back east part 5, the finale

sorry if you are super bored of all the posts from back east!

goodness, kimber!

we really had a splendid time and i just want to be able to remember it all, promise.

our last full day we woke up nice and early and hitched a ride from my uncle on his way to work

(the live in good ol' virginia people and he works barely outside if DC)

marie! if you're reading this, i wanted to come down and visit you, but it was like 3 hours away:( sorry girl.

it was so nice not to have to worry about parking! ha!

we were dropped off at Arlington cemetery and went from there.

what an incredible and inspiring cemetery, can cemeteries be inspiring?

well it was.

and since we got there at about 8, we had the whole place to ourselves.

that is hallowed ground we walked on that day.

when we found the unknown soldier's tomb, they were starting the changing of the guard which was very cool to watch too.

from there we took the metro back over to the smithsonian and got tickets for the holocaust museum.

we spent about 4 hours there learning and seeing that tragic part of history.

following that we walked up to the capitol building (in the blistering heat, ha. we had to take breaks on our walk up there bc we were such babies).

we met my uncle and emma, my cousin, there where we went on a quick tour of the capitol building and the library of congress.

the first was too quick and way cool, the 2nd was too long and kinda boring, but still glad we did it:)

both buildings have some spectacular architecture and charm all who enter.

after those two, our lazy tired bodies couldn't take it any longer.

we drove home and met up with my other cousin, blake, and went to 5 guys burgers!

for some reason all i wanted was to eat burgers during our DC time which is strange, i only like in-n-out burgers.
the rockstar diaries may or may not have an affect my eating choices in DC

these were quite the yummy ones too with great meat and toppings.
a good ol' fashioned burger is hard to beat!!

we came home and we got to visit with my wonderful aunt lynnae for awhile.

she is such an incredible and strong woman!

dave, blake, emma, myself and casey then all got together and played card games late into the evening.

anyone who has played card games with us knows our top 2 we love to teach others:

cover your aces

and

lucky unders.

emma insisted we play a little nerts which was so fun too!

i always forget how much fun that game can be! (blake dominated).

following games all i remember doing is laughing.

we all stayed up laughing and talking and joking.

a night that will most definitely be remembered as a favorite in my time back east.

family has that way of making everything that much better.

wednesday morning we woke up when we felt like it (aka tried to catch up on sleep)

and started our drive back to indiana.

but not before we stopped at the dc temple!

we tried going inside but it was closed for cleaning, boo.

but, my dearest mesa friends, guess who we did see?

the most beautiful sister missionary ever, aka sister kelly allen!

talk about a tender mercy.

she's only there 3 half days a week and we were lucky enough to find her there!

i actually called before hand to see if she was there and warned her we were coming.

she's like the cutest dressed sister ever. 

brother kirk: please marry her.

we then proceeded our 10 hour drive home whilst listening to aragon and sleeping.

our trip was most definitely squeezed tight and we would have loved to be in the east longer,

but our jobs called!

we will undoubtedly go back again sometime and i can't wait to see more!

thanks for hanging in there with all these posts! 

ps- we were beyond excited to see jaden, our nephew, that night.
seriously, best welcome back home we've ever had in our lives.