Just Two Pregnant Ladies Loose in the City

Last weekend, one of my closest friends from BYU came to visit! Hooray for visitors! Heidi arrived late Friday evening and we had a lot to pack in before she left on Monday morning. We started Friday night with a trip to Wegmans so I could show her the grocery store (if you can even appropriately call it that) that I have been raving about for a year and a half. We stocked up on snacks for the weekend, including HobNobs and Havarti cheese, a few of Heidi's favorites, and had some dinner and one of Wegmans' many in-house dining options.

I am due in Feb. and Heid is due in April, so she isn't sporting the huge baby bump that I am quite yet.

Saturday, we started the day off with a trip downtown to the National Gallery to hit all the highlights, including a new exhibit by Edward Hooper. It's always great to go see some art with someone who really knows a thing or two about it. I have gotten pretty good at faking my knowledge of art, but this time around, I let the art history major do most of the talking. ;) I had the greatest time at the National Gallery and am going to make it a point to go much more often!
After the National Gallery, we walked around the Mall and stopped inside the Air and Space Museum to see the Treasures of American History exhibit and also the Smithsonian. After the morning full of museums, we stopped for lunch and then headed to Old Town Alexandria to take a water taxi along the Potomac to Georgetown. It had been rainy for three days straight when Heidi arrived on Friday, but by some miracle, the rain held out on Saturday morning and the sky completely cleared into a perfect day by the afternoon! We couldn't have asked for better weather for the boat ride -- it offered a great view of the city and very interesting information, I thought. When we docked at Georgetown, we walked around on M Street and did a little shopping and then met Michael for dinner. By dinnertime, my feet were killing me and I was pretty exhausted, so I talked Michael into giving Heidi and me a driving tour of downtown DC. There's something about the view of the monuments at nighttime that I just can't get enough of!

On Sunday, after church, Heidi and I went to Mount Vernon to visit George Washington's old stomping grounds. (Although, between the wars and becoming President, he really didn't get to spend much time there.) I haven't been to Mount Vernon since my sixth grade east coast trip and I definitely appreciated it a lot more this time around.

On Monday morning, we fit in a quick trip to Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guards before heading to the airport. It is a pretty amazing ceremony! An impeccably uniformed relief commander appears on the plaza to announce the Changing of the Guard. The relief commander walks out to the Tomb and salutes, then faces the spectators and asks them to stand and stay silent during the ceremony. The relief commander conducts a detailed white-glove inspection of the weapon. Then, the relief commander and the relieving sentinel meet the retiring sentinel at the center of the matted path in front of the Tomb. All three salute the Unknowns who have been symbolically given the Medal of Honor. Then the relief commander orders the relieved sentinel, "Pass on your orders." The current sentinel commands, "Post and orders, remain as directed." The newly posted sentinel replies, "Orders acknowledged," and steps into position on the black mat. When the relief commander passes by, the new sentinel begins walking at a cadence of 90 steps per minute.

After the ceremony, it was time to hightail it to the airport so that Heidi could get back to Reno. Thanks so much for coming, Heid! We had the greatest time. Come again soon!