One Whole Year

Hey! Guess what!

As of today, we have officially lived in Maryland for ONE.WHOLE.YEAR!

It's been bumpy, and it has been long. In many ways, it's been the hardest thing we've ever done. 

However, at the same time, it's been an adventure. A great, big, exciting adventure. 

We celebrated today by helping a couple from Utah unload their moving truck a couple of streets over. They've also come for the Physician Assistant program and they've been nice enough to let us take care of them the way that others took care of us last year. Hopefully they don't feel like we're killing them with kindness.

Oliver chose to celebrate by partying it up in the "BIG HUGE moving truck."

I want to thank all of our friends and family for their kindness and love. We've made it through a whole year of PA school in a new place with a young child. We've appreciated every phone call, every letter, every visit, every treat, every gift, and every encouraging word. From everyone.

It's hard not to be intimidated by the upcoming year, but I know that somehow, together, we're going to be just fine.

The Tidal Basin in Full Bloom

I had pretty much given up hope of seeing any Cherry Blossoms this year... there were just too many conflicts, and this one car business was making it difficult to manage necessary tasks and responsibilities, let alone frivolous day trips. So you can imagine my surprise and elation when I got home last night and Jesse informed me that I would indeed be able to go to Washington D.C. today to see those glorious pink blossoms. He's pretty fantastic.

So Oliver and I dropped Jesse off with his carpool buddy Rose (who is kind of a saint), made preparations for our day trip, and headed to Greenbelt to catch a train...er...commuter rail.

I'll have you know that I successfully navigated the Metro and D.C. without any trouble ALL BY MYSELF today.Which may not seem like a lot, but the thought of it gives me great anxiety.  The ticket machines...and the train transfers between lines, and feeling disoriented every time I exit a building in the city... I did it all anyway!

Also, I bought a Smart Trip fare card...so I'm pretty much legit now.

But here's the best part:

Just after Oliver and I had extricated ourselves from the hoard of picture taking people near the entrance to the basin, we plopped down on a shady bit of grass somewhere between Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin D. Roosevelt to bask in majesty of the Tidal Basin in full bloom.

We munched on cookies, and every once in a while, I managed to snap a photo without 87 thousand people in it. We enjoyed the view of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial all dressed up in soft pink, and breathed in the scent of cherry blossoms as it danced past our noses on the wind...

...and we got a phone call from our mutual friend Jesse! He informed us that classes had been canceled for the afternoon, and since he was at a metro station in Bethesda ANYWAY, he would be joining our little escapade in no time at all.

So we ate some more cookies, sipped some more water, snapped some more pictures and enjoyed ourselves until Jesse got there and then we carried on.

Jesse totally made me pose for this photo. I felt super awkward, but he was pretty pleased with the outcome. "Just do it" he said. "It'll turn out to be your favorite picture." He said...

It was just another magical day in Washington D.C.

Would you care to see my new rack?

POT rack!

Get your mind out of the gutter!

Jesse devised this plan after I started browsing pot racks online.

He used a wire shelving  unit thingy that I bought to hold towels in our first apartment four years ago, but have thoroughly hated since because it never proved useful ever again.

When Jesse told me his idea, I protested. It sounded really, really lame. And hideous.

So he did it anyway.

And I learned a very valuable lesson...one that seems to surprise me over and over and over and over again.

Shut up and listen to my husband once in a while!

It is tremendously useful! And while it doesn't look just the way I wanted a pot rack to look, it is far from hideous. And it only cost $8 (for the s hooks, which are actually shower curtain hangers, because they were cheaper than s hooks and more appropriately sized). Not to mention that it made a completely wasted space useful again. It also functions as a drum set for Oliver J. 

Cheap, re purposed, and really really useful? I'm good with that.

I'm a little less good with the drumming, but it's all about picking my battles.

Whoever you are, we can't thank you enough...

 I never told you this, but at the beginning of October, we got an anonymous love note in the mail.

The general idea of this love note was:

"You guys are pretty much awesome. Please take the $40 dollars we have enclosed and do something fun on us"

Our reaction to this letter looked something like this:

Because  A) we have the coolest friends ever, B) the sweet sentiment made us feel pretty good about ourselves, and C) we haven't been on a real date since...I can't remember, actually.

So finally, after a crazy hectic October, we planned a date to the Dutch Country Farmers Market.

This place is spectacular...

See that on my plate, that's some very tender pot roast atop legitimate Amish stuffing made with legitimate Amish bread.

Afterwards, we walked around the market trying to identify our best dessert options...

chocolate covered bacon

chocolate covered potato chips

Amish ice cream

Amish baked goods

Amish anything we could ever desire..

.

Except that dinner left us so satisfied that we decided we'd just have to go back another time...

...and since our friends were so generous, we totally can!

 And so, my friends, whoever you are, we can't thank you enough. We want you to know that we had so much fun... and we really, really needed it. 

One day when I'm a grown up...{Car washes}

This weekend in Cedar City we took Cami and her truck to the car wash.

I.LOVE.THE.CARWASH.

As we were sitting and watching the bubbles slide down the windshield, I asked.

"Jesse, one day when we're grown ups can we go to the car wash all the time?"

his answer,

"Sure, if you make out with me while we're inside the car wash."

He's such a boy.

23

Jesse was mindful of all the things that a woman shouldn't have to do on her birthday...

He fed the child, changed the diapers, washed the dishes rotated the laundry, and every other mundane chore that plagues my everyday existence.

He asked me what I wanted to eat, where I wanted to go, if I needed anything at all.

He even sent Oliver in my direction any time there was a cuddle or kiss to be had.

On this day, he would have given me the moon if I'd asked for it, and still acted as though it wasn't grand enough.

I am the luckiest.

P.S. Thanks to everyone else who helped make my birthday spectacular as well! I really do have the best family and friends.

To My Friend Jesse,

I asked you to sum up our Valentine's Day with one word. You chose "nontraditional." You were right.

We drove to Logan, returned library books, used coupons for lunch, and then got groceries and an oil change...Your tooth hurt and I complained a little bit about the lack of romance in it all. I also taught our son to say "What the Heck" by accident. Hopefully it doesn't stick.

Really, though. When you think about it, we spent the day together, did very little worth reporting, and still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I sincerely loved every second of it. I'd like to think that says more about our romance than a fancy dinner and a dozen roses. Wouldn't you agree?

Not that there is anything wrong with roses and fancy dinners...in fact, those are good ideas. Write those down...

Tonight's Table Talk with the Mosai

Here's an example of the sort of riveting dinner conversations that take place at our house:

Jesse: "If you had to pick only 3 foods to eat for the rest of your life, what would you choose?"

Me: "......um......maybe broccoli?....and milk?....and beef, does that count? What would you pick?"

Jesse: "bread, lightly seasoned meat, and milk. I'm thinking bland foods would be tolerable for a longer time. Right?"

Then he continued with a bunch of "which would you pick for the rest of your life" questions like,

chicken or beef?
seafood or beef?
vegetables or beef?

my answers: beef, beef, vegetables

Jesse: "What about pasta? Would you ever consider only pasta for the rest of your life? Or would you pick bread instead?"

Me: "Neither. But I know what Ollie would choose....Oatmeal, bananas, and apple juice"

Oliver, sitting forward very suddenly with eyes WIDE open, "Juice???..................Please?"

Captivating, isn't it?

Did you know that I really really REALLY love to cook?

I especially love preparing delicious meals for the people I care about...

In fact, that happens to be my favorite way to say,
"I love you."

I think it's probably something I learned from a Grandma or two that I know.

Actually, if you're reading this, chances are that I have missed you immensely and would like nothing more than to sit you down at my kitchen table and stuff you with food!

Just so you know how I feel...

And you shouldn't fret if we're not super tight. I also use treats to let people know that I'd really love to have them as my friend...

Hooray for husbands who wash the dishes when wives have had it with homework and housework!