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760 Square Feet

I thought I would post the picture of our soon-to-be charming new abode for those in my family who haven't seen it. We refer to it has the in-between house or the dwelling. Two and a half weeks ago when we left on our latest trip we closed on our house. We need to be out by October 15. We hope to be out on the 9th.

This lovely house (we especially love the paint job) is only 760 square feet. We will be living in it for about 10 months or so while our future house is being built. We chose this house for it's location not because of it's size. It is directly across the street from the land where we are building our house. Our land is also where all our animals are, the tree house, and the barns. The kids love playing there so they will have a very big back yard. The jury is still out yet on whether we can put our queen bed and a dresser in our bedroom. It is very small.

Alex's dad Ken just left this morning after being here for a couple of days putting flooring in this lovely abode. In exchange for some repairs and new flooring we will be renting it for free. We appreciate Ken's hard work for us.

We are in the middle of home schooling, packing, cleaning, sorting, organizing, minimizing and campaigning. Life couldn't be better though. : )

Mt Vernon Pictures

We're Back

We are back home safe and sound from our fabulous trip. Everything went great. We all had a good time. The most important thing perhaps was that we were all truly inspired. It was just what we needed. As things are going into high gear with the campaign it was wonderful to spend time together and to remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing.

Many thanks to grandpa for running Hank twice a day while we were gone. Apparently Hank was very sad while we were gone. Our cats and horses survived our absences also. It is nice to be home again.

Now we need to:

• Harvest the garden
• Pack up the house
• Clean the house
• Clean the new house
• Lay new flooring, redo bathroom and other minor house projects so we can move into the 760 sq foot house
• Pack up everything, keeping in mind we are going from 2400 sq feet to 760 sq feet
• Move into the "dwelling" or the "in between house" by October 15
• Beat a 6 year incumbent in the November elections-This will include some 50 or so hours of campaigning work a week from now until November
• Continue to home educate our children
• Serve on Jury Duty "stand by" through November 30

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I told Alex though that if I "loose it" in the next six weeks to please forgive me and if I don't to recognize that I'm amazing. hehe : )

Sand Sculpting

While we were at Virgina Beach the annual North American Sand Sculpting Competition was being held. Our view from our hotel room was looking down on them. The sculptors had three days to create. This absolutely fascinated me. We were only able to see the first day and a half of it. It was truly amazing.

Virgina Beach

We spent three days at the beach. We love the beach. I think it is one of my favorite places to be. We always go in the off-season so the only ones ever there are seniors, toddlers and the occasional smattering of other home school kids. We avoid it during the heat of the afternoon though. We enjoy it for its power and majesty. Playing in it is just a fun by product.

Highland

The first week of our trip Olivia and Jared had an ongoing daily "discussion" on who was the better president, Madison or Monroe. They literally went at it every day. Each listed the great accomplishments of their chosen hero. Alex and I would point out they were both Founding Fathers, they were both great and it was pretty hard to declare a winner.

When we originally planned this trip we were not going to go to James Monroe's house. Olivia, since it was her 12th birthday trip, planned the two weeks. There simply wasn't time to see everything. You could spend a month in DC for example before you might see everything there. So for the first week Jared was distraught that plans did not include Monroe's house who he has a deep admiration for. He can be persistent.

So one day we googled to find out were Monroe's house was. Low and behold it was 2 miles from Jefferson's house. We quietly consulted Olivia and she agreed that the family's sanity was on the line. We planned to surprise Jared and visit it the day we went to Jefferson's home.

When we arrived at Monroe's house he looked up and started crying. He whirled around and said, "Are we at Highland????" He was so excited! This stop totally made his day. Life was better for the rest of us after that too.

Monticello

One day we were able to go to Monticello which is President Jefferson's home. This home was interesting. He built it in the shape of an octagon which was interesting. The beds were also built into the wall. The gardens outside were huge. I'm glad my garden is small. His house had a lot of great things. It was also a very informative tour. I, of course, drooled over all of the books. This was a good stop.

Arlington National Cemetery

For Sunday we decided that the best activity would be to go to the Arlington National Cemetery. We were able to walk around there with some friends in the morning. We only saw some of the headstones. We saw the "Eternal Flame" that lights the JFK's graveside. We also witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was something that Alex has always wanted to see. We also walked through Robert E. Lee's house which is inside the Cemetery. In the afternoon we attended our friend's ward. After church we had dinner at their house and visited with them.

Washington Monument and American History Museum

After the temple we went to the top of the Washington Monument. We saw several great views. After that we went to the American History Smithsonian. We were able to see a display of Abraham Lincoln that was amazing. We were able to see his famous top hat. The other wonderful display was the flag from Fort McHenry that Francis Scott Key saw "so gallantly streaming" after a ruthless sea battle during the night while fighting in the War of 1812. Seeing the flag was truly a holy experience.

Washington DC Temple

Alex and Olivia were able to do Baptisms in the DC Temple while we were there.

Constitution Day

On Constitution Day this year we were able to celebrate it at Montpelier, James Madison's home. Since he is the "Father of the Constitution" they had a big celebration that day to honor him. Olivia's favorite Revolutionary War hero is Dolley Madison. She was most excited for this day of the trip.

White House, Library of Congress and the Capitol

Our second day of the trip we woke up early to catch some pre-scheduled tours. We had to wake up at 4 AM. We were super tired! It was a good day though. We were able to see The White House, the Library of Congress and the Capitol. We were also able to make it into the gallery and see the Senate Chambers. We just missed them being in session. They recessed before we were able to make it in there. Alex and Olivia had really looked forward to that.

We didn't have any pictures for this day because of the high security to get into the White House. : (

Mt. Vernon

Today we spent the whole day at Mt. Vernon. We thought it was beautiful, amazing, and interesting. We started out the day with the "National Treasure Tour." We were able to see some things they don't show regular visitors. We were able to see the basement and some places along the rivers's edge. Here are some of our personal favorites from today:

Alex: Inside the house itself and talking to an actress that played Martha. You could ask her all sorts of questions.
Deanna: Making flax thread, the wax models of George Washington at the neat museum and the view of the Potomac River.
Olivia: The house, authentic Inn that we ate at, and the 16 sided barn at the pioneer farm.
Jared: Gristmill. They turned it on for a while, pretty cool. He just liked everything he said.
Luke: Blacksmith, the main house, pioneer farm tools and buying a souvenir.
Caleb: Kitchen and getting an ink and parchment to write on.

We enjoyed a lot of fun things. The list is endless. We would have liked to have had more time, but they are on winter hours now and so they have shorter hours.

Fun day!

East Coast Fun

This morning we left SLC bright and early. The kids were the best they have ever been on the plane. We had them navigate us through the airports. They did a good job. We have flown a lot in their young lives and I think there are many more flights ahead for them.

This trip we flew into Norfolk, VA. It's a nice little airport. This week we will spend time in the DC area. We will see some Presidential Houses, The White House, The Capitol, The Library of Congress and Arlington Cemetery. At least that's the plan. We are also going to the DC Temple with Olivia to do Baptisms. We worked on some family names this past couple of months so we could have some for this trip specifically. Alex's family is meeting up with us for some of our activities. We were here last year and saw some other sites mat DC.

Next week we are just spending the week at Virginia Beach. We are staying right on the beach. The beach is our favorite place to be.

We do not have an attachment to load pictures and we only brought an IPAD for this trip, so no pictures until we get home.

Also just FYI we officially signed on our house yesterday. We really have to move out now! Our move out date was moved back though until October 15. That's plenty of time right??? I already have the house half packed though so it will not be bad at all.

Oh, and the campaign is going really, really well. We have received a lot of money and a lot of support. We have attended a lot of functions and meet a lot of people. We are done with the parades though. We have received some amazing support from the House Republican Leadership. They have really liked Alex and have done a lot of strategizing for him. There is a lot of really neat people in politics. There is a lot of really nasty people too. We have certainly meet those!

This was typed on a touch screen and so if there are typos I am sorry! I don't know how to scroll up to check it. I'm a little technologically challenged!

Green Beans

Olivia picked and snapped our first bowl of green beans today. We are excited to eat them for dinner tonight.

FHE

For FHE we invited my sister Becky and her family over to our land. Cameron and his family are still here so we enjoyed a 'big' family home evening.

The night started out with an impressive lightning and thunder storm. Luke gave a good lesson in the howling wind while some of the babies took cover in the vehicle. The fire stayed lit however and we were able to enjoy some yummy s'mores. Thanks Kents.

After the the weather cleared up the kids enjoyed riding horses, playing with kitties, playing in the ditch, swinging on the gates and picking weeds.

Erica (age 10) said to me, "Aunt Deanna do you know what this plant is?" She held one up. I said, "I don't but I have a plant book we can look it up." Erica said, "It's actually a _____________." (I can't remember the name. It was four words long). She then said, "It's on the noxious weed list so you might want to get rid of it." I laughed hard at that. She is so funny. Yes, our 80 acres as lots of weeds but we are getting there. She was kind enough to point out another one later to me. She makes me smile.

Serena and Olivia eating a S'More.

After the rainstorm.
One of our "spooky" kittens.

Jared running away from the camera. He was posed in a very cowboy way, but I couldn't get the picture in time. He ran and hid behind the torn down electric water bin.

Alex and Uncle Matt discussing life.

Erica and Caleb getting their s'mores ready.

Erica, Aunt Becky, Serena, Luke, Uncle Cameron and Alexis roasting marshmallows.

Aunt Milexis, Uncle Cameron, baby Charlotte and Jared.

Alex's Family Visits

We were able to have some family visit us last week. Ken, Alex's dad, was here from Colorado. Francine, Alex's sister, is off due to summer break from BYU-I. Glen, Alex's brother, was here from Pennsylvania. He'll be starting his senior year this fall at high school. And Cameron, Alex's brother is here from Chicago with his wife Milexis and their two children Alexis and Charlotte. Cameron will be starting BYU this fall.

Glenn riding the dirt bike.

We had a nice visit! Of course I didn't do well in the picture department. They played lots of Wii together. They were able to ride the horses and have a camp fire with us. They had fun on the kid's little dirt bike and riding the 4-wheeler. They also did a couple of projects around the house for me. They promised us they would come back for Thanksgiving.

Cameron and his son Alexis riding the horse with grandpa helping out.

Cameron and his family are still here with us. They originally were only going to be here for 36 hours, but it will end up being about 3 weeks! So fun for us when their plans get unexpectedly changed! They are great house guests and it has been a lot of fun having them here with us.