Halloween



Annie as the angel she is. 
Well, most of the time anyway:)



Ethan as "the King."  Thanks to Aunt Heidi for loaning us the rockin' costume.  Pun intended.





Lauren, a witch with attitude.  Someone needs to slip some 'stop growing up' medicine into her breakfast.



It came and went one more year. I must be getting old and my kids growing up because I took one obligatory picture of each of my three youngest children and called it good. LLAAZZYY! We did have fun though. Gary and I are the Ward Activities chairpeople right now and we hosted a lovely trunk-or-treat/carnival for exactly 36 minutes, at which point the skies opened up and the rain and hail descended upon us, sending the masses scampering for their cars and homes. Oh well, you take the 36 minutes you can get right?

Bike Madness

There's been some serious biking happening around here this past month.  First my mom and I rode in the Wonder Woman ride in Payson.  It was beautiful, my cousins Natalie and Jena joined us, and mom won awesome prizes for being named the "Wonder Woman" of the ride.  She deserves it.  She has worked so hard and sacrificed so much taking care of my dad over the past couple of years.  Not to mention the fact that she's amazing on the bike.  Dad says he deserves some of the credit for her win because without him and his illness, she never would have been a sympathetic enough case! 

You have to love dad's sense of humor-



Mommy and Me



Ready to Start

With my cousins, Jena and Natalie



Mom showing off her Wonder Woman Prizes

The following weekend was the Heber Valley Century.  Not that any of us did 100 miles, but hey.  Mom and Dad did 25 miles.  Needless to say, a huge accomplishment for dad.  Words can't even describe how happy we all are to have him healthy enough to ride with us!  Gary, Tanner and I did the 50 mile.  So much fun to ride with my hubby and son.  The 50 wasn't so much for Gar, but there was serious climbing on this ride, and Tanner I were in a world of hurt.  We made it though! I guess that's what counts-

Post ride, feeling pretty tired-

And, believe it or not, we weren't through yet!  The following week we started a new family tradition.  The "Ride around the Lake."  Mom and Dad, Gary, Audrey, Tanner, and I were the participants for this ride.  Dad and Audrey rode 25 miles and the rest of us went around the whole lake, about 52 miles, with a stop at LeBau's for burgers of course.  It was a gorgeous day and the the company was great!  My sister Kelly designed T-shirts.  Anyone who wants to join us next year is welcome to do so.  We'll even make you a shirt! 

Friday before fall conference.  See you there!

Awesome shirt design

On our way

Showing off the shirts!

Washington D.C. - Day 3

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the blogging. According to this, we are still in Washington D.C., when in reality, that was in April and it is now August. Since then we have moved to Utah (pretty sure most of you know that already) and school has even started. So here is the rest of D.C. and then we'll try to move on with life:)

BTW- These pics are all by Lauren. I seem to have misplaced the thumbdrive that had my photos of the trip somewhere in the move. So enjoy the rest of our D.C vacation through the eyes of a 12 year old girl...

Obligatory Picture of the White House



Lauren's Favorite Part of the Smithsonian...
Julia Child's Kitchen

Maybe my daughter really will be a chef when she grows up. What kind of 12 year old takes a dozen pictures of Julia Child's Kitchen anyway?



Jefferson Memorial



Korean War Memorial (Probably my favorite)



My Hubby's Name (Almost) on the Vietnam Wall
Slightly spooky if I do say so myself-



Tired Annie and her Big Sis



The Duck Family in the Reflecting Pool
Dozens of photos of this too because of course it was the most interesting thing on the mall to Lauren!



Lauren's Shadow



WWII Memorial
Again from Lauren's perspective, she was born in VA so this was the coolest part to her.



Washington Monument (Audrey walking past)



And finally... while poking around on her camera I found this too. Lovely. I guess this is what you get when you give a 12 year old a camera! She must be related to Kelly, queen of the self-photo:)




More soon...
Jenn

Day #2 - Museum of Modern Art

Gary and I always thought the Hirshorn Museum of Modern Art was kind of fun, so on this trip we decided it was worth a quick peek. We had no idea how much the kids would like it. There is no doubt it was their favorite museum in D.C. I guess you never can tell!





I'll be the first to admit that I do not know most of the artists who have their work in this museum, but even I knew this one was Andy Warhol. Gary and I stated as much when we walked in the room. We hadn't looked at the label on the wall yet, so we were barraged with kids asking, "Are you sure?" "How can you tell?" "I don't think you really know." "Are you sure you're sure?" Well kids, we were sure.



















We didn't know this artists work right when we saw it, but we sure did know his name once we read it! Any guesses? The next two are his.





(Did anyone guess Picasso? Well give yourself a gold star for the day. By the way- The hand is apparently a sculpture of his own hand. I'm thinking it's pretty tricky to sculpt your own hand with your own hands...)

















So here is the funniest story from our trip. Not all of the modern art in this museum is readily identifiable as art. Sure, most things look like a painting or look like a sculpture, but sometimes you walk into a room, and the room itself is the canvas. We don't really have pics of any, because it's hard to capture on film. For instance, one room had long pieces of yarn attached to the ceiling and then to the floor all in straight lines, placed randomly about the room. Another room was very dark and you had to be led in by a guide. As you sat there and your eyes began to adjust, the shadows etc. created by the angles of the room was the art. Far out there I know, but that's what you get at a modern art museum.

So we go into this one room and there is a label on the wall like there usually is. There is rope sectioning off a part of the room like there usually is. Behind the rope was contruction stuff. Rather neatly arranged we thought, no sawdust on the floor or anything, and we honestly couldn't decide if it was an art display or not. As were pondering, one of the museum docents came up and told us to get out because this room is under construction. Oh. Oops! I'm just saying you can never tell with modern art. Lauren and Audrey ran back in to take a picture. Tanner still maintains that he doesn't care what the lady said, in his mind it's art and he likes it. What do you think?

Washington DC - Day 1

For Spring Break this year we went to Washington DC. We so verymuch wanted our kids to have the experience of visiting our nation's capitol and we figured it will probably be the last time we will live within driving distance, so off we went!

First stop: Iwo Jima aka the Marine Corp Memorial
One of my very favorite monuments in DC. There is just something about it that gets me.



Arlington National Cemetery. Mom showing Ethan and Annie the grave of JFK.



The Tomb of the Unknowns
Here are buried unkown soldiers from WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. The changing of the guards is really something to see, and on this day they were doing wreath laying ceremonies which were also very interesting.



The kids wanted to see where Gary went to medical school. So we took them, showed them, bought them GW sweatshirts etc. We also bought hot dogs from the vendor by the metro stop next to the medical school building. Same hot dog stand Gary ate lunch at almost every day for four years and guess what? It was the same lady! She remembered Gary and was excited to meet the family. She said many students return to say hello to her. She gave us free hot dogs. Unfortunately, I did not think to think to take a picture with her.



The one thing Audrey really wanted to do in DC was go to the Library of Congress. In all our years living there, we had never been there. So off we went. It is a gorgeous building, but you aren't actually allowed in the library part unless you have special permission and proof you are researching something important.



The picture proving she was in the Library of Congress building.



Snuck a photo of the acutal library part. You are not really supposed to. Aren't I a rebel? You might recognize it from National Treasure 2. By the way, where is the truth in fiction I wonder? You are not just allowed to run on in there to look for the president's secret book. Hmmmm....



Next on our agenda was a tour of the Capitol building. We arranged this through our Congressman, Representative Davis. This is his office as we waited for our tour.



I guess they use interoffice mail envelopes just like everybody else. Aren't you curious about what's in there?



This is the original Supreme Court chamber in the Capitol.



The original room that the House of Representatives met in. (I think, don't quote me on that one, but I'm pretty sure that's what this is!)



This room is called the Hall of Statues now, but the Senate once met here. The ceiling was designed by Jefferson, and Lincoln's desk used to be right around where the lady in turquoise is standing. Because of the strange accoustics in the room, there is a spot where you can hear what people are saying from other, far away places in the room. It is located where John Adams had his desk and they say he used to pretend to be asleep at his desk while actually using the whisper spot to spy on his opponents. The group in blue shirts is standing there.



Ethan in front of the Supreme Court building. The Court was not in session while we were there. Too bad.



In mom's favorite museum, the National Gallery of Art. It is just so weird to stand that close to an original Monet.



The Sulpture Garden is the outdoor part of the National Gallery. This tree was new since we were there last. Very cool indeed.




Art you can sit on. And be silly on:)



Whew! That was the end of day one! Stayed tuned for day two and the parade of monuments and memorials...