The White House Easter Egg Roll

Our day started out bright and early. We had to wake up get ready and head to the metro station in greenbelt. Logan was really excited to ride the metro, it kind of looked like the Disneyland Monorail...

It was fun for the first few stops cause the metro is above the ground and it is fun to look outside at everything. There was a little airport at the college park stop, Logan loves airplanes.

Once we arrived, we still had to wait for our time to go through the gate to the White House. There were many tents set up in the ellipse, some served breakfast burritos, drinks, and raisins. There were also a bunch of toys for the kids to play with. Logan was so excited, especially after we bumped into Jeffy and Ethan, he just started running around and dancing.

When it was our time to go, we were herded into a big tent and led across the street to the entrance. It was set up a lot like airport security, there were a bunch of cops and metal detectors and bomb sniffing dogs, they sure worked a lot faster and more thorough than airport security.

On the back lawn of the White House there were tons of activities set up for the kids, and several stages where you could find exotic animals, circus clowns, magicians and the Jonas Brothers ( thank goodness we don't have a 13 year old girl) you would have thought they were the Beatles or something, girls screaming and chasing them around... There were also sections set up for kids to listen to stories being read by important people.

The egg roll was a lot of fun. Logan thought it was great that he could hit an egg around with a spoon with everyone cheering him on.

Amber is so funny, we had half a dozen people take our picture till she was satisfied with the final product. It still wasn't that great. It was funny how many people don't know how to take a picture. There we are standing in front of the White House and people would take our picture, totally cutting out the white house, and in one case, cutting off our heads... This will just have to do:)

The Marine Corps band was set up on the back patio and they were playing the music from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, and The sound of Music. We loved listening to them play, we could have stayed all day. while we were enjoying the music, we caught glimpses of Laura Bush and Barbara Bush. On our way out, we came down a little hill and once he got down it, Logan decided that he wanted to go back up it and roll down it. Now just imagine there are 5,000 people trying to come down this hill and there is our son just pretending like he is the only one there, rolling down the hill. We were cracking up.

The blossom festival starts next week but there were already a few popping on the tree. Logan kept saying he wanted to eat them. We kept telling him that "popcorn popping" was just a song...

Last week when we checked the weather, it was supposed to snow today. It was a little cold, especially in the morning but it was a beautiful day.

Amber is a trooper. I cannot believe that she walked all that way, chasing a crazy kid and didn't give birth to Addy right there on the President's back lawn...

Here is a picture of our spoils. Pretty good prizes, books, recipes, eggs, a book mark...

Here is the wooden egg with the president's and first lady's signatures.

New Cousin for Logan!!!

Berkeley Pauleen Shelton finally arrived early this morning, Mom and baby are doing fine. Logan was sure excited to see her.

only a month and a half to go till Addy gets here...

Taking it to the streets

Last night me and a bunch of friends from the ward slept out in D.C. in hopes of getting tickets to the White House Easter egg roll. There were thousands of people lined up and the line of tents and chairs wrapped around the ellipse behind the White House.

Here is Chad and Kel in front of the Washington Monument. I had originally envisioned sleeping on the sidewalk by some building, it ended up being so much better than I had feared. It was like camping on the lawn back home (in the freezing cold...)

Adrian and Jake setting up their shelter. We stayed up late quoting old movies that we like and at one point we walked to McDonald's cause Jake needed his pie...

just across the road from where we were sleeping you could see where they have set up for the festivities.

We are excited to go and take part in the egg roll, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Preparing for Addy

The other day, we were getting really excited for baby Addy to come so we decided we would get out the stethiscope and see if we could hear her heart beating. Logan loves the sound, after the first ultra-sound he called her "baby choo choo".

We tried to find her but we have no idea what we were doing so we gave up and started feeling for kicks instead.

He loves to cuddle up on the couch with his doll and just yesterday when we went to the Wall's house he went down stairs and found a baby doll and a bottle and sat down and fed the doll. We are excited to see him as a big brother.

Service Slide Show

Christie Wall made this awesome video with pictures from the service project.

Fun Service Day!

Amber posted:
Today was so much fun. After a lot of work and preparation we had our Quarterly Enrichment Activity where we made items to put in Breast Cancer Survivor bags that Anne Arundel Hospital hands out. It was awesome and we had such a great success. I appreciate all those helping hands that are behind the scenes that make big activities like this come together. It really takes so many and it all worked out.

*We ended up with a lot of donations of small travel size lotions etc.
*We had Sister Brown and her daughters who made beaded book marks that are so pretty in advance because she wasn't able to come today.
*We hand made 24 zipper pulls that were just gorgeous!
*We made 84 pillows today and many took material home to help finish.
*We had sisters in the ward make scarves from about the last two months if that, and we have collected 40 and they are all beautiful and full of love.

It is just so overwhelming to watch something like this come together. My numbers might be a little off and I am sure they will increase with time but I think it is just incredible!! I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many women willing and able to serve. What great friends we have and I am so happy to be apart of the Relief Society organization and all we can do as sisters joined together. We are so blessed! It is also so great just to get together with friends and while we serve together we get to visit and grow closer together. I am sorry for all of you who missed out on a fun, wonderful day!

Church Talk

Amber posted:
I was asked to speak in church today. It is always a very stressful thing for me when I need to give a talk or prepare a lesson. The week or weeks before it really consumes all my thoughts. I am so happy that I was able to speak and to such a wonderful ward full of friends. Today was also special having little Logan in the audience just smiling so big at me. He made me feel like I was the greatest thing in the world no matter what I said. What a great feeling that is to be so loved! The thumbs up from daddy and Logan was great too. I am so glad to be a part of this truth. I love the gospel so much and appreciate the principles and the basis it gives me when raising my own family. I am so happy I was able to be raised with such strong values and hope I can do the same for my kids. I am so glad we have the spirit that can prompt us and give us thoughts on what to say and do.

Island in the sun

Pop Rocks and Kimchi

Well, some parents think it is funny to give their kid peanutbutter or lemon juice and laugh at the faces that result. Call me sick, I took it to the next level:) No children were harmed in these "experiments."

At first the fruity strawberry taste is appealing, but then the little rocks start popping, what a strange sensation...

Not too sure about pop rocks...

Experiment 2: Kimchi (note these were taken on separate occasions due to urban legends that warn of one's face melting if they eat pop rocks and kimchi at once. We love our son to much to risk it...)

Our daring son quickly places the kimchi in his mouth and then...

quickly removed it:) I guess it is an acquired taste...

Ward Talent Show (better late than never)

My dad picked me up a Ukuleilei while he was in Hawaii last year and it is pretty darn fun to play. So I thought it would be fun to do a little ditty for the show. A little weezer "island in the sun" to bring thoughts of warmer places...

Due to the size of the Uku, Logan thinks that it should be his, so when we are at home I let him strum for me. When I got up on stage to play he ran up after me and played a little "air guitar" to back me up. What a good kid.

Act two was this wonderful remake of a music video, you can see it in living color on Cami's blog. It was pretty funny, I didn't have a clue what I was doing cause it was only my second time doing it, so I kept looking to Jake to se what he was doing. I was wearing these women't hip hugging sweats over my pants and felt pretty silly...

Classic, what else can I say?

Act 3, the Rock Band performance by "The Weezies" I don't know who came up with our cool band name but it was sure fun. We played two songs, "last train to clarksville" by the Monkeys and "Buddy Holly" by Weezer. I think it turned out pretty good. I hope we can throw something together for the next show...

That is Jake Turpin on the guitar, Brent Wall at the Drums, Lincoln Tidwell on the bass, and me singing, or at least trying too...

flashback friday

Disneyland 2004, Amber was easy to convert to disneyism. We have had fun before Logan and have even more fun with him.

Amber, right before Ursula took away her voice...

Disneyland 1985ish, Alyson stole my peanutbutter sandwich.

Okay, these are the last ones...

Sorry that I keep posting Disney pictures. We took a ton, and we just aren't ready for the magic to be over...

This year was the first time that we have gone so early in the year. The weather was cold but the flowers were beautiful.

We love you Mickey.

warm California sun...

The castle

For any of you who have young ones, don't miss the Starwars show. It was a blast. Hopefully Logan will be old enough next time to go up and get some Jedi training. Hey Bri is that you in the front there? All this time you were teasing that I was a starwars geek and there you are a full fledged jedi master... How is your Wookie?... I mean Ryan?

What a cute kid. My mom saved alot of my baby clothes and this is one shirt that I am sure happy she kept. Vintage Mickey, 1983.

Big thunder

Rides We Rode

Al and Ben riding "flik's flyers"

Grandma riding the Caterpillar...

Dumbo was a blast and even though the line was sometimes forever long, Logan is a fun kid to wait in line with.

Autopia became one of Logan's new favorite rides. He was fun to watch, he couldn't hit the gas and hold onto the wheel at the same time. Best of all was Amber taking this picture. She was going full speed completely turned around, no hands on the wheel so her car was smashing back and forth off the rail, screaming like a little kid taking pictures of us behind her. What a spaz...

Dumbo without the line... Same concept, however when this one gets going, if your rocket is down all the way, it feels like the centrifugal force it going to toss you out, there is nothing holding you in but an old leather strap...

Only Ben can tell you the difference between a merry-go-round and a carousel. The latter was closed so we spent an hour on the Triton's Merry-go round. Logan was funny, one of the times we rode it, he just wanted to sit on the bench (usually reserved for those physically unable to hoist their girth up on a dolphin) He is almost as big a spaz as his mother.

This is the year we discovered the 'Bug's Land' portion of the park. There are tons of fun rides for kids Logan's age. The bumper cars go about a half a mile / hour but Logan got a kick out of driving a potato bug.

The Ladybug spinner. I about lost it on that one...

*other favorites include:

Finding Nemo Submarines... the line is really long cause it is still fairly new but I thought it was very clever

Winnie the Pooh... nuff said

Splash Mountain... Logan and Amber had to sit this one out so Al, Ben, Kristen and I waited until the park was about to close on the weekend to ride it. When it is freezing cold and near midnight, the line is non existent. We rode it 3 times straight without getting off. Needless to say, we were cold, wet and smiling...

Matterhorn... Dad almost dropped his camera ( he was trying to video the ride while riding it...)

Big Thunder... This one was aways my favorite growing up.

Tower of Terror... never gets old, the drop is the best!

Space Mountain... So much fun, Amber was bummed about missing that one.

peter pan, snow white, Mr. toad's wild ride, Alice in wonderland, story book canal boats, Casey jr., the Disneyland railroad, Pinocchio, star tours, buzz lightyear, soarin, screamin, ....The list goes on, what a great trip!