Mamma Mia!

As stated in the last post, Paul and my mom and I got the chance to go see Mamma Mia (My dad more than happily volunteered to stay home with Sabrina. As he put it, "The last musical I saw was Oliver. That was enough."). We headed into a somewhat empty theater and watched as girl after girl after girl filed into their seats. Paul was looking a little nervous. You see, the last time my mom was out here with Shelley, we went to see the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and Paul has never let me forget it!! I began to wonder if this would be the movie that I would be watching action flicks to make up for, for the next 20 years. I don't know if Paul really knew what the term "Movie Musical" meant before this experience, and from the first "burst into song" moment, I knew I might be in trouble. Not only that, he seemed to be bonding with the big guy next to him over their mutual repulsion for what was going on here. I'm happy to report though (and I give all credit to ABBA here) that by the end of it all, we were all singing full voice including one PJ Sampson and the big guy next to him and everyone in the theater. In all my years of movie going, I've never had quite an experience like this. Good times.

A Shout Out

This is a shout out to George and Shar (my parents) who came to stay with us this past week and did nothing but spoil us the entire trip. I have to say that I had a hard time keeping up with my parents who love to go go go (even on vacation in 98 degree weather). In the week they were here, we saw the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the Portrait Gallery, the National Archives, Mount Vernon, the Monuments, the White House, Gettysburg, Arlington Cemetery, and the National Gallery of Art (okay, I stayed home for this one as I have seen it many times and needed a break). We also ate out multiple times and even fit in a late show of "Mamma Mia" (see next post). This would be the perfect post to add pictures too and believe me, I have some, but alas we have yet to figure out how to put pictures from our camera on this computer. Thanks mom and dad. Sabrina already misses you!! I'm glad we'll be seeing you in 3 weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed my week as a tourist.

DCPD Paul

When Paul told me that he would be working for the US Attorney's office for the second part of the summer, I had no idea that a bullet-proof vest would be part of his work attire. I guess this is DC after all. Actually, as part of Paul's internship he got the chance to go on a ride-along with the DC Police last week and he was in fact required to wear a bullet-proof vest. He was taken into the Ghetto (capital G) where he was involved in busting 6 drug dealers in the 4 hour time span he was there. He has harrowing stories (he'll have to tell later) of cutting guys off, chases through neighborhoods, injuries, "baby's mamas", girlfriends ratting on their sweethearts, etc. In my opinion, he was a little too excited about the whole experience. When he got home, he said, "I might even go with them again next week." To which his mean wife said, "Nope. Enjoy the thrill now because that was your last experience doing that." This is one "baby's mama" who hopes to not be single at the birth of her second child.

This photo was taken from Paul's phone; pretty tough I'd say.

Something to Remember...

As I head into my third trimester and ATTEMPT (don't hold me to anything, I am having a hard time committing to this one) potty training, I thought it would be helpful to remember this quote told to me by my good friend Aish (Ashley Nelson Blackhurst) while we chatted on the phone the other day. This was told to her by a wise nurse as her anesthesiologist was making multiple attempts at putting in her epidural, and she was nearly in tears.

"Motherhood is NOT for wimps!"

A good thought and very true. I've been thinking this with every kick of my ribs made by "29 week unborn Sampson."

Oh Beautiful for Smoky Skies????

Happy Fourth of July (yesterday) to everyone!! We had an eventful, fun, and memorable 4th! We started the day off by going to the annual ward breakfast held at the church. We were happy to see some food left since we arrived about an hour late. Sabrina stole someone's soccer ball and had a great time rolling it across the gym with Chloe and the visiting Brittan.

We then headed to Kyle and Noelle's for an afternoon BBQ with friends. Great food, great company, great fun. Towards the end of our fun, Mother Nature kicked in and it began to rain. Nothing too bad, but enough to question whether or not evening fireworks would be worth it.

Seeing as we are in DC and Brittan is visiting and all, we decided not to let a little rain get us down. Darn it, we were going to see some fireworks!! We headed over to the Air Force Memorial (not too far from where we live) to secure a spot on the lawn. We waited for a good 2 hours in the rain and mugginess (occasionally making a shelter under Noelle's tarp). Then it was time. The fireworks finally began. We saw about 3 of the most beautiful fireworks ever, then the bottom right corners of about 6 or so more, then just a black plume of smoke in the sky. You see, there was no wind and considerable cloud coverage!! No wind means the smoke stays right where the first firework let off. As more fireworks come, more smoke fills the sky, making viewing said fireworks impossible. There were boos from the crowd, people calling for their money back (it's free), and an occasional cheer when the glimpse of a sparkle caught our eye. We laughed the entire way back to the car. Sabrina had the joke of the night on the drive home when she proclaimed, "I love fireworks!" We all do. We'll just have to wait until next year to see any.

The above photo is what we were hoping to see but not what we actually saw.

Freaks and Geeks...

Paul and I just finished reading, "Freakonomics." We know we are about 3 years late on this trend, but that's usually about how late we are with everything. (We lost track of the top ten a long time ago). We enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, entertaining, thought-provoking read.

We are also sad that (thanks to Netflix) we are all caught up on "30 Rock." Does anyone out there have a show they love that we could rent and get caught up on?

And one more thing... while watching So You Think You Can Dance and painting his pregnant wife's toenails last week, Paul said, "I have to admit that I kind of like Celine Dion." I am going to start putting his funny quotes as a cute sidebar on this blog. (In his defense, I begged and bribed him to paint my toenails due to my ever expanding self, and we were switching between SYTYCD and the NBA draft, but there is no defense for the Celine Dion thing...that's all him).