Fun Fall Weekend!

Okay, so we technically didn't carve our pumpkins this weekend, but I'm very proud of our accomplishments: This may be the first year I've made something other than a happy face.. I'm proud of myself! (Mine is the owl)

On Friday night, we invited some friends from Church over to make Haunted Gingerbread Houses. Unlike Taylor, I did not make homemade gingerbread, but instead used graham crackers... which is tricky, because grahams aren't very sturdy. But I think the houses turned out great!

Andrea and Chris
Nina and Cooper

Yours truly. Ours was significantly better than last year, what a relief! Saturday morning, we went to Shenandoah National Park. The fall colors were absolutely gorgeous! We were almost too late though.. next year we'll go up earlier.

We did a little hike (3 miles) to Hawksbill Summit, which is the highest point in the park. It was very enjoyable. Later that night, we had a fabulous cousin get-together, but alas I don't have any pictures of this. Fun weekend!

Current Obsessions

Howdy folks! I haven't done one of these posts in a while (or any posts, but you know)... Here are my current obsessions:

First and foremost:

That's right, my husband is the BOMB! He is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Secondly:

I really dig The Script-- and this song in particular. Check it out. NOTE: the music video is pretty lame--- far too literal. Just listen to the words.

Thirdly-- this is some of the leftover chocolate we bought whilst in Switzerland... AMAZING!

*please excuse this GIGANTIC picture, but it insists....*

Clever right? The funny thing is, chocolate chips as we know them don't exist in Europe, so they probably don't fully realize how clever this actually is.

Fourthly--

I LOVED this movie. Neal and I rarely see movies ($$$$) but I'm glad we saw this on Saturday. I'm sure many people will really, really hate it (especially if they know anything about psych wards) but we really enjoyed it. It's funny and uplifting.

Fifthly-- (can you even say fifthly? Oh well)

Smoothies. LOVE THEM! Over the summer I consumed 2 glasses of smoothie a day. Since I started working, it's less because I'm too lazy to make them BUT I am currently sipping one, and guess what? OBSESSED!!!!!

And now... things I'm NOT obsessed with:

First:

Katy Perry. I cannot even express how ANNOYING her songs are!!!!!! Every new Katy Perry song is the new most annoying song I've ever heard..... her songs all song the same and SHE CAN'T SING!!!!!! Hasn't anyone noticed this?!?!?!!?!?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! Okay okay, I'll stop talking about her.

Secondly:

Not whatsherface, but the hippy style headband. I'm sure some of my readers sport this.... as gorgeous as you may be, I still don't like it. And I don't really understand it.... it's just weird.

And Finally:

that's right--annoying children. Now, as a Kindergarten teacher, I am around children ALL DAY LONG. Most of them are lovely, HIGHLY gifted (of course), and darling. However, please realize that as parents, you have the power to make your kid less annoying. So please use it. This will probably involve following through, not placating whining, and giving your child rules.* Thank you.

*I know that some of you are rolling your eyes because I don't have any children yet. Please feel free to call me out on this later if I give into my child's every whim, respond immediately to whining, and act like my child controls me at age 5. Thanks.

So there you have it. I hope everyone is doing well!!!!

My brother, the missionary

May 2009

Summer 2007

Hello folks! It's been a while... I guess this whole working thing keeps me from blogging as regularly as I once did! I want to post a post about my brother. He is leaving in a couple of weeks to serve a 2 year mission for our church in Jacksonville, Florida. Since he's in Utah right now, he'll actually be closer (physically) to us, but we won't be able to phone/text/see him. He will be able to communicate via e-mail once a week. First of all, I must say I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! He will be an AMAZING missionary, I'm just sure of it. As for myself though, I feel so sad!!!!!

Christmas 2006

Matthias is one of my favorite people on this earth. He is thoughtful, talented, smart, and cheerful. He was a class officer in school and has a rather large female following. He is an AWESOME tennis player, and an incredible guitar player/singer. I love him so much!!!! So while I'm proud of him for making this choice, I'm also gonna miss him like crazy! When Matthias was 14, my mom suggested I take him to France with me, since Capucine has a little brother about his same age. Initially, I was totally against the idea (France was MY thing) but I'm so glad that we went together because this created a special bond between us. He is so much fun to be around, and just a really, REALLY good person! I admire him a lot.

2007 Christmas

Christmas 2008

Mexico 2010

I will miss you, little (bigger) brother!

Back to School

Well folks, the time has come. My lazy summer has officially ended. I shall now do a dramatic reenactment of my feelings on the matter via photobooth... First of all, denial/annoyance. Has it seriously been 10 weeks?!?! I didn't even watch all of the seasons of Buffy!

After denial/annoyance, was simply annoyance. Why do I even work? We live off of Neal's income anyway! I'd much rather be a housewife!

After straight up annoyance, came support and understanding from Neal:

Uh, Hannah, I don't feel bad for you. You've had 10 weeks off!!! Thanks, babe. Then came stress. Am I going to be able to get back into the swing of teaching full time PLUS two 2 hour classes a week at American University?!?!

Then came reflection.. you know, I've done this two other semesters, and I loved it. I still had fun, still had time to relax, and only have a few (dozen) gray hairs...hmmmmmm

Then came my first night class, and then the first day back at school and you know what?!?

I'm feeling great! I feel rested and ready to get back into the swing of things.. I CAN DO IT! First (half) week back at school? CHECK! I deserve a lemon bar!

or two.....

Greenbrier State Park

Neal and I were itching to do something fun on Saturday. I haven't been feeling that great the past few days, but I was going stir crazy, so we went up to Greenbrier State Park in Maryland. It was great! We decided to do a 4 mile hike along the Appalachian Trial to Annapolis Rocks and get a great view of Greenbrier lake. A few miles in, we realized it was 4 miles each way, but we are not wimps, so we just decided to do it, even if I was sniffling and coughing the whole way. All and all, I'm pretty sure it will help me get better faster... RIGHT?

So the hike. I was really excited to hike on the Appalachian Trail (it goes from Georgia to Maine... WHOA, FOLKS!) Imagine my surprise to see that it was a paved trail along the FREEWAY for a time... sheesh!

What the?!?!? I know--disappointing! But don't worry, it was mostly unpaved and wooded.

The view was gorgeous. Not exactly purple mountain majesty, but hey, it's the East. After our long hike, we changed into our swimming suits and headed to the lake. I made the picnic. I'm the best wife in the world for making this:

I know-- it looks like it belongs in a healthy living magazine! Peaches, kiwi, blueberries and raspberries! Lest I sound conceited, it should also be mentioned that I neglected to pack the rest of our picnic. Whatever. Focus on the fruit salad/main course/side/dessert. Gorgeous!

After our "picnic," we got in the cool and refreshing water. Two minutes after we both put our whole bodies in (including faces) there was an announcement over the PA system (which I didn't even realize existed until that very moment) "Attention swimmers. Because of unsanitary conditions, everyone needs exit the water immediately for one hour." Okay, unsanitary WHAT?!? And what about the magic time of one hour sanitizes the conditions again? You can imagine our faces of disgust as we hurdled small children in our rush to exit the water--they looked something like this:

Isn't Neal's face priceless? Love him. So the next thing we knew, a park ranger was jogging toward the empty water with a plastic bag, and very long tongs.... your guess is as good as mine, but I think we can safely YUCK that image. Then he patrolled the beach and made sure no one got back in.

Our hero. If you were wondering, we opted not to get back in at that same spot. Now, I realize that poop in a lake/ocean/pool even is not uncommon-- it's just something about the announcement that made it seem that much worse! All and all, however, it was a very fun day! I love when I get to hang out with this hottie all day!

Summer lovin'

Wow-- I can't believe my summer is over in two weeks! I may die when I start working again..... oh well. Let's talk about happier things. I went to Seattle for 5 days to visit Tay, Shawn, Asher and Madeline. It was so much fun!!! Take a look at these cuties:

They are both SO adorable! I especially love Asher's face... he is in a constant state of EXCITED and it's so darn cute!

We went canoeing on Lake Washington-- it was so gorgeous! You can ever canoe under the freeway overpasses!

We also went to Green Lake and walked around. I LOVE Taylor and Shawn and I certainly love being around my niece and nephew!
It was hard to leave them, but I got back just in time for .....

Our annual peach picking rendez-vous! If you're new to the blog, just know that peach picking (at this very orchard!) was our very first date 2 years ago. We've gone every year since (which, granted, isn't that many years YET but hey, a tradition's gotta start somehow!)

We got 2 pecks of these beauties and have been eating several a day. DELICIOUS!!!

That same day, we also went to the Melting Pot, which is why we look so happy in this picture! (I'm trying to get that added onto the peach picking tradition, so we'll see if it sticks!) ;) I have had an AMAZING summer and am sad to see it wind down... but I know that none of you feel sorry for me (unless you're a teacher)! GREAT SUMMER!!!!!

Virginia Beach Getaway

Neal and I left early Thursday morning, and spent the weekend at Virginia Beach. It was HOT/HUMID, but the water was c-c-c-cold so it really cooled us off. We stayed in Chesapeake, which was about 20 minutes from the actual beach, but we wanted to get the most out of our Marriott points! It is also notable that movies in Chesapeake are FOUR DOLLARS (here in the DC area they are 12.50!!!!!) so we saw Inception and Sorcerer's Apprentice-- we really like both, but Inception wins the WOW factor. I'm anxious for my sister Taylor to see it, because she will undoubtedly hate it. (She loves to hate movies, and it's highly entertaining to talk to her about them).
The beach was CROWDED, but such is to be expected during the summer. We rented a beach umbrella (best $15 we've ever spent!) to battle the sun-- I was disappointed to discover that you can get sunburned in the SHADE-- seriously?!?!

We had so much fun together-- it's so nice to be around each other 24/7 (yes, we're still in that honeymoon phase!) and the beach is an added bonus!
I also made a list of things that should be illegal on the beach: first and foremost, this swimming suit:

I simply HAD to take a picture of this girl.... this is UNDOUBTEDLY the most HIDEOUS swimsuit I have ever seen in my entire life. I didn't even know trikini's existed, and they really, really shouldn't.
Second on the list of things that should be illegal on the beach: bringing a cup of beer into the ocean and spilling it in the water in your drunken frenzy.
Third: this one should actually be illegal just in general: tattoos of lips on your butt-cheek.... sorry, no picture, Neal wouldn't let me (although it's best if you don't see it). We saw not one, but two girls that had this tattoo! GROOOOSS!
I'll stop there, but I do think it would be a good idea to have a nonsmoking area of the beach as well.... it's so gross that people use the beach as an ashtray! Anyway, it was an amazing vacation and I love Neal!