The Nolden Family

And even more photos of our Trip to Washington, D.C., in the early part of July 2010….

We were so hot and we took advantage of the few sprinklers that we found.

This was our visit to the Vietnam Memorial. Frank's dad is a Vietnam Vet.

More Vietnam Memorial...

Donovan was really hot and was trying to shade his head and face...so he used this pamphlet to make a "hat."

Liz helping Donovan with his hat on the way to the White House.

Yeah...we survived the VERY HOT walk from the Lincoln Memorial over to the White House.

Liz (17) in front of the White House...

Megan (15) in front of the White House...

Frank and Shayne in front of the White House...

And...the WHITE HOUSE!! I didn't realize we would be so far away from it. You always see shots from right there on TV, but it's very different standing out there than I had imagined.

Can you see the security guy on the top of the White House?

That's us riding the escalator up out of the Metro (subway). This picture isn't a good representation of this...but we learned very quickly that when you are on an escalator in DC, you "GET OVER TO THE RIGHT!!!" People are on the move and want to get wherever the heck they are going. You had better get out of their way. So, you leave the left side open for people that don't have time to wait and we learned to be single-file on the Right-hand side of the escalator.

Yeah! We made it to the grounds of the Capitol Building!!!

My only regret about our visit to the Capitol building is that we never made it around to the front of the building to look out over the mall and stand where the little bill sang, "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill..." :-)

LtoR: Megan (15), Frank, Shayne, Donovan (9), Ashley (11), Liz (17), PJ (12), Mikayla (14).

Did you know Philo T. Farnsworth, the Father of Television, was a Mormon?? His statue is in the Capitol Building where you line up for the tours.

The Rotunda of the Capitol

Our tour guide was kind of on the boring side. She was also not very friendly. Right before we got started, I tapped her on the shoulder to ask her a question and she jumped and turned around and looked at me like I had just violated her somehow. I'm thinking she has issues. This was take right before we ditched the tour to make it back to the Washington Monument for our tour up the elevator.

COOL! This was taken from atop the Washington Monument. Can you see the White House?

Another picture taken from atop the Washington Monument. This is looking down upon Constitution Avenue. The second building up on the right-hand-side is the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Right across the street from that (to the left) is 1111 Constitution Way -- the Ultimate IRS building!!! ;-)

This was taken from atop the Washington Monument looking toward the Capitol Building. Doesn't the Washington Mall look in bad repair? If you were looking in the opposite direction you would see the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pond.

This is a little stage off to the side of the Washington Monument...I'm not sure why it is there. That's Donovan posing on the stage.

One more picture in front of 1111 Constitution Way...the IRS Building...

The last night we were there we were able to drive to the north area of the DC Metro area...up into Maryland...where the Washington DC Temple is located. It is absolutely gorgeous and the grounds are beautiful. Here are the kids in front of the temple before we went into the Visitor's Center.

And the family in front of the temple by the Visitor's Center.

We were there later in the evening and it got dark before we left. Check out the video of the temple as seen from the freeway below.

The LDS Washington DC Temple – - at Night

I have always heard stories of how magnificent the Washington DC Temple looks as you drive up on it on the freeway at night.

I video-taped it as we were driving up on it on the 495 freeway…and I was very excited to witness it for myself.  It was just as amazing as they said it would be!

ABOVE:  David Williams – Washington DC Temple Video Display

Soon after we entered the Visitor’s Center at the temple, Megan called me over to a Video Display that she had been looking at. There on the video was David Williams, a friend in our ward back in Georgia. He was talking about the Book of Mormon.

He told us later that it had been done several years earlier and he didn’t realize they were still using it there. It was such a cool thing to see him on there!