Thanksgiving and DC

We had a really nice Thanksgiving Break. Kirk had the week off, so we thought it would be a great time to head down to the Temple (The DC temple is our Temple). We left Monday morning and arrived in the afternoon. Luci did surprisingly well on the drive. She slept most of the way, but was up until midnight as a result. When we got there we headed down to the metro and road that to the Mall. There is so much to see in DC and a ton of museums that are all free. We decided to go to the Museum of Natural History. For those of you who have seen the second Night at the Museum, that's the one. Luci had a lot of fun running around and seeing the different displays they have. The place is huge, they everything from butterflies to rare gems and ocean life. After we got out it was raining and dark and rush hour. Riding the metro back was not as pleasant as riding it there. We were soaking wet and had to stand the whole way. The metro isn't as patient as Trax is. I went to get on and the doors slammed shut right on me. For those of you planning to ride it sometime in the future, just know that they don't reopen after they slam shut on you. So I had to push them open enough to squeeze my way back out. Uhg!
The next day we headed off to the Temple. The DC temple is big and beautiful. It reminds me a lot of the San Diego Temple because it just pops out in front of you as you are driving down the free way. We spent most of the day at the Temple. Kirk and I each took turns watching Luci while the other one went in. By the time we were both done, it took about five and a half hours. Luckily they have a really nice visitors center and Luci was really good. Our drive home was crazy. We had my Dad's GPS, and decided to have it lead us on the shortest distance home. It ended up taking us off the freeway and onto windy death roads. To add to the danger it was dark, raining, and extremely foggy. It took us five hours, but we finally made it home safely.

Thanksgiving day was also very nice. A family from our ward invited us over to their house for dinner. They also had another family from our ward come who brought 2 friends, and the missionaries who brought two investigators. It turned out to be a good sized crowd. Luci only at a roll and then ran off to play. Not surprisingly, when the deserts were brought out, she sampled a slice of every pie!

There are so many nice people out here that have welcomed us into their homes and treated us like family. It has made living far away from family easier. (Don't worry family, we still love and miss you guys a ton!)


This is about the only picture we took on Thanksgiving. Well, Kirk did take one of me wearing a chef hat and cooking, but I didn't want to put that one on here :). These are all of the kids watching a movie after the dinner.

The DC Temple

At the museum we watched a short video on evolution (mainly because I needed to sit down really bad and that was the only spot). Luci had fun sitting by one of her "prehistoric ancestors".

On the Metro. Luci loved it!