Yuk.

Packing, packing and more packing... Why do we have so much stuff???

HorsePOWER

Thanks to one of our leaders, Sara Corcoran, our DGH girls had the opportunity to volunteer at the HorsePOWER Therapeutic Riding ride-a-thon this past weekend. More pictures to come, but here is a sneak peak of their afternoon at the stables...

Love is Truth

When I walked into my parents house tonight after a LONG three days filled with work, fun, more work and more fun, I was a little surprised to see my dad with dinner plates in-hand...

It was a random Wednesday night, and it was after eleven o'clock... Why was he still cooking dinner?

Oh my gosh - it is their anniversary! My dad has a candle-lit dinner going out in the garden and not only have I forgotten the occasion, but I have just walked right up into the middle of it...

My dad immediately invites me to join them (just as they have done with the other friends who happened to drop by on this "random" Wednesday night).

So my parents' 29th wedding anniversary ended up filled/crashed with love, fantastic food, wonderful wine and lots of friends.

Mama and Pops, thank you for loving each other through so much. You have taught me how to live and how to love at the same time. I know I am your younger, less-experienced daughter but I am proud of you and admire you more than you will EVER know.

It may have been a very quick walk across a very wet stage, but my baby is a law school graduate!

Three years, eight moves, thousands of miles on Highway 29, countless hours of studying, many new friends and an unbelievable number of Box-y memories all came to a ceremonial end this weekend.

Bill (Duke) thank you for spoiling us rotten and for being such an incredible older brother. Eileen and Kiyosi, your surprise visit to Charlottesville meant the world to Mike. Thank you for doing everything it took to be there. Mom and Pops, I can't tell you how much your support has meant to us over the past three years. I love you very, very much.

A couple snapshots from the graduation weekend:

“At a time of such great challenge for America, no single issue is as fundamental to our future as energy.” Barack Obama

My amazing hubby has a big event coming up this Thursday... A couple months ago, he was asked to help co-author a whitepaper on the future of American energy. The plan was to give a panel of experts the information so that they could discuss the topic in front of a national audience. This Thursday Christine Todd Whitman, John Podesta, James Woosley, Karen Harbert and Jim Angle will do exactly that - debate the topic Mike summarized so brilliantly (sorry for bragging), the United States' dependency on carbon-based fuels.

PBS will be airing the discussion, however; if you're interested in learning more about the panelists or in reading Mike's paper, here is a link to both: http://millercenter.org/public/debates/energy

(Sweetie, on a personal note, I am SO proud of the relationship you have formed with Professor Cannon and the paper you were able to produce for him. Your drive, your intelligence and your determination continue to amaze me. Thank you for being such a wonderful partner in life. I love you very, very much.)

This is just the beginning of a beautiful story!

I'm still in shock that my baby sister is a college grad, and trying to make a full recovery (thanks to Reid) after the weekend's festivities.


Johnsons, Greens, Thompsons... Anyone need a swig of water?


Our little "star, who I must, add graduated with Honors!


Pops and his five girls...


Birdy, I know you will probably hate this picture but you look so happy I just had to share it. Reid, thanks for bringing so much joy into all of our lives!

How ridiculous is this...

I took this picture from the driver seat in my rental car. Still have absolutely no clue why they would put the entire dashboard in line with the center console... Maybe it's a car made for back seat drivers.

A couple DSH pics: