DC Day Two!

Greetings from the nation's capital, although after being here I'm not sure which nation it is the capital of. I have been blown away by the diversity and extremes found in DC. When you go down around the national mall, there is not a piece of garbage to be found, but when you move out from the city center (like to our hotel) you pass through seemingly endless ghettos and dejected people. We have the privilege of not being on one of those mass tours through the city, we are actually driving around (and actually finding our way thanks to Lauren Smith's GPS...I told her when we get back Mr. C is going to do some work on her transcript!) and getting to experience the real DC. This includes the maddening lack of parking...
Today we went to the Russell Senate Building at 8:30 am to meet with Senator Jeff Sessions. If you want proof, just check the picture which can be viewed on his Facebook page. We then went to the National Archives and saw the document that started it all, the Declaration of Independence! (TJ is a rock n' roller!!!!) While we were in the Archives, the clouds finally broke and so did Will's fever. By our 2:00 private tour of the Capitol, Silena and Will joined us. We got to take an underground tram only used by Senators to get into the Capitol! This was strictly VIP because that's how we roll. And how do you top that? You go to the mall, because we are with teenagers! We are rockin' the Capital, wish you were here...

Washington DC!!!

I can't believe we are here!! We made the 12 hour trip in a 15 passenger van with 12 people and 12 peoples luggage!! We almost didn't fit!! But we did and it was fun and the kids are wonderful!! Clint and I are blessed to be able to make this adventure with them!! Today was our first full day~ we hit the Smithsonians~ which were awesome!! I haven't been here since I was in eighth grade (I don't remember hardly any of that trip) and it was so fun!! We all loved it! My favorite things we saw today were the mummy, the Hope Diamond, and the Ruby Slippers!!

A Prince?

Last week on the way to school, Francie was talking about seeing her friend "J" and she said "Mommy the other day when "J" came in to school with the handsome hair..." (there was a pause, I said "Yes") ..."I thought he was a prince." (sigh)
Ha! I just about died~ it was so cute!!
"J" and Francie have been best friends since last year when they were in Mrs.Reeves class together. They are a kind of funny match~ Francie is some what tall for her age and "J" is some what short for his!! They love each other to death!! :)


Friends are kisses blown to us by angels.

Amerikids!

Today Will had his 2nd grade program "Amerikids"!! It was awesome~ the kids were wonderful!! Will didn't have an official part (he is kind of like his mommy- do NOT put us in center stage)-he was a singer! But I was sooo proud of him!! He is the cutest and it was a really great program~ It was sweet to see him and all of his friends perform, Noah was an Air Force man, Hannah was Pip, Logan was Benjamin Franklin, and Jack was "Yacky Dude"! They have all grown up so much! The kids' artwork and writing projects and Flat Stanleys were displayed in the hall and it was fun to see how hard the they had worked and how much they had learned about America!! I felt very blessed to have my kids at Shades Mountain~ I love the teachers and the fact that they are able to sing songs about Jesus and experience the gospel!
























Will's Flat Stanley Project

**A special thanks to Corb for taking Flat Stanley with you to California!!




Uncle Sam














**************************************************************************
On a completely different, but AWESOME note: The new preview for Eclipse came out today and it is totally awesome!! I am sooooooo excited~ this book may be my favorite of all four~ the movie is going to be so good!!!
I CANNOT wait until July 30th!! And I cannot wait til March 20th either- New Moon will be out to buy on DVD and it's mine baby! :)

A Beautiful Weekend!

This past weekend was gorgeous!! We enjoyed it to the fullest! In five days we will be taking Clint's senior class homeroom to Washington D.C. for Spring Break, so Will spent the weekend with Nana because next week she will have Francie and she wanted a little time to visit with Will! (Will is going to be going on the DC trip with us~ it has been one of his life long dreams)! That meant Clint and I got some Francie Time!! I am going to miss her so much! I don't think I have been away from either of my children for five whole days!!



So we made a special time for France, we ate at our favorite place~ Pablo's ~yummy chips and cheese dip and fajitas!! Then we walked around the Colonnade! We also went shopping (a favorite past time that mommy and Francie share)!! Francie picked out a stuffed animal guinea pig, she calls it a hamster, though, she LOVES hamsters! We also went to the botanical gardens for a quiet stroll!!





































It was such NICE weather- I can NOT wait til spring!! I had to break out my new pair of zebra flip flops, I wore them all weekend long!!

I Forgot!

When I did our February wrap up, I left out one of the most important (and my favorite) thing we were involved in during the month~ our Missions Conference!! The guest speaker was AMAZING ~Chris Granberry!! He and his family live in Washington on the Yakama Indian Reservation!! For a few years, I have been wanting to go on a missions trip out there and it was just so neat and special to hear from them and their friends about their ministry!! I am praying for the opportunity to go help out their family~ I really want to be involved!! You should check out their website and blog www.sacredroadministries.com or www.sacredroadyakama.blogspot.com!!

Birthday Wishes!!

Happy Birthday Clint!! I'm not that good with words~ all I know is that your smile lights up my darkest days~ you make my heart skip a beat~ you take my breath away~ everything is better when you are beside me!! I love you more and more everyday and I hope that this year is one of the best (you deserve it)!!