Washington D.C. in September...

So, here's trip of the fall numero uno: whirlwind weekend trip to Washington D.C.! Here's the story on this trip... basically it was the cheapest trip we've been on because Caleb was already going for work, so we had to pay for my flight and hotels for 2 nights since we went up before his conference started. AND, since he's a frequent Southwest flyer, we had a free flight, so all we paid for was our hotel... AND since my dad is a frequent traveler, we only paid for one night at the hotel... AND since all the museums are included in the taxes we pay to Uncle Sam every year, we "technically" didn't have to pay for those either! HOWEVER, my feet did pay for the trip in a BIG way. Over 40 miles and 2 days later, the damage I had done could not be reversed even with the best of pedicures or foot rubs. My blisters' blisters had blisters- OUCH! All in all, though, the trip was a blast, we saw SO much, enjoyed the "moments" we spent with Megan and Will (sorry you were sick!!), took in so much history, became so appreciative of the founding fathers of our country and really just wished all the politicians in Washington would occasionally take a step back to reflect on what principles our country was founded on. I hope you enjoy our photo journal of this trip!

Caleb's gonna love me for this one... We're eating a late lunch at Au Bon Pain just after landing and getting to our hotel!

...and there's me.

First stop- National Air and Space Museum.
Cool old air-crafts and rockets suspended from the ceiling throughout the gigantic museum!

More...

More...

And more...

This was a really cool replica of a carrier ship.

Me and NASA.

Not a clue what this is, but it was REALLY big NASA thing.

So, here's the story on this one: we really didn't care about this statue, but we got really caught up with people watching this awkward couple who looked like they had just met but couldn't keep their hands off each other. They were TOTALLY oblivious to the amount of scandalousness they were partaking in front of the nation's capital.

The Capital of the United States of America

The White House

The lawn side of the White House

In front of a cool old building next to the White House

The World War II Memorial, very very moving.

One view, one side of the Memorial.

Veterans were all over the place, and I thought this shirt was awesome!

Stars for all of the soldiers who lost their lives in WWII

Two sweet old WWII veterans who allowed us to take their picture, an HONOR.

Museum of Natural History

More.

The National Archives.... AND the original Constitution of the United States of America. Yes, this picture is the real deal.

Signatures on the original constitution- SO COOL!

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History- HOPE Diamond at a whopping 45 carats!

About to see an IMAX @ the Smithsonian

The Jefferson Memorial from across the water @ sunset- beautiful!

Inside the Jefferson Memorial-truly memorable.

One of Jefferson's quotes.. worth blowing up to read (all of them).

And another..

And another..

Roosevelt Memorial, with Eleanor in the background.

Caleb and FDR, twinkies!

Quotes at the FDR Memorial

Statues/Representation of the Depression @ FDR Memorial

Washington Monument at Night

Lincoln Memorial @ Night

Inside the Lincoln Memorial.

Proof that Megan and Will were there, even though they were both deathly ILL.

Pentagon Memorial. Very moving.

Facing the sky.

Facing the Pentagon.

In Alexandria.

More Alexandria.. such a cute, quaint town!

The streets of Alexandria.

Just a cool shot of the metro in D.C. We <3 id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277218297858566930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBv4c8X-reeoHvvUu1LuMGtkJmpVP-nDsYVy8xQWikhCyrH1IawDSy-_cDcnhCqIoz_sfMX9niab2YC-iXpbwKbnwKHssytiT_6dOKQmSQdCKdT44rka2yuKchN4j5lcycSsKjS5wpvO0/s320/DSC03241.JPG" border="0">

THE END... for now at least! Stay tuned for the next trip that we already took!

Catching up!

Alrighty folks, I've fallen off the blog for quite some time but I am back in full force!! I have this update done and am already in the works for the next one so hopefully I will be able to keep up with the "catch-ups" so you know why in the world I've been way too busy to blog!! We have had a jam-packed fall and it is just going to continue in this pattern for a while!

Here we go....

Caleb started grad school at UTD this fall, just taking one class to get back in the groove, and he is loving being back!! He started with a great class, Marketing Management, and I am so proud of him! He has learned just how HARD his undergraduate degree was (Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M) and how different it is studying for business classes than engineering. I am sure it is a welcomed change! In addition, we have taken on football games (both pro and college), two mini-vacations, re-landscaping our entire front yard, lots of birthday events for family and friends, our first Thanksgiving celebration at our home and are a part of a different side of the CARES Apartment Ministry we were involved for 18 months prior to homeownership. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful opportunities and are grateful for all of the friends and family we have been able to share these memories with!! Enjoy some pictures of some of these events! More to come soon, I promise!!

Last First Game of the Season at Cowboy Stadium... and boy will we be grateful for a new, AIR-CONDITIONED stadium next year (or whenever we can afford to go to a game..ha!)

US... I love my husband and how we both enjoy sports, especially FOOTBALL!

We love the Seiferds and the free tickets they got us... y'all are AWESOME!!

Laura and ME, wishing we were back in our cheerleader days so we could show the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders some new moves, like real cheerleader ones!

Happy Birthday LAURA!!!

Happy Birthday again!! We went to Maggianos to celebrate then ditched the group as they went on for an evening of dancing.. I was sick, yuck! That was pretty much me from August to October- gotta hate allergies!

Fightin' Texas Aggie Band at the A&M vs. Arkansas State game, we lost. We're REBUILDING... (keep saying it and maybe you'll believe it too!)

ME- deathly ill at the game. Seriously, I slept through at least half of the game. At least we're terrible and the stands are never full, so we could really spread out at the top of the zone. And do you see how tired Caleb is?? Well my wonderful husband walked down about 40 STEEP stairs at least twice to get me ice and a soda because my blood sugar was so low I nearly passed out on the dude next to me. Did I say again how much I love him?!???

The troopers who put up with sick old me all day. They look surprisingly unaffected.. maybe they are just trying to find the good in things. Remember- we LOST. Against AK State.

Happy Birthday Honey!! I love you!

The boys at Caleb's celebration!

And the girls... we were also celebrating the joyous addition of baby Trogdon in the belly. We love everything about that baby except for the sickness your mother has had to endure.. really, what's so bad about garlic??

At the air show, sick again. I slept through some big loud airplane bomber thingy. But the Thunderbirds were really cool.

Nita and Geary... the faithful in-laws always willing to entertain my husband's child-like fetishes!

Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds.

A&M vs. Colorado.. WE WON!!! And I wasn't sick- double whammy!

Josh, Nita and Caleb... she doesn't look old enough to be their mother!

Caleb and Me!

Turkeys

Isn't my background cute??? I love it and can totally brag because I didn't make it myself. I mean, its not like I am patting myself on the back, except for the fact that I am a great background finder today! Yay for Thanksgiving! Oh and also, can I just go ahead and plug Shutterfly and all the other wonderful photo websites out there who have photo books. Let me just say they make me happy! I'll post some pictures one of these days of these fun books that chronicle our vacations! Happy Friday and Gobble Gobble!

The most AMAZING husband ever!!

Well folks, I must say that this time I have a GREAT excuse for the time between posts! Why, you might ask?? Because I have the most incredible husband ever! Let me explain... Last Wednesday was our anniversary- 3 years! About a month and a half ago, my husband shared with me that he was going to be out of town in Enid, Oklahoma for our anniversary on business. Well, I was quite sad, but understanding since he travels semi-frequently on business. It was even ok since we wouldn't be celebrating in the middle of the week anyways. So, we started talking about what we wanted to do. We are still in the middle of working on the house, just the outside these days, so we didn't want to spend too much money. Plus we've been talking about our "mission statement," so I thought it would be great to go camping. We talked about camping and Caleb just let me know that he wanted to take care of planning the weekend. Last Tuesday I washed clothes and he let me know that I would need to pack for the both of us for the weekend and should focus on bringing comfortable clothes, i.e. jeans, sweats, etc. So, I got geared up for what I thought would be a weekend of camping. And you must understand that for me, a Hayes girl, I had to get geared up mentally, since the only camping this girl had ever done was in the living room of her house underneath sheets suspended by couches and chairs. In the mean time, my wonderful friend Laura saved the day with an invitation to get massages on my anniversary since Caleb would be gone. Of course I said yes and so on Wednesday I got ready for an evening of fun. I was waiting at home for Laura with the blinds open and peeked outside to see a car that didn't look like Lauras, but didn't think anything of it right off hand. Well, by the time I did a double take I saw my precious husband walking up the sidewalk with a single red rose in his hand. He told me the trip was canceled last minute so we were going out for dinner and that we needed to go. I hopped in the car and was given a blindfold. Well, about twenty minutes and lots of speculation later, we arrived. Caleb got out of the car, came around to open my door, put a book in my hand and told me to open my eyes. What did I see?? Lots of cars... then I looked down at the book to see a Frommers New York City guidebook in my hands! Caleb told me that we were leaving right then to fly to NYC for a long weekend to see Megan and Will (my sis and her hubby) and have fun around town! After lots of questions about work and worry about who was going to cover my meetings (which of course my husband had taken care of 2 months ago--almost half of the staff at my school knew about this and were in on it!). Soo... for my anniversary my wonderful husband absolutely surprised me with one of the best surprises! Stay tuned for pics and details on the fun long-weekend getaway!