Day 4- Gettysburg

Well I actually went to Gettysburg and learned a ton. We hired a personal tour guide to ride with us in our car and take us around for about 2 hours. It was really neat and he was very knowledgeable. My parents had me watch the movie Gettysburg on Sunday and Monday night so that I would know what happened there, yes, so I would "know" because I pretty much only knew the south was fighting with the north and who won and that was about it. I didn't do too well in that part of history. Well I sure know a lot more than I did and the movie helped a ton for me. One of the things that really blew my mind when we got there is how the people could tell what was a good hill to capture, because the tour guide took us from one end and showed us where the Confederate army wanted to be and it just looked like a little stump in the hill. Like Little Round Top, but when we were actually on it, wow the Union Army had a major advantage point from up there. It was a very neat experience to be there and see where this great war took place and very difficult to comprehend that many people in that area and how many actually died there. It is defiantly not something I will forget anytime soon.

--Matt at the museum--

Artillery cannon from the Union side looking at the Confederate Side

--Looking down from Little Round Top--

--Looking from the Union Artillery line back to the Confederate Line where that monument is--

Day 3- Shenandoah Valley

So today we spent about 6 hours driving and driving and driving. We drove through the whole Shenandoah Valley National Park and really got up close and personal with the deer, some chicken playing squirrels, a possum, and skunk and some other road killed animals that weren't too lucky in the end. the squirrels all ran out in front of the car and waited until we had to slow down to even bother to move. They must have a death wish or something. I got up close and personal to a white tail deer. I was about 4 feet from it taking pix and it just kept on eating and didn't even mind a bit.

Tomorrow we are going to Gettysburg, PA. It's only a couple of hours away. I am very excited to see this history stuff and look forward to actually being there for the first time.

Day 2- Washington D.C.

Good morning everyone. Well after a long day of traveling yesterday we finally made it back late last night. Yesterday was a very fun day. Leaving around 10am, we first traversed to D.C. in pursuit of locating a quilting shop for my mom. After passing beautiful home after beautiful home, ranging in prices from 1 mil-4 million bucks,we finally located the little shop. My dad found a display case with kaleidoscopes which kept him occupied. I actually looked around and found a quilting pattern that I like and asked my mom how hard it was to make. She said that she would teach me the "paper technique" some time. I know what you are thinking, Becky quilting, WOOOWWWW.

Anyhew. After that we passed some more multi-million dollar homes enroute to the Washington D.C. Temple. We spent a good few hours there and enjoyed the session inside. I have never been in a Temple that large before. You pretty much need a map just to get you around the inside. It was very beautiful inside and I look forward to attending this Temple many more times.

So now it is about 5 pm, and still haven't had lunch. So we didn't want to loose the light of the day so we decided to go directly to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossoms that are in full beautiful bloom. It was so gorgeous. I knew there were a ton but I didn't think there were that many. Here are a few pix of yesterday.

-Elizabeth, you wanted a pix of the parents, well here is my dad practically running to find the perfect pix. And you know my mom, she doesn't like to be in pix.

--This is funny, the sign says "Caution, Low Tree Limbs Ahead" Ok but where are the railings from keeping you going into the water if you do smack into a tree limb?

Ok, so that is all the pix from today. I know a ton but it was beautiful. Well, today we are going to the Shenandoah valley. More pix later!

Day 1-Charlottesville

So this week my parents are in town and I get to play tourist with them and learn all the things about the US history which has failed to stick to my memory from school. I am not kidding you I litterly can not remember learning some of this Civil War or general history information in school. I am not a "history buff" like my father or my hubby so I am joining my parents for the ride to learn more. So today we went to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. I was so beautiful here. It was an overcast day but the tulips were almost in full bloom and there were a ton of them. It was really neat to see the gardens and to learn about the history of the house. There was a beautiful piano forte in the parlour but under lock and key so I don't even know if it works or not. Here are some pix from today, we weren't allowed to take pix inside of the house so here are some garden pix.

Oh and Matt has to work for the next few days so he isn't able to come with us but he will be with us on Thursday and Friday.

Next stop tomorrow the D.C. Temple, Tyson's Corner and the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Reflections Of Christ

For those of you who weren't able to see this at the Mesa Temple, there is a new photo exihibit at the visitor center called Reflections of Christ. They used a slideshow as a publicity shot for the Easter Pageant. Here is a link to another blog which has the slideshow available for viewing. It is amazing. Some very cool things besides all the beautiful pix taken is that all the pix were taken in Southern AZ and Rocky Point, Mex. The singer, who is singing "Come Thou Fount" is Freddie Ashby, an old family friend of my family. I had a major crush on his younger brother Andy growing up. Also my best friend Elizabeth who was an Angel in this years Easter Pageant knows the person who depicted Judah. Pretty nifty huh. So enjoy viewing this beautiful depiction of of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ

Pix

So here is a pix of our ceiling where I had the nasty florscent light removed and here is my patch job where I spackled and painted. You can't even see where I did the work. Go Me. I'll post more pix when we put the track lighting in. I don't have a before pix that actually shows the light but is was nasty.

Welcome Home!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Matt is home safe and sound now. He drove 19 hours yesterday because he didn't want to stay at another hotel and get another sleepless night so he just drove the whole way, I know, he issssssss crazy, anyhew I am very glad that he is home safe and sound.