Hail to the Redskins!

On Christmas Eve, Darren and I had the great opportunity to go to the Redskins game! We had been offered the tickets months ago (by my mom's boss who has excellent hook-ups with the team), but figured that since it was Christmas Eve and all it probably wouldn't go over well with my family. We were offered them again the week before the game and, after talking with my parents, decided that since it was an afternoon game we wouldn't really miss much and decided to go! Darren was SO excited, and then to top it all off we ended up getting pre-game field passes too!

We headed up to the game about 11am Christmas Eve, right after my family had family photos done by a guy up the street. We got to Fed-Ex Field a little before noon, and got down to the field about 12:15ish. It would've been sooner, but I forgot my ID in the car and everything was under my name at Will Call, so Darren had to go back and get it. Luckily, we had front row parking thanks to Mr. Eckert!

Once we got on the field we took it all in, and then headed down towards the team entrance and just watched them warm-up and then scrimmage a little right before the game.

As we were walking down the field we passed the NFL Instant Replay booth. I pointed it out to Darren, since I thought it was really cool for some reason. The guy manning the booth must have seen that and called me over. I was quite confused at first, since I didn't realize he was waving to me, but eventually I figured it out. When we walked over, he asked me to do him a favor and said most people can't say no to him. I said okay, and then he handed me his headset! He then asked me to turn towards Darren, and yell, while waving my arms angrily, "I can't believe it!"

Afterwards he had me reach into his magic bag and pull out a candy cane. I'm pretty sure he was mostly doing this for the kids, but I enjoyed it!

After a few more minutes standing on the sideline the Vikings started coming out of their locker room to warm up. I'm sure Darren could tell you who they all are, but I've got no clue.

I know this one though! - Percy Harvin

When the Redskins came back out it got really fun. I wish Darren would've had the opportunity to talk to some of them, but he says he still had a great time.

#89 Santana Moss

#8 Rex Grossman (we saw a sign saying "Gross-Man". hilarious)

The highlight of our day! #12 Bro. John Beck (we can cal him that, since he's in our ward)

Bro. Beck can spin a football on his finger. Pretty cool...

Enjoying probably one of the best days of his life

A Viking

So, there's a funny story with the above photo...As he was running by a few of the fans near us started booing him. (Why he ran down the 'Skins sideline I'll never know) He kept going, but as he did we all heard, "Aw, shut up!" Most of us started laughing, and I thought it was dang funny. Anyway...

Heading back into the locker room

After they left the field, we went and found our seats. We had some pretty good ones, and enjoyed three quarters of the game from them! (I didn't wear warm shoes and I got pretty cold, so we watched the second quarter and the half-time show from inside the warmth of the club level)

Coin toss

This guy was hilarious! Our in-game entertainment.

Unfortunately, there was one completely wasted Redskins fan who had to be stupid...

Adrian Peterson had just gotten hurt, so I'm not sure how that dude got on the field, but it was quite fun to see him be tackled and taken off the field.

Even though the 'Skins ended up losing, we had a GREAT time and our first NFL game was a very good experience. As we were walking back to or car everyone was wishing eachother a "Merry Christmas". A huge thanks to Mr. Ron Eckert!

Anniversary Trip

This year for our anniversary we decided to have a weekend away. It was Darren's year to plan, so he found a place, Landsdowne Resort, and made all the other plans.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for him I guess, our first night away landed on Darren's birthday. I decided that we still needed to celebrate him, so I made a chocolate cake and we took it with us.

We headed to dinner at Outback first, so Darren could get his fill of steak and potatoes, and then headed to our hotel where he opened his presents.

The resort that we stayed at was SO nice. The next morning we had a simple breakfast and took our time getting ready. We headed out about lunch time and went to this little place:

Darren found it online, and I was so excited. It was really similar to a pizza place we went to in Monterey on our honeymoon. After lunch we walked around the Leesburg Outlets and then headed back to our room to relax.

The view from our window

That night for dinner we went to my favorite place, Olive Garden. Unfortunately I was still pretty full from the delicious pizza we had for lunch, but I still got my usual meal and loved eating the leftovers the next day.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed back to our apartment so we could get ready for church at 1pm.

I'm so glad we decided to get away for a few days and relax. We definitely needed it and we both had a great time celebrating the last two years.

Happy Birthday!

Darren turns the big 28 today! His cake is already made and ready, and we're off to Outback for dinner tonight.

Happy Birthday babe!

Day at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

One extra exciting thing about moving back to Virginia was being so close to D.C. I've been up many times, but Darren had never been! We had mentioned a few months back that it might be fun to go up around Christmas time to see the Christmas tree. We looked at our calendar and realized that we only had one open Saturday before Christmas, and it was the next week. We decided it was now or never for this year and went this last Saturday, the 10th!

We drove down to the closest Metro stop in Vienna and rode the Orange line to the National Mall. As we were walking up the stairs I got REALLY excited to show Darren everything. We got to the sidewalk and I told him to turn around. He did, and this was the first thing he saw:

It was so fun to see the amazement on his face. At that moment I realized how much I had taken for granted living so close to such an important place. He was seeing in real life the things he had only seen in movies and on television. I decided right then that we would come into D.C. more often and take advantage of everything it has to offer while we live so close.

Our first stop, and our main goal for the day, was the National Museum of American History.

This one happens to be my absolute favorite. We decided that this is where we wanted to spend most of our time so we took it slow and enjoyed everything.

Old lunchboxes down in the cafeteria, where we ate lunch

A baseball signed by Lou Gehrig, along with a portrait of him

The original Catwoman costume, when Batman was played by Adam West (One of the highlights for me since I grew up watching that series!)

We also saw a fedora owned by Michael Jackson, Apolo Anton Ohno's skates, the First Ladies' dresses, walked through Julia Child's kitchen, and got to see the orignal Star Spangled Banner. It was so much fun!

Our next stop was the Smithsonian Castle.

Turns out it's just an information center. But, we went in anyways to warm up a little. It was stinkin' cold the day we went. We then walked down the mall some more to the Air & Space Museum. 

That one was a little boring for both of us, so we walked around for a little bit, went through the Wright Brothers exhibit and called it good.

Darren wanted to get a good photo of the Capitol building, so we walked down to the end of the mall.

By this time I was getting a little chilly, so I put on my scarf, and soon after my hat.

After seeing the Capitol building we still had a couple hours until dusk, so Darren decided he wanted to go to the Lincoln memorial before we went to see the tree. So, off trekking we went...

Washington Monument from the WWII Memorial side

View from the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Too bad they had the Reflecting Pool all dug up...

It was getting mighty cold. Evidenced by the fact that Darren now has his scarf and hat on.

"Blah, blah, blah. I NEVER LIE!" - Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

It was really interesting to read all the quotes on the walls from President Lincoln. I actually learned quite a bit.

On our way to the White House we walked through the Vietnam War Memorial. I hadn't been since I was really little, so I didn't have any memory of the trip. It was a really moving experience.
 

We finally arrived at the tree a little before sunset, and it was perfect.
 

While we waited for it to get a little darker, so we could see the lights better, we turned around to look at the White House.

There are a few Secret Service guys up on the roof if you look closely.

Before leaving we took one last look at the tree:

It was a great day all around, and we're so glad we had the opportunity to spend the day in the city. If you come and visit maybe we'll take you!