Betsy Lou.

My dear friend, Betsy, came to visit us the first week of May. Betsy and I met at BYU-Idaho back when in 2001 (I think?) we were roommates and have been friends ever since. She is such a good, righteous woman. You always feel good being around Betsy. She is laid-back and easy going and I love that about her.

I loved that she was able to come and see my life here in Virginia...and of course visit D.C.

Bets was a history major at BYU-Idaho so I think she enjoyed D.C.

We saw as a much as we could during that week. We went to the National Museum of American History. We hadn't been there in a while with the kids and Brielle kept telling me to take a picture of her in front of 'everything'...in her own words..."so I won't forget it mom!"

She loved the First Ladies' gown exhibit and wanted to take a picture in front of every single one of them!:)

I have been dying to see Julia Child's kitchen for a while now...I appreciated the simplicity of her kitchen and yet she created such amazing meals in that kitchen!

On our way out, Betsy spotted C-3PO from Star Wars. My kids have never watched Star Wars but somehow know the names to a lot of the characters! They both starred at C-3PO for a while!

After the museum, we headed to the Jefferson Memorial. Braden was obviously very excited!:)

We admired the Jefferson Memorial and then headed to the FDR Memorial.

As always,the FDR is so beautiful and the weather could NOT have been any more perfect that whole week for Bets! We had sunny skies and perfect temperatures that whole week.

Like Betsy said, you just can't do Washington D.C justice with pictures...you can try, but everything is much more magnificent, much more grand when you see it with your own human eyes.

By then, the kiddos were tired and ready to call it a day...so we all started acting silly!:)

Somehow, through all the silliness, we made it back to the car and made our way back home!

The next day, we picked up the kiddos from preschool and headed for another day of adventure in D.C. We went to the Archives Building and saw some very cool documents and things I hadn't seen before. It was all so interesting.

...and I think this was the first time my kids had ever see a telephone, like one with a cord and handset. It made me realize that they are growing up in a totally different era.

We had lunch at the Sculpture Garden.

Then headed to the National Museum of Natural Science.

Again, Brielle was so funny, and wanted me to take a picture of EVERYTHING...so that she won't forget it! and while Brielle was LOVING the precious jewel exhibit, Braden was hating being in the room with "all these girl stuff!"...until I told him that those precious jewels come from volcanoes...and then he thought it was so cool!

When he saw that meteor he HAD to take a picture with it! I love his little fake smile!:)

On our way home, we made a quick stop in front of the White House. It was too bad that they had the closer view of the White House blocked off, so we couldn't get any closer! I think they always block it when they have stuff going on on the White House lawn...anyway, at least we got somewhat close to it!

On Friday, we had tickets to go on a tour of the Capitol Building. I was so excited because this was also my first time inside the Capitol. We decided to take the metro this time, instead of driving.

The Capitol Building was just breath-taking.

They show you a 13-minute video of the history and what happens inside this place before the actual tour. It made me feel so patriotic and proud of living in this country. They go through some of the important laws and bills that they have been able to pass throughout history...big things like the right for women to vote, etc. It was just very inspiring.

You can get the idea through pictures, but it is much more magnificent in person.

The Rotunda is simply exquisite. I think you'd have to spend a long time in there, to really appreciate the beauty of it all.

The Statuary Hall was beautiful too.

I had to make my kiddos stand in front of the Idaho statue, since they are both Idahoans.

Bets headed out early on Monday, to the Holocaust Museum and we met up with her later that day, to finish walking through the rest of the monuments.

I totally let my kids break the rules while we were are the WWII Memorial! I know...what a terrible thing to do...you're not supposed to wade...but what the heck! I guess, technically they didn't 'walk' on it...they just splashed and stuck their feet in the water...It was hot and they have so much fun doing splashing the water and sticking their little feet in it.

They find so much joy in the simple things...

They were in heaven! Look at that face!:)

I couldn't believe when Tuesday came around and it was time to take Betsy Lou to the airport! I had so much fun spending time with such a wonderful friend.

Thanks for coming to spend time with me Bets! I loved every second!:)