Miscellaneous Spring Related Things

Our winter was very wet and harsh to so Spring was a very welcomed change. There were so many beautiful blooming trees around campus and it seemed that they bloomed at the same time:

In order to get these beautiful flowers, rain must fall. I took a student to Walmart and noticed the clouds gathering. I hoped that we'd get in and out before the storm hit...One of us got back to the van without getting wet...

As I was driving towards campus with a student, we saw a person flying around with a parachute on a chair with a motor. (Not sure of the official name of the "sport" or equipment.)  As I was driving a few minutes later I stopped the van to take a picture or two; not great quality but you get the idea of what was being used:

Dan frequently introduces himself as "The Chosen One" or "Your Highness" to the students when they can't remember our name. One day he managed to find himself a scepter-he thinks it helps his case for his titles:

One of our day's off we headed to DC to spend some time in the Temple. The flowers and green was amazing here too:

I smile whenever I see this sign as we head to the DC Temple; it's definitely an attraction to not be missed:

With the warmer temperatures comes the need to collect delivered milk as soon as possible. At one student home we weren't sure when the 5 gallons of milk were delivered so we erred on the side of caution:

I discovered dumping 5 gallons of milk doesn't take very long. Not the best but better than drinking sour milk for several days.

Dan received the following in the mail this spring:

I found it very funny for some reason, maybe because my card is still so far away. The thing that was strange though is that he could have joined at 50, two years ago! Guess needs to update their mailings a bit.

My cooking skills have been put to the test with this new job.Not only am I cooking for at least 14 but I have tried more new recipes in the last year than I think I have in previous years put together! I've even tackled coconut shrimp.

While we were shopping for our new couch, we saw this small plaque and Dan thought we should take our picture with it...The things we do to humor each other...

Impromptu Ft. McHenry Visit

Back in March, we decided to explore another American History site. We had taken an early trip to the Washington, DC Temple. We ended our time there fairly early and decided to spend a little extra time in the Baltimore area.

With the use of our trusty GPS we found ourselves at Ft. McHenry. This is the harbor where Francis Scott Key was imprisoned on a British ship in the bay while a battle ensued between the Americans and British. When the battle ended, he wasn't sure who had won until the smoke cleared and he saw the American flag waving above the fort. He was so stirred by the sight that he penned what is now our National Anthem.

We didn't have much time before it closed but we did the visitor's center and then strolled around the outside of the fort until they kicked us out. I'm hoping we go back so we can spend a little more time inside the fort.

Statue of Francis Scott Key facing Ft. McHenry

The Bay where the battle took place.

Replica of the flag F.S. Key saw from the British ship.

Told you it was a fort!

Dan asked an employee for a recommendation for a seafood restaurant. We took his suggestion and tried this place. The table cloths were butcher paper, the drinks came in Solo cups, and napkins were nothing more than paper towels. If we ordered crabs they would have dumped the whole steamed crabs on the middle of the table, handed us mallets, and let us go at it. A different experience, when do you want to join us?

Something to Shoot For!

I didn't realize that...

...has so many locations:

Hmmmm...I wonder if our discount works at all the locations? And, how hard will I have to beg Dan to visit all of them and find out? Future break itineraries!

Friendly Competition?

It has become a tradition to have NCAA Basketball bracket groups for our families. We've had a good time following the games and bragging about who has the best method for picking teams. This year prizes were on the line for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.

We received a text from Amanda saying that Jake wanted to prove his dominance to Liz and to open up the group to assist him. He seems to think that he won our tournament challenges in the past. Weeellll, ESPN kept track of last year's rankings and Jake didn't do so hot that year. Maybe this will be his year.

When the tournament ended, the results were as follows:

Broadbent Family Bracket:

1. JaNae
2. Amanda
3. Liz C.

Horrocks Family Bracket:

1. JaNae
2. Rebecca
3. Amanda

Yes, I have the best approach for picking NCAA teams. (Dan jokes it's by team colors or mascots but that's not the case, I do glance at their placements before selecting winners.) In fact, at one point this year I was the only one in the ESPN tournament challenge with a perfect bracket. Now by the third game that was over but I enjoyed the bragging rights as long as they lasted; especially since I was beating all the sports fanatics in the family.

After the results were finalized, messages went to the winners to determine what their prizes would be; favorite Hershey's Candy of course. The first prize ended up being an all expense paid trip to Washington, DC with Dan. (More on that in a future post.) Second and Third both requested Reese's Peanut Butter Cups of different sizes. Of course Amanda wanted this one:

Having her waistline and sugar intake as our concern, this is what was sent:

We made sure to include the following note on the Resse's:

Not sure what Amanda thought when it arrived but we thought it was very clever.

Liz asked for mini Resse's and she received her own package with her prize and certificate.

A fun tradition.

Oh, and Jake, there's always next year; hee, hee, hee.

Our Reward for Sacrificing

All of my student loans are paid off! It's been a tough journey full of sacrifices and big extra payments resulting in my loans all paid off in 5½ years. We still have a couple of Dan's to finish, however, his will be all finished by the end of June 2014. Afterwards the trick will be to NOT spend every dime we've put towards debt and save, Save, SAVE as much as possible of that "extra" income.

To celebrate the milestone of my debts being finished we decided to look for a new couch. We asked for recommendations, having no idea where to begin the shopping process. The first store we went to had many to choose from and we found three that were our favorites:

None of them we were both 100% sold on; they were too formal, too casual, or too retro for what we wanted. So off to a couple more stores we went.

Finally we had some time between Conference Sessions and decided to try one or two more stores. We entered one and looked through several options not very excited about much of what we saw; the price and/or style. Finally we found one we both agreed upon! The price was reasonable enough that we were able to purchase the ottoman too.

Because we purchased the couch exactly how it appeared on the floor (in fact it is the one from the sales floor) it was delivered about a week after we purchased it. The morning it arrived I raced home from work to see our new furniture in it's proper place. I must say, we picked well!

Since the couch is a totally different color than what we had before, that means that purchases need to be made so that more of the living room items match the different color scheme. I'm trying to be patient but am anxious to finish the search for additional seating options and to complete our new living room decor.