Our trip to Washington!
We went back to Washington in November to visit family, and it was especially fun for Joe because he had not been back for over 2 and a half years. Needless to say, we did a ton of running around as usual to fit in all kinds of family and friends.
The biggest reason we made the trip was because my grandma was going to the temple for the first time! She joined the church while I was staying with her when Joe was deployed, and I was honored to be her escort through the temple. It was fabulous, and she was lucky enough to even have a couple missionaries who had taught her attend the session as well. My grandma is so dear to me and I love being able to share this part of my life with her, as I know how my life has been blessed and the joy I have experienced since joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Thanks to Joe's mom for hanging out at the temple with Amelia so I could go in!
Joe's mom hosted a huge Thanksgiving dinner for all of Joe's extended family while we were there. I think about 75 people showed up, and it was terrific to be able to visit with so many people we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. We decided to do Amelia's baby blessing while we were there so that Joe's family could participate. Being able to have Amelia's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, as well as uncles and great-uncles share in giving that blessing made the experience that much more meaningful.
We decided we better get all kinds of pictures of the girls with their grandparents and great-grandparents since we aren't sure when we will get to see them again.
The girls with Joe's maternal grandparents.
The girls with Joe's mom.
Joe with his parents.
Joe with his grandparents.
Amelia with Joe's dad.
Amelia with grandma and cousin Aiden.
The girls with my parents.
Madeline had tons of fun with my brothers kids, Ethan and Gavin, and she even spent the night there, but we all forgot to take any pictures until right before we left. Of course the kids weren't feeling very cooperative, so this is the best I got.
We had such a great time, and were able to see so many people, it made me miss Washington. But we do love it out here in New York too, so I guess for now we will just settle for visiting whenever we can.
