Good Friends and a relaxing weekend

We went up to Baltimore, MD to Steve and Carrol's house(Nick's aunt and uncle who are very generous for letting us all stay there while they were gone), for a nice relaxing weekend. Derrick and Melinda drove all the way from Boston to meet us for some fun and we get to go visit them Memorial Day weekend in Boston!!

Mel making breakfast.


Chocolatepeanutbutterness

Some treats I made for the relaxing weekend.

We enjoyed ourselves, lounging in the hot tub, talking, and watching movies and eating yummy food. It was good to see the Call's!!

Philadelphia Excursion

We were able to go visit Philadelphia and Valley Forge through the Washington Seminar program. It was pretty fun except for all the RAIN!!!! We stayed the night at a place called the Freedoms Foundation, they fed us well!!

They even welcomed us with this sign!! I thought it was cool!!

This was our tour guide for Valley Forge. It was pouring and guess who forgot their umbrella... yep, but fortunately Trent and Sara were able to be kind enough to let us borrow one of theirs. The guy in the blue umbrella was hilarious, the wind was just blowing his umbrella all over the place.


Look to the left of this picture there are like 5 people under one umbrella. Hilarious!! Let's just say by the end of the tour, we were miserable.

This is a picture of the buildings the soldiers stayed in, he said like a billion people fit in there and tons of people died because of all the uncleanliness.

On the bus with no rain, but still wet.

This is George Washington. I think this was the highlight of the trip for me. He talked to us as if he was actually him for about an hour, then he dropped the act and told us who he really was. When he dropped his accent and voice, it was so weird to hear him talk normal. He was an awesome impersonator.

George on his horse.

This was a highlight for Nick-Ping Pong. He wanted to play like all the time. They had a pretty cool game room at the place we stayed, ping pong, wii, pool, and lots of other games. Around the world ping pong was pretty fun too.

The home George Washington stayed while at Valley Forge.

Independence Hall in the background.

The Liberty Bell

This is the room where they signed the Declaration of Independence.

We had some free time in Philadelphia, so we looked around for a bakery, because i was in dire need for a cookie, on our way we saw this building, I thought it was funny!!!

Nick, the birds, and the bird lady (pictured on the right), she was serious about the birds and got mad if you interrupted her and them.

Then on our way home we stopped at this pizza place for dinner, it was so good!!!

Road Trip 2009 Destination --- Washington D.C. via Salt Lake City Utah

***Officially My longest Post Ever***

The reason for the move- Nick is attending BYU, and ever since he started his schooling, he has always wanted to do Washington Seminar (which is an internship program in Washington D.C.). He is doing his internship at the Department of Homeland Security - Immigration Services. We are very blessed that it is a paid internship. So here we go on the adventure.........

Goodbye home in Salt lake City- you served us well!
This is us right before we headed out the long adventure in vw beetle in SLC.

Road Trippin' it Yeah baby! and yes I was driving, but you can't tell but my eyes were on the road.

Nick looking freakin awesome in his sunglasses that fit over his real glasses -they are huge!!

First Stop- The Pugmires in Rock Springs Wyoming!! It was so good to see Emily and her cute little family. Thanks for letting us spend the night!!! Sorry no pics.



Second Stop- Kansas City- Our friend Chris's Dad's house! To rest our little tired eyes. We drove 13 hours that day,....it was a long day. no pics again.

Third Stop- Nauvoo, Illinois


Here is a little butterfly who graced us with it's presence, poor thing had a broken wing.

Nick on the overlook at Nauvoo.

The Nauvoo Temple

Oh how cute!!!!

The Women's gardens at the LDS visitor's center in nauvoo

Nick by an Elephant Ear, he loved them.

Us in the women's gardens.

The Mississippi River

Next stop Carthage ,Illinois

Carthage Jail

Next Stop- Springfield, Illinois
The reason of this stop... look at the picture, need i say more....

This is the delicious Hot fudge Cake at Cheddars! We mapped out our road trip just to enjoy this treat.

Yep, we ate it all!!

Thanks to Eric and Tam we had a nice free hotel stay at the Hilton, with a delicious continental breakfast.
Springfield is the land of Lincoln, and that next morning we paid our respects at his tomb. I rubbed his nose for good luck, hope it works.

We also learned about cicadas (they are a really noisy bug that lives in the roots of trees and comes out when they are 17 years to mate) They were super noisy while we were there.

Next Stop- Jonathan and Mandie's house. We were able to spend a few days there, it was so much fun, they were wonderful hosts!!! Little Makaya is so cute, I think I am the favorite aunt!!!

The N.K. Whitney Store in Kirtland, OH.

A Replica of what the store looked like back then.

The School of the Prophets

The Kirtland, OH Temple

Nick, Natalie, Jonathan, Mandie and Makaya -(sporting an adorable smile)

Cute Makaya

Photo op, by the beautiful green doors of the temple

Next we stopped at Nick's aunt and uncle's house in Maryland for a couple of days, and they fed us well. They are such wonderful people.

We Made it!!!!

This is our lovely home for the next 3 1/2 months

The Barlow Center welcomes you Nick and Natalie.

It really was a wonderful vacation. Now we're off the see the sights that the big city has to offer us!!!

Summer Recap

Here is our summer recap! Late because of my lack of blogging, and no pics because they are on my computer in Salt Lake---

*Nick got his braces off--and hates the picture on the blog because he still has them on-I will have to change that.
*Family gettogether- which I did blog about, but some how got erased, and I swore off blogging for a month
*Burley Fair and Rodeo
*Lagoon Fun with the Simmons kids
*Sundance weekend with friends including hiking mt. Timp
*Family parties
*New Hair cut
*Moving
*Road trip to D.C. -more to come

We made it!!!

We have been so busy with the move that my lack of blogging has clearly been evident. None the less I have no more excuses... so you should think, but some how will try to make some up. We have made it to D.C. and are all moved in. I am jobless, and enjoying it quiet nicely.... I seem to get my beloved afternoon nap everyday, definitely a bad habit, but it makes me happy!! My days are filled with job searching, morning jogs on the Potomac, surfing the net, going to free events the city has to offer, mingling with friends, walking to the store, sewing, reading and so forth.

Just yesterday I saw this little bird on my walk to the store. The little things that make our day!