Happy Birthday Andrea!!!

My Dad put this together for me on our extended family's blog so I thought I'd post it here for everyone else's viewing pleasure. Thanks to my family for their birthday wishes! It's been fun to do these posts for you this year and even more fun to have it done for me! Thanks Dad for putting this together!

Love, Andrea

After spending nearly a year doing birthday blogs for the rest of the family, it's finally time to do the same for Andrea!

To Andrea, my dear sweet wife,

My best friend and love of my life

Your beautiful eyes are so full of love,

I know they are a gift from above

That soft hair that I long to touch,

Is one more reason I love you so much

Those wonderful hands I love to hold,

And don't forget that heart of gold

Your contagious laugh makes me feel happy,

Even when the laughing is at (not with) me

You have talents both varied and plenty,

Different from mine yet still complimentary

We've accomplished a lot and learned even more,

I look forward to seeing what the future has in store

Here's to all we'll experience in the next thirty-three,

Happy, Happy Birthday to you from me!

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Dear Aunt Andrea,

I hope this year brings all the joy and happiness it can bring. Have a great birthday!

Love,

Austin

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Andrea,

I enjoyed visiting in June. It was fun hanging out. Have a great birthday.

David

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Baby Andrea

Innocence

The Cutey

Our Athlete

Elation

Called to Serve

Eternal Friends

Outa My Way!!!

After Andrea's long awaited arrival, a bout of apnea gave us a good scare, but with the help of a Priesthood blessing,and a couple of weeks in the hospital she was good as new. She was much loved and her older siblings and parents sort of vied for a chance to interact with her as a baby. I can remember relishing Monday mornings when other family members went to school or work and I got to hold the baby. She has always been goal oriented, conscientious, diligent, committed, a leader, and all round good person--not to mention the pies. We are are proud of your accomplishment, especially your spiritual devotion and contributions. Andrea has been a wonderful hostess and showed us much of the East Coast that we otherwise would not have seen on our own. Her blog has been a conduit to bring the family closer together and is much appreciated. The one thing we would like to encourage her to do is move west.

Happy Birthday!

Mom

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Andrea came into this world in very difficult circumstances – crib apnea. In a priesthood blessing this wee-one was blessed that she would be made “whole and strong”- she never looked back. It turns out ‘strong’ not only covered ‘physical’, but seems to also covered ‘will’. From a very young age she has had an I’ll-do-it-my-way ‘charm’. This coupled with her talent and determination makes her very special… she has always been our ‘Can-Do’ girl!

She was mature and organized from a young age: homework- done, teachers- complementary, employers- pleased, and parents- proud…

Growing up she cycled between friends, we were never sure who was ‘in’, or ‘out’, but going away to college finally evolved that to an enduring circle of friends and most important of all, a very special and understanding ‘significant-other’.

Teaching Andrea to drive was an experience- I eventually came to realize all I had to do was close my eyes as she perfected her ‘high-speed misses’ and my hair-loss rate was slowed considerably (although Sharon says my drained complexion was invariably a consistent result of these ‘teaching’ episodes). Even later in life I find the closed eye technique important sometimes when I ride with her- wheeee.

Andrea was our child-athlete with swimming and tennis as highlights- she had the most graceful free-stroke of anyone in the pool and the earned a ‘letter’ in High School tennis as examples (although the letter may have been partially a recognition for never letting her parents see one of her matches).

It’s always a joy to go touring with Andrea and Tom- the excursion is always well researched and planned with much to see and minimum time wasted…

From speaking perfect Espanol on her mission to being a mainstay in her small branch and later ward, Andrea is a wonderful example the gospel in action. Many have been and will be blessed by her strong testimony and work with the spirit and get it done attitude.

Andrea has been exemplary in helping to draw our family together with her special family blogs and it is a joy to be able to reciprocate in this small way…

Happy Birthday Andrea, may you have a great year and many more to follow...

Love, Dad

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Happy Birthday Andrea!

I sure hope you have fun celebrating the big 33 .

It seems like yesterday Andrea was knee high to a grasshopper, as girlie a girl there ever was. I remember ballet classes and tapes of Andrea on TV dancing for her teacher's cable access show, and how much fun she had. Those were the days of wonder woman underoos, and Andrea was determined to be just like her.

Well I think she has reached her goal. I can't adequately express how proud I am of my 'kid' sister and all that she has accomplished in her life. Andrea is truly one of the cool ones, and her originality, humor, and intelligence shine through for all to enjoy.

Rock on Andrea - the world needs more people like you = )
Love,
Brett-

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Dear Andrea,

Happy Birthday. Your hard work all year on the birthday blog has meant so much to everyone and now it is your turn.
Some good memories:
You took me door to door to sell my cheetoes and your painted golf balls.
You paining my face and getting paint all over mom's bed.
Riding bikes together in the cultasac.
Flying kites with you and dad.
You giving me a ride to BYU my freshman year.
Getting our endowments at the same time.

Shure hope you have a great day.
Love Matt

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Andrea,
I hope your birthday was a great one. No house work on that day unless it was done by someone else. :) I admire your considerate and straight forward nature. You also have a great sense of humor and have always been easy to talk to. I thank you for that.

Happy belated birthday!
Cassandra

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Happy birthday, Andywa (and I'm sorry I'm a little behind, haha). You are amazing and I hope you know it. You manage to accomplish so much with your time, callings and projects and work and all, and still have time left to laugh in between. Hope you'll teach me that next time I see you!
I love you. Have an amazing year.
<3>

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My favorite sister also made this for me and posted it on her blog:

I only have one sister and she is pretty wonderful. Happy Birthday Andywa!

Biltmore

We had so much fun on our New England Road Trip last fall we decided to spend our anniversary on another road trip down south. In 10 days we traveled 2300 miles through 8 states and have officially been to all the states on the eastern seaboard. That brings us up to 32 of the 50 states together. One of these days we hope to visit them all.

We started our trip with a full 8+ hour day of driving from Baltimore to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Since we never seem to drive for very long without seeing something we want to check out our first pit stop was in West Virginia where we loaded up on Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper and Caffeine Free Mountain Dew. For some reason every store in West Virginia has tons of Caffeine Free soda. (Tom used to work just a few miles from the Maryland/West Virginia border and found this out on a random stop for a snack one day).

Next we headed to Virginia through the lush green Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains that still had lots of late spring blooms. It was a really pretty drive. We made a quick stop in Buena Vista, VA to check out Southern Virginia University. We had heard things here and there about a non-church operated LDS University and wanted to see it for ourselves but we had no idea it was so tiny. It was hilarious to hear everybody saying things like "Frikin" and "Flip" again. This was one of the few buildings on campus:

After SVU we drove through Tennessee then on to Asheville, North Carolina. We had our first southern BBQ at the Fiddlin' Pig Bluegrass BBQ. The pulled pork and hush puppies were our favorite but the best part was the live Bluegrass Band that played as we ate. Here's a little sample:

The next morning we headed to Biltmore - the Vanderbilt's home built in 1895. I knew it was a large home with vast gardens but I was blown away by just how big it really was. At 175,000 square feet I felt like I was touring a palace.

(Yes that is a full sized bus to the right)

A closer look

First we checked out the Gardens:

Italian Garden

South Terrace

Views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Estate

Walkway to the Walled Garden and Bass Pond

We were lucky enough to be there during their Festival of Flowers the tulips were in full bloom in the Walled Garden.

Here are some of my favorite flowers and plants from the Conservatory:

After wandering around the gardens for several hours we took the trail to Bass Pond. It was a gorgeous day to enjoy the grounds.

We couldn't take pictures inside the actual house but everything was magnificent and so well built that even over 100 years later everything is pristine. There are over 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, and 40 indoor bathrooms (at a time when most houses didn't even have one indoor bathroom). Not to mention a huge indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, and two story library. Some of our favorite things were: the Atrium/Music Room, the Wood Paneled Game Room, Napoleon's chess set, and the Banquet Hall with 70 foot ceilings.

We trekked 6 miles around Biltmore that day and decided to end the day with a late lunch at the Stable Cafe. We had to try some southern favorites so we ordered Hush Puppies and Fried Green Tomatoes.

Slow-vannah (Savannah, GA)

After hiking around Biltmore all day long we got back in the car and drove 5 more hours to Savannah, GA. "Slow-vannah" as the locals call it is a charming little Southern town on the Savannah River that still seems like it did 50 to 100 years ago. Here's an ariel view:

One of the first things you notice in Savannah is all the "stuff" hanging from the trees. It's Spanish Moss - related to pineapple - or so said our tour guide. It's everywhere and it's another thing that gives the entire city a small southern cozy feeling - like things never change.

Another really unique thing about Savannah was that when they originally planned the city they created squares/plazas EVERY OTHER block. The abundance of all the well manicured and welcoming squares all over the city really give Savannah the charm and southern hospitality we were hoping to find. Most of the squares had fountains or statues of prominent citizens in the center with lots of benches to sit on and relax or paths to wander.

Downtown Savannah and the Riverfront:

Paula Deen's Restaurant - Lady and Sons (the Banana Pudding and Butter Cake were to die for!) Apparently Savannah is known for it's Banana Pudding. Who knew?

Most of the Riverfront was lined with the original seawall made from rocks brought from England in ships to weigh down and stabilize them while crossing the Atlantic.

One of the things I was excited to do was ride on a real paddle boat in a real river - since the only other paddle boats I had been on I had to paddle or were at Disneyland. The tour itself wasn't that exciting as most of Savannah's harbour is still a working harbor - but it was fun to ride on the paddle boat.

Some views from the Paddle Boat:

Riverfront

Tug Boats

Talmage Memorial Bridge

Turning around on the river

Some great shots from all around Savannah:

Tree lined streets with well kept up restored homes

Neat old building downtown

Savannah's City Hall

Churches of Savannah:

Forsyth Park

Forsyth Fountain

In the Savannah and Charleston areas the beaches are not on the mainland - there are tons of small islands protecting the shore where people go to the beach. So from Savannah we checked out Tybee Island and Hilton Head Island.

Tybee Island is like a small beach community. But with the entire island protected from the beach by structures that look like they can survive a war and signs all over to gauge what category the storm is - it's obvious that hurricanes are a common occurrence around here.

Tybee Lighthouse

After Tybee Island we headed to Hilton Head Island. Tom had great memories of Hilton Head from a family vacation they took there years ago. We were surprised by how many fancy pants golf courses and hoity-toity hotels and shops there were. You can tell the people who live/vacation there have money and only want the best. But having said that - they had some of the nicest public beaches I have ever seen - complete with walkways on the sand, swings, water fountains to mark the entrances to the beach and plenty of public bathrooms and showers.