WOW!

This past few weeks seems like such a whirlwind! We have been so busy that blogging just seems kind of overwhelming. I am sure this will be a long one, so you may want to read in installments. I'll start with our trip to DC. On the way out we spent the night at a friend's house in Columbus, OH. Grant and Ashley used to live in Milwaukee; Grant worked at Kohl's with Mike and they were in our ward in Orem before we moved out here. Grant is actually the one who got Mike interested in Kohl's. It was so great to see them. They just had twins a couple of months ago. I am a loser and didn't get pictures of them, but I did get one with Ashley and Emma. I can't believe how much Emma has grown! I think she was about 18 months when we last saw her in Tennessee. Grant and Ashley have a fabulous house and it was great to catch up with them.

We went to DC (technically Leesburg, VA - right outside of DC) to see Mike's family. We stayed with his brother Jon and his wife, Christine. The day we got there was her birthday. She had the most beautiful cake and it was red velvet inside. YUM!

Carter giving Christine some birthday love: We went downtown the next day and decided that it wasn't as fun with 2 little kids. They weren't very impressed with the Air and Space Museum, and by the time we got to the Museum of Natural History, they were done. We saw a few exhibits there and left. In general kind of disappointing, but we have seen it before and with Jon and Christine living there it is easy enough to go back.

This dinosaur reminds me of the movie Night at the Museum:

I think the best part for the kids was riding the Metro. I felt like such a touristy nerd taking this picture, but had to do it.

The next day we went to another Air and Space museum. This one was much better. It wasn't nearly as crowded and there was plenty of space for Carter and Samantha to run around crazy.

The nephews: The Enola Gay - I wonder how the Japanese tourists feel when they see this one. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was.

The Enterprise:

After all of our walking around in the hot sun, we cooled down in the pool. One of Carter's cousins loaned him some goggles, and they took away any fear of the water that kid ever had. He impressed us all by going underwater (without plugging his nose!) and staying under. Of course little copy cat Samantha saw this and thought that it would be fun. I need to get them into swimming lessons. They love the water!

Carter soaking up some sun:

The drive back was uneventful. We left Sunday morning and drove straight through. Christine came back with us to help us get Jayme all settled in. It turns out that Jayme will be getting here later than we thought but we had fun, so I think the trip was worth it for her.
Mike had a vendor dinner on Wednesday and we had a gift certificate to the Kalahari resort in the WI Dells that expires soon, so Christine and I took the kids to the water park. Of course we had a blast. I did remember my camera, but by the time I got it out the kids were cold (we were inside) and not much in the mood for pictures. I am excited to go back this winter when it isn't as crowded and the prices are better, although you can't beat free!

Thursday night we went to Germanfest. It's a good thing that we got in for free, because it wasn't all that great. We did get $1 ice creams. I think that was the highlight for me.

Friday Mike left for Denver to go get his mom, thinking he would be back Sunday. More on that later...

Saturday Christine and I went to the temple for Stake Temple day. I had really been looking forward to this because it has been forever since I have done a session. Samantha doesn't do well with babysitters and it is a lot to ask someone to deal with that for 6 hours. They opened the church close to the temple up for babysitting, so we traded with some friends and watched their kids while they did a session and then they watched mine. It was seriously a day from Hell (other than actually being in the temple). First of all, I should never leave the house before 10 am. For some reason this is beyond my capabilities. I should know my limits and work within them. We did get out of the house by 8:30 to make it to the church down there by 10, but it was pure chaos and I know that set the tone for the rest of the day. Mike took the portable DVD player with him to Denver so the kids were horrible in the car on the way down. Carter can entertain himself pretty well, but Samantha wanted nothing to do with any of the toys I brought for her. So she resorted to teasing Carter. She would rest her hand on his armrest knowing it drives him crazy and so he would hit and pinch her. By the time we hit Chicago, I was the crazy mom who is reaching behind the seat swinging wildly at anything and yelling for them to knock it off before I pulled the car over. In the process, I thought I had missed my exit (there is a lot of construction on the way down), so I pulled off thinking I was getting off on the exit, but really I had just pulled off the freeway into a construction zone (this would be why I hate driving). I had to merge back onto the freeway with people honking and looking at me like I was an idiot. I felt like one.

Anyways, we got to the church and there was nobody else there. I didn't realize that the stake sessions didn't start until later on. It worked out well though, the people cleaning the church let us in, and we had the whole church to ourselves while our friends did their session. I got their 2 littlest kids and Samantha down for naps and so we just ended up with Carter and Brooklyn (their 3 year old).

While we were babysitting, I got a call from Mike saying that his mom couldn't fly until the hole in her belly button was fixed and that he had changed their tickets to Friday. What? I couldn't believe that he hadn't even asked me. Of course I would have said ok, but still, he should have run it by me first (we've discussed this already - he knows better now).

Other people started showing up right as we were getting ready to leave, so we had to hurry and pick up all of our toys before they were spread all over the church. We left the church late for our session, so I was frazzled by that. On top of leaving late, I have no sense of direction, so I had no idea which way to turn out of the church parking lot to get the temple. The mapquest directions said "go west". Lots of help. So I guessed, and of course I guessed wrong. We did have my SIL's GPS with us, but all it kept saying was "acquiring satellites". I finally hit a dead end and turned around, wasting about 15 minutes. My anxiety was through the roof. There was traffic going the other way because of an accident. The cops were just finishing up. One block later I came to yellow light and gunned it, forgetting that the cops were right behind me. Of course I got pulled over (it was definitely red by the time I went through). He yelled at me and asked where I was going in such a hurry. I told him the temple and he just looked down like "I can't give her a ticket now" and let me go with a very firm "be careful!". I was so rattled by the time I made it to the temple. The session was great. Right when you walk you can't help but feel calm, but my mind was everywhere else through the entire session.

Luckily the ride back was better, but it will be a long time before I attempt that again. I will be going alone next time.

The rest of Christine's visit was uneventful (thank goodness), she left on Tuesday. It was really fun getting to know her and we are excited to see her again at Thanksgiving!

Mike gets home tomorrow and I am so excited! This has been the longest I have been alone with the kids and we all miss him so much. I am starting to get nervous about Jayme coming out though. I haven't really let myself think about it too much, but she gets here tomorrow. It is going to be life-changing to say the least. We'll see how it goes...