Someday, we would like to spend Christmas...

...at the Old Faithful Inn.

Coolest log cabin ever, and who wouldn't want to spy on Santa coming down that chimney?

Happy anniversary to us!

Nine lovely years.

We celebrated in the traditional way:  roses, takeout Indian dinner and a late-night conference call.  We hope to do a little better for our big 10th anniversary next year -- our goal is to celebrate at Hotel Del, where we honeymooned.  Sponsors and volunteer babysitters are welcome.

Thanks for visiting...

...Grandma Julie (pictured at Fort McHenry)...

...and Grandpa Jay (pictured at Valley Forge).

Over the years we've spent in DC, we've been happy to have frequent visits by family and friends, and we've made so many good memories together.  If you've been wanting to visit us but have been holding out for the perfect time, it's not too late (though you're pushing it).  And now we're looking forward to having all of our DC friends make the trip West so that we can see them and show them all of the wonderful things in/around Utah.

Tenny is Five!

Happy birthday Tenny!  We love you sooo much!

(Here's a video of some of the present-opening action, for those who are interested.)

La Famille Stewart

All five of us!

Christmas in DC

Christmas is one of our favorite times to be in DC, and we're glad that we get to have one more Christmas season here before our big move.  For one, the city clears out and it's much easier to get around and to do the things you want to do without being blockaded by busloads of teenage tourists wearing matching fluorescent shirts.  It's also a better time to be a kid in DC, because all of the enormous and stately government and business edifices (that are impressive to adults but boring for children) become wrapped in lights and garland and have out-dazzle-your-neighbor Christmas trees in the lobbies and around the grounds.

One thing we've always wanted to do is attend the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, but we've never been able to make the 5:00 pm start time.  Until today.  Unfortunately, our good fortune today was the result of Suzy's bad fortune.  The 24-hour flu has been making the rounds through our family and today was Suzy's turn (pregnancy + flu = yikes!).  That necessitated Jeremy working from home and at various times extracting the kids from the house so that Suzy could get some rest.  So we three kings took the opportunity during one of those banishment periods to walk over to see the lighting ceremony.

The boys were underwhelmed for the first part of the ceremony, which featured way too many politicians giving really lousy speeches.  But, the lighting of the tree caught their attention.  The tree this year is enormous (63 feet tall,  8,300 lbs.) and "so pretty," as Tenny kept saying.  The boys also really liked the Army Band.  Here's the video we brought home to try to cheer up Suzy.  (She's starting to feel better, gratefully.)

OK, the video's too dark to actually see the boys' faces, but trust me, they were all smiles.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Autumn at the DC Temple