Mom and Jane visit DC May, 2012

My mom's first trip to DC. This is her first ride on the metro. I picked Jane and Mom up from the airport shortly after 11 p.m. I asked my mom if she was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel or if she wanted to go on a midnight tour of the monuments. She was so excited to be in DC that we drove by the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, and the White House, which you couldn't see since the lights were turned off. As soon as she got off the plane she exclaimed, "I'm in DC!"

Seneca Rocks, WV part 1

Spectacular view! Apparently there is at least one rock climbing fatality a year that occurs here.

Alexis, Michael, and Maxi. We had a good day hiking in WV, beautiful mountains! There are several more trails that we'll have to do another time.

Seneca Rocks, WV

The observation tower at Seneca Rocks. Great view!

Being silly, hiking on some very large rocks.

Seneca Creek Trail, This hike was absolutely beautiful, alongside a creek, and the weather was amazing!

Alexis giving me a piggy-back ride.

Easter

You're never too old for an Easter basket!

The Brie and crackers, and garlic stuffed olives were a big hit!

For breakfast we had orange cinnamon popovers. Very fitting for Easter, since they're hallow inside. After church we went to a friend of mine's for Easter dinner. I made lemon curd tarts and strawberry tarts. We had a very enjoyable Easter!

King's Dominion

We spent the day at a really fun amusement park near Richmond, VA.

This roller coaster has a 300-foot descend at an 85-degree angle, along with speeds in excess of 90 miles an hour. Can you say FUN!

Alexis and Valerie.

This is the longest floorless coaster in the world. Speeds up to 67 miles an hour.

Stand-up roller coaster.

We had a really fun time. It was a little bit colder than expected so thanks to Starbucks hot chocolate we were able to warm ourselves up a little bit.

Cherry Blossoms 2011

Maxi, Alexis, and Leah drinking hot choclate to warm themselves up. It was a beautiful but cold and windy day.

Beautiful blossoms!

Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Washington Monument.

Who says teenages don't like their pictures with characters.

Iwo Jima.

Amoo's Kabob, they have the best lamb ever, so we couldn't resist stopping there for dinner again. It's also conference weekend, so chocolate chip scones and German apple pancakes as we watch conference and laze around in our PJ's. Great weekend!

Lemon Meringue Pie

This ended up being day-and-a-half project. So wishing I had a kitchen aid, it would have made whipping the meringue a whole lot easier. I actually burnt the meringue the first time and with the missionaries on their way over for dinner there was no time to make more meringue, so I just peeled off the burnt meringe, put it back under the broiler, and there you go.
The weather out here has been AMAZING! I went on my first bike ride this year. The blossoms are on all the trees and tulips are starting to bloom. Spring in the East is my favorite time of year. We also saw Beauty and the Beast at Thomas Harrison Middle School. One of Alexis' friends was Belle. She did an amazing job and we had a lot of fun watching it.

St. Patrick's Day

Pistachio pudding with whipped cream for dessert. Alexis and Michael being silly.

Corned beef with roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage.

Irish Soda bread and Irish Butter.

Thanks to Kimberly for introducing us to this meal last year, I'm no longer a St. Patrick's Day scrooge. I actually look forward to this holiday -- well, actually the food. Irish Butter is so delicious. I even made shortbread cookies with the leftover butter and I'll be making corned beef hash with the rest of the corned beef! A few of Alexis' friends joined us for dinner Katy, Michael, and Maggie. I even wore a green shirt, there's hope for me yet!

My 38th Birthday

Thanks mom and Kimberly. These are gift I received, compliments of Williams Sonoma. So I will be baking, baking, and doing some more baking. I can't wait to try popovers. I've never had them before.

Hummingbird cake. Thanks Kimberly, this cake has pineapple, bananas, walnuts, coconut, with cream cheese frosting, and it was so delicious!

For my birthday dinner we went to Amoo's Kabob. Kimberly was raving about the lamb and now I fully understand why. They marinate it spices and it was so tender. The rice contained berries and saffron, which complimented the lamb perfectly. Thanks for introducing us to yet another amazing place to eat!

What a wonderful birthday I had! On my birthday I had some barbacue pork, which the South really does the best. Alexis also made me some delicious rocky road brownies that we had with mint ice cream.

Eamonn's a Dublin Chipper

After the parade we headed over to Eamonn's for lunch. They have the best fish and chips. They also have deep fried candy bars, which we still haven't tried.

So Delicious!

St. Patrick's Day parade.

One of the many bagpipe bands.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

St. Patrick's Day parade

This little boy was so adorable!

Everywhere green!

Interesting dog.

Alexis enjoying the parade. It was a lot of fun. This holiday is growing on me more and more, thanks to Kimberly. Next year I may even wear green to the parade.

Richmond, VA

Yesterday we spent the day in Richmond, and I mean the entire day. We arrived at 7 and were there all day. Maggie had a drill competition for JROTC. She did a great job performing. We also did a little shopping at Short Pump.

New Years' Day

Maggie came with me on New Years' Day to get Alexis from the airport. Lucky girl was able to stay in Utah for another week. We surprised Alexis. She had no idea Maggie was going to be at the airport.

Then off to Bertucci's for the best speciality pizza!