Work & Sightseeing in D.C.

After much trepidation on my part and a lot of faith on Vycci's part I ventured off to a very important training/conference for work in Washington D.C. this week while my wife is 35 weeks pregnant. I don't know how she agreed to let me go but this had been a very fun, eventful, insightful, and important (work wise) trip for me to have taken. I have a plethora of pictures below of my short time spent in D.C. thus far. I am still here tommorrow and with a very flexible training schedule I have been able to see one of my MTC companions, sight see, go the temple, ride the metro, and enjoy some good food. I hope you enjoy the picture tour.

One of the first things you see when you get to D.C. is the Washington monument. I don't think this picture does it justice but it was a pretty shot with the trees. It has been raining and cloudy since I got here so I apologize for the gloomy pics. I wish I had a picture of this lit up at night but it was raining too hard when I could have taken the night pictures when I first arrived on Sunday night.

What would D.C. be without the capitol. Rather than taking a picture of the real capital building here is a model of it that is in my hotel, this variety is sculpted out of white chocolate; I think I would rather go to this one anyway.

On Monday night I went to Chinatown and ate a real "hole in the wall" eatery. Here was my meal which was delicious by the way. Sorry Isaac, it had peanuts. :(

A walking picture of China Town, it didn't come out too good but it was very busy while I was down there.

Here is a picture of one of the statues at the Vietnam memorial. Most people were taking pictures of the statue where soldiers had their guns. This one was of nurses helping the wounded, much more my cup of tea.

Here is a picture of the actual Vietnam memorial. As I walked along it I thought of all the stories my Dad told me about his time serving in Vietnam. I am grateful he had the patriotism to fight in a war his country called him to fight in. His sacrifice along with all those enscribed on the wall are a testament of bravery to me.

Here is the Lincoln Memorial, again, much more impressive up close, but I really like the distance shots and there are too many people crowded when you are close to get good pictures, especially since these pics are all off my phone.

This is the WW II memorial. It is very nice and symbolic of the war. I was here for maybe 5 minutes.

More WW II memorial

During lunch today I walked around the national zoo. Did you know all the museums, monuments, archives, and zoo are free in D.C. All paid with by our taxpayer dollars. It's worth the trip to come just to see your tax dollars at work. :)

Here is the giant panda exhibit. I only found this sole Panda. Can you find him?

My kids like Fruit Loops so here is their favorite bird.

The wild Mongolian horse. One of my favorites at any zoo.

After my training today I attended a session at the D.C. temple. What a remarkable building. Of everything I've seen here this wasy my favorite. I think there are like 5 levels in this temple.

After my session I went to the Visitor center where they had an exhibit on eternal families. I felt the spirit so strong as I looked at a map of the world dotted with all the locations of temples in the world. I have never felt the spirit so strong as I did about the miracle of temples on this earth as I did today. By the way, the temple is huge. If you get a chance to ever attend or visit, it is well worth it.

This picture is for my kids. They wanted a picture of the white house. This is the best I could get in my limited sight seeing time frame. I did not get a picture when Jared my MTC companion drove around the front side. Marina asked if I got a picture of the bee hive in the back yard. I'm not sure you can see it from this angle.

The one museum I went to and the one I really wanted to go to was the Native American museum. This statue was the lone picture I took. I think I have had better experiences in my own study of the indigenous people of America, but this was still very interesting. There are so many museums here that you could spend at least a week going to just museums.


I am excited to come home to my family tomorrow and hope that I can post some more pictures when I get back. If it is good weather we might try to get to the cherry blossom festival before we leave for the airport.

Most Importantly...

I want to take time to post something really important to me. Today at church we did an activity where we had to make a list of the six most important things in our lives. Then one by one we had to decide which one we would give up if we had to. Leaving us with only one. For me the last one was my Savior. It wasn't so difficult to first give up my education, but when it came to giving up my family, my children, and my husband...well of course that was not easy. What I knew to be true was that as long as I had my Savior that all other difficulties would be manageable. No one wants to fathom loosing their spouse, or children. However, because I had the knowledge that I had an eternal family and that my Savior has promised and guaranteed with His life that we can be an eternal family, I could practice faith that He would save me eternally if I but followed Him. I spend most of my time on this blog sharing the most important things in my life...my children, my friends and family, our success' and challenges. I realized that I forget to share what ultimately is most important in my life and what holds all those other important peices together. My testimony that my Savior lives, and that I am a member of His true gospel on this earth. I am so grateful to know that my family is sealed in the temple, and can be together forever through our faithfulness. I know that my Savior lives and knows us each individually. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in the Primary for the last 3 years. What an amazing blessing in my life. Thank you to all of you whom I have served with. There are no words to express my deep love and grattitude for you. (Those who don't know-I was released last week from my primary calling. And I have no new calling yet. Yes, it feels very weird.) I am grateful for the opportunity to share this with those of you, I love most. No matter who you are, you must know that these are the things that are most important in my life. And it is my hope that I live my life in away that shows this, even when I forget to tell you.