Guilty Feeling

Okay, so I'm feeling a little guilty - actually a lot guilty.... I haven't written a post forever! I really don't know what happened - I guess after a few months of being in DC, I finally got a life and no longer had time to write. That's not to say that those who post all the time don't have lives - I mean you probably have way cooler lives than me. It's just that writing isn't one of my favorite things to do so it automatically falls to the bottom of the list - even behind folding laundry. Yesterday Nathan even went so far as to suggest that maybe he should contribute once in a while which I would LOVE!! So here's keeping my fingers crossed.

Our adventure in DC continues - winter finally ended and so did our cabin fever. The household grumpiness barometer dropped dramatically. What can I say - a little warmth and sun does our family good. Thankfully we made it through the winter without any major illnesses which is surprising considering all the germs lingering in the metro and in elevators. That was a major schwoo for us. Jackson and Audrey began taking piano lessons which filled our house with music and additional nagging from the parents to "Practice"!

My lovely sister and husband came and stayed with us for a few days while they braved the January weather and saw the sights. It was so awesome to have them - I love to have people come and stay with us and it made me just a little bit homesick when they left.

Jane continues to be the challenging two year old that she is. However, due to the claustrophobic conditions in which we live she doesn't get away with anything and as a result, I think she will be fit for society in about six months. (okay, i'm kidding but really, I'm not)

Nathan is working so diligently learning the romantic language of Slovak. He is an excellent tutor as well and although I have yet to learn many necessary phrases in order to navigate through everyday life, he did successfully teach me how to say "I would like to buy 50 Snicker bars please". Worried, nervous, scared about moving there in two months you ask - nah, I think I'm all set.

Jackson and Audrey still have school for a few more weeks but lucky for us - we are flying home to Utah on the last day of school. Back to the things most familiar for us - See's candies, big gulps at Harts, BYU Creamery and Chuck-a-Rama (it's all about the scones baby). We are looking forward to spending the month of July celebrating our country's independence, Draper days and Pioneer day with our families. Sadly, Nathan has to stay here but hopefully we'll get to see him a few weekends (thank you skymiles!)

I realize this post is somewhat boring and a little disjointed but to add even more chaos - I have posted some random photos I've taken during the past few months. I hope it all makes sense.

Nathan's mother came out the second weekend in April and Nathan and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in rural Pennsylvania. We stayed in our own little cabin at the Silver Springs Lodge. The highlight of the trip (besides spending time together -ahh) was touring Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. It was breathtaking. Photos don't do it justice. It was really inspiring and while Mr. Wright's personal life was quite frankly a disaster - he was a truly talented man. He designed this house at the age of 65 and went on to design 400 other structures before he died. No retirement for this man.

You can take the man away from the city but you can't take the iphone away from the man.

We left for Pennsylvania about 6:30 on Friday evening - it was already dark and the further we drove from DC, the more foggy it became. It was a nightmare trying to get there in the fog. In my mind I just kept praying "don't let us die, don't let us die on our 13th Anniversary trip!" The fog stayed around all weekend and this is what it looked like when we drove home Sunday. I am taking a picture of McDonalds, and as you can see, you can barely make out the sign. Crazy.

The time stamp on this is March 14th, 5:45 AM!! Yes - Jane woke up early and found a cake box mix and begged me to make a chocolate cake. She wouldn't give it up and she kept saying "peeze, cake, peeze, cake". I mean honestly, I was going to make it eventually anyway and what the heck, 5:45 am was as good a time as any.

Audrey ticked off one more item on her bucket list - visit Georgetown Cupcakes. She and I watch the reality show DC Cupcakes and we have both been dying to go try it out. Well, we finally went but we kinda cheated. We went to the one in Bethesda because the one in Georgetown always has a really huge line. It still felt like the real deal, I mean the cupcakes were $2.75 each and they came in this really cute box and bag. Audrey was beyond excited. It's a 7 year old girl thing.

Jane enjoyed the frosting!

Walking around downtown Bethesda. It's so fun shopping with kids - so fun.

Jane and I had to run an errand at the LDS DC Temple. It's always so pretty there. Jane just loved waking around the grounds. She and I are little buddies while Jackson and Audrey are in school. The two Amigos.

Jackson annoyed I am taking a picture of him.

Often on Sunday's, we'll take a walk to this water park near us. The kids like horsing around while we are there as you can see from above. It is always very pleasant...until it's time to leave. As you can see below, Jane gets mad.

Here, she is REALLY mad. Parenthood is so rewarding.

I can't even stand to look at my blog

It has been a while since I have blogged and when I don't write for many days, then I just dread going to my blog and viewing the blog list on the right of my blog and seeing that everyone I know has recently posted. They have in fact posted several times since my latest entry so it makes me feel very guilty and like a complete blogging looser.

So, to sum it up in a nut shell, Christmas came and it was wonderful. A day and a half later, the tree was undecorated and thrown out on the balcony to be dealt with later (possible fire code violation, I'm not sure). New Years came and we didn't stay up until midnight again. Woo-hoo, we are real party animals. The kids begged us to stay up but we assured them that really not much happens when the old year switches over to a new year and I was happy to realize that upon reading the paper the next morning, I was not a liar.

My New Year's resolution is to not set any. I am not saying this as a joke or as a way to be funny. I just mean that to me, it seems kind of ridiculous to put all this pressure on yourself that because it is January 1st, you are now going to accomplish all these many different and great things. If by chance you don't follow through, then you won't feel like you can start all over again until next year. If it works for you then forget what I said but if you are like me, then you at least know there is someone else out there like you!

I was thinking the other day how lucky my kids are to be growing up with all this technology available to them. They will never not know what Facebook, youtube or texting is. I mean how cool is that? Any friends they meet along the way in life, they will always be able to communicate with and in our current circumstance, I think that is pretty neat. I had friends growing up and in college that I wish I still kept in touch with, but because I don't know how to spell their name correctly (and honestly I'm not a good speller anyway), I'll probably never be able to reconnect (trust me, I don't spend hours upon hours on Facebook trying different combination's of their name). It's easy to find people you knew in high school because you had a yearbook but college is a bit more tricky (thank goodness for that because I could only stand to have four books full of ugly pictures and "stay cool 'till next year!" in my possession). Last night, Audrey chatted with her BFF's (her words, not mine) on web cam and then we all talked with my parents on web cam. It helped make the distance between us not feel so far. In the words of Napoleon Dynamite's brother, "I love technology".

We are still staying quite cozy in our tiny little two bedroom apartment and since it is so cold outside, our kids have created their own indoor skate park in the second level of the underground parking garage. I just keep thinking that it's all fun and games until someone doesn't make the tight corner and the next thing you know, I'm pulling a scooter handle out of the hood of that custom Mercedes parked down there.

Okay, now that I have at least posted something - I can stand to look at my blog again and hopefully I will be a bit more consistent in my entries. Just so you know, I love all of you who comment and I love to read what you think. I am just not sure how to reply back - do I post a comment or do I email you back? I have no idea about the blog etiquette but for all you potential FSO's who find this and would like to know more about anything (I really am not a font of information about the Foreign Service, I'm just sayin') I am happy to try and answer your questions. Just so you know, my husband is the Foreign Service officer so while I think that's really great, it's his job- not mine and I can only comment on just basic life here in Crystal City and the school my kids go to because that's what I know. Our life is anything but dull at the moment and certainly an adventure.