Goings on

     So nothing super exciting has been going on lately.  We've been doing school and work.  I got a new, totally cool, phone.  And I tried to post an entry from my new, totally awesome, phone when I was in Boston for training.  But I couldn't figure it out, so no post.  I've never been there before, but I didn't really get to see anything except the office, because training was super intense.  It was really cold, also which would have been ok except I lost my coat.  Someone in Boston now has a pretty purple coat, and I hope they enjoy it and that they needed it more than me because that was my favorite.  The lack of coat also got me sick (or more sick) since I was a bit sick to begin with, which is why this post is a bit disjointed.  Anyways I can't think of anything else exciting.... oh wait there is one more thing... see this boy?

yup, that one.

there he is again (no not Jaron, the cute one in the front)

And here he is again (I'm not sure I posted anything for his actual birthday so this was one birthday celebration we had for Dallin with some friends, and yes his cake is partially eaten already)

And this was at BYU... like a million years ago

So anyways, this boy of mine he did something amazing...

He. 

Got.  

a...

a....

a JOB!!!!!!!!

      We are so excited.  The job is here in "the District" and although that means we will still be far away from family and the wonderful west coast beaches, we are so excited.  He'll be working at a really good law firm, with people that seem really nice (at least that's what he says, I won't get to meet them until the Christmas party).  We have a good friend who is already working there and he (and his wife) really like it. AND he'll be doing work that interests him and that will use some of his knowledge from his chemical engineering degree.  He is really looking forward to starting there, which isn't actually until next September.  And he is so relieved, he was starting to worry that he wasn't going to get a job after three long years of school, and rather hefty tuition payments, so he's breathing a lot easier now.  (I wasn't worried, I knew he would get one I mean look at him!)

       Now all he has to do is finish law school and pass the bar... should be easy right?

       Our friends out here are excited that we are staying and we are happy that we get to stay with them too.  That was going to be one big down side if we got a job out west.  We have made some really great friends out here and we would have been really sad to leave them.   We are really grateful for this job, especially since the economy still isn't doing so well.  We feel so blessed to both have been able to find jobs and we think that we are just meant to stay out in DC for a while.

         So, if anyone wants to visit, we've got an extra room, and will be here for a while.

Edit: Dallin just read this and claims that I totally ripped off one of Stacie's blog posts.  And going back and looking, I guess I kinda did (it is a bit different though, and totally unintentional).  So Stacie, if you are reading this, you are just way totally cool and I guess deep down I just want to be like you. 

Huh?

Have you ever come across something that just made you do a double take, something so ridiculous that you thought it couldn't possibly be true?  Well I came across this patent the other day that made me think just that, well actually, it made me laugh (out loud).  Literally.  While sitting in my office.  The secretaries probably thought I was going crazy.

The title is"Apparatus for facilitating the birth of a child by centrifugal force".  That's right, just in case labor wasn't uncomfortable enough already, let's swing you around in circles until the baby pops right out...  There's even a net to catch the baby so that he doesn't go flying across the room.   Now I'm not an expert in this, I haven't actually given birth, but I'm pretty sure there is not a snow ball's chance in a really really hot place that I would ever agree to do this. So I'm curious, for my friends who have recently, or not so recently, given birth, what do you think?

At least you'd qualify for astronaut training when you're done, it looks a lot like the g-force thing the astronauts train in.  Oh wait, we don't have a space program anymore.

And just in case you were wondering, the answer is yes and no. Yes a man is one of the inventors of this!  But a woman is another inventor as well...

Domination... well almost

 A few weeks ago, President Stewart approached Dallin and I after church while we were talking to some our friends and talked us into signing up to decorate our trunk for the ward trunk-or-treat.  We weren't too sure, but he bribed us with promises of fame, glory, and the really good prizes for the top three trunks.  And so it began... we thought, and googled, and tried to decide what we could do that would win us the totally awesome prizes.  Then it hit me (I may or may not have been in a work meeting at the time) we should make our car a dragon!  We have a fog machine and everything!  It was perfect, we were bound to win!  I was so excited, I jotted it down on my notepad, and may or may not have spent the rest of the meeting sketching out a car-dragon, trying to angle my paper so that no one could see the car-dragon on the notes I was taking, and deciding what we needed to buy.  When I got back to my desk and in cell phone range I texted Dallin, and the rest is history! Well sorta.  We decided to be the characters from how to train your dragon.  Dallin was hiccup, I was Astrid.  And we got some posterboard to make our car into a night fury.  We were so excited to set up our trunk that we forgot the candy, and had to go all the way back home to get it.  But we got to work real quick when we got there and by the time the kids came out to trunk-or-treat, we had this

It was pretty awesome, some kids were even afraid to reach inside because they didn't want to get bitten.  And apparently the judges agreed because we won 2nd place!  Woohoo.  The prize was a $50 gift certificate to mccormick and schmicks!
We've started thinking of next year... we think it will involve some more posterboard...

Virginia Day of Service

Last week was the state of Virginia's day of service which conveniently (and on purpose too) coincides with the anniversary of our church's welfare program.  So in true Falls Church Ward fashion, our ward, young and old, got together to give service throughout the community.  Dallin and I went out and helped to fix up community gardens at a senior apartment community.  It was muddy (it had rained the entire week previously) and there was a ton of dirt and gravel to move and a bunch of weeds to pull, but it was fun to work with our friends and to make the area better for the people that live there.  Here is a  video of our ward's service projects on you tube.  I think Dallin shows up in the video, he's shoveling dirt.  Anyways, it was fun and we're glad we went and very grateful that the rain stopped for at least a day to be able to do this service!