New Career Path

While eating our lunch today Gage informed me that he no longer wants to be an NFL player.

Really?

Why?

What has swayed you?

I'm hoping for bigger aspirations - doctor, dentist, scientist ...

Nope.

He found out that if you get hurt or injured you have to sit in an ice bath.

He hates to be cold.

And if that wasn't bad enough ..

"Your coach and teammates watch you and you are {naked}!"

Both good reasons not to be an NFL player.

Weekend of BESTS!

BESTS!

Ryan and I had the BEST time in New York City.

We were with the BEST people.

Eating the BEST food.

Enjoying the BEST that NY has to offer.

 It kind of turned out to be a foodie trip.

We wandered the streets of NYC and made our plans around meal times.

It was most enjoyable.

Brent conquered his small sandwich.

 I ordered something small off the menu - so I could have dessert.

Unfortunately it was this huge egg salad sandwich, which was delicious.

And I still had to have dessert.

 Ryan ordered this small plate of ribs.

 And Luci had this tiny piece of fabulous cheesecake -

We all had to help her finish it.

 We stayed at Times Square.

Enjoyed watching the crazy people and street performers.

Chinatown, Little Italy, Central Park, the Met, Ground Zero Museum.

It was all so much fun and I can't wait to do it again!

And thanks to Brent and Ryan who let us do all the things we wanted to do!

Great Urban Race DC

I just completed the Great Urban Race DC 2011

With these fun ladies!

Myself, Stacey, Natalie and Corinne.

Oh so much fun.

We were given a sheet of clues that sent us running all over the city to complete tasks.

We ended up in several bars in DC - probably the only way I'll see the bars of DC.

We had several challenges to do.

They ranged from doing a yoga course to trying different Indian sauces and identifying them.

From math problems to asking strangers to do a congo line with us.

We had so much fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The question is - which destination next time?

My thoughts - Boston? Toronto? Vancouver? Salt Lake?

If you get a chance to do one of these races in your area over the summer I would encourage you to!

You won't regret it!

And how did we do?

We were team 151 of 375 teams.

Not too shabby, and loads of fun!

Gettysburg

This is a must see.

Gettysburg is fantastic.

I am so grateful for the brave men who fought here and for the local residents who banded together to care for the wounded - numbered in the thousands.

The museum is worth the time and $ to go to.

When I went a few years ago with my mom and sisters I fell in love with the place.

Only I have to go back just to go to the antique shops and darling cafes.

Oh, and the drive there ... GORGEOUS!

 This is Gage's favorite President.

He lovingly refers to him as his friend Abe.

Perhaps he was precocious child as well?

Flat Stanley made the trip with us.

We will be sad to have to send him back to his school in Utah.

Thanks Halle for letting us have him as a guest for the past few weeks.

He has one trip left in him - New York City!

Then back to Salt Lake City.

Mount Vernon in April ... Lovely!

We love Mt. Vernon and were so excited to take Jessica and James.

Of course, Flat Stanley made the trek with us as well.

He has been to a lot of fun places.

 Our first stop was to visit Lady Washington.

She was absolutely charming to visit with.

She told us many stories about her and the General's life.

She allowed for any question.

Connor waited very patiently to ask something.

"How long was General Washington gone from Mt. Vernon during the Revolutionary War? And who took care of his farms while he was away?"

SIX YEARS! He was gone for 6 years! Only stopping in once as the army was literally marching right past.

Wow. That is committment.

His cousin took care of things while he was away.

But no one took care of things like the General and everything was in disrepair when he returned and had to start again from square one.

 The grounds are absolutely beautiful.

Trees that George Washington planted himself are still there.

He kept immaculate records, with detail about everything.

Which tree he planted where and when.

Each field and which crops it had been planted in for how many years.

The rotation schedule for crops.

Which slave had which blanket, etc.

He didn't miss a thing.

 We decided to eat there before leaving and a fun thing happened.

Tate finally lost his very first tooth!

He is almost done first grade and his first tooth just came out!

He told me afterwards that his goal is to lose all his teeth at Mt. Vernon.

Oh, the grand dreams of youth.

Monuments by Day and Night

One of my favorite parts of DC are the monuments and memorials.

It's just so fun to be right here where there is so much American history.

We took Jessica and James to visit a few of the monuments.

The first was FDR - It's one of my favorites just because of the park like feel. 

 It was raining pretty good - so we left the kids with Ryan in the car and grabbed the umbrellas.

Only, one wasn't working so well.

So Jessica made the best of the situation.

 The Lincoln Memorial is just so impressive and surprisingly reverent given the amount of people there at any given time. I love this one.

 WWII Memorial. It was so dark and hard to get a good picture.

But we were able to find Utah and take a moment to remember.

 Washington - amazing.

I love this man, he's one of the first I want to meet in heaven.

All of us at the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument behind us.

I must say that Jessica and James chose the perfect time of year to come.

The weather was beautiful and not too hot.

The kids just happened to be on spring break so we were able to go anywhere and everywhere with absolutely no schedule to follow.

What a great time.

Family Comes to Town!

We were so lucky to have Jessica and James come to visit us over spring break!

We had so much fun and did as much as we could fit in.

It was wonderful.

Be prepared for another onslaught of pictures!

The first day we visited the Senate and the Capitol.

We had a great tour from Senator Mike Lee, UT (R).

Ha, I've always wanted to do that.

 We were not allowed camera's past this point.

So we had to get a picture of Flat Stanley going into the Senate Chambers.

Once inside we got a tour of the chambers and an education on the history of the Senate floor.

The boys favorite part was the "candy desk".

Years ago one Senator kept candy in his desk for everyone.

To this day, the member who inherits that desk keeps it full of candy for anyone on the Senate floor.

 Then we had to find the Brigham Young statue.

You see, Flat Stanley comes from a UTES household and he is going back a BYU fan.

Learning truth does that to a person, flat or not.

 McCall was so happy to have Aunt Jessica again.

She always has a purse full of goodies to rifle through.

Ahh, to be spoiled.

 Jessica and James in the old Senate Chamber.

Very cool room, with a very old history.

Then it was off to the National Archives.

I still get emotional seeing the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution.

We are a very blessed nation.

White House Easter Egg Roll

We were able to attend the White House Easter Egg Roll this year.

We were so excited to be able to go.

I had visions in my head of my beautiful children strolling through the White House Gardens.

Taking our time and getting gorgeous photos of the kids in the azaleas and dogwoods.

Oh it was going to be grand.

And it was, only in a different way.

 Had I known how hot and crowded it was going to be once we got inside I would have done more pictures outside while waiting in line.

But - this is what we got just trying to pass the time.

The day was a balmy 90 degrees with about 70% humidity.

And over 30,000 people participated.

Of course only 6,000 per session.

YIKES!! I thought I would lose a child or two!

 I love these socks!

And it was the only part of Gage not being a goof.

 McCall was elated to meet the Easter Bunny.

But refused to go anywhere near him without Daddy.

Flat Stanley also got to meet him. We have loved having Flat Stanley with us!

 The boys were not thrilled to take pictures.

They wanted to be off in search of eggs and participating in all the events.

McCall somehow hurt her leg that morning and couldn't walk a step.

Getting her to stand for a picture was difficult.

But it all turned out just great and the kids had a blast.

 Flat Stanley enjoyed his trip to the White House.

But the best part of the day was the very last thing we did.

The boys REALLY wanted to play basketball on the White House basketball court.

So they did.

They were the very last group to be able to.

And they were elated!

 Each of them took part in a shooting game.

And guess what?

Connor won for his entire group of 30 kids!

And because they were the last group for the day, they each got to take home an NBA basketball.

Don't worry I checked - they were a gift from the NBA - not a government bailout!

 Poor Gage was so little that he couldn't even get the ball to the basket.

The NBA staff tried to help him out.

But to no avail.

But no worries, as the kids in line started laughing at him his big brother Tate straightened them all immediately.

"Hey, that's my little brother. He's way smaller than you and he is really good at lots of things. Don't laugh at him. That's being rude."

I was proud of him. Even though I tried to tell him they just thought he was cute.

Tate didn't agree and insisted on defending his brother.

Then I wanted to get some pictures of McCall in the azaleas.

But she had had it and wouldn't cooperate one bit.

But at least I got one of these adorable shoes!

What a fun time.

I hope the kids will always remember this.