A Wheeler Christmas, Part 2

As December flew by, Christmas Vacation began to approach us. Collin had just finished his finals at BYU as I finished up on work until the kids came back in January. We were so excited to fly out to Virginia to spend two weeks with my in-laws. Everyone from Collin's immediate family was there, including Baby Heinzen who is due in March. :) Of course, who could ever forget about Bailey??! 

This is Bailey, the Wheeler family pet. :) We all love her

It was my first time visiting the East Coast and I loved every second of it. There is just so much to do there.

Since Collin's family lives so close to Washington DC, we spent a lot of time there. There is so much history to learn about there. On Christmas Eve, we went to the air and space museum where we learned about different models of airplanes and the year they were established. We even got to take pictures flying in the air like airplanes. :)

 We were in a paper airplane contest as well

We saw the space shuttle that launched into orbit in outer space. It was HUGE!  

That same night, we made desserts. My favorite part was decorating Christmas cookies. We had so much fun. I'm pretty sure we were on a sugar rush afterwords...

 I was so excited to get new dessert recipes from my mother-in-law. :) Now I can make them for every Christmas!

We all got together as a family to read scriptures about Christ's birth on Christmas day. It really brought the spirit in. We decided to sing Christmas hymns which brought the spirit in even more. Right then I realized just how blessed I am this Christmas. Singing those hymns gave me this overwhelming feeling that the Savior does live. He has blessed Collin and I to come together in marriage.

On Christmas day, we woke up and opened presents. We each received everything that we wanted. The best gift that I received this year was the gift of a new eternal family in which I can share my life with. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It was one of the best Christmases I ever had. 

My first Christmas with my Eternal Companion :)

On the day after Christmas, we saw the Disney movie Frozen and took a tour around the capitol and learned a lot about American history and politics. Here are some pictures below..

You can't see this one very well, but inside the Capitol was the statue of Brigham Young himself!!




We went into the Library of Congress after the tour around the Capitol. Here some pictures from inside.

We took some pictures outside of the capitol as well

 

Love these two! :)

When evening came, we went inside the DC temple. It is just glorious inside and out and looks beautiful even during Christmastime.

We went to the Pentagon Memorial the next day. It was honoring the people who died in the Pentagon and on the plane on 9/11. There were stones that pointed towards the pentagon and away from it. The ones that pointed toward the Pentagon were on the plane. The ones that were away from it were in the Pentagon when they died. It was a great devastation that occurred. Those people who have passed on will always be remembered.

Afterwords, we went to the Arlington Cemetery. The first thing we saw was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There is always a guard that watches the tomb everyday for 24 hours!

We explored the rest of the cemetery. We saw the Kennedy memorial and all others who have passed during the wars. It made me think of my grandfather who served honorably in World War II and the Korean War. We have so many men who are willing to fight and die for our country. We honor them today by passing through this cemetery.

You can see that so many have sacrificed their lives during the wars that occurred in America.

On the Saturday before New Years, we took family portraits outside. It was special to me since I was now a part of the Wheeler family. :) 

We had fun and the weather was perfect. :)

Later, we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was amazing to see the structures which were made out twigs and other plant parts.

 Here's Percy! :)

We got pictures with each other. :)

When it became dark, we went to the Lincoln and Jefferson Monuments. I have always wanted to go to those places and it was neat to see their statues. Those men were great leaders and will always be remembered.

The following day, we went to the Natural History Museum. There, we saw mummies, dinosaurs, sea mammals, fossils, and the diamonds. It was incredible what we found there. 

 This reminded me of Night at the Museum. :)

 This is the Hope Diamond. Reminds me of the Titanic. :)

My birthstone, the amethyst :)

In the Natural History Museum, we saw the documentary called Jerusalem. Collin's parents went to Europe so they got to visit Jerusalem and learn about its histories. It was neat to watch the documentary. I especially liked learning about the religious aspects of Jerusalem.


Collin and I decided to go to the American History Museum shortly after. There were so many unique things to see, like the pictures below.

 This was the remnance of the original Nauvoo Temple

 

 Dorothy's slippers

As you have seen, there is so much to do in DC. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see everything I wanted to see.

When New Years Eve came, we decided to have an Asian night and make Asian food. I made egg drop soup, my style, and my sister-in-law Jocelyne and her husband Paul made delicious dumplings. Everything turned out great. :)

My Egg Drop Soup

We made our New Years resolutions and counted down to 2014. Collin and I shared a New Years kiss. We even remembered the day that we had our very first kiss which was on New Years Day 2013. :)

By the next morning, I did a new years photo shoot for Jocelyne and Paul around the same places we took our family portraits. They are such a cute and very sweet couple. I had a lot of fun taking their pictures and especially with Jocelyne expecting a baby! :) Here are some of the pics:

 

Jocelyne is so pretty! :)

Later on, Jocelyne took photos of Collin and I. I can't get over how good the photos look!

By the next day, it got colder in Virginia and began to snow hard. Jocelyne and Paul's flight got cancelled the night before, so they stayed a few extra days until their next flight. While it was snowing and freezing outside, I spent that time making dessert, which was called pumpkin caramel praline bread pudding. It's a new dessert tradition that my mom started and she passed it on to me. :) It was served after we had our Mexican dinner.

When it was time for bed, we said goodbye to Jocelyne and Paul since their flight was early the next morning. On our last day with the family, we spent most of the time playing video games. (We played a lot of video games while we were at Collin's parents' house. Haha.) We also watched movies and got rested up before our flight the next day.

We got up really early the next day, because our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05. My heart almost sank that day, because I had such a wonderful time with the Wheelers that I didn't want to leave. However, I was excited to start a new adventure in Provo. We said our last goodbyes and headed to the airport. Collin, his brother Miles, and I traveled back to Provo with a lot on our minds about what next semester will be like. 

 

View from the Top. :)