Catching up!

Hi girls! I love this blog. It is so fun to see pictures and hear all of your news. I'm glad everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. I have been playing hostess for the last few weeks for family and friends who have been out visiting. But I shipped the last of them off yesterday and I am looking forward to sleeping! Last weekend I was in NYC with Sarah, Emily and her friend. It was so much fun and we had a great time shopping and seeing shows. Chinatown is addicting. I wish I had more money that I could spend on knock off purses! I did get this really cute Dolce and Gabbana bag. I love it!

The 4th of July was fantastic. Celebrating our freedoms and liberties in the Nation's capital was so fun! We had a picnic with friends and family and the fireworks were great . It has been a very fun summer so far here in DC. Hot, but fun! Why don't you all come and visit sometime!

Love you girls!

Joe leaves tomorrow :(

We signed papers on our house today and get keys for it on Thursday. Here is a picture of Joe and I in front of it though you don't see much of the house.

Love to you all,

London

Hot Desert Sun

Happy Independence Day!

Well, we are fully into the beastly hot summer. Actually, it has been hotter than normal for this time of year. We've been living it up in the 100's and 110's. YIKES. We got away from it for a few days while we went to Utah (although it was pretty warm there too). Just a short little trip, but we went to a baptism (Sean's sister's husband), a family reunion, a birthday party and a baby blessing.... plus all the other playing that went on. It was fun. I stayed with Charity and her husband for a few days before Sean met up with us. We brought home my two brothers, Caleb and Corbin, and my little neice, Genevieve. They are all staying with us for a couple of weeks, and then my family will pick them up on their way to Idaho for my sister-in-law's graduation from BYU-Idaho. We have been doing a lot of swimming and playing indoors (it's just been so crazy hot). We had a fun barbeque on the 4th of July, and there was a good fireworks show right here in town. During this time of year I try to reflect a little on the blessing it is to live in this country. We are so blessed to have all that we have...and often take for granted. Even things as simple as food and grocery stores are things that don't come very easily for a good part of the rest of the world. We are also so lucky to have the freedoms and rights that we enjoy here: the freedom to think what we want, to say what we want, to believe what we choose. I feel such gratitude for all of those who fought and risked their lives so that we might enjoy this land of liberty and its freedoms....and for those who continue to fight for those values that are important to us in this country.

Help!

How do I go about adding pictures to the blog??
London

Joe's Home

This is very new for me. I hope this works. Melissa thanks for setting this up for us.
Well Joe has been home the last 2 weeks for his R&R. He's asleep right now so I thought I would sneak away to catch up on some emails. We have had a fabulous vacation. Luckily work gave me the full 2 weeks off. These past two weeks we have stayed at some really fun resorts in town and also went up to Sedona, AZ where we went to an African zoo, hiked, played in streams, caught my first fish and cooked it all by myself, and went to several Indian ruins. We have seen a few movies, always more fun to go to the movies with your husband, and have gone bowling. We close on our house next week so we have been in a lot of meetings for that as well. Joe's brother is arriving in Arizona today so we'll spend the weekend with 2 of his sisters who live here and is brother. They picked a terrible time to visit today was 115 degrees. His brother jokes and says he is taking a vacation to the surface of the sun.
Joe goes back Tuesday and will be gone for another 6 months. I got an email from the Lt. General of the Army that said no more extensions, Yeah!! so he will be home now in January after serving 15 months. I'm coming up on month 9 so only 6 more to go.
Work is going well. Luckily with the heat the snowbirds go home and work has really quieted down. I plan to work there through November but get out before another winter. They are bruttle! 15 hours with barely a break. I am still learning everyday and love what I do.
Love you all,
London

The Priesthood

I am grateful for the Priesthood. Tyler was able to bless Kathryn on Sunday, what a wonderful experience. I loved watching many of the important men in my life walk up to the front of the chapel and join together in a circle. Kathryn was given a beautiful blessing. Prompted by the words Tyler spoke, a feeling came into my heart that Kate is going to be a strong Young Woman. I know the blessing came from her Father in Heaven and I get choked up everytime I think of how recently she left His presence to be with our family. How unworthy, yet empowered that makes me feel. I know the Priesthood is the Power of God, and I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way back to our Heavenly Father.

Life Is Good!!!

Okay, so I just wrote a whole entry and then it disappeared, so this is not going to be as good.

Anyway - this is my baby, LUCKY. I adopted her from the Humane Society in April, and she's been spoiled because I've been home with her all day since I got her. When I go back to work she will have a rude awakening. She loves to play fetch with the tennis ball and would play all day long if I had the energy for it. It was hard leaving her for 10 days for my Lake Powell trip, but luckily everything went well and she was still alive and healthy when I got back, and my house was still in tact!

I just returned from 9 glorious days on a houseboat on Lake Powell. There were 10 adults and 17 children - and it was a blast. I think my brother mostly wanted me to come because his wife's brother, Matt, was coming and is single also. My brother is trying to marry us off.

Here I am wakeboarding, and I'll tell you what, thank heavens the wakeboard has boots because tankinis and wipeouts don't mesh well! I feel pretty good about my progress on the wakeboard - by the end of the trip I was able to go in and out of wake, which I've never been able to do before.

So this is the houseboat - it is amazing. 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, A/C, a great kitchen with a microwave, gas range, and 2 refridgerators. And it has a 42" flat screen TV for watching DVD's or satellite TV. The men were happy to be able to watch Sports Center each night after the kids went to bed.

Most of the kids and Matt and I slept on the top and were much cooler than those inside since we turned the A/C off at night. Anyway - this is a vacation I could see myself taking every year! I guess I better start making some gooooood money then!

The moral of this story: life is good, even when you're unemployed!!!!!!