Saturday, April 30, 2011

Saturday with Clement Kids!

Today we spent the day taking care of Eva and Liam :o) We had a blast and are so glad we were able to take care of them for the day!

highlights:
Um... they slept in! So fun to see them all rested
Jogging with Jon, Liam, and Cally around the cul-de-sac. They all kept up a really good pace! It was Liam's idea.
Hanging out with sweet little Eva, who seems to enjoy my funny faces. She's really really sweet.
Hearing Liam say over and over "Jojo making pizza! we're making pizza!" - Liam helped Jon (Jojo) make pizza today, and he definitely stood by for the hour it takes to make it! He mixed the dough, helped "fry" the meat, and helped stretch it out. He also kindly helped us taste-test the olives and cheese for the pizza. Such a sweet lad. (will post pictures...)
hanging out in the beautiful weather, and listening to Liam exclaim "wow! cool!" about the new swing set.

lowlights:
Not being able to get Eva down for her 2nd nap. She just didn't seem to be tired enough to warrant going to sleep! I think Heather is a miracle-mom however, these kids are super well behaved!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday with Clement Kids

Tonight we are sleeping on an air mattress in my parent's basement. Why? We are watching Clement Kids! Our favorite niece and nephew on my (sara's) side of the family! We are stoked that Heather trusts us enough to leave us with this lad and lassie. We're enjoying it and I think it will help us understand a bit more about "parenting" - or at least how little sleep one can get (doesn't help that we naturally stay up past 11pm!) This will last until Sunday afternoon - we're confident we can handle it for that length of time. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Heather is a super-heroine.

In other news, rumor (aka. Facebook) has it that my cousin Emily has her driver's license? Is that the truth?! if yes, we are very excited. If not, her mom needs to stop posting pictures of Emily outside the MVA with a driver's license in her hand.

Additionally, I think I should let our entire audience know (and yes, i mean all 3 of you!) how this blog happens every night. Around 10:40, Jon asks me "So what are you going to blog about?" to which I reply "Do I have to?!" and he gives me a knowing look: I hav-ta. I love this man. A lot. Even if I grumble about the things I myself set out to do.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Thoughtless Thursdays v.6

"Vision without action is hallucination."

Dream big, but if you don't do anything about it, you're basically nuts.

And with that thought, we are going to bed. Getting some rest before watching Eva and Liam for the weekend (we're so excited!!!!) and intentionally missing the royal wedding. We're okay with it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wednesday v.5

We had a visitor last night! Dear sister Jess stayed with us on her business trip out this way :o) We introduced her to our new games "Ingenious" and "Dixit." She was kind enough to play along, and even seemed to enjoy it! We'll bring them along this weekend, when we visit Annapolis to help take care of nephew and niece -which we are looking forward to.

Other than that - laundry, dishes, tiding up, the usual! Seeing how few my thoughts are tonight, thoughtless thursday will be something else.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Truth?

I was listening to NPR today, and the guest on the Diane Rehm Show was James Stewart, author of the book Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff. There was an interesting discussion on perjury and lying. At one point Diane Rehm asked him about the effectiveness of the Bible or other holy books when making an oath to say the truth.
That made me think. There really shouldn't be a point to presenting the Bible for this purpose. If I have respect for the Bible, then (according to its teaching) I should say the truth whether or not there's a Bible around.
As Matthew 5:37 instructs, we should just say the truth as it is. "Anything beyond this" (like swearing on the Bible) "comes from the evil one."
So if I were the type of person who does not attach enough importance to tell the truth to my inquisitors, then putting a Bible under my hand should logically not change that. The formality is thus pointless.

People are interesting. They're often not that logical.

You can check out more about the interview at http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-04-26/james-stewart-tangled-webs.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Alone time

Tonight I stayed home from game night while Jon went and played. Surprisingly I discovered I like alone time! Naturally I was delighted when Jon came home, all refreshed from spending time in an empty apartment.

He said he really likes alone time too - and gets lots of it!

Good to know. I think I'll try to squeeze in some more solitary-Sara time more often. 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter :o)

Today was a wonderful easter, filled with good family times, good food, good easter egg hunt, good conversation, and good everything.

We, however, are exhausted from a weekend full of people, and food. And neither of us can think of a single thing to blog about. If you are on facebook, be sure to check out the pictures!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wedding :)

Today we went to the wedding of Tim and Rachel Prindle (formerly Dalby). It was wonderful to see two people from C3 getting married as well :) Quick memories from the day:

- Seeing Rachel peeking out of the sound booth looking at everyone - thrilled as could be. what fun!
- They used our vows! Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so that is fairly flattering. Interesting hearing others use the same words we did. We repeat our to each other fairly often, I hope they do the same. Vows have always been a good reminder to me of what we are about, and what I vowed to do, rather than what I feel like I should do.
- Playing with the nephew Liam and dancing around.
- Looking at niece Eva in all her cuteness
- Catching up with lots of friends, including the newly married Biz and Ben!
- Eating yummy food, hanging out with the family, etc. 

We came back home and our friends who are staying here took us to Dogfish Head, which is a fairly famous brewery we didn't know was even around here. Turns out they are refined beer drinkers - namely they know what they are drinking and why. We had a "beer sampler" - basically 6 small beers that average out to about 1 beer each. Needless to say, this blog would be much more articulate if I (Sara) hadn't enjoyed the beer more than my french husband did. The food was also absolutely delicious too!

That said, now it is time to go to bed :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Guests!!

Tonight we have our very first non-family stay-over guests :o) It is my good friend Sarah, her husband Kyle, and their exchange student Diana. We're having a marvelous time, and I'm relishing having people in our home.

Additionally, our good game board friends lent us time and their board games to help us out for the afternoon! I quickly realized that our board games (Triva Pursuit, Scattergories, etc.) would not fit the evening, or the crowd, and needed help in a pinch. Our friend came over and taught us Diamant (my favorite) and "Cash 'n Guns" - which was an ABSOLUTE blast. It's like "Bang" only with fake guns and a plot similar to Reservoir Dogs (or so I am told).

Aunt Cindy's Chicken Soup saved the evening again. Here is the receipe for those who don't know it. It is a huge blessing - when I realized I wouldn't have enough soup for everyone, I simply added another jar of salsa at the last minute, and it spread around to all just fine :)

Chicken Salsa Soup:
In a crockpot, put a package of boneless skinless breasts or thighs- add a jar of salsa, half or so a box of chicken broth,   a tsp, more or less,  of cumin, oregano, and garlic powder, a 1/4 tsp od cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it) and a chopped up onion.

Cook on low all day, or high for half a day. Add a can of black beans sometime (doesn't really matter when, but I always wait til near the end) and also add a 1/2 cup or so of frozen corn.

Before you serve, break up  the chicken in the soup with a fork- it should be very shreddable. Chopped up green onions, or cilantro if you like that is nice at the end.

For serving, pile on the sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, chopped up tomatoes or avacado, and crumbled up tortilla chips!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Grocery shopping

Tonight we went grocery shopping at Sam's club. It has been awhile, and our refrigerator was beginning to look quite sparse. It was such a good time! It's fun now - we have a rythem to the shopping. Jon reminds me to check if I have the list right before we leave, and half the time I don't, and then I find it, and then we leave. Once we are at Sam's we both remember to grab our grocery bags, as we used to forget, but now we remember. We know where to go to get our staples - and even just the fact that we now have "staples" is romantic. We know what we usually get, cook, and eat, and remember not to purchase the items we thought we'd eat, but then didn't.  Then we check out, put the groceries in the cart, and then bag them by the food court - having discovered that this method is more practical than shoving them in the bags while checking out.

Then we come home, put the groceries away, and eat. Married life rocks.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wednesdays v.4

Today I stayed home, feeling unwell to work. I think it is dehydration, as this has happened before. When the weather gets warmer, I forget to drink more, and then suddenly I wake up one day unable to think coherently and feeling nauseous.

5 Liters of Propel and lots of rest later, I'm feeling much better and significantly more confident in my ability to tackle work tomorrow.

I think the most annoying thing about staying home from work ill, is being at home, seeing all the wonderful things that are there to get done, and the time I suddenly have to do them all - and no energy to back up my desires. Very frustrating. I was able to successfully stay out of Jon's hair while he worked, so that can count as an accomplishment :o)

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tuesday ancedotes

The following are a few ancedotes of the evening:

With the new warm weather coming, I need to remember to drink water, as I dehydrate easily.

We learned that our landlord will allow us to stay in this apartment at the same rate! We feel so incredibly blessed, as this is an incredible place.

Most every night one of us gets sucked into the "book of face" - facebook. Everytime we say "book of face" though, I crack up inside. We're so funny with words.

Our newest goal is to speak only German in the kitchen. I am printing out a German flag as we speak so we can remember.

The show "Scrubs" has some pretty poor examples of relationships, but it is still very funny. We're conflicted.

I realized this weekend that with our current dinner making schedule, I only make dinner once during the work week- on Wednesdays. We have dinner with friends on Monday, Jon cooks Tuesday and Thursday, and Fridays are short days for me. I'm so blessed.

Chirping birds sound lovely, unless they are chirping at 4am and you begin to wake up thinking it is morning, only to realize you still have another 3 hours of sleep, and then have to go back to sleep while the bird is chirping. loudly. I'm sure that bird definitely got a worm.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Not missing school right now

Everyone once in awhile I get nostalgic for school. The treasure hunts for sources, the papers that grew beautifully from the carefully crafted outlines, the constant introduction to new ideas and the opportunity to spend the day learning, developing, and re-framing old ideas into the new, while supporting it all the while with research and experience. Ahhh... the good ol' days.

Then I spent the evening with a good librarian friend at game night, who is still in school, hearing the woes of the 50+ page papers she is writing for school. And then I remember the sleepless nights, the driving to class hoping to beat rush hour, the painstaking tap of each key stroke, building slowly towards the required page limit, and then the anticipation of waiting to see the end grades, all the while wondering if this would truly help me get any further off in life than when I started.

I don't miss that. At. all. Staying up watching a sitcom, then reading a bit, and finally sinking into a calm sleep,  is a welcome reprieve after 8 years of higher education. Well worth it too though, as the education now pays for the roof over our heads ... so it turns out it did help me get further in life after all. Not to bad.

I give myself 2 weeks until I start re-considering the doctorate. Or maybe at least until after finals.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Palm Sunday - late night and vericomposter updates

Last night I was up late, due to a nap I had accidentally taken from 6-8pm. (Came back from a social event, was exhausted, one thing led to another, and I was zonked out!) So I was up late! I was able to get caught up on facebook postings and emails, finally setting up some email rules to help my inbox clean-up itself. Each side of our family now goes into it's own folder, so I can keep track of email threads, but not have the ones I don't need to respond to stay in my inbox. Then I can see what is actually important :o) We are also making some major headway on office - it is very exciting indeed!

We check on our vericomposter again today! The compost is going down VERY quickly and we were able to drain off some of the worm "tea" and add it to one of the plants we have growing! I'm very excited to see if it actually helps. I'll take some pictures (of the plant, not the worms :o). Now we just have to remember to check on it every weekend, as it's been a few weeks and when we opened it up, it looked like some worms were high tailing it towards the air holes. Maybe they were on the search for more food, air, or a dry place to stay. We'll see.

Kudos to my husband for helping me drain and sort out a relatively disgusting system. I'm excited to use it on some plants! Anyone have any advice on how to start a herb garden?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

"One of the advantages of being disorganized...

is one is always having new discoveries." - A.A. Milne

This quote was imprinted onto a t-shirt for me by my aunt cindy way back in high school. She knew me well then, and knew that it would be a quote that would following me for the rest of my life.

It is still highly applicable today! One of my practical goals this first year of marriage is to organize our surroundings - calming down the years of study, moving, courtship, and general chaos that has characterized our early-to-mid twenties, into a coherent and functional system, which will hopefully characterize our late twenties and early years of married life. With gusto, enthusiasm, a bit of whining and a tremendous amount of help from my family, we have organization in all rooms! Our office files are the last, and hardest, to tackle, and today we took it on.

Rainy and dreary, it was a perfect cleaning-the-house day. Additionally we have guests coming next week, which adds that little extra bit of urgency to the situation. I'm proud to report that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel - papers are being gone through, containers are being utilized, and the piles are going down-down-down. We were able to find a 4-drawer plastic container bin for my crafts, which frees up some space in the closet and allows tools for creativity to be more accessible. I like that alot.

That said, the one book we need for home fellowship group tomorrow we can't find. We searched high and low, cleaning up the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and more parts of the office, flipping through every pile, every bag, and every memory we have of the last place we saw this small, green, 80's looking Bible study.

It appears it will have to be a surprising discovery we find later. And, good news, our home fellowship group is very forgiving, so all should be right in the end.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Thankfulness and you know you are old when....

Tonight on my drive back home I was listening to the traffic reports. Besides an accident on the GW Parkway, the news reporter remarked how heavy the traffic was on 50 heading towards the eastern shore. My heart leaped in gratefulness as I realized --- no more fighting with beach traffic on the weekends!!!!!! Hurrah!!!

Also, the only thing I really want to do on this cool beautiful Friday night is to go to bed early. It's sad, but true. I must have gotten older this week or something.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thoughtless Thursdays v.5

Today's Thoughtless Thursday will be quoting the thoughts I've had in my head the past few days. Here they go.

"I've had too much sugar." - Sara at the end of her birthday  (cupcakes, birthday cake #1, desert free from restaurant, birthday cake #2)

"Do not resist arrest. Ever." - Sara watching someone resist arrest on our walk to the restaurant. Very very bad idea, as we saw him getting gently but firmly pinned to the ground. So proud of the police officers I know! Your job is NOT easy!

"I love Jon. Alot." - Me (Sara) most every day, however particularly as he watched an old romantic comedy ("An Affair to Remember") with me this evening, in continued celebration of birthday.

"Coffee." - one of the thoughts this morning.

"Sleep." - my thought right now.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Happy First Married Birthday :o)

Today I had my first birthday as a married woman. What fun! and my dad is in town tonight between east-of-DC business engagements.

Upon arriving home I got a huge hug and kiss from my husband, who listened to me prattle on about work and life for awhile. And behold - a card! and chocolate! my favorite!

Just as we were beginning to ponder what to do for dinner, dad arrived here and took us out to dinner. We walked to a local Thai restaurant and ate a most wonderful dinner - very refreshing. Both dad and Jon got meals called "Kapow" - which is apparently what the spices do to your mouth. They survived though :o)

We walked home, settled in, and then Jon had some birthday presents for me! another favorite! Per request, I received a watch, and surprisingly, received also "Buckey Balls" [these wonderful magnetic balls that stick together and make fun shapes] and a zebra puzzle. Fun games!

Next - cake! Jon bought some fun swirly candles (will post pictures) and we lit them and sang "Happy Birthday" out of tune- which is the best way for it to be sung. And chocolate cake - my favorite!

Finally - we watched Scrubs, which is very often funny, and enjoyed hanging out. Later this week we will continue Birthday celebrations by watching "An Affair to Remember."

Life is very very good.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Magazines

Tonight I was cleaning up our office and came across a stack of magazines of Jon's, on topics I find somewhat mildly interesting, but perhaps not worth keeping around. "Why does he keep these?" I thought quietly to myself while stacking the magazines near the book shelf.

Five minutes later I was cleaning up around my desk and came across two relatively aged magazines of "Wired" - a technological magazine I tend to enjoy. "Oh I gotta keep these" I thought immediately.

Then caught myself in the utter irony of the situation.

Why do people keep magazines? I think partly it is because magazines can link us to a community, to like minded content subscribed to by other like minded people and written by like minded people. It can created a loose sense of belonging. Additionally, they have no battery power or screen resolutions, so they are always readable, barring water stains. So it is a relatively stable medium with interesting content we most likely already approve of. No wonder we want to keep them.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Dixit

We discovered a new game this evening: Dixit. It's a simple and fun game that won a bunch of awards, including the prestigious 2010 "Spiel des Jahres" (Game of the Year in Germany). The basic idea is similar to Apples to Apples or Balderdash, where you have to get others to vote for your entry, while you try to figure out which entry was from whomever is "it."
Where this game can lend itself to more creativity than the other afore-mentioned games, and also where it can be useful for a wider audience (for example, working knowledge of a language is not required), is that there are no words written in the game, besides the rule book and the box.
Everyone has cards with different random drawings on them, and whosever turn it is picks one of his cards and says a word or phrase inspired by the drawing on that card. Then everyone else hands one of their cards to "it," who shuffles the cards and lays them out. Then everyone but "it" votes for which card they think was in "its" hand. Points are awarded for being right and for having someone else choose your card. And "it" doesn't get points if either no one chooses correctly or everyone does.

Plus, the drawings on the cards are creative and intriguing to study.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Taxes are DONE

What tax season means for the Jerdans:

1) Talking about getting them done in January, only to get them done a few days before the deadline.

2) In the process of looking for a single receipt, going through all our piles, cleaning them out, organizing them, and beginning the "clean the office project" a few days ahead of schedule, only to realize there's no chance we'll be able to find the receipt and it doesn't matter much anyway. Some shelves are definitely clean... the office floor definintely isn't...

3) Sara starting the taxes, but Jon soon taking over with his incredible powers of patience and concentration, and getting the taxes done without frustration. He's my hero.

4) Celebrating by watching "Psych," "Scrubs," and eating good dinner.

And they are done (with the help of H&R Block)! What a blessing.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

The best cake in the world

Today marks 6 months + 1 week that we have been married! In celebration of that, since we were back in Arnold with a big family (yay for having all six kids & spouses together!), we broke out the leftover cake from our reception. So Sara & I were able to get a real taste of the delicacy beyond the bites that we gave each other for the ceremonial moment of gastronomic romance in the Banneker-Douglass. I hope everyone who attended was able to get a piece, 'cause it was a yummer. Thank you Heather Woodfin!!

We then stopped for gas where we had our first post-crowd activity as a married couple: washing off the decorations painted on our car window.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Free tax advice

If you don't want to spend a lot of time doing your taxes, avoid starting your own company.

Whatever you choose, always keep good records! :-)

By the way, it's more enjoyable to take care of taxes with someone else than going through piles of paperwork in my room by myself for hours.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Thoughtless Thursdays v.4

Todays' quotes come from an email Mom Jerdan entitled "When Insults were more than 4 Letter Words" - they crack us up.
 

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

  "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).


"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas
 
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second.... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating
 
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde
 
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)





Wednesday, April 6, 2011

My husband's brilliant brain: How to deal with an emotional wife

Tonight I came home fairly emotional. Although I had done my utmost best to get my emotions under control, I knew the tear stains wouldn't get by my husband! [It was about something that has nothing to do with anyone reading this blog :o)] While I was relating the situation to him, going between bursting tears, frustrating dialogues, and some calm expressions, I could see his brain turning on how to best support his wife. Now Jon is the most rational of men, and emotions are not his forte, but I would certainly never know, as he handles emotions with the utmost sensitivity and competence.

I think, in part, it is due to the following rational sequence which he has developed over years of observing females. Below is my best interpretation in code-speak. "|" means "or," brackets "{ }" are situations - the rest is self explanatory :

{IF wife is frustrated [indicated by loud voice, flailing arms]
THEN listen and nod affirmingly
NOT offer advice | point out flaws in argument | offer chocolate}

{IF wife cries [indicated by sniffling & tears]
THEN listen, offer hankerchief or tissues, hug, pat back, and state love
NOT tell her it's not worth crying over | offer advice | point out flaws in argument | offer chocolate}

{IF wife calms down [indicated by even breathing, calm tone of voice] after several iterations of above THEN ask if she is okay
    IF she is not okay
    THEN ask what you can do to help. follow instructions.

     IF she is okay
    THEN hug and re-state love and appreciation | offer chocolate | offer advice}

NEVER point out flaws in arguments unless directly solicited or wife has completely and fully returned to a rational state, and even then, proceed carefully.

This seems to work very well for us so far! Jon laughed when he read this and said "yeah... that's about right!" Needless to say, I made sure to cook a good meal tonight :o) Yay for hero-husbands!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Happy for Budgets

So due to congressional wibble-wobble, we had a good hard look at our finances tonight to determine how long we can last if, for some reason, I do not have a job (temporarily) on Monday.

And, due to the diligence we have been able to maintain so far during our marriage, we were able to quickly look at our budgeted expenses, net pay - and potential net non-pay - and determine how long we would be able to survive based upon our savings in other accounts. So for all the moaning and groaning I do about it - tonight I feel the rewards of taking care of of money business, no matter how odious the task seems.

We'll be fine for a few months! Frugal living really really pays off. We'd have to sacrifice some indulgences and slow down on paying some things off, but over all, there's a sense "okay, we don't need to panic!"

And, ultimately, we know that God has always provided for us in advance, and we have every reason to believe He will take care of us this time around. Yay for God's provision and Excel spreadsheets.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Monday v.1

I am feeling particularly tired this Monday. Maybe it is recovering from the trip, maybe it's just a case of the Mondays after a lovely weekend away.

Currently we are looking up all the language groups in the area to see which ones we can attend.

I heard another amazing country song today "That's Important to Me" by Joey and Rory, a husband and wife duo. She sings about all that is important to her - from staying out of debt to holding hands while praying, from being a good wife to making homemade meals (well, I'm working on that!).  I heard it today on the radio and couldn't believe it! Rarely, if ever, have I heard a song sung by a wife who simply wants to be a better happier wife. It was very encouraging to me. Better yet, Jon loved it too :o)

They seem like a good band, and we are excited to find them.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday was a blast too! Quick run down of events:

1) Woke up leisurely and we all ate a light breakfast together.
2) At approximately 1pm, we all gathered with the extended Jerdan family at IHOP and listened to their stories about the bridge run. Sounded like alot of fun. Sleeping in I think may have been better.... (for this year at least!)
3) I walked around old town Charleston with Jon, Dad Jerdan, and the Weckessers (Jon's sister and her husband). It was beautiful! So unique to see an old southern town littered with Palmetto trees. Also got to visit an old church with a beautiful English garden. On the cornerstone of the church was inscribed Jon's grandfather's name, among others, who had helped refurbish the church. We have pictures, will post later.
4) Returned "home," then went to Jon's aunt and uncle's farm for dinner! We saw a baby goat (2 weeks old) who was still figuring out how to jump, 3 month old goats, and lots of chickens. Ate a great meal with family.

Sunday:
Woke up, had breakfast with one of my friends in Charleston, and drove back up here! I'm still feeling a little car-sick from all the traveling, however happy in spirits :o)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Friday with Family

We had a great day yesterday! Slept in and chatted with family in the morning, then slowly ate lunch and walked around the neighborhood. It is almost the end of spring here! There are flowers and leaves on the trees. It is truly beautiful. We then got ready and walked around the town at the flower festival, which is basically an enormous arts and crafts fair. There are so many beautiful things to purchase, but of course being wise and prudent folks we left with just the memories.

I also got to see the church where Jon was baptized and where his father started teaching Sunday School. I also saw the house where his grandparents lived for 40+ years and visited the nursing home where Jon worked during a summer at his grandparents house. so neat!

We then came home and ate dinner with much of Jon's extended family - and there are alot of them! I got to meet many cousins and get to know several of the uncles. I have a family tree in the back of my pocket which I can reference when things start getting confusing...

Today is the 10K bridge run, which none of Jon's immediate family is running, but many of those in the extended family. We are on the fence whether we wanted to run it or not - once we heard we'd have to wake up at 5:30am, we decided not too :)

Friday, April 1, 2011

Bald eagle!

While driving down through Virginia yesterday, I saw a bald eagle for the first time in my life!
We started going over a bridge, when Mom, who was beside me at that point, exclaimed "Is that an eagle?" when looking way ahead toward the other end of the bridge. I looked ahead and saw this big bird, mostly brown, with a white head and white tail, diving down next to the bridge, apparently going fishing in the river below.
Now I've seen a real, live bald eagle with mine own eyes and not through a screen.

Yay!