Lake Owen

It has been disappointing to be back in Laramie after our trip to Washington D.C. and New York. Nothing in Laramie seems quite as exciting. All of us have enjoyed the relaxation and recovery though. Ross and I have been working on different projects around here and enjoying some time before reality starts next week. Ross begins his rotations at the Walgreens in Laramie next week. I think he will really enjoy that. 

We got Madison some sunglasses for a dollar at Target. We figured that she good learn to be careful with these ones first. Then maybe we would trust her with the nicer pair. She looks so cute in them. She is getting very close to walking. 

 Madison and I ready for church with style. 

 She posed on her car seat the other day and I had to snap a picture. This one is mostly for Diana since she'll be getting ready to take her senior pictures soon. I thought she could learn some poses from Madison. 

 Madison eating lunch. 

 Madison was ready to walk around Lake Owen. She enjoyed seeing everything around the lake. 

 Ross and Madison 

 We saw this bird while we were walking. It was beautiful.

 I love Lake Owen. The colors there were amazing and I love how this picture turned out. 

 It wouldn't be Wyoming if we didn't find snow! I was tempted to throw a snowball at Ross. He lucked out though because he was holding Madison. 

 Madison and I. 

 Family picture 

 Madison and I practicing walking. 

 Ross took this picture. I love the water in the background. 

 Ross and Madison on the train. 

 I was rushing to catch the train. 

Madison sitting on the steps of the train. 

We had a great drive out to Lake Owen and we had fun driving around the different small towns around there. It was fun to explore the area. It was beautiful! 

New York City

After a few days in Washington D.C. we drove up to New York. Our time in New York City was amazing. I loved the city and the weather was nice and cool for us. Parker's parents live 2 miles outside of West Point. It was beautiful out there. I loved everything about their house and I especially loved the view. On our way to New York we stopped at the Washington D.C. LDS temple and Gettysburg.

 Washington D.C. temple. It was a perfect day! The temple is built right by a highway and it curves right as you see the temple. Parker's Aunt and Uncle were telling us that when the temple was first built that people driving on the highway would get distracted and get into accidents. I could see how that could be the case.

 Ross, Madison and I in front of the temple.

 Allie, Parker's sister was so fun! I loved spending time with her. She reminded me of my little sister Rachel. Allie would bring the cats over so Madison could pet them. Madison loved the cats.

 Manhattan temple

 Grandma and Madison became good friends during this trip! I was so glad. Thanks for coming with us Anne!

 Madison and too much museum.

 Anne, Madison and I at the Museum of Natural History.

There were lots of neat things at this museum. I was disappointed that the Ocean exhibit closed before I could get there. It looked like there was a lot of neat stuff in there.

 This canoe was huge. It amazing how much of the room it took up.

 Parker, Ross, Madison and I relaxing in Central Park.

 Parker said that this fountain was in all the movies. I thought that I had recognized it from some shows. It was fun to see.

 Madison, Ross and Anne in front of the fountain. I love this picture.

 Madison was practicing her walking.

 She is getting closer. Ross was hoping she would take her first steps in Central Park.

Ross and Madison

 FAO Schwartz was the coolest place. We loved going there. Madison was excited to look at all the toys. She wanted to play with a lot of them. In the Lego section there was this neat Statue of Liberty made out of Legos.

 Anne with Batman.

 Me with the Lego Hello Kitty.

 I found about 5 Madison Ave signs during our trip. This is the best picture though.

 Madison and Ross getting ready to go on the subway.

 Our reflection in the subway window.

 It was cloudy while we were there, but the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were behind us.

 We took the Staten Island Ferry and got an incredible view of the Statue of Liberty and the city. It was a beautiful view.

 Ross, Madison and I on the ferry.

 Ross and I at the 9/11 memorial. It was beautifully done. I also enjoyed seeing the new world trade center.

 Ross and Madison. Madison loves her new sunglasses from H&M. I think they look adorable on her.

Madison really enjoyed her Hershey's kiss from the Hershey's store. She got it all over her face.

 Ross, Madison and I at the M&M store. I enjoyed this place a lot.

 Madison and her friend Allie. We got home the one day and Madison gave Allie a big hug.

Ross and Parker took Madison birding in Central Park while Anne and I went to see Wicked. They had a good time and we had a great time at Wicked too. I loved the show. I keep singing the songs all the time. I love this picture of Madison.

 Ross kept taking pictures of Parker and Parker finally caught Ross. I thought that this picture was pretty funny.

 Parker met a new friend named Birding Bob. I guess he is pretty into birding and has a nice scope. They saw a hummingbird in Central Park that had never been seen there before.

This is Ross and Madison at the bull on Wall St. It was fun to see the New York Stock Exchange. 

We had a great time on our trip to New York and Washington D.C. It is kind of sad that it is over, but we enjoyed every minute. Thanks for letting us come Parker! 

Washington D.C.

There are lots of pictures in this post. We just got back from our vacation. Ross and I have a friend that lives in Washington D.C. Parker was a chemistry major at BYU-Idaho also. He has been a really good friend of ours. We were so glad that we could visit him because he'll be moving to Hawaii in August. Anne, Ross' mom was able to come with us. She served a mission in Pennsylvania and was able to go to Washington D.C. for one day before she went home. It has always been a dream of hers to go back. I'm so glad we could be a part of that. It was a great experience for all of us.

Madison was an awesome baby during the whole trip. I couldn't believe it. She just enjoyed looking at everything. We had a great time.

Madison and Grandma

The Washington Monument

We were walking around the Potomac when we saw about 30 of these Black Hawks flying over. I captured tons of pictures of them. It was so neat to see. We weren't sure why they were flying over head.

Madison being a goof ball.

Ross, Madison, Anne and I in front of the Lincoln monument. I think this is one of my favorite places in DC.

Family selfie with Lincoln.

Ross and Madison. The two from Wyoming.

The World War II monument was beautiful. I loved the way that it was put together.

Anne and I are both Colorado girls.

Ross, Madison and I. That is part of the WWII monument and then the Lincoln behind that.

When we were getting ready to leave, WWII veterans started coming in to see the monument. They were brought in from Chicago. It was a great experience to see them. It was neat to see them all come in and I enjoyed celebrating them. They were very humble people and very kind. The one man was pushing his own wheelchair.

We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.
This is Parker in front of something. I don't remember what it was but he was very excited about it.

I thought that this space suit was really neat. There was a lot of really fun stuff there.

Madison enjoyed looking at everything. I was shocked at how great of a traveler she was. She liked to point at everything.

This was how she told me she was ready to get back in the stroller.

Ross and Anne at the Air and Space museum.

I saw this helmet at the museum. My dad has a helmet like this from his ancestors. I wanted to compare them.

Ross and Bill Daniels. Ross received the Daniel's Fund scholarship and it helped us a lot during our undergraduate degrees.

I am in the middle of a jump. I love my hair.

We stayed with Parker's Aunt and Uncle. They had a beautiful house that had a pool in the backyard. I loved jumping off the diving board. Madison hated the diving board. She got so scared and didn't want anything to do with it. She came back with a fear of water. Bath time has been interesting.

I accidentally cut his head off in the pictures. It was fun to swim after walking all day.

My favorite place that we visited in DC was called the Newseum. It is a museum about the history of the media. They had a lot of neat stuff there. This is a picture of Ross and Madison in the guard tower of the Berlin wall. They had part of the Berlin wall also. I really enjoyed the room full of newspapers. They had newspapers from different events in history. I enjoyed seeing all of them.

Ross, Madison and I. You can see the capital behind us.

I tried my hand at reporting a little reporting while we were there. I need to practice.

Anne Davidson, reporting from the White House.

Ross wasn't thrilled to be a reporter.

Madison will be an excellent reporter one day!

This pictures shows how we spent most of our time. Walking, walking, walking.

We went to the National Zoo and saw the Panda bears! They were pretty active. It was neat to watch them.

Ross and Madison in the bird house.

Ross, Madison and Anne

We loved seeing all of the trees and plants. Anne was excited to see this Bamboo. It was growing in someone's front yard.

Ross and Parker gave me a lot of grief about taking a picture of Madison St. Ross was saying that there is never any Ross St. When we saw this we had Parker pull over and Ross went out and got a picture!

Madison liked to point at the animals at the zoo.

Madison, me, Parker and Anne in front of the National Cathedral. It was beautiful

Replace Parker with Ross.

There was a beautiful garden next to the cathedral.

Parker spent a lot of time taking pictures. Photo by: Ross

We ended up stumbling upon Georgetown Cupcake. I had secretly wanted to go there, but I figured no one else would want to. They used to have a show on TLC called DC Cupcake. It is on Netflix now.

Me with my precious cupcakes.

Top left is coconut, right is salted caramel, bottom left is red velvet and right is chocolate. They look amazing.

Horrible picture, but they were amazing! Holy cow it was the best cupcake I have ever had! Writing this is making me want one.

This is Madison was Brooke and Elise. They are Parker's cousins. They loved hanging out with Madison and playing with her! They were fun girls!