Fourth of July Weekend

Well, the fourth of July weekend has come and gone. It was a BIG deal here at the Capitol of America. The weekend before, we went to the Folklife festival.  It started just past the Washington Monument, and went all the way to the Capitol.  There were A LOT of white tents, and tons of people. There was one area that was dedicated to the Peace Corps and they had people come from different parts of the world to share their lifestyles with us. Our American volunteers stood and translated under each tent, and told us what they were making. There were many from South America and Africa.  They were dressed in their traditional clothing and each country was set up in a different tent.  One had authentic cooking classes that rotated every half an hour, or hour, with a new country and a new recipe. Here are some pictures:

Head dress made of all beads

Some of them looked a little scared, and it was the people that didn't understand English.  I am not sure how they felt about the fact that every American that walked by took a picture of them.

I want to learn how to do this....incredible.

We had a good day.. museum and tent hopping all along the National Mall.  There were also tents with bands playing music, and smoothie stands everywhere.  We might have enjoyed a fresh strawberry smoothie :)

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The real party began on Monday the fourth at our ward breakfast! It started at 8 am with the raising of the flag, a speech, and pancakes! 

Daniel, Nat, and Preethi.  We love living so close to them!! This is the most outgoing baby you will ever meet. SO CUTE. The hubby thinks that Nat likes him the best...I don't know how I feel about that!

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That afternoon, we went to a BBQ at a park by Dan and Preethi's house.  We got to meet two more families in the ward and their cute kids. The hubby and I were the odd ones out, but we still had a good time.

Nat was sportin' his red, white, and blue.

Two good pictures of Daniel, back to back. Hahaha

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That night we walked from our apartment to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  It is not too far--only took us a half an hour, and the weather was perfect.  As we crossed the Potomac River into DC we noticed hundreds of boats out on the water just chillin' waiting for the show to start.  What a good view they all had from the water!! We tried to get a good picture, but it didn't work in the dark. 

Right when we got to the memorial, the first firework went off.  We made it just in time.  There were huge speakers BLASTING proud American music, and thousands of people admiring the show! There was no where to sit because people had staked out their places all day long, so we stood instead.  The view of the fireworks over the Capitol building and the Washington Monument was incredible!

We had a good fourth and loved celebrating it in DC this year!!

We missed the Noyces!

Zach and ShaNae came to DC for the weekend to go to the temple and invited us along! We were excited to see them and hang out again! 

The DC temple is stunning!!

After the temple we went to Chipotle for lunch, changed our clothes, and headed to the zoo!! We learned something new about Zach when we got there... he is a MASTER at parallel parking.  Check that out! You could not pay me to park that well, and he didn't even bump either car.  Maybe I am easily amused, but I was amazed.

The zoo in DC is free along with many other things. Score! There were a lot of animals we had not seen in person before so it was really fun.

We were trying to get a good photo of this panda but it would not stop rolling around!

This was THE weirdest bird.  It kept grabbing the red part of it's neck and chewing on it.

We had seen flamingos before but not while they were nesting.  Notice the egg? It was pretty neat. 

The zoo keeper fed this star fish while we were there. I had never seen one eat before, but if you look close there is a piece of food in between the glass and one of its legs just above the center of its body. It disappeared right when it got to the middle! Crazy! 

The biggest turtle EVER

First, you stick your hairy finger in the water and swirl it around in circles to form lots of bubbles.  Then, you pick up a handful, eat it, and start all over again.  YUM.

This money was just kickin' it by the glass looking at his hands.  He did not care that people were right there, and didn't look up once haha! 

We had a fun day and were grateful to Zach and ShaNae for inviting us! I think we will forever be in debt to them for all that they do for us.

Little update..

I got a phone call one day from my sister telling me that she would pay for my flight if I came home early for the summer and stayed with her while she recovered from a hysterectomy. She has five kids and her house is a little bit crazy! She was not allowed to carry more than 10 lbs while standing.  No pushing vacuums...or grocery carts... and her husband couldn't take off that much work to be around to help all the time.  She could have organized her kids to get picked up and dropped off at different times but she couldn't hold her brand new baby while standing, and keeping all 5 kids under control from a couch in pain would have been a disaster...can you imagine?!

  My hubby had about two weeks left in the semester and we had someone moving in right after us to rent our apartment for the summer.  I packed up the entire place so he didn't have to do a thing during finals, made him meals and labeled them in the freezer, and headed to Salt Lake.  At times I secretly think he liked the time alone to study for finals without me bugging him when I was bored!  I had a lot of cute faces and distractions while at my sisters..but being away from the hubby for two weeks was hard!  

Little Lulu always woke up the earliest and would wait in her bed with the ipad until everyone else woke up.

Lucy Jane :)

I unfortunately did not take many pics while I was there, but it was fun playing Mom for a little bit! It was good birth control going from zero to five kids in one day! My sister would give orders from the couch, and I would make sure they were enforced. We were a good team, and I especially loved the help at night from my brother in law while putting them all to bed. I got the hang of her laundry schedule and always tried to be one step ahead of her to make her life easier.   

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The hubby flew in two weeks later and we spent the rest of our break hanging out with family and friends.  We barely took any pictures, we are horrible..but we were busy! One Sunday we went up the canyon and had steaks on the fire, played baseball, and enjoyed being outside.  

Here is the only picture we got from that day:  Classic.

Kade's Grandma Peggy, aka The Rockstar Grandma, took me to get a pedicure and gel toes.  It was really fun to chat and get to know her better. I was very grateful!

We spent a lot of weekend mornings out on the patio for breakfast :)

While we were home, the hubby and I decided to work. We spent a couple of days hanging out, but got bored quick with everyone at work during the day.  He went with his Dad and brother Rhet to work at the office, and I got a job at my old home health company.  Their receptionist went out of town for two weeks so it was perfect--I got to work at the front desk! My mom's house is only a few blocks away and I had to be to work earlier than her, so she would come visit me every morning to bring me breakfast... and leftovers to have for lunch that day. One day she brought me some watermelon and this is what she had written on the lid:

She is a very selfless person and always so giving.  I loved seeing her everyday. I have a lot to learn from the way she makes me feel! 

My Dad and Elizabeth had their 10 year anniversary and since I was going to be in town, I told them to plan a get a way and let me spend some time with my little brother Preston.  We had a good time swimming, getting frogurt, and swimming some more.  He also had his championship baseball game and his team won! Wahoo! He was really excited.

Right when the hubby left for his mission, people started playing Rock Band. He had always heard about it but didn't have time after the mission because he went straight to school in Philly.  While we were home this time, he became obsessed.  It was SO cute to see that side of him--he is a completely different person when he is not a student! I love it! Payton was his band member and they tried to always get everyone and anyone to play with them.  They liked the "lights out!" to make it feel more like they were on stage :)

 U2 came to SLC and the hubby and his fam are HUGE fan.  His parents organized a get-to-gether at their house before the concert with food, and then they rented a big bus for us all to go to the concert in. We got to be down on the floor in the Red Zone! The concert was amazing! I didn't listen to them much before meeting Kade, but I love them now.  I love watching him get so into the singing... and I have to admit that I was dancing like crazy with the new short hair flying everywhere! 

Kip. If you know this man, you know that he does not stop.  My father in law never ceases to amaze all of us.  He is so strong, and very influential.  His goal this year was to take his family on a volunteer trip doing service work.  We were scheduled to leave on June 11th to Guatemala.  The hubby was not able to go because of his internship so he left to DC without me, and I stayed behind to go with his family.  Two days before we were supposed to leave, he got in a mountain biking accident and landed on the concrete right on his collar bone.

He ended up having to get surgery that resulted in a metal place and screws.  It humbled me to see him in so much pain just laying on his bed.  I had never seen him like that before, and I am sure it will be a LONG time before I see him like that again.  He is already up and moving, and riding his bike again. Of course he has recovered faster than anyone would with this surgery.  Our volunteer trip was postponed so that he could heal, and that is exactly what he did.  Amazing.  

Instead of flying to Guatemala that Saturday, I flew straight to DC to be with the hubby.  I was done with the distance and it had only been a week.  Are we pathetic, or in love?  I'll call it love :)  We feel very blessed and are loving DC.  More pictures to come soon!

11 Inches!

Well, the time finally came to relieve my hair from it's long journey of growth. When we were home for a month in between finals and DC, I called my friend Michelle and told her that I needed a BIG cut.  I have wanted to donate my hair for years now, but have never been super serious about it realizing how much would have to go! I knew I for sure wanted to do it when I was searching through the Locks of Love website while we were living in Italy.  I have always heard there was a place to donate it, but had never looked it up.  It was inspiring to read how much my hair could affect the life of someone else. My hair grows so fast and I have always taken that for granted. Here are some pics to show you just how long it got..

(Curly: Spring Break in AZ with the in-laws)

(Straight: Trying on hats at the mall with the hubs in May)

I found out that you had to have at least ten inches from top to bottom...so before we could think twice about it, we put my hair in a low pony tail with rubber bands going down to hold in in place.  Michelle measured 11 inches just to be safe and she cut right above the top pony tail line.  It took her a long time to get through all of my thick hair, but I knew there was no going back when she handed the pony tail over my shoulder.

It is still as long as I could keep it because I have a husband who loves long hair, but it feels fresh and very healthy. The top of the pony tail was so thick that it felt like a paint brush--way cool!

I wish they could send me pictures in the future of who gets to enjoy my hair, but maybe I will never know.  I am sure they are very grateful and that is all that matters.  For now I will just start growing it again... and appreciating it more in my life!

Summer Plans

 Yep, thats right!! We get to live in Washington D.C. this Summer!! After all of his hard work, Kade finally received a paid internship at a bank a few blocks from the White House.  We are renting a little apartment by the river in Arlington and are excited to tour and see the city! We will have a gym and a pool at our place which will be nice for the Summer months spent there.  We have been warned about the heat and humidity!  I am currently in the search for a nanny job or something to do while he is at work. I am very proud of him--he spent many late nights applying to a lot of positions and it finally paid off. We feel very blessed and cannot wait to be there! 

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(Wanna know the best part of it all?  I get to see him dress like this everyday for work...he is so handsome.)