Getaway to D.C.

Tony had a business trip planned for the beginning of June. Suddenly, one week before he left, he spontaneously decided I should come with him. YAY! It was a little crazy trying to figure out what to do for our kids while we were gone, but our families are so awesome and all pitched in and helped...A LOT. Especially Michael and Kayla. Thank you so much!!
So the trip started out in Alexandria, Virginia where we stayed. Tony was there for a convention and had to be there for most of the day, but we did have the evenings and most of Saturday. So when we got there on Wednesday night we took a quick tour of Old Town. Really, it wasn't that amazing. They were neat buildings, but then it would be a law office or hair salon inside and kind of ruin the effect. I wish I had been able to see the museums or go on one of their famous "Ghost Tours", but our schedule was tricky, so we just looked around.

This is what a lot of the houses looked like.


















This is a back alleyway. Look at the roads! Cobblestone! This was more like it.
























I actually took these pictures the next day when I went out in the city with Tony's boss's wife and daughter. Then that evening, Tony and I went and saw the white house and all of the monuments in the National Mall. This night was by far my favorite!






The Washington Monument




This is a video of a guy singing out in front of the white house.



The Lincoln Memorial

The Korean Memorial. The Korean monument with all of the statues was my favorite. It was such a solemn place. The statues of soldiers walking through the foliage were so life like that you just felt quieted by the reality of the war. Everyone that came near it was instantly reverant.



This is the wall of names for the Vietnam Memorial



Later that night, Tony and I went back to Alexandria and discovered that DC is nothing like New York. NOTHING is open after 8. And restaraunts aren't much of an exception. It was tough to find a place to eat. I had been so excited to see the monuments that I made poor Tony starve to death while we looked at them. Stopping for dinner was not an option. So when we got back to Alexandria at midnight, there was nowhere to eat. Luckily we found this little dive on King St. I'm so glad we did. It was delicious!! I loved it so much that I took a picture.....of a restaurant. That means it's good!



The next day I went to Mt. Vernon while Tony was at the convention. I went with his boss's fam again. I think I could've stayed there for much longer than the 4 hours that I was there.



George and Martha Washington's tomb


On the way to Mt. Vernon while we were riding the water Taxi, three presidential helicopters flew overhead. The captian of the boat told us that when there were three of them, it meant that the President was on one of them. So my DC trip was officially complete. I even saw the President!




The next day was Saturday and we had a lot more time and we spent it at some museums. We went to the Holocaust Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and The Museum of Air and Space. I wish I could've seen them all. I think next time I'd like the see the Museum of American History.

A Prehistoric Giant Sloth. CRAZY!! I think this was Tony's favorite because it was so shockingly huge!



The Hope Diamond



Our last stop. The Capitol building. By this time I can honestly say that my feet HURT! I was officially done. It was such a great trip and very nice for Tony and I to get some much needed R&R together.




Thank you frequent flyer miles and NovaRad for an awesome trip!

Broken Camera!

It's not my fault! My camera was broken. I feel like I lost that time with my kids. I had my camera on my phone, but it's just not the same. So...I can't really catch up with old pictures because there weren't any. SAD!

The first thing we did after buying a new camera was go to the zoo. My zoo pass expired on May 31, so I took my kids like 5 or 6 times this spring. That way they wouldn't feel sad that we didn't have one this summer. The zoo has some fun dinosaurs around the park now and that's pretty much the extent of all of our pictures.

My New Blog

I started a new blog today. I have recently come to acknowledge the fact the I have an addiction problem. I hate watching TV at night, and Tony is gone.....A LOT! And so I read. On my blog, I'm going to post each book that I read and whether or not it's worth anyones time. I research a book a lot before I read it, so I think it'll take a lot for me to say "DO NOT READ THIS BOOK." I'm reading usually between 3-4 novels a week so I figure it will be enough to blog about. My new blog is mynexthundredreads.blogspot.com. There is a comment thing on the side that people can give me suggestions too! I'm so in need of suggestions.....and a husband that has more time :) I have a lot of people asking me for recommendations, so I thought this would be fun!!! I started the blog with a few recent favorites to get people going on ideas. Happy reading!

Running Adventures!

This year has been a year of LOTS of running. To start it off, I ran in my first ever 10K. Jessi challenged me to it because we'd both been running a little, she a lot more than me, and we thought it would be a good time to tackle it. I don't have very many good pictures, but I'll take what I can get. As of that day, 6.2 miles was the furthest I'd ever gone! I finished in exactly 1 hour 20 seconds. Good enough for me!



A little tired!


The proud husband who thought it was a little strange to be the one waiting at the finish line and the baby that provided the pregnancy pounds that inspired it all!!!


Next on our list is the school's Fun Run 1K! Both Jace and Erica ran in it. Jace took 5th in his division 2nd - 4th, and Erica was the 5th finishing girl in her division K - 1st. So proud. There were so many kids. They did awesome.



If you can see Jace's face, you'll see exactly how fast these kids were flying. He was trying HARD! You have to imagine, this is only a .6 mile race so these kids were sprinting. It was awesome! Jace must be like his daddy!


Erica held an awesome pace. She started out going the same speed as a lot of other kids, but eventually they fell back one by one going slower and slower...but not my baby! She is all determination. GO ERICA!


As you can tell, there aren't any other kids racing in the pictures even though there were at least 50 kids in each race. They weren't in the pictures because my kids were so fast and the other kids were too busy EATING THEIR DUST! WAHOO! Proud mom moment!



Now here is the big surprise! Just yesterday Jessi and I ran...............................
























The Halloween Half Marathon!!!



Wahoo! I did it! Wahoo! I'm a runner! Wahoo! And I even finished ahead of my goal by almost 3 minutes. I'd even lost all hope for that goal by the time I'd finished training and realized that my long runs were never coming close to my goal time. But I managed to finish in 2:07. I ran 9:45 miles. YES!!!!!! Jessi did even better. She finished in 2:01. She's incredible! We were so excited. It was great to feel like I could do something that I never thought was even remotely possible. I didn't even need my inhaler. I haven't used it running for a least a year!



This is my great friend, Yvonne Campbell. She ran the whole way with me. It was actually fun despite the complete exaustion and stuff!


Here I am crossing the finish line. I'm the one in the front in the black. I had just turned around to smile for Tony who was trying to take a picture so I look like I'm falling over, but it's all good. I stayed upright!


Did I mention that my parents were at both of my races? It was so fun to feel so supported. They even met me at two seperate places along the half marathon route and cheered. It was so fun to see them! I have the BEST parents.


And of course my wonderful family who was waiting patiently at the finish line. What a lucky girl I am. Jace made me a trophy out of clay that he presented me with, and Erica made me a card. Tony was so excited he couldn't stop smiling and telling me how awesome I did. He is so the bestest! Good times! Is it so bad to be proud of myself?
Because I am :)

Summer Fun!

I have had the funnest summer ever with my kids. We bought a zoo pass and so have visited there often, we've been camping, fishing, and just plain ol' playing. Oh so fun! Here are some random pics of our summer fun!

Sleepovers with cousins, forts, and movies!!! YES!!


Best Friends!! We are SO lucky. All of these kids live NEXT DOOR! The family next door has kids all very close to our kids ages. They're awesome!

Kent and Sadie


Ryan and Dax


Erica and Addie


And I know I have a picture of Jace and his buddy, McKay, somewhere, but I can't find it. But these two are pretty good buddies, so I'll put this one in instead. (They're building a bird house)


We had some fun hiking and fishing with Grandma and Grandpa Smith too!



And Kent had his first fishing lesson this summer.

"I got it now, Dad. Back off!"


And some more Zoo fun!

The First Ever Tony Chandler Family Camping Trip (by ourselves)

We went on our first ever camping trip with our own little family in Kamas. It was great to have some real quality family time. And you would be amazed how you can fit 6 people, including a pack-n-play, in that little tent. We have resolved though to buy a new tent next year.

There was a smudge on my lens for this trip, so just ignore the fuzzy parts of the pitures.


We fished and had fun getting muddy in the water.






And we all felt very safe if any bears came close.



Can you see that little fishy on the end of his line?? Oh yeah! We hit it big.

Bear Lake Chandler Reunion

This year we went to Bear Lake for our Chandler Family Reunion. Kayla and Michael were working there all summer and had a fantastic place for us to camp and play. They also got us some jet skis to use while we were there too. As Jace would say....Sweet!! We had a lot of fun together, hiking up to the cave, jet skiing, and lots of eating!

All the cousins waiting for our turn to go down into the caves.



Ryan loved the caves!!



Our one family picture. This one didn't turn out so well, but at least we know we were all there.


The kids all being spoiled by Uncle Michael...again. My kids are so stinkin' spoiled by their uncles. We love you guys!


Best Buds! These two play so well together. I really wish we could be neighbors.


My little sweetheart!


Kent looks like he's cold, but the water was surprisingly warm. Kent of course had a grand ol' time in the water and mud.


Cheese!


And one more of my baby for good measure. Not that he's spoiled or anything.....


And one more. He fell asleep in the hammock. How could I not post that!


Thanks to everyone for coming and putting up with my crazy planning. We had so much fun with you all and look forward to the adventures Cindy is going to plan for us next year. And thanks to Kayla for taking all of these awesome pictures. I didn't get out my camera once. I was too busy enjoying the easiest reunion I've ever been to. This was our first without me pregnant or with a baby less than 5 months old. (oh, except last year I guess, but Ryan couldn't walk and so it was still a little tricky) Yes! Life is getting so much easier.