The Utah Essigs Come to DC!

The second half (the younger 6 siblings) of the Essig family drove in an RV all the way from Utah to DC last weekend. We were so happy to have the family in our part of the country!  It was great to show them some of the sites DC has to offer.

Papa Essig was a little tired from the cross-country driving. We caught him in the museums napping...

Lincoln's youngest brother Lorince

Abraham Lincoln's Hat

Changing of the guard in Arlington Cemetary

We were so pleased to be able to have all 8 of the Utah Essigs stay in our two bedroom apartment.  2 boys slept in the kitchen, the 3 girls in the front room, and 3 more slept in our second bedroom! And we still had plenty of room to spare.... ha ha. So fun!

Lincoln and I really were so delighted to have family come and visit us. Lincoln even took half a day off from studying to spend some time together. It was also nice to be able to spend Sunday dinner with the family (and even two more friends). Please come back soon guys!

A Capitol Fourth

This Fourth of July, because Lincoln is studying for the bar, we decided to stay in DC.  DC is one of the best places to be for the Fourth and we had the pleasure to host 7 friends who came from out of town to stay with us and celebrate. 

Tour and Concert at the Capitol

I gave our guests a personal a tour of the Capitol Building.

(Erin, Brian, Ivy, Hyrum, Matt, Brian, Chelsey and I standing by Utah's statue: Brigham Young)

Then we went to a concert on the Capitol Steps

Some of the many that performed were: Barry Manilow, The Queen of soul Aretha Franklin, international pop sensation Natasha Bedingfield, and the Tony and Grammy Award-winning cast of Jersey Boys 

But the kids liked Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Elmo best...

The Parade

DC has one of the best parades in the Nation. People were everywhere along the National Mall. It was fantastic. 

(Lincoln is going to be such a great dad!)

(Matt and Brian were getting pretty tired from all the events.)

(The White House)

The Fireworks

We think that the best place to watch the fireworks is at the Jefferson Memorial. You not only get a reflection of the fireworks on the water, but you hear an echo of the bursting fireworks from the memorial. Plus, we could walk there from our apartment without worrying about catching the busy metro. 

On our walk to the Jefferson, you could see all the boats out on the water waiting for the fireworks to start. 

There were a lot of people, but it wasn't too packed. 

And the firework show was lovely. 

(Huge boat returning to the dock after the fireworks.) 

We loved our Capitol Forth of July!

Air Force Memorial

We love having people come to town to visit the sites in DC. It is great because we finally have room for guests, but also because Lincoln and I take some time to visit the sites as well. 

The other night we took our guests to the Air Force Memorial. We had some fun with our little point and shoot camera. 

The Air Force Memorial is so neat to see at night. The lighting is beautiful, plus you get a great view of the memorials on the Mall.

How to make digital pictures look super old:

Many people have asked me how I make pictures like this:

look like this:

The secret is THIS website.  

Enjoy!

Work Trip: New York

For work this past week I went to New York for two days. My boss suggested that if I wanted, I could personally pay for Lincoln to come along with me. We decided it was worth it, and he came along for the ride. It was so fun to have Lincoln with me as we visited CNN and FOX News. But his favorite part by far was being able to see the taping of the Colbert Report and meet Stephen Colbert himself. This was Lincoln's first time, (my second time) and yes he is just as funny in person as he is on the show.  

I love being able to mix work and family time...