Wedding Day

So today was the big doings. It was a beautiful, albeit sweaty day for a few of us. The temple was amazingly large and built of all white marble. I loved it. The ceremony was very spiritual and I cried through most of it. We are blessed to have Becky as a part of our family for the rest of eternity. She was beautiful and they were both beaming. We had a few camera issues at the temple so those photos will have to be on an upcoming blog. Shelley took these pictures from the reception in Frederick where Becky is from.

This was outside when the happy couple were getting ready to leave for the night.

They were very kind to each other and there was no cake in the face.

Josh was catching up with Miles and Gigi.

Don't they look happy!

Rachel and her father were very excited to decorate the care. It was all good and fun until someone dumped a bottle of chocolate syrup over the whole care. They took it in good stride. Of course. I am sure they hit the car wash first thing.

The reception was very nice and relaxing. Lots of food. Good lemonade and lots of catching up. Maurie and A.A. were able to just hang out with us. It was a beautiful day and I am so glad that we made the decision to come out. I was thinking while Noah and Becky were getting married how this was the most beautiful and most meaningful thing that I have seen all week. Good News! Apparently A.A. will be coming out for all the happenings in 2 weeks in June.

Day 3 in the Capital

This post will be the day in reverse. I don't feel like moving the pictures all around to get them in the right order. We ended our 3rd day in Washington by once again having dinner at Union Station, which happens to be one of the stops for the subway (Metro). It is like a large Trolley Square with shops and food court. There are not a lot of restaurants around this town at all and so we just go back to what we know.

This was the last memorial that we went to today. This is the Korean War Memorial and it is sort of an eery one. You invision these soldiers walking through enemy territory in the night. It is quite amazing although it is not as well known as the others.

Another view

This is the view from the Lincoln Memorial looking back over the Mall to the Washington Memorial.

Here is Lincoln in all of his glory. We stayed here for about 45 min because it was such an arduous journey getting there. We just sat out on the big steps with the rest of the crowd. We all needed a rest I guess. As I was walking back down the steps I saw a young African-American women with her baby girl and she was looking up at the monument. She was having this moment, as if she had waited a long time to actually be there and see this special place. It was quite remarkable.

Here is the Lincoln Memorial. If you look close you can see a bunch of school kids in their matching shirts on the steps.

Sorry, a little blurry, but still sort of cool. This is the Vietnam War Memorial. It was not exactly like I invisioned. I thought it was free standing but not so.

Seeing all the names is somewhat overwhelming. There were a few little notes and letters placed along the memorial from family members or friends.

Another view of the Lincoln Memorial

This is at the WWII Memorial

This is the larger view. This memorial is not very old. I think it has been made within the last 10 years. Each of the 50 states is represented along with a few other countries that aided the U.S.

Each state has a small monument. Here is Shelley by hers. Each monument has a wreath atop it

Here is Josh with his state. This was a pretty impressive monument. It had a section representing the Pacific theater and the Atlantic theater and all the battles in each were listed. . We saw a WWII vet there with his daughter and she was taking a picture of him by it. He looked to be that age anyway. I was then reminded of Dad. He would have liked to have seen this.

Here is a view of the Capitol from the Washington Memorial

A different view of the Washington Memorial

Our Leslie with the Memorial

This picture is for Jonas. He wanted to see the "Tower"

Us lounging at the tower. Actually Les was making me do funny things with my hands.

Me with another leaf in front of my face. What is the deal?

We spent the morning at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We also like to call it "The Aerospace Museum or Aerosmith Museum.

This was one of the manned Apollo space capsules.

Missiles and rockets. Jonas and Gabe would have loved this place, especially the movie. We went to a movie about my favorite subject "Black Holes" It was pretty cool but then I got so relaxed that I fell asleep and then I heard a big snore and I was not sure if it was myself or who it was. It turned out to be Lizzy, who woke herself up from her big sort.

These are pictures from yesterday when we were at the Smithsonian Botanic Gardens. There was actually an area devoted to orchids.

More orchids.

This was in the Jungle area. Les with the Bouganvillea or something like that.


I loved this spot in the gardens. What a tranquil place. I wish I had this in my backyard.

Mother's Day

So I hope that all of you had a great Mother's Day. I will be honest, I never really look forward to Mother's Day since Mom died and for other obvious reasons I just kind of get through it but yesterday was really quite a nice day. We had a very nice program in church and then we had planned to have an afternoon BBQ at my house. We ate outside for the first time since I have moved into this house because the backyard is actually starting to seem like a backyard. Morgan and Andrew gave me a beautiful hanging basket. I forgot to take a picture of it and if I was not in my nightgown right now I would. Stacy gave me this Calla Lily plant. I have never had one before. It is beautiful. Hannah gave me a necklace that I know she really made for her mother and it is very cute and I wish that I also had a picture of it and then Jonas made me a lovely card that is now posted on my fridge.

It is a few months behind in my backyard so I still have tulips blooming back there. I love the color of these and wanted to share them with you all.

Jonas wanted me to blog this spaceship that he made from the Good and Plenty box. So I promised I would and so here it is. He is very creative, don't you think?

Notice the fence in the background. Thanks to Alan and Andrew the backyard is looking much better. Alan let me borrow the paint sprayer and Andrew finished the task this past week. Just a little more to do in the front yard and it will all be done. Josh, Andrew and Morgan are enjoying the lovely steak and chicken that we grilled.

Kelsie thinking that he needed to work on her tan. We brought out blankets and of course the geomatt so my back would not seize up from the hard ground. We just lounged around outside and had a fun afternoon.

Leah is such a good eater. She ate all of her food and then started working on Essie and Maren's plates. Kind of like Dad used to do. We thought it was so cute.

The kids always love it when I get the little table out. They love having things on their level. Essie hanging out.

Look at that little face. She actually has a cut on her upper lip because on Friday night she decided to step onto the bedside table in the upstairs guestroom and it came tumbling down on top of her along with the lamp. She was pretty shook up.

I love this picture of Leah.

Now for the Lily update.

We had to prop her up pretty good.

Looking a little like her Uncle Zack.

This is really what she does best. My favorite thing to do with Lily is to bury my nose into her fluffy brown hair. It is the best feeling in the world. And she always smells so good.



Finally after trying to phone Whitney we got a hold of her around 9;00pm. It was so good to hear her voice. Jonas, Hannah and Kelsie stayed here late so they could talk with her. I think it was a little emotional for her to talk to the kids. It was great conversation and she had Morgan and me laughing as usual. It was great. It really was a wonderful day. I think the Lord knew I needed it and he gave me a day full of love and family. Hope your day was just as good.