Spring Break in Washington...

Jake's much anticipated spring break came and went way too fast! We had tons of fun though! Friday the 28th, right after Jake got off school, we went straight to the airport and flew to Phoenix. Saturday we spent the day with the Smith side of the family. Luckily we barely caught Josh, Jenni, and the boys who were still visiting from CA until Sunday morning. We hung out with them along with the Arizona Smiths at the park. Jenni and I got away for a little bit to do some shopping... I found a cute jacket on super clearance. Score! Sunday we spent the day with the Gift side of the fam. Had a tasty BBQ and hung out with family and friends after church. Weather in AZ was perfect... not too hot yet. I took off for a run around 7 in the morning monday and it was gorgeous running weather... aaaa...I love that there is no humidity there! Monday we met Jake's old mission companion, Brigham, and his wife for lunch at good old Chipotle. The rest of the day we hung out with family. Tuesday morning Jake and I were off to Washington DC. Thanks a bunch to grandmas and grandpas for watching Luke so we could have the week to ourselves! Luke had fun being spoiled by the grandparents!
In DC we stayed with Brendon and Taryn. Brendon and Jake were roommates at BYU. They have visitors all the time lately, so they are the perfect hosts! Seriously! Pros. They gave us a list of everywhere they thought we should visit... and had tons of info about everything. It was great. Brendon has the awesome job of working on President Bush's speeches. Isn't that so cool!? Ya. So, he was able to give us some pretty awesome tours of the White House. I loved seeing all the entertaining rooms in the White House... the awesome flowers everywhere... things like the china various presidents have used. Thanks to Brendon we got to see the West Wing... stuff people don't get to see without White House connections. Pretty awesome. Anyway, thanks again guys for a fun time! We took a million pictures on our trip. Although I narrowed them down a lot to post there are still tons on here, so brace yourself for some favorites! :)
Here are some pics from the White House. Unfortunately, pictures are only allowed in the rose garden, the press room, and outside. Cameras weren't even allowed on our first white house tour.
Us... in the front yard of the White House...

Jake, Me, Taryn, and Brendon in the White House press room...

In the rose garden. The oval office is behind us.

Another cool oval office shot. The rose garden is so pretty... even at night!

Another rose garden pic...

the oval office...

West wing entrance...

On to other DC sites...

We ate at so many good places! Here's Jake at a Mexican restaurant we ate at the first day. I've learned to sit in the spot that has the view of the TV if ESPN is on... otherwise, that captures his attention... like it's doing here.

Washington National Monument....
We FROZE waiting for tickets in the morning to go up to the top of the monument. It was way cool though. The view is worth the wait.

Some shots from the top....
on this one you can see the Lincoln Memorial in the distance...

This view showed the White House...

View of the capital and some Smithsonian buildings...

It was Cherry Blossom festival while we were visiting! I'm glad we got to see the trees this time of year!

We waited a long time for Holocaust Memorial Museum tickets too... AMAZING museum. Just be warned... they spare no details about the Holocaust. Very eye-opening place.
Having fun riding the Metro!

One of our Metro cards... I'm dorky and like to keep stuff like this for scrapping! haha
I LOVE Cosi bagels!!!! We stopped here a couple of times. MMMmmm..

Jake in front of the Library of Congress...

an interior library shot. the architecture was so cool...

We took a tour of the Capitol and thought it was fun that Brigham Young is sitting in there!

Awesome artwork in the Capitol... this pic is of the dome inside...

Outside view of the Capitol...

Korean War Memorial...

Aaaa... more cherry blossoms!

Eating some great Thai food with Brendon and Taryn. Brendon found out earlier that day he's been accepted to Stanford for his MBA, so they're off to CA soon! Congrats again!

We took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was fun seeing how money is made!

I loved all the big old trees everywhere there! Such a nice change from the little scrubbies in TX! haha..

So many cool memorials

My favorite memorial... the Lincoln

We checked out Ford's theatre and the house across the st. where Lincoln died

Arlington National Cemetery

Tomb of the unknown soldier...

It started raining when we were at the cemetery... excuse the hair :)

A few pics from the Natural History Smithsonian...

Hope diamond..

Marie Antoinette's earrings....

dorks at the Imax...

Air and Space Smithsonian... I met a new friend...

stud in front of some planes...

American HIstory Smithsonian stuff...
Seinfield's puffy shirt and Mr. Roger's sweater...

George Washington's uniform and sword...

Nauvoo temple sunstone...

I was sort of skeptical about going to the International Spy Museum.. but now I'm SO glad we went! It was so cool! One of my favorite things that we did actually. All sorts of interesting espionage info and spy gear... go see it! We were there for pretty much all of Saturday before we left to go back to AZ.
outside the spy museum.. it's huge inside.

So, we ended up spending time at the White House (West and East wings), the Capitol, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Natural History Smithsonian, American History Smithsonian exhibit (the museum itself is being renovated right now), the Air and Space Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Holocaust Museum, International Spy Museum, Arlington Cemetary, the Jefferson, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, WW2, Washington, and FDR Monuments, and probably some things I am forgetting right now! It was a crazy week! We were literally running to and from different places to make appointment times and things.

We flew back to AZ Saturday night and stayed at my parents house. It was fun to be away for a little bit by ourselves but it was fun to get back to Luke. Sunday we flew back to TX... grandparents had talked about flying on planes quite a bit with Luke explaining to him where we went while he was at their house so he was so excited to fly on a plane and come back home! Loved looking out the plane window and was so good! Anyway, back to school and Texas life...

Easter Weekend

I just uploaded pictures from this past weekend and thought I should post them... I want one of those cool blog books one day! Can't leave out the holidays. Haha. Here are some Easter weekend pics. Saturday we got together with some friends and family so the kids could have an Easter egg hunt. I think they had fun! Thanks Aaron and Kristen hosting! :)
Here's the big group pic...
Luke finding an egg...

The kiddos with their baskets... Luke had just thrown his egg up (good thing they were plastic)

Loving Lily's playhouse...

Luke checking out what the bunny left on Easter morning...

Almost Easter...

My sister is visiting us this week, and since grandma sent Easter prizes with her I was excited for Luke to try on his Easter clothes. Thanks mom for the Easter loot! Here's an Easter preview. What a little stud!

Mmm.. Loving the candy
His GQ pose...

Cheese!

With Abby... awww.. look at their shirts... they match. haha

He thinks he can squeeze in there with the blocks...Davey came last week to visit. I'm sad I didn't get more pictures, but we had lots of fun with him here! Luke was really sad when he left and asks every once in a while where he went. Thanks for coming Davey! Here's a pic of the brothers at Sea World last Saturday...

Horton Hears a Who!

Yay! Luke went to his first movie at a theater. Well, technically his first movie theater experience was when he was a month old... but I don't count that one since he was in the hallway crying with me for 3/4 of the show. haha. Anyhow, he loved Horton! I thought we would have to bribe him with popcorn to stay in his chair and not run around, but he was glued to the big IMAX screen... and didn't move the entire movie. We didn't even have popcorn to keep him busy. Nice! Hopefully more kid-friendly shows are coming out! It was fun to get out with our little guy. You should ask him about Horton and JoJo... he loves talking about it! Here are some pics of our big night out.
Luke & Aunt Abby posing with Horton...
Mr. Cutie in his big movie chair...

Jake is a pro at those machine things with stuffed animals in them... fished out a spiderman for Luke in the theater's arcade before the show.

Happy Birthday Abby!!!

My little sister is turning 20 tomorrow! Woo hoo! Happy Birthday Ab! We hope it's a fun one for ya! Here she is with me and Todd back in 88... apparently she didn't want us holding her... haha and, a more recent picture... sisters!

My Little Helper...

This kid thinks he's a pro at everything lately. He wants to help whenever I do anything... loading the dishes, folding laundry, washing the car, fixing random things, etc. I love it. We put together a little trike for him about a month ago, and since we got Jake's tool set out to do that, the tools haven't been put away. He wants them out! He plays with those tools more then any toy lately. Shoves screwdrivers into any crack he can find, hammers on his toys, you get the idea. Of course, most of the time he only thinks he is helping... but occasionally he actually does. He does a great job at squirting the car for me when I wash it, picking up toys, and setting up the DVD player. It's great. He dosen't have to come to me anymore when he wants to watch Shrek... the boy can put it on himself! Woo hoo! He even hooks up the DVD player when it isn't already set up. What a kid. Some pictures of the helper at work...
Well, this one is just a pic I thought was cute...

My car washer...
He loves these...

Hopefully he won't be taking the doors off their hinges too soon...

Watching his movie after setting up the DVD player....

A liTtLe AboUt My vAlenTinE...

My sis-in-law did a post a while ago about she and her husband. It was fun to read, and I've been wanting to do one but haven't. Seems like a good time to do it now with Valentines Day around the corner! Here's some info about my hubbie... and us! Here we go: What's his name? Jake... Jacob Thomas
How long did you date? One year. Well, kind of. We met at Christmas time of 2003... first date was in January 2004... and we were married Dec. 18, 2004.
How old is he? 27... 4 years older then me.
Who eats more? He does - for sure. HUGE portion sizes. Really, you should see them ;) He actually eats less now then he used to. I eat more junk food though.
Who said "I love you" first? He did. I was kind of a brat... didn't say it back till like a week later (even though I loved him). Guess I was playing hard to get ;)
Who is taller? Jake. He's 6'1 and I'm 5'7.
Who sings better? Jake has a pretty great country voice! I'm not a singer :)
Who is smarter? I consider us both smart in totally different ways. I'm keeping this answer Jenni! Jake is very book smart... great with trivia... and remembers everything (dates, names, places, etc.). He's good at everything school-wise, really. Great writer, historian, math guy, scientist. He's the better student, and he'll be a great dentist. I think I've got more common sense smarts. Put us both on Survivor, and I think I'd win :) I can keep up with him in english and some science though. He will definitely be the one our kids go to for help with math and history.
Who does the laundry? Me. Every once in a while he will help me put things away though.
Who does the dishes? Me. I don't think he's touched dishes since Luke and I were out of town last summer :)
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We switch it up all the time, but lately it's been Jake.
Who pays the bills? Me. I send in the bills. We both watch what is happening in bank accouts though.
Who mows the lawn? Jake does. Lucky for him he hasn't had to do it in a long time! I can't wait until spring comes and our yard gets back to normal!
Who fixes broken things? I guess it depends on what it is. Luke jammed a couple of DVDS into the DVD player the other night... Jake fixed that. When Jake is at school I usually fix stuff though. Luckily we havent had to fix much yet!
Who cooks dinner? Usually I do. Jake is a great chef when he wants to cook though! He's starting to be quite the pro at the grill, too. This pic is from a couple years ago... he not only made us a crawfish dinner... he caught the whole bucket of them that he cooked!
Who drives when you are together? Jake. On long trips we both take turns, but around town, he does. He's still a gentleman too... still opens my door when I'm not putting Luke in his carseat! :)
Who is more stubborn? I guess I'd say me. I'm sure we both have our moments, but I'm probably more stubborn.
Who kissed who first? Jake kissed me - after our third date. He says he thought I was surprised by it, and he wondered if he had made the move too soon. haha. I don't think I was surprised...
Who asked who out first? Jake asked me out first over the phone. I wasn't sure which Smith brother he was at the time though! Didn't even know how he got my number since I never gave it to him. I guess I figured he had gotten it from his sister (who had been my Young Womens leader at church through high school)... Mel claims she never played match maker though. :) Jake looked me up on BYU stalker directory. ha. I met Jake and his two younger brothers a couple weeks earlier and didn't remember which one was Jake. I was happy it was him. Anyway, it was a fun first date. We went to Comedy Sports where I watched my future uber talented sis-in-law perform, and then to the Pizza Factory for dinner. Mmmm. I miss that place!
Who proposed? I'm 100% sure I would NEVER propose! haha. Of course Jake did. He sent me roses in the morning and then took me to Lagoon for the day (I loved Lagoon as a kid and always wanted to go with Jake... he thought it was a lame place so he never wanted to... I thought it was cute that he finally took me!) after Lagoon we ate at the Pizza Factory and then went up to the Y. We had hiked up to the Y a few times before and had lots of fun, so it was a great spot. We talked for a while and then he got down on his knee and proposed there. Cute guy!Here's a pic we took on one of our "Y" hikes...

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me. He loves to joke around. Sometimes I take it seriously and get all huffy. haha. "Give me a break-I'm a girl! This question isn't fair". Well said, Jenni.
Who has more friends? Well, I probably have more close friends, but maybe Jake knows more people. I'm definitely better at keeping in touch with my friends, but I think most girls are!

Who has more siblings? Jake. He has 5 brothers and 1 sister. Ya, wow. He is the 4th oldest... just barely older then this twin, #5. I'm the oldest in my fam and have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Here's Jake with his twin brother Aaron... Jake is in the blue...

Who wears the pants in the family? I think we try to share the pants. haha.
Glad you did this Jenni... All of you who haven't done this yet... you should! I want to read them! :)

You know you're a Texan when...

...you walk around looking at stock show animals on a Saturday night! We had a fun time this past weekend walking around the rodeo grounds with friends and family. It was fun to get out without our little guy in tow. Thanks to Matt and Mandee for watching Luke! (Luke wanted to stay at their house... didn't even care that we came back to get him. Nice work guys!) Here are some pics...

Posing with a big sleepy Brahma...

The crew!... Christi, I swiped this picture from your blog since we didn't get one with our camera! :) All of us ate way too much junk food, and I tried a fried candybar for the first time. ...YUM!!
My favorite animal there... who knew cows could be cute!? Doesn't he look like a big puppy!!? I thought so.

Good times!