Washington DC

Okay, I know that Erik has been home for almost 6 weeks, but life has been busy here and I am full of more excuses.....oh well!! Picking up your son from his mission is a must, one that Blake and I don't ever want to miss. Meeting the people that your son has taught and shared the gospel with, hearing there testimonies and seeing their love for your son is something that warms my heart. I am so grateful that we have been able to pick up our sons, Nathan and Erik, we have really been blessed.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip, we had a blast even with all of the snow in DC.

Here we are, just minutes after seeing him for the first time!

I believe this is all of the spanish speaking missionaries in Erik's mission.

Getting ready to go into the temple with Erik. Beautiful temple grounds, even more beautiful temple. Erik considers this HIS temple now.

Celebrating Erik's birthday with David Flores and some of the members. The funny thing about this picture is that the door behind Erik is the bathroom door and Erik had just come out of it. David was so anxious about singing to Erik and showing him his cake that he had to follow Erik down to the bathroom. Erik was worried that no 'smell' would come out, it was hilarious! I tried to get David to wait, but he wouldn't have anything to do with that!

We were in DC with Erik for one week and every night we went to a different members house to eat dinner and meet with them. Here we are after dinner.

One of the great things we ate was papusas, an El Salvadorian stuffed tortilla. I loved them, so I had Sis. Flores teach me how to make them. On Sunday afternoon, after church, we had our cooking lesson. I haven't tried to make them yet here at home, but am anxious to try making them. You take corn dough and stuff it with meat and cheese, then fry them up and eat them with a cabbage slaw, DELICOUS!!!!!

I look perplexed, who knows why.....I just wanted you to see the apron Sis. Flores gave me to wear. Everyone there thought it was great that I was trying to learn how to cook.

Here is Blake and Erik at Gettysburg, we spent a day touring here, it was amazing. I learned so much, like....the battle at Gettysburg actually lasted three days, WOW! (Guess I should of paid more attention in high school.) We toured the museum, then did a driving tour of all of the battlefields. We purchased a CD that gave us an audio tour of each area. At some of the stopping points there were these observations towers, Erik climbed everyone of them. Here are Blake and he at the top of one. (I don't know why this is underlined, it just turned out that way and I can't figure out how to undo it...ugh!)

We loved these statues of Lincoln, he is one of Blake's personal hero's.

Blake and I at the Lincoln Memorial. Very inspiring as you read his words etched on the walls and feel the spirit there.

Here is the Washington Monument. Notice the flags and how they are standing at attention....it was a VERY windy day!

A few days before we arrived in DC, they were slammed with tons of snow. The piles on the side of the road were humongous and everything was frozen. Here is Blake and Erik standing on the frozen reflecting pool, we actually walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial on the frozen pond, as it was easier going than on the slushy, messy sidewalks. It was also the closest Erik had been to open water in two years.

Blake at the Capital.

And finally......here we are at the DC Temple visitors center. We have lots more pictures, but don't want to bore you to death. Needless to say we had a fabulous trip and are so grateful for our son Erik. He served a wonderful mission, he gained a testimony of our Savior and of his ministry and we are so proud of him and his efforts.

Two boys down, two to go....(with possibly a daughter serving also!)

(Disclaimer: I spent an hour trying to fix the the alignment of the paragraphs, got REALLY frustrated and decided to just leave it alone. If anyone has any ideas for me, please send them my way, because I can't seem to figure out the stupid thing!)