Birthday

Elizabeth turned one this week. I was waiting to post a Lizzy update until I got some pictures off of the camera. Then realized I've held a lot of stories and now they're old news. So, here's Memorial Day swimming with the Murphys and Millers at the Frost's community pool. Also, Mount Vernon, the Potomac Estate of Mr. President General George Washington.





Lizzy started to crawl the week after we arrived. She seemed to just be waiting for hardwood floors and something new to explore. She is busy and interested in everything. She still displays no interest in standing on those two feet; but would rather scoot and crawl. For her first birthday we made her a personal cake with plenty of chocolate icing. She was hesitant at first, and didn't really want to get her fingers sticky. We gave her a fork, which ended all interest in the cake for a while. Eventually, she did get interested and chowed down on the cake, getting frosting in all the right places for good pictures.

She got some very nice gifts from family... on top of the early presents she picked up before the move. We took her to Target to pick out a ball and she selected two balls: a big red one and a little princess one. She tries to get us to play ball with her frequently, whether with a ball or a Lion from her Noah's Ark.

She has six teeth and prefers her bottle to that tiresome adult food. She is busy and delightful.

Clinton's internship is going well. The regular employees of the conference were all in LA Thursday and Friday, so he had time to work on papers and research. My work is busy and demanding. I enjoy working at home. I love that my commute is just 4 steps up the hall.

We love our new ward. Yesterday was the annual ward picnic. I made mom's sherbet watermelon, and it was a hit. I'm delighted to have my freezer back; It has been devoted to creating a custom ice block to keep the sherbet frozen in the hot sun for 2 hours.

We are getting to know the members and we feel already that we belong in this tight-knit and very diverse ward family. Somebody called it the United Nations ward today. It think that fitting enough. We've got people from the Philipines, other asian countries, several places in Africa, Dominican Republic, Italy, Guatemala, Peru, and then several strata of socio-economics and cultures within the US. There are a lot of part-member families and a lot of first-generation members. It's a fabulously welcoming congregation.