Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you. Each and Everyone.

So after having a late start to my normally jovial Christmassy cheer I finally got my act together and have started to enjoy my holiday break and time with my family. So I got into my giving spirit, so much in fact that I still have some undeliviered gifts sitting in my car and on the floor in my room. My blondes all recieved gifts that I thought would be suited well for them. My crammed head friend recieved a fairly self-chosen by herself gift. Everyone else recieved heartfelt notes and essentially the same gift, some who are more helpful or closer to my heart were more personalized in their gifts. On to a selfish note but one that personally if I was reading your blog I would like to know about; hence why I am doing this part of the section. I recieved new clothes (something that I needed quite badly, especially since I just lost 30 lbs and I cannot fit into any of my old clothes well) a cricut and 3 cartridges, a nice photogrpaphy book and I was thrilled when I opened the Harry Potter DVD, as a family gift. Katie's major gift was a new digital camera, McKenzi's major gift was an ipod nano (pink, I knew I liked from the beggining) and Nathan recieved a slot race track and an ipod shuffle.

God bless us everyone!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Miss Christy Lynn Teschner is now Mrs. Christy Lynn Emfield

Wedding of the Century!

So long story short I am going to elope. Not because of what Christy did but because of how other people acted. This inspired me to go an I hate wedding receptions spree, Christy as a record I don't hate you or your wedding I am just not going to allow to happen to me. You are a fabulous teacher. You are teaching me so much now and you have taught me so much prior to this glorious day of your wedding.

So the wedding was absolutley beautiful. The colors were fabulous, the deocrations were amazing and the spirit was delightful, charming and wonderful, my how I adore Joshua Emfield (of course not in the same way that you do Christy). She chose Red, Black and Gold as her colors and I wouold like to tell you all that no matter what you say about these colors she did a flawless job and executed the design exquisitly. Although I am a pathetic slacker and have no pictures of this blessed event, Heather (Strawberry Blonde) does and I am sure that I can convince her to let me take some of them, if not I am sure that I can get her to tag me in them on Facebook.

Christy is a fabulous teacher. So over the years that I have known Christy I have learned many things about myself and life. Guess what the world isn't out to get me, nor is it out to get you. She has let me know that it is okay to break-up with someone who you thought you could marry. She has helped me to be okay with friends who hurt my feelings and break my heart because of a misunderstanding. She has been there throughout all my frustrations and sorrows. She has celebrated alongside me with my successes and has cheered me up through my failures, trust me there are many of both of these. She has showed me the value of hard work and the results of your hard work, yes they are different. She has taught me that not everyone is born equal but we are all equal in value and are all able to provide for the bettering of those we come in contact with. She has taught me patience through her example and constant presesnce when I have struggled to get my life in control or when I have thought about changing something drastically, which is like every other week of my life. She is supportive of everything that I do and I hope that she will continue to be supportive of all that I do. She has taught me how to be passionate but to not live in the past. She has taught me to look forward to the future and stop worrying about what is happening but focus on the bigger picture. Christy Emfield is a terrific example to me of all things that are great, grand and wonderful in this world. Of all the people that I would have liked to share DC with me through phone calls, emails, and traveling scrapbooks I am glad that it was her. She is one of the things that completes me and pushes me to become a better person.

Christy Lynn Teschner Emfield you are an inspiration and light in my often mundane and anti-climactic life. You are a pillar when I need someone strong to lean on through my life's turbulent and rocky ride. You keep me grounded and because of you I am less misanthropic and a better person. You raise me up and I in turn am able to raise others up, or at least I hope that I am able to do so.

Christy and Joshua
December 19, 2009
For Time and All Eternity

Umm. This has been a really long time

Okay so I am now in my last class of the semester and I am super excited about it. I have learned a great deal of things but I have also become very passionate about the quality of my education. I have complained to close friends and family about my American National Government teacher and the constant emphasis on Operation Enduring Freedom and Health care legislation. I felt as though it was more of an indoctrination towards feeling conservative sentiments than towards discussing the constitution and how it plays into the role of policymaking, the federalist system, the way our government operates and the role of the citizen in the political process. This class has frustrated me beyond belief; if you don't believe me you can ask Joanie Melville, who happened to sit next to me everyday from about the second week of class. The second class that frustrates me is Exceptional Students. Why, you might ask, I will tell you. So, I have been raised in a home of a public educator all of my life and I as such I have been socialized to have certain sentiments towards public education and the way that it is adminstrated. As that is how I have been raised I may have weird views but one of them is that teaching through texts and learning how teach through textbooks is not an effective way to learn about teaching or how to teach. I also feel that the School of Education faculty at UVU have all been out of the classroom for too long and they just trust what the textbook publishers say is the current trends and reality in classrooms. I am a wingnut about it though so my opinions should be disregarded and then voila I get in this train of thought. But that is kinda beside the point. So the semester is over.

EFY Salt Lake 3 Mighty Storm

"Jordin want's to get some witchu..."
-Kaitlyn Willis
Well this week my girls were very much focused on getting me married they played matchmaker at every opportunity they had. Well by the end of the week these girls all had a great sense of humor and they were close knit and they would have rather stayed up all night talking to each other and bouncing off the walls than doing anything else. This week I had my third dynamic and it proved to be a good thing. This week I had 18 boys in my company and 8 girls and really it was pretty awesome. So this company was a lot of fun. They liked to write songs during freetime and play with eachother. Maxwell and Austen are the best cocounselors I could have asked for. They were greata examples and helped my life easier by having great boys. Girls that is all I am saying I am so sorry! So this week we had the best Variety Show entry ever. Mike and Ty played the final act which was garbage can drumming. It was rockin awesome!!! Mighty Storm rocks!! I just remeber a lot of fun this week compared to previous weeks which balanced out a little bit better between fun and spirit. This week definetly had a lot of spirit but because of the boys to girls ratio and my cocounselors this week was just like fun all the time. PS I participated in 3 musical numbers this week, all on the same day! All of our company bore testimony except for 2, including those who claim to not have testimonies and a non-member. Maxwell sounds like a General Authority or God, depends on who you are talking to. And Austen just does what Maxwell does. I felt that my greatest experience for my personal growth during my EFY experience happened this week as I watched the girls I prayed and pondered about for hours share their testimonies and see them unify and work together and share their sweet spirits and amazing personalities with the company. This was a personal great accomplishment because I saw prayers being answered everywhere!!!

The Church is true and Heavenly Father loves you! Never forget that!!!

EFY Logan 1 Perfect Knowledge

P-E-R-F-E-C-T Knowledge
My Heart can't rest til then. Woah Oh!!!
So this was my second week as an EFY counselor and I felt that there were some things that I could have improved but there are always are. This week I was blessed with another ten amazing girls who were such a blessing in my life, had strong testimonies, were great friends to everyone in the group and helped unify the whole company. These girls I tell you are amazing! So these ten girls ALL participated in the variety show and most of my company participated in the variety show not lying we dominated the show. Nick, one of the boys, sang and played guitar to the song 1234 by Plain White Ts. My girls and some of Heidi's(one of my co's) girls and a few of Casey's(my other co) boys all performed a musical number entitled Life of Raindrop. Those same boys, Casey's, also performed an interpretive dance to Miley Cyrus song, I Can't Wait to See You Again. That was one of my favorite memories mostly because of the rain thatwe had that week and that my umbrella broke, actually it was broken in the dance by the boys and it was awesomely rockin awesome funny. So Gertrude Phalanges my umbrella now umbrelli died an honorable death. Check out my youtube videos for the actual video of all these events. All of my girls that week bore their testimonies and I was able to share experiences with them and grow along with them as I taught. This week was different than Salt Lake 1 because of the difference in girls but both weeks rocked.

Perfect Knowledge!!! I can't wait to see you again!!!

Sixth Ward Summer Activity

Oh Baby Blue!!!
Elisa Tittle, McKinzie Mower and I all drove up to Logan together. This was a super great bonding experience. I love those 2 girls so very much. We had a super great time on the drives. So our first stop was the Oqquirh Mountain Utah Temple Open House. That was exactly what I needed that day. The day previous I was informed that my friend's father was murdered and that upset me. I was only praying to know what to do about this problem and I realized that I needed to share the gospel but this was not until after I had already walked through the temple and was flooded with emotions and the spirit that I remembered from the day that my family was sealed in the temple on May 2nd 1996. That was the greatest day of my life. Although I do not remember that day in clarity I remember the spirit I felt there and the emotions it just took that visit to the Oqquirh Mountain temple to remember it all. Well from there we headed up to Wellsville Utah. Okay so there really is not very much there but it was a lot of fun to hang out with the other girls. Friday we had a morningside at the gravesite of Martin Harris and it was great. Then after that we headed to Hyrum Reservoir and played on the water. So to understand the next part of this story you need to know that it was predicted to rain non stop all weekend long. So we all prayed for nice weather so that we can go boating. GUESS WHAT!!! It didn't rain and we went and played on the water but because of the predicted rain I did not bring sunscreen so I borrowed somebody's and I applied it not so liberally. Well, after all the fun in the water and the falling and the laughing I got totally sunburned. Well I didn't just get a normal sunburn I was totally strawberry red and my thighs were purple. I was in A LOT of pain all night and the next and the next nights! I was pretty miserable but it was so worth it. So after that we had a group dinner and a variety show and speakers and it was a great end to a great day. Then after on Saturday we had a service project and we did yard work for our gracious hosts the Schill Family. The results were fantastic! Then cleaned up and I sent my passengers home in another car and I headed for Logan to see my dearest roommate from DC, Erin Cottle. Then I started EFY on Monday!

EFY Salt Lake 1

This is a breakdown of my first week at EFY in Salt Lake. So I had ten fabulous girls they all came as roommates. When I found out that they were assigned as roommates I was really worried at first because I thought they would not mix well together but I was proven wrong right at the beginning. They turned out to be amazing. They were all super talented and had amazing testimonies. They all participated in the musical program except for one. I loved them all so much and I miss them all very much. I hope that they are all doing great things with their lives and sharing the gospel at every opportunity. The boys in my company were boys. They were both a challenge and a strength and support. Our company of Liken All was the best and do not let anybody else tell you differently. My Co-counselor was Jens that week. There was an amazing company of 10 girls and 10 boys. By Wednesday they were very best friends.

ba-da-bada-bah were liken all.

Update on life

It has been forever since I last blogged but here is whats going down in my life lately. I have been working as an EFY counselor and it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was so blessed to be with the greatest girls in the world. But in May I spent a lot of time helping my mom in her first grade classroom. It was something to do.

10 things I will NOT miss

I will not miss somethings about DC. These are the top 10 things I will not miss.

1. The lack of a sense of community
2. The fast pace all the time
3. The tourists
4. Missing my Yellow Line Metro by 12 seconds
5. The lack of internet in my apartment or if there is internet the ridiculously slow speed of it
6. Getting home so late at night that you feel there is no time left to do anything
7. Paying $1.75 for each load of laundry to wash and then paying the same amount to dry it
8. Paying way too much for groceries, transportation really everything
9. Not sleeping well because of the noise,light or just not sleeping well
   
10. Crazy people who try to run you over in the crosswalks, happens everywhere if you jaywalk but it happens when you are not jaywalking in DC
    

10 things I miss about DC

Okay so I promised myself that I would make a list of the things I would miss about DC and another list of things I will not miss. This is the list of things I will miss.

1. Roommates
   
2. My view from the 11th Floor
   
3. Public Transportation (I know that sounds weird but I loved getting places and not having to worry about driving there)
4. The independence
5. The office, work and the people there
6. The ward
7. Rain
8. Never having a boring Saturday with so much to do mostly MY MALL
   
9. The History that is everywhere
10. My walk home, I really really really loved walking home. I got to walk between the Supreme Court bulding, the Library of Congress and the Capitol Building(favorite ever) everyday.
    

Update on life

So I have been home for a while now and I am just barely realizing that a lot of the things that I was hoping wouldn't happen have started to happen and the things that I was hoping would happen are not happening.

So I set a goal to get up early still every morning and that has so far fallen through quite bad, ten doesn't qualify as early. I am slacking in my nutrition, I am not eating good foods or at good times. I am slacking on scripture study, I know a horrible thing to admit but I am going to be honest about to you the world of blogdom. I am not spending as much time away from home being social like I wish I was. Honestly I realized that last night when my parents noticed that I am doing the same things I was before I left. Dang I was caught.

I am a total dreamer and things that I was hoping to happen aren't. Maybe because I am still living in a bit of fantasy DC land. I was hoping to have an exceptionally padded resume and I have to even find a job that I can fill in July. So I am worrying about a lot of ridiculous things that I shouldn't really be worrying about.

Things that are working out for me though are ones that are more long term. I am signed up for classes and I am mostly excited I would be more excited if I didn't have a math class in my schedule. I am taking a bunch of history and poli-sci classes and that just thrills me. Life is such a great when things work out.

April 23, 2009

Thursday April 23rd 2009
First Day Back in Utah

So I had some interesting things going on today. I am not sure how I was to take it but I just took it as it came at me. I hung out with Christy and Rose. Then I went to Sports Night and Brent was there and Lexee and others whom I love in that ward so much. I am so excited to do everything that I get to do with them. That was my Thursday.

April 22, 2009

Wednesday April 22nd 2009
I am such a sap

So this was the day that I needed to leave DC and this time I am not planning on coming back anytime soon. I was so sad. I took my final walk down the mall this morning after finishing all of my goodbyes at Crystal Plaza. Then after my walk I came home, my apartment, and finished packing up to go home, actual home-in Utah. Life there was great but like everything it must come to an end sometime and this was the end of a chapter of my book of life. I flew home and cried for the first hour or so, I had to be careful not to look too far behind me because a member of my ward out there was on the plane and she was behind me and I could not let her see me crying over this. I think I get myself in trouble because I love so deeply and sincerely that I do not know how else to respond to any of it other than to show that I am going to miss it. I am such a dorky sap. Then my family picks me up and asks me about things in my life out there and I start crying again. My goodness I am such a sap. Then I came home and tried to sleep but failed at that because it was in Katie's bed which is too warm and too soft.

April 21, 2009

Tuesday April 21th 2009
Final Tuesday, and Final Night in DC

So I spent the day being a tourist and I was quite tired from it all. I needed to go see my favorite things once more before I go home. So I thought I had seen everything and I go out to the mall and I want to just stop time so that I can see more things. Well we saw where that got me, nowhere. So I went to the coolest things in DC. I also lived the total DC life. Today I was living on change for my smartrip card and I ran out of money and I had forgotten my wallet so I got stranded in DC for a moment but I figured out how to get home. I begged for money from people on the streets. So I was a street beggar I only needed 40 cents to get home. The lesson of the story is ask and you shall recieve, actually not the actual lesson but it does prove my general thoughts that people are generally good and are more than willing to help a total stranger. So that was early in the morning then I went home, changed, and then I went back into the district to be a tourist. That is my story for the day, people are good and that is about it.

April 20, 2009

Monday April 20th 2009
Let the Countdown Begin
Final Monday 3 days left :(

I cannot believe that tonight was my final FHE with group 4. I love the interns in CP along with Alba and Tali so much. I cannot even descibe to you what dlose friendships I have developed while here. My roommates are the obvious friendships that have been made. But then add in the girls that I went to New York with and then just those we hang out with all the time. I am going miss these interns and other so much. Fortunately there is this little networking tool called Facebook which makes it so much easier to be in touch with those who have become your friends and wanting to stay in touch with them. So this evening after playing phone tag I went to the tradtional Monday Night tradition of Half Price just to go out like I came in with FHE. I am still in a state of disbelief a little bit about going home. I hate this bittersweet emotion that is not easily described. But I know that I am going home at the right time but man how that is difficult to convince myself when it is hard to say goodbye. Dang I have to do that tomorrow night.

April 19, 2009

Sunday April 19th 2009
Ode to the Colonial First Ward

This is the place that I will write about how great the Colonial First ward has been to me. As I have mentioned in the past members of the ward here have been so incredibly great to me. they have reached out to me in ways that I had never experienced before. They have all been like older siblings to me. I love the great examples they are and I want to go forward with their legacy with me and knowing what I need to do to be more like them, not carbon copies but I want to showcase some of their traits in my life. I want to be selfless like Melanie and Dave. I want to be socialable like Sarah. I want to be accomidating like Miranda. I want to be strong like soo many of those out here. I want to be confident and the best that I am capable of being. These men and women have taught me so much and have inspired me to be a better person. I will forever remain changed for the better because of them. I am reminded of one of my favorite hymns which is "Each Life that Touches ours for Good" and I am reminded of the song from Wicked "For Good". Life here has been a lot like both of those songs so very much. But I am so glad that I have had these experiences and I will be a better person because of them.

Colonail First Ward was one of the greatest blessings so far in my life.

April 18, 2009

Saturday April 18th 2009
Final Saturday!!

So this day started pretty early like weekday early. So I get up and have breakfast and go about my normal everyday thing. Then I decide to go touristing cause I love to tourist and I thought I should because afterall it is my final weekend. Bad decision. I would advise against touristing on nice spring weekends in DC. But I also discovered this cute little flea market in Eastern Market. LOVED IT!! So glad that I discovered it my last week here otherwise I would have spent so much money, mostly cash. But I bought a really cute summer dress. I also found a purse that my sister Katie has been looking for then I went to get it and decided that it was not worth they were trying to sell it for, sorry Kate. I did however find the painting that I have been searching for, for quite a while, Stary Night DC. You would all love it. Then home to get ready for the choir performance which I have to say went a lot better than I was planning and I was so thankful for that. We even got there safely despite the large amount of traffic that caused us to start the performance an hour later than expected. Then me and Crystal came home and watched Christy, poor Mike. I am quite upset that it never resolved. That really upset me but what can I do about it they cancelled the series after the one and only season. I also got Valeri's Birthday present sent off finally.

April 17, 2009

Friday April 17th 2009
Mom's Birthday

So this is my family's last day in DC and we just took it easy. We got going quite late in the morning then we went exploring in the basement shops in my building. It was a great time. Then I got my family to the airport and they got home safely. I had a movie night with my roommates cause I was pretty touristed out at this point. Pretty good Friday if I can say so.

April 16, 2009

Thursday April 16th 2009

Today we went to Gettysburg. It was great! I got to roadtrip with my mom and sisters and Heather. The day was just great. After Gettysburg we did dinner and went monumenting. We walked from Arlington Cemetary to Lincoln and then from there to Vietnam War Wall then to the WWII memorial. Then we finally started to head home we just happened to take the longest way possible. We took the detour along the FDR Memorial and the backside of the Jefferson Memorial. I wanted to walk across the river on a bridge but we decided against it. I think now that may have been a better idea since it took us forever to get home. Train malfunctions and all of that great stuff but we all know how much I love stupidity in humans. This was also one of the last chances I had to see one of my dear friends from out here, Heather Zundel, before she went home. Well I caught her just in time.

April 15, 2009

Wednesday April 15, 2009

So this day it rained and rained and rained. The original plan was to go to the Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum and Bureau of Engraving and Printing(money factory) but that had to be altered because the Washington Monument sold out of tickets so we substituted Arlington Cemetary in that morning. It was raining remember. So we wathced the changing of the guard in the pouring rain and we walked around Arlington in the rain I love it, Katie, not so much. I love it when it rains so this was fine with me but I did not wear the best rain shoes but then again I do not own really good rain shoes. I still love the rain, it is the reminder of how much God loves us, at least that is how it is to me. Then we go from Arlington Cemetary to the Holocaust Museum, McKenzie was absolutely perplexed by the fact that there are people out there who kill people because they think differently and act differently or are of a different religion. I fear that I created a traumatic event in her young life but I believe she will be better for it. So then after that it is getting pretty late and I have their tickets for the money factory. I did not get one for me because I have the performance that evening and I had already been. So I give them their tickets and I head home so that I can meet Paul, who I convinced to pick us up at our apartment instead of his house because of the rain and dresses and the bad mix that they cause. So we go to our first performance and really it was not too bad the only problem is that we could not hear the monitors in one number and it fell apart. Then I butchered my part pretty bad but it worked out okay in the end because I remember that they have never heard it and it was correctly timed.

April 14, 2009

Tuesday April 14th 2009
Last Day at the Office :(

This was my last day working. I was quite sad to leave the friendships gained and the routine that I was so used to for so long. This day I gave my family the tour of the capitol and showed them around the office and they got to meet some of my coworkers and associations. Then after work I went and met up with Paul to go to a dress rehearsal for Choir. This rehearsal was great except for the fact that I had forgotten my lines and ended up saying blah blah blah but it at least made sense. Then I just had an enjoyable evening with my roommate Crystal until we both decided to go to bed.

April 13, 2009

Monday April 13, 2009
Heather's Birthday

So today I had to work and Heather celebrated her 26th Birthday in Chinatown. They went and did all sorts of crazy things like visit the wax museum. Then after I got off work I met them in the Air and Space Museum and we headed back to their Hotel and I of course cannot sit still. Maybe they had a busier day than I did cause they did touristing and I just worked which is tiring but maybe a full day of touristing is quite tiring if you are not used to it. Well after that we headed out to dinner for Heather's Birthday we went to cheesecake factory and it was delicious that put them home later than they are used to but I was okay with it. That was certainly an adventure if I ever knew an adventure. Metro missed and everything.

April 12, 2009

Sunday April 12th 2009
Easter

So I sing in Ward Choir. No I do not have a great voice but I love choir and love praising the Lord through song. So I was on the stand while my family sat down in the congregation. I loved sharing my ward and my Easter experience with my family. I was so glad that they were able to join me in DC and that I got to continue on with traditions that I am extremely used to I mean for 20 years I have been doing the same thing. So I was quite blessed to keep some form of uniformity through this holiday that is so important to me. Then after church they all needed naps because of the flying and the earyl church, so I let them sleep. Then we ate dinner and headed out to see the remaining cherry blossoms on the mall. They loved it of course but they were still pretty tired from all the walking that they had to do. I think I am just used to it.

April 11

Saturday April 11, 2009

So my day started at about 7 AM. Not too early but it may seem like it is especially if you are anticipating seeing your family who you have missed more than you would admit for the past 4 months. Well I woke up because I needed to get ready to go to choir rehearsal. This was one of the last before our opening night performance. So we go and we run through the show and I get worried about that because I am one of the narrators in that show and I suffer from Stage Fright pretty badly. Trust ME if you do not believe me about that one then I can give you witnesses to the horror that was my first ever 'successful' solo, meaning that I did not throw up. Well I was working on overcoming this fear something that I think I will always be working on. But that is of minor insignificance to the overall theme of the day. I actually had to clean up my room cause my mother would have a fit if she saw that I was living in any way that was lackadaisical and contrary to the way that I should be living. Really I kept areas clean but I just had a few things like shoes and clothes on the floor of my room. So I do that and run a few other errands to prepare for my family to get here. Then finally I get the call and text messages I had been waiting for all day. The text that said hey we are here come meet us and my response being hey I am on my way give me a few. This is where the story gets better. So I get to the airport and I know what was going to happen it is going to take them forever to get their luggage so I get there and the first person I see is Katie but the first person to see me is McKenzie. So she runs over to me and gives me a hug and I, of course, hug her back. Really I love her A LOT. Then mom cuts in and gives me a hug. Love my mom!!! Then Heather then finally Katie. Katie is not a hugging type person. So then we wait for a good 15 more minutes for luggage then finally once it is all gathered I give them their first DC experience, the Metro. So we metro it to Crystal City then from there we walk to there hotel, really not that far but I think maybe I am used to walking everywhere so I think it just doesn't phase me. Apperantly it was like the longest walk they have ever taken. I think the luggage added to that expression. Well we get them to their hotel and I am so restless cause really I am used to the days like this and they are jet lagging. I just know what the plans were suppposed to be for the evening. I forget that they had been flying all day and that they were hungry so we do dinner and then we get ready to go see Cherry Blossom Festival Fireworks. So we go on Metro with like a billion other people. I was so reminded of Inauguration that I am struggling to find other ways to desribe the sheer masses of people. So I get stuck on my OBAMA tangents and my sister starts imitating a gagging sound. I LOVE my family so much!!! Then I need to pick up a few groceries so I take them to get some breakfast stuff. They are so completely confused by how I survived this way for so long. I do not know how they would have survived if they went through a day at my job then. Or worse one of my touristing Saturdays. The ones like in February where there were like no people all over the place. Tourists are one thing that I will not miss about the greatness of DC. I was amazed that they couldn't handle the things I do and the walks I take everyday. But then they were tired so I let them go home and go to bed to try to get them more on DC standard time.

April 6th- April 10th

Monday April 6th- Friday April 10th 2009

So this was my last full week of work. This week like all is full of challenges and things that needed to be accomplished. This week also marks a major but mostly insiginificant event of my life. This week I made my second ever batch of cookies from scratch, and they were delicious. This week I also prepared for what was coming ahead of me which was my family coming into town. Not much to say here.

April 4th and 5th

Saturday and Sunday April 4th and 5th
General Conference

This weekend is one of my favorites of the entire year maybe to only be compared with Easter and Christmas Sunday. Well this conference was different for a few reasons the major reason being that I am in DC and not at home where it can be enjoyed on multiple channels throughout the weekend. But that challenge was conquered because I was able to see it on TV here. In face we even got to see the in between content that I thought only existed in Utah such as Deseret First Credit Union commercials. So I had a very great Conference Weekend. In fact it even had a girls night thrown in there on Saturday night. I am not going to leave it just as that though. I am going to write about my favorite talks and themes. So for some reason I really cannot put my finger on a specific talk this time that stuck out as my favorite. But I will say that I loved how there were 3 themes that I needed to focus on; they were: we have temples all over the earth lets keep them busy whenever we can, there is a light in the distant tunnel reach that light and then get ready to go back in (AKA endure to the end) , and then the idea of looking forward with faith. The latter of the 3 was probably what I needed to hear the most then in my life. I was at that time refusing to myself that I was going to go home from DC and that I did not want to go back because of different reasons. But this was my moment where I thought okay it has been great but it is time to go on and see what you can do for yourself and hope that your life turns out for the best for you. I am now learning from the past, living in the present and looking to the future with whatever degree of uncertaintey that accompanies this looking forward. This is something that I am still longing to do even now 2 weeks later.

March 29-April3

Sunday March 29 - Friday April 3, 3009

So Sunday normal. Monday normal. Tuesday Normal. Wednsday NOT normal. It was in fact April Fools Day and my roommate Jenna got pranked bad and hard. She came home from work and her stuff was covered in Alumium Foil. I mean covered, see photo album of greatest prank ever for more information. But it was great and I hope she can get them back cause it is just fun. Thursday normal. Friday I am updating my blog and Facebook pictures cause I really need to. I cannot believe that I am leaving so soon.

Philadelphia and Cape May

March 28, 2009
Philly and Cape May Day

Okay so I am a history major so I was totally looking forward to this for a while. I am so glad that I got to go see Independance hall and the liberty bell. I felt like I was in my element and really I LOVE the idea of being in historically significant places. I guess that is just the historian in me. So we did a tour of independance hall and it was great. We ate authentic philly cheessteak sandwiches. Liberty bell is fantastic. Then we headed to Cape May New Jersey. Best little place that no one has ever heard of. I am convinced that it is the most beautiful beach in the Atlantic North. And yes there is a beautiful sunset which is hard to imagine since sun sets west but really it was there and beautiful. This was a long day full of exciting conversation and happiness.

My pics do a lot better telling stories than my blog posts do.

March 19-March 27, 2009

Thursday March 19-Friday march 27, 2009

I have been going through the days forgetting a lot of things, I am going to work on that. Not that there is not great things happening but I am just forgetting to take them in as I go throughout the day. Life is fabulous and I am enjoying it very much. I struggled a lot until like Wednesday night the 25th and then I went on a ward temple trip and life started to get a little better. I could at least see a silver lining in the grey rain clouds. Then I came home from work today and started to get excited because I got my New York Pictures in and I got my blog updated and life is great again. I am going to Philadelphia tomorrow and I am very excited about it!!

Blog followers will you forgive me for being awful at this.

March 18, 2009

Wednesday March 18, 2009
MY REAL BIRTHDAY!!!

So this is my real birthday and it was great contrary to how I thought it was going to be. I am going to tell all sorts of things about Birthday traditions in Crystal plaza. So the day starts with me looking absolutely fabulous cause it is my birthday afterall and I have the right to look fabulous. So I get to work and I am just doing my thing. Well while I am totally unaware dearest sweet Tali gets a birthday card signed for me. This was fabulous and something that made my day all that much better I will post the card once I forward it from my office email. All the interns signed it and we had a lot of fun. Then that evening starts the normal Crystal Plaza traditions. These involve the roommates of the birthday person baking a cake and then everyone comes over and they put you in a circle and they say their favorite thing about who's birthday it is. But this time we started some other ridiculous tradition or at least Aaron Starks thinks we should make it official. I think it is a good thing I no longer get embarressed cause he says while we are waiting around lets ask the birthday girl questions so I agree. First question, what is your most embaressing thing you have done in DC? Easy Answer, capitol hill skirt story. Then we get in the normal tradition. I felt really good about myself later that night which was something that I needed really badly. Then we proceed with cake which Erin made it was 2 layers and circly it was super cute and fun. She is so cute!!! Luv them all!!!

March 16 and March 17

Monday March 16th and Tuesday March 17th, 2009
Typical Monday and St Patricks day Tuesday

Did normal Monday things and then had a slightly abnormal Tuesday. I think it was only abnormal because it was St. Patricks day and Tali had a little bit of fun pinching others, not me cause I wore green.

One Short Day in the Big NEW YORK CITY AKA Best Birthday Ever!!!

New York Blog

Friday March 13, 2009
So today I left to New York. Well as is my typical style I was bound to do something that would prevent my going on this trip. Well this time it happened to be that I only printed the backside or return trip of my ticket. So I get to the station and realize that I am without a ride there and we are in line to leave so I take off in a mad dash run to an internet café and cannot find and I just settle on going to work and getting it there. So the bus stop is about 4 blocks from work so I take off in my dash, as fast of a dash as I can anyway. So I get to work I have now been running for about 10 minutes now and I look pretty stressed and am sweaty and look rather ridiculous I imagine and one of the senior staffers asks me if I am okay and I just brush it off with a yeah and there I go. So fortunately for me there was a second bus that was supposed to go to New York and it was running late but like we knew that because Greyhound has pretty bad customer relations skills but whatever. So I run back to work and I realize that I am getting there and the other girls are still in line and I was saying a little prayer of gratitude in my heart. So now that I am finally there with a ticket I sit and we wait for a good 30 minutes for a bus to show up. Then it takes them forever to get us on and then forever to get everything ready to go on our trip so I still sit and wait and all I want is to get to New York so that I can see time square before it gets too late. Well we run late all the way there but it does take 3 more states off my list. We get there and we get off the bus and we get to our hotel. We find out that we are staying in the Fairfield Marriott Time Square on the 30th floor and I was like gosh that will take us forever to get there. Fortunately it did not, the elevator has an accelerate feature. Well finally when we get up we decide not to go to Times Square that evening because it was pretty late and I agreed. So we go to bed and decide to get an early start the next morning.

Saturday March 14, 2009
Up for a very early day . We are down to breakfast at 7 if that tells you how early it really is. So we are on the Subway heading to South Ferry and we realize that we are not in the first 5 cars and that we need to turn around and we try to do that it just doesn’t work as well as DC’s system. So we get off and look up and realize that we are totally lost and then we find a nice man and he told us how to get to where we need to get to. Well we get to Castle Garden and we meet up with John, Alba’s cousin who is living in New York right now because of an internship, and how glad I was that we had him with us. He knew all of the secrets to getting us the most for our money and knew exactly where we were and how to get to where we wanted to go. Well, we start by catching the Staten Island ferry to avoid paying 20 dollars to get a boats distance view of the Statue of Liberty. While we are still uptown we walk to ground zero and look at the construction site there, PS that will be amazing once it is finished. We also check out Wall Street and Trinity Church. Well we leave from that part of town and John leads us back downtown towards the Met, Manhattan Temple, Central Park and everything else. I really liked the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have this thing for French Artists and Modern art, this museum had a lot and I loved it. Central Park is amazing to walk through and to think about. We walked from Central Park back towards our hotel, Broadway, and Times Square. This walk leads us past the skyscrapers and we end up near the Rockefeller Center and 5th Ave. While in this area we saw a lot of stores like Saks and the American Girl Place. Then we decided that we were hungry and that we should get dinner before getting our show tickets so we decide on New York Pizza. We get our pizza and I think we inhaled it. Pretty sure we did because it was gone in like 3 seconds. Walking all day has a way to make one hungry. So then we went and got our tickets for the show and headed back to the Hotel for a moment to get rid of bags and some other things. Then we head back out towards our show. The show was amazing. I love Guys and Dolls. After the show John treated us to dessert in a great little New York secret. We had the best New York cheesecake ever! To make it even better we stuck a straw in it with a yellow wrapper and turned it into my birthday cheesecake. We sang to it and everything. Then we walked around Times Square. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!

Sunday March 15, 2009
So we got up early again and went to church in Manhattan and then we finished up the last thing we needed to see before leaving New York, the New York Public Library. I really like it because one of my favorite PBS shows when I was younger was Reading Between the Lions which is set in the New York Public Library. So we got pictures of that and of Skyscrapers and then we headed back to the Hotel to pack up before leaving our wonderful one short day in the big New York city trip. We made it home safe and well and ready to start the next week.


GO TO FACEBOOK TO SEE PICTURES!!!

March 1- March 8

Sunday March 1-Thursday March 12, 2009

I am not really sure what happened this week. We celebrated Jenna's Birthday on Thursday the 5th even though her actual birthday is the 6th and that is about as exciting as it gets. Other than that nothing too great happened. Maybe some exciting things like warm days and outside walks and stuff.

February 28, 2009

Saturday February 28, 2009

Okay so today was Alba and Ashley's Birthday party. lots of fun and that is what we spent a lot of the day doing getting ready for that. Lots of fun Erin and Crystal have most of those pics though.

February 27, 2009

February 27th 2009

Okay so tonight I went around to the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials at night. It also rained and I had a great weekend and great evening even though i may have not wanted to be there then it was a good thing that I went. Lots of fun

February 23-February 27

Week of February 23-February 27

Same as always. Worked and played and had fun if there are pics they are on Facebook!!!

February 22, 2009

Sunday February 22, 2009

This is a great Sunday. I got to go tochurch which was focused on missionary work and then me and my roommate Crystal got to talk to another intern, Mike who is great to talk to and then we wewnt on a sunday afternoon walk. Then home and an enjoyable evening at home.

February 21, 2009

Saturday February 21, 2009

Okay so this is the day with the sling and a lot of arm pain and it is really a joy. (sense the sarcasm please) Well I struggle to dry my hair and do other things that should be easy. Well I got along okay except for the freezing because I cannot get my coat on due to the sling. There is also a party this evening at the church and as if I had not been embarressed the evening before becasue I had to fall and get hurt and ruin someone's evening but now I am going to face them again with a sling on my arm. Then they split us into groups and I get sent to the physical activites that require an arm and I am bummed that I cannot really play them that well. Well then it is a dance after that and for once I actually got asked to dance. So short story is that if you are hurt you get a little bit more sympathy so I got to dance and that was good but I wish I didn't have be hurt to get the dance casue it was a bit miserable. Then home and to sleep.

February 20, 2009

Friday February 20, 2009
Reminder as to why I do not do super athletic activities too often

So this evening I was given the opportunity to go with the Institute to an ice skating activity in Ballston area. Well I am not a bad ice skater and I am no Michelle Kwan but I do not just automatically fall everytime that I step foot on the ice. Well that is what gets on to the better part of the story. So here we are skating and I am even doing some not super tricky but fun stuff like circles and backwards and I do not fall or even slip. Well the times that I do fall I am going in a straight line in the circle with everybody else. Well I fall. I fall three times the entire evening which is a lot less than some and a bit more than others. Well as the statement goes third times the charm. So on the third fall I landed hard on my wrist and I was unable to get up on my own. Well then the excitement of the evening begins. So I eventually get off the ice and I have a massively swollen wrist that hurts pretty badly. So as with a lot of injuries at places that have any liability insurance they fill out the injury report and treat you as best as they can and then suggest that you go to the hospital I know the drill all too famililarilly from my days as a lifeguard. Well after all of the paperwork and instant treatment I need to go to the hospital. Well the problem with being in DC is that I have no car so I metro'd into the ice rink and there is not a hospital on the metro so I need to find a ride. Well my roommate goes and finds us a ride to the hospital so not onlyam I in pain but I am now embaressed because I had to ruin somebody's friday evening to get a ride to the hospital and then having to get them to wait for me while I am there. Well it gets better after the hospital trip the doctor prescibes me medicine which I could care less whether I get it filled. Well Dave is too kinda and has done so much already he thinks that I need to get it filled right away so we drive back towards home where there is a CVS and the pharmacy part is closed so we are driving to another CVS that is clear out in Alexandria-okay not really that far but crazy driving to get there. Well we are going to all sorts of crazy backroads that I didn't know existed. So Dave drives me around to get this medicine and all I want to do is cry from embaressment and sleep and get rid of the pain in my arm. Well eventually I get home and I sleep for less than I thought I would but that is okay with me.

February 15-February19 2009

This is up through the Thursday of the week mentioned. Mostly unproductive I did work and the normal weeknight activities. Then I did the normal things with my life. Life was great and everything is still good. February went by really fast!

I will find some pictures and see if I can fill in some information.

February 9-February 14 2009

I really need to do better at this I just remember that I had recieved the scrapbook from Heather. That was what I remember doing that week. I am pretty sure that I did other things too but like I said I really need to improve what is happening with my blogging.

No pictures I am sure also.

February 8, 2009

Sunday February 8, 2009

As I mentioned in last Sunday's post about how I babysat for the Huish's I was thrilled to find that she had her baby and it was a great Sunday. I also had a great Sunday reminding me of how important it is for me to do my family history work. I went home and it was a great Sunday.

February 7, 2009

Saturday February 7, 2009

This is what happens when Jordo gets behind on posts. I am pretty sure that I was sick this day and that I got very little accomplished. I slept for the majority of the day and it was great.

Sorry I am really bad at this now after doing so well for so long

DC February 6th 2009

Friday February 6th 2009

I was so glad for the weekend cause I really I love weekends!!! I came home vented to my roommate and to Rose and I felt better I also got to talk to Chritsty and Val and Katie and suddenly life was better again. I got a little fluish yesterday too, further proving that me and Christy are sisters even when we are 2000 miles apart. She is sickish too but we have both survived. Then I slept for like 12 hours that evening it was great. I am also fortunate to be blessed with Tali as one of my friends at work. She has helped to save me many a times in those days when I am not sure if I am going to make it or not.

DC February 5th 2009

Thursday February 5th 2009

I got to talk to one of my best friends this evening. I talked to Brent that evening and I am so happy that I did cause I feel that I would have been on a Four Blonde Alert otherwise. So that was Thursday.

DC February 4th 2009

Wednesday February 4th 2009

This day was a Wednesday. That was a typical Wednesday. I watched some more of Christy this day as well. Then I went to bed and slept fantastically.

DC February 3rd 2009

Tuesday February 3rd 2009

This is a sad story when I really do not remember what I had done. perhaps that is why it is so important for me to write it out everyday. I just remember going to Institute after work. So I went to institute and I remember being so happy for myself and needing to share that story with Rose so I did. I also had my EFY counselor interview that evening. I hope I get to work a few weeks. I really want the experience working with good teens and I really want to prove to myself that I am capable of teaching.

DC February 2nd 2009

Monday February 2nd 2009

I had a typical Monday hating the idea of getting up and trying to put together an outfit. Well something about this outfit is that it turned out to be a great thing. I didn't even try very hard and I got a lot of props for it. So the message of the story is wear whatever you want to with confidence and it looks good. Then I made the decision to go to FHE instead of half price and I am glad that I did. I was able to help so much and I felt so good about it. Then after FHE I went to bed and slept wonderfully.

PS pictures are all going to posted to Facebook instead.

DC February 1st 2009

Sunday February 1st 2009

I went to church today and then I went and played with the Huish boys. The Huish family is one that is very close to me, Bro. Huish is in my bishopric and his wife is a super sweetheart and his boys are a lot of fun to play with and I really want to play with them again soon. Then SuperBowl which had a very unfavorable outcome in my opinion. Then bed cause I had to work the next day.

DC January 31st 2009

Saturday January 31st 2009

Okay so today I went and did some of the typical tourist stuff. We started out by going to the Jefferson Memorial then we went through the COMPLETELY frozen and iced over FDR memorial, backwards. Then we walked back towards the national mall. We trudged through mud all around by the Washington Monument. Then we wandered to Georgetown and ate some fantastic pizza. Then we headed home and went to a February's Eve party at the BYU penthouse in Crystal Towers. It was a lot of fun and I really hope that we do that again.

DC January 30th 2009

Friday January 30th 2009

Today I got to meet the senator. I then came home and instead of going dancing with the others I wathced Princess Bride with some of the other girls that are too young or choose not to go out on the town. So this was the first time that I had ever seen that movie and I very much enjoyed it. Then I started to fall asleep. And now I am here really wanting to fall asleep in the arms of a boy, Brent preffered. I love it here and I love the blondes and I love life and the world.

Val I LOVE YOU and Christy too and Heather I would never forget you!!!

DC January 29th 2009

Thursday January 29th 2009

This day was a lot of fun. My evening started earlier than normal and it was great. That is my day.

DC January 28th 2009

Wednesday January 28th 2009

Today was a great day full of learning and growing and exploring. At home I made a run to Costco with some of my roomies. I needed some variety and so I went. It was great and a lot of fun to chase the cart down the highway and keep stuff from falling off of it. Then home to update my blog add pictures and facebook. Life is great!!!

DC January 27th 2009

Tuesday January 27th 2009

Super cool spiritual experience today and it taught me very much. Okay so one of my friends got so sore and crampy that she was unable to walk. Then she got to the point where she just flat out passed out. She came back and laid out on the ground at which point she asked me to search out Vaughn or Andi who both are active faithful priesthood holders. Well she sent me to get them because she needed a blessing then and there and I was willing to assist her. So I did as she asked and we actually were unable to find Vaughn so we pulled another person who I did not know was a member but is. I gained a stronger testimony of what a great thing it is to be surrounding ourselves with good people all the time. I am so thankful for the experience I had today. Like I said in yesterday's post I am learning so much so quickly. Snow Day!!! It snowed a whole 1/2 inch and the entire city struggles with snow and it even makes it really funny when the schools close because the busses can't get there. So I laughed at the way people handled it here. Then I walked in it and I got stares and questions cause I can walk in the snow in a dress. I quite loved the weather today and it made me exceptionally happy. I am so glad that I go to see the snow and it made me so less homesick. I am having a great day and week in DC. I just need weekend stuff to do and I will be great.

DC January 26th 2009

Monday January 26th 2009
Happy Birthday Alyssa!!!

Okay so back to work this day and it was the same as always. I love learning so very much. So then I came home from work ditched FHE and went to dinner for Alyssa's birthday instead. We went to half price and then had cake and ice cream and then I went to bed. This day sadly really didn't have a great story.

DC January 25th 2009

Sunday January 25th 2009

This is just like any other sunday. Church early followed by a nap and some fun hanging time. Tonight however I went and played games in the penthouse at Crystal Towers with the BYU Student Teachers. Too much fun I had.

DC January 24th 2009

Saturday January 24th 2009

Okay so this day was kinda fun. We went to the National Portrait Gallery and then we had a crazy fun experience in Chinatown. We were hungry and since the Portrait Gallery is in Chinatown we decided to go to the Chinese Resteraunt with the coolest name on the iPhone. Well this led us to an unclean and awful Chinese resteraunt. So we order our food from the waiter with 6 inch fingernails and sit around and watch the city pass by and have great conversation. Well then we see the man with the long nails and he was making our food without gloves and he is mixing it up. So we decide to leave well we don't just leave we take off in a run. On this run we find a finger or something that very much resembles a finger. Then after that we are running through the back alleys of Chinatown and we end up still being more running cause of the not eating and just running. So we decide to go to a better place up the street and we were glad that we did. Well after that we headed to the Kennedy Center to see a jazz concert. Then after that we were going to go bowling but we changed our mind and started walk back. So on the way home we Metro Surf, WAY TOO FUN!!! So the turn between foggy bottom and Rosslyn is way fun and hard and this is where I fell. But it was okay. So I get home and we play pool. I won but I blame that on Christian my teammate. So that is what we did and then way early Church the next day. Later this night I crashed into a sign sticking out in the tunnel in the undergound from the Metro.

DC January 23rd 2009

Friday December 23rd 2009

The weekend arrived sooner than I thought it would and I am so glad that it has arrived just because I live for the weekend so much. I have figured out the fastest way home from work which may or may not be a bad thing to have figured out. I am just excited about everything that I have going for me. Life is all together even though it doesn't seem like it. I am so excited about everything that I have going for me. I LOVE DC!!! I love the people, the sights, the sounds and everything about being here. I am learning and growing so very much and it is such a great thing. I am not sure about what my evening may bring but I certainly hope that it is great. I will update as I do something this evening.

I am going to take pictures tonight. I solemnly swear that I am going to take them.

DC January 22nd 2009

Thursday January 22nd 2009

Today as I was walking past the Supreme Court Building I witnessed a protest occuring. I saw them and it was another reminder of how greatly blessed I am to have been born in this fabulous country and what that means for my freedoms. Sadly I chose to take the mature route and not join this protest because I care for the reputation of my office. But that is all that I am going to say about it. I love what I do especially when I get the opportunity to interact with those who have made the say in congress.

I have pictures of the protest and I will get those up hopefully this weekend

DC January 21st 2009

Wednesday January 21st 2009

Did not do very much, prolly cause I am exhausted. Short post for a long day. But that is sometimes what happens.

I am pathetic and didn't take pics either.

Brent and Jordin's "break-up"

Okay so girls here is what went down and what may or may not happen

Brent and I have had a long distance relationship for almost 4 years now and it is draining on both of us. Another thing is that neither of us has ever really dated anybody else and this is difficult on us because we are both a little unsure about whether we are making the right decision for our future companionship. Well while I have been out here I have come to realize that I am not able to call ourselves ‘in a relationship’ since we are in fact 1500 miles apart and we were both kinda agreeing to that. So I am fortunate enough that Brent and I were both aware of what we were being told by the Holy Ghost and that by making this decision to take a break instead of breaking up we are doing what is best for our relationship. Brent and I have decided that we need to pursue our relationship in a normal fashion that will allow us to do everything that we need to do in order to be prepared to be married and in a relationship, even if it is not with each other. I feared that this would happen for a long time and it did but to tell you the truth I feel no regret and no want to alter the past so this is definitely a good sign. I am glad that we are still on speaking terms and friends and that we both did and knew what was best for us right now. I know that I am supposed to be in DC and that I am not supposed to be in a relationship right now I also know that by following my promptings to take this action it will be easier to take actions in the future that will help me in life. By that really long sentence I mean by following promptings now it will help ensure that I get more and will train me more to follow them.

Summary of the story is this. Brent and I both had promptings, or so he says, that were telling us to take a break and to wait until I am back in Orem before we can pursue a romantic relationship. SO this may or may not be a permanent thing but if it is I know that I made the right decision and that Brent made the right decision. This to me is a testimony of the living truth that the gospel is real today and that there are still revelations given and not just to the elite but to all of us. I know that by following these revelations I am doing what Heavenly Father wants of me and what I expect of myself.

DC January 20th 2009

Tuesday January 20th 2009
Inauguration Day!!!

Okay so this day was soo great because I got to witness history being made. I got to see the names carved into the stones of history. I watched and saw President Barack H. Obama become the 44th President of the United States. I was especially drawn to this exciting event for 2 reasons. The first being because hello I am in DC and I may never make it ouot here ever again and second because I voted for him and it was amazing to see how my vote actually played into the way history is written. I had a fabulous and memorable time there. I remember feeling so great that I was part of history being made and feeling so proud that this country is still run in a way that is unique and free from corruption in comparison to the global community. I felt this day was one that I would remember forever. My day started at about 4 AM. This is when I woke up. I left somewhere near 5:45 AM and got on the Metro. Well I did not last long on the Metro because I got so claustrophobic that I had to get off. So me and my friend Tali got off and walked from Arlington Cemetary to the Mall. Well as we are walking I got to see the most fantastic things that one could ever see. I got to see the memorials all lit up and the sun rising over that DC skyline. I got to see millions of people starting to fill the GA sections of the mall in celebration of the change about to be brought to America and it was an amazing way to start a morning. Well because I had a silver ticket I did not have to crowd into the GA mall viewing area but instead got to wait in a 'line' until our gate opened and at which point it was a mad rush into the area to get the best 'seat'. Whatever so we get in with a clear view of both the capital and the JumboTron screen so that I can see the actual event and the video of the event cause I mean I have good vision and all but not that good. So I watched that but I had to wait for a few hours to even see the event begin. Well I waited and while I waited I made friends with the people who were around me. They were all OBAMA chanting and singing Goodbye George Bush. It was fun to get to know them a little bit and to experience that different thing than I would ever see back home. Well eventually 11:30 arrives and they start welcoming everybody and I see and hear the most horrible thing I ever thought I would see or hear and that was the booing for President Bush. It was so loud and so uncalled for. Yes I am glad that we have a new president in charge but I do not think that was neccesary. This experience made me remember how lucky we as Americans are to live in this country where we are free to express our greivences about the government in anyway that we wish. I do wish people had more manners but I am glad that we have that right. Well this leads into the actual swearing in ceremonies and here is what happens and how it goes, well it was fantastic and ran just as it had been rehearsed. So here we are in the nations capitol and a most amazing speech is delivered and I am getting all goosebumpy cause that is what I do and then it ends and I am on cloud 9 cause it was just that amazing. Well everybody starts to leave and I was sick of fighting crowds so I stay back and wait and while I wait I find the garbage bags people sat on and used them as garbage bags to clean up after these environmentalist democrats leave their mess everywhere. At this point in time I was so ashamed to label myself among them but I stayed arouond and tried to make an impact on the mess but I really could not do it alone so that was a waste of my time. Then when we decided to finally leave we walked to multiple metro stations ans then just made the decision to just walk there because it will be faster and a better solution in the end. So I walked over the George Washington Memorial Bridge, i think, into Crystal City. Well that was a fantastic walk too. It was over the Potomac river which is frozen right now and you get to see all of the sights of DC in the distance. It was well worth the cold and long walk. Then I came home and watched August Rush with some of the other interns then we had a little party and we all crashed hard that evening, early. That was Tuesday Inauguration Day!!

DC January 19th 2009

Monday January 19th 2009

Okay so I spent today just kinda finishing settling in. I got everything unpacked that I needed to. I cleaned up my room. I went shopping a little bit. I got my Facebook Photos from week 1 up all the way, I think, or at least the ones that I had in my computer already. Tonight I have FHE and my mandatory meeting for my lease. Half Price Burgers is also an option this evening so we will have to see what happens with that tonight. I also know that I have to get up early tomorrow cause I am going to the inauguration and that is why I am updating this soo early today. Dang those tourists are taking up space and ruining my time everywhere that I go. I see them. How can I tell that they are tourists. They are the ones who do not understand that you walk on one side of the escalator and stand on the other and they are the ones who do not know how to grab their tickets out of the metro reader and they slow the rest of us soo much. They are also the ones with their pins and hats and Obama gear that are popping up out of nowhere suddenly. Those tourists are making it a lot harder to get anywhere anymore. So I will be glad when the tourists once again disappear like they came in waves and the city is back to normal.
PS it is soo cold here. Life is fabulous except for I miss my snow and I miss my Mountains, sorry skyscrapers and public transportation is not a good enough replacement for my Mountains. I do however like the amount of other liberals that are to be found here in DC. They are an astounding number, a number that makes me feel like I am in a majority which is kinda cool considering I was definetely in a minority when I left home. I like the way people think here. I love the open mindedness and a lot of other things that they have mastered.

I am sucking at pictures lately send me texts to remind me to take them and post them

DC January 18th 2009

Sunday January 18th 2009

I LOVE MY WARD!!!! Can I say that enough. I never thought that I could enjoy a ward and feel at home like I did in the 6th ward until I moved out here. I love the Colonial First YSA ward in Alexandria VA. I feel so at home here even though I am way younger than everybody else. I love it and it is amazing and I feel the love that everyone feels for each other. Then after church forced socializing aka Munch and Mingle where I got to meet more fabulous people. Then Sunday Nap which is my favorite thing to do on the weekends and it is even better when I had a late Saturday and an early Sunday. Then Ice Cream and games and other stuff with the boys and others in 304. TTYL


I do not have pictures. I need to get this together.

DC January 17th 2009

Saturday January 17th 2009

I had a great saturday I got to learn about my new roommate and become better friends with her. Then that night I went out to the Kennedy Center and watched a show called Striking Viking Story Pirates and it was children stories written by children and put to music and props and stuff like that. Then I came home with Crystal my new roomie and we watched the sequel to National Treasure shich is what we had watched the night previously with the ward. So then I went to bed way late and had another early Sunday Morning.

I love my new roommate Crystal and I cannot say it enough that I love her and Crystal they are both soo fabulous. I need to get pictures of them and post it on here.

DC January 16th 2009

Friday January 16th 2009
TGIF

I had an enjoyable Friday night with some of the people in the ward. I went and got to meet a bunch of new people and I love them all soooo much. I LOVE my ward and the girls in my ward. My life is absolutely fabulous. So I had a great Friday night full of meeting people and doing a lot of exciting things. There is nothing better I think than walking home after a long weeks work and everything that makes you just smile and remember that this is a chosen land of freedoms.

Grr I am upset at my self now for being a sucktastic picture documentator if that is even a word

DC January 15th 2009

Thursday January 15th 2009
Late night at the office

Okay so I had a very long day and then I went straight to sleep and then got up early the next morning. Sorry pathetic day to report but there will be some of those every now and then.

I am sucking at pictures now and I need to do better.

DC January 14th 2009

Wednesday January 14th 2009

I had another day full of adventures and learning experiences. I am very excited about everything that I learned and will continue to learn and for some reason what I did today makes me love Brent even more than I thought I ever could. I also got great news that I may be able to go to the inauguration which is really great news cause hello when else am I going to get this opportunity. So here is what else I want to do. I want to go to the inaugural youth ball. I really really really want to go and I am keeping my eyes and ears out for info about tickets. I will tell you all about my fabulous day in a later post.

DC January 13th 2009

Tuesday January 13th 2009

It was a great day full of exciting adventures. I did a lot of stuff. Well after this I did something that Rose would be so proud of me for doing which was institiute. In fact I even went to 2 different classes and I stayed awake for both of them and then long enough to get home and ready for the night very late, further proving I went way out of my way to make it happen. Well life is great and I love it.

DC January 12th 2009

Monday January 12th 2009

I am soo excited for this day cause I got my metro card. This line was forever long. Along with that I got a cool collectors item which was a Barrack Obama smart trip card which is pretty much the coolest souvenir you can have because it shows that you really do use it and that it also has a collector value affixed to it. I am all about practicallity. Well I missed FHE and that was okay cause I got a little bit of alone time which is always appreciated and I was glad I had it.

DC January 11th 2009

Okay so I got ready for the day way too early for as late as I was out last night. Well I went to Church with like a billion other people actually one 300 and in this I discovered that our boundaries are actually kinda small. Then I came home and started to unpack the rest of my stuff. I am still not all unpacked. I need to go get some hangers. I then took a nap. It was amazing. I came downstairs and got online and I have ran between my apartment and her multiple times and now I am here just chillin' updating my life. I will post pictures of my life when I get more time.

DC January 10th 2009

Okay so this was my first saturday here in DC. A group of us set out to see some museums and monuments. I went to my favorite museum I bet which is the American History Museum. It was way busy because it just reopened. Then I went to the Hirshhorn Museum and saw some really cool modern art. I love DC. I went to the museums and then I went to dinner with the girls on the 5th floor and it was great fun. Then after I just hung out with some kids late into the night. Then I went to bed cause I have church early. I think I have picture I am not sure.

DC January 9th 2009

Friday December 9th 2009

Okay so today was actually very hard for me. I am not the type of person that just doesn't do the type of stuff that we did tonight and I was struggling dealing with it a little bit. But all in all I am glad that I went downtown exploring. I love my walk home. Nothing is better than walking from my office to the Capital South Metro Station. I can promise you that there is nothing better than walking between the Capital Building, The Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court Building at one time as the sun is setting. It is absolutely amazing I promise. So, I love it!! Then we go wandering around DC that evening. I had a great fun and super exciting day. My camera also broke this day and it is going to go to Best Buy and see if it can be fixed. That is why I have no pictures.

Pictures are a no go today and I am bummed cause my camera is having malfunctions.

DC January 8th 2009

Thursday January 8th 2009
But other than having a great day here in the Capital building I also got to have my testimony strengthend for some really cheesy reason. I know that this is the chosen land because I watched the untainted political process in the way it should be used, without object and with equal represetation for all. There is something about seeing our legislative body work it out that just makes me remember it. I had a great day but I am still super tired. Today was great!!

Will post pictures as I get them but for now I will need to get my camera adapter.

DC January 7th 2009

Wednesday January 7th 2009
First Day of Work
Okay so I got my first experience in the world of working in the office of a Senator I had a day full of learning and exploring and my name being spelled wrong. Well I came home from work and I just kinda had a fun night with the other interns. We went and got dessert and I also just had a bunch of fun with them all. I finally got to bed before 11 and it was amazing. I love doing that it makes it soo much better when I have to get up the next morning.

Pictures of the evening are to be posted later.

DC January 6th 2009

Tuesday January 6th 2009
Well this day I just kinda took it easy and explored the city and I also just had some fun with my roomie. She is fantastic and is exactly what I needed to have fun out here and to feel like I fit in. Well this day I went to a few modern art museums and I also went to the postal museum. I have some awesome pictures that I need to add to this so that you can see what I am talking about. I also went to the Library of Congress and I also was succesful at convincing Erin (my roomie) and Matt (friend of boys) and Matt is the biggest anti-museum and exploration person I have ever met so if I am succesfull at that I am starting to feel successful at doing some other impossible things too. To tell you the truth I really liked the postal Museum even though it was really ridiculous I loved how hands on it was and how much it exceeded my expectations of a museum. Then I finally went grocery shopping so that I can stop mooching off of my roomates. Then I did something that I did not even do at home. I went to institute, Rose you would be so proud of me. I am not sure if I like being so reliant on everybody else. Normally I am always the one to drive others I am never the one to be needing a ride. I think it is just one of the things that I need to learn while I am here. It is for sure difficult to adjust to in my life though.

Pictures to be posted later. When I remember to get my camera adapter.

DC January 5th 2009

Monday January 5th 2009
Okay I left on Delta Flight 1324 at 9:39 AM. I arrived in DC at about 3:45 PM on the same day. This is pretty much what I spent the majority of my day doing. After I got here and slightly settled I went to FHE with my new ward family and I luv them and I luv the ward even though I am the youngest by like a huge ratio. I am soo glad that they were willing to take me under their wings like they did. After FHE a group of 6 of us went to Crystal City Sports Pub (no I did not drink) it was half price burger night. It was a great way to get to know everybody else that I was afraid that I would never become friends with. Then I went home and went to bed it was a neccesarry thing to do.

Sadly no Pictures for this day!!!