DC with the Roommates

I am trying out this blogpress application to see if I can be a little better about blogging. By that, I mean at least staying within 1 month of the events blogged about. :)

As usual, I will do a little catch up...starting with our trip in June to DC. Our neighbors, Mark and Meaghan, who live downstairs (whom we affectionately refer to as our roommates) and us took off on a little road trip to our nation's capital. They both worked in the Bush White House and so Dave and I were pumped about a visit from their perspective.

Here we are in front of the White House




Meaghan, Dana (Mark's sister) and Mark. Dana's husband, Tom, works for Nancy Pelosi. Tom and Dana were so kind to give us a tour of the Capital.




Here is Tom and Dave - Tom was attending a World Cup party later that afternoon and was supporting Team USA all day.




So pretty!




Solway Friends minus their munchkin. This was taken on the Speaker's Balcony at the Capital. Such a fun view of the city!








So since I don't know how to work this app very well, my pictures are a little out of order. On our way to DC, we stopped to pick up Mark at their chocolate factory. Mark's family has owned this chocolate business for 4 generations. It is delicious! They specialize in chocolates and milkshakes (my favorite). I had never been to a chocolate factory before then, but it was just as awesome as I had imagined!




I literally wanted to get in this!




We obeyed all health department protocol.




It was such a fun trip! DC is such a cool city and it was such a treat to go with these veterans.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Block Party 2010

A few weekends ago, we had the pleasure of getting to meet several new neighbors through a block party! I remember having these on our street growing up ~ but I have yet to attend one since I have reached adulthood. I have definitely been missing out!

We are quite serious with block parties in Pittsburgh. We got a permit from the city, moved all of our cars and shut our street down for the entire day! It actually turned out great for all the kids who got to play in the street without a care in the world.

We even have a band that lives on our street...so they provided the entertainment! Kind of funny...some words had to be modified for this crowd. :)

Here is our favorite neighbor, Mr. A. He was having a ball in the street!

This is Meaghan - my roomie from downstairs. Some girls who live together down the street offered to do crafts for all the kids. So here is Meaghan with her son's visor.

I LOVE this picture. Such sweet ones that live on our street. They were cracking us up the whole evening. In an effort to avoid names on the web, the second from the left was hilarious. She told Dave she wanted his tennis shoes. Her parents and I could barely contain ourselves as Dave shoes are gross boy shoes! She told us she would come to our house and yell, 'Dave! Give me those shoes!' when she was ready.

Cute, young moms on the block...

It was such a fun time and I now realize that I pay more attention to the other houses on our street as I come and go. There is definitely a special peace in knowing those who live around you, especially in a new neighborhood.

Now, I must give all the credit to Meaghan who organized this fantastic evening! You did great and I am already looking forward to our next Block Party!

St. Thomas ~ 40th Wedding Anniversary

Janie & Van Buchanan

40 years of marriage

St. Thomas

Congratulations! What a wonderful reason to celebrate! We were absolutely blown away that their idea of celebrating this special occasion was to take the entire family down to St. Thomas. It was so incredibly generous and I can't begin to explain how much fun we had!

They decided to rent a house, instead of doing hotel/resort style. This was perfect because we all had a shared living space, our own kitchen, pool, etc. It made for lots of fun hang out time!

Here are some pics:

We had lunch here most days. I love dining outside!

We actually took a ferry to Tortola one day and passed our house on our way out. So this is a fun, different view.

And now I follow with several of my favorite pics from the trip! It was absolutely wonderful!

Brett, Janie and Dave

Dave and Janie

This is so funny to me! Grayson, Jerry and Dave

We LOVED that Aunt Laura (Janie's sister) was able to join us for the vacation! Just being around the two of them cracks me up. They have such a good time and laugh a lot!

Janie made this sweet book for Van. She gave it to him at dinner one night. It went through the many, many reasons why she loves him. I particularly enjoyed this gift as it discussed a lot of their memories from the early years of their marriage ~ many I hadn't heard before. It was so fun to hear about living out on the farm, the pet goat and R&R in Hawaii.

On Wednesday, we took a ferry to Tortola to do a 'swim with the dolphins' excursion. It was really cool - I was shocked at how much they let everyone do. Jerry and I stayed in the bleachers to document the afternoon, but everyone else got to take a ride on the dolphin, dance with the dolphin and as you can see below - kiss the dolphins!

They did lots of cool tricks!

We had lots of good down time just visiting with each other. Because we basically live all over the country, it was great to just catch up on each other's day to day lives.

Brett, Van and Dave down by the pier

I love this of them just talking...

I think I have more pictures of Grayson doing stuff like this from the trip than anything else. It was so fun to try and capture him mid air! He is such a little fish! We had all sorts of games worked out with swimming, jumping, splashing, etc. It was so funny!

This is just cute to me...do we know whose aqua socks those are? Please tell me Jerry's!

Julie, Janie and Aunt Laura coming up from the pier

We visited St. John on Friday via ferry. It was gorgeous!! I so hope to go back one day! We spent a lot of the day at Trunk Bay - which is a beautiful beach. Dave found/stepped on a starfish!

Going back in time, on Thursday - the kids and Aunt Laura took Van and Janie to a fun anniversary dinner at a place called Oceana. The food was delicious and we had a great time! Prior to the vacation, Julie had asked Van and Janie several different questions about each other. So it was hilarious to hear each of them give the 'real' answers over dinner, like what was the address of your first house? Favorite food? What are they scared of? Really funny!

The whole group!

Dave and I

Julie and Grayson

Van and Janie

It was such a special time together with family! We can't thank you two enough for including us in your anniversary celebration! I know we will all look back fondly on this trip with big smiles!

We love you two and once again, Happy Anniversary!

Catherine & Blake Garrett

Catherine and Blake Garrett

May 15, 2010

As usual, I am running about 2 months behind with my posting. :) But this was too fun not to document.

So back in May, we went to Shreveport, LA for one of Dave's best friend's wedding. Blake used to work with Dave and I back in the day and before Dave and I got married, Blake and Dave were roommates. So Dave and I were really excited for this celebration as Blake means a lot to both of us and we absolutely love his new wife, Catherine!

Of course, when you are the one obsessed with taking all the pictures - you don't find yourself in many! I need to be better about that. :) But here is my sweet husband with the groom (above) and the beautiful bride (below).

It was really fun that Marianne (my sister) came with Brett (Dave's brother). So she and I definitely enjoyed oohing and ahhing over all of Catherine's selections. She did a beautiful job with the wedding! We loved that she wore her mother's gown which was stunning on her. I think Marianne's favorite was her shoes. They were SO pretty and blue!

So obviously, my MO for the last 3-4 years is to where the same dress to every wedding of that year/season. Ha! So as you scroll back through my blogs, you will see this dress has been my wedding dress for Spring 2010. This was its 3rd appearance.

The estrogen of the wedding:

and the men:

Dan broke a glass at our wedding too! Its hilarious - on the dance floor in our video and he just turns around and keeps dancing. We caught him again on film. :)

It was so fun! The rain held off and they had a really pretty reception on the river. We didn't want it to end. They did, however, leave in one of the most fun getaways I have ever seen! Its like 3 wheels and they took off in downtown in it! Really cute!

Congratulations you two! We wish you many, many blessings in your marriage!

Summer Jam Kickoff Party

Now that the weather has finally started to warm up, we are trying to get as much 'outdoor time' as possible. It has been SO fun! We started having people over on the occasional Friday for a backyard cookout with our neighbors from downstairs. Mark and Meaghan have been the BEST landlords/neighbors! It has been so fun because they joined our small group and now we all hang out.

The first Friday, we were responsible for drinks - Dave made margaritas from a delicious recipe (courtesy of Kathy Allen - thank you!). I made/poured Sangria into a pitcher and added fruit. :) Mark and Meaghan did fish tacos and they were delicious!

This is Mark and Meaghan's little guy - I will call him 'A' as I am not sure how his parents feel about posting his name online. 'A' is precious! He waves hello and goodbye everytime Dave and I come and go. He just turned one and I saw him take a few steps this afternoon, which is super exciting! He has the best hair of any kid I know. :)

Mark and Dave

Kyndal and 'K'. 'K' loves the funny faces that Dave always makes at him. We would all agree they are on the same level. :)

Dave and Sky

Jen and Mary

Me and Elizabeth

Amy, Meaghan and Lisa

The guys definitely figured out how to enjoy a hockey game outdoors. Mark and Meaghan set up their tv in their bedroom window. They LOVED it!

We are so sad that Jay and Sarah have moved to Tennessee! This was their first and last cookout, but it was such a treat to have them before they left.

Me and Meaghan

It was so much fun! We have done a few more and can't wait until our next party.