Emily's Endowment Weekend

Going into an LDS temple is a pretty big deal, so I was excited for Emily when she told me she'd taken the temple prep courses and had a date to receive her endowment in the Washington DC LDS Temple.

(Note: If you want to learn more, here is an article about the LDS endowment.)

Emily's mom came to visit for the weekend and act as Emily's guide in the temple. I was very happy to meet her, as she's actually the first person that I've met from Emily's family.

I picked Emily and her mom up early, so we could get up to the temple to have plenty of time for Emily to buy garments and then for us to head inside and not be stressed for time.

Plus, it gave us time to snap a few pictures before, including this cute one.

After our time in the temple, we had to get a few shots with the special people who came to support Emily in this big step. She is definitely blessed with some high-quality friends.

Since her parents hadn't been able to see the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial when they last visited DC, Emily and I took her mom to check it out. Such a peaceful place, and we appreciated the design of the benches facing toward (for people on the plane) and away from the building (for those on the ground).

We were all pretty tuckered out from having woken up early, so I dropped the ladies off for a quick naptime, and then we met back up a few hours later to see the free 6 pm show at the Kennedy Center.

Emily had looked into it beforehand, and the Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra didn't disappoint. I think I enjoyed watching Emily and her mom taking in the show together as I did listening to the upbeat, expertly-played music and singing.

Feeling quite cultured, we headed down to Old Town Alexandria for some dinner and a more intimate musical setting. Before dinner, we saw my favorite DC glass-player.

After dinner, we hit up the piano bar at Bistrot Lafayette, where we were able to join in the singing and request a few numbers. If you haven't been, you haven't lived. Emily's mom was loving it so much that we felt bad making her leave with us at just before midnight.

My brother Pete and his wife Jordyn had just made the move down to the DC area from Philly, so we met up with them for lunch the next day, and I liked them getting to also meet Emily's mom.

Having finished our lunch, Pete and Jordyn needed to continue unpacking, and Emily's mom wanted to get to the airport, so we dropped her off.

Such an action-packed, entertaining weekend. I wish those kind didn't ever have to end!

(Note: Emily's mom requested that I not post pics of her. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose...)