Thanksgiving in Iowa

With Grandma and Grandpa we headed west to Iowa for Thanksgiving with Aunt Llew. We left Sunday after church and quite unexpectedly hit a snowstorm in Pennsylvania. We stayed the night in Akron Ohio and, first thing in the morning found a UPS store to overnight David's wallet back to him in MD before continuing on to Iowa.

We arrived at Aunt Llew's house just in time to go with her to Edna's dog training class, so Nathan and I went. Nathan loved it. He was asking Llew a bunch of dog questions and trying to snuggle Edna in the back seat. Nathan was very helpful at the class and he loved rewarding Edna with treats.

On Tuesday we drove to the Bellards to surprise Eli and Madison when they got home from school. The boys were waiting in Eli's room and Tessa was in Madison's room. Madison spotted me waiting in the laundry room and was tipped off to the surprise. It was still fun though. Eli and AJ were so happy to see each other! 

Nathan really bonded with Edna and had a lot of fun playing with her and reading in her kennel.

We toured the Iowa State Capitol with the Bellards, which was very impressive. The kids had a lot of fun going into the archives, the library and up there spiral staircase.

Friday we celebrated Nathan's 9th birthday! We gave him his gifts in the morning, in the evening Carly had planned a birthday party for Nate! We had such a great time at their house, eating yummy food and visiting. Oh, and birthday cake!

Saturday morning Nathan, Aunt Llew, David and I went to visit a litter of puppies. They were SO cute! We fell in love. Nathan has been asking for a dog for quite some time. We got approval from our landlord to get a dog and so, we picked one out for Nathan's birthday. Meet Dodger! A sweet, snuggly pup. He is to young to adopt right now, so we have arranged it with Aunt Llew, that she will bring him to Maryland when she comes in December! Nathan is so happy!! Best birthday ever!!

On our way home, we went a different route, so we didn't have to pay the $40 in tolls we paid on our way to Des Moines. We stopped in Zanesville, Ohio for lunch and stopped at the Columbus Ohio temple and Ohio State's football stadium since we were so close. Luckily, we made it home without any snow along the way.  It was a great Thanksgiving, and we are so grateful we were able to spend it with family and friends.

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson's visit

After visiting at Aunt Bonnie's house Grandpa and Grandma came up to see us for a few days. We were so excited to take them out to see some sights. Our first stop to us to Arlington. We parked on Fort Myer and planned to walk through the chapel gate. We had to wait a while because there was a funeral and the Cassion was waiting. We had the privilege of watching the horses.
We walked to the tomb of the unknown soldier and there we got to watch a few wreath placing ceremonies. From there my dad and I walked to the Eternal Flame where JFK and Jackie O are buried. (Arlington photos courtesy of Tessa)

The next trip into town was to the National Mall with David, Nathan and Grandpa. Tessa, AJ and Grandma stayed home. We saw the MLK memorial, Korean war memorial, Lincoln memorial, Washington monument and the flight museum.