2013 in Review

Hello readers! Congratulations to everyone because we have all collectively made it to the end of 2013! I'm sure there were some superstitious folks at the end of 2012 doubting our very exsistance at the end of 2013 because of the bad luck surrounding the number 13. Yet, we have prevailed and proven them all wrong by living through the entire year of 2013 without even a scratch! Ok, the government shut down was pretty awful leaving thousands of people jobless and bored and fretful about money for 17 days but other than that, we made it!

At this special time of year most people are bustling about finding gifts for loved ones, pondering on life improvements for the coming year and wrapping up final projects for work or school. We have decided a good use of our time would be to summarize our highlights, dimmer lights (things that have both positive and negative aspects so they are neither high nor low), and lowlights of the year 2013 for the benefit of you readers. Search for Easter eggs throughout the post for more detailed descriptions of our 2013 journeys.

Taking our lead from ESPN and Darren and Carey, top 5 lists are best done leading into #1. Therefore, without further ado, our 2013 Year Wrap Up!

Top 5 Highlights:

5 - Scott and Kiersten (for the rest of this post, known as S&K) moved permanently to Virginia!

4 - S&K both received full time jobs in their chosen fields of study and are beginning their adult careers.

3 - S&K went on a National Parks and Landmarks cross-country road trip.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

2 - Scott graduated from BYU in April with his Bachelors in Geography with an emphasis in Geospacial Intelligence.

The Graduate with brothers Darren and Brenton

1 - S&K celebrated two years of marriage in May.

Top 5 Dimmer Lights:

5 - S&K are graciously living free of rent in Manassas, VA with Kiersten's parents helping them save money for a future place of residence in the Northern Virginia area.

4 - S&K are called as Valiant 10 Primary teachers with a class average size of 7-9, rambunctious 11 year olds. We now have a deeper respect for full time teachers. You are saints!

3 - S&K struggle (slightly) with living so close to both sets of parents and with spending equal time with both, especially during the holidays. It's a blessing and a curse really. Those of you who have experienced this know what we mean.

2 - The Jackson family bid a fond farewell to both Brenton and Jenna (Scott's younger siblings) as they departed on full time LDS missions to Brazil and Portugal respectively. We are so happy they are serving the Lord but there presence is sorely missed. We look forward to their letters and emails every week.

Elder Brenton Dean Jackson

Sister Jenna Lindsey Jackson

1 - The National Government SHUTS DOWN leaving Scott bored at home while Kiersten continued to work.

Top 5 Lowlights:

5 - Kiersten broke her thumb in November of 2012 but didn't know until January 2013 and she got her first cast ever for 2 weeks.

Drawing on cast denotes how I was injured... it was as a soccer goalie on a spectacular save.

4 -Scott was injured while running but survived to tell the tale with only a scar on his chin to show for the trouble. For the record, it's still not funny.

3 -Brenton (Scott's younger brother) was delayed from his missionary service for 3.5 months battling to recover from Lyme Disease, including an intense medication regiment.

2 - Mr. Kitty, the Jackson's family feline for over 12 years, was laid to rest unexpectedly in August.

Mr. Kitty in his natural habitat

1 - After many long years of love and support for her family, the Jacksons said their earthly goodbyes to the one and only Maxine Dean or Grandma Dean, as we knew her, in March.

The late Grandma Dean holding a crying Baby Scott

As a final end to 2013 we say thank you for your friendship and love to you readers. Without readers, this blog would just be cluttering up the cosmic void of internet space so thanks for making our blog seem less useless. We will try in 2014 to be better about posting events in our lives but we can't promise anything. As #4 of our Top 5 Highlights mentioned , we have full time jobs now and we don't have the time we once did as college students so be kind when we go days or weeks without updating you on our tremendously exciting lives. We leave you with a final picture and wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Early Christmas gift found in York, PA

There is a brass quintet from Canada which contains two trumpets, a French Horn, trombone and tube. Their instruments are 24 karat gold Conn-Selmers. They are experts on their instruments and they have been sent around the world by the Canadian Government to bring music and entertainment to the masses. The group I’m speaking about is of course Canadian Brass. (The Canadian Government doesn’t actually send them out on musical missions…)

Last night, Scott and I had the pleasure of attending their Holiday Concert in York, Pennsylvania. “You went all the way to Pennsylvania for a concert on a Monday?!” you’re thinking incredulously. The simple answer, “Yes. Yes we did.”

As an early Christmas gift, Scott purchased tickets for this Canadian Brass concert because I’d never really heard of them. He’d been to one of their concerts in high school and he was anxious to go again because they are so incredible.

We left DC early in the afternoon after work and drove about 1.5 hours north to Pennsylvania. York is about 20 miles within the border so it wasn’t really that far. We arrived about 3:30, drove around and explored then found the theater and the best parking spot ever! It was one block up and free after 5! Jackpot! We parked around 4:30 and the meter still had 50 minutes on it so we were golden. This was also the golden spot because it was 20 steps from the restaurant we decided on.





Bistro 19

Going to a fancy restaurant at 4:30 is wonderful because you’ll have the whole place to yourselves, which we did. We took our time eating and eat we did! We got an appetizer, which we rarely ever do but how can you resist a menu choice called ‘Lamb Chop Lollipops’? Neither could we. Scott’s entrée was a white truffle risotto with asparagus and mushrooms. I enjoyed an eggplant tower with goat cheese spread between layers while roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts and tomatoes made up the garnish complete with a balsamic vinegar glaze. Perfection!


Scott, enjoying a Lamb Chop Lollipop

Grilled Eggplant Tower in front and Scott's Asparagus Mushroom risotto

We passed on dessert and still had 2 hours before curtain with little idea of what to do in York. Should we walk around the little downtown in the bitter cold and ice with inadequate winter gear? Absolutely. Yes it was very cold but it was fun to see what York downtown had to offer us. After walking for about 30 minutes or so, we found the local McDonald’s and warmed up with some hot chocolate. Around 6:50, we decided it was time to go into the theater and get ready for the concert.

Strand Theater

 It was one of the most amazing and most enjoyable concerts I’ve been to in a long time. The theater was gorgeous and much more spacious than the outside let on. The performers were extremely entertaining and the music was impressive. Highlights of the show: a Carol of the Bells/Bach compilation, Charlie Brown Christmas tribute and a 10 minute summary performance of Carmen the opera. We’d never seen Carmen but you all know the main theme from the opera and that was about all we knew too. They’d explained a brief synopsis of the opera highlighting the 4 main characters adding a fifth, important addition of the bull for the Bull Fighter’s character and then proceeded to act it out as they played! It was a little bit like marching band but they were dressed up in wigs and horned hats with a tail (for the bull which was the tuba player). It was hilarious and informative. Neither Scott nor I feel like we need to see the real version of Carmen since it would be much too long and probably not as entertaining as the Canadian Brass rendition.




Thank you to the Canadian Brass ensemble for your concert and beautiful and moving depiction of Carmen. We hope to see you again in concert soon. And for those of you reading, this is our invitation to you to see Canadian Brass the next chance you can. We highly recommend them to anyone interested in a fun, wholesome time full of great music and laughs and possibly, a tuba player dressed as a bull.