We took one last trip to DC to see the city and the Jefferies, did I spell that right? Last time we were there it was freezing and rainy in January, so the sun was a welcome sight.
We took the Metro into Arlington cemetary and hung out there for the morning. The place is way bigger than I thought. The graves were all divided up into the different wars in our nation's history. I think the one big thing I got out of it was the magnitude of how many people died serving our country. It was wierd to see so many people walking around and touring a cemetary. There are many famous and influential people there, but now that they have all come and gone, the memory of the unknown soldiers is just as powerful as the most famous leaders.
We thought this picture was funny because of the fingers...maybe it was funnier while in the cemetary.

Usually we get to see quite a bit in the cities we visit while walking around, but DC is so spread out we were completely exhausted after seeing just a few of the main sights.



So many people were taking pictures of their feet looking up the Washington Monument, we thought the better picture was of them.

It was the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival and people were EVERYWHERE. We owe a BIG BIG thanks to Melecia and fam for babysitting Ellie for the day. I think we realized that she is such a good baby for us, but maybe not always around everyone else. I think she is getting old enough to recognize us and feel comfortable around us, but it takes a bit for her to warm up around other people now.


How can you not love that face..."huh?" The time went by too fast. It seemed like once Ellie was comfortable and we were all having fun we had to go.

Barking babies and Crying dogs

I love this video. Dilly loves our little girl and she cries and howls when Ellie cries and howls. Now that Ellie is old enough to recognize Dilly, we caught her reaction on camera. Its a competition between who can cry the loudest now. Watch how Ellie reacts to Dilly..."how dare you interrupt my cranky time"

Our whole plan to change the world one person at a time, one month at a time, is not going as we hoped it would so far. We won't give up so easy, but its funny how things have gone. For every person we have gone out of our way to help, we've had people go out of their way 3 fold to try and make our lives miserable. Ok so thats a bit of a stretch, but its just been one of those months it seems people are out to get us. Some lady even pulled over while driving to criticize Joni while she was jogging with Dilly. Who does that?

I don't want to leave North Carolina with a bad taste in my mouth, this place is so beautiful, but people just seem to be so cold here at times. I know a lot of really good people here, but in general I just don't like the vibe I get. Does that ever happen to you? We've lived in a lot of places and this is a first for us. Maybe telling people we would only be here for 8 months was a mistake? I don't know. As the visiting teaching supervisor Joni gets snapped at all the time by women in the ward, but since we're moving its not worth bringing up. I can't help but think about the Book of Mormon, and how entire cities could be filled with pride and hatred while others thrived by being righteous and Christlike. Anyways, I Don't want to discount any of the good experiences we've had. We will miss this place like all the rest, but it won't be as hard to leave this time around. Our next options are between Atlanta and Colorado, thats right I said Colorado, so we'll keep ya'll posted.

Ellie found her hands a while ago, and now she is starting to find things and grab at them. We think she'll be ready for rice cereal any day now. She can actually grab onto the bottle and pull it out of her mouth. Funny how excited we get to see the smallest little progress she makes. That reminds me that Joni and her sister made a list of "things that make people look like idiots" years ago, thought I'd share a couple of them:

1) Watching people interact with babies
2) Watching someone get attacked by a bee
3) The threat of having a rubberband snapped against your bare skin

Can you think of anymore? My dad has his own category including sticking his finger in a fan, skiing down a black diamond without any skis, and stubbing his toe.

So the grandparents have been harrassing us to see more pictures of their newest grandaughter. Ok so "harrassing" is a strong word, but I know death threats will soon be coming if we don't show everyone how fast our little one is growing.

We spent what was probably our last weekend ever in Charleston. Andrea graduated and is moving back to Utah, so we spent some time in one of our most favorite cities in the South. Ellie was awesome on the whole 5 hour drive, I don't know what we did to deserve such a good baby, she is so sweet.



We toured the retired Yorktown aircraft carrier, and went inside a WWII submarine that was a little creepy and clostrophobic, but it was fun to play with all the buttons and levers. There were a million Boy Scouts there with us that day.






We went to Folly beach at sunset, it was so beautiful, but it got really cold once the sun went down.









Apparently Ellie is a future Diet Coke-a-holic with the look she's giving that soda.

Living in a box

I'm realizing more and more each day how so many people, myself included, tend to live in our own little box. We have our own little family, our own little house, our group of family and friends, our possessions, and we don't tend to think much about people around us. We do that because its where we feel comfortable, but if you think about it, are we really that different than anyone else? So different that we shut others out of our lives, and walk/drive past someone who needs help?

We all think that WE are the best drivers and that everyone else is out to get us. We think that our own problems are the biggest and the worst, and that we are successful businessmen because of something we did on our own. We look at things other people do, and jump to criticize them because its not the way WE would do it. See a recurring theme here?

I'm finding that one of the best ways to find satisfaction and happiness in life doesn't involve a couch and a television. It involves picking up a phone, walking out the door, and meeting new people. The more people I get to know, the more stories I hear, and the more I realize how lucky I am to have a job, a nice rental, 2 cars, a beautiful family, and a sweet but troubled little dog. I remember one of the things I wanted to bless Ellie with more than anything, was to feel compassion and love for people around her who aren't as fortunate as she is.

We have great friends and family who are always stepping out of their little boxes, and I admire them for that. Joni and I think it would be nice to find a way at least once a month to do something positive for someone we don't necessarily know well. It seems that there are a lot of sad people out there and people struggling to get by that I know through work and my church calling, but I've felt stongly that I need to do something and I think this is it. We'll let you know how it goes and share our stories of our new friends, not to toot our own horns, but with hopes to inspire others in the way we've felt inspired.

Joni took some pictures this weekend of some random stuff around our neighborhood. She made a couple of friends (a horse, and some neighbors who were curious as to why a girl was taking pictures of their barn). We'll post a video or two of Ellie for the grandparents soon.

Bucket Lists

We were talking the other night for some reason about things we wanted to do before we die, and we actually found out some things about each other that we didn't really know. Funny thing is that we can see how much our priorities have changed since we were young. We no longer feel like we have to experience every little random thing, like jumping out of an airplane or eating the hottest chili pepper in the Southern hemisphere. Our priorities are...well...I'll just show you:

Joni:
Buy a house (or live in a house for longer than 8 months)
Go to Europe
Go to the dentist (I know this one threw me for a loop, but Joni has been terrified of the dentist ever since she worked for one)
Fill a picture book with professional looking photos (she's already started that one)
Run a marathon or complete a triathlon
Get back to a size 4 (pre-pregnancy weight)
Become a good cook
Go body boarding again on a beautiful beach
Paul and the Moore bro's to sing "It's Allright" by Huey Lewis & the News (long story, and random, help me out Moore brothers)

Paul:
Flip a house (for you non-HGTV fans, buy a house, fix it up, and sell it for profit)
Buy a SuperSport (60's or 70's muscle car)
Travel to...Italy, Spain, Asia, the Great Pyramids, the China Wall
Pay a big favor forward to a random person...like the movie, could be anything
Learn Italian
Write a children's book
Build a house/cabin

Ellie:
Find a way to poop in the toilet by 4 months old
Sleep 12 hours a night for the next 18 years
Learn to ski
Have a full-time job by the time I'm 11

Ok so these are not Ellie's personal goals, but did you learn something new about us?
Whats on your bucket list???

Ellie is doing fantastic, sleeps through the night, loves to snuggle and look around. She just started giggling this week and we will do ANYTHING, including acting like complete idiots, just to get her to giggle again.
She is 24" long, 13.4 lbs, and has the most squeezable little cheeks you ever saw.

Joni has lost 45 pounds since Ellie was born. Dilly and I played in the snow all weekend as we were stranded in our home, and we've all been craving Mexican food and cheeseburgers constantly lately. Waiting on another snowstorm tomorrow and crossing our fingers we have power.

This past weekend we blessed Ellie and were lucky to have so many familiar faces here to support her. We packed upward of 25 people in our apartment (luckily we all like each other) to play games, visit, dance, laugh, and have a lot of fun. Here are some pictures...





Ellie was delighted to meet GraMaude for the first time!




Little Eli was an expert at giving kisses to his new cousin.


Paul was able to meet up with an old highschool buddy. He stopped by with his wife Sarah and darling little girl Ava.

We decided to surprise Jen with a decadent, delicious "everything" cake. Actually, to be quite honest I was pretty nervous to taste it. We bought a frozen chocolate cake and Paul had the idea to add a layer in the middle. We were in the middle of trying to decide whether to fill the middle with rasberry jam or candy bar chunks when I went to get in the shower. When I got out I found Paul and GraMaude cutting up FOUR different kinds of candy bars and putting them in sections. Then I found out they had put the rasberry jam under the candy bars AS WELL. So the middle layer was a combo of rasberry, Twix, 1000,000 grand, Snickers, and Reeses cups! I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it turned out - and I'm not just saying it to make Paul feel good, I really loved it!



Here is the inside layer before we put the top back on


Becca, Meg, Emmy, Lyssa and Secily had fun decorating the top


Here is the finished product... Mmmm


Ellie was great the whole weekend, just happy to be here.


All the women of the house having "girl talk" while the guys were watching football. Ellie's just layin in the middle taking it all in.


Here are a few of the family pics we took Sunday morning in the rain.








This is a four generation picture, complete with my grami BJ who just got home from a mission in Australia last Tuesday.



Yes, I realize Ellie's red shoes are gigantic, but I couldn't resist putting them on with her outfit.

.........

Right before the blessing I was getting ready to sit down in the chapel. I looked up and realized our family filled two full rows, which is amazing to me considering the fact that we live in NC. I felt such an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude for everyone who traveled to support us, and I know everyone else wishes they could have been here. Ellie doesn't know it quite yet, but she has an AWESOME family who loves her!!

- JONI