Anniversary Arrangement

Flamingos and Flowers

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us! Ahhh, another year of wedded bliss. Hard to believe all the changes in the past year...sold a home, bought a home, quit our jobs, accepted positions with new employers, moved from Colorado to Nebraska...closer to our families! My husband surprised me with a unique, beautiful arrangement of flowers today. So unique that I can't possibly do them justice by attempting to describe them in words. The camera is going with me to work tomorrow and I'll have a picture to post on the blogspot by the end of the day. We celebrated our anniversary with an evening out at one of our favorite Lincoln restaurants - Fireworks. Mike even agreed to share his dessert with me...he must be in love!

Other updates...
Last night, upon completion of loading the dishwasher to the brim, I attempted to turn it on. But alas, I heard the groan of the motor as though it was unable to successfully pump in water. So, back to the days of the pioneers, I unloaded every last item and washed and dryed them by hand. My mom has always said she never needed a dishloader (appliance, that is) because she has my dad (dish washer - two words - as in manual labor). I wonder if my dad would be willing to come spend a week or so with us?!?

We woke up this morning to an interesting discovery in our front yard. We had been "flocked" by an American Cancer Society - Relay for Life team. Our yard contained a bright display of pink flamingos. A small donation and 4 hours later, the culprits came to pick up these lovely birds and migrated them to the yard of our choosing! Our parents are lucky they do not live in city limits or they would have been next!!!

Wrapping up our summer landscaping project

The retaining walls were finished the end of June, so it was time to get them filled. We picked out a nice assortment of shrubs and planted them this afternoon. The retaining wall in the back yard has turned into Mike's garden - he planted watermelon, pumpkins and beans. It has turned into quite a treat for a wild rabbit in our neighborhood.

Independence Day in Washington, D.C.

PART II - July 4, 2008 - We began our first full day in Washington, D.C. with a hearty breakfast at our hotel's breakfast buffet. Followed by a short Metro ride downtown, we went straight to the National Mall, where all the action would take place that day. Everyone entering the Mall had to pass through security that day. We must have been searched six times.

We immediately ran into a group of Marines marching to start our Fourth of July off on a festive note.

With nearly two hours to pass before the parade began, we started sightseeing at the Museum of Natural History. There, we saw dinosaurs, elephants and other animals, early plant and animal life, as well as the Hope Diamond.

From there, we decided to stake out a good spot to watch the July 4th parade and ended up at 12th and Constitution, right in the middle of the route. The parade was filled with bands, balloons and military personnel...Lisa LOVED it (and I liked it a lot too). We visited with a couple from Kentucky and took in more than an hour of the parade before we decided we needed to start making our way to our tour at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

As one of our most anticipated stops on our vacation, the Holocaust Museum did not disappoint. We spent nearly three hours in the building and learned more about the Holocaust than we could have possibly asked for. If you're a history buff at all, we highly recommend this stop.

From there, we decided to pass on waiting in a long line at the National Archives and, instead grabbed hot dogs and a pretzel from a local vendor. We ate them at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden dodging rain the entire time.

We then headed to the National Air & Space Museum. We weren't the only ones with this idea as the place was PACKED! We spent less than an hour walking through the museum before deciding to give our feet a break and wait out the rain by going to two IMAX shows, one on fighter pilots and the other, a 3D movie on the sun.

When leaving the building, we quickly noticed that we were the only people who did not have an umbrella. We didn't realize that a 30 percent chance of rain meant a torrential downpour. We walked for a few blocks before hiding under a tree (already drenched, I might add). When the coast seemed clear and the rain appeared to be done, we tried to get to the Lincoln Memorial to watch the evening's fireworks, only to find the path had been blocked off. We decided to watch the display from just east of the Washington Monument, which proved to be a good spot.

The fireworks were spectacular but we quickly realized that we were going to have to compete with 500,000 people to get to a train to get back to the hotel (thanks to Casey for that tip) so we packed up early and headed towards the Metro station only to find that we weren't the only ones with that idea. We waited for an hour before we even got to the escalator to go down to the station.

Finally, we arrived back at the ol' Marriott across the river in Virginia and I decided I was hungry and couldn't wait till' morning so we set out to find food. After a LONG wait at our hotel, we finally ate and ended our fun (and exhausting) day in Washington, D.C.

Check back for July 5th highlights soon and enjoy the video of the 4th!

Back From Washington, D.C.

Well, we're back from our trip to Washington, D.C. and we had a fantastic time! Lisa has already called it her favorite vacation. We were on the go constantly and the time absolutely FLEW by. I can't believe we were actually gone for four and a half days.

Anyway, we want to share our entire trip but we did so much, that we need to break it up a little. Below, is the blog and video of Part I. We hope you enjoy:

PART I - Thursday, July 3, 2008 After a 3 a.m. wake up call in Nebraska to catch our early flight out of Lincoln and a short layover in Chicago, we arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport just before noon. We were greeted by our driver, Tracy, at baggage claim with a sign that read "Lefler". We felt pretty important.

It took a 45 minute drive to reach the Marriott Crystal City where we quickly checked in and went looking for lunch. We went just a block away to Baily's Pub and Grille, a neat little sports bar in Crystal City.

After lunch, we took the Metro (the subway system in Washington, D.C.) to Arlington National Cemetary. There, we saw the gravesite of John F. Kennedy, the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington House and the gravesites of many U.S. servicemen and women. We even saw a gravesite service being held that day and were surprised to find out that 25-30 people are still being buried at Arlington each day. Arlington offers what may be the best views of Washington so be sure to check them out in our video.

After returning to our hotel that night, we went to Crystal Drive to eat out at Ted's Montana Grill. Their burgers were really good. After the long day, we were both ready to turn in and refresh ourselves for the upcoming Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.

Below is PART I of our video series that captures the first day of our trip...enjoy!!! More videos will be coming shortly and be sure to keep checking for our next video showing July 4th in D.C. -ML-

False Alarms

Aside from routine annual check-ups, I had not been to the doctor for the past 12 years. I am every insurance company's dream come true. Every sore throat, ear ache, runny nose, fever, cough, ache and pain has been successfully self-medicated with a regimen of Tylenol, Nyquil and rest. However, for the past two months, I have been battling pain in my right foot, just below the ankle bone. It is a very strange, sharp, shooting pain, that primarily strikes when I have my foot elevated, most notably when I am sleeping (well, trying to sleep). One would think it would hurt when I put weight on it, run, walk up steps, stand on one leg, etc., yet no, the pain occurs when the foot is at rest. Mulling over this pain for several weeks, I had convinced myself that something quite serious was wrong - gout? a blood clot? Concerned the blood clot would soon travel to my heart, I decided a trip to the doctor was inevitable. (My husband thinks I read too many freak health stories on the internet, and my other downfall is that I come from a long line of worriers - yes, mom, you know it's true.) So, yesterday, I broke down and went to a doctor. The prognosis...inflamed cartilage (what's left of it) in the point of the foot where several little bones come together. This is common in the foot of a runner (or a previous runner, now I am more accurately referred to as a jogger) where the cartilage in the joint has experienced a lot of pressure. The doctor kindly advised this is likely the onset of arthritis in the ankle joint. Yikes, I thought I just hit my 30th birthday? The prescription: rest.

On the subject of rest, which was my intention this evening, here is how our evening actually turned out:
An acquaintence of Mike's (Nick) has been building a retaining brick wall in both the front and back yards. Today, as per the Nick's instruction, we had 3 yards of black dirt delivered to our driveway. I had no idea how much 3 yards of dirt would amount to. Nick come over and worked from 5:00pm -8:00pm and moved what looked like a mere dent in the pile of dirt. We checked out the weather forecast and to our surprise, found a line of rain showers potentially headed our way. Hummm, what happens to a pile of dirt when saturated with rain?...our greatest fear, a big block of mud!!! So, at 8:15pm we headed outside to finish off the pile. At 10:15pm, when we could barely see the end of our noses, we finished with the final load. We headed inside, showered and settled in to watch the news - just in time to see the weather forecast. Interestly, the storm cells had headed south. Just our luck! We'll post some landscaping pictures over the weekend to show off our work.

Relay For Life and Balls and Strikes

Often times during the summer, we find ourselves getting so busy, that we need to have a weekend to recover from our weekend. This weekend was one of those.

Friday night, we both attended the Waverly Relay For Life, an event that took in more than $32,000 for research, education, advocacy and research for the American Cancer Society. Having recently purchased a new video camera, I took it upon myself to shoot some footage and create a short video on the event and will do so at all Relays that I will attend for the rest of the summer. Below you'll see a "rough draft" of the video.

Saturday was a cleaning day for Lisa while I attended another Relay For Life, this time in Omaha at Millard West High School. It's Nebraska's largest RFL and was goaled at $475,000 (no word what was actually raised yet).

On Sunday, we made the trek to the College World Series in Omaha. We suffered through seven innings of a blowout game with Fresno State dropping Rice 17-5. Even though it wasn't much of a game, we really enjoyed the atmosphere. It's great to have such a unique event so close to home. Believe it or not, no silly questions from Lisa during the game like "Why do they keep itching and spitting?". However, she was rooting for Rice because (and I quote) "Mmmm, I like rice" although I think she's getting this baseball thing down pretty well. :)