Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Best Way to Turn 33

I have to say, my birthday was so 
great this year. Jake was on a busy month 
in the PICU, so my expectations were 
very low. So it was a great surprise when 
I found out he took MLK day off to 
celebrate my birthday (a few days early)!

First, he arranged to watch the kids
while I went to a surprise breakfast at
the Mad Hatter with some friends.
Heck, I didn't even know I had this 
many friends here in Durham!

(From left: Cassie, Charisse, Jessica, 
Stephanie, Cabrina, me, Melissa & Janssen)

In the afternoon, he arranged for me
to have a nap and then we went to 
Cheesecake Factory as a family.
I ordered my favorite avocado rolls,
and got a darling mini Sundae for
dessert (since I don't like cheesecake).



(outside the restaurant)

On the 21st, I held a playgroup at my 
house and had quite the turnout! At one
point I counted 12 moms and over 30 kids.
I bought a Publix cookie cake to share,
and picked up a new flavor of Bluebell.


After the crowd left, my friend Melissa
stayed and put our kids to work sanitizing
the toys. We had lunch and a nice chat.


When Jake got home, we ate dinner and 
opened presents, and Corbett sang 
"Happy Birthday" to me about 7 times. 

(note how he says, "To Bethany")

I can honestly say this was the best 
birthday I've had in a long time.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Ringing in 2015

We spent New Year's Eve 
with my friend Jamie McAllister and 
her family at their lovely home in Maryland. 
Our friend Allison McKee joined us and 
we had a blast eating homemade pizzas and 
brownie sundaes and playing games until 
the ball dropped in Times Square.

(From left: Jake, Bethany, 
Allison, Jamie and Jared)



Then we toasted with some 
sparkling cider and stayed up way too late 
talking and reminiscing. Other than us ladies 
losing "Battle of the Sexes," it was a perfect 
way to spend New Year's Eve.

The Deines' in DC (Part 1)

Since we live so close to DC now, 
we decided to use some of Jake's vacation 
time to head back to one of our favorite cities, 
and where it all began for our family. 

There are so many great things to do
in DC, but our first priority was 
visiting the Lincoln Memorial. 





It was pretty frigid outside, 
but we bundled up and had a great 
time exploring old and new sites 
along the National Mall.

Potomac River:

World War II Memorial:


White House:

Washington Monument: 



Jefferson Memorial: 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial: 


DC is just awesome.