So over Spring Break, Christian was able to go and present his summer research at a conference in Washington DC. Somehow I convinced him to take me and then we convinced the Riggs to come, too! It was so much fun! Be prepared for a ton of pictures to follow! The best part was being able to spend so much time with friends and family! I'm convinced the Riggs would make the best of roommates! Thanks guys for such a great time and for taking all of our pictures!
Here we are in the airport ready for take off! Tyson slept the entire way there and half the way back! The last flight we got quite a few contemptuous looks and quite a bit of advice as we left the plane. Overall, I felt like it was a success!
They had the most beautiful gardens by the capitol building. Here is Tyson by one of my mother-in-law's favorite flowers! They made me think of you!
The National Museum of Art housed the only Da Vinci painting in the North American Continent. The lady had to tell us to "back away from the painting!" I was more impressed with the other artwork anyway!
One of the best parts about Washington DC is everything is free! Here we are checking our reflexes at the Air and Space museum...Lyndsay was by far the best!
There was so much to see and learn! Here I learned we were spying on the Russians from outer space which actually led to the end of the cold war as we could see they weren't hiding nuclear weapons from us! Science wins again!
Most of the museums had kids on field trips walking through and they all thought our babies were adorable! I don't think they have as many babies around there as other places! They all seemed surprised to see them!
Like father...
...like son!
When we toured the capitol building in Austin, we learned that Texas had sent two statues to DC. I thought that was really strange until we went to DC and realized that EVERY State had sent two statues to DC! That made me feel a lot better about Texas! Here we are by all of the States we can claim. Montana, the last best place!!
Utah...where I was born and where we fell in love :)
Texas--the place we have grown to love!
Here we are in the Library of Congress taking a pit-stop for Tyson!!
Here we are in front of the White House. Christian's old mission companion, Blaine, took this picture with his phone since you aren't allowed to bring ANYthing inside!
This is the guy who set us up on the amazing tours we got to see! Thank you so much Blaine! We really had a wonderful time and owe you guys big time!
We got to tour the capitol building, the white house, see the original constitution, the Declaration of Independence (which was rolled up in the President's drawer for years!) tour the Library of Congress (one of the most architecturally beautiful buildings I have ever seen), all of the monuments (but our camera was out of batteries...too bad!), most of the museums, and even got our naps in most days! Thank you Blaine for setting us up with all of the tours! It was amazing to see the House and Senate at work and fall in love with America again. My favorite part was seeing the actual flag which inspired Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner" which was pieced together and preserved in the dark. Best of all was seeing Tyson and Christian together so much. Tyson would wake up the following week in the middle of the night crying, "Daddy! Where'd he go?" We both had to go through withdrawals with school starting up again!
I love Spring!! These pictures were taken right outside our back window! This morning we went on a walk and counted more than a dozen different kinds of wildflowers! It is so pretty! I am actually really grateful we live here!
He's getting so tall!
Our real backyard is peppered with thistles and so Tyson has learned that it is not safe to help himself up after he has fallen down! He's so cute!
What a handsome boy!
Bluebonnets are the Texas State flower. Aren't they lovely?
Here we all are at the Riverwalk under the most beautiful smelling flowers! 
Tyson with his new favorite person!
Here Tyson is helping Grandpa! They helped us plant raspberries in the back and flowers in the front and it is beautiful! That was one of my favorite things we did...gardening with Sandra!
On Sunday evening we went to the park to feed the ducks. It was in the 70s everyday and beautiful! By the way, didn't I marry a handsome man!?
One day we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens. Greg went around and around for nearly an hour to find us a parking spot! Finally he parked at the bakery we had stopped by earlier. What a champion!
Sometimes Tyson will let me hold him. You have to capture the moment though! It's not every day!
Aunt Laurie made us a book for Christmas with all of the letters in it. This shot will be perfect for G--Grandma and Grandpa!
Grandma and Tyson by the waterfall!
We got to go to Sea World together and we had a blast! Especially Tyson who would jump and clap during the shows! He absolutely loved every second of it! Thank you so much Sandra!
This shirt with fish is from Greg and Sandra. Every now and then he would point down on his shirt and say "fish!" It was cute!
Isn't he getting big?
Tyson had a good time playing with the chain/rope as usual! One thing I love about my mother-in-law is she is always willing to take the time to let a kid just enjoy themself. She is absolutely wonderful!
Aren't these frogs cool? They are real and very poisonous! I think they're cute!
Here we are in the airport ready for take off! Tyson slept the entire way there and half the way back! The last flight we got quite a few contemptuous looks and quite a bit of advice as we left the plane. Overall, I felt like it was a success!
They had the most beautiful gardens by the capitol building. Here is Tyson by one of my mother-in-law's favorite flowers! They made me think of you!
The National Museum of Art housed the only Da Vinci painting in the North American Continent. The lady had to tell us to "back away from the painting!" I was more impressed with the other artwork anyway!
One of the best parts about Washington DC is everything is free! Here we are checking our reflexes at the Air and Space museum...Lyndsay was by far the best!
There was so much to see and learn! Here I learned we were spying on the Russians from outer space which actually led to the end of the cold war as we could see they weren't hiding nuclear weapons from us! Science wins again!
Most of the museums had kids on field trips walking through and they all thought our babies were adorable! I don't think they have as many babies around there as other places! They all seemed surprised to see them!
Like father...
...like son!
When we toured the capitol building in Austin, we learned that Texas had sent two statues to DC. I thought that was really strange until we went to DC and realized that EVERY State had sent two statues to DC! That made me feel a lot better about Texas! Here we are by all of the States we can claim. Montana, the last best place!!
Utah...where I was born and where we fell in love :)
Texas--the place we have grown to love!
Here we are in the Library of Congress taking a pit-stop for Tyson!!
Here we are in front of the White House. Christian's old mission companion, Blaine, took this picture with his phone since you aren't allowed to bring ANYthing inside!
This is the guy who set us up on the amazing tours we got to see! Thank you so much Blaine! We really had a wonderful time and owe you guys big time!
We got to tour the capitol building, the white house, see the original constitution, the Declaration of Independence (which was rolled up in the President's drawer for years!) tour the Library of Congress (one of the most architecturally beautiful buildings I have ever seen), all of the monuments (but our camera was out of batteries...too bad!), most of the museums, and even got our naps in most days! Thank you Blaine for setting us up with all of the tours! It was amazing to see the House and Senate at work and fall in love with America again. My favorite part was seeing the actual flag which inspired Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner" which was pieced together and preserved in the dark. Best of all was seeing Tyson and Christian together so much. Tyson would wake up the following week in the middle of the night crying, "Daddy! Where'd he go?" We both had to go through withdrawals with school starting up again!
