An American Mormon in Washington

Last weekend, a former returned missionary flew out from the land of Zion to spend a few days with us. And while it pales in comparison to God’s Promised Land in that salty valley out west where he came from, he did enjoy his stay here in the nation’s capital. In all of his travels around the globe over the past few years – from the long inhabited hills of Poland, to the untouched glacial slopes of New Zealand, the war ravaged sands of Iraq, and recently the untamed waters of the Amazon in Brazil – he had never set foot in this part of the United States. So we had a fun couple of days checking out the sites that DC has to offer.

Paul and "Brand-em" stopped by to check out the Washington Monument, along with just about every other monument/memorial.

Ok, I'll walk with him... just as long as he's not keeping me...

Teaching Paul good habits, like walking on this ice above frigid water. The Reflecting Pool was iced over enough to walk on, at least until an angry DC police officer yelled at everyone.

Even Mom and Adam tagged along! Here checking out the WWII memorial.

And we finally found the Marine Corp Memorial, just outside of Arlington. Pretty impressive, and a lot bigger than I expected.

It's always good to have visitors, and having not seen him in almost two years, it was cool that he was able to hop on a flight and come out. Ah, the benefit of working for an airline!

Bring on 2010...

The old year is gone and the New Year is here! Ok, so it was here ten days ago, so you probably already knew that. But here are a few pictures from Christmas, the big snow, and just Paul being Paul.


This one, for example, would be just Paul being Paul. Loads of fun playing out in the snow, even for a Florida Boy.

Say Cheese! Or say... snow!

Yep, we got a lot that day. How much? A lot.


Seriously contemplating something.

And this was our Christmas Tree... before it was overloaded with Paul presents, and then shipped off to the recycling bin.

And this is Paul riding in style on his Lightning McQueen racing bike! Bring on the Tour d' France!

And Paul the Builder. Can he fix it? Nope, but he sure can break it.

That's all for now. It's gotten quite cold around these parts, so we haven't been out much to take pictures. That whole frost bite thing is slightly unpleasant, so we'll be hiding out inside for a while longer.