Events of the week: *Bob ran the Wasatch Back Relay race this last weekend! He ran a total of 16 miles. Not to shabby. *Jessie still loves her dog and she set up a wonderful craft event for the family *As we were bragging about how well Shaylee was doing on her potty training, she decides to rub it in our face by pooping quickly in the corner! ARRgggh! *We didn't have primary today because we have a few confirmed cases of the swine flu in our ward. *We totally miss Brooke as she in Oregon **BUT our super big event of the day was Logan learned how to ride a two wheeler! Yahoo!
Katrina and I traveled to DC last week to attend the Inauguration of President Obama. Airline tickets to DC were too expensive ($1,300 per person) so we flew to Norfolk, VA to visit Katrina's brother Brock (who celebrated his 30th birthday that Saturday) and then drove the 3 hours north to DC. Mom and Dad (and Shelly) were nice enough to watch Sampson the five days we were gone. Sampson also enjoyed the company of Logan on Saturday and loved his day with the Townsends on Monday.
On Sunday morning, Doug met up with a friend of his from Berkeley and they walked to the Lincoln Memorial to stake out a spot for the Inaugural kick-off concert later that afternoon. Several hundred thousand people attended the concert (with artists U2, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Usher, Beyonce, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks, and Herbie Hancock as well as guest speakers Tiger Woods, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Hanks among others).
Later that night we spent some time with Katrina's oldest sister and her husband who live about 30 min. outside DC. We had a really good dinner and played a couple games of Settlers.
On Monday night we invited all of our friends in the DC area to come over for a party. Will and Jamie Taylor also came up from North Carolina (although not just for the party) and in all there were about 20 people; it was really fun to see all of them again. There was some cake and ice cream (I turned 30) but mostly just hanging out until 1 am.
At 4 a.m. Katrina, Jamie, Will and I woke up and worked our way downtown to get in line for the Swearing In ceremony. We arrived at our spot around 4:45 a.m. with temperatures in the low teens.
Our early arrival put us about 100 people from the front of our line, which quickly grew to several thousand in just a few hours. After hopping up and down for 2 hours, we were escorted through security and down into our section (marked by the small red X on the map).
We staked out a place on the front row, right up against the ropes and continued to hop up and down while eating Sun Chips and dried pineapple.
The crowds were unbelievable! We were standing directly underneath a JumboTron that kept showing images of the national mall which was PACKED with people. Several dignitaries started to arrive and the anticipation started to build. There was silence when President Bush was announced. No cheers...but no boos either. Same for John McCain. Only Senator Lieberman elicited boos - very loud boos - from the crowd when he made his appearance. Not too many people were pleased that the Democrat spoke at the Republican convention and dissed Obama.
After many hours of waiting, Obama finally made his entrance. Here is video footage that we took from our section of that moment:
After a very quick (but really good) program, Obama finally stood to take the oath:
and then gave an inspiring speech:
We were so excited after the whole event that we spent all of the cash in our wallets on Obama trinkets being hawked in the streets near the Capitol: bumper stickers, t-shirts, beanie hats, posters, buttons, etc. The Metro was absolutely packed and we spent almost 30 minutes in a herd of people packed so tightly that you could kiss the neck of the 8 people standing next to you.
We made our way back to the apartment and packed our things. Exhausted we took off for Norfolk that night to catch our flight early Wednesday morning. We stopped in Salt Lake for two hours and were able to pick up Sampson (from Mom who so generously drove him up there and staked out a spot to wait for us).
Thursday Katrina was back at work and I was back in class. It was a whirlwind weekend, but something neither of us will ever forget.
Here are links to the other 2 videos we took of the event:
Happy Thanksgiving! The Utah families got together in Provo and had a cake decorating contest, took lots of pictures, ate dinner, played games and talked about what were thankful for. Grandma made it a requirement that we all dress up as either Indians or pilgrims.
A few things we were thankful for
Jesus To have a son on a full time mission (Steve about Andrew) Forgiveness Great examples of those around us Parents My wonderful boyfriend for life (Julie talking about Bob) Snow Membership in the church Wind Chimes My Best Friend and favorite pal (G-pa talking about G-ma) Friends Rain and its cleansing power (Ellen) Soft Shoes Photographs Double Oven Education See's Candy Technology Grandpa and Indians, Grandma and Pilgrims (Logan) Squanto (Abbie) Prosperity and Freedom from fear
After a long search we've finally decided to try Highland Utah. There's no doubt it is better than our current Cornelius neighborhood although we are already missing Oregon! We love the house and hopefully working remotely for Intel lasts more than a few months. If not we'll be sure to blog about our move back to Oregon. Of course if we love Utah and can afford to change jobs we may do that too. In other news: kids are healthy, I'm getting more gray hair, and Julie ran a half-marathon a few weeks ago (written with a small sense of guilt as I play a quick bongo rhythm on my chub).
I seem to remember a time when our family convened and decided to go online. As the months went by, it seemed like this little project would never make it off the ground...until now.
It's time for the Spen-send-evans to stay in touch. Steve and Ellen just moved. Have they sold their old house? Nobody knows. Bob and Julie just bought a house. A house? Yes. And they're moving to another state. Who knew? Nobody. Chris and Sky are pregnant. Will they have their baby in Alabama? New Mexico? Their bathtub? It's still unclear...or is it? Katrina just got a promotion. Really? Good for her...but who's watching Sampson? Shelly has a new kitchen. Is she in school? Does she work? Nobody seems to know.
Starting Sunday, August 3, 2008 with a conference call between the kids, things are going to change around here. When Ellen gets released from Scouts, we'll hear about it. When Bob goes to China on business, we'll all be thinking about him (instead of waiting for Mom to accidentally find out from Jessie). When Chris and Sky have their baby, this blog will bring you some of their first pictures.
Here are the groundrules:
1) Limit 2 pictures per post (here's lookin' at you Rusty) 2) Anybody can post on the blog. It's as easy as sending an e-mail. If you have questions, e-mail Doug. 3) Comments are encouraged. Click the comments link under a post and let the author know what you think. 4) Feel free to leave a one sentence post with a link to your own blog.
When Chris doesn't feel like cooking, she doesn't make this Raspberry-Balsamic Chicken:
1 tsp. vegetable oil 1/2 c. chopped onion 1/2 tsp. dried thyme 1/2 tsp. salt, divided 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 1/3 c. seedless raspberry preserves (or other favorite flavor of preserves) 2 T. balsamic vinegar 1/2 tsp. black pepper
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion; saute 5 minutes. Sprinkle thyme and 1/4 tsp. salt over chicken. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
Reduce heat to medium. Add 1/4 tsp. salt, preserves, vinegar, and pepper to pan, stirring constantly until preserves melt. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately.
