Conference in Virginia

Visiting Rich and Ashley is always a pleasure, but this time we had the added benefit of visiting Dave's parents who are serving a mission in the Washington DC temple.   

I made this new toy for Mariah to play with on the plane.  It is a combination of a ribbon pull, milk lid drop in and I also threw straws and popcicle sticks in because our baby likes to hold as many long items in her hands as she can and I didn't care how many of these got lost.  She didn't pull the ribbons like I was hoping, but liked the lid and the other items inside.  

This trip started off with another "will-we-get-on???" trip to the airport.  I was already all packed and had the girls locked in the car when Dave told me not to come because the flight was full.  When I saw that one more seat was added and I thought Mariah could be a lap baby, I decided we would risk wasting time and going through security to see if we could make it.  According to the website, there were not enough seats for us.  BUT when we arrived at the gate, all 5 of us had tickets and after boarding there were 9 empty seats on the plane!  Including one right next to me!  Crazy!  

Mariah is getting much more difficult to travel with.  She wants to walk, to explore and NOT to be held.  Restraining her in the carseat only lasts so long these days.  

Rich was kind enough to come get us at the airport although it was late and FAR.  Hallie fell asleep immediately (and snored the whole way home).  My kids were so excited to see Roxy (the dog) and their cousin Breckin.  Mariah was terrified of the dog and was shaking, but also a little intrigued, so I knew it wouldn't be long before she liked her. 

 We visited with Dave's parents on Friday morning and when they went to their shift at the temple, we headed to the national Zoo.  It was chilly, but we survived.  We saw most of the animals and Mariah was even able to spot them and watch them.

 Zebras

 Orangutans

 Then we spent Saturday watching Conference.  Thanks to our Aunt Lori, Jackson went to bed saying "Conference is going to be the best day of my life!" So I couldn't disappoint him!  We got snacks and prizes as well as coloring pages and activities to do during conference and Jackson was an angel!  He worked so hard on his pages, was quiet and could even tell us several stories after the talks.  I was so thankful to be able to listen to the prophets and feel of the truth of their words.  

Here are the silly boys headed to the priesthood session together.  Their dad went too, but declined the bowtie.

 Jackson also enjoyed our travel-sized conference board and was able to find most of the speakers and learned the names of all the apostles.

With flights not looking promising and knowing how quickly flights fill up around these parts, we opted to head home early on Sunday to get back to school and work by Monday.  Hallie immediately fell asleep on the flight (at 11 am... so odd for her.  She slept for 3 hours.  The annoying part is the flight attendants made us move her off the floor (she has slept on the floor MANY times before with noproblems).  We had less room and Mariah was so difficult on the flight.  She did fall asleep a couple of times (after fighting it for a while) but then only slept for 30 mins.  It was rough with her and after 5 hours of flying, Dave and I were pretty exhausted.  

Luckily, we came home to 2 more sessions of conference.  Jackson's enthusiasm was going strong, but this time Mariah kept interfering with his plans, which caused us to not be able to listen quite as well.  Still, I was uplifted, inspired and motivated to do and be better.  I know these men and women speak the words God wants us to hear.  I want to follow them.  If everyone in the church (or better yet, THE WORLD) tried to implement their teachings, we would have a much better place to live).  

Thank you Rich and Ashley for hosting us!  Thanks to Mom and Dad for serving a mission and being examples of sacrificing for the service of God!