Sights We've Seen

WW2 Memorial and all the war memorials surrounding it. I'm standing next to CA to honor my grandpa Denny and his service in the Navy during the war. After taking this pic, I remembered that while my whole life my grandpa lived in LA, he joined the military in his hometown in Illinois. But who cares, Grandpa Denny caught my drift up in heaven.




A view of the monument from the WW2 Memorial.




The DC temple (actually in Maryland). It's like a mini temple square, with a fraction of the crowded masses factor. Very cool. But just like Temple Square, those cute Sisters roped us in to giving them a referral. Bless their hearts.




The Botanic Gardens. They facilitated an entire room of about 15 toy trains. Heaven for Will. He stayed in this exact same position for about an hour.




Paid our respects to Julia at the American History Museum. Also saw the Transportation Hall (lots of trains, planes, and automobiles)




Spent Christmas night at the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. So cool. A must see. Especially at night.




Another picture from the American History Museum. Will got to meet Emily Pickersgill (or someone dressed as Emily Pickersgill), the maker of the 15 star flag, and got to help set out all the pieces for her to sew. He even got to place a star on the cannon. He thought he was pretty cool.

Also seen, but not photographical evidence:
Arlington Cemetary (Kennedy Family graves and changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier)
Union Station (DC's Grand Central Station)
A private tour of the Capital Building (honestly, next to walking on the Great Wall, it's one of the coolest places I've ever been in my whole life)
Lincoln Memorial
Air and Space Museum

This really is the coolest place to live. I've told Cort that while there are many drawbacks (cost of living, traffic, etc), I know I'll never live anywhere where I can educated my children more than here. I mean, how many places can you live where your kid is interested in trains, dinosaurs, and airplanes and be able to show him at least 20 different historic sights having to do with their latest obsessions to satiate their mind's appetites?!

I feel like I can give my kids the world, here.

Christmas

This Christmas has been a little rough-not going to lie. I usually look forward to this time of year as a time to grow spiritually and spend lots of time with our beloved friends, but because of moving I feel like we just skipped Christmas. I've spent every waking moment trying to help Will adjust (please keep him in your prayers, he's really struggling with all these changes) that I haven't even watched TV since we moved (except for when Duke wakes up at 4 for no reason, then I watch Barefoot Contessa with him), let alone put any effort into the holiday. You'd think we were Jewish if you saw our house right now. Not a single decoration.

Yesterday I started crying, realizing that it's Christmas Eve and I had spent no time reading my scriptures (I love reading 3 Nephi, and prophecies of the Savior in the Old Testament) to prepare for this blessed day where we celebrate the birth of Christ. I felt so guilty. And overwhelmed. Adding to that, the two families we are close to in Vienna are away this Christmas. I was really feeling homesick and grumpy.

Luckily we have one other friend in DC.....the Wilcox Family! We made our way up to Silver Springs and had a great time being with friends and making new ones. Just that camaraderie really helped me feel better about the day. I also decided one of the reason it didn't feel very Christmas-y was that I made zero holiday food this year.

After Cami's, I decided enough is enough and I went to the store and bought too much fattening stuff and went home and started cooking/baking away. That really helped. Food really can heal the soul.

Next year, I have vowed to have a Christmas tree and lots of decorations and I'm planning on hitting up some after Christmas sales to stock up on tree trimmings in preparation.

Christmas 2012- I'll be ready for you!

A Night in Tuscany

That was the theme of Cort's company Christmas party, but I have to say, I can't really think of anything the entire night that made me think of Italy. Not that it mattered or anything, because the night was so much fun.







Here we are right before we headed out the door. This dress was way cuter than it looks in the picture. It was a Ralph Lauren bias cut dress that had really beautiful rouching details. I bought it in a panic after my first dress didn't work out, but ended up really loving my 2nd choice. This look is brought to you by: TJ Maxx (dress), Janessa James-my sixteen year-old neighbor (hair), Forever 21 (accessories), and Target (shoes). And this look was compiled by Cami Wilcox, my stylist.







The party was at the Mellon Auditorium, on the Mall. There was a band and lots of dancing. Followed by delicious appetizers and a dessert room:) There were hoards of valets covering me with umbrellas from the taxi to the entrance. I felt super VIP. We got there right when it started so there's hardly anyone there in this pic, but it filled up really quick. The whole evening was a great reminder we don't work for the government anymore.

The best decision of the night was folding ballet flats into my coat pocket to relieve my feet from my heels. Wow, heels really hurt! Its been so long since i wore heels for anything longer than church and i forgot how incredibly uncomfortable they are. Made me really appreciate my mommy wardrobe of jeans and converse.







The cream puff tower in the dessert room.







My cute up-do fell out during the night (complications of having so much hair). This is us shortly before we left after eating waaayyy too many cream puffs and mini fruit tarts. It was a really fun night. Already thinking about next year!

on my fifth year of marriage, my true love gave to me:

5 different homes/moves.






4 different cars (Malibu, explorer, sienna, camry).







3 jobs each. Cort-NuSkin, OSU, TABC. Me-NuSkin, Fisher, Freelance writer/editor.






2 high-risk pregnancies, resulting in 2 very wiley boys.






1 eternity together.








I've thought so much about "us" during this latest transition and I'm so thankful I married someone who loved adventure as much as me. I love that when new opportunities arise, we seize the moment, throw caution to the wind, and run into the darkness. Its scary, and frightening, and sometimes lonely, but we always come out so much better than before. Each time we move, we get to a deeper level with each other (easy to do when you're the only person your wife knows within a hundred miles) and now the thought of staying in one place for 5 years just seems boring. In fact now that I'm thinking about it, moving to VA was my 12th move since I was seventeen and moved away to college (9 years ago). There's something so satisfying about forging a completely new life, just the four of us.

Thanks for waiting all those years for me to grow up so that we could fall in love and have this awesome life.

I hope I'm always worth the wait.

Love you.

We're Alive...in Virginia!

We're alive! We are only living 35% out of boxes at this point, so all is not lost. Here are some random thoughts that have gone through my mind since moving.

Kids aren't as adaptable as I used to think. Maybe other kids are, but mine just aren't adjusting very well. Will has an exorcist meltdown at 4 pm, and then a second at 8 pm every. day.

I just learned I can ride my bike on a designated trail from my house to Pittsburg, if I ever wanted to do that.

We live in an OLD ward. 5 kids in nursery.

Traffic is the bain of my existence.

Never ever be on the road between 5-7 pm.

Order everything you can on amazon to avoid sitting in traffic to get to the store.

The grocery section at Target is the cheapest grocery store I've found so far.

I definitely need a Phil and Teds stroller. Took our double jogger to Union Station yesterday and it was a nightmare.

The metro is cool.

Target is 20 min away. Walmart is 15 min away. Costco is 15 min away. All of these are times withOuT traffic. This is why I order everything I can from amazon.

Will has starting voicing the most annoying cackle/evil laugh and it is one of the most horrible sounds on earth. And he loves doing it in public.

There are 2 different kinds of people in DC. Those who think kids are cool and cute and you're a great Mom for having 2 kids AND those who think you (and by extension, your kids) are disgusting. You know they are the latter when they slowly inch away from you on the metro.

Our house is great. Small, but it works for us and we love it. Neighbors are awesome too (they raked our 6 inches of leaves in the yard for us).

We are 20 min from Cafe Rio.

Cortney loves his job. He's a totally different person now. He is so happy and has every intention of staying with The Advisory Board Company for the rest of his career. It's a perfect fit for him. And a week on the job, and he's already a manager:)

Looking forward to utilizing our close proximity to a cruise port.

Found the best gym. The kids section has an indoor playground, a computer room, craft table, etc. My kids love going and even duke spent want to leave when I come get him. They also have a spa/salon, pool, and cafe for adults. Planning of showering there every day to fully utilize my 2 hour time limit.

We furnished half our house from craigslist after we got here. We went to pick up a hutch one night and came home with a hutch, a BBQ, a marble slab patio table, and shoe organizers.

We have a guest room, a sofa bed, and if that still isn't enough sleeping space, I promise to buy a snazzy aero bed if we need for space for visitors.

Our neighbors across the street are from Alpine and work for senator Mike Lee. They are the kindest family and love that great babysitters are just a few steps away!

It is SO sunny here. Blue skies too. Makes me realize how gloomy Columbus is.

Hasn't gotten below 50 since we've been here. If this is typical winter, count me in.

Cort's company has "legendary" Christmas parties and we are so excited to go to our first one. It's a live band/sit down dinner/dancing/after party gig. My dreams of playing dress up have come true and I'm guaranteed at least one night a year where I can pretend I'm VIP.

My dear friend Cassie came to help me organize my kitchen and it's amazing. She's like a magician. She takes a ton of stuff, and makes it all disappear, one container at a time.

Having a portable dishwasher isn't as bad as I thought.

It's so nice to hang out with Cami again. Forgot how much I missed her. Great having friends where you pick up right where you left off.

I've sold 60 copies of my book so far.

I'm exhausted.

Duke has a mullet. His hair will be cut in the next week.





I saw this sitting in traffic today and it made me laugh.




My cupboards, "Cassified"




One of the millions of self portraits Will has taken in the last week.