Funny things last week

Holly was in the basement and heard Jacob yelling, "Aunt Laura, I am on Uncle Ja's bed!" Jacob hardly ever goes in the basement so it was really funny that he made it all the way in our room. Holly asked Jacob what he was doing and he said he was snuggling with his calculator. Later I noticed that my itunes was open, luckily my songs weren't all renamed to 01234567891011121314151617181920, or abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz, or 1234567891011121314151617181920abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. 

I jumped on the bed with Jacob and he loved flopping all over the place. Brigham found Jacob and I down there and wanted to snuggle on the bed with us. After Ja got home from work Brigham wanted to snuggle on the bed with Ja and I. What that really meant is he wanted to entertain us by jumping off the bed and pretending he was falling off a cliff.  

Yesterday there was some splashing going on upstairs so Greg went up to investigate. The next thing we hear is Greg yelling, "Caleb's up here with a plunger!" Caleb had one hand in the toilet and one holding the plunger. Ahhh, so cute.

Gravelly Park

Ja and I visited a park that is right next to the Potomac and the National Reagan Airport. Since the river separates the park from the airport making it's a great place to see planes take off and land. The planes fly right over your head and really low. Hearing the loud noise and seeing the huge shadow in the grass was really cool. 

Here is the airport, a plane flying over us, and me touching the water. It was surprisingly warm! You can see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in the background.

We want people to come visit us so we can take them to all the cool places we are discovering!

Another Great Weekend

This weekend wasn't as eventful as last but still fun. On friday night we walked around the huge Tyson's Center mall and ate dessert at Costal Flats. We've been there twice for dessert and it's been really good each time. Then we watched the movie Martian Child. Thank goodness for Redbox because the movie wasn't that great. Cute, but I felt like it was missing something. 

Saturday was a busy day. We went to the bank, then went to the temple. The D.C. temple is huge! After that Heather had us over for lunch because they had a lot of leftover sloppy joes. Saturday night we went with some people from the ward to the movie Iron Man. I actually liked the movie. It was a really good superhero movie. Never once did I think that it wasn't real. We're excited for the sequel! After the movie we came home and finished preparing for a Sunday School lesson Ja taught. He said the lesson went well and the kids in the class were talkative. It's always nice when people like to talk. 

Sunday was a good day at church. The lessons were good and the people were nice. After church we got a call from Luc asking if he could come over and play. Ja asked what time he wanted to come over and Luc said 24. We didn't know what that meant so we wanted around for him so show up. We played hide-and-go-seek, Hulk smash, watched a Diego movie, and played some marble game. In hide-and-go-seek Luc likes to hide in the same spot every time or in the spot you just hid in. He is a pretty easy finder. Then we ate another good dinner thanks to Heather. The weather was very nice so we took a walk around the neighborhood and met some neighbors. We ended off the day talking to far away family. I'm sorry there aren't any fun pictures, just boring narrative. 

Why we love D.C.

On friday night we went on a date to Nelson's Custard and to the National Mall.  It's amazing that we can take a short car drive, park the car, and walk around in our nation's capital. The White House is down the street and all the buildings that run our country are right here. Night is a great time to see a lot of the outdoor sites because it isn't as hot, there aren't as many people, and they look very cool lit up. We saw the WWI memorial, FDR memorial, WWII memorial, Lincoln memorial, Korean War memorial,  Vietnam memorial, and walked along the Potomac river. How fun is that? I did get a little tired with all that walking but I still loved it. And the best part is, is it's totally free and you get exercise while doing it all! It's a great date night if anyone wants to come visit and try it out:)

Then on Saturday we went downtown again with Holly, Greg and the kids. We parked, which is great with Jacob because he gets handicapped parking, walked over to the Navy memorial and ate Potbelly's sandwiches. Then we walked past the National Archives and through a sculpture garden. There is a big fountain in the middle of the garden so we decided to rest our feet by putting them in the water. Here's a picture of the fountain, the fountain wasn't going at the time.

Before we knew it Jacob was sitting in the fountain waist deep. Just before this happened Greg said it was time to go, but Jacob said back, "I don't think it's time to go!" He was planning on getting in the water! All in all it was a great weekend visiting downtown D.C. We really enjoy being so close to so many great sites and museums!

Quote of the day

I overheard Holly talking to Brigham:

"That is why we don't eat gold coins while we go to the bathroom, because we might get poop on them."

Brigham was going to the bathroom and wanted to eat a chocolate gold coin at the same time. I saw Brigham walking out of the bathroom without any pants on, so I asked him if he was getting ready to wrestle. (Apparently you have to wear only underwear when you wrestle.) He said, "Oh don't worry about it." He then walked into the kitchen, then walked out and got Holly. Brigham wanted her to get the gold coin out of the toilet. Holly was about to until she looked in the toilet. I'm still wondering why he stopped in the kitchen before getting Holly. I really hope he wasn't thinking about getting a spoon. 

Things we learned from our trip

I recorded that we drove approximately 3,397 miles. It could be a few more miles than that, but it's still a lot of driving. From adding up all the time we wrote down I have we drove 44 hours. It might be more than that, because that is an average of 77 mph and I know we didn't drive that fast a majority of the way. We drove a lot of back roads and highways that had a speed limit of 55 or lower. Still, that is a long time to be in a car. 

We wrote a list of things we learned from all this. Most of you probably already know this stuff, but it was my first big road trip I was in charge of so it was all new to me.

1. Don't assume that every hotel has shampoo & conditoner.

2. Don't assume every hotel has a blow dryer.

3. Not every hotel has an iron.

4. If you stay in the cheapest hotel you can find, it's going to be crappy.

5. Always have a map of the U.S. and the states in the car.

6. Keep a lot of food and water in the car. (We had plenty, but we want to make sure we do it again next time.)

7. If staying somewhere over a Sunday get a room that has a fridge and/or microwave to cook food on Sunday.

8. Even though Mapquest is very good (it only failed us once) make sure you have another source of map knowledge.

9. Be patient, very patient.

10. The sites usually take longer than anticipated.

11. Use AAA to help you find hotels and routes.

12. Plan the trip out well (get hotels in advance, things like that), but leave room for changes and extra stops, etc.

13. It's give and take for visiting in off-season. (It wasn't crowded or hot, but not everything was open, and some things close early)

14. Check the weather where you are going and pack accordingly. (We thought it would be warm but it was cold so we wore the same one jacket every day.)

15. Bring books on tape-they saved us.

16. If anyone gives you the chance to stay at their house, take that chance. It's nice to stay at a real house and it saves you money.

Thanks for putting up with all of these posts. I was really doing it for our records but we enjoying sharing too. I'm going to put ALL of the pictures here if you want to see them.

2 Things post worthy

The first thing of importance is I drove through this crazy intersection called "seven corners" successfully! Yes, there are really 7 directions coming into the intersection. I would have probably avoided it, but my directions had me go right through it. I guess you have to face your fears head on. On this same trip, I had to go from Target to the mall, without directions! This is a hard thing to do around here. Granted I only had to take 1 road to get to the mall, but it got confusing when I hit seven corners again. I was really proud of myself.

The second thing, I wish I could be four again. Our nephew Luc came over wearing blue goggles on his head, army shorts and giraffe rain boots. Brigham was wearing his car stunt driver suit until he got hot. He then took it off and walked around in his underwear. It's too bad adults can't get away doing these things. 

Florida Pictures

We have posted our Disney World pictures onto our webpage if you care to take a look. We had so much fun spending time with family! 

B-Man

This is Brigham. (Well, in this picture he is Iron Man. He can be any superhero depending on the time of day.) If any of you know us, you have heard about our nephew Brigham. We are living with Brigham and his family this summer. Every day there are things that he does that are so funny. I've been wanting to write some of those things down and share them with all who cares to read them.

Today Holly asked Brigham if he wanted to go on an adventure and asked him where he would like to go. Brigham said he probably shouldn't go see the Declaration of Independence because he might be tempted to do what Ben did in National Treasure. He meant steal it. He said he didn't want to go to jail. Yeah, someone better stop this four year old.

We ended up going to the Library of Congress today. Brigham was disappointed that they didn't show us the President's book of secrets. Holly told him that he has to have special permission from President Bush to see the book. Brigham thought he should ask our tour guide to talk to President Bush and give us permission to see the book. He was really disappointed when that didn't happen. He later told Ja that the Library of Congress isn't that great because you can't see the book of secrets and you can't check any books out. He really likes National Treasure.

Brigham was also concerned that there is no George Washington Library of Congress. The real one is called the Thomas Jefferson Building, so for some reason he thinks Washington should have one too. He is going to write a letter to President Bush asking him why George Washington doesn't have a library, and if he can see the book of secrets.

Brickyard

There were seven brickyards in Nauvoo in 1840. Those brick yards were capable of producing four million bricks in a single season. Many of the Saints lived in log cabins while they built their brick homes, only to enjoy them for a few months before they left west. Nauvoo had about 350 brick buildings in 1846, only 49 were still standing in 1960 when the Church began restoring Nauvoo. 

This is the brick making room where you can learn the process of making bricks. The darker bricks mean they have been cooked longer. Bricks are made out of clay containing iron oxide, sand, and water.

This is the Nauvoo brick we got for free here, the one we almost bought from the Community of Christ. 

Okay...

I've taken the Henry voting poll off because only one person indulged me and said yes. It was a long shot but I thought I would try. Make sure and take advantage of our next poll..

Henry vs. Henry

Last night we saw the new Indiana Jones movie. I have never seen any other Indiana movie so I had no expectations. I really liked the movie all the way to the end when they lost me. Overall I thought it was a good movie. I thought Harrison Ford did a good job even though he is old. 

During the whole movie I kept thinking about the resemblance between Harrison Ford and our nephew Henry. I thought it was even better that Indiana Jones' name is Henry. Indiana makes a half smile smirk on his face a lot, and Henry does the same thing. I tried to find a picture of them both and put them together to see if anyone else agrees with me. Maybe you have to know little Henry to see the resemblance. Vote on the side of our blog what you think about all this. Here are the two pictures: 

Ja's Graduation Gift

Thanks to my husband I am fully decked out with BYU gear. He gave me a BYU shirt, jacket, blanket, and a Utah mint chocolate truffle. The shirt happens to be green, which isn't BYU colors, but it is a UVSC color. I told him it's perfect because it'll will remind me of BYU and UVSC, and since I went to both of those schools it works out. He didn't plan on that when he bought it but it sure is perfect. 

Stacie's Wedding Dress

When my family was in Utah for graduation my mom, Stacie, and I went wedding dress shopping. Stacie found a gorgeous dress pretty quickly. Of course I won't put the picture of it on here in case the fiance sees this. I will post a few pictures of our other top favorites. 

Well, this one wasn't a favorite of ours but I still wanted to post it. Stacie said she felt like a mermaid. 

Now you can't wait to see the final choice huh?

Pennsylvania Welcomes You

From New York we drove to Pennsylvania. We wanted to see Harmony, where the Priesthood was restored and where Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were baptized. We also visited a little with our friends the Shifflers. We did have a hotel to stay at in Harmony, but we canceled it because we changed our plans a little bit. It was a good thing we did, because the Joseph Smith Harmony doesn't really exist anymore. We had a reservation in Harmony, PA but it was completely in the wrong part of PA. So don't expect to stay around the Susquehanna river, there isn't much there.

I have to give Scranton, Pennsylvania a shout out! Hi Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight, Angela, Andy, Creed, Oscar, Kevin, Stanley, Phyllis, Kelly, and Meredith.

Here is a monument for the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. 

We had to get around one fence, jump another fence, and walk across the train tracks to get to the banks of the Susquehanna river.

This is about the place where Joseph and Oliver baptized each other. 

The next day, we drove down to Gettysburg. This was the only picture we took because it was raining so much we couldn't see anything. We left soon after this was taken. We figured we can come back later when things aren't as wet. 

We arrived in McLean about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday May 20th! YAY! The trip is finally over!

These are really bad pictures of the Maryland and Virginia signs in case you can't tell what they are.