missing utah

Probably since the first time i moved out to DC I am missing Utah right now. And no, its not because I wasnt at the BYU/ Utah game, although I was so sad that I wasnt there yesterday! (GO COUGS) But Im mostly missing Utah because of this kid:

Today my nephew Seth gets baptized and will be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am terribly sad that I am not there to see my oldest nephew on such a big day. Since the day I found out about Seth becoming a part of our family I looked forward to this day so much and it breaks my heart that I am not going to be there with the rest of the family. Maybe to Seth it isnt that big of a deal, but to me it is. I love him more then anything and I want him to know that I know, with out a doubt, that this gospel is the true church on the earth today, that we have a living prophet and that our Savior loves him. This decision today will make you more happy then anything else. Im so sad im not with the rest of the fam today celebrating Seth's big day. And in true thanksgiving fashion let me just give a shout out to how thankful I am for my family. I have THE best family in the entire world, and I am so blessed to have them in my life. Im grateful for family trips to Spring Training, the countless games of Mexican Train we have played and although I always lose, Mom always gets annoyed, Laura always claims she got skipped, Matt always boasts about winning and Dad plays slow-- it never gets old and my favorite thing ever to do with my family. Im grateful for moments when my dad promises to punch a guy in the gut if he runs into him, and Wade constantly mocking me and pestering me about boys, that my sisters are my best friends, and relaxing and watching dodger games with matt, my mom loving me more then anything and my incredibly amazing nieces and nephews that I love so much.

so i hope this guilt trips my family enough for not flying me home this week. kidding. im so grateful for my family and miss them. congrats seth, i wish i were there. and I dont know where I will be in three years but I promise I will not miss Ella's big day.

weekend visit

this past weekend my good friend Kurt came out to visit DC. Ive definitely been looking forward to this weekend trip for a long time and I couldnt wait to show Kurt around the District of Columbia. Kurt and I met over the summer and told him that he had to come out and see me while I was here. A couple of weeks later he bought his tickets and ive been anticipating it ever since. Kurt and i share a love of history, the American Revolution and George Washington. So what better place to see then the nation's capitol. here are some of the highlights from our great weekend.

Mt Vernon! I had yet to go to George Washington's home since being in DC and so i was SUPER excited to go. Kurt was also really excited to say the least and insisted on having his picture taken with everything that had to do with George. The first like 15 photos I took were solely of George and Kurt.

The Library of Congress. I had been when my parents were in town but Kurt and I decided to get Library cards so that we could go into the main reading room--the place where you can seriously look at any book that you want! It was such the process of getting our cards. You see they are suppose to be given out for research purposes only, as much as Kurt and I would have loved to do some research on George we didnt have the time for that. And I think the large and intimidating woman who asked us about that could see right through our lie. As we aimlessly walked around the reading room it was pretty dang obvious we were just in there because it was cool. It was also very obvious that we werent there for research as we had no research materials with us. ha. Kurt got his card for souvenir purposes only. Hopefully ill go back before I leave.

going to get our cards! running through the sketch tunnels, lying to the lady about research, running all over the place just to get inside, finding cool books and being super obvious.

Disc Golf. We went and played Saturday morning at the most amazing park ever! it was seriously just a forest and it was so pretty. And a really fun game. Unfortunately I have no skill when it comes to games, so i of course sucked. Good thing Kurt was my partner and he was awesome at it.

Ben's Chili Bowl. We went out to dinner here on saturday night. Not the best food, but a must see in DC. I hadnt been yet so I was super excited to go.

We got burgers. Hold the chili.

Late Night stop at the White House. This has easily become on of my favorite things to do. Going to the white house never gets old. I love just walking there and sitting outside the white house hoping to catch a peek of the President. My favorite thing about being in DC is being so close to places like this and thats its seriously no big deal to just take a stroll to the White House.

Im so glad Kurt also has the same talent that I do--taking self portraits. easily my fave thing.

It was a great weekend and i had SO much fun! Im glad Kurt and I got to hang out and possibly triple the amount of time we had spend together prior to this visit and go and do fun stuff in the city. Living the DC life is always exciting.

oh hey philadelphia!

one of my favorite things about being on the east coast is that we are super close to so many awesome places. this past saturday the student teachers took off to philadelphia to see the sites and in the mean time went through 5 states in one day! crazy. virginia, maryland, pennsylvania, delaware, new jersey and even D.C. It still super bizarre to me that im on the east coast, like i drove through delaware, who does that!? what? Philly is about a 2 1/2 drive from virginia so we left super early, but luckily i took a nap both there and on the way back. The city definitely had a different feel and look to it then DC and NYC but i really liked it. I wish I could have seen and done more but we hit some good sites. Here are some of the highlights:

Citizens Bank Park. I have known driven past three baseball stadiums since being on the east coast, and each time i get SUPER excited about it and my roommates make fun of me. Each time ive passed a stadium ive said to myself that one day i will watch a game there. too bad i didnt make it up to philly during the playoffs.

the liberty bell. one of the most iconic symbols of freedom in our country. pretty dang cool.

independence hall. site of the signing of the declaration of independence and the constitution. AMAZING. the chair is the same chair that THE george washington sat in while he was president of the constitutional convention. words cant even describe how much i love george washington and the signing of those two spectacular documents.

eating a LEGIT philly cheese steak. so good.

Christ's Church. site of where most of the men, including my man GW went to worship during the constitutional convention. we sat in the same pew that george sat in himself.

then we hit up some boring museums on ben franklin. sorry ben, you were boring.

the constitution center. a really amazing place all focusing on the significance of the Constitution. we watched a video before going in that talked about the significance of the phrase "we the people" and what that means as it gave a short history of the united states. it seriously made me cry.

at the constitution center they had this recreation of the constitutional convention where you could go sign "the Constitution" mainly entertaining to take photos with the statues.

have i mentioned how much i love jessica?? she is pretty great and we have lots of fun together.

it was a short trip but pretty fun. its always fun to learn about history, see a new city, spend time with some friends, and not have to plan lessons--which is slowly becoming my least favorite activity ever.

good and bad news. only 4 weeks left in DC. im ready for student teaching to be over, but i dont think ill ever be ready to leave the district.

how could i have forgotten??

i dont know why or how i could have ever forgotten to post this beautiful picture....

back in sepetember we went to the national portrait gallery and as soon as i walked in i was on mission to find good ole tommy lasorda. they unveiled this portrait of our old skipper sporting his dodger blue on tommy's bday september 2nd. i wish i would have been there. now that dodger season is sadly over i only have things like this to get me through the next four months until im soaking up the arizona sun, admiring andre ethier and scouting out the boys at spring training.

seth is 8!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETH!

Today is my little sethers 8th birthday! I seriously CAN NOT believe that Seth is already getting to be so big! He will be getting baptized in Novemeber, and although I wont be able to be there I am so excited for him to reach this big moment in his life. Let me tell you some of my favorite things about Seth. He is obsessed with any and every sport! I love talking to seth on the phone after sporting events becaue he is so into it and knows everything. Although when he watches sports you can not talk to him because he is so involved in the game, he compltely blocks out everything. He loves video games and will always beat me in mario kart and wont let you forget it. I loved when he was just 2 years old and we always played tackle and then we would pick out an animal to pretend to be while we attacked each other. When he was little I usually let him beat me, but now we cant even play cause he is getting to be too big and he really does beat me up! He is such a funny kid, gets embarrased super easily and is so smart! He screams like a girl but will have all of the girls chasing after him when hes older. Another thing i absolutely love about seth is he is such a good big brother! He is always looking out for his brothers and sisters and i was so impressed with how good he was with kate and how he always wanted to hold her after she was born.

I found out that Kelly was pregnant when we were in Ohio visitng one time, and Kelly and Wade said they had to tell us something and the annoying little sister that I WAS blurted out, "what your pregnant?" in which Kelly responded, "Ya how did you know?" woops sorry for taking away the surprise. I was so excited when Seth was born and I got my first nephew. I have loved being his aunt for 8 years and I cant wait for him to get older. He is my little buddy and I love him so much! Happy Birthday Seth!

i always like to post pictures of just me and the birthday kid, but i guess since seth is so big now he has not allowed me to talk very many photos of just the two of us--maybe he thinks thats dorky? and also hes not the best at taking pics. but here are some that i found and a few with the other kiddies as well.

look at those dodger clad kids, i couldnt be more proud

but i did come across these gems....



typical seth. not much has changed.

in other news, here is a little recap of what ive been up to lately. a few weeks back i took a trip to charlottesville and went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. it was so great! it was an absolute beautiful drive down there with all of the fall leaves, this is the first time I have ever appreciated the changing of the colors and i love it! and i loved jeffersons home, it is one of my faves. and i had great company.

my parents came into visit this past weekend. it was so great to see them and to be able to show them around DC and my new home! we hit all of the main stops plus a few great things like our private tour of the capitol, including catching a glimpse of a senate hearing as well as accidently spying on senator harry reid. we also took a little drive up to the DC temple, i hadnt been there yet and it was so beautiful and peaceful. thanks for coming out and visiting me! it was such a fun trip!