Chris Comes Home!!

I am very behind with my blogging, but I thought this would be a good place to catch up. As I'm sure you all know by now Chris came home from Alaska the end of September, he surprised me by coming a day early and even brought me flowers! It was a wonderful surprise and we are loving having him here with us!

Arlington National Cemetary

Quick history lesson on Arlington, the mansion was built by George Washington Parke Custis who was the adopted grandson of George Washington (through Martha's son from her first marriage). He and his wife lived in the home which went to their only child after their death, Mary Anna Randolph Custis. She married Robert E Lee and lived in the home until some time after the Civil War had begun. Because of the war they were forced to give up their home.

Seeing all the graves of soldiers who have served our country was very a very humbling experience. We are so blessed to be Americans and live in this great land.

Arlington Mansion

rose gardens behind the home

The Tomb of the Unknowns

This is the resting place for several unknown soldiers. We were able to see the changing of the guard while there, what dedication and respect they shown their fallen brothers.

Mount Vernon

The Washington Monument

One of my favorite sights was Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. The view, grounds, and buildings are amazingly gorgeous! It's defiantly an awesome experience to see all of these sights in person and imagine what it would have been like to be apart of that era.

This is the view from the house looking out over the Potomac River.

George Washington's home

The Jefferson Monument

On Sunday afternoon after church we visited the Washington DC visitors center and Temple grounds.

Capital Dome & the Smithsonians

Up close

Inside, we were able to take a tour of the capitol, very cool.

The architecture is just amazing!

The American History

Museum:

a portion of the Berlin Wall

I had to take a picture of a helicopter for my pilot! This is one from the Vietnam era.

So much to see, so little time...

Church History

Palymra Temple

With some creative planning of my mother's all those 12 and older were able to attend the Temple.

monument on the top of Hill Cumorah

We were also able to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant - so amazing, I highly recommend it!

The Sacred Grove

This path is directly behind the Smith family farm house. This beautiful land is lush with green trees, ferns, plants, ect. It would have been back breaking work to fall the huge trees and make room for farming, those Smith boys were tough!

E.B Grandin Building

This is where the first Book of Mormon was printed. In those days it took hours to set the type for one page, we are so spoiled! Above his shop we were able to see print presses and learn about the printing process in those days. We were also told that without the Erie Canal the press needed to print the Book of Mormon would not have been able to travel to Palmyra, NY.

Palmyra Temple

The Temple, Smith farm, Martin Harris home, ect are all out of the central part of town . It's all open farmland surrounding the church sites, so beautiful!

Buffalo, NY

It was a very sad day saying goodbye to Chris and catching our flight leaving Juneau. Thankfully we didn't have much time to think about it, less than 48 hours later we were off on another adventure! We had 10 days on the east coast packed with touristy activities.

Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls USA the left side of the picture with the bridge and sky scrapers is Niagara Falls Canada.

View from the water on the Maid of the Mist, it's absolutely breathtaking!

Old Fort Niagara, originally built by the French in the 1700s, was used in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War as well as training during WW I and WWII. The body of water in the photo is Lake Ontario and you can even see Toronto Canada across the lake.

Mendenhall Glacier

We were able to actually ride on one of Chris's tours, he is a great tour guide by the way! We had such a great time being entertained by interesting facts while enjoying a beautiful bird's eye view. The glacier is REALLY cold, I have 3 sweaters/jackets on and I was still freezing! C did really well minus dropping his gloves in the freezing glacier water for mom to fish out. Doesn't the snow and ice look like marshmallow puff with roasted edges?

C is bundled in an undershirt, sweater, hoodie, coat and the life jacket required by the FAA to fly up on the glacier.

These beautiful blue fissures are all over the glacier. There was a river of glacier water that we also had the privilage of drinking from- my hands took about 30 to get the feeling back again.