it's getting messy this election season

Here are a few pictures of our lives this last couple of weeks:

This is what happens, while Mommy is at a YW Presidency meeting. Nate thought it was pretty funny. He is so good to remind me to laugh at times like these. A mess can always be cleaned up - but their feelings not perhaps as easily.

Good thing for Mason that Stan is generally so good-natured. 

Cleaning up.

Nate's favorite dessert - white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for Valentine's dinner. Not as pretty as I was hoping, but he seemed to like it a lot :).

Our little snow/ice storm

ice-covered grass

Date night- checking out the special collections at UVA

Funeral services for our beloved car "Betty". I think Nate shed a few tears on that one. Believe it or not, that car brought us through our first steps of dating and married life.  She brought our two little boys home from the hospital, and moved all of our stuff to the East Coast. She gave us her all, and we are forever grateful to her. Yes - I admit I complained at times that when I drove her - other cars swerved around me just because they thought I was a Grandma, but at the end of the day, that car had the smoothest ride in town. Part of me is going to miss her as well.

Meeting John Kasich was a big highlight for us. He had a campaign event just a couple blocks away from our apartment, so we walked over with the boys. A lot of people commented on how neat it was to have two young boys participating in the political process.

We were fortunate to get there early enough to get seated tickets. We sat for a while when out of nowhere Kasich entered the room right where we were sitting by the door, and just looked at us with the kindest eyes. I think he was quite surprised that we had brought our littles along for the ride - even though we were not in the main room - but in a side room. He said something like "Oh, Wow, isn't this wonderful!". He asked Mason and Stanley's name - and said to the entire room "his name is Stanley, isn't that great?" He asked Nate and I how long we had been married. We said five years and he said "that's just wonderful!", then he walked to the front of the room to address the audience. It was such a sweet moment for us. 

During his interview he complimented the Mormons and our unique approach to welfare. He said it has been extremely beneficial for Mormon communities and is a wonderful model for our nation. The interviewer mentioned how Mormons are often misrepresented in the public sphere. Nate and I looked at each other and grinned. 

He's just a really genuine, good, smart, compassionate, sensible guy who has done so much good in his State of Ohio. No candidate is perfect, but we both really like him.

Mason said "Hey! I saw you on TV!" We had to see him one more time before we left. He said to Mason - "Can you shake my hand?" He said, "look at my eyes Mason!". Then he said, "he's a handsome looking guy!". 

If I had known we would be meeting him - I might have dressed up a little more.

My two little Picassos