White House Carolers

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Thank you for taking Alexis, Kimberly, she had an amazing time.

Alexis goes to the White House

Alexis went with Kimberly to the White House. It was a very special event, only White House staff was invited. She had a great time. It's decorated so beautiful. The theme this year is A Red, White, and Blue Christmas. You'll notice Uncle Sam at the entrance. Alexis really wanted to try the gingerbread house, covered in white chocolate, who wouldn't.

The Capitol

The tree is absolutey beautiful. The tree and ornaments were provided by Montana this years, hence the cowboy hats, boots, and even a cowboy snowman.

The Capitol Christmas Tree

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Museum of Natural History

We went to the Museum of natural history. Yes, those are fish ornaments on the Christmas tree. We saw the Hope diamond, jewelry worn by royalty, completely stunning, and tons and tons of rocks and minerals. The amethyst is giagantic. The sign on the wall says, Please touch. We also saw an exhibit about the ocean and animal life. There was a squid on display that was bigger than me.

First Deposition

So on Tuesday, Dec 2nd, I went on my first deposition all by myself. I was responsible for the transcript and I even had to swear the witness in. I was really nervous about swearing in the witness, so I practiced a few times on Alexis, what a sport. I ended up reading it from my computer. When I asked the witness to raise his right hand I could tell how nevous he was, which made me not nervous anymore.

It was a workers' compensation case and one of the attornys was asking questions by telephone. Which made me a little concerned, but ended up being a good thing. They both spoke very clear. In the end all three attorneys ordered the transcript, 93 pages. Merry Christmas to me I'm paid by the page and the more copies ordered, the more money I make. Whew, I did it. I hope I won't be as nervous on my next one. I'm going out on my second deposition Monday. I hope it goes as well as the first one did.

NO MORE BRACES!!!

On Thursday, Dec 4th the braces finally came off. Alexis was so, so excited. Her teeth look amazing. Of course the first thing she did when we came home was pop some popcorn. It's been 8 months since she's had any, which is like 5 years for a 12 year old. Now she can eat all they chewy, gummy, sticky stuff she wants. She was also happy to be able to eat a whole carrot, corn on the cob, and an apple without it being cut into pieces. She still tries to clean the food from her braces and then realizes they're not there anymore.

Getting ready for Christmas

This is the extent of our Chirstmas decorations this year. We made the cranberry topiary for family home evening. We used toothpicks, broken in half, to the secure the cranberries, there were toothpicks all over the place when we were finished, literally. It was tons of fun making. I also was talked into finally putting some Christmas lights in our window.

Thanksgiving

Alexis spent Thanksgiving in Iowa and had a great time. She enjoyed spending time with her family in Iowa, had fun with her cousins, and rode a 4-wheeler all by herself at Grandpa Phil's. She was able to spend time her friend Taylor. She's moving to Texas, Alexis will miss her tons.
I spent the week at Kimberly's. We watched movies and had a great Thanksgiving dinner. We both have so much to be thankful for, wonderful friends and family. We'll be in Utah for Christmas and are really looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

1st School Field Trip, 7th grade

Top picture, The Capitol. Middle picture, Marilyn. Bottom picture Alexis, Maggie, and Valentina. Alexis' 1st school field trip they went to Washington DC. She had tons of fun. They rode on a charter bus and watched movies, National Treasure 2, best of all no mom supervision!!! The had lunch at Iwo Jima, and then went on a tour at the Pentagon. The tour guide walked backwards the entire tour, including the esclator. She even had a special vistor, Kimberly came down and welcomed her too. Her friends were so impressed that she knew someone at the Pentagon.
Then they went to the Air and Space Museum. It's giagantic. There are full size airplanes suspended from the ceiling, space shuttles, airplanes from World War I and II, and her favorite thing was the space ice cream. I guess it's all about the food.
Quite a different experience than my school field trips to Lagoon and the Heber Creeper.

Road Show

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Top picture left to right Macayla, Maddy, Elizabeth, and Alexis.
Alexis participated in the Road Show our stake had this weekend. The theme was "A day in the life of the President". Our ward decided to have the President, 1st counselor in the bishopric, sitting on the beach. You'll notice the secret service standing behind him. Alexis was part of a large family walking across the beach. You'll notice the clumsy family, that's our bishop and his wife. Bishop's really have to have a sense of humor, don't they? Alexis had a great time, mostly because afterwards they had rootbeer floats.

South River Falls

We had our first visitors this weekend, YEAH!!! Kimberly and Natalie came down. We had lots of fun. We had a picnic and went hiking in the Shenandoah's. Alexis' friend Alexis came too. Along the trail Alexis noticed a cave, but we still haven't had a bear sighting.

George Washington Nat'l Forest

Well, we decided to enjoy the amazing weather we're experiencing, 72 degrees, is it really November? I heard it's been snowing in Utah. If we drive 45 minutes west, we're in West Virginia. We were looking for hiking trails and stumbled upon this lake. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, but it was still nice to enjoy the weather and scenery.

VOTE

So my voting experience this year was unlike any I've ever had in the past. On Monday I received a phone call, wanting to know what time I planned on voting. They wanted to make sure I was still going to vote, because every vote counts. The district I'm in is one of the largest areas, it includes the students at James Madison University. She informed me she planned on getting there a little before 6:00a.m. I thought, how crazy to get up that early to vote. As I was watching the news, there were several comments about people waited in line for 3 hours for early voting and how they expected there to be a high voter turn-out this year. I thought well, maybe 6:00 a.m. is not so crazy.

So I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. I didn't want to be the only one standing out there waiting if I went any earlier and I definitely didn't want to spend 3 hours waiting in line. I arrived at 6:18 a.m. I could not believe my eyes. The parking lot at the school was packed. Not only was the parking lot packed there was a line. A huge line, it was 6:18 a.m. There were at least 200 people waiting in line. The people that were leaving were commenting that they arrived at 5:45 a.m. and still had to wait in line. I waited in line for roughly 45 minutes. They started bumping up people with the last name L-Z, otherwise I would have been in line for at least an hour.

When I left at 7:06 a.m. the line was longer than when I first arrived. There were 100 more people standing in line. So if you can do the math, there were actually 300 people standing in line to vote. Maybe this is why all the schools were closed. Which by the way, they don't get Columbus Day off but they're closed on Election Day, you've gotta love the East.

Very different experience for me. I've never even had to wait more than 5 minutes, if that, to vote in Utah, ever. There was even a police officer to help with traffic, if you can believe that. So even though it was very early, it was kind of exciting to see so many people voting. I felt very proud and honored to live in a country where people value being able to vote and have their voices heard.

Halloween part 2

So this was Alexis on Halloween. She couldn't wear her costume to school, whatever! Apparently the princess days are all over. We spent Halloween up at Kimberly's. She had some friends over and we had a great dinner. Dinner in a pumpkin, mango salsa, and a cheese ball that Alexis thought was the best thing ever. It was so yummy.

Halloween part 1

Alexis made cupcakes for our ward party. They tasted really yummy, although eating a worm and dirt -- only on Halloween. We also carved pumpkins this weekend. Yes, if you look close enough at Alexis' there is stuff coming out its mouth. I'm not the most talented carver in the world, my face ended up being a little crooked and lopsided. I'm still quite craft challenged. We had a good time, which is all that matters, right?

We also toasted the pumpkin seeds, with Alexis' pink salt she bought at World Market, yummy, so it was all worth it.

AT LAST!!!

Now it really does feel like home. I finally purchased a TV. Okay, I have to admit it's nice having one. Movies are so much better. Alexis is also really enjoying this purchase, maybe a little too much.

I finally have an elliptical again. YEAH!!! It's even quiet. It's going to come in very handy with the holidays right around the corner.

Homestead Farm

We ventured out in the search of the perfect pumpkin. Of course, Alexis wanted the biggest pumpkin she could find. The only problem was, she had to be able to carry her own pumpkin. You'll notice the pumpkin next to Natalie, (top picture) was the biggest she could carry, 20 lbs. They offer a price discount for pumpkins weighing over 50 lbs, maybe next year. We went on wagon rides, drank hot cider, and I ate the best caramel apple ever!!! Kimberly made lamb stew for dinner and best of all, her famous harvest pie, which she makes every year after a trip to the farm, YUMMY!!!

The White House

We went on The White House fall garden tour. There were pictures of Presidents and their wives planting various trees on the grounds. As we approached the White House, Alexis wanted to know where the fence was. On our first trip to DC, when she was 4 years old, we took pictures of the White House from outside the fence. Quite a different view. The flag was up on top of The White House, along with the Snipers, meaning the President was there. Pretty cool, huh? We were able to tour the Rose Garden and the Children's Garden. The Marine band was also playing songs show tune songs, i.e. The Sound of Music, Indiana Jones, Superman, Incredibles, etc. Alexis even got to take home a flower seed she planted. I really hope I don't kill this flower. My past experience with growing herbs in the house has not been so great.