Christmas in DC

So last night a group of us went to see the National Christmas Tree. It was a great night! Every year they get a huge tree and put it in front of the White House with 50 smaller trees around it to represent each state. Joce is famous because she had an ornament on the Virginia tree a couple years ago. They have a huge pit filled with burning yule logs and a very large train set that goes all around the tree. Choirs perform and it is a very festive atmosphere. It will be one of my fun memories of this Christmas.


Another fun part of Christmas this year has been making the nativities for Nettie & Adam and Larry & Jessica's kids. A year ago Nettie mentioned how nice it would be to have a nativity that kids could actually play with. When I got Larry and Jessical for Christmas I thought it would be fun for their kids to have one. I love how they turned out so I wanted to put a picture of them on here so you could see them.

Maddy blessed

Kimberly's family came down to see Maddy blessed. It was so fun to get together. The sad thing is that was the last time we saw she and her family before they left us to move on to the big huge state of Texas :(

Drive in at Aunt Michelle's

So I watched Nettie's kids for her on the day that she moved. I thought of taking them to a drive-in movie for the evening but was exhausted so I set up the drive in movie in my living room. We went to the store:each one got to choose a box of their favorite fruit treat (no sticky, chocolatey mess:), and micro popcorn, some barbie movie...they had a blast.

Before the movie though they needed a bath. I didn't realize how tricky it would be to use a shower with kids that age....LOL...I won't forget it. I was basically in the shower with them..fully clothed...trying to hold them up. Note to self...have a tub if I have little kids. The best part was Albrecht slipping across the shower floor in his diaper while I was helping the other two. I wish I had a video for all of you.

Shenandoah and the rain

So last night I went camping in Shenandoah despite the forecast for rain. Maybe not the best night to go but it was fun :) The mist was so thick we could hardly see as we drove up the mountain. The tent leaked so when we woke up everything was drenching wet.

We had fun on the way home though because we got pictures of the changing leaves and stopped at a little art gallery and country store for hot cider. Great night after all.

Hooray for girls camp!!

Girls camp was fantastic! The girls were great and we had so much fun together. We were even lucky enough to have mice share our cabins with us. It made the nights so much more interesting:)

Baby Maddy is here

Little Maddy made it. I got the call from Nettie at work and raced to get to her house so she could get to the hospital. I seriously thought she would have the baby on the side of the road because of the traffic but she made it to the hospital with 20 whole minutes to spare.

Iraqi women's fundraiser

I have been working with an organization called FUTURE for the past 3-4 years that is helping support women in Iraq. If you want to read about it there is a website: womenforfuture.org. Anyway, some of you know that I have been helping plan for a huge fundraiser that was Thursday night. Patti and I were in charge of the decorations. We worked 24/7 minus sleep(very little) , and work to get ready for this event. Talk about exhausting! But then, when the event actually happens I always feel grateful to play a role in something that is supporting such a great cause. Here are a couple pictures of the event. This is the entryway into the hall where we had the event. We had an Afghan woman do all of the floral arrangements and they were so beautiful.She made fruit displays that looked like flowers. This was one of the specialty tables called the Lion of Babylon.

In May 2006 9 women came over from Iraq for a conference where we trained them on the organizational structure of the relief society. This is a picture they took during one of their meetings when they got back to Iraq.
Now...2 years later...in June 2008, this is the graduation ceremony for the women in Sulamaniya,Iraq after they went through their training. It is a miracle to see how this organization has grown.