A Light in the Darkness

Sunday night we took the kids to the DC Temple to see the lights. We also had a cute neighbor who was playing "Mary" in the live nativity. It was really neat to see the nativity acted out and see all of the beautiful lights. I just really missed the Utah snow that we usually encounter at Temple Square. I won't complain though because the truth is...the cold usually discourages me from taking the kids to Temple Square and this night in DC it was in the high 50's. Just perfect! We were all sweating in our coats!





We caught this photo driving down the road after leaving the Temple. I love the way it shines through the dark silhouettes of the trees.

If Trees Could Talk

I fell in love with Mount Vernon. I even dreamed about it that night... ball gowns and carriages! So far, I think it is my favorite place we have visited. During the month of December the third floor is open to visitors, so we were able to see where Martha Washington spent her last two years of her life before she passed away. When George Washington died, Martha closed the door to the room that they shared and moved upstairs to a bedroom on the third floor where she could see his tomb from her window. She died two years later. I just thought that was so romantic. They wouldn't let you take pictures inside the house...I wish I could have though. It was amazing.




This is the same view George Washington saw from his porch 200 years ago. The tree in the picture is one of two original trees on the back portion of the house.


This is the Tomb where George and Martha are buried.



George often paid for a camel to stay on his property for the Christmas season.





The visitor center had 13 themed trees decorated. Jacob couldn't leave the ornaments alone. We had to get out of there fast. It was a wonderful day. We spent about 5 hours looking around the farm, and even saw a fox. (Tehya had a nightmare about being eaten by a fox with glowing eyes that night...exciting!) I told Chad that we are going to have to buy a year pass there...and if you come to visit us, just plan on making a trip to Mount Vernon. All the paint in the house is original and so is 40% of the furniture. The house has such a grand feeling to it...just imagine all of the important decisions that were made within those walls...

One more thing...

If you do get to watch it, look for the poor guy who has to stick a huge thermometer up his nose. I felt so bad for him...the things we do for money!!

He's on TV!

So tonight Chad and I went to his bosses house to watch a thingy, (I don't know what to call it), but anyway, National Geographic did a story on what Artis has been working on. It was so much fun to see him on TV. I feel bad though because I didn't tell anyone about it...so now I am telling you about it. It was entertaining to see Travis Poulson (my cousin), and other of Chads friends on TV. Good job boys! So now, you can watch it too! It is replaying a few more times:
Saturday Dec 6, 2 pm
Thurs Dec 11, 5 pm.
Now these are Eastern times, just so you know. It is playing on the National Geographic channel. They didn't go into much detail on how the system works, but it is really interesting. I am proud of those guys for creating something that can save lives. It was a good 2 minutes of fame, now back to work! Let me know what you think...