The Big Apple

After the wedding we went to NYC! It was so much fun! But it had a slight delay at the airport. In New York there was some bad weather and so it took our plane 3 HOURS to take off! Our flight was only 45 min long so basically we could have drove there faster. We went with Tim's Mom and Aunt. We took a lot of pictures and we saw so much stuff. I really liked New York, I have always liked big cities. A tour bus took us around to a whole bunch of popular sites and it let us get on and off, it was the perfect way to get around. The first day we saw madison square garden, ground zero, the HUGE macy's, time square- which i thought was so cool!, and empire state building.

One night we saw Grease which was really good and also Taylor Hicks was in the play which we didn't know, he played teen angel. It was pretty cool to see him even though I never watch american idol. Of course we had to stick around at the end of the show and wait for him to come out with the rest of the middle age ladies to get a picture and autograph.

The next day we went to the statue of liberty and it was a lot smaller than i thought it would be. It was still pretty cool, when we were leaving Tim overheard some guys talking about a yacht that was out in the water by the statue of liberty. Apparently it was the men's olympic basketball team which means Tim wanted to swim out to the boat just to get a close glimpse of Kobe.

Later that day we went to yankees stadium and also saw the new stadium. We also went to the united nations , carnegie hall, rockefeller center, and back to time square. One of my favorite parts of new york was my new purse! I got a coach bag and it was a very interesting experience. There is this street called canal street, it is just packed with tiny stores they are basically closets where they sell the purses, watches, perfume, sunglasses, everything you can think of. So of course i wanted a new purse. As we were looking at the purses i saw this girl talking to one of the sales ladies and she was asking about coach bags, suddenly the sales lady opens this hidden door and lets the girl in. It was the weirdest thing so of course i had to see what was in the room, so the next time she opened the door i just followed them in. The walls were covered in prada, gucci, channel, and coach bags. It was so crazy, and obviously they were not fake bags. After i saw all of those purses i knew i wanted one. I ended up getting a coach bag it is so cute and i LOVE it! It was really hard to decided which one i wanted so Tim pretty much picked it out. For my job i have to carry around a huge scheduling book so i haven't even really been able to use my new purse, sad.

The last day we were there we saw the manhattan temple, the met, central park, and coney island. The temple was in such a crazy location because it was right in the city. It was so cool though. Coney island was probably the most disappointing part of the whole trip. It's ghetto, dirty, and just stupid. I did like nathan's hot dogs though. There cheese fries were so good! And it is the original nathan's hot dogs stand, the one from the hot dog eating contests on ESPN.

Overall it was such a fun trip i love traveling and i loved doing it with Tim especially in such a big city. I can't wait to do more traveling!

Weekend in DC and a new sister-in-law

Last weekend we went to DC, which is about an hour drive from us, for mike and courtney's wedding. It was a lot of fun and really hot but not just hot, humid hot!! Everyone claims it was hotter than our wedding but I disagree.

We first got there on Thursday and met up with the Fam who had already been sight seeing for a couple of hours. I don't know how they did it for so long that day bc after about 10 min i was already sweating like crazy and ready to be out of the sun. But instead we walked to the Lincoln memorial and then to the Arlington Cemetery. The Arlington cemetery was pretty cool because it is where tons of military soldiers are buried, where the tomb of the unknown soldier is, and also where JFK is buried. That picture to the left is taken in the Arlington cemetery it is just this really big stone chair in the middle of a huge amphitheaters, i think.

Friday we went to the capital and took a tour. It was really long mostly because i was starving! After that we went to union square to get food and i had the most amazing hot dog. It had coleslaw on it which is probably the best combination ever...mmm. A little weird i know but oh well its good! Friday was also the rehearsal dinner for the wedding and it was at a forest/park that was really pretty! As we were about to start eating it starting raining and then the raining turned into pouring!! Everyone was trying to hide under trees and umbrellas, it was coming down pretty hard. Luckily it finally cleared up and didn't rain the rest of the time we were there. I saw fireflies for the first time that night, they are really cool from a distance but not so cool when madden and mason are trying to throw them on me, ugh i hate bugs!

Saturday was the wedding at the DC temple of course it was hot but mike and courtney looked so happy i couldn't help but think about when me and tim got married, it has been 10 months which doesn't sound like a long time but it has felt like it has been longer, in a good way. Everyone told us that our wedding last September was hotter but i don't believe it, the humidity made me sweat so much! The boys were seersucker suits which were to help with the heat because they are a lot thinner than a tux and i liked the way they turned out, tim looks so cute in the suit. The reception was really close by and the food was amazing! If you don't know already i love food! They had all sorts of lemonades for drinks and my favorite was the strawberry lemonade it was so sugary and tasted almost like melted sherbet. The main food they served was really good, tim liked the steak the best but my favorite part was the fruit table. They had all types of fruit with all types of toppings. I love strawberries and so of course i loaded my plate with strawberries, whipped cream, and lots of chocolate sauce. oh it was so good my mouth is watering. After we ate tim, bill, emily, mason, madden, and I went out to mike and courtney's car and decorated it, we tried not to be too mean but we wanted to make it look good. Tim wants me to mention this alligator pinata which he bought and thought was funny because it matched the colors of the wedding and because they went to Mexico on their honeymoon, so he thought it was perfect. It was a lot of fun and i think it turned out good . Mason and madden could not wait for mike and courtney to see there car so tim got this shot of their very surprised reaction when they finally saw the car. I think madden and mason have the best looks on their faces, they love the work they put into the car and they were just so excited. The reception was really pretty and really fun. I just wonder if i will be able to get tim to wear his suit again...

Help! My unhealthy apartment obsession

Recently we have been trying to find a new apartment. This is not a fun thing to do, especially from the other side of the country. I am asking for your help because I have spent so many hours looking at apartments and I just can't decide, mainly because I just want to find the perfect one and its just so hard to stop looking and pick one!

Here is the dilemma (short version). I want to work in Anaheim at Disneyland and Tim is going to a college either in Fullerton or Mission Viejo. We need somewhere that is not too far of a drive (whatever that means), but unfortunately mostly all of the apartments in Fullerton don't have washer dryers in them, which is a necessity. We need help deciding if we should pick one because its close to work, or because it is a good price for how much sq. feet, or because I just love they lay out. I am listing my top five picks. Please leave you feedback and help us pick a new apartment!!!

1 Cortesia--835 sq ft./$1440
In Mission Viejo 34 min from Disney/14 min from Tim's school
It is big and new and nice but so far away!


2 Club Laguna--800 sq. ft. /$1575
In Laguna Beach 27 min from Disney/12 min from Tim's school
Newly remodeled and close to the beach!
3 Ameritage--690 sq.ft/$1640
In Fullerton 16 min from Disney/ 7 min from Tim's school
Looks really nice


4 Archstone las Flores--728 sq. ft./$1300
In Rancho Santa Margarita 31 min to Disney/ 6 min to Tim's school
5 Haver Hill--1106 sq. ft./$1625
In Fullerton 14 min from disney/8 min from Tim's school
This one is tricky because its the only 2 bedroom. You may be thinking why would they need a 2 bedroom. Well if we have this apartment for a couple years then 2 bedrooms could come in very handy. Also washer dryers are only available in the 2 bedroom apartments. I hesitate with this apartment because it is pretty ghetto looking, but of course i am only looking at pictures.



Please leave feedback, an outsiders view would be amazing. Maybe this will help me to stop obsessing!! I just can't pick one and I need help!! Thank you!!

Rastafari

On Sunday we went to our new ward. It actually isn't the ward that we are supposed to be in but it is the one we want to go to because it at 11:30 and it is basically on the way to DC. This ward is really friendly and an Army ward. It was weird though because it was so LOUD! We aren't really used to that. Our last ward had some kids but no big families like this one does.

After church we went to DC again. I was really excited because I love going to DC, I just want to see everything that is there during this summer. This time we went to the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian. It was huge. We saw an exhibit that was filled with all types of different animals, they were stuffed. We saw giraffes, bears, bats, monkeys, and tons more. We also saw an exhibit on dinosaur fossils, which was crazy! They were so BIG. They also have an exhibit on gems and the hope diamond. The hope diamond is this really old and huge diamond that is blue which is just crazy. One of my favorite exhibits was about the Rastafarian movement. It was really interesting because I heard about some Rastafari stuff and Bob Marley but there is a lot of stuff I didn't know. Pretty much all I knew was that it is popular in Jamaica and that they like to dread there hair, which I have always loved i'm weird I know.

Ok so this is what I learned:

The movement started by a man named Ras Tafari Makonnen -yeah that was his name- but he is now known as Haile Selassie. When he became an emperor in Euthopia, Africa then the people thought of him as a God, actually I think they thought of him as their Savior because of prior things that had been prophesied. So a religion formed from Haile Selassie rule as emperor. He did a LOT of good to help the African people. On Tim's mission, in the Caribbean, a lot of people followed the Rastafarian way of life. A lot of what we learned was interesting to him because they have some lingo that Tim really never knew what it meant. Like they always say i-an-i which means oneness. They add "I" to a lot of words. Like they call the emperor Selassie I, before this exhibit Tim actually thought this was his name because thats just what they always call him. They also say Jah which means God. Tim said that they would always say Jah bless instead of God bless. Its pretty cool. Even their dreadlocks have a meaning. Tim also said that real Rastafari people are really really nice. Some of their beliefs are that they believe in being equal with everyone, they believe in the bible, and living naturally. One of their central focuses is love. Bob Marley really portrayed this quality mainly in his music.

I don't know tons still but it is so cool to see how other religions share similar qualities as what I believe and it so cool to see other people so passionate about God and religion. I just couldn't help thinking what awesome Mormons Rastafarian people would make, well if they wanted to give up using weed. I guess I just always think this when I see someone so passionate about God and religion because I just want to show them all about what I believe about being LDS and just share what I am so passionate about, and how happy it makes me! "One love, one love..."

Baltimore

We are now in Baltimore. The drive took 32 hours, 4 days, two ghetto hotels, and way too much time in the car. We stopped in Chicago and went to the sears tower which had a great view and we ate burgers at Billy Goats. It was a really windy day which reminded me of Rexburg but luckily it wasn't as cold!! I do not miss Rexburg weather at all! We are working for pinnacle security, Tim is a technician and I work in the office. So far it is pretty slow but pretty fun! Our apartment is huge but it doesn't have cable or Internet. That is really lame and we had to wait to get both. Today the cable guy came and at first he said there was a problem with our wiring and that we couldn't get either! I am so bummed because i miss my Internet so much. Eventually he figured it out and we have cable but still no Internet -I'm in the office writing this.-
Baltimore is really different but its pretty cool for the most part. We live right next to a movie theater and the mall, lucky for me! We pretty much share the parking lot with both they are really close. On Sunday we went to DC and went to the holocaust museum. It was really interesting but depressing at the same time. They had a lot of artifacts which was pretty cool. We plan on going and seeing all of the sights here every Sunday since that is Tim's only day off and there will be so much for us to see! I am really excited...p.s. i will try and write more often especially as we see all of the historical sights around, and i will definitely be posting pictures.