Cherry Blossoms in DC

Today Tony and I got up early and took the metro into Washington DC to take pictures of the famous Cherry Blossoms that bloom around the capitol area. (Yep, I'm back home after a month of being away.) With morning temperatures in the 30's we were a little under dressed. Ok, so that might be an understatement. My fingers were so cold that when I took them out of my pockets, my fingers wouldn't uncurl right away, and my nose was as pink as the blush on my cheeks, but despite that it was still fun. The pictures are all taken by Tony with his digital camera, except the one of us together as that was taken by a kind passing stranger. (I had the film camera today.)

Later in the day we also went to a Travel and Adventure Expo where we got to try out scuba diving. They had a little pool, probably no deeper than 4 feet, with wetsuits and scuba gear. Tony really liked scuba diving so maybe you will see posts before too long with Tony diving in tropical waters. I'd just be happy right now with the tropical waters, maybe sitting on the beach next to the tropical waters.

Babysitting in California

I went to California on the 6th of March to watch my sister's two girls


while she went on an eight day cruise with her husband and his family. Hmmm... who got the better bargain? Well, I did have fun with the girls. I fed them popsicles, candy, cookies, watched movies, never made them take naps, and at the end I handed them back to their parents. Being an Auntie is more fun, since we can break the rules and not deal with the behaviors after.
Before my sister left we went to Disneyland, which is always fun. I just went there last year though, so I was kind of... we'll say indifferent to what rides we went on. There was nothing I needed to do, so we were just able to kind of go at the girls pace and do what they wanted.
The weather was very nice while I was there, and I managed to get my quota of vitamin D. The last day before I left though, it did snow 4-6 inches but it was pretty so no big deal. Plus it didn't keep me from flying back, although I ended up spending the night in a hotel by the airport. My airline was overbooked and I took the $400 credit and the free night in a nice hotel. Hey now I have airline credit to use for a graduation vacation. Yes Tony is finally graduating in May! Yeah! There is light at the end of the school tunnel.

Visit to Utah

So life has been busy. Wasn't I asking not too long ago what to do with free time? Guess that was me jinxing myself. Any way since I have a lot to catch up on I will try to post in order. It might take me a few days but I will try to get to it all.
Tony and I went out to Utah at the end of February to visit with Brandon and Carter, and to spend time with Ann. We took Brandon to the dinosaur museum and just did things together. Tony was only in Utah for a week, so now he is back to working hard in Virginia. The above pictures are just some of the photos from that time. The one of "cowboy Brandon" is kind of funny because I took him out to a few stores dressed like that, because he wanted to. He had people left and right saying how cute he was and even a few people from their cars yelled a howdy to the sheriff. He seemed to enjoy the attention. We even ran into an older man that was a "real" cowboy with hat , boots and pickup truck.
I have to say that boys are very active little munchkins. They seem more fearless and destructive than I remember being, but no real harm yet so I guess that's good. I have been sick both times I've been here to help with the boys, so that may be a factor too.
One thing that I enjoyed that I thought I would mention, was a couple of Kristy's friends took Ann and I out to lunch and for massages. What a nice treat! I had fun listening to them and talking and of course the massage was awesome. Thank you ladies!