Happy Easter

First things first - Happy Easter!  This has been a good week, especially because it was my LAST full week of class - hooray!  Unfortunately, the end of class means that exam time draws near - boo!  But lets not talk about that right now, let's just be happy :)

Speaking of happy, we were very happy to have a wonderful Easter weekend with Mom and Dad.  We headed to the 'burg yesterday evening and spent the evening with Mom eating Chinese food and watching TV :)  Today we got up and (after Seth found his way back to the house after being lost for about 45 minutes on his run today!) headed over to Dad's for a DELICIOUS Easter dinner - prime rib, grilled asparagus and mushrooms, potatoes, rolls, and lemon meringue pie - YUM!!!  After dinner, we had some fun playing with the iPhone (see below) and then packed up and headed back to DC.

Oh my, what a big nose you have Dad!

Mom laughed so hard at this she cried!

Well, I better get back to studying and wrap things up for tonight,  so for now, that's all folks!

Spring is in the Air

Well howdy ya'll!  Spring surely is in the air and I'm LOVING it!!!  Spring is one of my favorite times of year - leaving behind the cold, starting to get a tan...and the END OF SCHOOL!!!  That's right, I said it, the end of school!  This week, I started the ball rolling towards the end of the semester by having my LAST legal rhetoric class - hooray!!!  Legal rhetoric ends a few weeks before your other classes so that you have time to focus on those dreaded exams (now 15 days away!).  It's crazy how quickly the first year has flown by...now if only the next three and a half weeks will fly by as fast, it will be summer time :)

My Legal Rhetoric Section (and professor) post-class celebration!

The only bad part of Spring time?  It's SOOO hard to stay focused and not run away from school to lay out in the Sun...but so far I have resisted...although we did enjoy a nice balance of studying/fun this weekend.  On Friday, we used our personal training consultation that Seth won at our school's charity auction...and apparently we are both in shape :) On Saturday night (since the weather cancelled our other plans to celebrate Marge's birthday - boo!) we went to a going-away party for one of Seth's co-workers.  Today, Seth, Emily (my law school wife), and some other classmates went to watch the Nationals beat the Brewers at some good ol' baseball.  To end our busy weekend, we headed to the dog park with Honey and spent some QT with her and her friends and soaked up some more of this wonderful weather.

Our view of the Nats...look closely for the Washington Monument :)

Anyway, for those of you who may be worried about what appears to be a lack of study, don't worry, I'm just giving up on sleep and replacing that with study time...and so far, it's worked out pretty well :)  For real though, I'm stickin to it and moving right along.  Well, we hope you all have had as good a week as us and look forward to seeing you all soon!  Oh, speaking of seeing you soon, be on the lookout in the next few weeks for a little something special in your mail :)  Til the next time - xo!

Odoyles Rules...in D.C.

It's hard to believe that the anticipation of Jack, Mindy, and Evie's visit came and went already!  This past (extended) weekend has been sooo much fun...and I wish we could do it all over again Groundhog Day style!!!  The gang arrived on Wednesday afternoon and received first class, curbside pick-up with me as their chauffeur :)  We headed home (after about 20 minutes worth of struggling to fit the stroller into the trunk haha) and dropped of their luggage before heading to DuPont to pick up Seth from work.

Jack, Mindy, & Seth outside Seth's office in DuPont.

Since DC is such a 'foodie' town, our goal was to take the fam around the world in 3.5 days as far as eating was concerned...and we just about made it :)  Of course, given our family tradition of love for Mexican food, we started the eating debauchery at Guapo's (our staple Mexican restaurant by my school).  Suffering from a food coma of chips and salsa, we headed home to rest up for the next few days.

Thursday, I had a few commitments for school and Seth had to work, so Jack and Mindy enjoyed a relaxing morning at the Seth & Brandon Bed & Breakfast.  After I was done with school, I headed home and we hoped on the Metro (that's right, they've been Metrofied!) to Chinatown for some shopping and sightseeing...and yes, some eating!  Dinner was funny because Evie (a little more than 9 months old but wearing clothes size 18 months) was a hit with all of waiters in the restaurant who kept playing with her and trying to get her to smile...but that's not too hard, because she is such a sweet and happy baby!

Jack, Evie, & Mindy outside our place, about to get Metrofied!

Evie working the crowd at the Chinese restaurant.

Friday, Seth and I both had off and got to spend the whole day with the fam!  We got up, had a nice brunch, and (after deciding to postpone our sightseeing bus for a better weather day) headed off to eat some more...this time at DC famous Ben's Chili Bowl (long line, but worth it for the food!)  The restaurant is pretty historical and dates back before the DC race riots, but I had to laugh because the sign inside says: "The only people who eat free here are: Bill Cosby, the Obama family, and no one else!"...but I'm pretty sure if they had seen Evie they might have added her to the list :)  After lunch we went to some of the museums and then headed off to meet Mom, Dad, Carol, and Marge for dinner at Il Porto (our favorite restaurant in Old Towne Alexandria)...see, I told you all we did was eat :)  Dinner was great and I just have to say what a lucky boy I am to have, not one, but TWO families that I absolutely love (and am loved by!)  To both my VA and Utah families, I love you so much :)

On Saturday, since the weather was nicer, we headed downtown and hopped on the open-top sightseeing bus to tour DC and see the sites we hadn't yet had a chance to visit.  It really is a good tour and, even for those of us that have lived here all of our lives, you'd be surprised at the history and random facts you will learn!  Also, for those of you who aren't familiar with DC, it is very common to see motorcades with government officials pass by, so once you've been here a while, you just kind of don't really pay attention to them...which leads to a funny story.  While we were on the bus tour, we decided to hop off at the Lincoln Memorial to go inside and let Jack and Mindy see it.  As we were walking up, we saw a motorcade leaving and basically dismissed it because it seemed to be a pretty small motorcade compared to a typical motorcade for a high-ranking official.  Well, come to find out on the news, President Obama decided to make an impromptu visit to the Lincoln Memorial that day, and the motorcade we saw was the President leaving...so we literally missed him by a matter of minutes!  So Jack, I'd just like to say that I ALMOST kept my promise of seeing Obama :)

No Obama, but still, the Lincoln Memorial has the best view!

After all was said and done, we started to head home (after eating dinner at the DC Hooters, since all of the other restaurants were full haha!) to pack and say our goodbyes.  I still can't believe how quickly this trip came and went, but I sure am glad we got to spend some quality time with the Utah fam!  Seth and I miss them so much, but are lucky that my family is here and full of love :)

Evie sure was tired on her last night after so much fun with her Uncles!

This morning Jack, Mindy, and Evie headed off to the airport and (unfortunately) are not back in Utah...but not to worry, only 3.5 months til we head out west for our wedding!!!  Now its time for a quick bite to eat and then off to bed to start another week tomorrow...until the next time :)

NYC Part Deux

Soooo...it seems like we were JUST in New York...oh wait, that's because we were!  Long before I won the tickets to the GLAAD Awards, I planned Seth's Birthday present a.k.a. a trip to New York...little did I know that it would fall only two weeks after the first trip.  Despite the basically back to back trips, we had a great time (who doesn't LOVE New York!?) and enjoyed the weekend together :)

To get there, we took the Bolt Bus (a non-stop bus from Union Station to Times Square) and enjoyed not having to drive the four hours through the traffic but taking some time instead to do school work and nap :)  We were pretty pooped on Friday, so we got some pizza and headed to bed to rest up for the rest of the weekend.  Saturday, we did the touristy thing (even though we've both been before) and went to Carnegie Deli and went on a walk through Central Park.  After Seth got a facial peel, we headed back to the hotel to change for our night on the town :)

Carnegie Deli sandwiches don't play, do the Mister Seth?

Saturday night, we headed uptown to Broadway to see...wait for it...Book of Mormon: The Musical!!!  I had been dying to see this and, after rave reviews, was lucky to be able to get us tickets!!!  It was actually hilarious and had good music too...so good I've been singing the songs all week :)  After the play, we headed to the Gothem Comedy Club for a show.  I haven't been to a comedy show in a while and I forgot how much I enjoyed them!  It is was a smaller venue, so the comedians made fun of us for dressing up and for being a law student...but the guy who got made fun of the worst was a Chinese man named Hugo...but it was all in good fun and VERY funny :)

Backdrop of Book of Mormon: The Musical

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was nice...caught up on some sleep, got some work done, and headed back home to start another week.  And this week has brought so many good things already...the END of my legal writing class, nice weather, and (TOMORROW!) Seth's family comes to town :) :) :)  We are so excited and just can't wait!!!  Speaking of which, time to go to sleep so I can wake up and have it be tomorrow already :)