Expect the Unexpected

A couple of day's after Brian and I returned from Boston, my mom arrived for her long awaited visit. As is usual with me, I realize looking back that some of the funnest memories came from totally unplanned, unexpected moments. In my life, I truly am beginning to not only expect the unexpected, but to crave the lasting memories and fun that going with the flow brings.

Don't get me wrong. We did plenty of the planned and expected, and loved every minute of it. Long, brisk walks in Fort Ward enjoying the leaves that waited to peak until my mom arrived; walking through neighborhoods in our area enjoying the gorgeous houses; making a planned trip to the National Aquarium so my mom could see the dolphins Londyn adored; shopping at both malls nearby, H&M, and of course, Home Goods; watching a Friday night movie with pizza; being spoiled rotten with delicious dinners out at both nearby gluten free restaurants; munching on candy and goodies galore; FINALLY getting to show my mom the black squirrel that's moved into our apartment woods and is constantly discussed, and much swooned over, via cell on my morning walks; CVS runs, and Magruder trips.... all expected, and all so lovely.

But this trip, I think the most memorable moments came from the unexpected moments:

Seeing my mom as a convict. (Seriously...look at that mischevious little line-up grin. She's loving it! Starting to wonder if she was born for life on the lam) Me and my mom have always been into watching crime shows together, so the Crime and Punishment Museum tickets I got for a steal on Groupon were a blast.




Getting lost on our drive to Harper's Ferry, WV... only to see the most gorgeous color, and beautiful scenery of her whole trip. Or maybe of our lives. We haven't quite decided yet. All three of us were blown away. We borrowed some farmer's fields and fences for a photo op. I'm sure they don't mind. Farmers are nice as a rule, right? :)


Harper's Ferry was breathtaking too, by the way, but we expected that.




Setting up our Christmas tree. Beginning of November. Yes, I went over to the dark "pre-day-after-Thanksgiving" side. It was too tempting to have my mom see it, what with all the ornaments she's shipped over the years. And guess what? I'm LOVING having it up early, and have even snuck in some Christmas music here and there.

Spending a full day washing and waxing my car. Never expected to do this with my mom in town, but with the weather she thought it was a great idea, and we quite enjoyed each other's company while I learned just what a workout a full Turtle Wax can be.

Finding a See's Chocolates in the mall around the corner. NO WAY. Two boxes later...

Seeing hundreds (if not thousands...seriously) of crows migrating right over our heads on an impulsive walk to Safeway. The sun was getting ready to set, the moon was almost full, and it was...magical. For lack of a better word, magical! 15-20 minutes of amazement. It was just one of those moments I think we'll always remember. And now I know why crows are always found in autumn decorations. Never understood this while living in Utah... but now... boy howdy!





Boy do I love my mom and her visits. COME BACK MAMA! I'm not sure I can wait the few weeks til Christmas! :)

The British are Coming!!! The British are Coming!!!

Ever since we've been married, I've been wanting to get Brian to Boston. He loves boats, water and history, and after making some awesome memories in Boston with my girlfriend, Kristy, the fall Bri and I got engaged, I couldn't stop thinking about how much my boy would LOVE beantown. This summer, we decided this fall was THE fall, and this past week the much anticipated trip finally arrived!

I'm betting the Bostonians wished Paul Revere was still around to hang a couple lanterns and warn them we were coming, cuz boy did we take the town by storm! In our 3 days there, we saw tons of history, fall color and RAIN. We were bundled up, freezing, and trying to stay dry, but didn't let it slow us down. Some of our favorite highlights...

*Isabella Gardner Museum: they wouldn't let us take photos, but talk about an awesome lady. She spent her life collecting antiques and art, and then designed a big, Venetian Palace, complete with an inner courtyard, to house it all in. Amazing exhibits, all hand designed by an amazing lady in the early 1900s. (Speaking of Venice, early Bostonians were obsessed with Italy. It's so fun to see all the Venetian and Pompeian architecture around the city! Happy second honeymoon to us!)

*Tour of Fenway: Yep...Bri was in heaven touring the oldest ballpark in America...despite the cold and rain. Let's just say he was the last one out of the press box, and the last one off the green monster. Really, really neat.

*The Freedom Trail: old burying grounds where we met Ben Franklin, John Hancock and Mother Goose, Paul Revere's house, the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill (our walk up the hill led us to the cutest park), the Old North Church, the site of the Boston Massacre, and lots and lots of other historic sites, all crammed into a full day of walking all over a picturesque city. So amazing.

*Salem: Yes, we did Salem the Saturday before Halloween, and YES it was WILD. The rain kept us from doing the planned walking tours all over, but we still saw lots of old houses, lots of witches, lots of lines for bathrooms, the Salem Witch Museum and the House of the Seven Gables. Happy Halloween to us.

*Harvard: We pretended to be brilliant overachievers, and soaked in the gorgeous leaves and buildings for a couple of hours.

Add a yummy dinner by the harbor, lots of good food, hot chocolate galore, catching the "T", strolling through a park in the pitch black to find some duckling statues, praising the inventor of Hot Hands, and pondering with each other about why the outspoken Boston men weren't catcalling in their oh-so-distinct accents like they did with Kristy and I.... and you pretty much have our trip all summed up. :) As usual, the best part was just being around each other for 3 days straight. A little smidgen of our photos are below...

Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween! Now...bring on the holidays!

Apples... Get in Our Tummies!

We decided to do our apple picking this year at the first farm we ever picked apples at. How romantic, right, to revisit the farm where we have the fondest memories. Good ole High Hill Farm. So we loaded in the car, braved the awful traffic for a 2 hour drive, and finally arrived. Gorgeous setting... but the apple trees... looked...like...this:



Damper, damper. Luckily, there was an even bigger orchard just down the street, so we gave it a try. Lovely.

Rows and rows of apples...

Great views (I mean...look at that bum! wink wink)...

Delicious spoils...

All in all, very quaint. And scrumptious. Happy fall everyone!

Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuunnn...

My sister, Carly, tells the story like this: "I call to tell Amber that I'm coming to visit with the 2 kids the next day, and 2 minutes later... an earthquake hits! Watch out!" Ha ha ha.

I personally think the earth was as excited as I was by the surprise visit, and just couldn't contain itself. :)

We had an absolute blast during their stay. So fun to get to know, really KNOW, 2 year old Londyn and baby boy Britton and have some good times with the sis.

Some of the highlights:

*Londyn meeting the meerkats.




*Britton's smiles.

*Being called Aunt Um (or maybe more Ahm...wish you could hear her say it) all week.

*A very long car ride from Baltimore in rush hour traffic, with mommy following behind us in another car, and Londyn starving and tired. Doesn't sound like a highlight? It was. The distracting conversations were priceless. The best: teaching Londyn about panda bears eating bamboo, and hearing her repeat it the rest of her stay. "Pandas eat bamboof!" "Mama...pandas eat bamboof!" "Uncle Bye Bye...pandas eat bamboof."

*Watching Londyn wait and wait and wait for her Uncle Bri Bri to get home from work. When the lock would turn, she'd gasp. When the door would open, she'd run and give him a hug, and exclaim, "Mama...Aunt Um...He's here! He's here!" You should've seen Brian's smile.

*Of course the excitement over Brian returning home was only amplified by a ga-jillion after he got in the pool with her one evening. Cutest...thing...ever. And she was fearless, getting thrown in the air like a dolphin "that goes whoosh". Her and Uncle Bri Bri were best little friends from that moment on. If she was having a 2 year old moment when no one could do anything for her, including make her dinner, Uncle Bri Bri was allowed to make her mac and cheese. If she wanted a movie put in, Uncle Bri Bri could always pick the right one. Adorable.

*Getting into the city just early enough (and I mean barely early enough...running to the museum...) for a free planetarium show featuring the Sesame Street characters. Elmo caused awe and wonder.

*Watching Londyn make friends at Fort Ward (and everywhere we went really...), and leaving cute little Henry with a big, unexpected smooch. On the mouth!

*Watching Londyn's excitement over the dolphin show at the National Aquarium. We had to go up to Baltimore to pick up a car, so we decided to spend the day with the fishies. Her excitement over the jumps was contagious.

*Surviving a hurricane. Nothing but rain, really. :)

*Asking Londyn every time we got in the car if she needed help getting in her seat, fully knowing the answer, but just wanting to hear her say, "I got it...I got it."

*Aunt Um and Loo dance-a-thons. Her favorite song: The second on this playlist. My favorite part: Her singing along to "I love you, I love you, I love you" and adding an "Aunt Um" on the end. Then there was the moment she first heard the "Hey Mamas" in the background, giggled, and ran to the bathroom door where Carly was in the shower, knocking and saying, "Hey Mama!"

*Experiencing a 2 year old with IMPECCABLE manners. You can't do anything, big or small, for that girl without her saying, "Dank you Aunt Um!" and getting crazy excited. The best was the last night they were in town. Her dad joined us, and so we told Londyn we were going to blow up another big girl bed just for her. Part way through pumping, we heard her excitedly say, "Dank you MUCH Aunt Um! Dank you MUCH Bye Bye!"

*And last, but not least, fun fun adult time during the few hours when both kiddos were asleep. Clue, trivia, Boggle, watching Carly scarf Milky Ways, and laughing our heads off over everything from vocabulary to nothing at all. Good good times.

Come back Cookleberry. Come back Loo Loo. Come back Brittanica! We miss and love you!

Virginia Beach Taught Us...

that if we took out a personal ad, it would have to include the following:

* We love oceanfront hotel rooms, with stunning ocean views

* We adore waking up to see the sunrise over the Atlantic (as long as we can do it from our room, and promptly collapse back into sleep immediately after!)

* We get warm & fuzzy about long walks on the beach, especially when they are lit by a full moon

* We are capable of making new friends (scary, stalker-ish, bird-esque friends, but friends just the same. As long as "friend" can be defined as someone who approaches, stares, opens his mouth as if to eat you, and refuses to leave. Did I mention he was scary? Never been scared of a bird before... but seriously.)

* We are passionate about thinking that long walks on the boardwalk aren't too shabby either (skiball deficiencies and chain smoking crowds excepted)

* Curling up with a good book in a fantastic lounge chair, under a somewhat-wind-resistant umbrella for hours on end, and occasionally stopping to search for our lost shakers of salt are what we really crave.

* Winning our affections might require a little competitive spirit: Cheeseburger in Paradise, and Burton's Grill have completely won our gluten-free-friendly hearts. We are completely, madly, savoringly in love.

Yes, Virginia Beach taught us a lot about ourselves... if you're willing to put us up in our cozy hotel indefinitely, we are yours forever. :)

Enjoy the photo video of our beach weekend at this link only if you like cheesy beach songs, and don't mind swimsuit & smooching shots and white pasty bodies. Before you throw up in your mouth a little, just remember...you've been warned.

Shakin in our boots

After all the years of earthquake training in the Utah school system, years of practicing jumping under our desks and standing in door frames in preparation for the big one that's bound to hit someday, I had never experienced a real earthquake. Until today. Brian hadn't either. We'd both felt little tremblings and rumblings, but today we experienced a bonefide certifide quake. A 5.8 to be exact, with an epicenter a couple of hours south of us, and tremblings felt clear through New England. I must say, I'd be perfectly fine if we never "experienced" one again.

I was home on my computer, and my first thought: "WHAT is my upstairs neighbor doing?" But when the shaking got worse, and before long the whole apartment was shaking and shifting, my second thought: "Earthquake, or is DC getting bombed and I'm feeling it?" Either way, I was terrified. When things started falling off the walls and the shaking continued, my thoughts slowed down, and I had to work to not panic. That's when I guess the years of training kicked in. I headed for the pantry door frame, then quickly realized that getting squished by all of our canned corn and beans in the worse case scenario probably wasn't ideal, so I stumbled over the shifting floor to the bathroom door frame. Little did I know, an hour and a half north, Brian was huddled under his desk at work (image = priceless). The shaking felt like it lasted forever (I later heard a report saying up to two minutes). When it ended, I pow-wowed with our neighbors (I did manage to shakily throw on some clothes first, unlike one of my neighbors who was in her cute boy short undies and a t-shirt...I'm telling you...that's how scary the shaking was), stayed a bit at one of their apartments (she was babysitting 5 kids, and was a bit shaken up), and tried to call Brian and family. At first I thought I couldn't get my phone to work because my hands were shaking so bad...then I realized the lines were jammed. 4 hours later, they still are.

Quite the crazy and scary experience. I'd venture to say that between this, and the bear circling our tent last year, I've had my two most frightening experiences ever while living in good ole Virginia! But hey... I guess we've picked up a few more memories and stories to tell, eh? :)

All safe and sound here... and praying for no aftershocks. :) Oh...and Brian got off early, and I've finally stopped shaking so I suppose all is well! :)

I feel snazzy

I was so excited to see THIS yesterday, that I had to share! After a couple of years of designing wedding albums, and running a website, and renewing business licenses, for some reason this made it feel official. I'm a small business owner! (Who works at home in her pajamas, but never you mind that :)).

Woo woo for being featured on thebrideandgroom.com!

Mood Boosters

Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that I'm no longer ticked and that fall is right around the corner! The bad news is that I know fall is on its way because Tink has some new acorn dings. Yep. Acorns. In early August. Ha. At this point, you just have to laugh. I've found a good shop, and Bri assures me we'll have a garage soon. When that day comes, Tink will be going in for a full-blown pampering session and her bum injuries and accessorizing acorn dings will all be good as new. So on that note...

Back to the good news. The good mood magically appeared shortly after my last post. Or maybe it wasn't magic at all. Could've had something to do with this:






But if the stylin', GQ-esque toddler fashion wasn't what did it, I guess it could've been snuggling with a cutie-batootie boy:



Or maybe watching the two most adorable kids ever loving the gifts from Auntie Am and Uncle Bri Bri?





Or maybe I just get a kick out of seeing my 2 favorite little maniacs get that mischievous look in their eyes...




If it wasn't the monkeys, though, I guess it could've been the view from my bed at Bear Lake:



Yep, my summer trip to Utah was much needed and much, much, much enjoyed! Only thing that could've made it better: Brian being there. I think I maybe, kinda, sorta, might have found time to miss him a bit amidst all the camping, and playing and family fun. Maybe. Possibly. Ok...my dixie camping cup would probably say I definitely did:



I hated to have him absent on yet another Utah trip, but at least he had a good excuse. A long weekend out to South Carolina to visit his family and see our cute niece Sienna's baptism! He enjoyed himself immensely, and was thoroughly entertained by the three little Palmer Princesses... even though I don't have all his pictures to prove it.

(Hmmm... Alisha, Brian's sister in the back, isn't technically the third "little Palmer Princess" I was talking about... but since I'm working with the photos I have, we'll go with it. Ok Princess Alisha? :))

Morale of the story: I think we might be closely related to some of the cutest kids EVER. While this is slightly disturbing (I mean really...do you think it's fair that the bar is set that high? :) We are bound to disappoint someday...), it's mostly just loads and loads of mood boosting fun.

I usually don't blog ticked...

in fact, I honestly usually don't get ticked. Not really my thing. But today is SUCH an exception. Brian came in from work to tell me that my car has been hit AGAIN. And AGAIN no note. Apparently, that's the norm here. Hit someone's car, and hey...that's a-ok. Sometimes I have a problem with humans.

That means that in the 3 years we've been here, we've had 7 different incidents where we've had to have my car repaired...and guess how many were our fault. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch. That's 4 people hitting my backside. 2 freak episodes with acorns. And one nasty run in with vandalism.

Morale of the story: Don't move here. And if you do, bring a clunker.

Whew. Sorry. I suppose everyone needs to vent once in awhile. And I'm going to try to not even feel bad about it. We'll leave that to the people that hit my car. Ooops...wait. Nope. They don't either. :)

Every Weekend Should Be A Loooong Weekend.

Seriously. It would make for a much happier Amber and Bri Bri. :)

Brian was off Friday and Monday for the 4th, and I must admit that we partied. Flat out, no holding back, spoiled rotten PARTIED.

It started Friday with a trip to King's Dominion. Absolute BLAST, although, I will say that an amusement park at 29 is...exhausting. Not quite what I remember from my teenage days. Yes, by the end of the day we were motion sick, headachy, leg achy, hungry and trying to keep our eyes open... but it was so worth it. I think the best part of the experience was breaking out of our shells and riding some pretty intense coasters--those of you who know me well, know that I don't normally do coasters... let alone scary coasters. I just never have. So imagine my sense of triumph when I lived through The Volcano. Seriously...check out the link. So what if mid-ride I was yelling at Brian, "I swear, if this ride doesn't kill you, I'm going to!!!" We survived, and I'm happy to report no bodily harm has come to him. In fact, I think he got thanked for taking me out of my comfort zone. Brian has a video on his phone...I'll have to try to load it later.

We also rode the Anaconda (where we almost had our necks ripped right off), Flight of Fear (where I got so motion sick that for an hour after I paused at every trash can, but luckily never used one), and many others. Our streak on the coasters ended in the evening with a big wood coaster called Grizzly. We thought it would be mellow compared to what we'd done, but instead we got our brains scrambled. Poor Bri was messed up to the point of being done. :) ANYway...between the coasters and the killer water park (seriously...the Tornado...so fun)... what a great day.

Monday, we started the day at the pool. Had a little BBQ, and then headed to join hundreds of thousands on the National Mall for a Capitol Fourth.

We were on the west lawn of the Capitol Building, and the concert, featuring Josh Groban, Little Richard, Steve Martin and others was a ton of fun. The fireworks were pretty (although partially blocked by a big smoke cloud because of all the humidity), and I found myself telling Brian, "Ya know...one day in the not-so-distant future and we'll be watching this on TV saying, 'Can you believe we used to live THERE and go to THAT?'" Fun fun fun.

Now Brian is back to work, I'm back to designing books... and life is still good. Just not AS good. :)

Hope you all had a very Happy Fourth of July! Go America!!!

A tender mercy is...

*Loving every minute of a hike in Great Falls on the Billy Goat Trail and living to tell about it. (We were seriously scaling boulders like we were billy goats, and there were a few moments when I wondered...).



*Gearing up for my hubbie to be gone all the time working with the young men (rumors were flying that he was being considered), and then receiving the BEST CALLING EVER instead when we got called in for an interview: Youth Sunday School Teachers. Working with the youth: check. Doing it together: check. Getting to teach & feel like we're making a difference (which is something I actually love, as long as it's not adults): check. Getting a break from the intense callings of our last ward that required lots of evenings away from home: check. Perfect: check. So excited: check. Inspired bishop: check.

*Getting to sit together during all 3 hours of church. Love those 5th Sundays.

*Returning home after church to see the neighbor that has been keeping us up ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT with a blasting TV loading up a moving truck. We couldn't help but celebrate with a little dance once we were respectably inside our apartment.

*Finally getting ahold of the right technician who could get my business website back online. After 4 days of it being down, and countless other technicians assuring me it was deleted forever and there was nothing they could do, I was beginning to panic. Then, whala. Miracle.

*Finding a new brand of gluten-free hot dog buns that taste so normal, even Brian is impressed.

*Walking in the bathroom to find that Bri has fixed the plug in our tub. It's been broken for months, and occasionally my sore joints crave a soak! (I'd tried and tried. He is self-admittedly NOT a handyman, so I was pretty dang impressed.)

*Discovering that I can make phone calls from gmail. After over a month of having really spotty coverage in and around our apartment, it was getting hard to be patient as t-mobile fixes the tower problem. Finding that I can still harass my family whenever I want to definitely helps.

*Spending a long weekend together, enjoying the pool opening, a night at the movies and just being us. Heaven.

I know more than I know anything that Heavenly Father is always blessing his kids in ways too numerous for us to count... blessings tiny, big and everything-in-between. Some days it's just easier to see the tender mercies than others. Like this weekend...and man-alive, are we grateful!

Lessons we learned in Disneyworld...

We learned lots of other things too: dancing at a pier in Downtown Disney to a live band can be very romantic...Amber is like a two year old when getting in a cold pool (20 minutes later she might be fully submerged...maybe)...Florida is definitely pony-tail appropriate & ONLY pony-tail appropriate (hot...wet...hot)... Amber can't bring herself to let Brian kill an oyster for a pearl souvenir--wanted to, but just couldn't...we might prefer Disneyland over Disneyworld...after a Disney vacation you need a vacation from the vacation...

But maybe the most important lesson: coming back to reality is tough! Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate's life is for us! Until next time Disney, thanks for the memories and fun!

How to get excited for vacation Amber style:

Step One: Load cheesy Disney music on your playlist (You are so benefiting...lucky lucky ducks!)

Step Two: Buy a cute, new swimdress (Even cuter with the halter strap attached)


Step Three: Buy 90 degree appropriate clothing for not just you, but your husband. And then make sure he has loaded more than one pair of shorts and one tee in the suitcase.

Step Four: Do laundry so you have something to pack, and deep clean the apartment (Mom always taught me you gotta come back to a clean place). Huh. Somehow this one keeps getting put off.

Step Five: Instead of step four, watch old Disney commercials online.

My fav:


Cheesiest for your viewing pleasure: (WHAT in the world?)


Step Six: Make reservations at Tony's (Lady & The Tramp themed restaurant), the Coral Reef (a restaurant with aquarium walls) and the Rainforest Cafe...gluten-free goodness, here I come!

Step Seven: Constantly barrage your husband whenever he walks in the door with the "Guess where we'll be in 7 days? 6 days? 5 days?..." game. (Believe me...you'll stump him every time :))

Step Eight: Blog about it. Then repeat. :)

How do YOU get yourself pumped? The countdown is ON!

How to spend a gorgeous spring weekend...

*Ooh-ing and ah-ing over all the pink frills and pretties at a baby shower for a good friend. (Congrats to Brooke and baby Olivia! Can't wait to meet her!)

*Golfing in perfect 60 something degree weather with a view of the monuments (there are perks to your wife being at a baby shower, although he'd never openly say that :)).

*Braving the crowds to see the National Arboretum's Azaleas.

*Getting in a few good smooches (yeah yeah...you're probably grossed out...but it's what we do :) MWAH)

*Walking gorgeous, forestry trails that have sudden bursts of colors from the azaleas randomly mixed in.

*Strolling a more controlled, orderly garden of azaleas (that P.S...cost $2million a year to maintain. WHOA buddy... thank you generous (and WAY too wealthy) flower donors!)

*Admiring the state flower (and tree) of Virginia--the dogwood. You should see them in pink...beautiful.

*Celebrating a 40th birthday at a good friend's Luau, and reconnecting with friends who have moved out of the ward.

*Finding out at stake conference that WE'RE moving out of the ward. 3 wards in our building have now become 5, and we were one of the "lucky" winners who got booted out of our ward and will be joining a different ward... and we'll be moving back to a 3-6pm time slot (kinda a bummer...but we're hoping to make the best of it. I'm sure it happened for a reason...some reason... :))

*Getting your bumper all scratch and gouged by a landscape truck (ok...don't recommend this one... at all. Should I really be surprised, though? Poor Tink seems to be on a 6 month cycle. Soooooooo ready for a garage. But at least my knight in shining armour is taking care of dealing with it all...love that kid.)

*Chatting about anything and everything Disney related in a vain attempt to get even MORE excited for our upcoming vacation (like THAT's possible).




WELCOME SPRING!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Eggs-tra Memorable

So, I'm always telling my brides that the mishaps make the memories. I don't like to see them bridezilla-ing about the little things that go wrong on their big day, because I honestly think that the little "oopsies" always end up making the best memories (for example, our wedding video that played at our reception and said "Amber & Brent (my dad)" instead of "Amber & Brian"...hilarious...we still laugh...). If my theory holds true, Easter 2011 will go down in the books as extra special and extra memorable.

Memory Worthy Event #1: Opened my eyes at 6:30 a.m and realized a smell had woke me up. And not a pleasant smell. More of a really-really-really-burnt-tuna-melt smell. Nope...wasn't Brian. :) It was our apartment. Those of you who know me well, know that I have a freakishly good nose--got it from my mom. We're talking...I can smell things seconds before a pregnant woman can (yeah...it's bad). But when Brian woke up, he smelled it too so I knew we were in trouble. He stuck his head out of our apartment, and our stairwell smelt AWFUL. Now, we've had neighbor's snoring, and neighbor's squeaking, and neighbor's talking, and neighbor's fighting filter into our apartment before, but NEVER neighbor's smells. Yuck. Brian propped open the building door, we opened every windnow we have and went crazy with the Lysol, and I spent the next 3 hours at church terrified that the drunken neighbor who passed out with a tuna melt on the stove in the wee hours was still out-of-it, and was going to burn down our apartment (and I wouldn't even be there to grab my honeymoon oil painting).

Memory Worthy Event #2: Full of paranoia, I was leading the way to the car so we could leave for church. I heard a crash. Turned around to see Brian looking down at what used to be one of my cute, dressy dinner plates. Broken into bits in the parking lot. At least the young women's treats hadn't been unwrapped and put on it yet.

Memory Worthy Event #3: I was talking to my parents on the phone, wishing them a happy Easter. As I talked, I was pushing the sides of my tuna-melt-fighting spring candle (my BURNING tuna-melt-fighting spring candle) down into the already melted wax with a popsicle stick, trying to even things up a bit. WHAM and splash...just like that, I had wax splattered all over the carpet, the counter and ME. Face...hair...shirt...arms...hands...covered. That was fun to get off. But at least I smelled like a Lily/Peony/Flower Market mix. :)

E
Memory Worthy Event #4: We're dying away at our eggs, when suddenly the cup of blue dye is down for the count (it was me...clutzy things that go on in our apartment are always me...except for the plate episode...:)). The dye is getting closer and closer to the edge of the counter...I'm containing it with my hands and screaming, "Grab the dish towel...grab the dish towel...it's gonna get our carpet!!!" Brian brings me ONE sqaure of paper towel. I'm screaming, "No No No! The DISH TOWEL. The DISH TOWEL." He comes back with 3 squares of paper towel, saying, "Dish towel? Dish towel? What????" He's all in a fluster, running back toward the paper towels as I'm screaming, "The CARPET...grab the DISH TOWEL on the OVEN!" He brings...the dish towel. But too late. The dye has started trickling under my arms on to the carpet. Luckily, by the time I'm scrubbing our capet with stain stick, we're laughing. He never said, "Who is THAT clutzy?" and I never said, "Really? One sqaure of paper towel?" :). But we DID comment on how our poor carpet had had quite a blue, waxy day. :)

Memory Worthy Event #5: We're winding down our day with an inspirational Hallmark movie after watching the Cowboys get kicked off the Amazing Race (NOT a memory worthy mishap, just plain crappy). Suddenly, a crash SO loud I jumped out of my seat (literally). Brian is laughing his head off because his wife went balistic over thunder... but the laughing stopped when CRAZY hail started pelting our building. I'm thinking, "Great...this is gonna be the acorns of 2009, except now we have 2 nice cars to worry about..." But it all turned out ok...I think...Brian checked the cars this morning and said they were fine. :)

Quite the memorable holiday, right? Not so memorable, but still great events:

*A great Easter program at church--amazing music and messages
*A cute Easter dress from my parents

*An AWESOME Easter bunny who filled our baskets with all kinds of amazing and thoughtful things
*A scrumptious Easter dinner of spiral ham, au gratin potatoes, fresh beans and fruit salad
*A satisfied 3 year craving for my favorite Marie Callender Lemon Sour Cream pie. I found a knock-off recipe, altered it to be gluten-free, and delighted in the deliciousness that followed. Even Brian was astounded. Heaven. I tell you. Heaven.

The possibilities are endless

*It's possible that I haven't updated in long enough that I don't even know where to start.

*It's possible that yesterday was my all-time-favorite boy's birthday... and we might have celebrated it in the happiest place on earth. Possibly involved an apartment set up like the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride, a Mickey cake, a Disneyland gumbo meal, and a pirate treasure hunt for presents. Also possible that I promised my parents video, so you now have to suffer through it.

What's impossible is to express how much I love the birthday boy.

*It's possible that our pirate adventure of yesterday has us oh-so-excited for our upcoming vacation. Very possible that we need some fun couple time... away from doctors, work responsibilities, church responsibilities, and just day-to-day life. Possible that we're going to enjoy each and every second of just the two of us, doing whatever we choose to do. Very possible that we'll drop off the face of the earth, and our cell phones mysteriously won't work while we're gone. I'm just sayin...possible. :)

*It's possible two of my favorite people were in town for not-long-enough a couple of weeks ago.

It's possible that they were here during the cherry blossom festival, but that I was wearing mittens.


It's possible that it didn't matter a lick, because while we went to the arboretum, zoo, Carlyle House, tidal basin, Fort Ward, temple and American History Museum, our favorite times were quite possibly sitting around in the apartment chatting and chatting.

It's possible the two people in this picture are still very much in love 3 years in.

It's possible the National Arboretum is one of my favorite D.C. spots.

Also possible that my parents brought a pound of gluten-free See's chocolates fresh from Utah...we're not going to say what happened to the chocolate, but it's possible that neither they nor Brian had ANY, and by the end of their trip the box had 2 pieces left. Possible we have mice problems. :) It's possible I cried like a 2 year old when they left, and still haven't quite recovered. :)

*It's possible that Brian talked more sports than he has in a long time last month when one of his favorite people came in town on business. Possible that he had a great time, and enjoyed the crab cakes (that he never gets because I won't go anywhere near them) immenseley.

*It's possible that we might be moving in a couple weeks (and unfortunately I don't mean back to Utah). We've been looking. We're hoping not to, but we'll see.

*It's possible that we watched an apartment in our complex (not our building luckily) burn the other morning. Possible that it scared me to death, and has me catalouging exactly what I would grab first if we caught fire and I had any time. Possible that you'd see a crazed lady running from the burning building wearing nothing but a robe and her wedding ring, with an Italian oil painting under one arm, and a chest full of souvenirs under the other--everything else...replaceable.

*It's possible that I've made peace with my round brush. Too early to be definitive, but possible.

Like I said, the possibilites are endless...but so is the list of things I (and I'm sure you) have to do! So for now... possibly, probably, am done!