The Fourth of July!

I am a little behind on things but I am trying to catch up! The fourth was a great day. I went to layton parade with my brothers and dad and our family friends, the Hunsakers. After that parade, I went over to Kaysville's parade to meet up with some friends for the water fight portion of the parade. I hadn't never heard of this before and it was crazy! I saw a whole new side to Mike. He turns evil once you put a water gun in his hand. Also Matt made sure to tell some guy with a pressure hose to get me wet so needless to say I got SOAKED!!!

Then that night we had a family barbecue with my family, the Halleys and the Hunsakers. Afterwards we went to the Layton fireworks. All in all it was just your traditional fourth of july celebrations...but it was super FUN!!!

Low Dough Country Concert

Well I am trying to catch up on my posting. This is still a very new world to me. On June 30th, I went to Orem to celebrate Utah Valley State College becoming Utah Valley University. They had a concert and the tickets were only like 5 bucks!! Josh Gracin, Jo Nichols, and Collin Raye performed with fireworks after. It was such a fun concert!!! And Vanessa and I got to go up and get REALLY close to Josh Gracin but he didn't want to take away from Jo Nichols singing so he went back to his trailer, but it was still neat!!

Washington DC

Well I am going to backtrack a bit in my postings. I had the amazing opportunity of going to Washington DC from June 4-June 11 2008. My friend Marko is back in DC doing an internship for the summer so I went back there and stayed with him. I saw so many amazing and wonderful things. The trip was better than I could have ever imagined. During the day Marko had his internship so I traveled the city by myself. At night I met up with him and his roommates to go see the memorials and to go eat. There were some amazing restaurants there! While I was there, the weather was so uncomfortable. When I left Utah, it was raining and cold here, then in DC it was 95+ humidity factor, making it really unbearable. I appreciate Utah's dry weather. Getting to DC was ridiculous. I went through Atlanta, and our plane got delayed for about 2.5 hours there. We boarded the plane in Atlanta, and they kept us on the plane without a/c for the 2.5 hours. Once we finally got to DC they wouldn't let the employees on the ramp so they couldn't unload any of our bags. Marko had been waiting at the airport for about an hour already and then we had to wait about another hour to get our bags. After we got our bags we went and got on the Metro and went to his apartment. We went to dinner at this chinese place right around the corner from his apartment. The next morning with map in hand I went on the Metro to go see what DC had to offer me. I got off at the Smithsonian stop and realized I was very lost. I had no clue what I was doing or going. I went into the first building I came across, which turned out to be the Natural History Museum. That museum was cool. It had a lot of information about animals and dinosaurs and stuff like that. My favorite part was the National Gem Collection. The Hope Diamond was there, and I had no idea this is where it was located so that was a pleasant surprise. The rest was cool but that definitely topped it. I met up with Marko at a place called Pot Belly's for lunch. I loved this place maybe someday they will come to Utah. I also went to the National Air and Space Museum. I loved the display they had on the Wright brothers. I learned so much. That night we went and ate at an Italian restaurant called Vlapiano's (something like that). Afterwards we went to the White House. It was so beautiful at night. I loved it so much. Pictures don't do it justice.

We also went to the Jefferson memorial on the other side of the Potommac River. It was a neat experience. The memorials are larger than I had expected. On Friday, I went to Arlington National Cemetery. This could possibly be one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a very long time. The spirit that is there is amazing. To look around and see the white dots all around that represent all those that have given their lives for my personal freedom. It was very overwhelming. I saw the Kennedy's gravestones and the eternal flame which was very neat. The day I was there was the 40th anniversary of Robbert Kennedy's death. The tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guard was an amazing experience. The precision and perfection the guards have is very incredible to watch. I spent about 6 hours at Arlington. Afterwards, I walked a couple miles and went to see the Marine Corp Memorial. My grandfathers served with the Marines during the Korean War, so this held a special place to me. At the memorial there were tour buses full of servicemen and watching their reaction to the memorial was an experience I am so grateful for experiencing. That day was very long and hot, so at night we went to a Jazz festival that surrounds a really neat fountain. That was fun. I love outdoor entertainment during the summer. Especially music. On Saturday, we went to Georgetown. The University is amazing. The buildings are so old and beautiful. It was an exceptionally hot day. A couple of blocks away from the university is an outdoor mall that I loved. Marko knows I love shopping so he took me there of course. It was fun. That night we went out to another Italian restaurant that was delicious. We picked up a friend of Marko's at her hotel. The hotel felt like it was forever away. That day consisted of a LOT of walking. On sunday, I was a bad girl and skipped church. Don't tell. We tried to go to a National's game but it was sold out so me and Marko went to a mall to find his dad a fathers day gift. Afterwards we met up with 2 of his roommates to go to cheesecake factory. Later, we went to see the world war II memorial and the korean war memorial. The korean war memorial was slightly haunting. The faces on the soldiers is very intense. Monday, Marko arranged for me to get a tour of the State Capitol. His friend Stanley was great. He knew his stuff and shared so much information about the Capitol. That might have been one of my favorite parts of the trip. We saw the where the supreme court used to meet. I also went to the Archives to see the constitution and declaration of independence. It was a really long wait, but worth it to see those documents. That night we went to the Vietnam and Korean War Memorial. The wall at the Vietnam memorial was an undescribable feeling. The names on the wall are very overwhelming. People leave flowers in remembrance. It was such a humbling experience. I really wish I could describe it better, but it is too hard to put in words. On tuesday, I went to the holocaust museum. This museum was so hard to read everything. The things that happened during the Holocaust were so awful and gruesome, it was hard to read and learn about all that happened. There was one room where they had shoes all over the ground. This was so hard to see. It is unfathomable all that happened. Seeing the shoes just made everyting you had just learned through the museum, so much more realistic. I would suggest everyone at some point during their lives go there, not because it is fun, but becauses it is necessary to learn about. That night as we were to dinner, a large rainstorm began. We ran from the restaurant to the metro and got soaked. I lost my flip flop in a puddle and had to go back for it. It was an experience! The next morning I went and saw the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Art, the Sculpture Garden, Ford's Theater, and the FBI building. I met up with Marko to go to Pot Belly's again, and then I went to pack up and get ready to leave. I somehow managed to take my suitcase on the metro and get to the airport by myself. It was such an amazing experience. I had a layover in Cincinatti, where I bought Kite Runner, which I would suggest to anyone to read. Also, on a funny note I was in the Body Shop store. They had a basket full of scented candle oils and I somehow managed to flip the basket over and the oils went everywhere all over the floor. Some nice lady helped me clean it up. Good Times! I also learned it is a very small world. My high school Calculus teacher was on the flight with me from Cincinatti to SLC, he sat two seats away. He was a creepo teacher it wasn't a happy run in. He wanted to take me home to Layton, luckily I have an amazing dad who was waiting at the airport for me. Sorry this post was so long I just wanted to share my whole trip in one post!!!

What am I doing?

Well after much prodding, I finally gave in and got myself a blog. I don't know how exciting my life is because I don't have a husband or kids to talk about, but then again my married friends aren't that exciting either. HAHA! Well there will be more posts to come as I figure this whole thing out. Also, any suggestions on what to name my blog would be appreciated!