DC Sites

Today we went sightseeing all over DC. My kids were troopers and walked for hours with us from monument to monument. We had a great time and saw some cool things. My little sister, AnnaLisa was our tour guide with Andrew adding his two cents regularly about the things he learned in 1st grade about the sites we saw.

Riding the metro into DC

Andrew and Madeline in front of the Washington Monument. (the monument is still closed to tourists after the 5.8 earthquake last year that damaged it.)

Andrew, Me, and Madeline in front of the White House. The fence is in the way to get a good picture. Darn security. (o:

World War II Memorial (This was my first time at this one since it opened after I moved from the area.)

WWII Memorial. My kids thought it necessary to take a pic in front of California

Madeline outside the Lincoln Memorial

Madeline and I in front of the Abraham Lincoln statue

My kids hanging out with Albert Einstein. I had never seen this statue before.

We also saw the Vietnam Memorial, but failed to take pictures of it. We had an interesting discussion while we were there about WHY we fought in the Vietnam war. Anyone know the answer?

We still have lots of other sites we need to see while we are here, but we made good headway into our "to see" list. If you have any favorite spots for kids in the area, please share them with me!

Playing with Cousins

I decided that we desperately needed to take a family trip to Northern Virginia after my nephew was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year. We hadn't been back to the area since 2008 and my kids did NOT know their cousins at all, except through occasional conversations on skype. So, as soon as school ended, we hopped on a plane and headed out to see my five siblings and their families. We arrived safely very late Saturday night and are having a great time getting reacquainted with our "long lost" family (o:

My kids became instant friends with 7-year-old Ellie, 9-year-old Adam, and 11-year-old Emma. They are having a blast together as you can see here:

Andrew's awesome jumping

Adam showing off his jumping skills



Andrew, Madeline, and Emma

Andrew and Adam jumping

Playing in the treehouse is pretty fun too!

Emma in the treehouse

Madeline and Ellie

Madeline, Adam, and Andrew playing wii

It's only our second day here and we are having a great time! Can't wait to see the rest of the family soon! We will be hanging our with Lauren, McKenzie, Bridgette, and Davin tomorrow.

Matt and Karey-When do we get to see you?

On a sidenote, we've lived in California for so long that we are in complete awe over the size of the yards here in Virginia. (o: The house we are staying at has a swingset, trampoline and treehouse. So fun!

School is Over!

Andrew graduated from first grade yesterday! It was a very happy day. Andrew has improved so much academically over the course of the year that we are completely amazed! The only areas Andrew really needs to work on are his handwriting and his organization. Neither of those are surprising to us, considering Tom's bad handwriting and our organizational skills at home. (o:

Have I told you that Andrew can be very funny when he wants to be? He can. Yesterday he brought home a Father's day card for Tom and this is one of the things he wrote:

Translation: I think the thing Dad likes best about me is I look like an Alien!

We have no idea where he came up with that, but we did find it hilarious!

Congrats to our soon-to-be second grader! We love you Andrew!

I Love to see the Temple!

I feel so privileged today to have been able to witness a sealing in the LA Temple. The spirit was so strong as a lovely young couple were sealed to each other and then to their two children.

Laura, Jeremy, Anthony and Parker
Aren't they a beautiful family?

This was our first time inside the LA Temple. I had a goal when I was younger to visit every Temple. I hadn't thought of that goal in a long time until today. I think I should reinstate that goal. There are so many now that I know the goal is tougher than it used to be, but I believe it is a worthy goal. (o:

I married such a handsome man.

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These are the Temples that I have already visited:
Anchorage Alaska
Bern Switzerland
Boise Idaho
Boston Massachusetts
Bountiful Utah
Cardston Alberta
Chicago Illinois
Columbia South Carolina
Dallas Texas
Denver Colorado
Draper Utah
Frankfurt Germany
Freiberg Germany
Houston Texas
Idaho Falls Idaho
Jordan River Utah
Laie Hawaii
Las Vegas Nevada
Logan Utah
London England
Los Angeles California
Manhattan New York
Manti Utah
Mesa Arizona
Monticello Utah
Mount Timpanogos Utah
Nauvoo Illinois
Newport Beach California
Oakland California
Ogden Utah
Oklahoma City Oklahoma
Orlando Florida
Palmyra New York
Portland Oregon
Preston England
Provo Utah
Raleigh North Carolina
St. George Utah
St. Paul Minnesota
Salt Lake City Utah
San Diego California
Seattle Washington
Stockholm Sweden
Toronto Ontario
Vernal Utah
Washington D.C.
Winter Quarters Nebraska

47 down, more than 100 to go! Have you been to any faraway Temples?

One of my favorite aspects of the Gospel is that the church is the same everywhere you go in the world! You will sing the same hymns and have the same lessons whether you are in Fresno, Hong Kong, or Russia. I also love the you have an immediate church family anywhere you go. It makes moving that much less intimidating knowing you will have an instant support system!

Silly Kids

Not sure why Andrew doesn't take the time to put on his swimsuit BEFORE he plays in the sprinkler. What a goofy kid. This is now a daily occurrence:

Thankfully, one of our kids has the good sense to put on her swimsuit before getting wet:

Yes, she is a picture of pure delight!

I love that it's warm enough to play in the sprinklers most days!

Update:

• Andrew was sick for the past two days with a random fever and no other symptoms. He's better now. Phew.
• I can not handle staying home for two straight days. It's miserable. I know I'm a baby!
• I'm planning the end of the year school party right now. Fun!
• School ends next week.
• Our long vacation starts next week.
• My long lost friend and mission companion is coming for a visit next week with her family. (o:
• Spencer is OUT of the hospital. YIPEE!
• I got a parking ticket today while picking up Andrew from school. It made me mad for many reasons. First, the awesome state of California does NOT provide school buses for anybody in public schools. LAME! Second, parking is ALWAYS a problem because every single parent has to pick up their children from school. Lastly, is it really appropriate for the police to be preying on parents picking up their children from school? NOOOO! Besides all that, I was only there for 10 minutes AND I was in a legal spot, so I'm very bugged. Grrr....It's a darn good thing I didn't see the officer giving me the ticket, because I'm sure I would've regretted what I would've said to him. OK, I'll step down from my soapbox now. Thanks for letting me vent about that.

How's all that for randomness?

Girls' Weekend

Somehow I never posted this from months ago:

What could be better than 6 lovely ladies gathering for a childless weekend to eat, pamper, and shop to our hearts content? I had the privilege of doing this over Memorial Day weekend with former law school era friends.

We ate out:

Nancy, Maren, me, Shelly, Ann, and Amberly

Got pedicures:

Ate amazing food cooked by "Chef" Ann ( I could learn a lot from her!):

Acted silly:

And gathered for beautiful photos to document our fun weekend:

And I got to show off my sexy new dress. Am I hot or what?

Hope we can do this again soon!

Our Saturday

I love busy Saturdays! Today we started the day by heading to the Temple for a primary activity:

After our Temple trip we went to the LA area to visit some of our favorite friends. We had a lovely BBQ and played hard. Can you tell that my kids have the best time with the Datwyler kids? (Stefan, Sierra, and Ian have been in a lot of our posts since moving to SoCal. We were so sad when they moved away! :)

How many kids can you fit in a tiny pool? All 5 of them. Too bad Ian climbed out before the picture.

Everyone pretending to be sad.

They are always silly!

More silliness

I realized that we had never actually taken pictures with Annie and Marcus, so I remedied that today!

What a fun Saturday! And we didn't even have to do any big chores today, like we usually do.