The Beach at Yorktown

I love living in a place where there are so many things to do! We had a fun Saturday trip down to Yorktown. They have a beach on the York River which runs right into the ocean. We had a blast. Anna especially loved the sand and water. She has no fear! No sooner did we have her suited up and she was water bound. She was up to her neck before we could grab her. Of course we were in a bit of a panic and she just looked up at us like, "what's the big deal, you parents are always cramping my style." Halarious!

Vacationing with Gampa Larry and Mama Marlene

Cool Slideshows!

What a great trip! We were able to do some really fun things while Larry and Marlene were visiting.

• Visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg
• Visit Plantations along the James River in Richmond
• See the national fireworks show on the lawn of the Washington Monument
• Drive through beauiful Lancaster County and visit the Amish
• Visit and tour Independence Hall in Philidelphia
• Visit and shop at the Open Market in Philly
• Visit Hershey Pennsylvania, home of the Hershey Chocolate Company

Alright! And now for my thoughts. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite memories from the trip.

• Eating at the enormous Shmorgousborg (spelling?) in Lancaster. (We thought it was going to be a mom and pop type place, instead we got Golden Corral x3)
• Watching Anna chase cats on the plantation lawn
• The gorgeous view of downtown Philly from Larry and Marlene's hotel window
• Mistakenly walking into a closet instead of the exit at a little Italian restaraunt near South Street in Philly.
• Helping Marlene to pick out a beautful, handsewn Amish quilt.
• Touring the model ships in Jamestown in the blasted humidity
• Not a favorite memory, but one that is sure to be ingrained forever...Baby Songs DVD over, and over, and over. ("My mommy comes back, she always comes back...) Arrggghh!
• Seeing the masses of people on the Lincoln Monument steps
• Hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling the national fireworks
• Best of all, great conversations and lots of laughter

Thanks Larry and Marlene for such a wonderful time! We love you!

The Fourth of July

So, I know I am continually back tracking, but these pics are so cute (in my humble mommy opinion) that I couldn't resist posting. We had a really fun Fourth this year. Jeff's parents were in town so we decided to go Washington D.C. to take part in the craziness up there. After getting redirected several times by traffic cops, we ended up checking into our hotel, near Dupont Circle, a little later than we expected. As we were preparing to head out to the mall, Jeff's parents flipped on the news. Surprise! The mall had just been evacuated for a tornado warning! Now, I will be the first to say that Virginians get a little over excited about the weather, but aparently it was a legitimate warning. Everyone was evacuated from the mall and sent into local businesses, etc. for a few minutes. After that everyone was let back on. So, we joined the masses and made our way by Metro to the Washington Monument lawn. The fireworks are launched from the WWII Memorial which is right inbetween the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument. We were right there. It was amazing to look across the reflecting pool and see masses upon masses of people on the steps of the Lincoln Monument. Anna fell asleep on the train, but woke up just in time for the fireworks. They were amazing! Some of them felt like they were coming right at us. It made me think of "bombs bursting in air." I'm so grateful to live in a free country. After the show we hung around a bit to let the crowd disperse and then it was back to the hotel and to bed. Although I missed the normal barbequeing and local parades that usually make up the Fourth for me, I was glad I was able to experience Independence Day in our nation's capital.

Omar and Faz Get Married

Jeff's best friend here in Richmond finally got married! Omar and Faz had a HUGE (according to my estimation) wedding weekend. We were able to attend two of the events. The first was the actual ceremony, which was in DC. The second was a more traditional sit down dinner in Richmond. The bride was BEAUTIFUL! I loved all the color and embellishments. Congrats you two!

Liz and Matt's Wedding

It was so fun to be home for my only sister's wedding day! I loved being able to see her so excited and in love. There were many highlights (and lowlights) from the festivities. Lowlights first: How awful that Matt's mom had to have an emergency apendectamy the night before the wedding! I felt so bad as Matt's dad had to rush off from the family barbeque to take his sick wife to the ER. Luckily she was still able to attend the day's events. Lowlight number two, Matt was sick with an awful cold! Sorry Matt.

Now for the good stuff. What a special experience to be in the Jordan River Temple and witness the eternal marriage of Matt and Liz. Liz looked gorgeous (of course). It is always tender for me to experience sealings while sitting next to Jeff. It always remindes me of how blessed I am to have an eternal companion who is so loving an generous and kind. It's also a great reminder to me to live worthy of my marriage covenants. Matt's grandpa sealed the two which was pretty neat considering the history. Matt's grandpa was actually a good friend of my Grandpa Wood. He was responsible for setting up my Grandparents at BYU. WOW! That one definitely came full circle.

Liz's reception went great, except it was cold, so the festivities took place inside. I had the extreme misfortune of being assigned wedding cake decorator, which meant I had to place strawberries on each of the tiers. I always thought I would enjoy that sort of thing, but can I just say STRESSFUL! I only messed up the frosting in about three places...I think. Anyway, I was able to disguise them fairly well. My favorite part of the wedding was watching Liz sing to Matt. I loved the jazz band they had playing and I even convinced Jeff to dance with me. (No small feat, I assure you.)

Overall, it was a smashing sucess and I am so excited for the Cox family (Liz and Matt.)

The Cabin

Luckily we were able to be in Utah during a "cabin weekend." We love spending time at the Sollis family cabin in Midway. It such a relaxing place for us. It was especially fun to see Anna with Ethan, Tanner, and Riser. We found that Tanner and Anna teamed up really quick as partners in crime. At one point in the weekend they also teamed up with Mia, the Lundeburgs' dog. We found them huddled in the bathroom, around the toilet. They stole some leftover biscuits off the kitchen table and had a little snack together. They dipped the biscuits in the toliet and then passed it around, Anna, then Tanner, then Mia. Mmmmmmm...lovely what the little dears will stick in their mouths.

Jeff especially enjoyed going down to the Provo River and fishing. We all met him later in the day for some rock throwing and wading. Ethan and Jeff went a little further down the river to catch a fish. No luck there, but we all had fun cooling off and watching the kids. Riser especially loved the water. I think he could have played in the river all afternoon and been happy. We headed back to the cabin and had a pleasant dinner on the deck. What a great way to spend a weekend!

Playing at Liberty Park

We had such a fun time at Liberty Park with Kelly, Julie, Matt, Amanda, Sarah, Ben and all the kids. We started out with a picnic in the shade. Anna loved running around with her cousins. Then we made our way over to the park/waterfountain area. Anna and Amelia weren't too fond of the ground fountains (similar to Gateway), so they mainly ate snacks and played in the sandbox. In fact, I think most of the kids ended up in the sandbox, except Caleb. He was content running as far away as possible from Julie, who was sick and too pregnant for that kind of schnanegan. (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, but you get the idea.)