What the?

Can you believe it's already October?! I am anxious for the fall, but to be honest I feel like June was just yesterday which leaves me wondering where July, August and September have gone?? In an effort to remember I figured I should document a little of the past three months...a few glimpses...

JULY: Following a fantastic Fourth in the Bahamas, our VA openhouse on July 21st crept up on us. Thanks to my good friend Sara B, we pulled it off. After spending hours baking cupcakes and cutting fruit we finally had to call it good as guests began to arrive. Joseph's parents, Sam, Tim and Karen were also there. They had been road-tripping from the west and arrived that afternoon (the openhouse was at 6pm). The Richards' took care of the finishing touches while I pulled on the dress and tucked in the veil. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of it.




A BIG THANKS to Sara and the Richards' for all the help. And advice to future openhouse planners-DON'T try to do it all yourself!

The end of July also brought the end of Margo's stay in DC. She had endured three moves, several cross-country escapdes for my wedding and such, and a grueling daily commute to Reston (BFE VA). We were sad to see her go, but excited for her to get back to Logan and Utah State and all the friends and family she missed. Her last week here we went to some of the spectacular summer events that are hallmarks of DC, including The Sunset Parade at Iwo Jima


Margo, we hope you'll come see us again soon!!

AUGUST: In the thick of the summer I was sooo grateful for the shorter work hours and the long summer nights. One of our favorite August trips was to Westmoreland State Park. Here's a recap from Joseph's perspective. "Aug 20, 2007...So Maren asked if I would type a little this week so here I am.....this week Maren read about 7 of the Harry Potter books, made a ginormous cake (or maybe that was last week), I got new glasses, we started our food storage, had my math professor over for dinner, went to my company picnic, and critiqued local fisherman. I guess it was a fun week. And ps. I like my wife.

On Friday we went camping to Westmoreland State Park, and we were pretty pumped about it because we were going to go kayaking on Saturday morning...we read "Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas Friedman on the way down. It was a pretty interesting book. There really isn't a fast way to get to Westmoreland State Park...we tried to different ways coming and going, and neither was very good. But we did get to see George Washington's birthplace — it was a peaceful and beautiful place.Sadly, there was a fire ban so we ended up cooking on Maren's stove, but it was still a good time. We had stuffed peppers. The bugs were out in full force and it was HOT. I think it finally cooled down around 11:30pm...then we could sleep. The saddest part of the whole trip came when we were going to go kayaking b/c it turned out that the water was too choppy and the forest ranger wouldn't let anyone out on the water! Bummer. So instead we hiked along a trail, found a turtle and took a cool picture of a frog,and ended up back at the beach. Then we had our laughs at the expense of the funny people fishing on the shore...It was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable day"...