had to take a water taxi to get to it!!



Here is our first seating location:



And the best view of all:



Yes. Those are Seersucker crab pants. We had an AWESOME wedding party that took over our end of the restaurant. Haha. So we moved to the other side of the party:



What a FUN evening! Thanks Coworkers/Jessica!!!

Ballet Across America

Last night Seth and I took a break from life and went on date night to the Ballet. It was AMAZING!

I've never been to the ballet before, and free tickets came up on the listserve, so I jumped at the chance to go!

The first company was Ballet West from Utah. They were beautiful dancers, they did a very traditional ballet with a lot of pretty imagery.


Then the Philadelphia Ballet performed In the Night. They were a smaller cast and had all couples dancing. It was pretty good!


Then the Houston Ballet performed "Velocity" and it seriously blew me out of the water. It was AMAZING. It was a very modern piece with AMAZING unique moves. The girls tu-tus went straight out--I LOVED THEM. I also would like to have a ballet dancer's legs. Seriously. SO Strong and SO defined. MAN!


I think I've started another quest in life--To be a ballet dancer! :)

Race for the Cure

A couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to run a Marathon. I announced it on my gchat tagline and bought some running shoes online. I then went to target and picked out a new running outfit (not to be confused with my new tennis outfit) and running socks.

A few days later, my shoes arrived so i got in my new outfit, tied my shoes, and proceded out the door, ready to start my rigorous training program.

I think it was four blocks later that I stopped. And walked back to the house. Defeated. Oops! Spoke to soon--a marathon? isn't that something like 200 blocks?

I think ever since then I've secretly wanted to run, but didn't have any idea where to start.

Then my work decided to sponsor a team, the JAG Eagles, for the Race for the Cure 5K in DC. After some thoughtful consideration, I decided that it was time for me to set a goal, albeit small, that I could work to achieve.

Well....as most goals go, I stalled and stalled. Seth is amazing though. On Memorial Day, I was finally ready to start my rigorous training schedule, and Seth played the role of trainer! We started running laps around this park next to us, and then we moved to the track, and then to the trail and finally to the course.

Seth ran by me every step of the way. We all know that his legs are twice as long as mine and that he's the fastest runner in the world, so in reality I ran while seth shuffled next to me. But he never skipped a beat. He carried my water, and he pep talked me through everything.

At first the running was really hard. I threw up on occasion, and cried a lot. I know it seems silly, but it really is mental for me. I don't like to feel like I'm slow or like I'm falling behind. And I hate it when I don't reach my mini goals that I set. It is super discouraging to me at first. BUT, the thing that got me through was my honey. He was there to let me cry and talk me out of feeling sad. He went above and beyond the call of fiance duty and REALLY helped me overcome one of my weaknesses. I get choked up just thinking about it :)

OKAY, end of LONG before-story. On to the RACE!!!!

Here I am Stretching before the race!!!


Me and My Trainer: (my eyes look kind of buggy...I was really ner-bous!)


You may notice that the pictures look a little fuzzy. It wasn't the camera--that was the air. It was WAAAAAAAAAY foggy and humid. We had a heat advisory that started at 9 AM. At one point my car said it was 97 degrees. Phew!

And here is our Team!!!

(Missing from this picture = Kyle and Kristi and Julies)

Poor Team-Leader Heidi was sick, so she didn't walk the race with the rest of the team. But we did get her some awesome breast cancer earrings so when she wins our company JAG award (the most prestigious of all awards) she can wear them. Others on our team "Slept in for the Cure" which is actually legit--it's an official part of the race!

I ran with Whitney for the first 2.5 miles, and then she kept running while I had to take a little break and walk/shuffle for a block, and then i finished off the race. At the end, seth had to run off the course because he'd forgotten his bib, so i took off at a full sprint! I may have knocked a few people over, (not really), but I made it right before the next minute! I then threw up. And then....well, ya know.

While at the race, we saw our friends Christy and Sharri, who also ran. They were fabulous and quick! We all enjoyed some carbonated yogurt together!

I loved being able to accomplish a goal with the help of Seth and the encouragement/cards/thoughtful words of so many friends and family. It may not seem like a big deal to run a 5K, but to me it meant more than just a run--it's the start of a new hobby! I have been trying to convince seth to run "The Race for the Rainforest" in a few weeks, and I think we'll keep running for a long time!

I'm so lucky

Seth with our friend's baby. I can't help but imagine this as our lives in a few years.

Julie, meet Darcy

My friend Julie bought a car about 9 months ago. His Name was Percy. Percy was kind of old for Julie, and sometimes he wasn't as committed as we all would have liked for her.

Well, one day Julie decided to sell Percy. Not that she wanted to trade up--she's loyal as they come. But she knew it was time for both of them to take a step back and move in other directions. They just weren't meant for each other anymore.

So Julie let Percy move on to a "better fit." It was bitter-sweet. We were there to see it happen. And Percy might have been sad, but he knew he just wasn't quite up to the caliber that Julie deserved.

As we were watching Percy go, Julie said with a tear in her eye (not really) "Janey, who will be my next car?"*

I said "Julie, we're just going to have to go and find your Darcy."*

And with that, the Dream of Darcy was born.

And with that, we headed to the new car lot. (a used car just wouldn't do for a Darcy)

It wasn't even much of a decision--Darcy just kind of came to her. He wasn't everything she expected, but she liked him even more for that (i.e. she never thought she'd EVER want a medium blue car! But as soon as their eyes/headlights met, they knew it was a match, and it just "fit") And Darcy had a sunroof, a cd changer, an AV iPod hookup, and the new car smell, just like she'd always wanted.

Darcy was speechless. Just as he should have been. He had the catch of a century.

So they drove off into the sunset.



And then they lived happily ever after.

*Paraphrased

Lindsay's Lakehouse!

The weekend after memorial day we had the chance to go with our friend Lindsay Lansing to her family lakehouse with some other friends from the area. It was a BLAST!!!! We headed down on friday at about 10 PM (long story) and got there about 1:30 AM. On the way down our car-mates quoted this youtube clip repeatedly, and I have to say I will ALWAYS think it's funny...


We woke up early on Saturday morning to this view...



And went out to the water!!!



I know this is a VERY attractive photo. That's why i'm posting it...(oh wait....it's AWFUL, that's right). I swallowed a bunch of water the first time i tried to get up and was chokey gross the rest of the time...haha don't count me in as a superstar water skiier.



But here's hottie Seth getting ready to wakeboard:



Mostly I enjoyed having a dance party on the Boat to the Little Mermaid. Thanks Linz!

Memorial Day!

First, a tribute to our friend Sarah, who recently moved to California. We hope we can join you someday Sarah, and we miss you already!!!


Memorial Day was SUPER relaxing and lots of fun. We relaxed most of the weekend and just enjoyed ourselves.

We went to the Memorial Day Concert on Sunday evening, it was fantastic! (In case you can't see, that's Gladys Knight)



And while we were there we got to watch the best sunset ever:


It's always fun to be at the capital!



On Monday we went running and swimming and then went to a fantastic bbq hosted by Julie Bradshaw and Emily Hellewell. It was so fun to relax and enjoy the nice weather!

David Archuleta--Post AI

Sethy sent this to me last night. It's nice to see what he's doing post AI, I think he'll really make a difference for a lot of people :)