The Cherry Blossoms

We took a quick trip down to DC to smell the Cherry Blossoms and to visit some of our favorite parts of the Smithsonian.



It was gray but still beautiful. The I can't believe how amazing the blossoms look all around the Tidal Basin. This was one of my favorite parts of the day and the kids tolerated it.

On our way back to the Mall we stopped at the Tulip Garden. We were not the only ones to take in the delights of the day. There so many different types of tulips.

Then we took to Jack and Addy to the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. It was their first time to this specific Air and Space Museum and it was a hit. I am pretty sure that Jack's entire body was shaking with excitement the entire time we were in the museum.

Jack got to sit in a cockpit and try his hand at flying.

Addy found these SWEET Aviator goggles in the gift shop. She's been wearing them on and off since we returned. You may see her in Target or Wegmans with them on but I have not yet let her wear them to church. I chuckle every time she wears them. My favorite souvenir ever.

We then took a walk over to the Natural History Museum, rode the Metro back to our hotel to swim in the pool and then had dinner at our favorite Cafe Rio. (secretly, this may have been the entire reason for the trip. Sad, I know.)

The next morning we headed out to the BIG part of the National Air and Space Museum the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. We've been here twice before and Jack has the entire place memorized so he was our personal tour guide of his favorite parts of the place. It was like he was visiting his friends. "Let's go see Concorde." "There's Blackbird." "Addy, there's your favorite Orange Bi-plane." It was a great morning.

Loves Fighter Jets.

We'll have to go back to see the Shuttle Discovery now that it is being moved to this site. Can you see Jack pointing out his favorite Rockets?
This is my favorite photo of the day. Jack ran to the landing gear of his favorite SR-71 or Blackbird and sat in awe. The girls followed suit. We sat here for several minutes. Blackbird is Jack's absolute favorite airplane so getting to see it in real life is probably the most exciting thing in the world. If you don't know anything about Blackbird, I dare you to ask Jack. Just make sure you have enough time to hear all that he has to say.


We rounded out our trip with another trip to Cafe Rio, a visit to the Washington D. C. Temple and visitors center and were treated like celebrities in my Aunt and Uncle's temple missionary ward because we brought kids to a group of grandparents missing their grand kids. Absolute Celebrities. I recommend attending this ward quarterly:)

More to Come

1/1968

but one of my favorites

Give me some time and I will share the rest of our trip with you.

Fun With the Southern Cousins

I was brave and flew with my three children by myself to stay some extra time with the Perry Cousin in Atlanta. (yep, we have Parrys and Perrys in our family). It was an adventure making it to the rental car but we did it and I would do it again tomorrow. The Perry house is a favorite to visit and I loved having some great adult time with Steph and Mike. We had a blast!

Ella showered everyone with smiles!

There was swimming,
exotic animals,
more swimming,swinging,and more swimming.

We also made 6 trips to the airport (a highlight for Jack), ate Chik-fil-a, visited the Georgia Aquarium, played at Kangazoom (twice), laughed a lot and I even got to go shopping with my sister-in-laws.

Eleanor Margaret

I know . . .

We miss the beach too.

Florida Revisited

We traveled to Florida at the end of March to meet a new cousin and have fun with family.

Lillian Jayesh Patel

Adorable girl but sadly she had RSV while we were visiting. Poor baby and mama.

Jack and Mariam plugged into technology. I see this picture in our future again when they are teenagers. Jack loves "my Mariam" as he calls her.

5 kids and one great swing led to some good lessons in taking turns. This swing in the Patel's backyard is awesome and Grandma Shirlene became and expert and swinging the kids. (This is a picture of Uncle Jay with the swing but usually it was Grandma.)

Jack had a patch of dirt and some trucks. Life was good.

Jack celebrated his 4th birthday a little early so he could celebrate with Grandma and cousins.

This is one of his many presents from Grandma Shirlene. This is still one of his favorites.

This shirt (thanks Greenwood family) got quite a few laughs at the beach. With his long curly hair, board shorts and candy necklace, Jack was looking like the ultimate beach bum. He had a great time at the beach and a highlight was Aunt Tracie's creative Treasure Map and digging for the treasure that pirates left.

Jack loved the trench that Aaron Jones dug for the kids. Glad Auntie Kristina married someone with good skills to entertain our children.

To say that Addy loved the beach would be a vast understatement. She loved the sand and the water. Only problem is sand in a diaper makes for not fun walking. She was less than thrilled with that. However, if I could, I would rent a cabana on a beach everyday and watch my kids play. Perfect day.

This is for you, Katy.

I should be cleaning out our office to get my house organized. But I don't like that reality. So I am going to ignore that guilty tug at my mind and follow up on a request from my friend. She wants to see pictures of a warm place. And since I had to scrape ice off the inside of my windshield to take Jack to school today, I could use the reminder too.

Ah yes, sunny day walking along Paradise Island. (it really is called that. I am not making it up)

This is called the Cloisters and it is originally from a 17th Century French Monastery before some really rich person had it brought piece by piece to be reassembled in the Bahamas.

The Royal Towers at Atlantis.

(plus a shot of the really cute bag I made for the trip. Thanks Camberly!)



The One and Only Beach Club.
(I promise you will love this link.)

I hope you feel warmer, Katy.

Remeber that time when

I was sitting on the beach drinking virgin strawberry daiquiris ?


I miss that.

Vacation- Day 1

After waking early, flying across the country and eating at our traditional Crown Burger on North Temple (There were other people from our flight there too. We had to laugh), we made it to Ann's house with time to play and iron clothes for Emmy's Baptism.

I can't believe Emmy is already 8 and that Riley will be a senior in high school. We were so happy to be part of this special day. Our little kids made it fun too. Jack started to take off his shoes because he wanted to get into the "pool" with Emmy.

Before heading up to Logan to see Ryan's family, we let Jack take a quick dip in the pool with Hayden. As you can see, Jack is fond of swimming and Hayden. We left the Parry/Greenwood clan with a taste of what was to come at the family reunion the next weekend and headed North.

We stopped in Brigham City to pick up dinner from Maddox and had a picnic with the grandparents. It was tradition to stop in the Brigham City Cemetery to visit the graves of my great grandparents on our way to Bear Lake and now we stop to see my grandparents too. And Ryan has a set of grandparents, a great- grandmother and an uncle buried just a stone's throw from my family.
Adeline's middle name comes from her Great-Great Grandmother Valborg Henriette Louise Rasmussen Wheelwright who is buried here. I hope she will have her independent, determined spirit.
Addy would have melted Grandpa Max's heart and I am pretty sure that Grandma Ann would laugh at Jack's antics and tell me that I was in for it. I was blessed with the opportunity to help care for my grandmother in the last few months/weeks of her life. The middle of the night conversations waiting for her pain medicine to kick in will be some of my cherished memories and her last journal entry stated that she thought Ryan and I were well suited and that she was sure marriage would come.

Picture on the top- I am standing at my grandparent's graves and Ryan is next to the tree looking at his grandparent's graves.

Picture on the bottom- I am at Ryan's grandparent's graves and Ryan is near the black car and my grandparent's graves.

Then it was off to Logan to see an excited Grandma and Great Grandma.