Out of Tune

This week

Here is a picture of us at the corn maze last week.

Clayton spent extra time tying to get caught up from his week off.

Nicole came and visited him and law school on Tuesday. We went to the J. Ruben Clark Society (JRLS) reception.  The JRLS is the Lds law club. It was fun to be there with other students and see all the little kids running around. The event was fun. We got to talk with some of Clayton's fellow classmates. We learned that one of the served in the same mission, at the same time, as Joseph (Nicole's cousin) and they knew each other. They sang together at different functions during their missions. The menu was interesting; there was a taco bar, there was also mac and cheese and chicken fingers for the kids, apple juice and a big tub of ice cream.

On Wednesday, Nicole came up to the law school again to go with Clayton to the Art Law Society panel. Nicole got to hear about law and the arts. It helped her to realize just how awesome it is not to be a lawyer and to be the one making the art. After the event was over we walked to china town. After surveying the fabulous culinary offerings we opted to go to Fudruckers.  We also saw a really cool water fountain at the International Monetary Fund building. We also saw a segway gang. Apparently there are night tours of the city on segways.  We were afraid we had come across a vile group of segway mercenaries, whose evil deeds are the white collar equivalent to the hell's angels.

We rode the metro home. We were feeling kinda gross because the metro car we were on was a bit... sticky. This reminded Clayton of something he saw a few days ago while riding the metro. There was a family with three or four kids riding to the zoo. The kids were super excited and were going crazy while their parents tried to keep them under control. The dad was trying to get two of the boys to sit down in the seat. When he turned around, his younger son was licking the window of the metro. The father was incapacitated with disgust. He just stood there, his jaw dropped and he let out a slight whimper. At this point the mother also noticed the boy licking the window.  She was quicker to act than her stupefied husband. She made a mad grab at the boy, pinned him to the seat and began a germaphobic lecture in an attempt to scare the child straight. The dad just stood there.

On Thursday Nicole received a call from her Mom about her Grandfather Fred. At the doctor's office, they found a growth in his lungs. On Monday he will receive further scans and decide the best course of action. He is in our thoughts and in our prayers.

On Friday, Nicole's friend, Hilary, who has a two year old little boy, invited her to go to the ward trunk or treat. Her husband is a lawyer and was out of town. As Clayton was still studying, Nicole too was widowed for the night by her law career husband. So they went together. It was fun to see all the little kids running around with candy-crazed eyes, finding ways to run the trunk circuit multiple times without getting caught. One of the trunks was decorated as a Wonka-vision nerds packet that transformed the giant candy bar into a smaller size. The couple was dressed as Willy Wonka and an umpa lumpa. In another display, a single lady in the ward dressed up as the queen of hearts and set a "throne" up in the back of her truck.  She made everyone bow to her before she would give them candy. Hilary's son was dressed as the cutest little robot. He had a duck tape covered box with dryer exhaust vents for the arms and legs. The original design had the child wearing a sweatshirt underneath, but it was much colder than expected, so when he put on his winter coat he couldn't really move his arms, let alone bow to a "queen of hearts," so he skipped that one.

Saturday we were assigned to help clean the church, but Clayton threw his back out and wasn't felling up to going, so we skipped it. It was probably a good call because Clayton stayed lying on his back for the rest of the day, icing it. It feels a little better, but these things take time to fully heal. Hopefully, we'll be able to help clean next time. Nicole's piano tuning kit came on Saturday and she was a bit apprehensive to start right away. We did find an electric tuner online to assist, but our computer isn't really portable so we moved the piano to the computer. Now it sits in the middle of our living room and will be there until she decides to finish tuning it. We'll see. Tuning a piano is much more tricky than it looks. Saturday was also the day we found out that Clayton got a speeding ticket. He got caught on camera when he was helping to transport the new piano. The bill was sent to his parent's address in Utah. It wasn't a huge fine, but it was a super bummer because it was Clayton's first speeding ticket.

Today was stake conference and we enjoyed the talks, though parking was a bit crazy. Nicole was worried about Clayton's back having to sit for two hours, but he did OK. After the meeing, Clayton received a calling. He will be on the troupe committee and is excited to be working with the scouts again.

We hope all is well with you, peace and blessings!

Butterflies and Pumpkins

First, because we know everyone wants to find out, we still don't know for sure the gender of baby. Apparently we have to wait until she is 20 weeks along to get that joyful news. So far, mom and baby are doing well.

We had a great week with Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne.  Missed you David, hopefully you'll be able to come with next time.

On Monday, Clayton studied for his midterm, while Nicole and entourage visited Georgetown. They ended up driving through a couple private gardens by accident and were scolded by the groundskeeper. They also got some delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake. They picked up Clayton after he was finished studying and the whole group went to Alexandria.

We got shut down at the Free Mason Temple, again. It closes at 4:00pm, we missed it by fifteen minutes. From there we took everyone to see the torpedo factory. We had dinner at a pizza place called Bugsy's. It is owned by a former Habs and Caps player. (Hockey). The restaurant is a tribute to the American melting pot. We ate Italian food in a restaurant owned by a Canadian and were served by Hispanics.  As you can imagine the food tasted good on the way in but caused lots of problems on the way out. With only one bathroom in our apartment, the competition was fierce. 

 Nicole is super grateful for all the meals that Roxanne cooked while she was out here. When you are sick and not feeling well there is no substitute for mom.

On Tuesday, Clayton took his midterm. Everyone else was sick so we stayed at home. We forced Reagan and Brittany to come with us to the Asian market. They were good sports. Especially when they were drastically disappointed by the not so sweet, sweet treats. (we forced them to pick something to try). Clayton liked the Tomato Candy.  We also got some pumpkins and had a pumpkin carving competition. Clayton and Brittany were one team and Reagan and Nicole were the other. Roxanne was the judge and in true maternal fashion, everybody won.  We had lots of fun.

 Wednesday, Brittany and Reagan hung out with their cousins. Nicole and Roxanne went shopping for maternity clothes. Clayton didn't want to go shopping so he tried to fulfill an assignment for his Civil Procedure class that requires him to go to a court proceeding. After waiting for two hours at the DC superior court. He was told that he would have better luck if he came back the next day... He didn't.

On Thursday, we all went downtown. We went on a driving tour of the monuments that ended when we ran out of gas in the middle of DC! We pushed the car to a parking spot. Clayton ended up taking a cab to find a gas station. Apparently to dissuade the potential terrorist there are no gas stations near the National Mall. Nicole took Regan and Brittany to see the natural history museum and Roxanne stayed with the car. After Clayton and Roxanne got the car sorted, we all met up and went through the butterfly bubble. It is a cool room inside the Smithsonian that has butterflies floating around. It was really cool, because they land on you! Nicole had a butterfly that stayed on her the whole time we were in the room. 

On a more somber note, we toured the National Holocaust museum. It made us really grateful for all that we have. It was interesting to be there with Nicole and Roxanne, because they visited some of the concentration camps while they were in Europe.

On Friday, We said goodbye to Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne. Then we went to the doctor and got to hear baby's heart beat again. We also drove out into the country side to go to a corn maze. The maze was super simple.

On Sunday, Nicole played the piano in primary. She felt a little rusty but did well.

Check out our pumpkins. The pirate ship one is Brittany's and Clayton's(they were particularly proud of the pirate ship shadow they made. The Flaming Tree roots is Nicole and Reagan's.

Here is the piano Nicole found on Craig's list. It plays a lot better after we took the shower cap, drill bit, markers, and lip gloss out of the inside!

The New Addition

We are super excited to have Roxanne, Regan and Brittany visiting us.

After a long wait, Nicole finally got a piano. She scoured craigslist and after a checking a few out, she found one that was suitable. She is super excited to be able to practice again. We rounded up a whole crew to lift it into the back of Clayton's truck. We are super grateful for the help we had getting into our apartment. It is a little warn around the edges, and is a little out of tune, but she is excited to have it.

Clayton had a big paper due this week. After a three late nights he got it turned in. He is hoping it goes well. He has a mid term on Tuesday and is excited for it be over with because then he will get the rest of the week off. (except doing some homework for next week, compiling his notes, and going to a court case)

We get to find our baby's gender, for sure, on Friday! We will let you all know how it goes.

Biscuits, Doughnuts, and Spiders, Oh My!

Clayton spent more time than usual working on homework and papers this week. The Law Students are all buckling down for a nasty week and half. They have midterms next Tuesday and a big paper due on next Sunday.

In other news, Nicole only threw up twice this week. She is starting to feel better. Which is great. We did have a late night KFC biscuit craving but that was fairly easy to resolve. We made a mini kitchen in our living room because Nicole thinks the kitchen smells like gasoline and or other flammable gasses.   She has several theories, Clayton is unconvinced but moved the microwave, the "easy bake oven", and a pantry shelf of food out into the living room. The plus side is that know we can reheat our meals with out getting up from the table. We have plans for the toilet, to complete the maximization of our living space/ eating habits.

Nicole got the details for her freelance graphic design job and is happy to be working again. She has also been baby sitting for some people in our ward. Luckily, she still likes children after her baby-sitting jobs.

We had a home invasion of the arachnid variety. Nicole freaked out! Clayton calmly caught it and over came Nicole's chants of "KILL IT! KILL IT! Its brown recluse its going to kill us in our sleep! Its already smelled our flesh!" Clayton drove it to a distant park and released it into the wild. While Nicole researched spiders and found out it was not a brown recluse. Brown recluses don't live in Virginia. (But they do live in Kentucky, beware!) Ours was a Funnel Web Spider.

We are looking forward to next week for several reasons. Members of the Woodbury clan are coming to visit us.

Big shout out to CalDon and the West Lake High Cross-Country Team for qualifying for state. We do have a question and or suggestion for the team. First, if you are the West Lake Thunder does that make you West Lake's Thunder Thighs? If not, then you should be and make jackets!

Props to Amanda for getting a "amazing life changing role." She is playing the part of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.  The lead female role.  Clayton has been dying (not intended to be a factual statement) to find out what an opera singer does when they get the hiccups during a performance?

Clayton made doughnut holes for Nicole for breakfast on Saturday. He served them to her in bed as a surprise.


Nicole didn't tell Clayton about Roxanne's birthday on Friday and now he feels like a jerk. HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ROXANNE! 

Peace and Blessing are Back

(because we went to another ghetto Wal-Mart and are grateful we got out alive)

More "Baby" Pics

On Monday, Nicole went to see the doctor. They did a nuchal translucency test; the tests were screenings for genetic anomalies. Nicole got to see the baby kicking and jumping around! As the doctor said, "It will flop around like a fish!" It was amazing. They also did some additional ultra-sounds. We got the test results on Friday and so far everything is great.

Nicole thinks the picture in the middle looks like Clayton. Maybe he should be the baby for Halloween.

This week was particular rough at law school. Clayton had several extra late nights trying to keep up with the work load. On Thursday, Clayton got cold called for the first time. (cold calling is when the professor calls on students at random to present the facts and arguments in a specific case.) This was a little nerve racking.

Nicole also got hooked up with a freelance graphic design job!

On Saturday, Clayton competed in a negotiations contest. He almost didn't get to compete because there was construction on the metro line and it took him a long time to get into D.C. The teams were given scenarios and had to argue/negotiate for the best result for their client.  He really enjoyed the negotiating and wants to take some negotiations classes next year.

On Friday night we went on a date. Nicole felt liberated from the smelly apartment and did not want to go home. So we walked around a smelly parking lot instead. She is hoping the naseua will end soon.

We also got to watch General Conference. We enjoyed the talks and especially enjoyed just being together. Between sessions on Saturday we started reorganizing the apartment. We are still trying to get settled in our quirky layout. While Clayton went to priesthood session, Nicole went to a party with some sisters in the ward. She had a good time and got to make more friends.

During the Sunday sessions, Clayton made another batch of tamales. He really likes taking them for lunch.