Eleanor is 8 months old and Andrew's Birthday Weekend

Eleanor is 8 months old and just as cute as ever. Here are some of the other things she's been up to.

I think she's figured out when I get the camera out it's time to smile.
Here she is showing off her TWO teeth.

She's been practicing her yoga. Freddie informed me that this is "downward facing dog".

She can kind of wave

She is a jumping machine

I got her a little pair of sunglasses for when we are out at the lake and she seems to really like them. She's pretty good at keeping them on...

....most of the time.

She would always go after my flip flops so I got her her own pair for a buck to chew on.

We have this little key chain that plays the BYU fight song and she goes crazy for it whenever we push the button. We've got a little cougar on our hands!

And lastly, she still sucks her thumb, either one will do.

Last night Andrew's company had a work party at a baseball game so we went to that. Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way to the fireworks, but we still had a good time.

Eleanor's pretty fierce in her new sunglasses

Here she is enjoying a tootsie roll pop

In true Hansen form I made Andrew open his presents before his actual birthday. I got him some work clothes and socks and razor blades. He also got a letter in the mail saying he received a $2,500 scholarship for next school year. That sure makes a good bday present!

He had a package from his parents to open on his actual birthday though. They got him a law school polo, a Chick-fil-a gift card, some snacks, and sent him some Tom Clancy books from their bookshelves for some summer reading.

Of course we had to go to Chick-fil-a for lunch. I think I could eat there everyday!

So could Eleanor

When we got home I made his chocolate chocolate chocolate birthday cake and some yummy frozen strawberry lemonade (so easy and good --- just blend frozen strawberries and lemonade in the blender and voila!)

We had one of Andrew's friends from school and his new wife over to have cake with us. We went to their wedding about a month ago and they gave Andrew a framed picture from their wedding.

Eleanor really got a kick out of the birthday candles!

Happy birthday to Andrew and happy 8 months to Eleanor!

Andrew's Birthday Dinner

Andrew's birthday isn't until this weekend but his work is having a party at a baseball game so we decided to go out for his birthday dinner last weekend. If you love Benihana's like we do, then go to their website and sign up to be in their birthday club and you get $30 off of your dinner. So we both had a yummy teppanyaki dinner for only 16 bucks. Happy early birthday to Andrew!


And here's our master chef...

I Love Washington DC

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Washington DC. When we found out my mom and younger brother and sister were going, we decided we'd make the 5 1/2 hour drive down to see them and to do some sightseeing. I'm so glad we went. I'm not sure if it was the hustle and bustle of a big city or the history or spending time with family or being on vacation, but I absolutely loved DC!

We headed down after Andrew got off work on Friday and got in around midnight. On Saturday we met up with my family and went to the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum.

My little brother plays the trombone so I snapped this picture of him...

I think Amy is Eleanor's favorite aunt....

My sister Jessica also flew down to visit DC with us. Here we are at the Smithsonian...

Next we went to the Air and Space Museum. Jacob rode the simulator ride, which was probably the highlight of his trip. He loved it!


Unless my family was around, Eleanor spent a lot of time in her stroller. She was really good. I think she really liked seeing lots of new things and having a constant change of scenery.

On our way back to the metro we passed by the White House.



Here's Andrew and Eleanor before boarding the metro. I really liked riding the metro, I think every city should have one!

On Saturday night I met up with my BFF Jessica Peters who lives down there and we went to Cheesecake Factory.

On Sunday we went to the National Art Gallery.
Eleanor got to hang out with her cherub friends.

You can kind of see Eleanor's new tooth in this picture.


The weather was absolutely beautiful! We really enjoyed spending time outside and relaxing by the fountains.

Later that afternoon we went to Mount Vernon. This was probably one of my favorite things we did. It was really interesting to learn a little more about George Washington and his estate was so beautiful.

Eleanor got to meet Martha Washington...



Wouldn't you love to have a porch like this to sit on everyday and look out at the water. So peaceful.




Here's Jacob with some goats.

They had the most awesome gardens.



Amy, my mom, and Jacob...


Jessica and my mom...




On Monday Andrew, Eleanor, and I walked from the Smithsonian down to the Lincoln Memorial. Here are some of the things we saw along the way...
First we saw the Washington Monument

Next we saw the WWII Memorial


Next we passed the reflecting pool

Then we saw the Korean War Memorial. They had all these statues of soldiers in the shape of a "V" for victory.

We also saw the Vietnam War Memorial. I couldn't believe how long the wall was with names of those who died! It was very sobering to see all of the war memorials.

We finally made it to the Lincoln Memorial.

Here's the view from the other end of the reflecting pool looking back to the Washington Monument

Well after walking the almost 1.5 miles to get to the Lincoln Memorial we were exhausted and didn't really want to walk back so we walked over to this little bus stop to see how much it would cost to take a little bus to the other side of the National Mall to meet up with my family at the Capitol Building for a tour. Well after seeing the price for that particular tour bus was $27 I was like, no way Andrew let's just start walking. So I turned around and started walking. Well I guess some man had overheard us and he handed Andrew a $50 bill! I kind of just wanted to keep the money and still walk, but that man would see us not getting on the bus. So we hopped on and road up to the Capitol Building. Tour buses are the way to do Washington DC! We got this little blue ticket that let us get on and off all day. It also included a tour of Arlington Cemetery. So we were able to do a lot of things we probably wouldn't have otherwise. Thank you man in the green shirt!

Needless to say we made it in time for our tour of the Capitol Building. We watched a great little video about the founding of our country and politics then we went on a tour.

Inside

Every state picks two people they want to have statues of inside of the Capitol Building.
Utah picked Brigham Young as one of theirs.

Outside the Capitol Building

West side

East side

Supreme Court Building

After our tour of the Capitol Building we hopped back on our tour bus and headed down to Arlington Cemetery. On the way we passed the Jefferson Memorial.

The entrance to Arlington Cemetery


Eleanor even got a good little nap on the tour bus

Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier


This cute little face is probably why the man gave us $50 bucks to ride the bus





There were so many tombstones!

After Arlington Cemetery we went to Union Station


Then it was back on the metro to get to our car and then back to Ohio. We had an awesome trip. Thanks for letting us tag along, mom!