Christmas Vacation part 1

The best part about flying from St. Louis to DC is getting to see the Arch and the Washington Monument all in the same day. My flight landed in Reagan Naitonal Airport (Is that a new statue of Reagan outside? Yes!) so we got a great view upon landing and taking the GW parkway home.

I arrived Christmas eve. Per our new tradition, we had Chinese take-out for dinner. Jeila had a solo at the Christmas Eve 10:30pm service at St. Dunstan's so I went to that. We opened presents Christmas morning at Mom's. Then we headed over to Baba's house. Coda was waiting! He has a new trick:

Pirate Shoulder Cat!

I finally got to indulge in an Iranian feast!

 Naturally, tadig was the best part.

To be continued...

Brandon's New Sister

Meet Callie:

Nancy's new dog. She's a totally calm cutie. I mean look ... she let me hold her like a stuffed animal! She doesn't bark or try to lick you too much and only smells a little bit. I can't let on that I like her too much otherwise I'll have to babysit.

Brandon's favorite things: dogs, Coke and taco dip :)

My Sister is an Opera Singer

I love telling people that.

Enjoy:

A Trip Home

I got to spend this past weekend at home in McLean, VA visiting my family. I left Thursday evening after work and made the trip to St. Louis' Lambert Airport. As you can see the airport is still being repaired from the tornado damage:

My departing flight was with United to Chicago and then onto Washington-Dulles. The reason I came home (for the first time since moving) was because my brother Alex graduated from George Mason University.

On Friday morning Jeila and I headed over to Tysons Corner to visit my mom at work at Deloitte. She is the front desk receptionist. Check out her swanky office:

Then we headed over to the mall. The metro tracks have certainly taken over - exciting! We stopped in all my favorite stores but didn't buy anything. The highlight of the trip was my favorite Dippin Dots treat, Orange Sherbet:

Obsessed with this Flavor

Friday night was spent in Reston. We ate dinner at Big Bowl in the Reston Town Center and later that evening we went to The Reston Rave to see Bridesmaids.

On Saturday we slept in, had pancakes and headed back to McLean to set up for the graduation party. Although I missed Alex's formal ceremony, at least I got to go to the party. Cutting the cake:

The best part of the trip was getting to hang out with my siblings:

I said goodbye on Sunday afternoon after going to church. My flight back home was non-stop and with the 1 hour time change, it was only 2 hours. Brandon picked me up and on our way home I saw another scary farm tool:

Hauling Ammonia

I live here :-)

Happy Birthday D!

Happy 15th Birthday Darius! This means I'll be turning 25 this year, yikes!

Mom always called us bookends,  can you see why?

Myrtle Beach, SC 2000

1998

2002

Williamsburg, VA 2008

From little guy to teenager:

Make it a good one!