Girls Weekend in DC

Last weekend I got to head off into the big world ALL BY MYSELF! It was wonderful and not something I have done very often since I got married 16 years ago.

Hal and I were actually planning a week away in Washington, DC, when he decided that he would not be able to accompany me over a weekend because of his new bishopric responsibilities. So, I decided that I would go and visit with my friends before he arrived. It was wonderful. My good friend, Allie, wanted a mini vacation also, so we decided to stay at the Gaylord National at National Harbor. It was beautiful. We also indulged in spa treatments and brunch.

Allie works for Genslar, the architectural firm that designed the hotel. The hotel has a beautiful, huge indoor atrium (18 stories). Inside it also has a beautiful fountain with choreographed fountain shows with patriotic music, like a mini Belagio for those of you who have been to Vegas. The hotel sits right on the Potomac river directly across from Old Town Alexandria. The entire area has been built up with a convention center, located at the Gaylord, as well as other hotels, shopping and restaurants. There is even water taxi service to Old Town Alexandria and Georgetown.

It was great to be back in our nation's capital. As many of you know I lived there for six years and miss it dearly! It has been a long time since I have been to DC and a LOT had changed. For example, the existence of National Harbor. What a beautiful development. DC had previously not had a resort hotel so close to the city.

We had a great time and it was really delightful to spend some time with friends. Thanks Allie for driving to Baltimore, in the pouring rain, really late at night, to pick me up and for not being mad when my flight was REALLY late! I had a great time!

The outside of the Gaylord Hotel.

Allie

Carrie, Allie and I ate at Grace's, which not only featured yummy Chinese food, but also this 18 foot high Buddha!

Alice

A beautiful day on the Potomac. The bridge is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Hal joined me on Monday!

I will post the pictures from our week long visit to the Eastern Shore

and Washington, DC on my next post.

Summer Rest and Relaxation

Rocky Point

Right after … and I do mean right after…as in 48 hours…we got home from Luke’s wedding we went to Mexico for a little rest and relaxation and I am so glad we did! It was perfect timing as we went two days AFTER Memorial Day so the crowds were thin and the weather was PERFECT. Little did I know that this would be the most restful part of my summer. I did savor it. “Relax” is not a word in my vocabulary. The only place I truly relax is in Mexico. There is something very wonderful about no cell phone reception. I think my ease of relaxation also relates to the laid-back pace and Mexican way-of-life! And possibly the great food!

This visit we actually rode horses on the beach. Becca has been begging us to ride since we started going to Mexico, but we just couldn’t get it coordinated for some reason. This trip she finally got to ride a horse on the beach. Now, she wants to take Jasmine next time. Too bad we don’t have a horse trailer! Not!

Happy Summer!

Spring Break in Park City

We had a great time in Park City enjoying our Spring Break. Above is the view out of our window. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone. We got to have Grandma Walker stay with us for a few days.

While she was there we enjoyed a sleigh ride up the mountain for dinner. We had the most delicious Utah trout I have ever eaten.

Kids and Grandma.

We also won the resort's Iron Chef award. See previous post for award-winning recipe created with a "secret" ingredient given to us by the resort and then whatever we had in our kitchen.

We also played a lot of Shanghai Rummy with Grandma Walker, as well as War (when Joshua wanted to play).

After Grandma Walker left Uncle Jeremy and Aunt AJ came for a visit. They brought Princess Ava. The girls loved dressing her up like she was going to get to go skiing but instead she just got to shop with the girls (Kellie, AJ, London and Ava). Thank heavens Park City has a great outlet mall. What else would we do all day...eat Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory treats? Oh, I think we did that too!

Iron Chef

Hannah and I entered an Iron Chef competition. We signed in and received a "secret ingredient" which in our case was a can of beans...we had choice of green beans, kidney beans, or nonfat refried beans. We grabbed the refried beans and then we ran back to our kitchen. We needed to return in one hour with a creative, fresh and delicious dish made with whatever was in our kitchen.

Of course we won FIRST PLACE!!!

Here is our winning recipe:

Tortilla Soup

1 can on nonfat refried beans

2 cups of water

1 package of Ramen bought from a vending machine (chicken flavoring packet only)

**you may substitute chicken broth)

3/4 cup of salsa

3 slices of pre-sliced cheese - GRATED

3 oz of leftover shredded chicken from Baja Cantina

1 Tbsp. Sour Cream (also left over from dinner at Baja Cantina)

Tortilla chips

Diced fresh avocado

Fresh Cilantro

Fresh squeezed limes

Boil two cups of water. Add chicken seasoning packet to make chicken broth. Stir in can of refried beans. Heat thoroughly. Then add salsa, shredded leftover chicken, juice of one lime and some fresh cilantro. Simmer for 30 minutes. While simmering grate pre-sliced cheese...just try it. Put soup in a large bowl on a platter. Add diced avocados, fresh cilantro, grated cheese, sour cream dollop. To the platter add tortilla chips, sliced limes, remainder of fresh diced avocados.

Way to go CHEF Hannah!

Viva Las Vegas

We had the great fortune to spend the weekend with everyone from my side of the family! It seems to get harder and harder to coordinate an family event at a time and place that everyone can attend. It was a lot of fun. Dad was out of the hospital so we all gathered in Las Vegas for Justin's daughter, Aqui's baptism.

We spent Saturday morning at Aqui's baptism followed by a feast all afternoon prepared by my wonderful sister-in-law Heather. She is an amazing cook! She made many pans full of her manicotti. My kids wish that I would even make spaghetti so they were thrilled. Heather also made many many sheet cakes! I don't like cake so I don't ever make one. So all-in-all it was a great day for my kids.

They played all afternoon with their cousins. Grandma and Grandpa were there. Hal and I got to visit with my siblings and their spouses.

That evening several of us went to see Blue Man Group. I have always wanted to see them. It was entertaining. I think our kids would have really enjoyed...especially Joshua. Hal didn't go and I don't think that he ever should go! It is a really noisy show and I know he wouldn't have enjoyed it! Babysitting was the much better choice!

The highlight of the trip for my girls was getting to worship at Princess Ava's feet. They love her. She quite enjoys all the attention they lavish on her. They were so excited to see each other!

We also really enjoyed seeing Grandpa and Grandma!

Unfortunately, Grandpa is back in the hospital again!

Our Ski Team

Somehow Joshua was absent from our other ski photos earlier this week. Here is a picture of him and then another of all the crew at the end of the day!

Ohh...Mexico!

Mexico! What fun. I wanted everyone to have a chance to see how much fun we had when we went to Mexico for October Break last year. My Mom & Dad went as well as my sister Brookelynn, my brother Jeremy and his wife AJ and their three adorable kids. We had a blast!

To avoid double sound press the pause button on our playlist before beginning the movie.

In the Sun He Melted!

Sometimes Snowmen grow hair (or at least pine needles!). A highlight of the trip was building a snowman.

Boys! Boys! Boys!

Last night, anxiously awaiting our trip to the hot tub, Joshua was playing his DS. He didn't want to forget his goggles so he just wore them while playing. I don't know how you see anything with goggles on.

On another funny note, this morning he said to me, "Mom, do you want me to show you how I make farting noises?" I, of course, said "NO!" Dejected he said, "Uncle Burke would want me to show him!"

Got to love boys!

A Little Skiing

We spent Saturday hitting the slopes. Okay, well everyone except Kellie spent Saturday hitting the slopes. Kellie spent the day in her lawn chair in the "Lodge!" The lodge has cafeteria-style tables in perfect 70's colors and no soft chairs. I am pretty certain that I could have sold my lawn chair for quite a profit in an auction to all the other non-skiers watching from the lodge. The lodge does have windows looking over the bunny hill, wi-fi, and lots of Navajo tacos provided by the Indians who run the ski resort. Although I didn't sell my chair, I did sell some ski tickets. The hotel we were staying at had a ski package. They gave us 6 kid ski passes. In October we drove up to the ski resort and donated canned food and rode the tram and all three kids now have free season ski passes. So, I made $120 bucks selling the tickets. Everyone else had a great time getting their ski legs about them!