The Tickets have been Purchased...

and it's official! I'm coming to Utah on April 11-18th!!! I get to come for Grandma's Birthday and to catch up and see the family (and maybe a few friends, too!).
I am so excited to see Mom and Dad, western family and friends!!

Grandpa Milt

Last week, our Grandpa Milt passed away at 93. Grandpa was such a funny man, I really liked seeing him and talking to him. Mary shared most of my favorite memories of Grandpa in her blog, but for those that don't read it, our favorite story of Grandpa is when he was at our house for dinner, and at the end of the meal said to dad "well if you'll bring me a spoon without holes in it, i'll eat the carn juice." We all looked at him in disbelief and giggled, and he was serious!!!

I also remember Grandpa kissing us on both cheeks whenever we came to visit. I know that Grandpa really loved us and cared about us. Grandpa also always had a question for us, something that I knew he'd been thinking about and wanted to ask us. I remember him saving something from the "Heritage Foundation" out for me the first time I came back from DC to visit. He wanted me to know that he had researched their work and that he was glad I was working with them. Bless His Heart. :)

I heard that the funeral went really well and was good. Thanks for being there to represent the family, Carol and Mary!!

Grandma is in our prayers as she deals with life's new adjustment, and we will continue to pray for her well being and happiness. We love you Grams!

Charleston!

Charleston, SC!

This weekend Seth, Tammy, and I went to Charleston, SC!!! It was kind of a random trip, Tammy really wanted to go and invited a lot of people, and as they one by one dropped out, we realized it would just be the three of us, but we knew fun times were ahead and decided to push forward anyway!

The drive isn't too bad, it's only 7.5 hours-ish, and the scenery is beautiful, even in Dreary Late February!!! The first night we got to the hotel we decided to pretend like we were German (as we had booked the hotel under Frau Tammy Richards with special instructions "I am Germany, and Ok. Please speak slowly"). The hotel personnel totally believed it, and it was so fun to just start out the trip a little silly! We planned out our trip that night, and got all ready for our adventures the next day!

Saturday we woke up early and went to the Magnolia Gardens Plantation, where we took a 45 minute bus tour around the perimeter of the Plantation. This is where we saw the alligators, many of which were over 60 years old and up to 13 feet long! We also went to the petting zoo there, which might have been my favorite part. The geese and the goats felt a special bond with my white poofy coat, and we had a lot of fun playing with them all. Strangely, the pigs seemed to take the best to Seth...hmmm... :) I just loved the little goats because they reminded me of stories of "Nibs" Dad's goat.

After the plantation we went to Fort Sumter, the beginning of the civil war, where 85 union soldiers were attacked by the Confederate Army at Fort Sumter. The official site says that "The island where Fort Sumter stands was constructed with a foundation of over 70,000 tons of granite and other rock. For over a decade ships from as far away as New York and the Boston area dumped this material on a shoal in Charleston Harbor." So basically they got all the rock and built up this little sand shoal until they could build a fort up on it, exactly a mile from Fort Multry, on the other side of the harbor. We took a big ship over there to the Fort, and then toured the island for 40 minutes or so before taking the ship back.

It's CRAZY how big the ships are that sail in the harbor! Seriously, one ship (one of the last pictures) is bigger than Fort Sumter, the island!

Sunday we walked around the harbor and took pictures of all the pretty houses, and then tried to go to the singles branch. It was funny, we got there about 5 minutes early, and walked in to hear the prayer...and seth was like 'they start church EARLY here!' and then we were like 'it must be stake conference, that's crazy that it started at the same time' and then we said 'oh, yeah, that was the CLOSING prayer..." so we missed church (but our church was cancelled so really it was even.

Anyway, so then we drove back in the snow and rain! The end of a fabulous trip!

WE'RE EMO!!!!!

Seth got me....PHOTOSHOP for VDAY!!!! BBFE (Best Boy Friend EVER, for those non-emo people who don't know...)!!

Disney on Ice Video!

Here it is, as promised!

Disney on Ice Album!

Vday and Disney on ICE!

Okay, you don't have to look at every single picture in the album, as they're not very bright or professional, but seriously, this was one of the most amazing things Seth and I have ever done. Our friend Lindsay's Brother is one of the leads in Disney on Ice, so she got us vouchers! (THANKS LINDSAY!) We had the best seats, they were front and center, the first raised row...it was so cool!!!

Attention: If your kids are ever in the same city as Disney on Ice, and Aunt Jane is there, she will take them to Disney on Ice. It's a show every child should see. It's true, I got choked up during about three different parts wishing the kids could be here to see it! I knew hannah would absolutely die over the disney princesses, and that Kyle would have just LOVED seeing mickey mouse. And Owen would have thought the toy story soldiers were just so awesome! And all the other kids would have just loved every minute of everything I'm sure! I also just wished mom and dad could have been there. I always think of Dad when I see Mickey Mouse, and I knew both mom and dad would think it was so cool. I wish you all could have come to be there with us, we thought about you all the whole time!

Valentines day!

Seth and I were so lucky to have valentines day off of work and school (because of the snow and icy rain!). Seth came over about noon, and we went to lunch with my coworker, got coldstone ice cream (yum!) and then hung out and caught up on our tv shows that we've missed the past few days.

Then we went to dinner at PF Changs!! Lemon Chicken and Orange Peel Beef...MMMM. Even though it was really cold, we decided to dress up! I wore my pretty red dress that I've been talking about for weeks now, it's so fun and sassy! And Seth wore his red tie and black suit, he looked so handsome! (AND we matched!)

After dinner we went home and watched "Lost" and then cuddled for a little bit before we had to face the bitter cold for Sethy to take me home. The day was perfect. My Seth was perfect. Yay for love!

Haircuts!

Snaps for Julie Bradshaw, newest hairstylist for Seth and latest bang trimmer for Jane! I've been meaning to get bangs again for awhile, and the opportunity presented itself, yay!

I flowbee'd seth's hair a few weeks ago...and it really needed some real haircuttering, so Julie was able to whip out a fantastic do, he's hotter than ever!!

Attention: Virginia is for Lovers!

Happy Early V-DAY!!! Seth and I are Matchy Match Lovers, isn't everyone so proud of us? HA!

The List...

I like this, Thanks for starting it, Andrea (whoever you are!) and for continuing it, Amy and Heather. I've just been trying to think of things that aren't TOO telling :)

So the basic Idea of this list, for those who haven't read other's postings....is to write five little-known facts about onesself, facts that others might not readily know. I like making lists, so here you go!

1. I LOVE sentence diagramming. It all started with Mrs. Garn's English class, where I initially learned to diagram....and since then, when I read a complex sentence, or when I'm trying to figure out a part of speech, I diagram the sentence in my head. (If you're wondering what I’m talking about, go here... http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm ). I need to write that woman a thank you note...she needs to know of this passion of mine. (Interestingly, my boss and student worker share the same passion for sentence diagramming, and another co-worker gave us a book about it for Christmas!)



2. I'm not a Republican. (I hope Grandpa Larry doesn't roll over in his grave!) For the record, I'm not a Democrat either, nor an officially classified Independent. I like the idea of consistency in beliefs, and so far I haven’t found a party that does that. I think about politics a lot, and living in DC I really can’t get away from it. Admittedly, it’s nice to pretend like I can separate myself from all parties and look at each with both a critical and complimentary eye.



3. I used to say "brefkast" instead of "breakfast"...and everyone thought it was cute!



4. Over the course of my life, i've been alergic to milk, apple juice, apples, bananas, peanut butter, chocolate, red food dye, corn, popcorn, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, and most recently, MSG. Limits my caloric intake, that's for sure! Currently, I abstain from MSG, most Milk products, red food dye, and High Fructose Corn Syrup. The rest, I just deal with the effects (Which mostly include hyperactivity...and if you don't think it makes me hyper, just ask Seth!)



5. I once recieved a free 6 foot lovesac that I obtained through persistence...a list of 40 reasons why I needed one...and a little flirtation with the marketing director of Lovesac. He told me I could have a free one in the end if i sent him pictures of me in the lovesac...so I started dating Seth, got the Lovesac, and Took some couple pictures...sent them his way, and told him that I had indeed found Love in the Lovesac. :) (BTW, he's very happy for me!)



Tag, you're it Mary! (and whoever else reads this and currently has a blog, would like to start one, or who just wanted to send their list to me....