Stinson's Visit to Virginia

The Stinson family came from Houston to visit us for five days in March during their spring vacation from school. We fit lots of fun and activities into those five days!

Granddad reading his family-favorite version of the Berenstein Bears book, "The Bike Lesson."

Granddad also likes to have the grandchildren help him feed the birds when they come to visit.

The first full day they were here was Saint Patrick's day, and since I had to spend the day at the church getting ready for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner, the Stinsons spent the day at Mount Vernon.

Here's a picture of Kent and me at the RS Dinner that night. Kent was serving, which is why he's wearing his tuxedo.

The next day was Friday, and I spent the day with the Stinsons in DC. We started off with a boat cruise on the Potomac. 

 We picked up Kent from work so he could join us.  

 Here are some of the awesome sights we saw from the boat.

 The famous cherry blossom trees weren't blooming yet, but other trees were in bloom. It was a lovely spring day.

 The girls had fun on the boat ride.

 Our next stop was the US Capitol building.

 Lissa had arranged a tour by one of the interns from their congressman from Texas.

 Here we are at the congressman's desk. He wasn't in town.

 This statue is in the underground passageway between the Congressional office buildings and the Capitol building. I'd never seen it before since tourists can only be in the passageway with a guide.

 In the Capitol's hall of statues, the Stinsons posed with their hometown's namesake, Sam Houston.

 Brigham Young is one of the statues that represents Utah in the hall of Statues.

I hadn't noticed this plaque before, recognizing the passengers of Flight 93 on 9/11, 2001.

 After our Capitol tour we took a quick walk through the Library of Congress.

 It has one of the most beautiful interiors in DC, I think. Below is the main reading room.

 This is the roof of the Library of Congress main hall.

 Since the Supreme Court building was right next door, we stood in the line to go inside.

There wasn't much to see inside since we weren't able to go into the courtroom.

Our last stop of the day was to see the White House. The Stinsons were able to see all the buildings that represent all the branches of our government!

The next day was Saturday, and we drove through Shenandoah National Park to go to see Luray Caverns. The girls were beyond excited when they saw that it was snowing in the mountains!

 Last year when they came there was quite a bit of snow on the ground and they loved playing in it, but they'd expressed the wish to see snow falling from the sky. They got their wish!

Here are lots of pictures of the very extensive caverns. The girls really thought it was neat.

 It's hard to tell, but there's water in the bottom of the photo, reflecting the top of the cave.

 One of the claims to fame of Luray Caverns is an organ that uses the stalactites as pipes to create different pitches.

 Here's another famous sight, the rock formations that look like fried eggs.

 The girls played in the snow around the outside of the entrance to the caverns.

 This was the pretty scenery as we drove back across the Shenandoah Mountains.

On their last day of their visit we stopped by Arlington Cemetery before they had to get on the plane to go home. The picture below was taken at Robert E. Lee's former home, which is on Arlington Cemetery.

 Robert E. Lee's home is in the background. The Stinsons are posing in front of John F. Kennedy's gravesite.

 I thought this was a pretty view with the blossoming trees.

 Savannah with her bestie, purple bunny.

 Kiera in front of the memorial to the astronauts who died in the Challenger shuttle tragedy.

Thanks for coming to visit us, Stinson family! We had a great time with you here.

Trip to Oregon for my Mom's 80th Birthday

Kent and I were able to fly to Oregon on the 10th of March to help my mother celebrate her 80th birthday.

We flew out bright and early in the morning, and we had the rare experience of watching the sun rise from the air.

I made my mom a cake to her specifications, which was a chocolate cake with royal icing. We had the birthday party at my brother's house, who also lives in Oregon.

We decided it wasn't necessary to have 80 candles on the cake!

I made buttercream frosting for the layers inside the cake. It was yummy!

My sister from Massachusetts and my brother from Texas joined us for a dinner cruise that left from Portland, Oregon. Of course it was a rainy night. That's to be expected in Oregon in the spring.

A dinner cruise was my mother's request.

Since we went at night we didn't see too much out the windows except what was lit up.

Here's a view of all the family members who were able to join us on the cruise. We were only all together for about seven hours on my mom's actual birthday, since my youngest brother didn't fly in until Saturday afternoon, and my sister had to leave Saturday after the dinner cruise. I really regret that we didn't get a picture of just the original six family members.

Mom makes patchwork flannel blankets for all the great-grandchildren. She enlists my help whenever I visit so we can work together on the quilts. Below my sister, Jill, is helping to cut out squares. This shows what a loyal daughter she is, because she has no interest in sewing or much of anything domestic!

Here's the top of the quilt we completed while I was there.

My parents holding the bouquet of flowers my daughter, Lissa, sent my mom for her birthday.

My mom is proud of the fact she doesn't have to dye her hair at her age. It's a nice natural brown color even at the age of 80.  Her mother never had to dye her hair, either, but she passed away in her seventies. Happy 80th birthday, Mom!!