Sam and Josh's Adventure in DC

Sam and Josh went to Washington DC to visit my Aunt Kathy and Alan.  My mom went with them to help them navigate the airports and because she loves any excuse to see her sister and hang out with her grandkids.

They had never flown before and were both very excited.  The first leg of their flight was to Salt Lake City. It was a short and very turbulent flight.  Truly, every one applauded when they finally landed.  

Of course, I was not on this adventure, so won't be giving all the details of the trip, but here are a few photos from the trip.  It may not look like a few, but between Sam and my mom, they came home with about 1,300 photos, so this really is a few.

 Josh loved the metro. Sam thought it was gross and full of germs.

 Sam being eaten by a hippo!

 Goofballs!

 Sam loves photography and is always on the look out for a unique angle or creative shot.  This is why he came home with 1,000 pictures. You can check out some of his cool pictures on his blog.

  

 The boys were excited to find Brigham Young at the Capitol Building.

 They all had a good laugh about Aunt Kathy wearing out her shoes.  Wowzers!

 I heard that everyone had their own interpretations of the maps and which way to go.

 Posing with Roosevelt

 Waiting in the employment line

 Sam creating a  unicorn

 Lunch! Sam ordered a double burger and got a platter with two burgers.  He ate the whole thing!  Josh enjoyed his burger too.  

Kathy and Alan

 The D C  temple was one of the highlights of their trip.  Sam got a ton of beautiful pictures there.

Sisters

  More creative photography!  Sam trying to get a hold of the Washington Monument.

 I don't even know what to say about all the places that they went, but they had an incredible time that they will never forget. It took them four hours one night to tell us the first half and three hours on another night to finish telling us everything.  They enjoyed the Spy Museum and tour of the Capitol, the Marine Corps Museum, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery and all the monuments.  They loved learning and seeing so much in all the Smithsonian Museums and Art Museums. They were very touched by many of their experiences there, especially the Holocaust Museum and the temple.  They have definitely come home with a love of our country, gratitude for those who serve our nation and a reverence for all those who have suffered so much in life, while we live in such comfort.  They also TREMENDOUSLY enjoyed the food.  Thank you so much Aunt Kathy and Alan.  You are amazing and we love you bunches!

I just asked Susanna what kind of baby she was going to have when she was married.  She said, "Maybe a girl or a boy.  Maybe a girl first."

I asked her what she was going to name her baby.  She said, "Is Sparkle a name?"  I told her it could be.

She giggled.  Then she said, "Rosie."  I told her that was a pretty name.  Then she said, "Her big name is going to be Rosalina Sparkles."  Richard and Tim and I all said Wow.

She then told us, "Her nickname will be Rosie.  Her middle name will be Roe and her other name is Rose."

We then asked her who she was going to marry.  She said, "Daniel.  Maybe when I grow up and I'm a mom and Daniel grows up to dad, we could get married."

It is sad that my baby is getting so old.  I will miss all the sweet, funny conversations that come with little ones.

The Beginning of our Summer Fun

It  has been a busy summer so far.  We started with Sam and Josh going to DC, with my mom, to visit my sweet Aunt Kathy.  She showed them as much of DC as they could squeeze into a week.  Their trip will be coming in another post.  We, at home, began the summer with Sara's birthday.  Then we got a bunch of drawing books from the library.  We spent a week drawing animals, fantasy creatures and faces.  The kids are quite artistic.  Daniel drew every face in one of the books.  It created a cool collage of cartoon faces. 

Josh spent about 4 hours dreaming up and creating this piece of origami  from a 12 X 12 piece of paper.  It would also fold down into a little square.  It is crazy the things that that boy can think up.

Sam lined up all the kids to give them a treat he bought for them in DC.  It has been a while since I got a picture of them all lined up.  They have grown a lot!

Hooray!  Lollipops from Mount Vernon!

Thanks Sammy!

We took a trip to Pratt's Pets.  The kids LOVE to hold all the animals, especially since I am a no pet mom.  I just don't need one more thing to take care of.  I guess I wouldn't mind a cat, but I am just too allergic to them.

The kids have done a lot of cooking this summer too.  They have made fried eggplant, tons of cookies (several varieties), waffles, pancakes, homemade spaghetti sauce and one of my favorites... ONION RINGS!

Jessi and her girls spent the night last Sunday and on Monday she helped Josh and Tim make DELICIOUS onion rings.  We ate them all day and by evening felt a bit sick from all the grease, but I would definitely do it again, or rather eat them again, I didn't do any of the work.

We have had a plethora of Lego creations, block buildings and train tracks built.  I love to watch their minds  and hands at work.  Nate took some pictures of one of his buildings.

Today we worked on some Faith in God and Duty to God achievements and Josh and Tim made triple chocolate cookies (super dark, divinely chocolatey!).  

Daniel has started piano lessons, joining Tim, Sara, Nate and Drew.  My brother Gavin is an incredible teacher.  We are lucky to have him.  

The twins and Daniel had Cub Scout Day Camp last week, Sara is at Girls Camp this week and Richard, Josh and Tim are headed to Scout camp next week.    

I am excited about the rest of the summer, but it is flying by WAY too fast!

Sara Turns 12

Sara is 12!  She is so happy to finally be in Young Women's at church.  She has been ready to be one of them for a long time.  She is enjoying some of the benefits of being 12; wearing very natural looking makeup,   bigger earings, wearing heels, etc.  It is scary how fast she is growing up and how adding all these things to her life makes her look so much older over night!  

Laney bought her this Butterfinger for her birthday.  She was so proud.

Sara got to have a bunch of friends over to celebrate with her.  They are all great girls, polite and just adorable!

They had fun playing some games and eating Mexican food and cupcakes.

Sara is such a goofball!  She is truly hilarious.  She makes me laugh all the time.

As you can see she is so camera shy!  Ha!

A little post-party silliness.  These three seriously could be a comedy team.

Happy Birthday My Sweet Sara!!!!