We love Valentines Day at our house. Hayden got to go to a little party for preschool and has been looking forward to it for weeks. She worked really hard on her box and was so proud it!! Carson didn't have a clue what was going on, but was more that happy to kiss mom and Hayden all day!!
A couple of weeks ago we went to the zoo. The last Wednesday of every month in the winter is a free day, so we took advantage. The weather was great and it wasn't crowded at all. It was really fun!! Haydens favorite part was getting a sucker at the end...kids!!!
My WONDERFUL husband took me on a trip to Washington D.C. this past weekend. He had to work in Richmond Virginia the next week so he took advantage of the situation and took me out a few days early with him. We left Thursday and I flew home Sunday night. We had almost three full days to see every thing we wanted in D.C. Our awesome parents were kind enough to take care of our kiddos while we were gone!!
Friday:
*Slept in until 9:00!! One of the best parts of the whole trip was staying up late and sleeping in!!
*Took metro in the National Mall
*Walked into the Natural History Museum and decided we have been to a lot of Dinosaur museums, so we turned around and walked out.
*Headed over the the American History Museum. Spent about 2 1/2 hours.
*Walked over to the National Monument
*Saw the Lincoln memorial from a distance and decided it was too far to walk to.
*Most EXCITING part of the whole trip was seeing President Obama. Yes, we saw the most powerful man in the U.S.!! We were walking up to the white house and all of the sudden a police man told us to stop walking. About a minute later here comes a police brigade speeding onto the white house grounds. About 15 police motorcycles went through, then a couple of other official vehicles and then a limo with Obama sitting in the back seat. (I thought the windows would have been heavily tinted, but they weren't.) Just as his limo was about to turn he looked in our direction and Colin gave him the finger, JK he waved at him and guess what... Obama waved back. There was only a handful of us standing there and no one else waved at him, so we feel pretty cool to know that his was waving directly at us!! Definintely the highlight of the trip!
*Made our way up to the White House. There is just something about that place that I love!
*Headed over to the Capital building
*Realized we were tired and hungry so we got dinner at D.C. Chophouse...pretty good!
*Almost went to a Wizards/Knicks basketball game, but decided we were too tired.
Saturday
*Got breakfast at Old Ebbett's Grill...very good!!
*Went to Fords Theater. It was one of our favorite sites!
*Holocaust Museum...spent 2-3 hours there. Humbling, sad, informative, interesting, horrific, inspiring. If you are ever in D.C. it is a must-see.
*Made our way to the Air & Space museum. Really cool museum, but by this time my feet hurt so bad I couldn't enjoy much of anything. Colin got more out of it than I did.
*Spent about an hour trying to decide where to eat and finally decided on a place call Ella's pizza(or something like that). It was sooooooo good!! It was one of those fancy pizza places. We got mozzarella sticks that were to die for and our pizza was almost that good. mmmm...I want to go back to eat there!!:)
*To top off our dinner we stopped at a crepe stand and got a crepe with Nutella and Strawberries. YUM!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!
Sunday
*Picked up Colin's work rental car
*Drove past the pentagon and then on to Arlington National Cemetery. We were able to see Jason Workman's headstone. I was really happy that were able to pay our respects to him and the other Navy Seals that died with him.
*Drove past the Temple
*Went out to Mount Vernon, but didn't go in because it cost too much money. Cool to see the grounds though!
*It was really fun driving around. I loved seeing all of the old houses.
*The hour finally came for me to go the airport. I was sad that the vacation was over, but I was really excited to see Hayden and Carson!!
Thank you Colin(who will never see this) for taking me on such an incredible trip.
Thank you Mom, Dad, Lee and Leah, we couldn't have done it without you. I love being able to leave my kids and not worry about them AT ALL!!
Wright brother airplane.
Fords Theater
John Wilkes Booth gun that he used to shoot Lincoln
Enjoying his prime rib at D.C. Chophouse
Supreme court building(I think)
Colin sitting on the steps of the National Archives where we saw the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence along with other important documents.
IRS building(I think)
The awesome White House
If you can zoom in on that black limo you can see Obama waving at us.
American History Museum(I think)
Arlington National Cemetary
Carson turned 2 on Dec. 29. He is "lucky" enough to have his birthday close to Christmas so got to spend his big day with a lot of family. We love this little guy so much even though he pushes us to our limits daily. I cant wait to see what the next year brings. :0!!
Showing off all of his presents. He loves Yo Gabba Gabba!!
New Pj's and new bike from grandparents.
Enjoying is birthday cupcake.
Getting ready to open his gifts.
Football party!
After the museum we took them to the mall for lunch and a little playtime.
We took the kids to the Bean Museum. Carson loved running around.
Yummy breakfast.
Handsome little two year old!!
We had another great Christmas this year. We spent the entire week with my family and despite the sickness that hit a lot of us, we had a great time!!
Granny Jo Crocker whipping up a delicious Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Eve dinner.
All set to see what Santa brought!
Hayden's reaction to all her gifts looks just like this. She shows ZERO excitement, but I think she was happy with everything. She got a Scooter "with no training wheels" (what she asked for), a sleeping bag, Littlest Pet Shop set, books, a piggy bank, Barbie sing-along DVD and band-aids.
Somehow I didn't get a picture of Carson opening presents. Sad!!! He got a train set and just wanted to play with it. We had to force him to open his other presents. Besides the train set he got a Mickey Mouse guitar, a Toy Story suitcase, a piggy bank, books and they both got an Art Easel.
I got Colin Season Tickets to Desert Star and work Clothes.
I definitely got spoiled. Colin surprised me by giving me a trip to Washington D.C.!!! We are leaving tomorrow and I will be flying home Sunday. Colin has to go to Virginia for work next week, so he thought this would be the perfect opportunity to include me in his traveling. I am really excited. I love traveling and it will be such a nice break from life!!!
Almost has exciting as the trip are the Wireless headphones Colin got me so I can walk on the treadmill and watch TV without turning it up super loud. I just tried them out and they work perfectly!!!
Colin also got an Xbox with Kinect last week. It is pretty darn fun!!
The rest of the week was spent:
*playing Xbox
*racing hotwheels
*playing at the park
*playing Clue, Dicecapades, Rook, and other awesome games
*Celebrating Ava's birthday
*Rollerskating at Classic Skating
*Some of us enjoyed dinner at Cheesecake Factory and a play at Desert Star
*Celebrating Carson's Birthday
*Bean Museum
*Lunch at the Mall
*Moving Denim and Sandi from Cedar City to St. George
*Showing off Ugly Sweaters
*bringing in the New Year
I saw this on a friends blog and had to do it!!
1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? I have never tried eggnog, it smells and sounds like it would not taste very good. Hot chocolate it is!!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps most, leaves the big ones unwrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White on the tree and none on the house. Our house is too steep to put up lights (at least that is Colin's excuse).
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope
5. When do you start decorating? I tried to wait until after Thanksgiving, but we were pretty bored the Saturday before so we broke down and decorated early.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Ham and Funeral potatoes.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Christmas eve with just my family. I loved it!!!
8. What is on your Christmas wish list? I just want to be surprised.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? The kids open pj's and an ornament.
Beautiful little Angel at the Lyman Family Christmas Party.
And the handsome Wiseman
Another Santa visit. They have seen Santa four times already. Carson just walks up to him, turns around and waits for Santa to pick him up.
During quiet time she was trying to be sneaky and watch tv from the stairs.
