For the Beauty of the Earth!

In my high school choir, we sang a beautiful version of the song For the Beauty of the Earth arranged by John Rutter. I recently found the same arrangement sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I can't stop listening to it and I just wanted to share it with you all! 

Turn it up and enjoy!

And here's a beautiful picture to enjoy to go along with the song! :) (I took this picture while on a walk near my house one evening.)

Happy Christmas!!!

One of my friends shared this version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" on her facebook page and I had to share too.

I'd never heard the background story of this song before, although it's one of my most favorite Christmas hymns. It just gives the song even more meaning.

Merry Christmas friends and may your soul be filled with peace and joy at this time of year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Christmas Time!

There's a lot to do in this area around Christmas time. I wanted to share some of the cool things there are to do around here at Christmas (and things I've been able to do this season). :)

ZooLights- I got a group of friends together and we hopped on the metro and went to ZooLights. It was fun! It required a lot of walking, but I'm always okay with that. :) It's free to get into and I would recommend the metro since parking can be a pain.

Mount Vernon Candlelight Tour- I've been to Mount Vernon before but only during the daytime. When one of my friends invited me to go with her and another friend on the candlelight tour, I couldn't pass it up. It was really cool to see the grounds lit up by candlelight and be able to see the house decorated for Christmas. Once we were inside the house, there were people dressed in period costume who would tell us about an aspect of living at Mount Vernon during the time George Washington did. And how can you not like seeing Aladdin the camel on the grounds?! It was fun! It costs money, but it was worth it!

Christmas concert at the National Cathedral- The National Cathedral has amazing acoustics so the concert was awesome! There was a brass band as well as a couple of choral groups and it was so good! It cost some money, but it was worth it.

Holiday Market- I've been working in downtown D.C. for a couple of days a week for the last two weeks. I thought that I would do something fun after work while I was working downtown. One of the days I went to the holiday market near the National Portrait Gallery and walked around. They have some pretty interesting and fun things to look at! I may or may not have bought some stuff while there. :)

The National Christmas Tree (near the White House)- On the same day I went to the holiday market, I walked to the Ellipse (near the White House) to see the National Christmas Tree. They have the big main tree and they have little trees to represent every state and territory of the U.S. with ornaments that represent something special about that state on it. There are train sets set up around the main Christmas tree and it's kind of fun to just stand there and watch the trains.

The temple lights and visitor's center- How can you go through Christmas time and not visit the temple?! The lights are beautiful and the nativity scenes inside the visitor's center are always unique!

The National Botanical Gardens Christmas exhibit- I did this after work one day and it was lovely! I'm having a hard time describing this one, but it is really cool! It's free to get into and it's beautiful!

Merrifield Garden Center Christmas shop- I already did a blogpost about this one, but if you like looking at or buying Christmas things, you should visit this place!

Cookie Making and Caroling- I feel like cookie making and caroling is a part of Christmas for me. For FHE, one week we got together to make cookies one day and then the next day went caroling to people in our ward and brought the cookies with us! What's better than bringing Christmas cheer to others with music and treats?! :)

Happy Christmas Eve friends!

Merrifield Garden Center Christmas Shop!

A friend introduced me to the Merrifield Garden Center Christmas Shop tonight and can I just say how much I loved it?! :)

I had no idea this shop existed at Christmas time and it seriously is so cool! It's a big shop and it was fun to just walk around and look at everything, although I did end up buying something too. I needed a tree topper for my little Christmas tree and found the perfect little angel there. :)

So if you like Christmas stuff, you should visit this place! I went to the one near the Mosaic District, but I believe there are others in the area too.

A song!

I love this instrumental version of "If You Could Hie to Kolob" arranged by Lex de Azevedo! It's beautiful and I find it calming to the soul!

Happy Sabbath!

                       

Star Valley!

Back in July, someone sent us information about $200 round trip tickets to Utah in the fall time which is an amazing deal! I couldn't pass it up so I bought a ticket to Utah for the end of September. I went and had a lovely time there!

My mom grew up in Star Valley, Wyoming and a few years ago they announced a temple to be built there. The Star Valley Temple open house happened to coincide with the time I would be in Utah and so we decided to go to the open house that weekend I was there.

It's been a really long time since I've done the drive from Utah to Star Valley and I forgot how beautiful it is!

Dad, Mom, Heather and I stayed in Evanston, Wyoming on Friday night and we woke up to snow. It wasn't cold enough to stick to the roads, but look how beautiful it made it with the snow and fall colors. :)

Most of the photos from this post were taken by Heather.

Star Valley! This is the only picture I took in this post and I took it while we were driving 50 mph. ;)

I love this selfie of H and I in Star Valley on the land that Mom grew up on!

The Star Valley Temple! My second temple open house in two months. Look how beautiful it is with the mountains, snow and clouds!

Look at this awesome shot that Heather took! This is the view from the land where Mom grew up.

On the way back home, we took the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway and can I just say that that was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on?! With the snow, fall colors, mountains, lakes etc. it was just so magical!

Overall it was an awesome trip to Star Valley! We got to see an aunt and cousins I haven't seen in a long time. We saw beautiful scenery and Dad, Mom, Heather and I got quality time together.

Philadelphia and Lincoln's baptism!

As I mentioned in my previous post, my parents came to visit in August and that was a fun time! I got lots of quality time with them as I drove up with them to Philadelphia for the temple open house and then on to Somerset, PA to see my nephew get baptized. :)

We had tickets for the open house on a hot but beautiful Friday morning! The temple was beautiful, inside and out!

That was actually my first time ever going to a temple open house. I went inside the temple with my shorts and t-shirt on, there were lots of children there and it got pretty loud at times, but despite all of that stuff I could still feel that it was a temple, a House of the Lord.

 Papa, Mama, and Me after our tour!

After Philadelphia we made our way to our hotel in Carlisle, PA, which was about halfway between Philadelphia and Somerset. Lara and Glen and family, Pete and Mika and family, Matt and Karey and family and Mom, Dad, and I all stayed at the same hotel that night. I tried to get as much Benjamin time as I could since he actually let me hold him and I don't get to see his family as often as the others.  ;)

I love the progression of the photo above and the next two photos. Benji has a smile on his face.

 His smile is a little bit bigger.

 And he's laughing! :) Isn't Benji adorable?!

There was a Lindt Chocolate Factory a mile from our hotel in Carlisle and we may or may not have gone there and got some discounted Lindt truffles on Saturday morning before leaving town. :)

On our way to Lincoln's baptism, we stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial. It was a beautiful tribute to the people who died on the flight.

 All the siblings and nieces and nephews that were at Lincoln's baptism from our side of the family.

Overall it was a fun weekend with family and good quality time with Mom and Dad!