4th Picture in the 4th Folder Tag!
This picture makes me so happy! It's my 2 nephews, Peyton and Jace. Jace is the one holding the sword with the excited look on his face, and Peyton is the one who has just been smitten by Jace's lethal blow! And at the top you can see my other nephew Calvin's little leg trying to excape. Cutest boys ever!
I never know who to tag so it's up for grabs!
This last Saturday I was introduced to Girls Day Out by the female members of Gary's Family. Gary's mom bought our Halloween t-shirts to wear for the day, as well as a cute Halloween bracelet. Here is Hali, me and Cheryl at Archibald's in Gardner Village. I had the enchilada salad. Excellent. You may be wondering about my cheesy smile in this picture. Well, Hali was rubbing my leg under the table and it took me by surprise. 
This is all of the girls. We happened to be at Gardner Village the same day as Witches Weekend, and it was SO crowded!! So we spent the rest of the day at Tai Pan (I had never been) and the Fashion Place Mall. It was really a lot of fun and I love my inlaws!
Given my current state, having the flu and a whole day off work, I thought I would post the last of our trip to DC. I can't bring myself to do a lot of commentary today so I hope pictures will be sufficient.
Gary and I got put in the stocks in Colonial Williamsburg. I didn't think it was warranted.
This is us dressed in the traditional garb. Gary's face makes me laugh.
I truly enjoyed the National Art Gallery. This was one of my favorites!
Our day in Gettysburg was quite enlightening, thanks to the historical insight of my father in law.
Beautiful fall leaves!
Best part of the entire trip! Hershey's Chocolate World! I have never been so happy in my entire life.
And singing cows!
We love chocolate!
Are we done yet? NO! It's only Tuesday! Let's start off at the White House! We tried to get tickets for a tour but never heard back from George W. Here's as close as we got.
We also went to the National Archives Museum and saw the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. We couldn't take any pictures because they didn't allow flash photography inside. But after standing in such a long line, we stopped by the gift shop where they had all types of patriot trinkets. And among all the scrolls of imitation Declarations of Independence, my mother in law spotted what is now my favorite souvenier of the trip. A stuffed squirrel!! Introducing Douglas!
Isn't he cute! Gary won't let me have babies and our landlord won't let us have any live pets so Douglas now serves as both. Pathetic but true. At least I'm happy about it though.
I guess I didn't take a lot of pictures of day 4. We went to the old post office with a bell tower but I've got nothing on that. Just a quick story though. We took a tour of the bell tower, introduced to us by the lamest, dryest, most lifeless human being alive. The man that explained to us the history of the bell tower and gave us instructions to our self guided tour, was about as excited as a loaf of white bread. We all had a good laugh at him. I believe our last stop was the Natural History Museum. I really liked this place, so I'm surprised I don't have any pictures of much of it. I saw the neatest jewels and stones, including the Hope Diamond...which Gary promised he'd steal for me one day.
I love nothing more than waking up at 6 in the morning, especially when I don't have to be at work. So I was overjoyed on day three when Hali sang me my good morning song and threw the curtains open at such an unearthly hour. But we had a full day ahead of us and no time to waste! First stop, the Washington DC temple! We did an early morning session and by darn it was beautiful!
Here we are all!
Now that we're all spiritually fed, off to Baltimore! I loved Baltimore! I wanted to pack up and move there by the end of the day. Even Gary said he could see me living in a place like that. We were right off the inner harbor all day. First we went to the National Aquarium, which I loved because I love living creatures. We spent the majority of the day there, then afterwards walked to the baseball stadium where the Orioles play. Gary loved it because they are his favorite team! Then after some dinner outside, overlooking the water, we said good night to Baltimore! 
Never smile at a crocodile!!
The pretty frogs are deadly
I was tempted to start making out with this guy
It's all about the crabs in Baltimore
I convinced DeeEll to play puppets with me! Of course he's the shark.
Gary at the stadium!
The legendary Babe Ruth from wence my name came....I think.
We slept in a little on the second day due to the havoc of day one. Each morning we started out with a free continental breakfast, courtesy of Washington Suites Hotel. I'm not ever too impressed with what a hotel serves but I actually quite enjoyed what they had! Anyway, off to the Mall! My father in law, DeeEll, decoded the route we needed to take on the Metro to get there, and after a lot of shaking and motion sickness on my part, we made it! First stop, the Air and Space Museum. No exclaimation marks on this, I didn't enjoy it all that much to be honest...I didn't find it that interesting. Also I hopped on a scale that claculated what my weight would be on the moon and I didn't care for the results.
Vietnam Memorial: My brother in law Marc found his grandpa's name on the wall. He was the first Utahn to die in the war.
Korean War Memorial:
Gary told me to pose as though holding a gun... but seeing as how I have never held a lethal weapon, this was the result. Also I'm not sure how many of these guys were smiling.
Lincoln Memorial: Here are my cute mother and father in law on the front steps.
I liked the fact that everyone was quiet and respectful inside the memorial.
Last but not least, the Washington Monument from the view of the Lincoln Memorial. Picture perfect!!
One more thing. As many people know, I love all types rodents large and small. Especially squirrels. I don't know why but I feel as though squirrels and I connect on a deep and personal level...or something. Anyway, there was the cutest little jerk of a squirrel sitting nonchalantly on a park bench, and my instincts told me to feed him. So I pulled out a 3 Musketeers and before I had it half way out of my purse, he hops of the bench and runs toward me, haults his little paws in front of me and poses in the begging position! Ah! Too cute! So bit by bit he snatched the chocolate death from my hands. I couldn't even deal with it I was having so much fun with him!! Too bad I probably killed him...
I thought I would post our trip each day at a time since there are too many details and pictures for one big post. The first day however has no pictures. We had to wake up so early to make our flight ON TIME! We did make it with time to spare, but Gary's parents and Marc and Hali did not due to a misread of time on the itenerary. Luckily they got a later flight, but that left Gary and I at the mercy of a cab driver once we reached DC. He got us to our hotel safely, which is nice because Gary didn't know to tip him...poor guy. Then we spent the remaining moments of daylight to stroll the roundabouts of our hotel. The rest of our group didn't arrive at the hotel until about 11 or so and we didn't fall asleep until 1 a.m. DC time. Our whole trip we didn't spend any extra time sleeping because we had too much to do!!!
Gary is such a hard worker. He balances full time school, full time work, studying, his wife, his friends, and his family. It's not easy on him, but he does it so well that maybe nobody would even know how difficult it can get. Mid terms were this week, his last test is tomorrow morning, and we're so glad that he can take a much needed break and we can spend it in Washington DC! We're so excited! Anyway, Gary is wonderful and like I have said before, I just don't deserve him! Here he is in our spare room of randomness, sitting in his homework bowl. He's too cute!
