In the summer Senator Hatch called us to see if we would be willing to do an ornament for the tree at the White House. We of course said YES!! Last Sunday we flew out to Washington DC to go to a reception at the White House for the tree. Here are a few photos of our time there. It was such an honor to have been asked and we had a blast. We were there only 2 days, but were on the go from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM. It was such an amazing experience.

Outside the East Gates of the White House.

Bob, Tina's husband, and I just outside the White House.


This was the reception hall; there were so many of these trees--everything was so festive. We first waited to have our photograph taken by a photographer in front of the Tree, then we just wandered around looking at everything.

We were treated to a beautiful buffet of treats and nibbles.

Laura Bush addressed the whole group, thanking us for the ornaments.

We were allowed to go into all the rooms on that floor. We could sit and relax on the furniture and look closely at all the decorations. This is the Green Room- My favorite!!!


Here is Bob in the Red Room.


At last--the tree. It is spectacular!!!! 396 balls from all over the USA. The tree is in the Blue Room.

Here is Bob showing off our ornament. 

We stitched it on 32 count linen with overdyed threads. The colors we were to use were red, white and blue. It had to include our state name and something about our state... Can you guess what I choose? Beehives of course!!! It says, " Utah" then a beehive with flowers. Then "By industry we thrive," and a beehive. Then "The Beehive State." Then a beehive. Navy blue bees swirl and fly above the words and the beehives and city names border the bottom. It was super fun to stitch. When they told us the colors they wanted, I knew I wanted to do redwork only in counted thread. We finished it like a victorian ornament with hand gathered silk ribbon, hand twisted silver cords, and the base of the ball is wool felt. Bees dangle from the ribbons on the bottom.


Here is a photo of it before we sent it in. . . . We had an absolute blast and the White House was so beautiful!!! Tina and Christian went to the air and space museum while we went to the reception. We all had a great time.

If you would like to see all the ornaments on the White House tree, click on this link and look for the ornament or tree link. You can look at your state's ornaments. Have fun!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/2008/