Washington D.C.

Guy and I have been in Washington D.C. for 3 days now. It is so much fun! Our first day here we went to Arlington National Cemetary. That was so neat. It is such a reminder of all those who have fought for our country. I had seen pictures of the endless rows of gravemarkers, but they do not do justice. It was so much more awe inspiring to see them in person. My favorite part was watching the Changing of the Guards. The respect, the discipline, and the exactness were amazing! The peacefulness there was great and allowed us to be in our own thoughts and to reflect. It was a fun, interesting, and reflective place. We had a great time there.

After we left Arlington we took the metro to the white house. That was also very neat to see in person. There was a makeshift tent there with a couple of people who had set up camp there to protest nuclear weapons. There has been someone at that tent 24 hours a day since 1981. I didn't know whether to think - good for them for being there for so long for something they believed in - or - do they not have a life? It was interesting either way.

That was the end of the day for us, we went back to the hotel where Guy had to go to meetings, as for me, I went to the room and rested from all that walking!!!

Yesterday, Guy was in meetings all day, so I decided to take the metro to the National Mall to visit the Smithsonian. Another day of a lot of walking! It was a lot of fun. I first went to the American History Museum. That was great, I especially enjoyed seeing Old Glory that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner. I then went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. That was informative, reflective, but most of all disturbing. It is something I will never forget. My favorite part of it was a section devoted to teaching children called "Daniel's Story". It shows the life of Daniel and how his life changed once Hitler came to power and follows his life from his nice home to the ghetto to the concentration camp. He lives. After the Holocaust Museum, I headed back up to the Smithsonian and went to the Natural History Museum. That was a lot of fun, and I wished I had my kids with me. The boys would have loved to see the dinosaur bones and the animals. I made sure to take pictures for them. Anyway, it was a long, but fun day. It felt great to be alone and do my own things at my own pace.

It has been great to have time by myself, although I really miss the kids. My parents are staying with the kids, so I'm not worried. Austin and Kaylee have been sick and throwing up and I do feel like I should be there for them. I also feel bad for my parents. It is not fun to have sick kids.

Not Much Going On

I haven't posted anything for a while, so I thought I would do a quick update. The kids are all doing well and growing fast. We are going to pre-register Jaden for kindergarten next year. It's amazing!!! I can't believe he is already 5. I've already been having nightmares about him not being able to find his classroom and not catching the bus home. I guess I worry about him not being old enough, but he is. He'll do great. He is so excited to start and is already reading and doing some math. He really enjoys it. He definitely gets that from his dad and not me. It's amazing how similar Jaden and Guy are. Austin keeps growing and is busy as ever, as well as Kaylee. Her hair is finally growing and I'm able to do things with it. It is so fun to have a daughter (sons are fun too!). I hope to get a couple of pictures posted within the next few days. Well enough of my rambling. Not much is going on!!!!

Austin's 3rd Birthday

It was Austin's 3rd birthday yesterday! We all had a great time. We let Austin choose what he wanted to do for the day and he decided he wanted to go to Leo's Place for dinner. Leo's is a pizza/arcade place that the boys love. After we did that, we picked up Austin's dinosaur cake and went home to open presents. Austin had a great time being the center of attention and can't wait for his next birthday. He wants to turn 5 so that he can go to school! Right now he'll settle for being 3! He's a great kid and we sure enjoy playing with him. Here are some pictures that we thought were fun.

Jaden and Austin with Friends

Jaden and Austin sure love having their friends over to play. I thought that this was a real cute picture of them with their friends Bryce and Brenan (twins). The twins are right between the boys in age and get along with them great. It is so nice to finally live in a neighborhood where the kids can have friends over to play! We lived in the strangest places before where they weren't able to do this. We just really love our neighborhood!

Christmas 2005

Christmas was a lot of fun this year!!! The boys had a great time Christmas Eve getting things ready for Santa. They left him cookies and chocolate milk. They also had to make sure and leave Rudolph some carrots. Their excitement made it hard to get them to sleep, but they eventually did and actually slept in until around 8:00. They got a lot of toys and really enjoyed playing with them all. They especially enjoyed the T-Rex Mountain and the "car race".

Jaden's 5th Birthday

I can't believe Jaden is 5 already. He had a great birthday. We decided to go swimming at Green Canyon Hot Springs and have a small get together. Some of Guy's family was able to make it as well as some friends from our neighborhood. Jaden had a Madagascar cake and loved it. He also had a great time opening his presents. The pictures are a little foggy because of the humidity inside the building, I had to keep wiping the lens of the camera to try and get a good shot. Here are some of them.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to our blog. I thought that this would be a good way to let everyone know what is going on with our family and to post pictures. Today is Austin's 3rd birthday, so I hope to get some of his pictures posted within the next couple of days. Hope all is going well with everyone and their families!