some nights

some nights i have primary meetings and steve works until 11pm
some nights we are both home at 6 and make the best dinner together (my favorite!)
some nights we catch up on our favorite shows
some nights we crash and are both in bed by 8pm
some nights steve has school and i go shopping, or do laundry
some nights cafe rio is necessary
some nights we go for a run on the national mall at 10pm
some nights steve stays up till 2am watching and writing about basketball
some nights we go to a movie on a tuesday, just because
some nights we decide over dinner to go to the OBX this summer and book a hotel right then
some nights we go to concerts
some nights i actually wash my hair while steve plays basketball
some nights we explore the district to find new restaurants


i'm loving these nights right now.

on our way to church on mothers day - to talk in sacrament meeting!

april: the best month to spend in washington dc

april in dc is amazing. the green on the trees starts growing back, cherry blossoms are in full bloom, restaurants open their patios up, the memorials with water fountains get turned back on, and the humidity of summer hasn't kicked in yet. it's perfect.






we've had a fun april so far. some of our closest friends came down from booklyn and stayed with us over conference weekend. michael & jess are two of the coolest people we've met. while we wish they still lived here we love that we get to see them from time to time. whenever we spend time with the barnes it means one thing... brunch!!

 


of course we had to take a quick trip to nyc to watch byu play in the mit tournament at madison square garden. i thought it was a great idea until we got back to dc at 6am and had to be to work only a few hours later! it was fun though, new york is always an adventure, even if it's only a 13 hour round trip...









andrew mcmahon (steve i's favorites of. all. time.) came to town the night before my birthday so we HAD to go. it was the best way to start my birthday celebration. [major bonus: his newest song is amazing - listen here] steve had a super busy week with work and school but luckily we celebrated all week between eating at new [amazing] restaurants in dc.


 the past few weekends we have put on our tennis shoes and been tourists in our own city! it has been a lot of fun to see things that we haven't seen yet. it's crazy how much there is to see in this town and almost all of it is free. although the tourists can get annoying sometimes (they don't get public transportation, or how to walk on a sidewalk) it's fun to explore new things. [this photo is from our visit to the national gallery of art, the van gogh and monet paintings were our favorites!]

the rest of our april has been filled with....

three crowns and one root canal later, my teet areis starting to recover!

steve is a master sunday school teacher and i am loving all the kids in primary

steve's favorite time of year has begun - nba playoffs are in full swing.

i finally have a front porch where i can plant flower pots!

this weekend is the white house correspondence dinner, so we will be on the lookout for celebrity sightings all weekend AND steve and i have been invited to the buzzfeed white house correspondence dinner party.

26

this one turned 26 yesterday! it was so fun to celebrate with his favorite things all day with two of his closest friends. a few months ago i had this crazy brilliant idea to fly two of his closest friends to town for the weekend so they could hang out and watch the first weekend of the ncaa tournament together. they've been here for 24 hours already and i'm realizing it was the best birthday present ever. the kid never takes time out of his busy schedule for himself so i figured this was the best way for him to slow down and enjoy the weekend. needless to say, steve is loving life right now.

i think this photo totally captures steve at 25:

iphone

headphones

work bag

tired face

metro ride home from work

to quote justin timberlake's newest single, mirrors, "you are you are the love me life, you are you are the love of my life, you are you are the love of my life" :) happy birthday my dear!

a post with a lot of words and only 1 photo

before diving into 2013 i think i should wrap up 2012 with a top ten of the year:

top ten of 2012:

cafe rio opened 5 miles from our house, we take taco tuesday very serious in our house.

lots and lots of visitors (we love visitors!)

jessie trip to nyc while steve slaved away for the election

first cherry blossom season in dc, absolutely breathtaking

moved to a bigger apartment, yay for more closets & hardwood floors

disneyland and the beach with some of our favorite people

billy elliot, memphis, newsies, momma mia! the year of many musicals

hottest DC summer on record. yikes

anniversary spent in utah, thanksgiving in new jersey and christmas in texas

celebrating the 2012 election on november 7th at 3am - about sums up steve's year

2013 started out busy and hasn't slowed down since! we visited friends in brooklyn for a weekend and spent the weekend laughing, eating and visiting the basketball hall of fame. we had the best time! steve had some great job interviews and got 2 job offers in a 12-hour period then had to decide in the following 12-hours what job he wanted to take. it's tiring just thinking back to that 24 hour period... yikes. while both were really great opportunities and we felt incredibly blessed to have the option, (even though sometimes i would prefer to not make a choice, i'm awful at deciding anything and everything). i was so proud of steve for putting a lot of thought into it and taking the offer that will be best for our family and his future. he said farewell to the campaign trail and joined the dc consulting world! the day after he made his decision we left for vancouver for steve's grandpas funeral. while the purpose of the trip wasn't ideal, it was fun to see and spend time with family. steve's been busy with another semester of grad school and i'm keeping busy with primary and deep cleaning/reorganizing/redecorating our apartment! this is my favorite photo (and moment) of 2013 so far. we purchased this chair and of course we thought it would fit in our car and of course it didn't so instead of getting a truck we decided to shrink wrap it to the top of our car. of course this we did this during one of the coldest weeks of the winter. driving home during rush hour with the windows down and this on top of our car was probably the most beverly hillbillies moment we've had. and that is saying something because we do these kinds of things all. the. time.

very thankful

 

i love the month of november and i love thanksgiving.

there is always so much to be thankful for, and this year isn't any different.

while we are always thankful for the more obvious things in our life

our warm home, great jobs, loving family & friends

this year i've tried to focus on the smaller things, because they matter too!

i am thankful for a husband that gets up first on weekday mornings. i like to think it's because he takes twice as long to get ready as i do, but i know he does it to let me sleep a few extra minutes

i'm thankful for a niece that says "i lope you" in the sweetest voice that just melts our hearts, 

even from 2,700 miles away

i'm thankful for to do-lists & felt tip pens, because they make the work day so much better

i'm thankful for simple traditions steve & i have started, like sunday walks and tacos on tuesday

i'm thankful to have returned to a normal dinner time since november 6th

i'm thankful for a church calling that has pushed me out of my comfort zone &

gives me the opportunity to serve

i'm thankful for a level-headed sister that always gives the most level-headed advice

***

i hope everyone will take time this weekend to give thanks for the simple things!

another election (almost) come and gone....

we are 7 days away! and even though the chaos doesn't necessarily calm down right after election day, it will be nice to return to a more normal dinnertime.

while it has been a busy few months and not always ideal, we've been incredibly blessed. this sounds funny, but it has been a dream come true for Steve to be on the battle grounds this election cycle. every night when i ask him how his day was i will follow up with "are you sick of it yet?" and he always always always responds no. while i got sick of all the banter surrounding the election weeks ago, he loves it, and the fact that he is happy makes all of this worth it. he enjoys the copious amounts reading and research, the sometimes difficult people and the long days. although i would love to live closer to family, friends and in a (slightly) cheaper city where we might own a home sooner rather than later, it all is worth it to have a husband that loves his job.

this election cycle has continued in the tradition that we have learned so much about ourselves individually as well as in our relationship over the past months. and while it is easy for me to countdown the days until it's all over, i am a little sad to see it go. the idea of moving onto something new, whether it still be at the DCCC or somewhere else in washington, it's a little scary. this whole election cycle/transient job thing is something i will ever get used to, but the way steve handles it with confidence makes it easier.

so in the case i don't blog again until after president obama (hopefully) wins another 4 years,
see you later election of 2012, you were incredibly good to us.

a busy week

we had a busy 7 days last week. while steve was working 24/7 my parents decided to come to town and keep me company. we first went up to nyc for 4 days then they came back and spent a few days in dc.

while in nyc we went to david letterman, saw mamma mia! and newsies, ate great food, carriage ride in central park, 5th ave, rockefeller square, union station, brooklyn bridge, downtown and 9/11 memorial, and my favorite, empire state building at night. thanks again for such a fun trip mom and dad!

 while in dc we saw the fdr and jefferson memorial, dinner at our favorite restaurants, trip to charlottesville to see jefferson's estate at monticello as well as university of virginia, as well as a trip to annapolis to see the naval academy. the highlight was definitely going to the nationals baseball game the night they clinched the division championship. time for the playoffs!

my dad & i with fdr's dog, fala, at the fdr memorial

a huge thank you to my dad for helping us paint the stairway and entryway in our apartment as well as fixing everything else around our apartment.

there's something great when parents visit.