The Marchants

My new 2008 Honda Odyssey.  I love it!  It is a lot of fun to drive.  Some things my old Honda didn’t have, windows that roll down…and up, a CD player that works, keyless entry, no wierd noises when I am driving, and of course, seating for 8.  Not that we need it yet.  We looked at the right place at the right time.  I am so thankful for that.  I am very happy with my new car, even though it’s a minivan.  I’m beginning to love the benefits of driving a van. 

The color is interesting.  It’s a silvery-blue.  Sometimes it looks really blue and sometimes more silver.  But I really like the color.

Alonzo loves that he has a choice of where to sit.  He is all over the place, but we got him a new booster seat and it’s next to Whitney now.  He likes that he can buckle himself.

Ben travels to Washington DC pretty often.  I have always wanted to go with him.  This time he was going to stay a few days and I was thrilled when he said I should come.  There was one day when I was all by myself.   It was the weirdest thing.  I don’t think I have spent more then a couple hours by myself for at least 4 years, let alone a whole day.  I could have stayed in the hotel, but I decided to be adventurous and go visit the sites.  So I hopped on the metro, which I had never been on before, and took it to downtown Washington DC.  Everything worked out great and I went exactly where I wanted to go. 

The good thing was, I was always where I needed to be.  I usually plan out my day meticuously and I didn’t at all this day.  It was a new concept for me, but really fun.  I just walked around and saw what I wanted to see.  I missed my kids, but it was so nice not to worry about feedings, bathroom breaks, or them getting bored.  I could read a sign as long as I wanted to or quickly pass it by.  It was a good experience, but I can’t wait to take them to see all the museums too.

My favorite dinosaur, the Allosaurus.  Ha Ha.  The dinosaur part of the Natural history museum was my favorite section.  It’s amazing how big they really are.

The American History Museum was my favorite museum I visited.  I spent almost a whole day looking around.  This was the section with the first ladies’ dresses they wore for their husband’s inaguration.

This was Michelle Obama’s dress.  I thought it looked better on her then here, but it is very beautiful.

There was a display of the First Lady’s China they got to pick out for their parties.  I like looking at the different tastes they had.

This was the boat, the Philadelphia.  You can see the cannon ball that sunk it on the left.  It was a boat used in the revolutionary war.

I loved the section of the museum that talked about how we get around.  It moved from boats, to carriages, to trains, to cars and showed all the history.  This train may not look very big here, but it was huge!  The wheels were taller than me.  It was really neat.

The national archives building where we got to study the Declaration of Independence, Bill of rights, and Constitution.  That was a little piece of history that was touching to see.

This is as close as we got to the White House on this visit.

Ben from the reflecting pool (under construction) with the Washington monument behind him.

Another one of my favorite parts, Abraham Lincoln.  I am so grateful for this wonderful country.  For the bravery of our for-fathers in signing the Declaration of Independence, and for the brave soldiers fighting to keep our freedom.

I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts of the trip home.  Ben got me upgraded to first class on the flight home.  It was very luxurious!  It was so nice to have leg room, I could watch any movie I wanted, and they kept bringing us lots of food and drinks.  It was so wonderful.  I will have to have him take me on some more trips.

This has been the best Christmas with my little family.  My kids are so excited about opening presents and love every part of Christmas.  We got to be with both of our families for part of the time and everything went really well.  I am so grateful for the Savior and it was great to celebrate His birth.

Before we left for Christmas Eve at my Grandma’s house, we let Alonzo open up his big present.  We weren’t going to take it with us for the weekend.  They had fun playing with it while we packed.  It makes lots of noise and they love that.  And the best part was, it was free.  A friend of mine gave it to me because her kids had outgrown it.  It is in really good shape and still had a lot of tools.

Alonzo’s favorite present was an airplane from Whitney.

Thanking Whitney for her present.

Whitney’s favorite present, “A tiny Baby” as she said it when she opened it up.  I’m so glad I got that on video because she was so excited for her new baby.  Alonzo gave her the stroller and she loved pushing it all around my parent’s house.

Alonzo loves anything Army.  So he got a new watch (just like Dad) and a hat.  The watch lights up when you push the button.  He wears it everyday and asks me what time it is.

This was such a fun Christmas morning with our family.

After presents we got ready to go to church.  It was so nice to have Christmas on Sunday so we could be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas, the Savior.  We got to hear President Eyring speak and it was a wonderful meeting.  I hope I always remember the feeling I felt that day.

I love Alonzo posing for the camera.  This was my favorite present, a new Kindle Fire.  I have really enjoyed downloading stuff on it and playing games.  I haven’t read a book on it, but I’m sure I will once I get some on there.

Halloween was fun in our neighborhood.  All the kids got an early start and we didn’t finish until we ran out of candy.  The kids had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and got way too much candy.  I didn’t feel well, so I was so glad that Ben took them around.  Happy Halloween!

Whitney’s first time with Pigtails.  So cute!!

Family Home Evening carving pumpkins.  Doesn’t Lono’s pumpkin look spooky?

Jed and Emily.  Their pumpkin looked really neat. (Ha ha, neat in two ways – cool and tidy).

Lono got some light sabers.  He’s never seen star wars, but he can’t wait to see them with his dad.

Our first time at a Trunk-or-Treat.  The kids LOVED it!

Our family party doing a donut eating contest.

Some K boys enjoying the party.

We also had a cake walk and my mother-in-law made a bean-bag-toss game for the kids.  She let us keep it and Whitney and Lono love playing with it.

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This is the donut eating contest and then the cake walk.  It was a fun party.  Happy Halloween!

I had two fun Halloween parties in a row.  The first one was my book club friends at my house.  Only a few of them dressed up, but it was still fun.  I liked dressing up as Miss America. Next time I do that, I will actually do my hair pretty too.  It was just a busy day and I didn’t get around to curling it like I planned to.  Oh well.  We had a good time and they are such good friends.  I look forward to our book club every month.

Ruth, the lumber jack, was the winner of best costume.  (She even brought an ax!)

My awesome book club friends!

The next party was at Karen’s house in her beautiful backyard.  It is so spacious and designed to have parties.  It was a good night for a party, too.  These girls are goofballs and sure know how to have fun!

My basketball friends.  Amy would have won best costume, I think, as the local law enforcement. 

All the kids dressed up too.  Alonzo had fun being Batman for the night and playing with his friends.

They had a nice fire pit which was much needed once the sun went down.

I did it.  I am so sick of painting.  I don’t want to touch a paintbrush for at least a month.  This was so much work.  I had no idea what I was in for.  I thought I would be able to put a couple coats of paint on them and I would be finished.  Well, I did that the first day.  I put two or three coats of paint on the railings to cover up the oak.  It was OK, but something wasn’t right.  I realized that the paint was not semi-gloss, but satin.  I didn’t like it. 

So I got the right paint, and a new paint brush, that worked much better, and set out to work again.  This time I put two more coats on everywhere and knew I wasn’t going to be satisfied until all the spindles were the same color of white as well. So I painted every one of them.  It was funny (not really) to watch me paint because I would paint on one side and then I would have to run around to the other side to finish it quickly before it dried.  It was not easy to do. 

I am so happy I’m done.  And I actually like it now.  It is a big change.  I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, but it is taking me some time to get used to it. 

The “half-way” that is not even close to half-way.

The completed project.  I like that it’s the same color as our new baseboards.  I think they go together well and the white brightens up the place.