party

Elaine took a melon baller and made dents in these cucumbers and put
hummus in... I think I ate this whole platter.

LEMON SNICKERDOODLES!!!!

ELAINE AND KELI!!

SAMOA CHEESECAKE BARS!!!

chocolate chip cookie dough wrapped in a pie crust

Elaine and I had a cookie party in September 2010. We spent almost all day on Sat. getting ready for it. We had people over Sunday night after church. We had about twenty people there for it. Here is what we made

1. we served cherry tomato's and cucumbers with hummus, not cookies but a good option for those people that don't want to eat all cookies. I had never had the combo of cucumbers and hummus but WOW so good!!!

2. we had lemon snickerdoodles when I used to work at The Retreat in Springville, VA this lady used to come around and sell lemon snickerdoodles, I LOVED them so I went online and found a recipe. I will send it out soon.

3. I will also send out a recipe for samoa cheesecake bars which were way good.

4. Elaine made chocolate chip cookie dough wrapped in a pie crust.

5. We also had the most amazing sausage dip that I am still begging Elaine for the recipe! AMAZING!!!! that was another optin for non-cookie eaters

we served milk to drink ( of course )

people sat around and talk I gave some trivia and gave out some random food storage that a former roommate of Elaine's had just left there...which turned out to be expired but oh well we got rid of it...

it was a great night.

field trip

me at the ww2 memorial in DC Sept. 2010

In September on the same day that my friend Ambur and I went to Ben's Chili Bowl in DC we also went to the ww2 memorial. I wanted to visit it at night but I also wanted to visit Ben's and Ambur said it was not a good place to go at night. So we went during the day.
The day we chose to go was Sept 11th and it was PACKED. very nice weather and lots of people. This is a new memorial. Just built in the 2000s. President Bush actually helped them push through a lot of red tape to get it built ASAP. because ww2 vets were dying. It has two sides one about the war with the pacific like japan and the phillipines and another about europe. the atlantic side. Ambur and I had a nice time walking around and even met a ww2 vet and gave him a hug :)

Field Trip

Half-smoke at Ben's


My friend Ambur and I went to Washington DC to try a famous restaurant there "Ben's Chili Bowl" it has been open since the 1950s and you can read all about it on wikipedia. Bill Cosby and President Obama have both been there and both have had the half-smoke above that I got.

There is a sign that says that Bill Cosby and President Obama can eat there anytime that they want for free.

The place was PACKED Ambur and I sat at the bar, the food was good but it was not the best thing I have ever had in my life...

there were about a million people working there...or at least 25 most of them were doing NOTHING like seriously nothing.. I suggested to Ambur that maybe they are family members or friends because they are not doing ANYTHING and I hope that someone would not pay them to just stand around because I don't think the place needs any more atmosphere.

Field Trip

On labor day my boss asked me to work :( so I made the best of it and took the girls to The National Harbor in MD. it is right across the bridge from here only one exit away off 495.... It was a nice day and the girls had a good time crawling all over The Awakening statue. If you don't know what that statue is, it is a statue of a man coming out of the ground so there is his head, his knee, a arm and a foot. There were a lot of other people there, so it was almost impossible to get the girls pictures alone on the statue.

We walked out on the pier by the boats and looked around. I noticed that they had a boat gas station there. I told Justin so if he ever wants to go over there and get gas he can.

They had a children's museum expo, they are in the process of building a children's museum there so right now, they have free activities every weekend and in the summer every week for the kids to do, lucky for us on the day that we went it was all about bugs, the girls spent a LOT of time making antennae and bug masks for themselves and their dolls and stuffed toys that I let them bring and walk around with.

We ate some fries at Elevation Burger.

We went and looked in some stores, I was not feeling good AT ALL and I am very sad to report that I did NOT get a National Harbor magnet... you know I was sick if I did not get a magnet. I thought it is only an exit away I can still go back and do that one day.

holiday

This year for labor day I was able to go to my family reunion in the Northern Neck of VA. Kilmarnock and White Stone,VA..

I went to church at the branch that is down there. I went there once a few years ago when I was here on vacation. I was amazed to see how much the branch had grown. They now have a chapel and WAY more members. I made some friends in that ward and they were still there it was nice to see them and I hope to go back and see them soon.

I drove over to the family reunion after church and this year I had a great time. I think one of the things that enhanced my great time was that I am friends with so many of my family members on FB so even though I don't see them that much I still know so much about them from FB.

I spent a lot of time talking to my cousin Jennifer and that was nice.

My cousin Bill took me out on his boat and that was nice.

It was a really nice night to bad my boss made me work labor day and I had to go back to Northern,VA that night.

Field Trip

On the same night that Elaine and I went to "Ray's Hell Burger" we also went to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, VA. In reality it is called the USMC memorial. I want to tour all the DC monuments at night and see them all lit up.

I had just finished reading "Flags of our Fathers" which is a book written about the men in that photograph which became that statue, which is an AMAZING BOOK that I recommend BTW.

Elaine and I liked walking around the monument there were a lot of people there and several tour buses were coming and going, full of people that were actually paying to see the DC monuments at night.

I read Elaine some info on the monument and we had a nice time walking around.

field trip

me with my " Hell Burger "

In August 2010, Elaine and I went to "Ray's Hell Burger" in Arlington,Va. It has become famous locally because President Obama and VP Joe Biden went there.

It was really hard to find because I think we were expecting a more impressive storefront. We found out it is in a tiny strip mall and the sign is so small you can not see it from the street it just says etched on the window Ray's Hell Burger"

We each got a burger, which was good, but it was SO HUGE! I could not finish mine. We also got some sweet pototo fries and drinks.

field trip

I took Bowman and Tenney on a bike ride/picnic in August 2010 along the GW parkway in Alexandria, VA they said that they had rode bikes there but only as far as Belle Haven Marina.That is not far from them. It was so beautiful and peaceful riding a bike along a bike path right by the Potomac River. Bowman complained A LOT about everything and anything that she was bored... and this that and other stuff...she was so annoyed about everything. I said there is not going to be that much more good weather left in 2010 and we need to take advantage of it while we can.

We stopped for a park at a place called Morningside Park.

We made it all the way to Mt.Vernon which is COMPLETELY COMMERCIALIZED NOW...they have a food court and two gift stores there now. I got the girls some fries and some nachos. There mom said that they are allowed the fries but no nachos in the future.

We rode back much nicer ride back and went home. That took up most of our day. It was really cool

I look so forward to being a mom and a wife and doing fun stuff with my husband and family.. I am a bit scared of how much more commercialized Mt.Vernon will be in the next 10-15 years though...

field trip

I took Bowman and Tenney to the Reston Animal Park/zoo whatever it is called in August 2010.

Score for me they had never been there either. I think that most of the nannies that have had them have gone towards DC and this is west of DC in Fairfax County.

I spent about 50$ taking them there( of their moms money) I never realized how expensive it is to take kids places...WOW.
we paid for
admission
a bucket of feed
bottles of milk
and we got a stuffed snake

I was going to give the snake to Justin and wrap it around his jeep but the girls fell in love with the snake and named it Scarlett so I let them keep it. It now lives on Tenney's bed with two tigers.Every morning she spends WAY to long winding it up in a circle of posing it INSTEAD of getting ready for school so MAYBE it DOES need to go and live at Justin's for a bit..

I understimated the time that it would take for us to get from my moms house in Chantilly to Reston so we missed the hay ride by about 5 minutes... that sucked but the girls had so much fun feeding the sheep and goats the feed. Some of those animas were AGGRESSIVE like they ripped the feed bucket right out of our hands. we went around and saw all the other animals they had ducks,rabbits,parrots geese, monkeys, horses, a porcupine stuff like that. There is more to see on the hayride but we missed it. Bowman had a lot of fun feeding the pot-bellied pigs with a bottle. I think that was the highight of her trip. Tenney really liked feeding the lambs and kids.

we were the last ones out of there, it took us awhile to pick out the right stuffed snake, it is a brown one named Scarlett.

field trip

I took Bowman and Tenney on a scavenger hunt in Old Town Alexandria in August 2010.

you start at The Christmas shop where you pay 4$ for a map you can either do a scavenger hunt about George Washington or one about John Carlyle, you can also do both for 8$. We did both.

We walked all over Old Town Alexandria in the HOT sun looking for different historic buildings and then reading little signs or facts on them. The girls did very well on it.

We ran into another tourist group four times. There is a TON to see and do in Alexandria, esp. old town... the thing is the girls get new nannys EVERY year... so they have gone to ALMOST if not EVERYTHING...Bowman gets so bored like WE HAVE DONE THAT!!!! WE HAVE BEEN THERE!!! it will be a challenge to me on the days that they are off school to find places they have not been or to make the places they have been different or exciting.

They had not been on the scavenger hunt so that was fun. We also went in a lot of stores also and looked around when we were done.

After the scavenger hunt I brought the girls a prize for completing it and sticking with it. They asked for silly bandz. I thought sure ALL KIDS LOVE THEM... so I bought them each a pack... they have never worn them ever or even used them... and I thought all kids loved silly bandz I guess we learn something new every day.

field trip

Justin and I took his boat to Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton,Va August, 2010.

When we got there, I sat up the tent and air mattress and made our campsite look really good. i can tell that we are beginning campers, so I walked around the campsite and looked at other peoples set ups to see what we could do different and better in the future. I have been buying more flashlights, because it is never fun to be in the dark and the next thing I think I want is one of those shelters, that you put over your picnic table with mosquito netting to keep the bugs and animals away from your food.

Justin got there Friday evening and we went out for a little ride in his boat, his boat was not working well but it was still nice to be out on the water on such a beautiful night.

Sat. I got up and found out over the night most of our food had been stolen... I reported it to the campground and they said that it was squirrels or raccoons... I NEED ONE OF THOSE SHELTERS!!!! seriously... I took a walk over to Gunston Hall and had fun looking around in the gift shop. I walked back and Justin was just getting up.

We ate some then took the boat out again. When we are out on the boat it is like we are in a whole other world... like people talk about things I did not even know existed. We learned from one guy that there is a little beach called "pomonkey" and we found out there is a waterfront restaurant where you can drive the boat right up to it and they will send a water taxi out for you. I WANT TO GO THERE!!!! that is now one of my goals, to eat at a place where you BOAT to it..

the boat was not working well, so we did not have a long ride, we went back to our campsite and got ready and drove down to Occoquan,Va and ate at waterfront dining at a place called Madigans.

We went back and relaxed in front of the campfire and had a nice night.

I am hoping that each and every one of our camping experiences gets better and better as we learn more about the outdoors and things like that.

Nebraska day 3

Wow I am just getting around to writing this NOW...



so we woke up in South Bend, IN and I had begged Justin to stay in a hotel that had a continental breakfast, we woke up so late though that we missed all the good stuff, all though we did get to have some cereal :)



We drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove .... all the way from IL to PA was toll roads we probably spent about 50$ in tolls...If we had to get off to go to the bathroom or to go get gas we had to pay a toll to get off and a toll to get back on.. It was crazy. We kept asking how many tolls until we get back to the Washington DC area... and kept getting different answers... I had this horrible thought that what if we just went from some toll road in PA to MD to the Greenway to the Dulles toll road to 495... must have been the fatigue sitting in..



Justin drove a lot and we talked and talked and planned things and stuff like that.

PA was really pretty we both said it would be fun to go back there one day

we stopped in MD and got a sub at a place that said they had the best steak and cheese subs and it was pretty good :)

We got to my moms house unloaded all the stuff, then we drove the car back to the airport, then I dropped off Justin in Alexandria and drove back to my moms..

WE MADE IT!!!! WE DID IT!!! we drove from NEBRASKA TO VA!!! and we got my stuff...

now...I just need to get my stuff from Utah...