Washington D.C.

In the beginning of October, Zac and I had the chance to go to Washington D.C. My work wanted to send me to a national conference to learn best practices and to get ideas for our state association and Zac's company is usually a vendor at this conference. So it worked out perfectly for us to go to the conference together!
Mom, Dad, and Michelle came to Utah to watch John for us. It was nice to have some time with just Zac but, man, I missed John so much!
We flew out a day early so we could do some sight-seeing before the conference. I had been to D.C. in high school but I hadn't been back since. D.C. is one of those cities that I would love to live in for just a year or two. It is full of so much history and life!

Day One: 

We started off with a tour of the Capitol. The capitol is such a majestic building. While there, we also looked at the senate chambers. 

Next stop was the Holocaust museum. This museum is such a sobering experience. It sometimes seems impossible that a group of people could be treated so terribly. But it did happen and it is important to remember it and the events leading up to it. This museum is a good reminder to me to make sure I stand up for what is right whether it is through exercising my right to vote, calling out injustice, and/or making sure that I treat everyone with kindness and love.

Day Two & Three: 

Both of these days were conference days. I never thought that I would be working in the field that I am currently in. But, surprisingly, I am really enjoying it. The conference was helpful and informative. 

The highlight though was the party on Thursday night! There is a man that founder an engineering software company and now has more money than he knows what to do with. So he travels around giving speeches and hosting parties at engineering conferences around the world. And believe me, he knows how to throw a party! He rented out the National Building Museum (the same place Pres. Obama hosted his inauguration party). It was an incredible building! I have never seen anything like it. He had live music, hors d' oeuvres, an open bar, followed by a full dinner and dessert. This guy also LOVES Katie Perry, so after dinner he gave up and gave a small speech then proceeded to give out money and prizes to anyone who would come up on stage and sing a Katie Perry song. It was so funny! If you can imagine a room full of engineers, half who have been drinking, singing Katie Perry. It was pretty entertaining. 

Then the evening of day three, we walked around the national monuments at night. It was beautiful! I have seen them during the day but never at night and they were so loving lite up at night.

Day Four: 

Our flight was set to leave that afternoon, but we still had time to do a little more sight-seeing.  We finished visiting the National Monuments. We even saw a guy from Duck Dynasty at the Abraham Lincoln Monument!
We also visited the Air and Space Museum before heading back to catch our flight.

Celebrity Sighting! Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty 

While in D.C. I realized that our country's history has always been messy. Sometimes, it is easy to think that the times we live in right now are the craziest and messiest. But in reality, our country has always had different conflicts going on. But that is what makes America so great! We can speak out, we can have differing opinions, we can protest, we can celebrate our freedom. And for that, I am grateful.