Day 1 Flight and DC temple

My friend Amber Smith and I at the DC temple

I can't believe this trip is finally here. It seems like I have been waiting forever for it to arrive and now that its here I can't hardly stand it. There are two girls from my ward who are running this tour and 11 more people from my ward who came also, along with 30 or so high school kids, a few parents and 3 very funny retired ladies from northern Idaho, Anita, Marvalene, and Dorothy. (Don't their names just make them sound fun?). We are visiting several sites from U.S. history as well as most of the church sites.

Today was mostly a travel day. We took a flight direct to Baltimore and it was pretty uneventful...oh except I was lucky enough to sit next to two high school girls Jaime and Dana who made my trip VERY exciting. I was planning on sleeping because I didn't get much sleep the night before. Well Dana and Jaime didn't really have that plan.....so mine fell through as well. let me explain. I dozed just before take off and was sleeping peacefully until I heard giggling and flashes of light. They were taking photo after photo of themselves on the plane and thinking it was hilarious. Maybe they were new to digital cameras? Who knows. Then came the singing and dancing party with their Ipods. That was a delight. At one point I got up to take a walk and socialize. I ordered my drink and set my tray down so the drink would be delivered in my absence. I returned to find the girls sacked out across my seat, my tray up and my drink nowhere to be found. I woke them and asked about my drink. They looked a little sheepish and finally confessed that they had drunk it. No wonder I teach elementary school!

Upon arriving we went immediately to the DC temple. It is so beautiful. We had a great catered dinner there at the church and then some fun games. We are all on a committee on this trip so we split into our committees (I get to do luggage) and had a quick meeting. At this point Erica (one of the tour directors) pulled me aside and asked if I would sing in a quartet with three other guys on the capital stpes the next day. So we went to sing together to get ready. This was an amazing experience. It was Erica's dad, two high schoolers, Micah and Nate. We sang through America the Beautiful once and I got the chills thinking about the words and all the amazing things that have happened in these places we are visiting. So cool. We then joined the rest of the group on the temple lawn (with the beautiful temple in the background all lit up) for family home evening. We had a great lesson on standing in holy places focusing on the U.S. sites we're visiting and how sacred some of these places are. It was an inspiring lesson and once again....TEARS as I thought about how blessed I am.I took this picture during the FHE lesson. This was the backdrop for our lesson! AMAZING!

Then we drove to our hotel in Beltsville, Maryland, checked in...chatted a while with friends making plans for tomorrow and now I'm off to bed! Until tomorrow!!!