To The Capitol

The first weekend of October, we headed to Washington D.C. for a few days. David is interested in oral surgery and has been working with an oral surgeon on some research. They submitted their research to be presented at the national oral surgery conference, and it was accepted. Another classmate of his worked on he project as well, so the wives all decided to make a trip of it! 

We flew in on Wednesday night and Alice did great on the flights. She was a champ the whole trip, which was an answer to many prayers. Our hotel was just a block south of the National Air and Space Museum on The Mall, and it was so fun. We were close to so many sites and loved our location. The biggest bummer of the whole trip was the weather! There was a hurricane off the east coast, so it was just rainy and windy the whole time. We still had a great time and if your going to experience any city in a hurricane, DC is a pretty good one considering much of our times was spent indoors at museums, the Capitol, etc. 

Thursday David and his classmate, Kyle, went to the conference. They enjoyed it and presented their poster to some other dentists. While they were gone, Kyle's wife Paulina and her friend Kaitlyn who lives there went to see some sites with me. We went to the National Gallery of Art, which I really loved and probably enjoyed the most of all the museums this trip. Afterwards we went to Shake Shack, which I was so excited to try since I had heard so many good things about it. It was good, but I was a little disappointed. The meat in the middle of the burger was a little pink, and I'm picky with any meat especially ground beef. I guess that's how they cook them all, because I noticed a sign after that said to tell them if you want it cooked all the way through. I was bummed, but still had a good experience. That afternoon, we walked around and went to the American History Museum. It was super neat to go through. Then for dinner, we met up with the boys and the oral surgeon and his family. We went to a place called Senart's Oyster Bar and Grill. I am in no way an oyster fan, but I ordered the salmon, which came with a cheesy-type risotto and it was one of the best salmon dishes I've ever had! I'm salivating just thinking about it. We had a blast and it was great to get together with everyone.

Friday was super busy, since we saved a lot of the sites to see with the guys. We started out by going to tour the U.S. Capitol. It was great and we even found a statue of Brigham Young! 

Alice is in the black wrap around David's chest! She loves snuggling up in it and slept during the whole tour. 

^^the Capitol ceiling

Paulina, Kyle, David and me

After the Capitol, we walked (yes walked- it took forever) to the Washington Monument. We went to the top, which was neat but a little bit of a letdown thanks to the hurricane. It was so rainy and cloudy we couldn't see much, but still had a great time. 

^^same expression

^^I love this picture! It was so windy and David was trying to keep Alice dry from the sideways rain. Alice looked so cute in her beanie. 

After that we went to eat at Good Stuff Eatery. If you go to DC, eat there! It was the best burger and fries ever. Much better than shake shack, in my opinion. We all couldn't stop talking about it all trip. And I still can't stop talking about it. 

That afternoon was spent at the National Air and Space Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Natural History Museum. That evening we went out to We The Pizza (so clever) and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Then when we got back to the hotel and fed Alice/got her ready for bed, the fire alarm went off at 10 PM! Everyone had to evacuate and it was kinda a bummer, but people were just loving on Alice saying how cute and happy she was. What can I say, she loves all the commotion! 

Saturday we started by going to Arlington National Cemetery. I loved it, and thought it was one of the neatest places. It was so humbling to see some of the people that sacrificed their lives so we can live in a wonderful and free country. 

^^The changing of the guard

That afternoon, David and I went to the Newseum, while the others went to see some other sites. I love it and thought it was super neat. It tells the history of the U.S. through the news and the perspective of journalists. 

Here we are in front of a portion of the Berlin Wall:

After that, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which was alright before meeting up with my good friend and former roommate, Jenna. We met on our study abroad in London and then lived together at BYU the following year. She and her husband live in D.C. and I knew I wanted to see her while visiting. Her husband was out of town, but her mom was visiting her, so we met up with the two of them and it was a blast. We ate at a place called Matchbox and it was delicious, but we had even more fun catching up and chatting for 2 hours. 

We flew out the next morning and were excited to get home to our own bed. It was a great trip and I am so glad David let me tag along! 

Sister Lineback

Back in September my little sister, Aimee, left on her mission for our church, the LDS church. She volunteered to leave for 18 months to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Riverside, California. I am so proud of her, but we also miss her a ton! After we were all in Kansas to hear her speak and go through the KC Temple after Labor Day weekend, she flew out the next week to stay with us for a day before she had to report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC). It was a busy 24 hours getting everything done before she had to enter the MTC, and so fun to have one last day together! 

We headed down to Provo and decided to eat at Zupas, which Aimee picked knowing she wouldn't eat it for another year and a half. Our good friend, Jordan, met us at Zupas to say goodbye and then came with us to the MTC to drop her off. It was neat for me, since I've never been to the MTC or seen how the drop-offs work. It was quick and we didn't have time to cry, but as a drove away I definitely had a few tears in my eyes. I love Aimee so much and am so proud of her! 

Labor Day in CO + KS

So back in September, we went to Colorado for Labor Day weekend. I know this is super late, but we've been busy and traveling a ton, so I'm slowly trying to catch up on this blog. We drove out to spend the weekend with my parents and my sister Carrie's family. We had a blast and it was so fun to take Alice for her first visit (of many, I'm sure) to the condo. We went to a festival at Keystone and ended up taking the gondola up to the top of the mountain since some nice guy gave us a bunch of extra tickets. It was fun, but freezing! We were not dressed properly for that trip to the top!

Carrie's cute family:

Love these two! What great parents they are:

Cute cousins:

Had to take a pic in the adirondack chairs: 

We also went to the Taste of Vail that they do every year in Vail village. It was a blast and we ate so much!

After Colorado, we all flew back to KS (minus Andrew and David--> work and school). It was Alice's first flight and I was so grateful to have my parents and Carrie there to help me! I definitely wouldn't know what to do otherwise. We really felt the need to document this, hah:

The next week we were back home, which was so nice. Aimee flew home from Moab and joined us, and it was so fun to see her and catch up. She got a mission call to Riverside, California and was giving her mission farewell talk the next Sunday. David and Andrew flew in that weekend, and it was great having he whole family together one last time before she left. She went through the Kansas City temple for the first time, and it was great to experience that with her. Afterwards, we celebrated in typical fashion by going out to Jack Stack for BBQ. The following day she spoke in church and did an amazing job. It was such a wonderful family vacation to so neat to spend time with some of the people we love most.