The East Side

We just returned from a fantastic trip to the East Coast, where we did some major scouting and touring at Williamsburg, Virginia, William and Mary Law School, and Washington, DC. We loved Virginia, and instantly fell in love with Williamsburg. The colonial area is a lot of fun and entirely different from anything either of us have experienced before. I can definitely see us living there and having a great time. We spent a lot of time house hunting and scoping out the different areas. Fortunately, the entire area is beautiful.

I thought William and Mary Law was a great fit for me. I really liked all of the people I met there, and the school just had a really good vibe. All of the students I talked to really like it, and all of them seemed pretty comfortable with their job prospects, so I feel very reassured. It makes me really excited to move one with our lives and move into the law school phase I've been looking forward to for so long.

After traveling to Williamsburg, we made a trip up to DC, visiting CheyAnn's mission companion, Aimee, and childhood friend Katie along the way. It was a fun day of travel throughout Virginia and Maryland and visiting old friends.

We spent our last day in Washington DC, and absolutely loved it. Washington is the primary job market for William and Mary Law grads, so I was excited to love the city where my best prospects may be.

We spent a ton of time walking throughout the National Mall, from 10am to 4:30pm, which is significant because it meant that Solana skipped her usual nap time, instead miraculously taking a long nap in the stroller while we walked.

But perhaps my favorite thing from the entire awesome trip was Solana's first carousel ride. It was perfect—out on the National Mall outside of the Smithsonian Castle on an old vintage carousel. At first, she seemed pretty perplexed by the whole thing ("Guys, why are you sticking me on this weird stationary plastic thing?") Then, once the music and the movement started, she had this very tentative look on her face. But after a few spins, she figured out that it actually was really fun, and she was all smiles and giggles for the last few minutes of the ride, and wasn't ready to get off at the end.

That little girl is growing up...

(Pictures and comments by CheyAnn)

Her "look" after a long day of traveling, the blueberry face and crazy hair just makes for a great photo.

Hanging out in old town Williamsburg.

Getting the tour of the oldest law school in the country, we loved it!

We loved downtown Williamsburg, we were constantly blown away with how beautiful it was.

My Mission companion Aimee.....I LOVE HER!! She is from VA, so we met up on our way to DC. She is one of those great friends, that no matter how much time has passed, it's feels like no time has passed. I love that feeling.

I also got to see to Katie, (I totally spaced on taking photo's) an old friend of mine from SJC. She lives in the DC area, and we stopped by on our way into the city. We had so much fun visiting, and our little girls were sooooo cute together. I can't wait for them to play more often. I loved catching up with old friends, it was the highlight of my trip.

Spending the day in DC!!!

Outside the hotel.

Good ol' Abe.

"This big city sure takes it out of me"

The only way she would let me carry her, she would rub her belly and suck her thumb at the same time. She is such a silly girl.

Obama wasn't home, bummer :)

Her first carousel ride, she was a little unsure at first, then she was really excited about the whole concept of a ride. When is slowed down, she started bouncing up and down like she wanted it to go faster, it was the highlight of our day.

How great is DC?! I hope we will be back a lot.

Engagement Anniversary

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2008, I asked CheyAnn to marry me. And if you've ever looked anywhere else on this blog, you'll know that she said yes. It was a wonderful moment in my life, and CheyAnn's life.

Here is the story:

She really had no idea the question was coming, but we'd talked about marriage and we were definitely both very amenable to it. I had made some plans to pop the Q, but they fell through at the last moment, which turned out to be a good thing because they were pretty cheesy plans. I don't want to damage my really cool image by revealing them here.

My family was had flown up to Utah that day for some Spring Break skiing, and had little rented a cabin way up in the mountains at Sundance. A fantastic setting.

So on Monday, I drove around Provo looking for the right flowers for my perfect plan. I don't remember what it was exactly, but no one had enough of what I wanted in the right combination (tons of tulips, I think (must've been out of season)), so I drove all over town, scrambling against the time. I had to pick up the flowers (which I finally found, but wouldn't be ready for several hours), then drive up to the cabin, then drive back to Provo to pick CheyAnn up from work to take her out on a date. A tight itinerary, but very doable.

Until I had a minor accident at an intersection. Yeah, it was my fault. No, no one got hurt. Whatever. Geico can be grateful for the steep premiums I've paid. (I'm now 3 years without a ticket or wreck, so boo-ya.) So, I sat around for two hours, waiting for the stellar Provo PD to arrive, talk to everyone, listen to the radio in their car, talk some more, and I don't know what else they were doing.

The clock was ticking away at my plans, destroying them. Thankfully, my family was there as a great backup. They picked up the flowers and took them up to the cabin and my sisters had the whole place decorated with rose petals quite beautifully.

After thanking the officer, my plan was back in action. I picked up CheyAnn from work on time, and I was a little dressed up, but I used to dress pretty preppy all the time back then. She knew that my family was in town, so I told her that we were going to meet them for dinner at the Foundry Grill at Sundance, which just so happens to be our favorite place. On the way up however, I tricked her by telling her that my whole family had bailed on dinner to go to a movie, and it was just going to be the two of us. She bought it completely.

After a very romantic dinner, I said we could just meet them up at the cabin. But as we drove up, I said, "Hmmm... They must not be back yet." As I led her inside, all of the lights were off. Inside the main room, there was this huge bear sculpture that I had told her all about, so I had her close her eyes to walk in and see the bear. But when she opened her eyes, she was in a room full of flowers, and she started freaking out. "Babe!? What is this?! Baby?" I got down on my knee and handed her a tulip with the ring around the base of the flower.

She said yes. And it has been awesome.

Austin Road Tripper

On Monday, we took our first family road trip! We headed up to Austin for the day, mainly to check out UT Law School. Solana was an awesome road tripper! She mostly just slept in her car seat, and it was really only a two hour drive, so she did fine.

A couple weeks ago, I was waitlisted at UT Law, so I decided to go and visit and take a tour and show that I'm still interested. I'd been debating whether to go or not, and finally made up my mind in the morning that I would just run up there by myself for a quick turn-around visit. However, on my way to work, CheyAnn called and said they wanted to go! So we went.

UT was cool, but no one really wants to hear about that... No, the most exciting part of the trip was hanging out with CheyAnn and this little person:

We enjoyed Austin, and Solana and CheyAnn played in a park while I sat in on a law class, and then we headed to a cool place for dinner out on Lake Travis, called Oasis. Lake Travis is probably 20 minutes west of Austin, and it's about as close to mountainous as Texas gets, which I loved. It was a fun drive with a lot of winding mountaintop vistas. CheyAnn and I traded "Reminds me of Montana" and "reminds me of California" comments the whole way there and back.

The restaurant sits at the top of one of these mountains, something like 400 feet directly over the lake, and to an ol' boy from Texas, this was one of the best views I've ever seen down here. CheyAnn, however, was less impressed: "There are tons of restaurants overlooking the ocean in California." While that may be true, it didn't diminish our great experience. Solana, who established herself as an excellent road-tripper, was also an excellent restaurant patron, enjoying avocados and cheerios.

On the way back, we of course stopped by the outlets, and got hooked up.

Next up: Dallas in a couple weeks, then Virginia in a month!

I said, "Solana, look at that silly big metal bird!" She thought that was really funny, and then CheyAnn took the picture.

Nope, it's not the Mediterranean Coast. Not in Montana, either. It's the Texas Hill Country!

And that's pretty much the cutest person you'll see all day!