Cherry Blossom Festival

Over the weekend, we drove down to Washington, D.C. with Phil's mom to visit Phil's sister, Amy. The timing was perfect because it was the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival.

In front of the Jefferson Memorial

In front of the Washington Monument

Amy, Phil, & Mom

Mom, Phil, & Julie in front of tulip trees

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument

Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit

Phil's mom came to visit over her spring break. She and Phil visited the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

The exhibit included numerous recreations of da Vinci's inventions.

A robotic knight with two halberds

A robotic lion designed to deliver lilies to the king

Experimenting in the Kitchen

Dried fruit made with Julie's new food dehydrator: pineapple, strawberries, peach, bananas, kiwi, apple, and pear

Gnocchi, broccoli, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and walnuts in pesto sauce, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese

Visit With The Moyer Family

We had a great time getting together with the Moyer family. Julie and Missy have been great friends since junior high school.

We've been bad lately about taking photos, but luckily Missy takes lots of photos.

After dinner, we played with Playdoh with Evan.

Phil, Evan, & Julie

Evan's excited about the color options

Phil and Evan making something together

Evan having a good time with Phil

Some of the finished products: Evan with his blonde hair and blueberry eyes and a sailboat on the sea

We also found out that Evan is really good at putting puzzles together!

Unfortunately, Addy napped most of the time that we were there, and we didn't take any photos while she was up. So we snagged a few photos of Addy from around this time from Missy's blog.

Addy: Just like in this photo, she was all smiles the whole time we were there

We had a great time visiting with the Moyer family. Thanks for having us over!!

Another Snowy Winter

After these past two winters, we are incredibly appreciative that our condo association clears our driveway and walkways.

From our front door (before our porch and walkway got shoveled)

Our driveway and front yard

Our patio and picnic table out back

Out with the Old and In with the New...Car

Julie's car, a 1991 Geo Prizm bought second-hand while Julie was in college, served us well over the years and was quite reliable. But it was time to buy a newer car with safety options (like air bags)! So we donated the Prizm to the Purple Heart and bought ourselves a new 2010 Toyota Corolla.

Julie and the first car she ever bought

Phil & Julie and their new car

Let's take this thing for a spin

After owning the new car for a couple of months, we're quite pleased that it's getting 33 mpg.

A few features of the retired Geo Prizm:

• The cloth interior of the roof collapsed, and Julie stapled it back up, roughly 9 years ago.
• The driver-side window crank broke off, making it difficult to pay for gas and tolls.
• The passenger-side armrest was hanging by a damaged bolt.
• On the floor of the front passenger seat, there was a mysterious bump. It was there when purchased.
• The paint on the hood had mostly peeled off.
• It did not have a tape or CD player, cruise control, air bags, ABS, power windows or locks.
• It was 20 years old and had 129,646 miles.

Amy & Brent's Joplin Wedding Shower

Phil's sister Amy is getting married May 29.

On New Year's Day, Amy's Matron of Honor (Crystal), Julie, and Phil's parents threw Amy and Brent a shower for friends and family in the Joplin area.

Beautiful and delicious cake made by Brent's step-mom

Some of the shower decorations

Guests of honor: Brent & Amy

Amy & her parents Roberta & Lewis

Playing the Couple's Game

Amy and Brent were both asked a series of questions about each other. The guests were also asked to answer the questions. For each question that Amy and Brent answered identically, the got a small gift to use in their new home. The guests who got the most correct answers also won prizes.

Brent and Amy with their prizes and their flower girl, Kylie

Brent and Amy opening gifts

Brent and Amy cutting the cake

Practicing for the wedding

They played nicely, probably because the cake was way too good to waste

Crystal, Amy, and Julie

2010 in Review

We started the year off with a snowy winter.

Sabrina came to hang out with Kevin at his basketball game, spent the night at our place, and played lots of games with us at Kevin's house the next day.

Phil helped out with a Boy Scout event. The Klondike Derby involved the boys pushing a sled through the snow and completing skill tasks to earn points.

We celebrated with several of Julie's former labmates as they graduated from Princeton.

Julie's family had their annual family gathering. We met Julie's adorable cousin Clara for the first time and threw a baby shower for Jen, another one of Julie's cousins.

We celebrated the short life of Katherine Anne Hurley

Amy & Brent got engaged! They will be getting married May 29, 2011 in Leesburg, VA, and we are both excited to be a part of the bridal party.

We met Amanda & Bill's son Aiden. Amanda and Bill are friends from Moravian.

Julie got to sign her Honors Thesis in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Moravian's Honors Program

We celebrated Evan's 2nd birthday with him, his parents Brandon and Missy, and their family and friends. Missy and Julie have been great friends ever since junior high school.

We celebrated Phil's birthday in New York City visiting with friends.

Dave and Amy met us in Florida to visit Phil's grandmother, Aunt Susan, and Great Uncle Bob.

Then we drove to Key West for a short vacation.

Julie attended a conference in Chicago, and Phil came along as a tourist. We enjoyed lots of Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

Our roommates from grad school, Owen and Abi, welcomed their son Evan. We hope to be able to meet Evan sometime soon.

We drove out to Ohio to celebrate Joel's high school graduation. Joel is Phil's cousin.

We planned to have several 4th of July cookouts at our house for family and friends, but Phil needed an emergency appendectomy, so we had to cancel the parties. We'll spare you any photos.

Julie's Great Aunt Lucy celebrated her 87th birthday with her daughters and extended family.

We celebrated Amy's 25th birthday with her parents and friends on a boat ride on the National Harbor.

We drove to Florida to celebrate Julie's Dad's 60th birthday and Grandma's 82nd birthday with the Jones family.

Kevin invited friends and family over to his house for a cookout and pool party.

We flew to California to attend Nidhi and AJ's wedding at the Stanford Memorial Chapel. Phil went to college with Nidhi and AJ. We were also able to spend some time with Julie's cousins Susan Walton and Sandi, David, Heather, Nathan, Josh, & Jacob Steich as well as Phil's brother Dave and several other college and grad school friends.

Julie's labmate from Princeton, Harriet, and her husband Simon welcomed a baby boy Henry.

Phil invited Julie's family and friends over to celebrate her 30th birthday.

We flew to California again to attend Phil's 10 year college reunion.

Both of Julie's best friends from high school, Cara and Missy, had baby girls, Ellie and Addy, this summer.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the second year.

Julie made a third trip to Florida for the year to attend a conference for work and got to see Grandma, Aunt Lois, and Uncle Paul while she was there.

Kevin and Julie's Mom came over for our annual cookie baking and cookie making day. We made 6 kinds of cookies, 2 pans of fudge, and several other kinds of candy.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day visiting with Julie's family.

After a 3-day delay in our flight due to snow, we made it out to Missouri to spend several days with Phil's family and to bring in the New Year.

We were blessed to have a good 2010. We hope it was as good for you and that 2011 is as good or even better! Happy New Year!