Thomas Jefferson's 273rd Birthday Party

We feel so lucky to live so close to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. We couldn't pass up a day to celebrate his birth on April 13th. They said he never wanted to celebrate his own birthday, only the birthday of our Country, July 4th, but they celebrate it anyway. What a perfectly beautiful day! I happened to run into my friend Jeni on my way home from a run, and told her about it. Fortunate for us they decided to join in the fun. She was kind enough to take these pictures for us and pass them along - since we realized once we got there that our camera battery was dead. She also brought her daughter, Claire, as well as her sister. What a wonderful day. They had Marin Wright Edelman (graduate of Yale and advocate of children's rights) speak. It was inspiring.

my sunglasses are a little crooked here - i guess i need to be more careful when letting my boys wear them :)

These musicians are actually a special part of the military which performs for special occasions at the White House etc.

Happy Birthday, TJ!

Mt Vernon

After dropping Ramona off at the airport, we drove to Mt Vernon to show our boys the home of George Washington. It was such a nice 70 degree day, and even though our boys were tired at the end (we woke them up early to drive to DC), I think they enjoyed it! They recently built an amazing museum that I think everyone needs to go see. Fun to be where George Washington lived.

Our boys got a little tired by the end - but I think they enjoyed it.

Observing a little lizard that Mason discovered. We also saw a wild eagle on his property

Mason took this picture.

"Cool!" He says as he puts on Daddy's sunglasses

Mason of course loved the little lambs. It took me back to my childhood - feeding little lambs with a bottle. I kept thinking how much Mason would have liked that.

a morning with my sister!

We had a beautiful morning in DC with my sister Ramona. She was here for a sister's retreat with the McConkie side of her family. It was so great to see her, and her in-laws as well. We visited the Renwick Museum where they had quite the exhibit. It was a lot of fun to see how creative artists really are. Mason and Stan enjoyed it as well. It's only on for a couple of more weeks, so if you have the chance to go see it before it ends, it's totally worth it! 

Mason couldn't contain his excitement

these mountains are made of cards

Somewhere over the rainbow

These two!

Mason took this picture and I was pretty impressed. Love this sister of mine! So fun to see her for a few hours.

Happy 400 years Shakespeare!

We had a great time on Saturday visiting Staunton, Virginia for Shakespeare's 400th anniversary of his death. It was fun to be there with Nate's cousin Jenny and her family. They were kind enough to watch our kids for us while we attended Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.  Lines such as "the fault is not in our stars", or "it's all greek to me" were fun to hear. Shakespeare was a genius - with his pros, metaphors, alliteration, and similes. We enjoyed it.

Our boys enjoyed hearing musical instruments from that time period

Birthday card for Shakespeare

time-period clothing

A day at the beach

Loved getting to spend a spontaneous day today at one of Virginia's beautiful beaches near Hamilton, Virginia. What a beautiful day! We went with a few of our good friends, and besides Mason not wanting to leave at all at the end (bribery is my friend), it could not have gone better. My boys and I got to carpool with one of the sweetest women I've ever met - Ashley So'oto. It was so good to be uplifted by her goodness to hear her stories about her interesting life and to share some stories with her about mine. Loved being there as well with other friends Chrissy (who organized this little get away - thank you!!), and Rainy Christensen. How am I so lucky to be surrounded in my life by such women?? Life is so blessed with good people in it, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've almost never had a 3 hour drive each way go by so fast. What a good day!

"reading" books

fun to watch them playing together

um, how cute is he?? i love when I say, "Stan are you cute?" and he says, "ya!" Then I say, Stan, are you my baby. He says "I yo baby". Oh Stanley - please just never grow up!!

Mason my little fish (or Penguin)?

Mason and Ave enjoying a good snooze on the way home. Can't wait to show them this picture when they're both at BYU? in 14 years!!

So fun to watch him jump the waves

Thank you, Virginia for another heavenly day. We love you.

Fireman Mason

We had just such a fun day on Monday visiting the Fire Station. One of my friends here from Argentina invited us. I love speaking Argentine Spanish with her. It takes me right back to my mission. She and her husband and two sons came over one day to help me learn how to make empanadas. That was a little piece of heaven for me - because now I can bring a piece of a country and people that I love to my home. Oh I love them. Later she invited my boys to get a tour of the fire station. Of course they loved it. Mason gets to watch a small movie after he gets everything done on his chart, and one of his favorites is a tv series called 'Fireman Sam'. Cute to see his eyes light up (no pun intended) when he saw the firetrucks up close :). Grateful for good firemen and women who come to the rescue daily!

Mason thought that this fireman Roger was pretty cool! 

Friends!

Nate and I both really enjoyed this last Sunday getting a visit from Nate's room mate from college, Alex. Friends I think are some of God's greatest gifts. It's always so sweet to run into them years down the road. Alex was sweet to take the time to come visit us. Below, we had dinner with a WONDERFUL Air Force JAG family here in our ward. They gave us the best advice - from everything about deployments, to housing, etc etc. They are a family we want to be like someday. Such examples of charity and service.