Our Little Tumbler

Mylie has really been doing well with tumbling, advancing quickly through the levels. She is now a level 4, and is WAY better than me!

Here are two clips from her performance a couple weeks ago.

Washington, DC

About a month ago, Tony and I were able to take a trip to Washington, DC. The school sent him there for a special education conference, and since his flight, hotel, and food were all paid for, and we had enough credit card points to pay for my flight, I decided to tag along. We have always wanted to go there, and this was just such a great opportunity!

Since he was going to be in conference most of the day for three days, we decided to go a couple days early so we would have time to see more things. (Of course, you need a couple WEEKS to really see DC, so we had to prioritize.)

We flew in on a Saturday evening, and some friends of ours who are serving a mission there came and picked us up from the metro. They fed us dinner and then drove us to the temple.

The temple was spectacular, definitely one of the most impressive temples. We got there when it was still light, and then got to see it after dark when we came back out. We stayed the night with our friends and attended church meetings with them the next day, getting to hear some wonderful conversion stories from people who had recently joined the church. After church, they fed us lunch and took us to the metro stop so we could ride to our hotel.

After checking into our hotel, we went into DC for some sight seeing. We went to Arlington Cemetery, where we saw the changing of the guard, and then we toured the memorials--Lincoln, Vietnam, WWII, and Washington. By then it was late, and we headed back to the hotel.

Arlington Cemetery

Washington Monument (taken from WWII Memorial)Monday was our big sight-seeing day. We saw the Holocaust Museum, toured the Capitol, and went to the Museum of American History. We weren't able to get a White House tour, but we did walk over to it and see it from the outside. We then rode the metro to Chinatown, where we ate and then got out of there as quickly as we could. That place was honestly SCARY. We got back to National Harbor (where our hotel was) in time to take a walk along the river (our hotel was right on the Potomac) and see the sights in that area.

The Capitol

Our Hotel: The Gaylord NationalOn Tuesday, Tony had his conference and I headed back to the Holocaust Museum and American History Museum. There is just so much to see in both of those and I loved getting to go back and see more! Some of the exhibits in the American History museum were just so interesting. I took forever in them, having to read every single word and look at every artifact.

That evening, Tony and I took a water taxi up and across the Potomac River to Alexandria, VA, which is a cute old town.

Wednesday morning, I went on a run back to Alexandria, crossing the river on a bridge, which was really cool! About an 8-mile run, but so fun. Tony went to class again, and I headed back into DC to see the Botanic Gardens and the Museum of Natural History. Both were really interesting and completely different from the things I had seen the previous day. Then Tony and I met up at Ford's Theatre, which was closed--BUMMER! We headed instead to the National Archives. It was amazing to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, an Bill of Rights. We then found a fish market and tried out the local seafood and then went to the Memorials we hadn't hit on Sunday--Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Korean War. All very cool.

Botanic Gardens

Fish MarketThursday was Tony's last day at the conference. I just relaxed at the hotel that day, which was nice. I enjoyed the fitness room and hot tub. I was going to spend some time outside reading as well, but it was pouring rain that day. But the hotel was amazing!

In the Atrium at our hotel
Washington, DC is definitely a place I would like to visit again. There is just so much to see, and we really just scratched the surface. It was an incredible experience to stand where the great leaders of our nation have stood and to learn on-site about the incredible history of this great country, led by divine inspiration and protected by divine intervention. It was truly an amazing experience (and I love the fact that we spend less than $400 total!)

An Upgrade

Almost six and a half years ago, we were given a dining set. It has served us well. It is incredibly sturdy (we're the third generation to use it!), has had enough chairs for us, and can extend really long with a couple leaves.
But I've never really liked it. I'm just not a fan of the ranch-style table and chairs, and the chairs don't really look that great anyway. A couple of them were (partially) stripped at one time and never re-finished. And there are only four of them, so with Mariah's little toddler chair, we had met the max it could hold without buying more chairs, which of course would not match.

So, after years of contemplating, I started looking around a few months ago. I finally narrowed in on the style I wanted, and then finally bit the bullet and paid the money (the most difficult part for me). And I am THRILLED!!! I can hardly believe that this dining set is actually in my house. It seats seven as is (with three on the bench), and has a leaf enclosed in the table to extend it. We hope to buy two more chairs sometime in the next year or so to seat nine. (The lighting in this photo is really gross, but you still get the idea.)

And lest any of you are worried about how much I love this set--I do still love my children more. (But right now it feels pretty close!)