Finally!!!

For those of you who don't know about my piano, it was given to me free when a family was moving and did not want to take it with them and so Mark's dad told them he had someone who would love to have it (and I did!). Well, I have had it now for about five years and never had it tuned (eeeeek!). I started taking lessons at one point and was moving right along until we bought The UPS Store and the lessons stopped real fast. So sad, they never started again...until now. I finally have the time to practice so I got the name of this great piano tuner from my teacher and made the appointment. Here he is getting the job done. My piano was made sometime between 1889 and 1920 the tuner estimates. It was neglected in my care but also with previous owners and so it will probably keep braking down like an old car. Not only did he tune it but glued back two keys that had broken. I look forward to learning how to play this beautiful instrument again.

We Had A Blast In Our Nations Capitol!

So, our latest adventure was Washington D.C. and we sure had a great time! We saw so much and learned even more. Every turn was something new to see and a piece of history to take in. Here is a little of what we experienced.

Of course you know what this is...the Lincoln Memorial. The first day that we arrived we picked up our friends from their airport and after checking into the hotel we went on a bus tour of the city which included some of the monuments.

The following morning we went to the top of the Washington Memorial and this was one of the views from the tiny windows. That is the Capitol building at the end of the grassy area (mall).

This is inside the Capitol which was our next stop. Sandy, our friend set up the tour through Jon Kyle's office which is the only way that it can be done. Mark was real excited about the tour but I didn't think much of it. Didn't take long to change my mind. Ended up being one of the best things we did. Getting to sit in the very chairs that congressmen sit in was a great experience.

Every state submits two statues for display in the Capitol and they are anyone of their choosing. Arizona had a Catholic Priest I had never heard of whom apparently helped settle the state and the other was a politician that I had never hear of. Here I am with Brigham Young representing Utah of course.

Here we are in front of Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington (the only president who did not live in the White House due to the fact that it had not yet been finished). His tomb was also on this property just a short walk from the house.

Here we are with our friends Sandy and Daniel Shields. Sandy owns two UPS Stores in Queen Creek and we went through a lot together while I ran my store. We met in the beginning and went through training and grew close. We were excited to plan this trip together. We saw the sights for four days and then they went their separate way to Pennsylvania for a family reunion. This picture is dinner at the Mt. Vernon Inn.

This stop was indeed a highlight as well. Arlington was a beautiful, peaceful place and the ceremony of the changing of the guards was quite amazing. Every movement was extremely precise and with meaning.

It's a bit dark but that is an elephant behind us. We are at the Smithsonian of Natural History.

While on our trip Mark and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary! Love you Mark! We took a 3 hour dinner cruise down the Potomac river.

Before taking this picture we went through the White House visitor center and then after we made our way over to the Daughters of the American Revolutions building and toured some of the rooms there.

This is the room that houses the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence among other documents in the National Archives building.

A much anticipated stop, here we are at the Smithsonian for Air and Space. Above is the Wright Brothers plane from their first flight in 1903.

As we generally do, we made our way to the temple and it was beautiful.

We left the temple and headed North a couple hours to Gettysburg. There we spent time in the museum and then purchased a cd that plays in the car taking you on tour of the battlegrounds. We happened to run into some characters who participate in reinactments. This fellow has been on the History channel several times.

We took a tour through the 28th president Woodrow Wilson's home. Then, we went through the Smithsonian's museum of the history of the Post Office. Ha, that was a bit weird for me.

Do you know your art?
We stopped by the Art Museum which had lots of paintings from the greats in history. Here is the original Ginera de' Benci c. 1474/1478 painted by none other then Leonardo Da Vinci.

This was the night before we were leaving and decided to take one last walk through the World War II Memorial (my favorite) and the Washington Monument (Mark's favorite), which just happen to be next to each other.

One last sight before catching the plane, we visited Lincoln's Cottage just three miles north of the White House. This is where most of the Emancipation Proclamation was written.

It was what seemed to be a very long trip and we were glad to get home and slow down a little. We did however love Washington D.C. and are so thankful that we had the opportunity to explore this great city.

Another Concert

Most of you know that Mark and I like to travel but our other favorite pass time is to go to concerts. Mark had a big test yesterday afternoon and it was perfect timing that we had tickets last night to go see Chris Cornell (lead singer of Soundgarden and then Audioslave) and then Linkin Park. Both gave great shows and we had a great time. This picture below is when Chris came out and sang a bit with Chester. Right before Linkin Park was about to come out it started to rain. It was crazy! We were under the cover but the wind was blowing so hard that we were still getting hit. Those poor people on the lawn. This time it was really worth the extra $$ to get the better seats. We had a great time and Mark had a great time after weeks of studying.

We've Got Company!

One of Mark's best friends came to visit from Florida. His four kids live in Mesa and so he spent the week here visiting with them. The three older ones (ages 10, 6 and 3) have been at the house as well since Sunday and the little one will be with us tonight. This has been quite an experience seeing how Mark and I haven't had much experience with children in our home outside of a few hours here and there. Yes, it was a little out of our comfort zone...we have been spoiled with lots of space and quiet and no messes other then our own...but we have made it through this far okay:)

This is Scott with his oldest daughter Diana and his youngest Savana. In case you can't tell that is a racoon tail hat on her head. They had just returned home from Cabellas.

This is Diana and Mackenzie (the 6yr old). We just finished putting together a puzzle.

Mackenzie talked us into doing smores so here we are in the heat cooking up marshmellows! She bats her eyes at us and gets pretty much what she wants.

This one here is Wyatt, and yes you guessed it...he is a troublemaker.

My Spare Time :)

So now that I have been out of work for a month I have had a lot of people ask me what I do with all my free time. I thought I would show you. Other then working on crafts, cleaning my house, organizing, taking care of my dogs, planning trips and taking vacations I have been trying to take care of some projects around the house that I had been wanting to complete ages ago. Mark and I put up a ceiling fan in the office and here below you can see that our house now has three garage lights. I put those up all on my own! I think they look fabulous.

Below you can see our plain cabinets in the kitchen. I was so excited to finally dress them up a little with handles and knobs. What a difference! And I did it all by myself.

Before (above)
After (below)

Shipley Family Reunion in St. George, Utah

We headed up to St. George last weekend along with Mark's parents and one sister with her husband to attend the reunion of the Shipley family. Mark's grandma Dorothy passed away a year ago and this is the reunion of her family including the families of two brothers and a sister.

After the potluck dinner we all joined in for some fun and games.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to go through the St. George Temple with some of the family. This was the first temple completed on the west coast and it was absolutely beautiful. Last year my aunt married a man who lives in St. George so we were able to meet up with her here at the temple and again later at her house to meet all her new family she married into. They were all very nice.

After church we set out to visit some of the historical sites in the city including the homes of Jacob Hamblin and Brigham Young. Here we are standing at the podium of the Tabernacle.

Wright Family Campout

So my family went camping just past Payson where we camped earlier with Mark's family. We decided to try fishing and after about three hours with not even so much as a nibble, we called it a day and made it to the car minutes before the rain hit.

My sister's husband's twin sister went with us along with her husband and three year old son. We had such a great time with them and we were so glad we had the opportunity to get to know them better. They brought a toy hauler and when it started raining on our campsite we were saved by getting to hang out together inside. The toys were great too. Could hardly get my mom to stop riding her atv she was having such a good time. My sister and her came back all muddy so I decided to pass. Sometimes I'm such a girl.

Because the clouds rolled in over and over again, Levi got creative with some rope, a couple of logs and a tarp and whalaa...we had a dry space to cook and eat. Mark being an Eagle Scout was able to get us a nice warm fire even though all the wood was soaked. Despite the rain, I had a blast!