Lincoln Monument

This last weekend was really nice and relaxing for us. We didn't plan too many things to do, and that was a nice change of pace. We try to take advantage of everything there is to do here and so we usually go crazy fitting in a million things over the weekends when Nic is home.

This past weekend we went to the Lincoln Monument. It was awesome to see such an iconic DC landmark. The Vietnam Memorial is located just next to the monument and so we saw that in the same trip. It was a beautiful memorial. Sunday we took a walk by the White House and fed the squirrels peanuts. They LOVE those things (thanks Ada). I got one to eat right out of my hand, it was awesome.

We are looking forward to this coming weekend because not only do I get to see my family from PA again, but MY SISTER WILL BE HERE! I can't wait to see her. I have never gone this long without seeing my family so I can't wait for her arrival.

Catch Up

Sorry I am a little behind in posting. We have been a little under the weather for the past week with bronchitis here. I need to do some catching up with my blogging!

Last week I went to the National Gallery of Art. I got to see one of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings, Ginevra. It is the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Western Hemisphere. I thought it was the coolest thing to be able to see.

Last weekend we went to the Jefferson Memorial, it was a beautiful place.

Sunday was Father's Day. I felt bad for Nic because we all weren't feeling well. Sam picked out a puppy card for him and then I gave him a police scanner. If you know Nic, you know that's a gift he would love. Here is Sam opening up Daddy's present...

Samantha's 1st Birthday

I can't believe that she is 1 years old!! We had a lot of fun celebrating her day. We went to a mommy/baby reading group at the library in the morning. Then we met Nic for lunch and went to the zoo. Here are a bunch of pictures...

 

Sam opening her package from her Grandparents.

They sang Happy Birthday to Sam at the library and gave her a star for it being her special day.

She insisted on staying up front by the librarian the whole time.

She LOVES books!

 

The National Zoo

Unwrapping her presents at 11pm...I guess the sugar kicked in from the cake. She got that cute DC bear from my sister and then Nic and I got her a train that makes a bunch of animal sounds along with some bath toys.

We missed celebrating with our families, but we are really excited to have a party for her when we get back.

A Year Ago Today...

I was getting ready to leave for LDS hospital to have a baby! My heart is so full of emotions thinking about the last year. I have grown and changed so much. I think differently about everything since I became a mother.  I remember feeling so scared when we checked into the hospital. I didn't know if I really wanted to have a baby, I didn't know how I would care for her, I didn't want my wonderful life to change. Then, Samantha was born and I felt a love I had never felt before. She is such a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, happy baby girl and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for blessing me with this spirit to raise.

Today is Sam's last day as a baby (sniff, sniff)

 

She is growing up so fast!

The past few weeks I feel like Sam has been changing so much so fast. She does things things that I didn't even know she was capable of doing. I can't believe she is going to be a year old!

Here are some things that she is doing now:

She will make lion & monkey sounds when she sees a picture of them

She can point out a horse, cow, or dog in a book

She can CLIMB now...onto the rocking chair, into the bathtub, onto our bed (this one is fun!)

She pretends to feed her babydoll a bottle

(You may notice Sam no longer has her cute hairbows, yeah she won't keep them on anymore. Sad for me!)

Now, onto the stroller! Sam tries to push our stroller around our very small apartment and it just doesn't work. Well I bought her a babydoll stroller this week and she is so in love with it. We took her to walk in front of the White House because it's a huge, flat, safe area where there are no cars. It worked really well and I am sure we will do it again.

Another fun weekend in DC!

Friday we hiked around The Mall and saw the World War II Memorial. We also tried a really good place to eat, JJ's Cheesesteak. Saturday we went to the farmers market by our house. It is awesome and we go every Saturday now. They have the best apples you have ever tasted! At night we went to the Nationals Baseball game. It was Nic's first major league baseball game so that was cool. We chased Sam more then we watched the game but it was still fun.

 

Trip To PA

I had a neat opportunity to go to Pennsylvania this week. I was born in Pennsylvania and the majority of our family still lives there. Since we are living in DC for the summer, I wanted to take advantage of being so close to them. My Uncle Tim is always a great host and was kind enough to let Sam and I invade his house for a few days.

There is something that warms my heart about going back to the place I was born. Most of my memories are actually of our summers spent there after we moved to Utah, but it is still so neat for me to go "home". Even though Sam had no clue where we were, I still thought it was neat to be able to take her there.

Getting there was kind of an adventure for me. I had never rented a car before, never driven in DC or PA, never taken Sam somewhere without Nic. It actually went really well and I feel like it was a great opportunity for me. I felt like I grown up, LOL!

Here is why I LOVE PA:

Green Green, Green!

Amish Farms

My Grammy & Pappy's old house

The creek in front of their house

Wild rabbits in everyones yards, I would kill to have those in Utah!

 OK, the rest of the pics involve food! I love none-chain restaurants, and Central PA is full of them.

Texas Hot Dogs is a favorite of the family. My goodness they are so good!

Meadows is SO good. Where else can you get PEANUT BUTTER frozen custard or peanut butter sauce on a sundae? Only PA!

Did I mention everywhere has one of these? That's right, Mt Dew everywhere! I LOVE it!