Duay Adventures

In case you didn't know, We are coming home January 9th to the 15th. We are so excited because its been a year and half since we were last in Utah. There many exciting things we are looking forward to. Person I'm most excited to see... My sister and her son. Person Jon is most excited to see... His brother. Places I want to eat... In-n-Out, El Matador, Carl's Junior. Places Jon wants to eat... El Matador, Arby's. Things we are already planning on doing... Duay Family picture, Mickelsen Family Pictures, Dinner at Darla and Nate's, Dinner with Grandpa Spackman, snd spending time with all the family and friends we missed over the past two years. let us know what days you want us for so we can make it happen. We love you and can't wait to see you all!

This year we had visitors for Christmas. Jon's parents arrived on Wednesday, December 23. I got off work at 4:30 and we came home to drop off their luggage. We then went to the grocery store to pick up our fixings for Christmas Dinner. We came home and made dinner. On Thursday, we went to DC to take a trolley ride. Jon got Groupon tickets for $15 a piece. We got on the trolley and the first one took us on a tour of Georgetown. We learned about the history of the City of Washington, DC. We learned of the dimensions and the towns that were already there and incorporated (Georgetown and Alexandria)and later taken back (Alexandria). We learned some history about the National Cathedral and saw many of the Embassies. We went back to the beginning of tour and walked down to McDonald's for lunch. After lunch, We got on the Mall tour. They took us around all the sights of the National Mall area. We got to see both of the Christmas Trees. We came home kind of early because of the co...

So few people believe that our cat actually fetches so I took this video on my phone of her fetching.

So this Thanksgiving I decided that I would invite people over. I asked a friend of mine from work but she had other plans. So I told Jon to invite some of his colleagues. I had a tentative of three additional people coming to dinner so I set about planning the menu, table setting, house cleaning and cooking schedule. Thursday morning I got up and set to cooking Thanksgiving dinner in a traditional sense. Our guest were to be two Chinese girls and a Korean man. My goal was to show them a traditional American Thanksgiving. My menu consisted of Roasted Butter Herb Turkey, Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Stove Top Stuffing, Rolls, Corn, Deviled Eggs,Spanish Olives, Black Olives, Banana Cream Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. Some was homemade and some was boxed or canned. We told them to come around two-thirty. The girls called to ask if they could park at our building but we never heard from the Korean man. Zhe and her friend came and we showed ...

While watching the Rachael Ray Show one morning, she mentioned that she was coming to the DC metro area. I looked it up online and say that she was going to be at the Metro Cooking Show at the Washington Convention Center. Tickets were expensive, especially if you wanted to see a celebrity show. I kind of passed it off as something I'd like to do but couldn't afford. A few days later, Jon got a Groupon email with Celebrity Show tickets and all day admission for $32! That was about the price of a movie and popcorn here. I told him to buy them because I already had the day off of work. On Sunday, November 14th, We headed to the metro and took the green line into the DC. When we got to the Convention Center, we traded in our Groupon tickets for real tickets and headed down to the main floor. The convention opened a couple minutes later. There were so many different tables! We tasted mustards, olive oils, sauces and cheeses. We watched a demo on how to make Gnoocchi with Brussel S...

So Jon and I watch Comedy Central some nights and get some of our news from the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. So when they announced that they were going to host a rally on the National Mall in DC, we decided we had to go. So that night I put in the request for the day off. It was a approved and we were excited. One of Jon's group-mates said that she was also going to come and we decided to meet there around ten o'clock. That morning we got up and headed to the metro. As we headed up the levels to park, the levels were fuller than normal. We parked on three instead of two. As we headed to the stairs, through the window I could see a line started at the kiosks and extended up the stairs to the parking garage. At this point, I was glad I already had money on our cards thanks to some prudent planning the week before. We headed to the turnstiles and up the stairs to the platform. Those of you who have ridden metro with me, know I like to go to the front of the train because it...

So Jon and I haven't had a real date for a little while. We heard one of our favorite bands was coming to Baltimore on October 15th so we looked into getting tickets. Jon's mom, Cheryl told us not to buy tickets because she had a connection with the band. (She cleans house for one of the band member's mom.) So I took the day off of work so that we could go. I decided to make it a date and have dinner too. I got all dolled up and had Jon come home at four so we could have plenty of time to get up to Baltimore and account for traffic. I wanted steak for dinner so we looked up a place online and decided on Bare Bones Bar and Grill. It is actually a rib joint but they had good reviews for steak too. The address is in Ellicott City which is closer to Baltimore so we headed out. We found the restaurant and had dinner. It was pretty good. We were kind of early for dinner but we didn't mind because we were seated in the dining room right away. It kind of made me laugh because ...

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I did not want to spend it inside. So I texted one of my friends to see if she could come with me to DC. But she couldn't because she had to work. SO I decided to go myself. So I got ready and drove to Wheaton. I walked over to the Metro. I wasn't sure how much money I had on my card so I went over to check on the machines. I front of me were three little ladies who were clearly tourists. One asked me if I could help them figure out how to purchase a fare card for one way to Metro Center Station. So I helped the little ladies figure out how much it would cost and helped them put the money in so we could purchase their cards. Then we all went down the escalators to the train. Knowing the train would be coming soon, I walked a little fast down the escalators but those of you who have been to Wheaton Plaza Station know that it is a long walk even when the escalator is moving. Towards the bottom, I could hear the train coming but couldn't tell w...

Today, Jon and I decided to go hiking. The weather was a bit chilly and rain was expected in the afternoon, but the morning looked good. On our travels, we have noticed Sugarloaf Mountain and I had printed the trail information for just such an occasion. So I loaded up my backpack with a couple bottles of water and we drove up to the mountain. Sugarloaf is strange because there are no other mountains in the immediate area. It's just kind of alone out there. It's also privately owned but free to the public. This is a picture I took of the mountain. There are many trails for the mountain, but we got a late start and there was rain in the forecast so we drove up to the upper parking lot. We had originally planned to take the Green trail to the summit. It was a 1/4 mile hike to the summit. Somehow, though, we ended up on the Blue trail. The Blue trail actually circles the summit. We hiked to the West View overlook. Here is what we saw. This is a self portrait of us at the West View...