Favorite Picture Friday: July 29th, 2011

Here is a picture of Jason outside of the Disneyland park. It was a different view that we had never seen before. We are still getting used to the idea of being able to go do Disneyland whenever we want to. We laugh because when I took Jason to Disneyland our first Spring Break up at USU I told him to enjoy the trip because we might not ever come back. I guess that shows you how well I know the future! We wanted to go see Harry Potter tonight so we thought it would be fun to see it in the movie theater in Downtown Disney. We got out of the movie around 10PM and spent the rest of the night at Disneyland. It's nice at night to have the crowds thinned down and the rides all to ourselves.

Moving to California!

Jason and I have made it safely down to lovely California. We set the date to move for the end of July and we both could not believe how FAST that deadline came. The next thing we knew we were loading up the truck and driving to Cali. It's so fun to wake up and realize that we are here and have so many fantastic things waiting for us.

Here is a picture of Jason, Drew, and Matt with our moving truck. Since my company is paying for our moving costs we rented the biggest U-Haul they offer... which was SO big that we didn't even need most of it. When we filled it up we only did so half way and had plenty of room. Before we started filling it up the boys had to run up and down the ramp about a hundred times to make sure that it worked. I never thought a moving truck would be so much fun to the boys!

My sister was awesome at coming over and helping us get out of the apartment and worked so hard. She's quite a trooper!
We woke up at 4 am last Friday morning to drive down to California and move in our apartment. My parents and my brother, Eric, accompanied us down to California to help with the moving and saving our backs. We had the truck emptied into our new apartment before dinner time. We always are amazed at how much stuff we have, which isn't a ton but when you have to move everything it feels like too much!
We are now moved into our new apartment and are unpacking and putting our home back together. We enjoy doing this together and are so grateful that we moved down early so that we can have some time before Jason is off to law school.

Here is a picture of us being a bit exhausted from moving!

We will have to post pictures of the place when we are all settled in, but the picture at the top of the blog shows what the backyard looks like. We love our apartment and how nice the area is around it. We are so happy living down here!

Washington DC Trip: Day 6

Our last full day in Wash DC. We knew we wanted to spend this last Saturday enjoying the time and revisiting some of our favorite sites. The very first thing we did was to use our tickets we had to go to the very top of the Washington Monument. It is so impressive at 555 feet and the world's tallest stone monument. We were the very first group to go up and we have always enjoyed going to the top of building and monuments to get a great view of the city.

Here is the view from the top of the Washington Monument.

We spent most of the morning over on that end of town and had to do some souvenir shopping. After lunch we took the Metro out to see Arlington Cemetery. It is a very special and respectful place where so many men and women ae burried that served our country. There are hundreds of rows or these white tombstones that span the entire area. It is incredibly humbling.

Here is a picture of some of the tombstones in Arlington.

We are lucky enough to have some relatives out that way. My cousins Jana, Kemper, and their cute little girl, Alice, met up with us after Arlington and we went and had dinner and they showed us some last sights on our way back to the hotel.
We had another great day and sadly it was our last day in DC. We've had a wonderful time here and Jason keeps talking about all of the things we are going to do the next time we come out here. I'm assuming that is his way of saying that he enjoyed it. For me it was wonderful to see some of the sites I saw a long time ago and to be able to share it with Jason.

Washington DC Trip: Day 5

Today Jason and I went to the Mall! This isn't just any ordinary mall filled with shops, but the Mall we are talking about is an area in DC that contains just about everything you want to see your first trip there. We started out going and seeing the Capitol building and then just kept heading West from there. We eventually ran into the part of the Mall where all of the Smithsonians are located. As much as we would have enjoyed visiting all of the museums there we knew we only scheduled one day to visit the most important ones. I was excited to show Jason my 3 favorite museums that I saw right after I graduated high school. Our first one that we explored was the American History Smithsonian. The highlight in this museum has to be the original flag that is mentioned in the Star Spangled Banner.


We spent a couple of hours in that museum and then we were ready to move on. We started walking towards the next museum but stopped to take a picture with the Smithsonian Castle. It is mainly used as a visitors center but is so gorgeous that I would consider it a castle. I love the red color of the building.

Here we are outside the Smithsonian Castle.


The next Smithsonian that we wanted to visit was the Air and Space Museum. I knew Jason would spend most of the time looking up because they have displayed so many famous flying machines up high so you can see them. Inside the museum it goes through the history of flying from showing you some of the original planes by the Wright Brothers to the Apollo 11 capsule and beyond.

Here is a view of us standing below the main gallery in the Air and Space Smithsonian. Right behind Jason is Chuck Yager's plane that first broke the sound barrier and behind my head is "SpaceshipOne," which was the first commercial spacecraft to enter space.

Our final Smithsonian for the day was the Natural History museum, which is another favorite. It has everything about our planet Earth there, including amazing collections of rocks, plants, animals, and everything else in-between.

Just those three museums took the whole morning and most of the afternoon to go through, and we still wanted to see more of them! We just kept saying that we will have to come back to DC and see them again! We continued down the Mall and eventually ran into the Washington Monument. We looked to the right (North) and could see the White House and then looked left (South) and could see the Jefferson Memorial we saw on Day 2. Sticking to the main course we continued West. We came across the WWII memorial, which was brand new when I came here in 2004. We arrived here right around sunset and it was such a nice evening that we didn't want to leave.

Here we are by the WWII Memorial.

You'd think that we would have been done by that point, but not yet! We held hands and talked as we continued down the Mall to see one more war memorial: the Vietnam War Memorial. It was dark by this point, especially after I had to take a few minutes to go and chase fireflies. It was our first encounter with fireflies and I just loved watching them. I could do that everyday and never get sick of them!

A picture of the Vietnam Memorial. It is one of the more simpler memorials in that it is a long, black wall with all of the names of the great men and women that sacrificed their lives in the war. I like to read through the names and imagine that person and what they were like and how this memorial doesn't do anything to detract from their names or honor. It is beautiful!

Finally, the end of the Mall! We walked several miles for over 12 hours to end up at one of my favorite memorials in the entire world! The Lincoln Memorial. The last time I came out here I saw this during the daytime, which was amazing, of course! But lately I am finding that certain iconic sites are just better at night! The Lincoln memorial was lit up and was just glowing in the evening sky. We sat on the steps looking up at Abe, admiring the beauty of the memorial. By this point we were about ready to pass out on those steps so we went back to the hotel and called it a great day!

Washington DC Trip: Day 4

Have you ever wanted to be a spy? Today we had the opportunity to do so. Our first item on our itinerary was to go and visit the International Spy Museum. Oddly enough I heard about this place from one of my 6th students who said that I had to go and see it when I came out here. I can see why kids and adults would like it, because who doesn't want to be a spy? In addition to attending the museum Jason and I did a little something extra as well. The museum offers a special program called "Spy in the City," where you get a GPS device and run around DC finding clues and tracking spies. It was such a blast! We had to run to a bank, a post office, and even the FBI building and find clues along the way. Sometimes we would have to solve a puzzle by finding information around us or decode a message by using famous landmarks. It was pretty impressive and we were laughing the whole time at how much fun we were having. Below is a picture of me with the GPS device and we had to break the anagram code by counting the letter in this plaque that is a real one made for FDR behind the building where the US Constitution is kept.

We spent a good chunk of the morning at the Spy Museum but we are always on the move and had to catch the Metro to make it to our next appointment. This tour was a special one for Jason being a promising lawyer. We were able to go and have a tour of The Supreme Court. We actually got to go and sit in the main court room where you see so many pictures of the Supreme Court Justices. Jason was just entranced the whole time like a kid in a candy store! Here we are standing outside of the building after the tour.

A new museum that has made its way to Washington DC is called the Newseum. No I didn't misspell "museum," because this museum specifically deals with the news. It was actually a very impressive building that went through history but through the eyes of the newspapers and newscasts. It was fun to see which ones we remembered and which ones really impacted history. It also talked about the importance of free speech and how the news and media has developed throughout time. One of the most interesting artifacts that they had there was one of the flag towers from the Word Trade Towers. That was an event that we remember well and it really made me stop and think about Sept. 11th and how I hadn't thought about it since we went and saw Ground Zero in NYC last year. Here is a picture of us standing on the top of the Newseum building looking out over Wash DC.

We found food that evening and called it a night! On our way home I snapped a quick picture of Jason by one of the Metro stands. Public transportation is the only way to travel in big cities like DC. Here is the cutie!

Washington DC Trip: Day 3

We woke up on this Wednesday ready to go and see some amazing things today. Our first item on the agenda was probably one of the hottest tickets in town and took over 3 months for us to get. We were lucky enough to get tickets in to the White House. We had to go through so many of the Utah Senator's offices to get our tickets and this was one where they couldn't guarantee us these tickets until just a few days before we left for DC. It was also one of the strictest security guidelines we had to follow out of all of the buildings we were going to visit. We weren't allowed to bring in any cameras, water, chapstick, cell phones, hats, or sunglasses. Basically we were able to have our ID on us and that was it. So obviously we don't have any pictures from that tour, but we will tell some stories from that later.

Here is a picture of the dome in the Capitol building. That was the second tour of the day that we were able to attend right after the White House. This was another tour that we had to go through Utah Senators offices to get. It was actually my favorite tour of the day because it was done really well and the tour guide was very personable.

Our final tour of the day was at the Library of Congress. Jason and I can't seem to stay away from universities and libraries when we travel, but they are always wonderful destinations. I can't believe what is held at the Library of Congress and how much they archive. Basically they collect everything from comic books, newspapers, encyclopedias, and even different versions of the Bible. It was such an interesting place that I wished we lived closer to it so that we could use it more often.

We had a great day that was busy and stuffed full of information. I think we are both still processing all of the amazing sites that we were able to see today and extremely grateful that we were able to plan and prepare far enough in advance to do so. We can't wait for tomorrow.

Washington DC Trip: Day 2

We arrived in DC! It was a long red-eye flight but it was worth it to make it here early. When we arrive early in the morning we usually just drop off our luggage and hit the town. Today we jumped on a bus just to get our bearings and see some of the main sites. Here are some that we saw today:

We saw the Washington Monument from a distance. You can pretty much see that from all over Washington DC, and it is one of the first things you recognize from the airplane.

We went and walked around the Jefferson Memorial. The Memorial is in a kind of an isolated area and surrounded by a tidal basin so we explored the area. It is a beautiful building with a dome ceiling and stone pillars. Since it is a ways outside of DC it actually was a pretty good view of the area because everything in DC is so close you almost need to leave the area to observe it.


We continued to ride around the city getting off to see some of the major historical landmarks. We eventually got hungry and ate at Union Station. We were exhausted from our redeye flight and from running around all day in the heat, but once the sun went below the horizon we just couldn't resist going for another walk.

Just a few blocks away from our hotel is one of the most famous houses in the whole world: The White House. We wanted to go and see it lit at night so we rode the Metro for a bit and then walked over to see the view. We decided to see the backside of the White House since we will be touring the front part tomorrow. We were able to get right up to the fence that separates the street and the Obama's backyard and stick our faces through it. We were looking on to the Rose Garden where the Obama family likes to go outside and play with their dog, Bo. No sighting on them tonight, but we weren't expecting to see anything

A view of the backside of the White House and the Rose Garden.

Washington DC Trip: Day 1

Jason and I are off on another adventure! This one isn't very far and doesn't require a passport to travel there, but it is somewhere that I know Jason has always wanted to visit: Washington DC. We have been planning this trip for over a year now which means that it snuck up on us quite fast. With us packing up and getting ready to move to California we had to juggle between packing up the whole house but leaving enough out for this trip. We were still packing up till the hour we left to go to the St. George airport! We have so many exciting events up ahead that waiting to get to them is always the hardest part. Right now we are at the SLC airport waiting for our connection to DC. Since we were going to be here for a few hours we decided to try something that we have never done before at an airport. We wanted to test out the Delta Sky Club. Let's just say that this is the only way to wait for a late flight! They have free snacks, drinks, and internet to allow you to relax and enjoy the time. It is so quiet without any screaming kids and so much more comfortable that I wished the airports could all be this nice. Here is a picture of Jason enjoying this first part of our journey with a ginger ale and some goodies. Ginger ale is our favorite traveling drink. We won't get to DC until tomorrow and will be running around town the whole time. Hopefully we won't exhaust ourselves so that we can post some pictures at the end of the day.

Favorite Picture Friday: July 8th, 2011 Sister Missionary Special

We are so lucky in my family to have a cousin as awesome as Ashley! She recently graduated from Dixie State College and was called to serve an LDS mission in Utica, New York. She has such an amazing testimony and fun personality that I know she will be amazing out there. We took some missionary pictures of her and she looks so adorable in them that I couldn't choose just one! I just had to show off how amazing she is, and I was so grateful that she was willing to go with me on some of these crazy picture ideas! I know she will be doing so much good in the world, but I am going to miss her so much. Maybe we will have to convince her to come to California once she returns home! Enjoy these lovely pictures of the soon-to-be Sister Ashley Blackburn.

Here is one of Ashley's favorite scriptures.

See how much fun she is!

Also, just an update on our moving status. We continue to pack and plan because our time in St. George is sadly running out. We will be out of town next week and then the week after we will be leaving lovely Utah and heading for sunny California. We both can't believe how fast this time has gone but we are so excited to move to Costa Mesa!

Favorite Picture Friday: July 1st, 2011

This Friday I have to admit that I am currently not with my adorable husband. I am actually with my mom right now in Spokane, Washington getting ready to fly back to Utah. I was lucky enough to accompany her on a Principals Association Retreat to Coeur d'Alene, ID. It was sort of last minute when she mentioned that she was going to be traveling all alone and then we both realized that I have time right now to keep her company. I love having a job where I get paid year round but still get the summers off to have opportunities such as this. We left on Wednesday and are coming back today so even though we aren't gone for very long it feels like forever when I don't get to travel with Jason. He is just such a treat to travel with, but my mom and I had a few good laughs and some fun memories along the way. Here are some pictures from beautiful Coeur d'Alene:

Here is the Coeur d'Alene Resort that we stayed at on this trip. As you can see it is right next to the beautiful lake which we enjoyed going and watching the boats go by.

This is a picture of the Boardwalk that starts at the resort and extends into the lake to this cool bridge. We enjoyed going out a couple of times to get the best view on the lake.

A picture of the Boardwalk Bridge.

Coeur d'Alene has a ton of these red geraniums around town.



While mom was busy at work in meetings and planning events I walked around the edge of the lake. I couldn't believe how nice the weather way up there. It was in the low 80's with a slight breeze. Everyone that I talked to was talking about how they were finally getting nice weather up there and that their winter was too long. When I told them that it's 115 degrees down in St. George they couldn't believe it. I was walking along the beach and decided to chase some seagulls.

There are a ton of piers and docks around town that are fun to walk out on and stick your feet in the water.

Here is another shot of a beach along the lake. Of course the water was too cold for anyone to go swimming, but we all enjoyed skipping rocks and enjoying the sand.

Part of mom's conference included going on a dinner boat tour of the lake. This picture is taken just as we were leaving the dock. It was so relaxing to be out on the boat eating delicious food. Apparently northern Idaho is famous for huckleberries, so we were able to enjoy some for dinner. It's amazing what they've been able to make with huckleberries: chocolate, jam, bubble gum, syrup, popcorn, candy, and licorice. I think our favorite application was huckleberry BBQ sauce. Yum!

It was a gorgeous place to visit and a lovely, relaxing vacation. I had a blast being able to travel with my mom. If you are ever in northern Idaho you must go and visit Coeur d'Alene! Thanks Mom for letting me tag along with you on this fun adventure.