Misc. Maryland Pictures

Here are several pictures from our trip to MD. Both John and I were able to visit with some friends we've not seen in years. It was a great vacation!

AJ

AJ loves having his picture taken. Here are a few he asked me to take.

Smithsonian: National Zoo

We visited the National Zoo with several members of my family. I think I only posted one animal picture (one of the pandas), as most are pictures of my family.

Fourth of July

We watched the fireworks at the mall with some good friends. Here are a few pics.

Smithsonian: Museum of Natural History

On Thursday, we took the subway downtown and visited the Museum of Natural History. We went with Erin, Mandi, and Heather (and their families). The kids enjoyed the museum, and the huge rainstorm we had to run through to get back to the subway. We had loads of fun!

Youth Conference

This year, our stake had a great Youth Conference intended to recreate the missionary experience. The first day, the "missionaries" reported to the MTC (Stake Center), were assigned companions, and enjoyed some great classes. In the evening, they were able to enjoy their "P day" and went bowling as a stake. The following day, they heard some more great speakers at the MTC (Stake Center) and went to dinner at someone's house where they shared a spiritual message. The final day, they went on splits with the missionaries and went tracting or helped teach a discussion to an investigator.

We had the "missionaries" over to dinner the second night, and I drove some young women to the LA Temple to go on splits with the sister missionaries. It was a great experience for me. David also had a really good experience. Here are a few photos of him in his missionary garb.

Dennis the Menace Park

This summer, I had a goal to take the boys somewhere new and fun every week. One week, we went to Dennis the Menace Park in LA. My "fun family guide to LA" book said it had a stone castle with a moat. When we arrived, it was obvious the park had been updated, but we had a great time. The boys especially enjoyed trying to pull the sword out of the stone. Here are some pictures.