Ok so I just had a quick post. I know I have been bad about these but for those of you not related to my Smith side of the family or my family at all, I just wanted to ask you to keep my cousin Bethany and her family in your prayers. Her son Gavin passed away last night just before his 1st birthday and while it was always something I'm sure they knew might happen with his condition it doesn't make it any less difficult on their family. So please keep them in your prayers to be comforted during their really difficult time.

It makes me so grateful for the health that I and my family have been blessed with but also makes me realize how fragile life is and how quickly it can pass. Sorry to be kind of a downer but I also know that he is much happier where he is now and know he has a lot of great people looking out for him.

Our DC Trip

So James and I took a trip to DC a couple of weeks ago. I have never been before and he goes all of the time for training with his work and I finally decided enough was enough and I was tagging along this time. So we took a Friday, Saturday and Sunday to spend there. His aunt Jane and uncle Paul were kind enough to let us crash at their borrowed home. (theirs is under major renovation and they are staying at a family friends while she is in Florida.) So thanks to Jane and Paul for letting us crash and Evan for giving up your room to share with the other 2 boys. We appreciate it.

We spent Friday going through the Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum which are enormous! But lots of really cool stuff there. Here is James with one of the Wright Brothers Planes at the Air and Space Museum.

This is a picture of one of the vehicles from a moon mission (I think Apollo 16??) which if we could have gotten close enough he would have loved to see.

This is the best pic I could get of the lunar rover. It is incredible all of the stuff on there and that it actually worked.

This is the Smithsonian Castle. The architecture of this city is fabulous. I love it. I wish I had sold them all the granite for these buildings. :-)
The giant T-Rex which all the kids around us loved and swore was from Night at the Museum.
They were completely entranced.
Below are the remains of a giant sea dinosaur. It was probably a good 15 feet long. I would hate to run into that guy.

And here I am at the Natural History Museum with a giant elephant.

They had a lot of really cool set ups with different animals. My favorite part of this museum was all of the minerals and rocks. And the moon rock that you got to touch. There was also an asteroid that was kind of greenish. Must be kryptonite. Oh and the Hope Diamond was pretty cool. It's on my next Christmas list in case any of you needed an idea of what to get me.

After all of that walking around we were pretty beat and met up with James' Uncle Jerry for dinner. Jerry lives in Alexandria but works in downtown DC so he took us to one of his favorite bar and grill restaurants down there called Clyde's. We got to enjoy hanging out with him for a bit and then took a taxi over to Lincoln Memorial. (Well worth the money to save my feet)

My other pics didn't turn out due to the lighting issue but this monument was so much larger than I expected. You see it on tv and it doesn't do it justice. I have always liked the Lincoln Memorial and was so excited to see it in person. From here we walked back to the metro thinking it wasn't so far. But the Washington Monument is very misleading for any future visitors. It was way farther than we expected. We did however get to pass the Korean War Memorial and there are all of these statues of the soldiers in different combat positions that in the dark were quite a sight. I had goosebumps while we were there.

And then we passed the World War II Memorial. This is obviously not my picture as I saw it at night but I think it was so much more impressive in the dark sky. People were just sitting all around the pool with their feet soaking taking in the gorgeous fountain.

Finally we came to the Washington Monument and were able to walk around there a bit and then still had a distance to get to the Metro.

Saturday we got an early start and had breakfast at Bethesda's own Tastee Diner - Thanks for the recommendation Paul. The blueberry pancakes were fantastic. We then made our way to the Holocaust Museum so that we could stand in line and get tickets to get in. Luckily we only stood in line for about 30 minutes and were able to get tickets fairly quickly. We weren't able to take pics in there but it was a very well worth it wait. It really put things in perspective. They did a wonderful job with that one although it wasn't near big enough for the crowds of people coming there. We actually got in around 10:15 and were there until just after 1.

When you get to the museum you are told to get in line and pick up an identification card from either the girls side or the boys side depening on what you are. Each booklet tells a true story about someone impacted by the Holocaust. James received Jakob Frenkiel from Poland. His house was burned by the Nazi's and then he was sent to Auschwitz with his family. He was one of the lucky ones who lived to tell about the experience and came to the states after being liberated. You are then loaded in to the "gas chamber" or elevator and taken up to the 3rd floor to make your way down. The 2 parts that were just a must see were the box car (I couldn't take pics in here so this is just from their website)that you can walk inside and you just try to imagine 1000 or more people crammed into, and the shoe display. The shoe display was quite a bit to take in and the whole thing made me just think a lot about how something like that could happen. How an entire country could turn a blind eye to what was going on and yet we see it all over the world today still occuring. I guess we really don't learn from history. But it was a great memorial to those who suffered through the Holocaust.

Then it was on to the International Spy Museum. Again you couldn't take pictures so I pulled these from the website. This is the James Bond car they had on display and it would periodically turn on and do some of the special effects from the movie it was in. The kids all loved it.

Here is my favorite item....I think I will get one of these. It is the Lipstick Pistol. They had all of these cool little inventions that have actually been used throughout "spy history" in our country and others and what people have come up with is pretty impressive and I would never have thought of it.

This is a tree stump "bug"....listening devices were put in some of the most random things. One being a piece of doggie doo.

Sunday morning we went to Arlington Cemetary and speaking of a place that humbles you. Wow. I had goosebumps walking through there. Below is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It made me so grateful that we have people willing to serve our country and I'm so glad that we also have a place to honor them. I later found out that James' aunt Emily has family buried there from way back. Her relatives have been naval captains for quite a few generations and most recently her father was buried there.

It was also really interesting to see how many of the people buried there were veterans of WWII, Vietnam and Korea. It just seems like those were all so far apart that none of the same people would have fought in them.

And it was on to a Washington Nationals game. Baseball is not my thing at all I have decided after going to this game. It was insanely hot and very boring so mental note to me that I will not go to another baseball game. On the bright side the Astro's did win. Had to stick with my fellow Texans on that.

Sunday night we celebrated Evan's birthday with the family and really enjoyed that before heading over to Silver Springs, MD to check in to the hotel for James' week of training. I did my part shopping around on Monday morning and flew home that afternoon.

So a really long post to update you all on my trip to DC since I have been so terrible about updating. I have more to follow for my month of July. :-)

Happy 4th of July

So James and I were able to enjoy our 4th of July weekend at the lake with family this year. We drove to Post (the middle of nowhere Texas for those of you unfamiliar) and met up with James' parents and brother's family. We went out on the lake Friday and Saturday and enjoyed ourselves with everyone, watched the fireworks and took it pretty easy. James learned to ski finally. Normally he gets dragged around a few times and gives up but he did it on the first try this time. YEA!! Here are a few pics of our weekend.

Hope you all enjoyed yours. I'm so grateful for this wonderful land we have been blessed with and I hope that we continue to be blessed even while so many people try to take away what was hard fought for. God Bless America!!

Here is Branson showing off his skills on the knee board. He had to give his Uncle Jimmy a couple of pointers.

What? Do I have something on my face?!? Lane really loves Oreos!

Macy is being silly and telling knock knock jokes. Her current favorite is Knock Knock....Who's There? Macy. Macy Who? Macy Fleischman!!! and your response is supposed to be Nice to meet you.

James is trying out his tips from Branson. Seems to be working as he gives the signal to go faster.

Brodie is a cool little dog. His friend Branson enjoyed dressing him up in various pairs of sunglasses.

Here is Brodie being a smart dog and hiding in the crawl space where we keep all the towels. Now he is dry and comfy relaxing on the boat.

James after finishing his first successful ski run.

Marlene and Dan taking it easy.

Tagged

How To Play This Game of Tag:Post these rules on your blog.List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself.Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

THREE JOYS
1. Cooking- I love cooking and entertaining...having people over and serving a great meal and making people happy is so much fun to me
2. A good book - I am reading Hearts of the Children and can't wait to finish it...then I'll move on to Joel Rosenberg
3. friends
THREE FEARS
1. birds - I think they are the creepiest little things....they just stare and stare with their beady, little eyes
2. losing my job or James his
3. kids that I can't give back :-)
THREE GOALS
1. Stay as "Cool" as I am now. Remind me when I have teens that I was once cool - even to the Young Women
2. pay off my bills
3. plant a garden
THREE CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. House Decor - any of it I just love it all. I love spending other peoples money to help them decorate their house too. :-)
2. BBQ - every summer I rediscover the grill and want to use it all the time
3. cleaning and organization. I hate it when things are disorganized but I hate to be the one to organize and I love a clean house but I just wish a little fairy would clean it for me
THREE RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS
1. I really like football since James explained the game to me about 4 years ago. Now I know what a first down is. Changes your whole perspective
2. I love German Food.
3. I really enjoy old cars and learning about them. Not working on them or getting dirty but I just like to talk to people about them.

Tag anyone else who feels like doing this

So I am obviously not very good at posting but I do try to go read up on everyone else's blogs and keep up to date. Usually this is done either late at night or during work so I don't have much time to post anything to y'all.

But here is a little update on James and I.

Memorial Day weekend my in laws came to town and we had a nice time. We went to Fredericksburg and ate some great German food (my in-laws Marlene and Ralph next to a giant carved wood eagle in Fredericksburg), went to Enchanted Rock only to be told it would cost us $24 to climb up a giant granite rock in 100 degree weather so we took a picture with the sign and called it done!

Then we also went to the Natural Bridge Caverns in Georgetown which are an extension of the Carlsbad Caverns. It was so humid and muggy outside that the beautiful temperature of 62 degrees year round made it more bearable.

My father in law took all of these pictures and he even took one of James and I since we never have pictures of us anywhere.

Then we have just been working and for those of you that don't know what we do, James is a computer geek. He works for the Department of Veterans Affairs writing software programs that allow veterans to more easily get access to government funds for housing. I work in sales for a granite company. So basically I sell countertops to all different kinds of people. I am attaching a couple of pictures of one of my most recent homes that is on the market for a measly 1.185 Million. Pocket change right?

And then on June 14th we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Seems like forever! :-) We had a very nice anniversary, I remade our wedding cake and then we went to Ruth's Chris for dinner. That is the best steak I have ever had in my entire life. I don't know if I will ever be able to eat another steak again! And you are basically up to speed on our life as of right now.

We did finish painting the majority of our house so I am in the process of putting all of that back together but will try to post pics later on.

ABC Tag

Well Kiersty keeps saying I don't post and I don't but I guess I'll post this one. No one checks this except maybe Kiersty anyways. But here you go!

I've been tagged by Kiersty... Here it goes:
A.ATTACHED OR SINGLE? attached
B.BEST FRIEND? Ashley for a girl and James for a boy
C.CAKE OR PIE? 7 layer chocolate cake
D. DAY OF CHOICE? Friday at 5….. I know I have a whole weekend ahead of me
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Phone, lip gloss, bronzer and mascara
F. FAVORITE COLORS? red
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? worms
H. HOMETOWN? Not really sure. I tell everyone Mesa since I don’t sound like I’m from Texas
I. INDULGENCE? Shopping…..i love to shop for anything and everything
J. JANUARY OR JULY? July
K. KIDS? someday
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? chocolate
M. MARRIAGE DATE? 6/14/03
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 4 sisters, 2 brother-in-laws; 3 sisters-in-law; 3 more brothers-in-law
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? Oranges fresh off the tree otherwise apples
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Snakes and scorpions
Q. QUOTE? If you haven’t had a compliment in the last month change your hair.
R. REASONS TO SMILE? Sun, a day off work, great nights sleep
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Wonder Woman
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE- I don’t even have 5 people to send this to
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? I hate to clean but dislike a dirty house
V. VEGETABLES? I like all veggies…spinach, artichokes, fresh sweet corn on the cob…..yummy!W. WORST HABIT? Folding laundry
X.. XRAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound from my gall stones wasn’t terrible but the cat scan sucked for sure.
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Mexican for sure, but Italian comes in a close second
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Pisces

Created not by Mhari

It is always said that the oldest sister is the bossiest etc. However, I would admit today that just for today i am stepping it up as the second oldest. Mhari has refused to start a blog or get a gmail account by which she can comment on my blog. So I created this one for Mhari. We'll see how mad she is when I send her the link to her own blog...LOVE YA- Kierst (ps. if you couldn't tell I am trying to avoid writing a paper)