Catch up.

The last days of summer were spent mostly at the pool. The pool officially closed on Labor Day. We were all so happy that Scott had the day off that day. We have really been missing that man. As I've mentioned before, these rotations are crazy. He pulled a 30 hour shift last weekend. Needless to say, he is always tired and when he can keep his eyes open he tells me some of the interesting things he sees. He has lost almost 10 pounds since he started his OB/GYN rotation and the way they work him, he's pretty sure he'll be losing another 10!

Labor day was a blast and Mr. Braden, especially had the time of his life. He will be getting more pool time because I signed him up a swimming class. He literally is a fish and so not afraid of the water.

Brielle and I enjoying the nice sun.

We had some old friends stay with us over Labor Day Weekend. I've talked about Heather before, she was a missionary in Miami when we lived there. Her sister Carrie, lives in NYC so they decided to make a trip to D.C. since it's so close. We had a blast showing them around D.C. (a.k.a. our backyard!) :)

Carrie was sooooo good with my kids! She was so fun and they LOVED her.

Heather has 3 kids of her own, whom she left home in Utah with her husband so she could come make this trip! Ben and Heather both served in the same mission in Miami. Heather is such an amazing woman and we love her and her family! We are so lucky to know them! We had such a fun visit and hopefully it won't be too long before we see her again.

Braden pretending he's a homeless sleeping on the bench!!!:)

Some time, last week I dropped off my brother at school (he's going to GWU), and I decided to make a trip to the Sculpture Garden. It was hotter than I thought it was going to be but we still had so much fun. I always enjoy going to D.C. and just let the kids run around.

These two are obsessed with rocks, they are constantly picking them up, putting them in their pockets. Brielle took her shoes off and was storing the rocks in them! Crazy girl.

Since, it was kind of a hot day and the kids were complaining that it was too hot, I told them to go run through the sprinklers. It was so refreshing and in Brielle's words, she said,

"I feel happier now."

They had so much fun, they could have spent hours and hours collecting rocks and running through the sprinklers. It makes you realize how it is the little things that make children happy and adults for that matter.

I think, this was a little too graphic for my kids...Braden starred at it for a little bit and said,

"What happened to their heads?"

The garden really is a beautiful area, most of the sculptures are very interesting.

The kids said there were hot again, so it didn't take long for them to go to this fountain and get refreshed.

They LOVED it! I was waiting for the security people to come tell us to take their feet out of the water but they never did. Which made me happy because they spent a good 20 minutes there.

I LOVE this silver tree.

Artists are amazing people to me. Sometimes I look at art and I think, that doesn't look like anything extraordinary... or sometimes it's difficult to understand it...but then I start thinking if I could EVER come up with something like that....and the answer is NEVER. So, I respect artists for what they do. They create things and that creation came out of their brain and that simple fact makes it beautiful.

We didn't see half of the garden, so we are most definitely going back. It's the perfect place to go and bring a lunch and sit and enjoy a nice fall day!

Another day last week, we headed to Clemyjontri Park with a few of our friends. This is one of my favorite parks here in Virginia. It was THE perfect day. It was without a doubt the most beautiful day we've had in a long time.

It was so perfect that day, that we spent almost 3 hours there!

I love summer but I'm definitely biased to fall...no more humidity and no more bugs!!!!

I'm so happy my favorite season is almost officially here!