BYU Managment Society Gala

Once a year the BYU Management Society has it's big dinner and this year we were able to hear from Elder Thomas Monson of the First Presidency. Allison's family, including our cousin Alex, and friends were able to join us and we had a really nice night.

Easter 2007

Happy Easter!

The Wizards vs the King

So we went to see our local basketball team, the Wizards, take on Cleveland and the "King" LeBron James.

It was fun for a while and then LeBron took over and that was that. We made the playoffs but I'm not sure we'll go very far. Good times nonetheless.

I think we had more fun after the game with the free pom-poms we got at the game.

Opening Day - Play Ball!

What else would I do on a Monday when it is 80 degress outside, sunny and it's opening day for the Washington Nationals? If you thought go to work then you might not know me well enough. I took the day off, Allison played hookie and we met up with Allison's brother Matt and his wife to watch the Nats play ball!

We had new seats for the season this year and were excited to check them out. I was not disappointed, this season we'll be in the shade and be able to see the players without the binoculars!

With great seats and the great weather, the only thing that disappointed was the home team as they lost 9-2. Thank goodness it's a long season, well maybe not, if they keep this up our 3 games a week for the rest of the season will be insufferable (well maybe not that bad).

Alexandria Ward Easter Party

Since we are teachers in the Primary at church we got to help out with the annual Easter Party. There were games for the kids, some treats, and then the hunt for the 400 eggs that were hidden around the church grounds.

I got to help EMCEE the event (who knew I looked so good in pink?!)
and Al helped sort through the generous bounty that our class kids found.

Florida Gators at the WH

Rarely do we get to see some winning teams in DC, but luckily for me 1) we had some visitors in from out of town, the 2006 NCAA Football champs, the Florida Gators and...
2) I got to leave work in the middle of the day to see them! Now as for UF's other newly crowned champs I'll be more than willing to work a full day when they come...GO HOYAS!

Al's St. Patrick's Day Party

Al and her friends, Ashley, Lilian, and Lizzie, decided to get together to have a St. Patrick's Day potluck dinner where everyone would bring a green dish. Allison decided to make a green jello salad the night before using my Mum's recipe. The next day she took her jello salad with her (along with some green vegetables just in case it didn't turn out). She had a fun time, had some great food and came back with positive feedback on her jello salad. Now, either she is lying to me about her lack of abilities in the kitchen and she can cook, or I owe her friends something green (ie: money)!

The Shins in concert

So Monday I'm sitting at work and I see that the Shins are playing that night at Constitution Hall in downtown DC. After a quick search of Craig's list I had two tickets in my hand and we were off to the concert. We grabbed a little dinner-to-go from Subway and ate in a great little park on E and 18th st. We then headed inside and enjoyed the warm up band, Viva Voce, after which The Shins put on a great show. "See, we are fun".

Visit from Mom

We loved having Elaine in our home as she was passing through on her way back from a wild week in Philidelphia with her old soriety sisters from UGA.

Love you Mom.

1st Anniversay Celebration

We made it through our first year of marriage. To celebrate we decided to visit Keswick Hall which is just outside Charlottsville, Va. I took some time off work and we drove down Thursday afternoon, grabbed some lunch in historic downtown, and then caught the last tour of Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello. We had great weather and loved seeing the home in the late afternoon.

We then went to the hotel and got ready for a romantic dinner at Fosters, the restaurant at the hotel named after one of Jefferson's chefs. We had some fabulous food and enjoyed the time together as we reminisced about our first year of marriage.


The next day we enjoyed sleeping in before heading off to the spa for a massage. It was great to finally get a pair of hands on my back for longer then a couple minutes. I forgot how much I love massages (hour long ones). All relaxed, we packed up and checked out. Just down the street we found a nice trail for a hike and decided to spend just a little more time in the warm sun before heading back to DC. All in all, we had a great time celebrating our anniversary and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Spring Break in AZ

So, if you had a choice to celebrate your first anniversary with your husband or go to Arizona and spend spring break with family, what would you do. If you're my wife, Allison, the choice was easy. It's Arizona all the way. I give her a hard time about it but it just happened to work out that her Mom, brother Kevin and Bryan, all went to visit Amanda and Aaron the same weekend as our anniversary, which was March 4th. I learned early on that the key to being happy was making sure my wife was happy. Thus, I not only let her go, I encouraged it. And of course they all had a great time in the Arizona sun.


They all went for a hike in a nearby desert and enjoyed plenty of milkshakes.

I was glad she decided to come back to the unseasonable cold East Coast. We spent the rest of her Spring Break relaxing and doing a little traveling. We decided to celebrate at Keswick Hall, a little hotel resort just outside Charlottsville, VA.

Mardi Gras in Arlington

You don't have to go to New Orleans to enjoy Mardi Gras, in Arlington Mardi Gras comes to you. Unfortunately it had snowed days before and it was raining the night of the parade so it was cold and wet, but it didn't stop us from catching our share of beads.

Where did January go? Bring Sexy Back

So it's now February and it feels like yesterday that we were bringing in the New Year. Time flies when you're having fun, or mabye just busy. Anyway, we did do a lot around the house and I love how it's starting to look. Allison has me doing something every weekend and we're making progress. To start with we have curtains in the bedroom. A big thanks to Al's mom, Lynne, for helping make the curtains, and for her dad, John, in helping me hang them. It's been almost 6 months since we had curtains hanging in the bedroom and I haven't heard any of our neighbors say anything, but I think they miss the free entertainment every night.

After a month off of school Allison started back up mid January. It was a tough adjustment waking up with me, but she's finally accommated to the early hours. Again she's taking a full load but it doesn't seem to be quite as challenging as previous semesters. We have even had time to enjoy some more concerts. As part of her Christmas gift from our brother-in-law, Aaron Coleman, we went to see Fall Out Boy at the 930 Club. Her brother, Kevin, joined us for the night out on the town. We had a great dinner at Old Ebbitts Grille and then headed to the club. It was a packed house and we spent most of our time squished down front with the die-hard fans, but we had a blast.



And just when you think we couldn't possibly have more fun - we did. We wanted to know who brought Sexy Back, so we went to see JT (Justin Timberlake for all of you that are not up on your pop culture) in concert at the Verizon Center. Once again, Kevin joined us for a night out on the town. This time he brought a date, well almost, he brough his good friend Cy. We had a nice dinner at the swank Oya and then headed to the arena. Allison and I started off in one suite but couldn't see all that well, so we joined Kev and Cy in another suite on a lower level. JT put on a good 2hr show. I was impressed with his stamina, but then again he doesn't work 10hr days like I do.




The beginning of January it was 70 degrees and I went golfing one day. The end of January and the first week of February have been bitter cold. But that didn't stop Kevin and me from standing in the cold for two hours to watch the arrival of POTUS (Pres. of the US), W, or 43 as we call him, land on the south lawn in his helicopter, Marine One. It was fun to watch but our toes were frozen by the end. It'll be spring and 70 degrees before I do that again.