The sky is so blue here.. with huge white fluffy clouds and I don't  remember seeing skies like this everyday since I was a kid in Idaho.  In my drives down to the south of Maryland this week I noticed the corn fields are now about 24" tall and the huge wheat and sorghum fields of beautiful green are filling out and getting taller.  Such a beautiful drive I get to make each day. The Hydrangea's are so vibrant and beautiful as we drive through the area.

            The gorgeous hydrangea's

         I was invited to accompany Bishop Martin and his family to the graduation of their son Tyler from Thomas Stone High School this past week. It was held at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.  So different than Arizona where the graduation ceremonies are held at the school and most on the football field.  Tyler's 4 grandparents all came for his big day. It was a beautiful ceremony and I enjoyed it so much. Afterwards they had a bar-b-cue at their home with lots of yummy food. Great day.

 Tyler with grandparents, sisters, mom & dad

Me with Tyler

 Alison had me to lunch one day and brought a little bit of Arizona to her kitchen with a yummy gazpacho.. I loved it and loved my visit with her and her adorable son James who is 2.. He is about the cutest little boy ever.. He talks a mile a minute like a 15 year old with a 2 year old voice.. Just love him.. Got to spend time with her new baby Kate also.. It was a fun day. 

        I was the teacher for our monthly card group and created a tag and a card.. I showed how to create 3 dimensional flowers to embellish each.  Everyone loved the new techniques they learned and I loved teaching the class and spending time with my friends from the 1st ward..

        Since Sister Brown was still out of town and Sister Ramon having her family in town I was on my own to drive to the temple this week.  Driving on the beltway around DC is getting easier each time I go up to the temple.. The traffic in DC makes driving in Phoenix a piece of cake.. It was a beautiful day and the temple was busy and I had a wonderful day there..

Sister Wege, Me & Sister Larsen

           

We got there early and had great seats. . .

Elder Anderson one of the new elders in our area

Elder Petersen

They put our whole mission on the jumbo-tron a couple times

Those cute sister missionaries

            Our entire mission attended the "Washington Nationals" baseball game on Thursday and it was so fun.  I met up with the Murdock's and the Pittman's at the Branch Ave. metro station and we rode up to the game together.  The metro stop is right at the Nationals stadium.. It was in the 80's and a beautiful day for a game.. The new hot player for the "Nats" is Bryce Harper and so I had to get a Harper shirt.. Many of the young missionaries thought I was his grandmother... but alas ..not so.. They showed our entire mission on the jumbo screen a couple of times..  When the game was over it seemed like the entire crowd was taking the metro home.. thank goodness most of them were going north and we were going south, so we got on the first train.. What a fun day..

        I made 12 phone calls on Friday to set up some appointments and left many messages and finally was able to make 2 appointments.  I then drove down to have lunch with Annette. Annette is the caregiver of her 90 year old father and he is sharp as a tack. It was a very fun lunch and visit.           

We get to see the fireworks every home game..from our 3rd floor deck

          Each evening that the Blue Crab baseball team has a home game they shoot fireworks off after the game.. Our apartment is about 1/2 mile from their field and since we are on the 3rd floor we have a birds eye view of the fireworks several nights a week.  When I went to the game last week and it was rained out we got tickets for this week on Saturday.. So Sister Brown and I both got to go with the group from White Plains 2nd ward.  It was a great game.. They won in extra innings.... The Blue Crabs are owned by Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles.  The evening was beautiful and it was a packed stadium, we saw lots of people that we knew and had a wonderful time.  I even caught a shirt when they were throwing them out.. one of the guys who was on staff for the team, saw our badges and said he was happy we were there. When he threw out the shirts he made sure he threw a shirt in my direction and I reached up and caught it.   So it was really a baseball week for me.. and since I love baseball it was such a treat. 

        Today we net with the RS presidency of the Calvert ward.. to introduce ourselves and share with them what our mission is all about and what we will be doing when we start serving in their ward the first of July.  They wanted to know if we couldn't start right now and we had to let them know that we still had 3 weeks to serve in Patuxent and Lexington Park.  It was a great meeting and they are a big ward so we will be kept busy when we serve there.  The stake RS presidency joined us at church and then at the meeting.  It really is fun to meet so many wonderful sisters and have the opportunity to be of service to them.

        We were invited to have dinner with Suda, she is a native of India and she prepared an authentic Indian dinner for us that was so good.  She made traditional dishes that she grew up with. It was the first time I had eaten true Indian food and I really liked it.  She is a very sweet sister and wanted to talk to us and had some questions that we were able to help her with.  She has one grown son who is married and she lives alone, so she loves to have company.  We were so happy to be able to spend the evening with her.

 Suda preparing the flat bread....

Our individual plates and salads.. so very good

        We have new missionaries in our home wards.. that live in the same apartment complex.  Elder Pertersen is the only one who stayed.. His new companion is Elder Watson. He is from Colorado Springs and goes home in February 2013.. We really do love to have the elders come over for visits.

 Elder Petersen & Elder Watson

            "Although we come into mortality “trailing clouds of glory,” life moves relentlessly forward .Youth follows childhood, and maturity comes ever so imperceptibly. From experience we learn the need to reach heavenward for assistance as we make our way along life’s pathway."      --THOMAS S. MONSON