Catching up on the fun stuff

We have been really lucky to be able to go out and do some fun activities lately. The weather here has been so beautiful the last few weeks that it has been hard to keep me indoors even when it rains- which it does. So i will do a quick run down of some of the funnest adventures that we have been on over that last few weeks.

The Cherry Blossoms

Libby and I went out on an adventure to see the famous Cherry blossoms. It was a huge ordeal getting there but once we did we really enjoyed it. The trees were beautiful and the day was gorgeous. We really enjoyed walking around and taking pictures.
The most interesting thing that day was not the trees though. As we were standing by the shore of the river a stroller got away from a father and rushed down the bank and crashed into the water. Luckily we saw the stroller rushing down the hill fast enough to dive in and grab the baby who seem completley unaffected by the fact that he had just crashed into the Potomac. It took me a good hour for my heart to stop pounding, and to get my breath back. It was every mothers worst nightmare happening in real life. I will never let go of my stroller again. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.







The "Spring-Time Egg Find"
We went to a little party given by our apartment complex last week. We were really excited to get Libby all dressed up and show her the Easter bunny for the first time. We got a good laugh when we arrived and found that the real world didn't celebrate Easter anymore- he went expecting an Easter egg hunt and pictures with the Easter bunny and got a picture with Chester Bunny and a Spring Time egg find. Oh well we still had fun.


One of the plastic eggs we found had some gummy bunny teeth- we thought they were a good fit on PhillyLibby was so excited she didn't stop smiling the entire time we were there. I am pretty sure she thought everyone was there to see her.... she was the one in the Bunny ears.

The "Chester bunny" was a bit pathetic- even the kids seemed to noticed that the costume was white but the neck, between the head and the rest of the bunny,was that of a rather large black guy. One of the little kids actually ran up to him and said" Hey Brother, what are you doing in there ".The costume didn't even have eye holes so his little helper would have to position him in the right direction so the little kids could take pictures with him.

The National Zoo
Phil got a pretty big kick out of this sign that was along one of the paths at the zoo. It was a little ironic that the only snowball left in the park just happen to be right under the sign that said " Japanese snowball" - irony or a really low budget exhibit?
Our little birdie


The national Zoo was really quite remarkable especially considering that fact that it was free. It was a really fun trip.

The Smithsonian Trip

One friday I dragged Phil to the American History Museum between classes and reading. It was the first time we had been out to look at the Smithsonians- yeah we have only been here for 8 months- hahah. The highlights of this museum were the original Star spangled banner, the sunken gunboat The Philadephia and the Lincoln top hat. It was a quick trip but it was nice to spend an hour with Phil in the middle of the day and be out in the cityThis boat was really eerie, when I first walked up to it the ominous feeling almost made me hold my breath. Everyone that approached it instantly stopped talking and just starred at it. It really felt like you could just almost see the people still walking around on its deck.

15 years in the making

Finally after waiting for so long i finally got to see the Terra Cotta warriors from the Chin Empire. I went to see an exhibit at BYU when i was in the 6th grade at it amazed me. It was actually a pretty lame exhibit that only had pictures of the actual artifacts but even then i remember thinking how amazing it would be to actually see the real warriors. At the time the only way to see the warriors was to go to China. As a 6th grader that seemed impossible for me but i remember thinking to myself that i would somehow get there too see them. Phil also remembered seeing the BYU exhibit in the 6th grade. Apparently he was not as affected by it but he was still excited to come along with me.
Any ways, i got so excited when i found out that the National Geographic Museum was hosting the touring exhibit straight from China. After finding out that the tickets to the show were way too expensive for us to afford my dear sweet husband did some research and found out that they did a free day. So we bundled up Libby and got all the way there but when we got to the line at the museum we ended up being 201 and 202 in the line and they only gave out 200 tickets. We were soooooo close i just couldn't turn around and leave so i went to the ticketing agent and literally begged her to let us in. With some good persuasion and alot of luck I talked her in to giving us two tickets to get in. The exhibit was absolutley awe inspiring. We walked into a dark room and looked up at these warriors and it was just haunting - it was as if they had taken live men and just painted them in clay. It is still hard to believe they had been in the ground standing there in their rows since 400 BC. It was really cool . I was so glad we got to go

Spring Break with Daddy (and Mommy)!

Phil has a few days off from school and we are happy to have him home. He just finished writing a "Note" for the write-on to the school journals. It was quite the fun project....
We have been playing, reading books and out touring around Old Town Alexandria. We drove (due to cold...) by cobblestone streets, by the river and around old shops. Lib has been eating more food and is growing LARGE...

Some of her favorites pictured here:

#1 She loves wearing (and sucking on DAD's hat)
#2 Her favorite game is to lose her socks and have MOM and DAD look for them. Caught in the act.....
#3 and 4 -- Getting ready in her pink bear suit to go out on the town.

We have been catching up on Man VS. Wild on Netflix which always makes us thankful for our warm house and yummy (non-living) food....

So this is Love

Valentines days have changed a little bit around here but now they come and we have so much more to celebrate.

The Great Blizzard of DC

This all started last Friday. We had been getting warnings from the news that it was going to be a pretty big snow storm - but - taking into consideration that a "big snow storm" for Dc is usually an inch we weren't too worried about it. Over night it dumped about two feet of snow on us. Now that may not seem like a whole lot of snow in Utah terms but we soon realized that in DC terms that was enough to cause people to prepare for the Rapture.
There are no snow plows in DC so the snow just keeps piling up and piling up. People are going completely nuts. Last night a group of people got so anxious they threw cement blocks through a target window and everyone ran in and just looted everything as if it were the last box of cereal on earth. It is pretty crazy how fast the atmosphere of fear and anxiety spreads. There is definitely a feeling of every man for himself- which can lead people to act really irrationally. I am sure this is fueled a lot by people going crazy with cabin fever, it is rough being stuck inside an apartment for 5 days -believe me !
Sunday people were starting to act normally some people were even out playing in the snow and sledding down the monument steps on cookie sheets. There was a big snow ball fight down town with over 2,000 people. Most of the people were enjoying the days off and trying to make the best of it. Things got ugly when we got news of a second wave of snow that would hit Tuesday. I think that this was what made everyone go a little nuts - it was already so overwhelming with the snow we had the thought of getting more just seemed impossible to deal with.
The second wave of snow hit us yesterday. Most people don't have power today and everything is shut down, no one is leaving their houses and i am guessing it will be that way for awhile since it has not stopped snowing since yesterday around noon.
Libby and I are doing great other than missing Phil. He was lucky enough to get on one of three flights that actually got out this week from the DCA airport. We didn't realize how lucky we got until i heard a news broadcast and they had said only three flights actually got to where they were suppose to go- so we are very happy he got home safely. We are just playing in the apartment and trying to not go crazy ourselves( no big change for us ). We feel very grateful that we have been taught our entire lives about being prepared for a situation like this so we can just sit back and laugh at the crazy people - having food storage and water storage is not just a good suggestion you can really see its blessing in action right now.

Well that is way more than enough for now - i guess you can tell i haven't talked to anyone in a awhile. Ha hah ha.

Grandpa's flower toes

This one is just for you grandpa!

Growing up fast

Our little girl is growing up so fast. She is finally getting a little bit of chub on her little round face. This month she has really grown up. She has started to talk alot more - actually it is more of a scream - but she is doing it all the time. She finally has started to roll over and try to push herself around on the floor. It just seems like this month she has decided to blossom. We finally caved this week and started putting her in her crib at 8 and letting her put herself to sleep. It is WAY harder than i thought it would be. I can't even begin to explain to you how hard it was that first night to sit there and listen to her cry - i definatly did more crying than she did. Tonight will be her 4th night by herself and she seems to be doing pretty well. She has been sleeping from 8 to 11:30 and then she will wake up again at 2 and at 4 - then we are up for the day at 6:30 - so it is still not ideal but it is better than what we were doing. I can't believe that she will be six months old in just a week. Wow ! I just can't tell you how much Joy she has brought us.

Phil is steadily studying away - as usual - and is working on a brief that is due this sunday. It is all he does these days. He is planning a trip to Utah to go interview with a few firms out there and hopefully get a job ( cross your fingers ) He will be leaving next Wed.

Our car died this week and thanks to an amazing helper i finally got home with Libby after standing out in the cold for 8 hours. We throught we had it fixed but yesterday i got in it to go to the store and it wouldn't start again so we called up the tow truck again and sent it back to the dealership - so i am stuck inside the apartment for awhile . We are eventually going to need to get some groceries but for right now we are very blessed to have great people in our ward that are watching out for us.

We recieved news this week that Lizs'( phils little sister) cancer had spread to her spleen, liver, spine and the spots in her lungs and skull have grown. They are flying her to the very best expert throughout the country and we are so blessed to have parents that are amazing, capable and strong , they seem to know exactly what to do. We are very optimistic and hopeful we really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for her.