11 years and counting

Happy anniversary to us! Clay planned a surprise evening for us and even arranged for a babysitter himself. Wish we had some pictures, but I forgot to bring the camera.



First we went to eat at Maggiano's for dinner, one of my favorite restaurants. Then we drove it DC to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Ford Theater Ford's_Theater. It was so great to go to a show at the Ford Theater. We were sitting straight across from the presidential box where Lincoln was assassinated. I found myself staring at it frequently during the musical. The show was great too, very fun.



Thank you Clay for a wonderful evening! Love you!

Three cheers for Emma!

Emma received the Citizenship Award for her class this month. It is her first time getting one. Emma is a good student, but she is also a good friend. We are so happy for Emma. She was invited to a special breakfast with the principal.

Take your Child to Work Day

Emma was so excited to go to work with Clay. They had lots of cool activities planned for the kids so that the parents could actually get "some" work done.

One of the activities was to design and build a space structure using coffee stirs and marshmallows. Emma came up with the idea of making a rocket and a dolphin. This is what they came up with. Then they had a real astronaut come and judge all the designs. Emma (and Clay) won first place! Way to go!

The Garden

This is what we have been up to for the past few weeks. This is the year we decided to put a garden in. Clay has been doing most of the work getting it ready. He built a 10x14 box so we could to a raised bed. We put in a tall fence around it to keep the deer out. Wish us luck!

a career in photography

I found some extra photos on my camera. Evidence shows that they were taken by Rebekah.

Flower & Garden Festival

It's that time of year again! I love the festival. I love just walking around and looking at the flower displays. I also buy my hanging baskets for the house here. They are beautiful. This year we went with the Rosenlunds.

The girls loved the kids area where they got their faces painted, got balloons, and made a princess hat.

Emma and Georgia got matching swirls painted.

fishing

Our neighbor, Michelle, invited Emma to go fishing with her family. Here is what they caught. Emma named hers Coral.

Easter and the final egg hunt

Happy Easter everyone! Here are the girls in their new Easter dresses.

Easter morning with their baskets.

My neighbor and I decided it would be fun to host an egg hunt in our yards. We invited all the families on our short block. We each filled 100 eggs. Clay and John had a fun job hiding the eggs all along the side of our homes and up to the woods. Here are the girls waiting for the egg hunt to start.

This was John's creative hiding place:

Here are our great neighbors, Ginger and John.

Another Egg Hunt

We have a wonderful family in our new ward. The Taggs. They have had a long standing tradition of hosting an Egg Hunt at their house. They took a few years off, but decided that it was time to start it up again. The girls LOVED it. There were a few plastic eggs with special treats inside, but mostly it was just a bunch of candy scattered all over their large property.

Here's that they brought home:

Zoo

It's spring break and we went with the Rosenlunds to the National Zoo. I have never seen it so crowded, but the kids still had a great time together.

We saw lions, and tigers, and bears...on my!

Cherry Blossoms

I love spring! I love all the colors and warmer weather. This year I am even more excited for spring, after all that snow we got. My favorite place to go is the Smithsonian Castle to see the magnolia trees.

We met the Rosenlunds for a picnic by the FDR memorial. The kids had a great time running playing under the trees.

The FDR memorial is the best place to see the cherry blossoms.

As we walked back to the car the sun was setting over the Potomac River.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.