The White House

March 27, 2009
The White House, Treasury, & Original Smithsonian


We got to see the inside and outside of the White House -- Didn't run into President Obama, though. Congressman Rob Bishop got us in. Some random trivia......The White House used to have a movie theater, a bowling alley, and a pool -- crazy!

This is a picture of the original Smithsonian. The gardens there are very pretty and in blume this time of year.

Here we are outside the Big House -- I mean the White House. That's Katie buried under Sarah's jacket.

Yeah, I'm a nerd. Only a tax accountant would be excited about seeing the Treasury building in person.

Gracie's Dance Class and Andrew's Gym Class

March 27, 2009
Gracie's Dance Class and Andrew's Gym Class


Gracie is taking a dance class now -- and loving it. The teacher at the community center has a theme each time. Last week it was Cinderella. This week it was Run-Away Bunny.

She got some air! As you can see by the smile on her face, she lover her class. She can't wait for Fridays.

Not sure what this move is called, but she sure is good at it.

Bike for two anyone? I don't know what these two did without each other!

Andrew loves the tunnels (and the bikes, and the basketball, and the play mats)!

Zoo

March 21, 2009
Zoo

These are some of the animals at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The zoo is so large that you can't see it all in one day.

Reed's Office

Reed's Office


This is the metro train Reed takes to work each day. About 30 minutes, door to door. The kids love to take the train, too.

Reed's office. This is where it all happens!

Great Falls

March 21, 2009
Great Falls

This is Great Falls Park - about 20 minutes from Falls Church, Virginia. Great view! The kids loved it, too. Not sure why Andrew and Katie are not in these pictures.

Georgetown

March 14, 2009
Georgetown Underground Georgetown mall was very trendy and very overpriced, but very cool. Above ground stores were cool too. Kind of like the Portland, Oregon NW 23rd stores.

In the mall there was a store called "Creativity" which is a store that lets you buy crafts and work on them in the store. Gracie bought a treasure chest and painted it pink and purple and put pink jewels all over it. She keeps her pennies and her bracelet in it.

This is Andrew's dinosaur bank - blue and green - to keep his pennies away from Gracie.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I love this place!!!!!!!!!!!

Yummy! I love $3 cupcakes! Let's have six of them!

Winter in D.C.

March 2009
Winter in D.C. Winter's last big push -- in March! It was 9 degrees one day, but they say the wind chill made it feel like -2 degrees!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!

The kids had a blast despite the cold. They went sledding with the neighbors......

...and even built a baby snowman. All in all, a fun day.

Glen Echo Park

March 7, 2009
Glen Echo Park Gracie and her cousin Chloe at the playground. This park had a glass blowing exhibit, a pottery exhibit, a puppet show, a ferris wheel, etc. We got to see how a glass vase was made -- from scratch.

Botanical Gardens

February 20. 2009
Botanical Gardens

Spring is almost here! Sarah and the kids went to the gardens with Heather Francis, her cousin. They loved the flowers. Now the flowers are starting to bloom in our yard as well. We can't wait for the cherry blossom festival at the end of March.

Mt Vernon

February 16, 2009
Mt Vernon This is the house we are renting. Sarah and I sleep here. I think we really got our money's worth...!

...And this is the kids' room...and the kitchen...and the den.

This guy came with the house -- we're not sure what he does yet.

This is our backyard -- pretty impressive, huh? Plenty of room for the kids to play.

Unfortunately, this is the guest bathroom. Hey, at least you can knock out a family meeting at the same time!

In all seriousness, George Washington's place at Mt. Vernon was really cool. Awesome view of the river and acres of land. We saw his horse, sword, garden, slave quarters, a movie about the war, a parade, etc. There were also lots of people in period-costumes.

Washington, D.C. Temple Visitor Center

February 15, 2009
Washington, D.C. Temple
Visitor's Center This scene is right out of 3 Nephi 11. You gotta love kids. Besides the Christus statue, the kids loved the videos throughout the visitor's center - it was like they had their own remote control. They also loved the make-shift house and the mormon ad videos -- "Isn't is about...time?" We also got to see a family of deer on the temple grounds about 25 feet away.

Katie - where are your Sunday clothes? Oh, that's right, you threw up on them. Sorry mommy.

Museum of Natural History

February 12, 2009
Museum of Natural History


Hey that's the same dinosaur on my big-boy underpants! That's right - I'm a big-boy now.

Gracie and Andrew loved the museum, especially since we couldn't get into the house -- got locked out -- where's Nate when you need him??

Clemyjontri Park

February 11, 2009
Clemyjonti Park

One afternoon we stumbled onto this AMAZING park. It has the biggest play area I have ever seen. The kids were in serious sensory overload. They didn't know where to start, they just ran from one thing to the next. When it was time to leave Gracie said, "I just want to live here."

Our new Sit and Stand stroller. If you look closely you can see it works great for all 3 kids. They call it our little taxi. Just a little heavy for mom to push, but much better than having crying kids.All aboard! Ready for take off! Vrrrroooooooommmmmmmmmm!

National Aquarium

January 2009
Our first outing... the National Aquarium. Andrew and Gracie both LOVED the alligators. We got to see them feed the sharks. We thought it might scare them, but they thought it was cool.
They really liked riding the metro downtown, and of course they always love the elevators.

Leaving on a jet plane...

January 19, 2009

It was sad to take one last walk through our empty house. We hope another family can make some fun memories there while we are away. Our cars are waiting for us in Viriginia, thankfully we get to fly out there.

The kids did great on the 6 hour flight. Thank goodness for the protable DVD player and lots of treats. Katie was an angel and slept the whole way! Since our moving truck was going to take a few days to get out here and all hotels, motels and everything else were booked up for the presidential inauguration, we stayed with our cousin Heather and her darling kids. It was so fun getting to know them and we are so excited to have some family out here.

The moving truck made it by the weekend and we worked like crazy to get all unpacked before Reed had to start work. Now time to just settle in.





Great family nap!

Winter Wonderland

We planned Katie's baby blessing for Dec. 12th and wouldn't you know it, snow! Munga and Grandpa Tanner, the Hansens, and Hipps flew up for the blessing and a morning dusting cancelled church. Grandma and Grandpa Sands braved the weather and made it to our house where we blessed Katie together as a family. It was very special, we are so glad we were able to have family there with us.


The snow continued and we had a beautiful white Christmas this year. It was nice to slow down from the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season and preparing for the move to have a chance to really celebrate CHRISTmas. We had a plenty of time for family bonding since we made it over to Grandma and Grandpa's and then couldn't make it home for 5 days! (Snow really shuts down Oregon)
December 2008-Snow storm