A day at Pemberly

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, so I'll let you in on what we did for Memorial Day weekend!

We have some friends that live on a pond and have an estate called Pemberly...yes, Pride and Prejudice, ;). They are around grandparent age for our children and they married later in life and were not able to have any children, so they LOVE to have young kids around! Arlene and I serve with the Young Women together and both love to quilt, so we have a lot of fun together. Her husband Darryl is in the Young Men's presidency with James...a great couple.

They invited us over for a barbeque and to see their thousands of roses (literally) in their gardens and have a little boat ride on their pond. What a great day! Rachel came away with the nickname "My Sweet Little Chick" and Seth got to be the rose cutter. They sent us home with some of the most beautiful roses I've ever seen or smelled. (They all have such different scents!) Eliza proved herself the bravest on the boat and no one fell in!

For a hot, humid day we enjoyed being outside and seeing some of the beautiful Virginia countryside!

Why are you back so soon?

Today was one of Seth's last days in preschool. He goes one more time next Tuesday, and then has a graduation ceremony on Friday. He goes to preschool at the local high school and has two "teachers" who are students there. On Wednesday when we went to school, one of his favorite teachers, Miss Lisa, was gone for the day. So, today in Seth's oh-so-boy fashion when she came and met us at the ramp to walk him to class he walked right up to her and accusingly asked, "Where were you?" She smiled and explained that she was home sick on Wednesday. I coaxed Seth through a proper greeting when someone that you care about is gone and comes back (saying something like "I missed you", etc.) He internalized it and nodded and looked up at Miss Lisa and then asked, "Why are you back so soon then?" Funny boy...hasn't quite figured out those social graces... ;)

Did you know that we're expecting?

I'm not so good at getting the word out, so I apologize to the many out there that may not know! I like to be in denial for a long time and hide the bulge as long as possible. The less I talk about it, the faster the time seems to go...

So, I've hit 18 weeks and we have our ultrasound scheduled for next Thursday, June 1st! We're anxious to find out if Seth will ever have brother, or if he will just find "guy time" with his dad. They do have a lot of fun together, so it may work out not to mess with a good thing!

Yep, another fall baby for our family. Eliza's excited that it's possible we could have the baby on or around her birthday (Oct. 14th), so we'll see how close we can come to making her hopes a reality. (Secretly, I'd love for my body to work correctly and go into labor on its own a week early, but I won't hold my breath...never has gone that way for me.)

I see babies around the neighborhood and I'm starting to wonder if I'll remember how to do this one more time! It's been awhile...Rachel will turn 4 before this one's born, and Eliza wasn't even 4 when I'd had 2 more kids...(those were some WILD times). So, now it's my chance to just enjoy this one and see if I can remember what to do with a newborn. It'll all come back to me, right??

Washington DC - Highrollers and Lowlifes

Washington DC - ahhh, what can I say? It's a very diverse and incredible place..."good and evil, virtue and vice"

The Temple just north of the District is awe inspiring and majestic. It is, without a doubt, one of the top three most beautiful temples I've been able to enter. It is glorious and amazing. Come and see for yourself...come to worship.

The LDS Church in Northern VA. near the District is strong, and there are a lot of influential and powerful members, yet all we've met have been humble and grateful. Just this last Sunday President Dahlquist (General YM President for the Church) visited our ward. It was very humbling to meet him and talk to him about our very own YM program. We've had Trevor Mattich (Former BYU, Redskins Superbowl, and current ESPN analyst) come speak to our Youth about the evils of our day, we hope soon to have a Senator come speak. We've made friends with the Coopers (JW Marriott's in-laws) and found them to be down to earth, humble, wonderful people...who we really get along with well. The Marriott empire is head-quartered in DC...I personally know influential LDS lobbyists (they are not all bad :P)....it's already been a life changing experience for us and something we'll never forget.

Our neighbors we've met are God-fearing and good. These are humble Christians in every sense of the word. They reach out to people in kindness and love. They are open and welcoming, and we haven't once felt persecuted or looked down upon. It's like old America, they still have neighborhood bar-b-ques, everyone knows everyone else, and we even have our own Old Austrian Lady and Retired Vetrans who walk the large neighborhood circle every day, talking to all they meet, and providing the grease to our neighborhood wheels...allowing us all to interact together smoothly.

On the other hand, DC is a massive city, full of opulance and wealth. Along with these attributes comes greed, pride, un-abashed worldliness, carnal lifestyles, and evil. The underbelly of DC is rife with corruption, illicit drugs, and sex. These things are almost celebrated. Washington DC is once again the murder capital of the United States per capita...and while that might be the crown jewel of criminal activity, believe me, DC strives hard to rank high in the other brutal felonious areas. The evil and crime, while centered in DC and Baltimore, has spread outwards to the suburbs like a dark inky cloud. It almost proves the adage, that where there is great goodness, there also shall be great evil.

DC itself is a very nice place to visit, with so much good to offer...so long as you don't look under the rug or in the closets...I know more and more each day that Valerie was led by the Holy Spirit to find our family home in Warrenton.

Spring Break at Virginia Beach

We loved our trip to Virginia Beach over Spring Break!! That day, Seth told us he was going to "keep a picture of the beach in his mind forever." Even yesterday he asked when we were going back to the beach.

Daddy's Little Cowgirl

Eliza took James to a VIP Dance for Girl Scouts back in April. Can you believe how much she's growing up?!!

Leprechauns are REAL!

Here are the kids on St. Patrick's Day. Eliza heard from a friend at school that if she left her shoes on the front porch, the leprechauns would bring chocolate coins for you. We had one quick leprechaun who pulled it off!

Yeah so I kinda like this blogging thing

I saw Scott, Brett, and Jeff/Nettie create blogs so I thought I'd follow suit. I'm liking it. I also like light mayo and pickle juice in my tuna salad sandwiches.

Does that make me strange?