Lincoln Memorial

We kinda snuck out of town for this trip and didn't really tell anyone. Then, when we were there we sent phone pictures to our families and made phone calls. It was funny to hear their reactions.

This is Spencer at the World War II Memorial. He is sitting in between the Idaho and the Utah sections because those are the places that he has lived. He's closer to the Idaho part because we are both Idahoans at heart. We ain't no utah marmons.

This is the outside of the Lincoln Memorial. The last time that I was in DC, both the Lincoln and the Washington monuments were under construction, so they had scaffolding all over them and didn't look as nice. So it was good to see them without the other stuff. And did I mention that it was cold?

Here is Abe in his chair. Spencer and I had a long discussion on how the designers of the monuments try to make these men look like gods or heroes or something. The style is very Greek. I find it interesting. Spencer thinks that it was designed to invoke patriotism and form unity in our young country.

Here is another picture. I thought that it was interesting to notice that Lincoln's hands are making the sign language letters "A" (left hand) and "L" (right hand). I wonder if this was intentional... for Abraham Lincoln...AL...??

This is the Gettysburg address on one of the walls inside the memorial.

It really is a huge statue.

And here's Spencer with Lincoln. He was really excited to see this memorial.

Washington Monument

While we were in Washington D.C. for Brianna's graduate school interview at George Washington University, we decided to see some of the sites since Spencer had never been there before. It was freaking cold and we aren't the biggest fans of museums, so we didn't go to many. But here's what we did do...

Washington Monument. It is a tall, "white" tower. At night, there are red lights inside of the pyramid part at the top. Spencer said that it looked like a KKK member with glowing red eyes. He is such a little boy... And he decided to pose with the monument coming out of his head.



In this picture, you can see the monument with the Capitol Building on the right and on the bottom/left you can see the World War II monument.



Here I am in front of the World War II Monument. Did I mention that it was freezing?? It was bitter cold with a stinging wind. I think that I got some wind burn while I was there. The high was around 15 degrees and the low was -20 degrees. Brrrrr....



Here is Spence in front of the Reflection Pool. It's empty and dirty. It was funny to hear all of the younger people talk about the pool's importance in reference to Forrest Gump.



Again, here is the monument and the reflection pool.

Long Flight Back East

On our flight to Washington D.C. was mostly empty, so Spencer and I could sit in our own rows. Spencer was teasing me about not wanting to sit by me, so I showed him how I felt through my advanced sign language.



It was really nice to have our own rows because we were able to lay down across the three seats and sleep. I am a pass-out queen. I was especially tired from taking care of puppies. I have a big bum (baby got back).



This is Chicago. We had a layover there.



And this is Baltimore. We flew into Baltimore Airport because it is only 30-40 minutes away from D.C.

Coke-aholic

On January 18, before we left to Washington D.C., Coke found a new family. This guy had been calling me ever since I first posted the puppies on KSL. He finally decided that he wanted one for sure, then he spent about two hours at our house trying to decide between Stripes and Coke. He went back and forth on the decision forever, and they ended up taking our big boy and polar bear look-alike, Coca-Cola. He will be in a good, loving home, with a cute couple and four little kids.

And then there were four...

Well, actually two... four of our puppies went away to their new homes today, while two others were reserved and will leave Monday.

This morning we loaded up all of the puppies into the car to take them to the vet to get their check-ups and shots. It was quite the adventure but we survived.

Here are some pictures Brianna took of the puppies this morning before we left to the vet:

Here's Coke. His ears are starting to stand up:

The first puppy to go was Powder (pow-pow). She went to an elderly lady from Salt Lake City that has been looking for a Samoyed puppy for thirty years. She about cried when she saw our puppies. She was about to take Polka-dot but at the last minute decided to take Powder instead. She lives alone in a huge house with a huge backyard and has always wanted a puppy to share it with her. She didn't want to pose for this picture:

The next ones to go were Flower and Polka-dot. They went to a family from South Jordan who had just lost their Samoyed a year or so ago. They like to take their dogs fishing and spoil them rotten. They said the next time we saw the dogs their eyes would be green because they would be spoiled so much. I don't know what that means. Here they are:

T-bone was the last one to go today. She went to a young couple about to get married. They live out in the country near the Utah-Colorado border. They're very nice and have a lot of property for T-bone to run around on. Plus it's really cold there, so she'll feel right at home:

A man from Bluffdale called to confirm today that we was going to buy both of our males, Baloo and Coke. He'll come over tomorrow to pay and then he'll pick them up on Monday or Tuesday. Brianna met him earlier this week. He has a family and wants bigger dogs that he can run with. He runs a couple of miles everyday and wants a dog (or dogs) that can keep up with him. He likes to run marathons I guess. Anyways, the boys will be happy to run and to be together.

We're going to miss our puppies but we feel really good about the people and the homes they are going to. Soda and Stripes (Adventure girl) are the only puppies still available but we expect them to have homes before long.

Quarter of a Century

On Wednesday, January 9, 2008...it was my 25th birthday. I feel really old. I had a really hard time with turning that old. I was kinda freaking out.

We went to Flemings Steakhouse in Salt Lake, in the Gateway Mall, for dinner. Earlier, Spencer and I got our hair done at Lunatic Fringe (compliments of my mom's gift--money). This is a picture of me with my complimentary Creme Brule.



When we got home, Spencer had set up the card table with a dozen red roses and cherry/cheesecake kisses. He got me some great presents, too. We got another Dance, Dance Revolutions pad so that we can have competitions. He got me my favorite cologne (yes, I wear man cologne to work because it smells fresher). He got me Saving Private Ryan, Transformers, The Green Mile (my favorite movie ever) and Fergie's CD. He also got me some cute scrubs. What a great birthday surprise!!



He even found time to get me a cake. Here I am holding Polka-Dot with my cake. You should ask Spencer about the funny lady that sold it to him. She was sure that it was a chocolate cake even though the sign said white cake with chocolate chips. Short version, the sign was right.



Here is me and Polka-Dot. She is fascinated. And I just think that there are too many candles. I can't be that old!!



Thank you sweetheart for such a wonderful birthday. It was really great. I love you and I appreciate all of the hard work that you do.

Puppy blankets & blog

My mom and Mindy quilted each of the puppies their own little quilt. They picked material to match the puppies' names and personalities. They did a really good job. If you want to see each puppy with their blanket you can check out the new blog that Brianna made specifically for the puppies. She included all the pictures of the puppies from the day they were born till today. She made it so that people who are interested in buying a puppy can look at the pictures and decide which one they want (although they are going fast).

Thanks again Mom and Mindy for the quilts!

The puppy blog is found at http://www.samoyedpuppies.blogspot.com/ or you can just click here.