Christmas Card Pictures

Merry Christmas!
Our good friend Jenner was kind enough to take our pictures again this year for our Christmas card. Now that we have sent them out, I can post them for you all to see. If I didn't send you a card, I'm sorry...I must not have your address. If you want one, post your address in the comment box and I will send you one! We have tons of extras! Here were our favorite pictures from the shoot:



At the end of the shoot, I thought I'd try to get some pictures of Ainsley by herself. But she would not cooperate. She had to be held. When we set her on the ground to take a pictures in the leaves, she lost it. It reminded me of last year's shoot....
Two years of "crying in the leaves pictures"...maybe next year she won't be afraid of them:)

Washington DC

Sorry it has taken forever to post the rest of our trip. Every spare minute I had, I used to work on finishing our 2008 blog book. Yes, I know...I am a year behind. But it should arrive by Christmas and then I will have to start turning our 2009 blog entries into a new book. It is a great way to record what our family is up to, since I don't keep a regular journal. Anyway, here is the rest of our DC trip.

Day 1-Wednesday, Nov. 25:After we went to Gettysburg, PA Tom and I drove down to Washington DC. Our good friends the Luke and Marin Coltrin who are also MBA students in our ward, drove down to DC from a roadtrip through NY. It was so fun to meet up with them. We all stayed in a hotel just blocks from the National Mall. The first day, we decided to head to Georgetown. We shopped the quaint streets and toured the campus. Then we stopped by Georgetown Cupcake to get a delicious snack. We had to wait about 30 minutes in line, but it was well worth it. They were amazing. Then we walked to the White House. We took pictures in front and then went to the Visitor's Center. Afterwards, Luke and Marin headed back to the hotel to put James down, and Tom and I walked along the National Mall and then visited the American Indian Museum. Then we met back up with the Coltrins for dinner at our hotel. We stayed at a Marriott Residence and they had a Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel. It ended up being our only Thanksgiving dinner so we were glad we got it for free:)

Luke, James, Ainsley and Tom-it was the babies' first subway ride

Georgetown University

Marin and James while we were shopping in Georgetown. We hit our favorite store...H&M

Waiting in line for cupcakes

I had red velvet and Tom had Banana Chocolate-Yum!

After we toured Georgetown, we walked all the way to the White House. It was quite a walk and both babies fell asleep.

Our family in front of the White House...Ainsley is still sleeping

She finally woke up right before we left

Walking along the National Mall

Day 2, Thursday Nov. 26: Since it was Thanksgiving Day, most places were closed in DC. We were able to visit the Smithsonian museums though. I would have thought that they would be empty on a national holiday, but we were wrong. They were packed. First we went to the National Gallery of Art. Then we walked down to the American History Museum. This museum has been completely renovated since the last time I was in DC (only 2 years ago). It was so much different. We saw a lot of interesting things including the First Lady's Ball gowns, Julia Child's kitchen, pop culture memorabilia such as the Ruby Red slippers and Kermit the Frog. We also toured a Lincoln Exhibit, Americans at War Exhibit, Transportation Exhibit, etc. We were a little disappointed that we didn't see the Nauvoo Sun Stone that used to be at the museum...we don't know if it was there and we just missed it, or if it is no longer on display. After touring the museums, we ate dinner at the American Indian museum. Then we went to see some of the National Monuments at night. We went to the new Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. It is located right along the water and you can see the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington monuments lit up across the river. It was beautiful. Then Tom and I drove to the Lincoln Memorial.

Ainsley at the National Gallery. We have a copy of this Monet painting hanging in our living room, so I had to get a photo

I had to snap this pic of Tom because he drove a mini van that looked just like this one in high school

Julia Child's kitchen

For all you "Lost Symbol" fans....here is George Washington with the "Hand of Mysteries" pointing up

Marin and I at the Franklin D. Roosevelt monument.
From the FDR memorial, we had a great view of the Jefferson Monument across the water

Day 3, Friday Nov. 27-The next morning, we got up early and walked up to the United States Capitol Building. We met our Luke and Marin there and went on a tour of the building. We saw the new visitor's entrance, the Rotunda, and the Hall of Statues. The tour doesn't take you through any of the House chambers anymore. My good friend Lesly had let me borrow her copy of "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. I read it aloud to Tom all the way to DC. So the whole time we were at the Capitol, we kept joking around pointing out all of the things that Dan Brown had talked about in the novel. After we visited the Capitol, we walked to "Old Ebbit's Grille" for lunch. It was delicious. Then Tom and I went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutuion. I was suprised at how faded the Declaration was. It is sad, the signatures are almost completly gone. Afterward, we met up with the Coltrins again at "Good Stuff Eatery" a hamburger joint owned by a Top Chef contestant, Chef Spike. We had to wait forever because they mixed up our order but the food was delicious. We are still talking about that marshmallow shake...yum!

A capitol police officer gave Ainsley this nifty badge...she was a Capitol police officer for the day:)

We bought Ainsley a little American Flag. She waved it so proudly the whole time, it was pretty cute

The Constitution

Ainsley feeding herself some yogurt back at the hotel

Ainsley loved the sliding doors of the hotel closet. She played with them the entire trip. She would get inside the closet and close them, then open them to peek out to see if we had noticed that she was hiding.

Day 4, Saturday Nov. 28-On our way back to Indiana, we decided to stop at Mount Vernon, Virginia. This was George Washington's home and plantation. It was beautiful. They had it all decorated for Christmas. We walked around the grounds and watched a documentary before visiting the mansion. The tour through the mansion was special because they let us tour the third floor which is only open during December. We got to see the bedroom that Martha lived in after George died. The home was huge. It has an amzing view of the Potamac river out the front. After visiting Mount Vernon, we drove to Columbus, Ohio for the night. Then we woke up early and drove the rest of the way home. It was an amazing trip. We feel so lucky to have been able to visit so many different places since moving to Indiana.

Mount Vernon

This is actually the front of the house. It overlooks the beautiful Potamac river

The view of the river

Cleveland, Ohio and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

For Thanksgiving break, Tom and I went on a long road trip. First we drove to Cleveland, Ohio. It was our 6th wedding anniversary so after checking into the hotel, we walked down to a restaurant. The food was just lousy so we stopped by Starbucks for a hot chocolate on the way back to the hotel. The next morning was Sunday, so we found a ward to attend. It was a tiny building in a kinda scary part of town. Then we drove to Kirtland, Ohio. The missionaries gave us a tour of the historic buildings. First we went to the Newel K. Whitney store where we saw the School of the Prophets and the room where Joseph and Emma lived while they stayed at the store. Then we crossed the street and saw the Whitney's home. Afterward, we walked down to the Grist mill where the pioneers would saw logs into boards. The last thing we saw at the church's sites was the ashery. It was amazing to see how the early church members lived. It made us realize how lucky we are to be living in the time we do. Then we drove up the street to tour the Kirtland Temple. We watched a movie at the Community of Christ visitor's center. Then the tour guide took us through the temple. It was beautiful.

On Monday morning, we walked around Cleveland. We saw 4th street, saw where the Cavaliers play and where the Browns play. Then we walked around the pier on Lake Erie. Then we visited the Rock N'Roll Hall of Fame. Afterward we went to Lola's for lunch to make up for our lousy anniversary dinner. Lola's is owned by the Food Network's newest Iron Chef, Michael Symon. It was delicious.

inside the Newel K. Whitney Store
The Kirtland Temple



John Johnston Hotel
Newel K. Whitney Store
Whitney Family home
School of the Prophets room
Apartment where Emma and Joseph lived

The pier on Lake Erie

Ainsley spent the entire trip in this stroller, she was such a good sport about it

The Rock N'Roll Hall of Fame

After eating lunch at Lola's

After we ate at Lola's we drove to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We trusted the GPS to get us there....but learned we should preview the route before following it blindly. It ended up taking us on a really long toll road and then on a tiny mountainous road. It was dark, raining, and really foggy. We could barely see the road in front of us and we were winding up a mountain. At one point we had to cross a one lane bridge. It was scary and our cell phone had no reception. We were also running low on gas...we were scared we wouldn't make it and no one would know where to find us. But luckily, the gps got us to Gettysburg. It may have been the shortest route, but definately not the safest.

The next morning, we went to Gettysburg National Park. We spent a couple of hours in the Civil War Museum. There were hundreds of artifacts and displays. It was amazing. Then we went upstairs to see a Cyclorama. These are circular paintings that were popular in the 1800s. They light up the different parts of the painting with smoke, lights, and sound to depict the battle of Gettysburg.
Then we took a driving tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. It was huge. The battle took place over three days and so there was so much to see. All along the way there were monuments to the different battalions that served in the war. The last part of the tour was the National Cemetery where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. We walked around the cemetary. We were suprised to hear that the two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties during the battle. The cemetery is laid out in an arch, and each section is dedicated to soldiers from each state. There were hundreds of unknown soldiers as well. We found the section for Indiana. There were 80 soldiers who died from Indiana.

Outside the Gettysburg museum

Unknowns from Indiana
National Cemetery
Graves for the unknown

Where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address
The battlefield

Next we were off to Washington DC for four days!