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Day 4

Taking the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The rain has stopped and it's looking like we might get some sun!!

The view from on top of the Statue of Liberty

Lady Liberty..isn't as big as you would think.

Skyler's first ride on the subway..oh the places you'll go!

...and the people you will meet! I thought Jimmi Hendrix was dead! Apparently he's alive and well on the NYC subway!

To cap off a wonderful day, we ate a nice dinner at Hurley's and then headed off to see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins!

It was awesome and very entertaining! Now if I could get Skyler to stop singing,

"..on cherry tree lane".

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Day 3

A few last things to see in Washington D.C. before we board our motor coach for NYC.

A quick stop at the White House..which was actually very anti-climatic for me. I don't really know what I was expecting, but this wasn't as grand as I hoped.

I was lucky to be on this trip with 2 of my close girl friends Chanin(above w/daughter Grace)and Julie! It made the trip even that much better!

This man has been camped out in front of the white house since 1981! What a waste of a life!

In honor of my father-in-laws military service in the marines:

the massive

Iwo Jima Monument

Skyler's 1st piece of New York Pizza!

Skyler ate pizza 14 times on this trip..he actually kept count!

This was the great group of kids on our trip a top the Alice in Wonderland statue in

Central Park.

CHINATOWN

Couldn't resist! Seriously, these frogs were trying their best to jump out of this trash can! They must have an inkling as to what their futures hold. Frog is almost cheaper than chicken!

Ground Zero! They have already started construction of the Freedom Tower. It's a sobering site..fitting that it was raining!

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Day 2

A soggy visit to our Nations Capitol

The cherry blossoms were out despite all the rain!

The Archive Building: known best to all the kids for it's appearance in the movie: National Treasure.

Who can pass up signs like this!

A stroll down Old Towne Alexandria, Virginia.

Today was just as busy as the last but this time we had lots of rain!! We toured the Capitol Building, Library of Congress, National Archives, National Gallery of Art, Natural History Museum, American History Museum, a few more memorials, and took a ghost walk downtown Alexandria.

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Day 1

Our first day! We met up with our group Sunday morning at 9:30 and began our whirlwind trip! We saw so much in such a short time. We didn't check into our hotel until 9:45 p.m. that night! I was so glad we didn't take the red-eye flight with the group! Everyone was exhausted by days end!

Arlington National Cemetery

As I was just randomly taking pictures, in the far, far distance I saw a headstone with an image that I was intrigued by. It was further than my eyes could see, so I set my digital zoom to the furthest it could get and saw exactly what I thought it might be..the angel Moroni. I took out my phone and googled arlington cemetery religious symbols and there it was, the angel Moroni symbolized the mormon faith!

World War I Memorial..these etchings were made from actual pictures of those that fought!

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial..the kids were actually so excited to see all these because they were in the movie: Night at the Museum 2.

We also saw the Korean War Memorial, FDR Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and went through the Holocaust Museum.

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I took over 500 pictures of our trip back east!! It was nearly impossible to pick only 1 photo of the day, especially with all the amazing historical sites we saw, so I will probably have a few from each day to give you a little glimpse into our trip!!

Our first extra day!

We had a full day to spend in Baltimore before our group arrived (Sunday), so I rented a car and we were off! Didn't really have a plan, just a few ideas of things to see. We headed down to the Inner Harbor where I fell in love with all the architecture, spring blooms, and the history! We walked A LOT! Skyler was a trooper and didn't complain at all (until I found my way to a store with Christmas ornaments. I always make it a point to buy a new ornament whenever we are traveling to put on our traveling tree at). We later made it up to Fort McHenry. It was here, during the battle of Baltimore in the war of 1812, that Francis Scott Key penned the words to the Star-Spangled Banner. We watched a little film about it, then they opened the curtains to display the fort with it's flag flying high. How could I not have tears in my eyes!

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...and we're off! We are on our way to our first stop...Baltimore!

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I was bound and determined not to be up till the crack of dawn packing for me and Skyler's big trip back east (done with packing but I still find a way to stay up all night..doing this!)! I found these great compression bags that turned a bulky ski jacket into practically nothing! I am having a difficult time packing for a destination that could have unpredictable weather..I'm not good at the whole layering thing. Give me beach packing and I'm good!

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I am the queen of unrealistic estimates! I always tell people when they ask me about making dvd slideshows that it really doesn't take all that long! That is, if you have all the pictures organized, music selected, and an idea of how you want it to look. Then I forget about what a perfectionist I am and those few hours turn into several hours! Luckily, it is enjoyable for me to help friends out with these projects! We spent the better part of the day & night making a 50th wedding anniversary dvd for my friend chanin's parents! We wanted to get it done before our trip!!

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I love this time of year! These gorgeous wisteria vines are growing all over the streets by our house! White ones, purple ones, I love them all!

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Ugh-Oh! It's Jim's turn to get sick. Let's just face it, men are such wimps when it comes to sickness/pain! (I do have empathy for him having just gone through it myself..this bug was a bad one!) You know he's really sick when he misses work and he missed 3 days!! I'm starting to wonder if my family has any immunity. The slightest thing floats in the air, and we all get it!

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I spent all weekend creating our stake roadshow slideshow/movie (for the after party). I had to go through nearly 1500 pictures and pick the best 35-40 of each of the 8 wards...tedious! Even though it took many many hours, I totally enjoyed the process.

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The annual spring carnival at the kids school. I was saving my potd (picture of the day) to be when we won a ginormous raffle basket, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be (this year, or last year, or the year before, or the year before that..you'd think I'd get a clue). Instead, a picture of the booth I worked at: DRINKS! Seeing as it was a very HOT day, I think between the snow cone machine and us, we were the busiest booths at the carnival.

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Skyler was not only recognized at Friday flag salute for being on Honor Roll, but was also TRAIL BLAZER of the MONTH for responsibility!

(I just love the free haircut coupons!)

These were the nice things Mrs. Lawrence had to say about Sky!

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Jayden tested this past weekend at taekwondo (thank you Grandma W. for taking him and sitting there for 3 hours) and earned his purple belt with green stripe!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

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I HATE SPLIT ENDS!!!! (oh how I wish I could stop picking them!)

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I fought death, and death won! Had an amazing weekend just to come home to this! The worst sore throat I can remember since 1996 (on a road trip to Jackson Hole with 7 friends, in which I had to fly home from) and my glands were the size of golfballs. I thought it would just go away throughout the day...it just got worse! Jim insisted I go to urgent care and get an antibiotic..miserable, miserable day! However, in triage, the nurse commented on how great my pulse rate was and asked me if I was a runner!! Never have I been asked that, and probably never will again...but I sure enjoyed it!

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We hated to see our little weekend in the desert end! Thanks mom and Tella for watching the boys..they had the best time!

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Spent the morning having a deep tissue massage, then spent the next few hours lounging at the pool (with apparently all the spring breakers..want to feel old, hit the spring break parties). I felt a little guilty seeing as we had a private suite rented and box seat tickets for every match, but we just loved having quiet free time to ourselves. Later that night, the women attended a fashion show where several tennis players modeled clothes (don't even ask who they were, I wouldn't know). Then we hit the 7:30 matches. We stayed inside the suite for most of it because the wind was whipping through the arena, it was COLD, and I was beginning to have a sore throat.

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Jim and I went to Palm Desert for the weekend for the Indian Wells Tennis Open. The first night they had a charity event: Hit for Haiti. It was a night of tennis oldies and the best of the best. These tennis greats played to a sold out arena: Martina Navratilova, Justine Henin, Steffie Graft, Lindsay Davenport, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and Rafael Nadal.

I don't know much about tennis, but it was a great night. Who knew Agassi was such a comic. It was a light hearted, trash talking match. At the end of the matches, one of the sponsers presented a check for $1,000,000. To cap off the night, Tony Bennett came out and crooned the crowd. It was an exciting, but chilly night.

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Jayden was recognized at flag salute this morning for Trailblazer of the Month. He was honored for ORIGINALITY!

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Dang you Cadbury!! Why must you make such delectable chocolates? Especially ones with caramel!! (Couldn't even tell you what number box this is for me)

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The annual birthday balloon shot..a day later!