Sew awesome!

For my "official" anniversary present (before I knew Joe was going to get me a pack of massages,) I begged him to let me get a sewing machine, promising I would use it a lot.

That was almost three months ago.

I finally finished a project! All by myself! It's a teeny tiny baby blanket (like 18x24",) for one of my visiting teachees.

Please excuse the moire effect; we're still rocking the broken-LCD'd camera, so there's no way to know what these photos are going to look like before I upload them :)

Anyway, sewing projects are fun. Thanks to Liz for the moral support and suggesting I get an awesome book that pretty much taught me how to do everything. Good times.

Ew, gross

Me: Hey Dave! We've got like 20 minutes; let's make hamburgers and sit down and eat dinner 'cause we never do that and I feel like a bad pseudo-mom/hostess since we never do that.

Dave: Awesome! What can I do to help?

Me: Here, cut these onions. I have this thing that makes it really easy, but don't do this (shows him what not to do) 'cause then you'll cut your finger.

Then this happened:


Then this:


And the first cleaning:

Gross.

DeeDee = MacGyver

Dee Dee adapts pretty quickly to new situations. So when we got a new litter box, she just used it no problem. Lucky...not so much. He decided to make his own litter boxes throughout the condo. So we needed to lock Lucky in the bathroom with the litter box, food, toys, etc. But we couldn't lock Dee OUT of the bathroom, so she had to join him. We blocked the cat door 'cause Dee is pretty smart and has broken out of that before, (even when it's locked on both sides). This is what we came home to:


She had to:
-move a box of litter (about 10 pounds left in there)
-move her food bowl
-chew through the duct tape
-squeeze through the hole filled with blankets
-break through the locked cat door

All this without claws.

Thankfully Lucky manned up, and we have not needed to try any more lock-ins.

Don't mess with Dee Dee.

Nationals

We got a great deal on some AMAZING seats for the Nationals game last night. I can't imagine paying full price for something like this, but I could definitely get used to the view...and the free buffet...and the free drinks...and the free snacks...

Oh, and the weather was amazing.

And the Nationals lost.



So much fun!

Rock Band, anyone?

We used Dave coming home as an excuse to get Rock Band a few weeks ago (and it was HALF OFF one day on the internet, so pretty much a sign that we definitely had to get it). We've since had a few nights dedicated to Rock Band, which have been a blast.

On June 27, we had a Halo/Goodbye party...to say "Hello" to Dave and "Goodbye" to our friend Matt who was leaving for film school in LA. We had 2 TVs rotating Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Halo. Such a great group of people gathered, and we even got our first noise complaint from a neighbor (we were so proud).

Anyway, we had a great time. Of course, now both Dave and Matt are gone so we're not really sure who's going to play with us anymore.

Visitors!

I was so excited to have my friends Molly and Ashley stay with me last week. Molly stopped by on her way back to Oregon from a trip to Spain; Ashley came down from New York for the long weekend. Their visits overlapped by only a few hours, so there was no fighting over the guest room :) I enjoyed a shopping trip, dinner at Ray's, lunch at Guajillo, a few trips to Gravelly Point, Rock Band, showing off our Sunbeams, sending Ashley and Dave to the singles ward, and laying out by the pool.

Molly and me rockin Ray's Hell Burgers

Enjoying Cap'n Crunchberries Frapps at Gravelly Point

Ashley and I are totes matching! We had a few minutes to kill before taking Molly to the airport, so we took some photos (and I dropped my camera, which resulted in a much-delayed broken LCD screen. Whoops!)

Yep, we're pretty awesome.

At our first of two 4th of July BBQs in DC...after I found out the watermelon slices were soaked in tequila.

Joe and me...making sure you know it's the FOURTH.

Fireworks at the Mall. Don't let anyone tell you they've seen better 'cause it would be a lie. They were amazing!!

Another Gravelly Point shot. I love this place!

Buhbye GWorld!

Wednesday was my last day at GW. It was bittersweet; I was very much looking forward to my new job, but I had a lot of reasons to be sad about leaving GWorld...namely I wouldn't be seeing all my BFFs every day.

In true GWorld fashion, I was surprised with delish chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes (courtesy of Steve's wife), a bag full of "school supplies" for my new job, and a very nice card. Joe came upstairs for a little while, and we all talked about how awesome I am. jk but everyone said really nice things about me, and I expressed how grateful I was that they decided to hire me (even though at the time I was living 2,000 miles away!)

Anyway, here's some photos of the event...

Stickers, pens, notebooks, pencils and more!

Best cupcakes I've ever had!

The group! This photo is the best for so many reasons: Tim is "in" the photo so I can't bug him about it...he's just hiding behind Alex; there is a huge dust/light blob over Flesz's face; Dave is totally photoboming; Emily's eyes are closed. Yup, perfect.

My buddy Sarah. Miss you babe!

The week before, Joe and I took our last GW lunch date to Subway and then sat in the park for awhile.

It's been fun!

Gravelly Point

Gravelly Point is my new favorite place to visit in DC. It's a park just a few hundred yards from DCA's runway, so you can see planes take off/land closer than I imagine you could anywhere else. It's pretty awesome.

I've gone three times in the last two weeks, and managed to take a few photos...

Landing

Landing again

"Hey Molly, how excited are you to be at Gravelly Point?"

Very ill-timed jumping photo

An awkward-angled/jumping/trying-to-get-the-airplane-in-the-picture, too photo.
Doesn't Dave look super tall?

We finally got the plane in one...but I was laughing too hard

...Cause You Haven't Seen Enough Photos of our Cats

Lucky is kind of an attention-hog.

Announcement!

On July 6 I'll be starting a new job with Fairfax Co. Public Schools; I'm going to be an aide in a classroom for autistic preschoolers. Though it will be hard to leave the friends I have made at GW, (and VERY sad to give up my drives, gchats, visits and lunches with Joe!) I'm very excited for this new opportunity. I'm looking forward to the short commute, school-day hours, and new responsibilities.

Thanks to Joe for getting a job at GW (for the tuition benefits) and supporting me in this new adventure. I know come fall he'll go back to his 12+ hour days, and I think this new job will allow me to support him and his schedule better.

Here we go...

The Return of Dave

Since Dave's been home for a whole week, it's probably time to write about the Homecoming.

Anita & Family came out earlier in the week, and we got to meet up with them on Tuesday for a DC duck tour and to see Night at the Museum AT the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

After the movie, we walked back to their hotel in the rain. Anita was super prepared and had ponchos and an umbrella for us. We were quite the group!

On Thursday, Joe and I showed up to the airport first and ran into family friend Joszef. He and his wife waited with us to greet Dave.

Then Dave finally got through customs...it was great to see him!

As we were walking towards the car, Anita, Matt and the kids were hiding around a corner and surprised him. He almost walked right past his sister :)

For Dave's first back-to-America meal, we all went to Five Guys. Here are the FIVE GUYS at Five Guys...get it?

Joe and I were very excited for the dessert we brought...a personalized cake.

After realizing we could never make something on our own, we placed an order with icingimages.com. Joe had an idea of what we wanted, and sent some images for cousin Greg to photoshop together. This is what we sent in:

We waited a little too last minute to get the cake and have the image applied, so this is what we got:

Still pretty awesome, no?

Dave was released Thursday night, and we all had different plans for most of Friday. We met up that night at the temple visitor's center for a one-man comedy show.

On Saturday we went to a party held for Dave and two other recently returned missionaries from the area.

On Sunday we enjoyed hearing Dave's talk in Church. After, Barb made us a great meal that we enjoyed. On Monday we said goodbye to the Utah crew, and Dave started working downtown. He's staying with us for a few weeks, but I'm not sure how much we'll get to see him between work, friends and Church activities. He already went home teaching tonight!

We know he did a great thing, but we're glad to have him back. Welcome home Elder Cramer!

A few videos and the rest of the photos are here