Virginia Beach

Smile, it's Virginia Beach! Nels and I have gone to VA Beach two times since we've been here. We enjoyed both times, but it's starting to get crowded. So I don't know how many more times we'll go. Yesterday we took our bikes and biked the 3 mile length of the beach. It was so pretty being by the beach and watching the waves of the ocean. Here's a few pictures:

The first time we went to Virginia Beach there just happened to be a car show. Old cars that had been restored were on display. It was actually pretty cool to see the cars.

A recurring theme in the cars were dice. Dice hanging from the rear view mirror, on the dashboard, on top of the door locks and tires. Here's a picture collage.

My Sand Art. Ice cream of course! It was a good way to hint to Nels what was on my mind. It worked too. We got a Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

The saying is, "Virginia is for Lovers" We bought matching T-Shirts. :) We are about as cheesy as this picture. Smile and say "Cheese!"

We are really enjoying the beach and biking. There's another beach 20 minutes from where we live. It's called Buckroe Beach. It's smaller than VA Beach, but hey, it's still a beach. We've been biking too. One weekend we went from biking in the woods to relaxing at the beach all in one day. We love the recreational activities around here...

Let Freedom Ring

Flags waving in the wind, cherry blossoms welcoming in spring and national monuments reminding us of what freedom really means. Here are a few pictures of our visit to Washington D.C.:
50 Flags surround the Washington Monument symbolizing the 50 states. I love this picture.
The Washington Monument. The 555-foot-tall obelisk really is the tallest structure in D.C. We noticed this fact as we drove into D.C. It helped us out to be able to see the Washington Monument as a point of reference when we got lost...especially since our GPS decided to stop working in the middle of D.C.!

When we walked up to the monument we noticed people lying on the ground and looking up. Wondering why they were doing that, we decided to lie down. Wo! The building is falling down. That's what it looks like anyways. Crazy feeling!

Lincoln Memorial. Inside this building is the huge statue of President Abraham Lincoln and on the walls, from floor to ceiling is the famous Gettysburg speech.

Abraham Lincoln

The back of the White House. Very pretty and large home. The flowers were patriotic with red, white, and blue colors(actually a deep purple...but oh well.)

Thomas Jefferson Memorial:

You can see the very tall bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson between the pillars.

This particular weekend, D.C. was celebrating the cherry blossom festival. We were informed that the blossoms were at their peak the week before, and a storm the night before had knocked off most of the blossoms so there weren't very many cherry blossoms left. When there was a tree with blossoms people would line up to take pictures. I was lucky to get a picture or two.

Can you see the resemblance? Nels sporting a Lincoln hat and holding a Lincoln magnet. Who knew Lincoln's hat would be so famous?

Restaurant called Nando's. They served spicy portuguese chicken. Our lips were burning after that dinner, but it was still tasty.

We ate hamburgers at the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed looking at all of the guitars and pictures.

We barely scratched the surface of all there is to do in D.C. We hope to go back again and go to the museums. But until next time...farewell, D.C.

Placemat Scripture Tote

I finally got my sewing machine out! I received it as a gift from my wonderful in-laws, two Christmas's ago. With some extra time on my hands I decided to get into sewing. For my first project I made this scripture bag from a placemat. It was fun and easy to make...once I figured out how to use my sewing machine. :)

This is the inside: I added ribbon to hold a pen and pencil.

TrilliumTrail Reversal

The picture below shows Sandy Bottom--it's a park (That's Nels' joke.) When we were there this weekend our bottoms did not get sandy, but they did get sore. This is because we went biking for a long time over bumpy trails. (This is also Nels' joke. haha, I hope you're laughing.) My version: This last weekend we took our bikes to Sandy Bottom Park. It's a pretty place with some lakes, trees and trails. (Nels said I needed to be more creative, so he wrote the above and helped me with the rest.)

We were enjoying our pleasant bike ride around the lake and through the trees when we biked into this...

Even where it looks dry, it's not. The leaves camouflaged the cold, watery, mush trap below, which grabbed a hold of our tires, making it impossible to ride. So after Nels trudged through, I did my best to follow in his footsteps. Water leaked through our shoes and splashed on our clothes. Weeds with thorns pricked and cut at our legs. Oh the agony. haha. But we survived and after venturing a few 100 feet into the mess we got our brains rechecked and backed out of there on foot, dragging our bikes beside us. Once we got on solid ground, we continued biking until we reached an overlook tower. We parked our bikes and ate lunch overlooking our conquered trail.
This is us, after we had some much needed blood sugar or food.

The reason the title is Trillium Trail Reversal is because the name of the bike trail was named Trillium and reversal because we had to turn around. (just in case you didn't get it. :)

We made it safely back home, exhausted, sore, but not sandy.

Visitors

Warning...this is a long one. :)

My Mom, Dad and younger sister Jenny came to Indianapolis to visit us! We were so happy they came. They had planned this trip several months before we found out we would be in Virginia. We still have our home in Indy so it worked out. Nels and I flew from Virginia to Indy and welcomed my family.

We had lots and lots of fun. The first day they were here we drove up to Lafayette to see Purdue. They wanted to see where we spent two years. So we showed them around.

Me and Jenny:
All of us in front of a fountain at Purdue. No water though, it was very cold.
In front of another fountain at Purdue.

Then we went back to Indy and went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. This is a huge art gallery consisting of all types of art from contemporary to Asian art to American and European art…sculptures, paintings, pottery and much more.

Over the weekend we loaded everyone up and drove to Nauvoo, Illinois. Nels’ parents and younger sister Anna-Lisa came too. It was a great trip!

Quick story: We wanted to go to Carthage first but we didn’t know the address so Nels typed in 0 street on the GPS, thinking it would just take us into Carthage. Well, there is a 0 street in the middle of nowhere! The GPS announced that we had arrived at our destination. We looked around and we saw snow covered fields on all sides of us and we were traveling on a dirt road. Haha! Don’t worry we eventually found our way to Carthage jail and the visitors center.

We were able to do so much at Nauvoo here’s a few:
Rendezvous in Nauvoo (a play by the senior missionaries…singing, dancing and some great acting! J)
Brickyard (learned how the pioneers made bricks)
Blacksmith (learned how to make wagon wheels, horseshoes)
Bakery
Gunsmith (learned about the Browning family’s gun inventions)
Family Living Center (learned how to make rope, bread, candles, barrels, cloth and rugs)
Carriage ride and Inspiration point (very cold, had lots of quilts on us, but it was very good. The senior missionary told stories about different people that lived in Nauvoo.)
Fireside by Joseph Smith’s great, great granddaughter (she wrote songs about Joseph and Emma, particularly songs about Emma and why she stayed in Nauvoo instead of going with the Saints to Salt Lake. Jenny (my little sister) loved the song called the Willow Tree. This song was about how Emma cried many tears as she lost the people she loved.)

One of my favorite experiences was going to the temple with my parents, Nels’ parents and Nels. Wow! It was so neat to sit between my mother and mother-in-law in the temple. How often does that happen?? I’ll always treasure that experience.

The people of Nauvoo crossed the Mississippi river to leave in February. It was about 30 degrees when we were there, but when the saints left it was -30 degrees. We drove down the trail of hope to the place where they began to cross the river. We felt cold in our heavy coats and warm clothes. I cannot imagine what it would feel like with very little clothing and a lot colder. Their testimonies and the Lord’s help must have kept them warm. I’m so grateful for their conviction and sacrifice.

At Carthage:

At the Brickyard:

All of us after the carriage ride with the horses named Ned and Mike.

We drove back to Indianapolis and then Nels drove to Virginia. I took my family to the Indianapolis Speedway Museum and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Both were a lot of fun.

Then I flew back with family to Utah! I was soooo happy to see all of my family. I had four new nieces and nephews to meet. So we went from one house to the next and spent time with each of my siblings families. Oh so fun! I went from one activity to another. Gymnastics practice to swimming to a cub scout award (I don’t know the official name of it.) to playing games and always eating great food.

I also got to go to Idaho and celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. Congratulations! It was so great to be home. My parents remodeled their kitchen and added on. It is amazing! They did a great job. I happened to be home when one of my cousins came home from his mission. So I got to hear him speak in church and Jenny (younger sister) sang the musical number. It just felt so good to be with family.

I did a lot of shopping and as Jenny pointed out I kept going to the same stores. I will admit I went to the Distribution Center 3 times. But give me a break we don’t have them around here. Anyways, it was wonderful to see everyone!

Ne Nephew: Joseph

New Niece: Lynzi

New Nephew: Mason

New Niece: Teaghan

Thanks everyone for a great time and the many happy memories!

A special thanks to Nels for making it happen and enduring on without me. I have to brag about Nels. He picked me up at the airport and he brought me a huge bouquet of flowers. So sweet!

Snow

I was just getting used to Virginia's warmer climate when BAM! It's snowing today! It's snowed and snowed. It's sort of funny because when it snows here everyone stays inside. Tomorrow we have to give talks in church. Maybe it will snow so much that church will be cancelled. heehee.

Virginia

So now for some non-picture related news:

I'll just cut right to the chase... We Moved to Virginia!!!!

It happened very quick, so I apologize if we were unable to tell you in person. We flew here last Monday and the next day an agent helped me find a place to live. We are still in a hotel until tomorrow. At some point we'll fly back to Indianapolis and load up our stuff. Details, details...but I won't bore you. Oh, I guess I should answer the question Why did we move? Nels received a promotion and was asked to relocate here. So...here we are!

I'm excited to be here and explore a new place. I'm starting a list of things to do. Just a few to get started: Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Washington D.C. well you get the idea. There's a ton to do here!

I'll try to do a better job at posting!