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Cross Country Trek!

Monday we went to Manassas National Battlefield. It was drippy and wet, so we didn't see much of the actual battlefield but the visitor center movie was fantastic and the exhibits were pretty amazing too. 


We learned something interesting--click on this photo if you want to read more.  The stone is from the Manassas area farm of Wilmer McLean, the same Wilmer McLean whose home was used for the surrender of Lee to Grant at the end of the Civil War.  McLean moved his family from Manassas to escape the battle, one of the very first of the Civil War.  He could literally say the war started at his front door and ended in his front parlor!

We then headed out, driving 8 hours a day. So our trip looked a little like this:


Tuesday




Wednesday



Thursday







We almost made it back to Utah before hitting any storms.  There were some gloomy days, swirling snow, snow on the side of the roads (but not ON the road) until we got to western Wyoming.  We made it safely!

Friday we got to do one of our favorite Christmas traditions--Festival of Trees!  All the ticket sales and proceeds from the tree auction benefit Primary Children's Medical Center.

There are lots and lots of trees there, decorated and donated for the fundraising auction.  Many of them are very standard holiday themed, Santa, winter, Christmas movie themed, and it always fun to see what popular themes pop up each year plus the unique ones.  One of my favorites this year was this Peter Pan tree



This was my FAVORITE tree of them all--I could use it all year round since it was a bookshelf with an armchair!

We all liked this one, it's Where the Wild Things Are! Notice the crown as the "star"

This tree was very wintery and ethereal looking

Tucked inside were some birds!


Both J and S exclaimed, "It's a Willy Wonka tree!" when they saw this one

One of the Disney-themed trees had this table. Look closely, the iconic Disney castle is made up of silhouettes of Disney characters!

We attended the Brookhurst Ward, Centerville Utah North Stake today

We are in town for the annual Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and hope to do more Christmas things in the next few weeks!

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