First Ward Activity

Saturday night was my first ward activity since being called as the Activity Chairperson. I had planned a few fun Old Testament-themed games, and then we were going to have banana splits afterward. I was a little disappointed in the turnout because we only had about 20 people, and I think most of them came for a baptism and then remembered about the activity, but those who did come all said they had a really good time, and I think if I hadn't been gone the week before I could have gotten a reminder out.

We had several fun games. I had planned when people trickled in I would put a name tag on their back with a person's name from the Old Testament and they would ask people questions to figure out who it was. Well, people didn't really trickle in, but a few people were really stumped by their question, so it was still fun.

The nest game was similar to that game you play at bridal showers when you make the wedding dress out of toilet paper, except each team made a "coat of many colors" out of crepe paper, and then we had a little fashion show. I'm not sure why the one on the right looks like a mummy.

Patrick was pretty patient with us. I bought balloons for the party for a little bit of decoration but mostly to entertain my child. I also had paper and markers for the little kids (because I was planning for a lot more!), and of course he ate a blue one. If you look closely you can see that his lips are blue.

The next game was a Who Said It game, where you had to quickly identify who said the scripture I was reading. There was some pretty fierce competition there. Lastly, we had a good old scripture chase. The banana splits were tasty, but I still have about 30 bananas left over, even after given away a box full. I'll be making banana bread this week!

I think everyone who came had a good time, and I think next time I will try to get reminders out. Now I am working on a 3rd of July breakfast, and I am excited about that because I loved going to my grandpa's ward's breakfast each year.

Family Vacation to Virginia/D.C.

This month we were able to take a nice family vacation to Virginia and visit some of Reed's family. I realized last week that we hadn't gone anywhere for 15 months, so this was a very nice getaway. Reed's sister, Stacy, and her family, live in Virginia, and our niece, Lily, was being baptized on May 22, so they were very nice to invite us to come and stay for a week. Reed's parents were going, and his brother, Lance, and his family, were going to be there also because he was graduating the same weekend with his Master's.

I was a little nervous about our first airplane ride with Patrick, but I shouldn't have been, because it was great. We had to wake up early Wednesday morning so we could be at the airport by 6:30. Patrick was excited about the shuttle we took, and he started pointing at everything once we got inside. Check-in and security went very quickly, and then we got to ride a train to the gate, which Patrick also found exciting, and then we got to the best part --the moving sidewalks. Patrick went up and down these probably a dozen times while we waited for our flight. He would go about a third of the way and then lie down and watch people.

Patrick also really enjoyed looking out the large windows and pointing to all the planes.

We were lucky enough to be able to use our carseat for two out of our three flights. This helped a lot. Patrick was so happy to be able to look out the window and tell me everything he could see (which was always, "ball"). He really only cried when the pressure in his ears would get to him, but that is what fruit snacks are for!

We arrived in D.C. without any major complications, and we were happy and excited to see our family again. This is the first time any of them had met Patrick, but he wasn't shy for very long. They have a trampoline in the backyard, and Patrick thought that was the best thing ever. His older cousins were very good about playing with Patrick.

Thursday morning we drove up to Gettysburg, PA, to meet up with my Grandma Carol. We have missed her so much since she moved to Pennsylvania, and it was so nice to spend the day with her. We walked around a bit, found a park to play on, and then had lunch. I hope we get to see her again very soon.

Now, this was our first time really being on the East Coast, and being the western girl that I am, I was still shocked by all the trees and wooded areas in Virginia. It is really different than just seeing it on tv. When we drove around, I kept thinking, "Where is everything?" This is a big metropolitan area, but everything is covered up by the woods. This picture does not do it justice. At all.

Patrick passed out many times during our vacation.

Friday we went in to D.C. for Lance's graduation, and then we did a little sight seeing afterwards. Patrick stayed home and played with his cousin Eva. We got to see the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Museum of American History.

We did the Museum quickly because it was crowded, but we saw some cool stuff. Here is Reed with Kermit the Frog and Fonzi's jacket. We also saw the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner (which is bigger then you think it is going to be). We saw a bunch of Abraham Lincoln's stuff, like his stove pipe hat, and the First Ladies' inaugural dresses. Obviously you could spend weeks and not see everything.

By the way, did you know that the Smithsonian is actually a group of museums? I had always heard it referred to as "The Smithsonian," so I had no idea it was the title for all the museums. Also, for some reason, the area where all the monuments are located, is referred to as "the mall." I was really glad to figure this out because I was looking for a mall for a while.

I thought this was a super cute picture of Grandpa reading a book to his grandkids. You can't really see Eva, but you can see an extra set of legs next to Patrick. :)

Saturday we went to Lily's baptism, and it was very nice, except for the fact that Patrick saw a basketball on his way in to the church so the whole time he kept saying, "ball, ball, ball!" He did that the next day at church too! He has a one-track mind right now.

Saturday afternoon we went to visit some friends of ours from BYU-Idaho who only live about 11 miles from Stacy. Their son is only three weeks older than Patrick, and they had a really good time together. Aaron really liked Reed, so here are a couple of videos I took of our boys being silly.

In the first one, Aaron kept asking Reed for a hug, and so Reed started to tickle him, and he thought it was hilarious. The second video is of Patrick trying to copy Aaron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y_56XHePEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJf88fH7hpM

Sunday after church we went back to D.C. to hit a few more monuments with Grandma and Grandpa and Stacy as our tour guide. It was a little rainy, but we didn't mind. We saw the Jefferson Memorial first, and I thought it was the prettiest. Obviously Patrick won't remember all of this, but I was surprised at how much he was aware of. He was SO EXCITED to climb the stairs (everywhere we went). He kept pointing to the ceiling to tell me there was a star there. He really enjoyed the sight seeing about as must as a toddler can enjoy.

Next we went to the Lincoln memorial and World War II memorial, and we walked past the reflecting pool between. The only thing I was disappointed in during our whole visit was the reflecting pool. It sits between these two monuments, and let me tell you, it is nothing like what it looks like on tv. At least right now, it was dirty, with duck poo everywhere, weeds covered the area on either side, and the sidewalks was in ruins. Everything else we saw looked really well taken care of, but not the reflecting pool. I hope whoever is in charge of that decides to clean it up soon.

Us in front of the WWII memorial.

The Lincoln. Also a very cool monument.

Patrick walked up every single step of the Lincoln. I think that might have been the best part of the whole vacation for him. That and the moving sidewalks.

Here are a few random silly pictures of Patrick while we were staying at Stacy's. She made cream of wheat one morning, which Patrick loves, and she has the cool bowls with a straw built in, and Patrick discovered how to use the straw, and then immediately discovered that he could also blow bubbles in his cereal. Silly boy.

I think at this point he was just tired of taking pictures!

On Monday we made a quick trip to the Washington D.C. temple. We didn't get to see if from the freeway, which we hear is amazing, because that is on the Maryland side and we were on the Virginia side. It was still pretty amazing to see. It is really tucked in to a quiet neighborhood, with lots of beautiful wooded land around it. Their visitor's center is really big, but I didn't get to look at much because I was chasing Patrick around. The spires were really bright, even though it was an overcast day. I can't imagine what they would look like on a sunny day! Patrick didn't really know what the temple was, but he sure like to point at it. And walk up and down the stairs.

Reed got a few beautiful pictures of the temple.

That afternoon we hit the Air and Space Museum (another Smithsonian) that is near Stacy's house. They had way more planes in there than I thought they would. There is the original Wright brothers plane, a bunch from WWII, including Nazi planes, small trick planes, and even a stealth plane that is the fastest in the world.

Again, with the pointing. Everything that was even close to being round was "ball, ball!"

An awesomely huge space shuttle that I probably could have stood inside the thrusters.

Whoo Hoo! More stairs!

Scraped knees are common place around here!

Here is the stealth bomber thingy. Reed said something about it being the plane from the X-Men or something like that.

Awesome Aunt Stacy got Patrick a souvenir plane and ball.

Patrick took the van for a little spin around the Costco parking lot.

We had a direct flight home and we were able to use the car seat again, thankfully, and Patrick fell asleep about half way home. The guy in front of him reclined his seat back, and when he did it pushed against Patrick's feet, so he learned that he could kick the back of the seat. I tried my best to distract him, but the more I tried to stop him the funnier he thought it was. So I just tried to get him to go to sleep. (The guy seriously glared at a toddler. Three times!) In this picture I am talking softly to Patrick, about everything we did on our vacation, and singing Wheels on the Bus, to try and get him to go to sleep and Reed said it looked like I was lecturing him!

We had a FANTASTIC time in Virginia, and we hope to be able to visit the east coast again soon. The humidity was noticeable but bearable, and I had horrible allergies most of the time, but the company was awesome, we got to see the sights and also relax, and it was a great vacation.