The Drive Home

GETTYSBURG

On the way to Ohio, Nick and I stopped for just over an hour at Gettysburg. We wished that we had more time to spend at the park, and hope to go back some day.



We went on a walking tour of the cemetery. There are thousands of Union soldiers buried there. Some are known and others are not. I would give you more information, but our brochures are all packed away and my memory isn't that great.




When they could not identify the bodies, the graves were simply numbered. When they were able to be identified, they were marked with their name (if known), company and rank.


"Four score and seven years ago . . ."
It was just on the other side of this gate where Abraham Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the cemetery.


NAUVOO

On the second day of the trip, we drove to Nauvoo. We stayed in my old boss's home which was so relaxing--it had even Nick convinced that we didn't really need to go back to the real world after all!

It was the first time that I had been back to Nauvoo in 4 years after attending the Joseph Smith Academy there. What an amazing town! I was afraid that so much would change that it wouldn't feel quite the same, and although some things did change, the spirit of the place was still just as strong and I felt just at home there as I ever did! I would love to serve a mission there someday and hope to be able to visit many more times during my lifetime.


Nick and I were able to spend some time in the Temple. I would have loved to do baptisms and relive the old days, but it was so wonderful to be able to see the rest of the building. It will always fell like it is "my Temple".


I was so excited that as we were driving to Duck's to get some food, we saw Brother and Sister Ivie walking down the street! Brother Ivie was my computer teacher during my semester and was appointed director of the program for the years after I left. He has since retired and he and his wife have moved to Nauvoo. They are some of the most genuine and lovely people I have ever met.


I got to show Nick all around the JSA. He thought the two bowling lanes down in the game room were neat (they are super old--you have to set the pins up by hand and everything!) Here I am outside my old room. Good old 310! I missed you Barb, Nicole and Tiff! We need to go back there together sometime.


Here we are making rope at the Family Center.


Of course we had to take a picture of ourselves with a Mississippi sunset. Pictures just don't capture the beauty, though.


THE GREENWOODS

On our way through Colorado, we were able to stop and visit my good friend Jaclyn and her family. It was the first time since she got married that I have been able to go visit her and it was wonderful to see how her family has grown. I just love them!


Me & Jaclyn


James, Jaclyn, Eli, Jaxon & Aubrey

National Aquarium
Baltimore, MD

Nick and I met up with his cousin Candy and her husband Tony (who live in Philadelphia) for a day in Baltimore, Maryland to see the National Aquarium. I have never been to an aquarium before (at least that I can remember) so I was very excited. I had a very hard time choosing pictures to post, so there are a lot. I hope you enjoy!

The Building:



The People:


Nick showing off our tickets.


Me waiting for us to be able to use our tickets!


Emily & Nick in the 'rainforest'.


Candy and Tony by the bay.

The Sea Life:


Fresh water turtle


Sea Horses . . . how many can you see?


Zebra shark! (I think)


Beautiful fishies.

The Birds:


The Australian Cockatiels were too high up to get pictures of, but they had wild little 'Katies' flying around!


Candy, Tony and Nick gawking in bewilderment at a small bird making the loudest racket you've ever heard!

The Frogs:


Me by a sign about Poison Dart Frogs. Who knew?


Actual Poison Dart Frogs . . . aren't they neat looking! They come in almost any color of the rainbow even.


The silly monkey frog. Strange looking, if you ask me!


Leap frogs . . . very rare!


Okay, so this lizard isn't a frog, but he didn't fit into any other category, so here he is, basking in the sun!


Wish I had more time to give all of the fun details, but the pictures will have to give you the gist of our trip because I am out of blogging time. (Nick is looking over my shoulder waiting for me to finish and it is almost 1:30 in the morning!)

Friday's Activities

Nick and I started out going our seperate ways in the morning. He went to see the patent office (funny picture follows) while I finished up some last-minute souvenir shopping. Then we spent some time walking around to look at the monuments/memorials at the National Mall. We walked over to Old Georgetown and had dinner at a yummy Chicago-style restaurant then bought some chocolates and headed home.

U.S. PATENT & TRADEMARK OFFICE

Nick found an invention by BYU that had been recently patented.

OUR FAVORITE!

The current exhibition was on the history of shoe inventions. They had items dating back from the 1700s. What types of shoes people wore, inventions patented to make shoes, etc. They also had Shaquille O'Niel's autographed shoe on display. Nick took his shoe off and set it on the display case and took this picture:

Apparently the main difference between a size 17 and a size 23 is the height and width, because the length was almost exactly the same!

NATIONAL MALL

The Washington Monument

The World War II Memorial (Alaska for Grandpa Hassinger)

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

FHE Activity: Cookie Faces!

For an Enrichment night here a sister shared an FHE activity idea she and her family really enjoy. I thought it was so much fun that Nick and I did it together and had a great time.

We made sugar cookie dough then split it up into several piles (setting the biggest chunk aside to stay white) then we each chose a color and colored our pile of dough. We used the more concentrated dye that they use for cake frosting which made these brilliant colors, but you can use the regular food coloring you get at the grocery store as well. Once the dough was colored, everyone got to make their face out of cookie dough.

Doesn't it look just like me?

She said that often they will chose a story from the scriptures and make characters and items from that story out of the dough and eat them for their treat. For example, they will read about Noah and the Ark and then make a cookie ark and fill it with animals, or they will do the story of Nephi going back to get the gold plates and they will assign each family member a character or the gold plates or something. Here are some pictures of some of the things Nick and I made:

Before cooking:

After cooking:

Here is the recipe for the dough that we used:

Funny Face Cookies by Amy Hollingworth

1/2 Cup shortening

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup sugar

1 teaspoon flavoring (either vanilla or lemon juice according to your preference)

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Blend shortening, salt, sugar, and flavoring.

Beat in egg and milk.

Stir in flour, baking powder and soda.

Chill dough to help firm it up and made it easier to work with.

Put dough into balls, use food coloring to make different colors and make your own creations!!

Bake @350 degrees for 8 min.

Today was Nick's last day of work at the court. It's a little depressing that just when you start getting the hang of things, it's time to move on. He's had a great experience, though, and we've enjoyed being here. We'll enjoy our last weekend and then head back to Utah.

Today we had an amazing rain storm. For about 30 minutes the skies were dark and the thunder kept coming. I love the rain, so I opened up the windows in our living room. It sounded like we were living behind a waterfall and it smelled so beautiful! Horray for rainstorms!

National Air & Space Museum
Udvar-Hazy Center

The Smithsonian has two Air & Space Museums. This one is located near Dulles Airport and houses the museum's large items in a huge hanger-like building. They also have a "control tower" which you can see on the left side of this picture where you can go to watch planes taking off and landing at the airport.

Airplanes hang from the ceiling all over in the museum. This was one of my favorites!

This is a NASA Space Shuttle that was built for testing purposes. It has never been launched into space, but has all of the components of one that has.

The Concorde. This plane is so long that it hardly fit into the hanger.

Nick flying with the planes.

My Cute Boy!

Last night Nick and I were downstairs with some friends. We had brownies and ice cream then started to play a rousing game of Sorry! (The best game on earth) In the middle of the first game, I glanced to my right and spotted a huge smear of chocolate across Nick's cheek. After cleaning that up, Jessica spotted the source . . . chocolate was covering half of his right hand. We also found it spotting the front of his shirt. I thought it was chocolate syrup, but it was really brownie--how did he manage that? This is a classic story and demonstrates why we give Nick numerous napkins at meals. He looks so cute with food on his face! One of the many reasons I love him!

Our Scary Garbage Chute

Down the hall there is a closet labelled "Refuse". Nick and I have learned that when you go there to throw away the garbage, you do not take anything important with you. Once you open the "Rubbish" door, you are faced with an enormous tunnel-big enough for a child to fit in-that drops at least 14 floors down to the bottom. There is no way to show in pictures how scary it is in person. If anything accidentally got dropped, there would be no return. But, it is better than taking the garbage all the way out to a dumpster!

Product Advice

I am in the market for a flat iron, but there are so many choices. I was wondering what some of you use and like. What is a good brand, ceramic or metal, two-inch or one-inch, totally flat or with rounded edges . . . I have looked up things online, but wondered what your opinions are!

We are also looking for a fan. We are particularly thinking of a vertical fan like this one. If any of you have one of these you like, let me know what it is!

Dinner & Georgetown

Last night Nick and I went to dinner with Kuang-Chueh (quang-way) and Sophie (we don't remember her Mandarin name) as well as another girl that is working for the Judge, Hsiu-Pei (sho-pay). They are all from Taiwan originally, but William is attending Columbia in New York. He and Sophie have a baby boy who is still living in Taiwan with family. Hsiu-Pei is married and has been living in Japan. She got a law degree in Taiwan and then a law masters in Japan. Now she is doing another law degree in the United States. She says this is the last degree she wants to get! We went to a New Orleans seafood and steakhouse in Rosslyn. The food was yummy and we had some great conversations.

After dinner we walked across the river and through part of Georgetown. There are a lot of fun shops and restaurants there. We stopped at Washington Harbor where we took these pictures by the fountain.

We were able to do a little missionary work and talk to them about our religion and some of the things we believe. Nick did a great job of explaining things. I need more practice with it, but it felt good to share the gospel. They asked about our wedding and we were able to talk about the Temple and eternal marriage.

We were exhausted when we got home so today we are going to relax at home and watch a movie and eat ice cream!