Good news & Gettysburg/Harper's Ferry

It's been a long time since we've updated the blog, so here is the exciting news:

JASON IS GOING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY!

Other exciting news:

JASON WAS AWARDED A FELLOWSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY!

This means tuition is going to be cheaper than we thought. Hurray!

Here is the letter awarding him the fellowship.

Pretty darn exciting, huh?

The only noteworthy thing I did today was wake up, take a shower, look at the clock and realize it was 1:00 a.m. and I'd only gotten one hour of sleep, and go back to bed. I'm not sure why I did that. It was pretty bizarre.

In other news, we went to Gettysburg and Harper's Ferry on Saturday with our Washington Seminar group. We left around 6:40 a.m. (too early!). We first went to the visitor's center, where we saw a pretty cool museum exhibit, an explanatory film, and the cyclorama. Yes, cycl-o-rama! It's a giant, 360 degree painting of the battlefield.

Afterward, we went on a tour of the battlefield. This is a field.

This is a giant tower, built in 1890. We climbed all 121 stairs to the top and took some pictures.

Jason looks so tiny next to it!

Here is Jason at the top of the tower overlooking the Gettysburg battlefield. FYI: This battlefield was much cooler than Valley Forge and we didn't have to stay at a crazy America Camp during a snowstorm this time.

The Frosts at the top of the rameumptum...I mean, giant observation tower.

Jason looking pensieve on the battlefield. I tried to take a couple of candid pictures, but he looked sad in all of them.

Me by the Eternal Flame of Peace. You may be interested to know that the natural gas flame was extinguished during the energy crisis of the 1970s.

After our Gettysburg tour, we went to General Pickett's Buffet for lunch. It certainly wasn't Chuck-a-rama, but the macaroni and cheese was half decent.

We drove to West Virginia and stopped at Harper's Ferry, site of John Brown's anti-slavery uprising.

This is a train.

Me overlooking the town and the Shenendoah (or perhaps the Potomac?)

Harper's Ferry is right in the middle of the Appalachian Trail.

The Frosts at Jefferson's Rock. Supposedly Thomas Jefferson visited this rock and spoke highly of its great view when he returned to Washington.

Me on the footbridge next to the train tracks.

This is below the railroad. Jason is quite the photographer.

When we got back, we hurried over to the Jazz vs. Wizards game. The Jazz won by a lot (thirty points or something)!

That's about it for now. I gave a tour to our neighbor's parents today, which was fun. Tomorrow we are having our friend Mitch over for dinner. We'll try to post some pictures from my parents' visit tomorrow!

Last week recap

So...I had all sorts of good intentions about posting pictures from the last week. However, something is wrong with the internet or blogger or my browser; for some reason, the pictures won't load normally and look like this:
Yep, our disembodied heads visited the Supreme Court. I like how you can see my arm and hand also.
Here is a lovely one of my mom and I with multi-colored faces.
I'll try to get this worked out so I can post some excellent-looking pictures; we took pretty great ones. For now, I will do a written recap.

Thursday
Mom and Dad flew into BWI in the afternoon. Jason and I metroed out to my Aunt Kathleen's house to see them and Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bruce.
Friday
We all met up at the Supreme Court for class. Afterward, we got to see the room where cases are argued. I think this was one of my favorite Fridays. Following class, we went to Good Stuff Eatery for a Barack-a-burger (just kidding! It's really called an Obamaburger. Poor Mom!) and onion rings. My stomach is growling just thinking about it. FYI: if anyone else wants to come visit us soon, we'll go there with you.
After lunch, we went on a tour of the Capitol. My parents went to the McClellands for dinner and to see Sara's fam and Jason and I watched basketball with other marrieds of the Barlow Center.
Saturday
Jason and I had to go to a service project at 7:15 a.m. It took an hour and a half to get to the food bank, where we loaded one-pound units of dry pinto beans into plastic sacks. Our group worked hard and fast--too fast, actually, for the administrators of the food bank to keep up with. We finished around 9:30 and were excited to get back. Little did we know that a delayed bus (thank you, marathon!) extended our home-bound trip to two hours. We met up with my parents and had some lunch before heading to the WWII memorial. That evening, we watched the second round BYU basketball game at my parents' hotel.
Sunday
We hit up stake conference in the McLean ward, where the stake president was released. Afterward, we went to the capitol and listened to some of the health care arguments in the House chamber. It was incredibly cool; we saw Jason Chaffetz, Jesse Jackson, and Speaker Pelosi! When we came out, we walked down the back side of the capitol where there were thousands of protesters marching up to the capitol. A bunch of people took pictures of Jason as we walked by, which seemed odd. We didn't realize what was going on, though, until a woman asked if he had voted yet. It turns out that as the only person on the national mall dressed in a dark blue suit and tie, he looked just like a Member of the House! It was crazy; everyone was staring at him and some guy thanked him for being there. It was hilarious.
I baked some macaroni and cheese for dinner (and I just have to brag for one second: it was cheddar/gouda/mozzarella/provolone/parmesan macaroni and cheese). Delicious.
Hopefully I'll get some pictures of our adventures loaded soon.

Slacker

Yep, we have slacked off for the last week. Pictures+update tomorrow.

Tuesday+Wednesday

I am now officially a Capitol Staff Tour-giver.

Look! I got a certificate!
Also, a pin!

I got a flash drive too, which is actually really nifty--leather with the Capitol on it--but didn't take a picture.

In other news, Jason was quoted in a presentation at his office today (the quote was from a report he wrote about the Tarahumara Indians for one of the staff members).

After lunch today I attended the impeachment initiation for a federal judge. Apparently only 15 judges have been impeached, so it was a pretty singular experience. All of the Senators were in attendance, which was really neat (though I wish I recognized more of them). Since it was St. Patrick's Day, most of them were wearing green ties or sweaters, which I thought was nice. If we can rally around St. Patty's Day, why not health care?! :) On my way down the Capitol escalator, I ended up behind John McCain.

Last night and tonight we had delicious curry (another simmer sauce from Trader Joe's because we can't find curry paste here. Otherwise I would definitely make it from scratch...) and jasmine rice.

This evening, we walked from our apartment to the Lincoln Memorial. Thanks to Daylight Savings, we actually have some light after I get home from work, which has already been glorious. The moon was just a sliver tonight, and the Washington Monument was so bright in the reflecting pool. It was absolutely beautiful; we are so lucky to live within walking distance.

My parents arrive tomorrow, but I don't think we will actually get to see them until Friday. Too bad.

Tomorrow is my office capitol tour-giving test. While the Capitol Visitor's Center believes I am qualified to lead around tour groups of up to fifteen individuals, my office requires that we pass a test first. Hopefully it will go well--I have been studying the leadership for the two houses of Congress and now know that Utah's first two Senators were Frank Cannon and Arthur Brown.

Tour training

I have to admit that I was wrong about tour training: it was engaging and interesting and well planned. Kudos to the planners/teachers.

We went on two tours today as part of the training: one to get a feel for the building (because I guess other offices don't send their interns on a million tours when they first arrive) and one to understand the logistics of tour training (i.e. where you stand when addressing a large group, where you can't go, etc.). The training went a little long, so I was back at the office by around 4:30 PM and then worked on a couple of projects until six. I'll post more thrilling tour details after my final session tomorrow; supposedly, upon completing the course, I will receive a pin and a certificate. Yipee!

That's about it for now. Tomorrow should be sunny.

Comparison shopping

One year for Christmas, my brother Grant bought me a cookbook. When selecting said gift at the bookstore, he and my father were faced with an array of potential choices. They decided to compare the possibilities across the board by checking each book for three randomly selected types of recipes: brownies, pancakes, and plantains. Theoretically, the book that featured all three (or the best combination of the three) would make the best gift. Well, it worked, and the cookbook I received has been my go-to cookbook for the last few years--though I cannot claim to have ever explored the plantain recipes.

Anyway, I thought I would put together a similar collection of information regarding the two schools to which Jason has been accepted.

Seton Hall

Mascot: Pirate

Location: South Orange, New Jersey

Number of people we know from South Orange: 0

Most expensive bookstore item: $72 silk tie

Distance to Disney World: 18 hours 48 minutes

Distance to DC: 4 hours 13 minutes

University of Kentucky

Mascot: Wildcat

Location: Lexington, Kentucky

Number of people we know from Lexington: 2

Most expensive bookstore item: $98 tote bag (after looking at a picture of the tote, I really hope this price is a mistake...it doesn't look worth it!)(I should also note that UK also sells a $72 silk tie)

Distance to Disney World: 13 hours 4 minutes

Distance to DC: 8 hours 35 minutes

Maybe I'll try to find more interesting comparative data later.

Tonight we went to the Kennedy Center to see my amazing cousin Julia's quartet. Thanks to Aunt Amy, we had prime seats. The music was stellar; we were definitely impressed.

We had pepperoni-pepper-onion-pineapple-ricotta-tomato pizza for dinner (made with Trader Joe's pizza dough--lazy, I know) and then talked to our respective families. It's been a good Sabbath.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering about our sacrament meeting musical number debut, we were awesome. Well, I started before everyone at this one part, which was semi-embarrassing. We were also supposed to have four couples singing, but one couple forgot it was daylight savings time, so they missed out. Overall: not too shabby.

Look!

Check this out! We lived through this!