Playing Catch Up

So apparently blogger has a new way to insert pictures--FINALLY-- and the way I've been doing it for the past three years is obsolete.  The good news is that all the pictures downloaded much more quickly than they used to.  The bad news is that I no longer have to post my oldest pictures first so they'll end up on the top.  It used to be that the first picture loaded was the last picture on the blog.

 This blog post is consequently backward, because the first picture I downloaded is at the top instead of the bottom where it used to go. That means this blog post will start with the happenings of the end of September and go back to August, instead of the other way round.

In September I organized a group of Relief Society ladies from our ward to visit the section of DC known as Georgetown.  Below I'm standing in front of the Old Stone House, which was built in 1766 and is the oldest home in the District of Columbia.  It's now run by the National Park Service.

 Our first stop of the day was to buy cupcakes at the famous Georgetown Cupcake shop.  We were very fortunate to get there early in the morning so there wasn't a line.

 Also in September was the National Book Festival on the mall in DC.  This was the first year Kent came with me.  We went to hear David McCullough speak.  In the picture below the author behind Kent is Garrison Kellior.  He spoke at the same time David McCullough did, so we didn't get a chance to listen to him speak.  He talked longer that David Mc. so we just stood on the outside to see him.

Also in September the Relief Society put on on luau for the adults in the ward.  There was lots of good food, good decorations (for once I didn't decorate, so I can say that!) and we learned how to dance the hookie lau.

 At the end of August I spent five days with Lissa and the girls while Jason was on a business trip.  It was so fun to see Savannah smiling already! I spent lots of quality time with Kiera so her Mommy could take care of seven-week-old Savannah,

 I took Kiera to the neighborhood pool one evening.

 I took these pictures of the girls one morning when we were letting Mommy sleep in.

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This is a shot of the Washington monument from the airplane as I was landing in DC on the way home after a fun time in Katy.

 I know this doesn't look like much, but here's a picture of the homemade salsa I canned with tomatoes and peppers Kent grew in our garden.

 I had fun getting fancy making some designer cupcakes as refreshments for my book group.  The top ones are mint/chocolate and the bottom are peanut butter/chocolate.  I'll humbly say that I think my cupcakes looked and tasted as good as the $3 each ones from Georgetown Cupcake!!

 My sister, Jill, came to visit for a few days in August, and I took her to see Thomas Jefferson's home in Monticello.  It's about a two-hour drive away.  In the five days she was here we had an earthquake (no damage at all to our house) and a hurricane, so she got lots of bang for her buck while she was here.

 The first event of August was a day trip I organized for the Relief Society ladies to visit the Governor's Mansion and state capitol in Richmond, Virginia.  It was VERY interesting and informatiive.  I learned that eight presidents of the US were born in Virigina, and that the Virginia capitol building was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

This statue of George Washington was in the hall of Presidents.  There were busts of the other former US presidents.

 The dome is enclosed and isn't visible from the outside.  The VA capitol was the first neo-classical building in the United States and was very unique for it's time.  Jefferson was inspired by his years spent in Paris.

The Governor's mansion looked small from the outside, but seemed bigger once we went inside.  It's also an historic building, which is why it's not huge. 

The dining room rug was brand new and had been custom designed for the room with seal of the great state of Virginia.

 Yes, that's a portrait of Robert E. Lee.  He's almost as beloved as Washington and Jefferson to Virginians.

A Wonderful Grandparenting Month

I've changed our blog background to pink in honor of our new granddaughter who was born, July 8th; Savannah Eden, 8 lbs. 3 oz. with LOTS of reddish-brown hair. Lissa thankfully had a short labor and delivery.

I've been getting a little flack about bringing Kiera to the hospital in her tutu. In my defense, Kiera is in a ballerina phase, and here's what she was doing earlier in the day---

I was so excited to rush out the door to the hospital when Lissa called to tell me Savannah was born that I didn't think about having Kiera change clothes, since she would be in lots of pictures with her new sister. Here are some of the sweet photos when Savannah was only an hour or two old.

It was a great month of being grandparents. Before I flew to Texas on the 7th (Lissa was induced on the 8th) Kent and I spent a week in Oregon at our family reunion bonding with Daniel, our six-month old grandson. His family is in the middle of a move to Vandenburg AFB in California. Daniel is such a calm, good-natured little guy, and pretty photogenic, too.

Our family just couldn't get enough of him. Everyone took turns holding him, and we all took hundreds of pictures of him. (No, I'm not exaggerating!)

We were able to get a four-generation picture with my dad.

I thought this picture with Daniel and his daddy was too cute not to include in the blog. I just noticed that I haven't included any pictures of Daniel with his wonderful, patient and dedicated mother, Krystal. I wish I'd realized it sooner, because to insert pictures on blogger I have to start at the bottom and work to the top, so if I add a picture with Krystal now it will be up with the pictures of baby Savannah. I apologize for the omission and will put some into the next blog post.

May and June in a Pretty Big Nutshell

A few last pictures from the quick trip to Houston. It was very gratifying that Kiera (age 2 1/2) is now old enough to remember us, and when she saw us at the airport she ran towards us shouting, "Grandpa!" and "Grandma!".

Kiera in the tutu and crown I gave her last year for her second birthday. She and I enjoyed some bonding time while her mom and dad spent a couple of days away. Kent's Mom and brothers Marty and Rob came to visit us the end of April. After church the first Sunday in May we went to the National Arboretum in Washington DC. They have an azalea trail, and the flowers were in bloom. Azaleas are one of my favorite flowers, and the pictures don't do justice to the many lovely colors of we saw. I hope Kent and I can go see the azaleas every year at the arboretum. Kent's mom has always loved flowers. I'm sure it's where Kent got his love of gardening. When we were first married if I wanted to know the name of a flower or plant, I would ask Kent's mom.

The columns below used to be around the US Capitol building, but were replaced in the 1950's.

We took a daytrip to Gettysburg, PA, which is less than a two-hour drive away with Kent's mom and brothers.

Unfortunately I didn't have Kent get into this picture with his family members.

This civil war re-enactor was available to answer questions.

I had my spring recital in May instead of June this year to accomodate a family who was going out of town. Below is one of the 15 invitations I made.

Kent and I played a duet of Billy Joel's "Piano Man", only we changed it to "Piano Teacher". I played the piano while Kent played the harmonica and sang words adapted to the names of my piano students.

We did a couple of cool things for Memorial Day. We went to the military cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to see the 15,000 luminaries again this year on the Saturday night of Memorial day weekend.

On Sunday after church we went to the Kennedy Center for a free Memorial Day concert being conducted by Craig Jessop, who formerly led the MoTab. The picture below is of the bridge between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln memorial. I took this picture as we walked across it because the bridge was blocked off so the "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle organization could have it's parade. We saw LOTS of motorcycles!

Inside the Kennedy Center with the US Army orchestra and a combined choir from across the country performing patriotic songs.

And now for the month of June, which started off with several Relief Society activities. I taught at class at our evening RS meeting on making organza flowers like those pictured below.

The theme of that activity was "Bloom Where You're Planted", so my counselor and I made 80 sugar cookie flowers with sticks in them. We made them into flower pots (ice cream cones filled with ice cream) and some Oreo crumb dirt. They were cute and yummy but didn't stand up very well.

I helped to prepare and serve a meal at a homeless shelter.

I hosted a "Welcome and Farewell" Garden party for the Relief Society sisters who were moving out and into our ward.

We bought a new light for the dining room, so I took the old one and spray painted it white. (With lots of help from Kent.) I added some bling and hung it below the deck during my garden party. Kent has the yard looking great.

I organized a Relief Society "Ladies Day Out" trip to the Library of Congress in DC.

Unfortunately only three of us went.

This is me with George Gershwin's piano.

The Library of Congress was built in the 1890's and is a beautiful building.

Our last outing of the month was to the overflow Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport. We were excited to see an authentic space shuttle, the "Enterprise."

The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Can you see the reflection of me taking the picture?

It was hard to fit it into a picture, but that's a Concorde jet behind us.