A pair of jeans that fit just right...

Where does the time go? Part 2

2012-02-01T02:57:00.000-05:00

So this is the last day of January and I am determined to keep my goal of writing once a month. So this might be quick, but here it is. The last several months will actually be pretty easy to catch up on because I have been doing a lot of one thing: work. There were a few other fun things though, so I'll focus on those.

August

Tara and I fulfilled our childhood dream of driving up the Eastern coast to Prince Edward Island (PEI). If you're asking yourself why we would go there, you probably also don't recognize the quote I have at the top of my blog. PEI, home to the one and only Anne Shirley, one of my favorite fictional characters ever written. L.M. Montgomery placed the majority of her stories on this island and for good reason. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The trip was full of family, good food, and beautiful scenery. Just what I needed before I started the craziest 4 months of my life.

Ben & Jerry's was a must see with some of our favorite cousins, the Ryan and Amber Jensen family (they may look familiar to you from recent Romney campaign ads).

Yes they have a Flavor Graveyard. There were some in there I wish they would bring back.

The sample flavor of the day was "Late Night Snack" created by Jimmy Falon. It has chocolate covered potato chips and was surprisingly delicious.

We stopped by the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith on our way back to New Hampshire. It was raining and very beautiful.

We had a yummy birthday dinner for Amber before we hit the road. I just love everyone of these faces!

One of my favorite parts was all the lighthouses we got to see. This one was close to Kennebunkeport, ME where we stayed with some of Tara's friends. This stop was mostly about food. We had lobster the first night there then we went up to Portland for the day and had amazing fish tacos and fruit buckles.

There was this random place close to where we were staying that looked kind of like an organized junk yard. We stopped by to see and it turns out the man who owns it is a collector (hoarder?) of items and old buildings. So he has had a bunch of old buildings moved to his property. I loved this old gas station.

He let us see inside this place and I couldn't believe the amount of stuff he had inside this building.

This is the wedding cake house. The story goes that a desperate man built it for his love in hopes that she would be his bride. I don't know how it ended, but I probably would have gone for it. Look at all that detail!

You probably didn't know that the larget LL Bean store is in Maine as well. We had to stop in just to say that we did. And of course take a photo by this very large boot.

Next stop, Bar Harbor in Acadia National Park. If you are ever in Maine, don't miss this place. It was raining and cold but still so lovely. The photos don't do it justice. We only had a few hours there and I wish we would have planned for more. There is actually a point called Cadillac Mountain that is one of the first places you can see the sunrise in the US. It's one of the top recommended activities, we of course didn't have time to do it. Guess I'll just have to go back.

Don't judge my large, orange shoes. Somehow I overlooked packing tennis shoes so I bought those sweet ones at a thrift store in Portland. I love me some thrift stores.

Beautiful.

And we finally made it to magical PEI by crossing the Confederation Bridge, one of the longest in the world. This is the home that inspired Green Gables. It belonged to L.M. Montgomery's aunt and uncle.

Dressing up like Anne and wearing an "I heart Gilbert" shirt just seemed like the right thing to do. Probably one of my favorite souvenirs EVER!

Part of Lover's Lane. Everything was so green and beautiful. I'm not a writer and don't have any flowery thoughts, but if I were, I can only imagine how this place would inspire me. It is just as lovely as she describes in her books.

The original covers to the Anne books. I wish I owned these.

Yes there is a haunted wood. It is the woods between L.M. Montgomery's home and her aunt and uncle's. I'm sure she really did have some terrifying walks through there as a child.

She is buried very close to where she grew up.

The view from the cafe where we lunched.

Not a very good view from our incredible bike ride along the coast.

Better view, especially the lighthouse.

The "White Sands" hotel. Not quite the same as they show in the movie, but still fun to see.

I love the contrast of the red dirt and the ocean. I have an affinity for red dirt, being from Southern Utah and all. But we didn't have any oceans down there.

The front desk clerk at the B&B where we stayed in Charlottetown recommended we go see some local talent and it was wonderful. I felt like a local and I went and met her after because I enjoyed her music so much. I just can't remember her name right now...

This is what the entire city of Charlottetown looks like. Beautiful flowers everywhere you looked. Charming window boxes and such nice people. If it didn't get so cold there during the winter, I might consider moving to PEI.

Our charming B&B.

And the red, sandy beach we stopped at on our way out of town. I was getting creative with the camera and wishing that Ani and Christina would have been there to participate because Tara was not that excited about it.

Just me trying to be artistic.

The entire trip was wonderful and I highly recommend it to everyone. And that all took a lot longer than I was planning and I was supposed to be in bed an hour ago, so it looks like there is going to be a part 3 to the update.

Where does the time go? Pt. 1

2011-12-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

Someone asked me about my blog the other day...I had almost forgotten I had one. And then I started thinking about the goal I set to write at least once a month. Clearly that did not happen since the previous post was written in April. I have no idea how it is December already. One year ago I was packing up and bidding farewell to my life in DC, headed off to adventures unknown. I never in a million years would have guessed those adventures would include being a resident of Salt Lake City and becoming a recruiter for Deloitte. It's incredible what can happen in just a year.

This year has been full of learning experiences, some more fun than others. If I try to catch up on every detail from the last 8 months I'll never actually get this post done so I'll just touch on some favorites.

April

Harold Haynie family reunion in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. One of my favorite places with all of my favorite people.

Cute little Kate, our tortuga. And Benson, Bugs.

Adam and his adorable smile.

The kids with their Easter loot. Love those goggles.

Hanging out on the raft.

The chicken shack. Best. Chicken. Ever.

La familia Sanders. So grateful my sister and Brandon have such cute kids. :)

The whole clan. Definitely looking like we've been at the beach for a few days. I love these people more than anything. Wish we were all there again right now.

May

I went to CA for a meeting with all the BYU accounting firm recruiters. A meeting which just happens to be held at a home on the beautiful Pebble Beach golf course. The director of the accounting career center has some connections so it is held there every year. I don't even golf, but it was amazing, as evidenced by the photos below. Just one of many moments this last year where I thought, "I'm getting paid to do this?"

I stayed in CA for a few days to visit one of my favorite mission companions and mother in the mission, Sister Castillo. I hadn't seen her in YEARS and it was so wonderful to be in her home with her and her family. She is still one of my favorite people. She is Guatemalan and small and dark. One of my favorite things about her is her habit of making up new lyrics to songs. Everything from hymns to Disney. One of the ones she used to sing was "Short and tall, fat and small, we're what makes this island so great." (No, this wasn't a fat joke). We are pretty much opposites but we had so many great adventures serving in the Azores together. The whole visit was spectacular.

And then I went to DC and Duck Beach and DC. And it was a dream come true. I got to see all my favorite people, eat at my favorite places, and do my favorite things. Even now looking back, it was just a perfect trip. I want to go again. :)

A little trip to my favorite thrift store. Unique, how I miss you.

Paul Simon concert, thanks Bill!

I love these people.

We are so cute!

Dollar store finds.

Yes we love each other.

Fun playing with sparklers.

I love and miss this girl more than I can even say. She is one of the best friends I have ever had and my life just isn't as much fun with out her in it every day. We realized when she dropped me off at the airport that we hadn't taken any photos, so we took a classic Christina/Becca photo. :)

I was having so much fun there that I didn't take very many photos. But I hope that anyone who reads this from DC knows how much I love and miss each one of you. If you're coming to Utah for Christmas, you better call me!

June

Strawberry Days Rodeo with the sisters

Ellsworth Family Reunion

I have the greatest family in the world. Every other summer we have a reunion with my mom's side of the family. She is one of 10 kids so I have a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins. We rent out a little camp in the middle of nowhere central Utah called Gooseberry. It's beautiful. My Aunt Ellen and cousin Neisha put together an incredible Book of Mormon themed reunion. We had visits from Nephi, Enos and King Benjamin, a re-enactment of the battle between Moroni and Zarahemna, and of course the journey to the Tree of Life. I was happy to have more time with my cute nieces and nephews.

Setting up the Tree of Life

Does it get any cuter than that? He loves anything to do with sports.

I just want to eat her up.

Moroni with the Title of Liberty

The battle.

What outdoor adventure is complete without some time in the mud.

Bugs.

Parker is the favorite uncle. This is one of my favorite photos.

Getting all cleaned up.

Adam giving us a VERY excited thumbs up.

I started playing volleyball with Trent and next thing I knew I had 15 kids lined up waiting for me to throw them the ball. So much fun.

He's got his stance down.

It kind of looks like they're dancing, but I'm not sure what exactly was going on.

July

Summer Intern Conference

We had our regional intern conference in Phoenix which is basically just 3 days of activities, team building and events. It was my first chance to meet a lot of the recruiters from other offices and we had a blast with each other and the students. I get to work with some amazing and fun people. Not surprising because recruiters need to be fun. :) I wish that I got to work with more of them every day.

Western Night

Game Show hosts

My cute team.

All the recruiters celebrating a successful conference.

Lake Powell Extravaganza

Some friends from DC organized a Lake Powell trip so I of course had to go. It was beautiful and such a good group of people. Loved every minute.

Fun friends.

Such yummy food thanks to our dear friend Cam.

So grateful for Matt Fischer!

Some stunning photography by Justin Zsiros.

Recruiter's Meeting at Deloitte University

Because I'm the recruiter for BYU which is a national school (top priority), I was invited to visit Deloitte's new learning center down in Westlake, Texas just outside of Dallas. It wasn't officially open yet, we were a test group. I realize I'm a little biased because I work for Deloitte, but it really is an incredible facility that they have built for their employees. Everything is specific to Deloitte's needs. State of the art technology, incredible fitness center, delicious food at every turn, and a recreation spot called the Barn. I was there for less than 48 hours but this was definitely another one of those, "I can't believe they're paying me for this" events. I met a lot of recruiters from all over the country which is very helpful in my job since BYU students want to go everywhere and it's so much easier to send referrals when I know the recruiter.

The amphitheater with HD and 3D viewing just in case they want to show a movie some time.

Everything about it was 5 star. The service was impeccable. The most genius thing were the screens in the lobby with the arrival and departure times for every flight. Amazing.

Lots of fun times here and good networking.

The cafe...so much good food. I had stuffed french toast with bananas fosters topping for breakfast!

River Trip

I actually had to work on my birthday. And when I say work, I mean I was flying back from Dallas and then had to go to a baseball game with a bunch of students. So it wasn't horrible, but we decided to celebrate later by joining a bunch of friends on a rafting trip up in Jackson Hole. Shannon and Jesse and I had a grand time, even if we nearly froze to death. I am really grateful for those two. Especially since Jesse introduced me to Shannon and I actually moved in with Shannon at the end of July. I now live in a cute little place in Sugar House. I have three roommates who are adorable and we have a back yard and plenty of parking. I do miss my walk to work, but my drive to work is only 15 minutes even with traffic. I really can't complain. Anyway, we took a scenic drive up to Wyoming and stopped in Evanston to have my birthday dinner at some random restaurant we found. We actually got it to go and went and ate in a park. I loved it. And lastly, we stopped and had a photo shoot in a beautiful field of dandelions on the way home.

What a beautiful site to wake up to. I just wish it had been a little bit warmer.

Classic Jackson Hole shot.

The beautiful field.

Beautiful Jesse.

Beautiful Shannon.

And me.

The end of part 1

I think this is about as long as one blog post should be. So I'll catch up on the rest of the months later. But looking back at this post, it makes me realize how wonderful my life is and how grateful I am for all the people and blessings in my life.

Life in the Salt Lake Valley

2011-04-03T21:34:00.006-04:00

This post was supposed to happen a few weeks ago but life has been CRAZY lately, of course. I started my new job as a recruiter for Deloitte and I moved down to Salt Lake. Neither of those would be bad by themselves, but when you combine them it makes life a little bit stressful.

The good news is, even though this job is probably the most stressful I've ever had, it is also the most fun. I have met so many wonderful people and learned so much. I would try to give a list of all my responsibilities, but I'm still learning what they are. I am in Provo on BYU campus at least once a week, I have been to Utah State and University of Utah. I've been to San Francisco twice for trainings and I was actually assigned to the Honolulu, Hawaii office as well. So if all goes as planned, I'll be forced to go there at least once a year. Rough, I know.

I am still adjusting to living in Salt Lake, but it's coming. The best part of my current living situation is my commute. I live three, yes three, blocks from my office. It takes me 12 minutes to walk from my front door to my cubicle. Happiness. I think this world would be a better place if everyone could walk to work. This also means that I am only three blocks from temple square. I love this. I have been on tours of the conference center and the Beehive House. I've been to the temple a few times and am always humbled by the sacrifices made to construct that beautiful building.

I'm not going to lie, I miss DC everyday, mostly all the wonderful people there. But I still feel like this is where I'm supposed to be. The best part about living here is being closer to my family. I have 4 siblings, one sister-in-law and two nephews living in Provo. My parents are just 4 hours away in Cedar City with 3 more siblings. And my sister Janae and her family live just 4 hours away in Meeker, CO. This means I get to see them all a lot more. I love this. My family are my best friends and I am loving being close to them. I also have a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins in the area who I get to see more. Family, isn't it about time.

I'm still working on the social scene here in the valley. Fortunately, I know a few people who have been super helpful with all the moving and craziness of my life. I really don't know what I would have done without their help. If anyone is coming to visit, you better call me. I would love to see you.

All in all, life is good. Really busy, but good.

Some photos of the good times with the fam.

Oh so cute! Good times on condo row with the sisters.

Cute little Benson

I love this little man. He called me the other day to ask me if I could come over.

Allie set up her own nail shop out on the deck. Janae called a friend to come over and get her nails done. So great.

Devin and Dill Pickle and Allie and Tyler.

What a great uncle.

Happiest Tyler face we've ever seen.

I love this girl. Favorite, favorite.

We drove down to surprise Shandi at her play. She totally rocked the role of one of Joseph's brothers (I can't remember which one).

What happened next

2011-02-15T19:29:00.008-05:00

I promised myself that I will blog at least once a month for posterity's sake, and for all of you back on the East coast who are just DYING to know more about what's going on in my life. In normal life, it might be a challenge to come up with something really exciting to post every month. But as most of you know my life has been anything but normal lately. So here comes the latest update.

Some of you may recognize the above logo. It's a well known accounting firm, and happens to be my former employer. You're probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with Becca's new life? She slammed the door on accounting with no plans of going back. That is exactly what I did, and my intentions have not changed. But Deloitte is in fact my new employer. But rather than wasting away in a cubicle crunching numbers, I will be recruiting bright young college students to fill those positions. In other words, I am the newest campus recruiter for Deloitte. I'll be based out of SLC and focusing primarily on BYU but will also cover Utah State and University of Utah. My job description includes talking to people (LOVE!), planning events (LOVE!), traveling (LOVE!), and of course some administrative stuff. Can anyone imagine a job more fitting for yours truly? Because I cannot. Which brings me to how this job fell into my lap.

I have actually coveted this job since I was recruited at BYU; as I was interviewing for accounting positions, I secretly wanted to be a recruiter. At the time Deb Vranes and Arianne Weekes were the campus recruiters. I helped them out with stuff occasionally and we became good friends. Before I left Deloitte I had a conversation with Deb about my interest in her position and she was supportive, but said I'd need to get some recruiting experience. Well I ended up leaving Deloitte and figured that was that. Imagine my surprise when just days after moving to Park City to start my job as a cashier at Deer Valley, Arianne called to let me know that a campus recruiter position was open in SLC and she thought I would be perfect for the job. Her words were something like, "I know you're not looking for a REAL job right now, but I just thought I would see if you were interested." She was right, I wasn't looking for a REAL job. As you can see from my prior post, I am COMPLETELY happy with my current life. But there are certain opportunities in life that you just can't let pass by. So Arianne turned in my resume, I had two phone interviews, an office interview and a week after that they offered me the job. Probably the easiest, least stressful job application experience I've ever had. And I still can't believe it. I am so excited to start my new job.

So for all of you who thought I was supposed to move to Utah to find my husband (still looking), I'm pretty sure this job was a huge part of it. Which makes me grateful, for a lot of reasons. I have 4 siblings living in Provo right now, 3 at BYU. And since I am going to be on campus about once a week, I'll get to see them a lot. And I have a lot of other family in the area as well. I love family, especially my family. They are my favorite. I'm grateful I'll have the chance to use the experiences I've already had to help other people make decisions about their future. I'm grateful I'll get to work with and meet a lot of wonderful people. I'm grateful I'll be earning enough money to buy a ticket to visit D.C. and all the wonderful people there SOON! And I am especially grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me, even if it's not quite what I expected. Knowing that I'm where I'm supposed to be makes my life just about as good as it can get.

Five of the Haynie sisters plus one cousin. Tara was visiting this weekend and we went to the BYU ward where Bree, Kendra and Saryn all go. The Elder's Quorum handed out roses for Valentine's Day. Not awkward at all... (Tara and I may have hid in the hall while they were being passed out, but one of the guys came and found us anyway)

What I'm doing now...

2011-01-27T23:48:00.005-05:00

I'll tell you what I'm doing now. I am living in Park City, working as a cashier at Deer Valley Ski Resort. And having the time of my life!!

It has been a long time since I have had a job that I enjoyed this much. Those who have known me during the past four years also know that I haven't really loved my job, at all. So liking my job is kind of a new experience for me. For the first few days I laughed at myself and the entire situation. I felt like I had gone back to high school and my days of working at Arctic Circle. But there are so many things I love about my job. And not just my job, but living here in Park City, UT. So here's a list of top 10 things I love about my new life:

1-I get paid to talk to people all day. I have been looking for a job like this for a LONG time. Sure I don't get paid very much, but it's better than nothing.

2-I meet people from all over the world. Deer Valley has some of the greatest snow on earth and it is recognized world wide. People come from all over the world to ski and to work for the season.

3-Half the people I work with are Brazilians so I get to practice my Portuguese all the time.

4-I spend half my time up at a cabin on the slopes and we get to ride the ski lift up in the morning and back down in the afternoon. The views are unbelievable (see photos).

5-Skiing privileges at Deer Valley and other resorts. My new friend Bjorn who has been a ski instructor for years took me out for my very first time ever last week. It was fun, but still slightly stressful. I need to go more.

6-My uniform. I get to wear ski pants and snow boots half the time and the other half black pants and vest that they wash for me. I LOVE not having to decide what to wear to work every day or dress up.

7-I'm closer to family. I got to go to my nephew's 2nd birthday party and my cousin Timothy's farewell talk. I've already seen my parents almost as much in 2011 as I did in 2010. My family is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to be back out West and I'm loving spending time with all of them.

8-The GREAT OUTDOORS. I'm surrounded by it and by people who love it just as much, and more than I do. My first Family Home Evening out here was snow-shoeing up a canyon close to the church. How cool is that? I went show-shoeing and skiing for the first time in the same week!

9-The lack of traffic. Seriously. I still have a little bit of a drive to work, but it's beautiful and I'm never stuck in traffic. Sundance has made things a little bit crazy the last few days, but NOTHING like the greater Washington DC area.

10-The people. I have met so many wonderful new people in the last month and had the chance to reconnect with so many old friends and family. It makes every day exciting. Today I met a woman from Maine who is a surgeon and she has a friend who is a surgeon who just bought a light house! So jealous! I also meet people every day who, once they hear my story, want to give me career advice. So far there has been recommendations for flight attendant, dentist, culinary school, and I'm sure the list will only get better. I was also really fortunate to find a place to live with some great roommates. And I've met new friends from all over the world.

To sum it all up, I love my life. I have no idea what is coming next, but for now I am just enjoying.

Cute little Benson.
The birthday boy Adam.

My first ski lesson with Bjorn.

Isn't it beautiful!!

New friends.

Our Journey West

2011-01-02T01:25:00.003-05:00

After driving almost 3,300 miles, through 11 states, visiting family and friends, we finally made it to Cedar City, Utah. Hip-hip-hooray!!

The last few weeks of my life have been INSANE. I don't recommend making a decision to move across the country just two weeks in advance. It makes life stressful. There was packing, cleaning, working, visiting, partying, selling stuff, etc. And I didn't have time for everything. If I didn't have time to say goodbye to you, I'm sorry. It's not because I don't love you. :) Thanks to all of those who came to the farewell party. It was nice to be able to see so many people before I took off.

Thank you also to all of those who took some of my stuff to Utah for me. Apparently I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the last few years cause there is no way I would have been able to fit it all in my car like I did when I moved out. The car was PACKED to the point of exploding.

Bree and me at the farewell party.

Entering North Carolina, our first state line. Since our trip was right before Christmas, we decided to wear Santa hats in all our photos. Good times.

We stayed the first night with our cute cousin Curtis and his wife Lindsey and their little guy Andy. They were the perfect hosts, even folded the TP in the bathroom just like they do in fancy hotels (thanks Curt!). :)

We were lucky to be able to visit Ani, my old roommate, and her husband the next day at the Duke hospital where Ani had just given birth to this beautiful baby girl named Camilla. So fun to see them.

Isn't she beautiful? Thanks to Jen Pierson for crocheting that great hat for us. It's a little big, but she'll grow into it.

South Carolina, second state line.

Oh Georgia. We were sad that Amber and Ryan no longer live there but we were able to visit with some other favorite cousins, the Houghtalings. They treated us like royalty. Dinner at Cafe Pig and chocolate turnovers from Arby's.

The little tree because they were going on a cruise for Christmas. Oh how we wished we were joining them.

And they took us on a golf cart ride. It was a little bit chillier than the last time I was there, but still delightful.

Alabama, we were sad that Carl and Court were no longer there to visit. Be we paid tribute by watching Sweet Home Alabama as we drove through the state.

We were so close to the Florida state line we just had to take a detour. But there was no fancy welcome sign on the little back road, so we had to make our own. (I'm the "F" and Bree is the "l" if you couldn't tell).

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I!!

We had to stop in Biloxi because our grandparents got engaged there many years ago and they lived there for awhile when they were first married. My grandfather was stationed there.

This jumping picture was taken with a timer!! Are we talented or what?!

Louisiana! One of the reasons why I wanted to drive this route was because I recently visited the Newseum in D.C. and there is an entire section dedicated to the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. It was fascinating and humbling to see all the places in person. We talked to some workers in one of the only stores that has been rebuilt on the entire beach front. Incredible to hear their stories.

Taking the ferry across the Mississippi into New Orleans.

We took the trolley up and down St. Charles street to see all the fancy houses. It was even more fun because they were all decorated for Christmas.

We ran into Santa Claus in a hotel off of Bourbon street. The hotel was beautiful but I will be happy if I never go back to Bourbon street again.

The rest of the French Quarter was fun. I would have liked to spend more time there but we had to get on the road.

We of course stopped at Cafe Du Monde for their famous beignets. Yummy!!

The great state of TEXAS!! So many fun friends and family.

Trisha, my former manager at Deloitte in D.C. She now lives in Houston. It was great to catch up.

We got to stay with Syd and Chad and their cute family. We stopped by the Houston temple which was just down the street from them.

Cutest little thing that you ever did see.

And this little girl is just full of spunk, if you can't tell from her outfit.

We got to hang out with the Cook family and the McArthur family. Random connections.

We stopped at the Blue Bell ice cream factory on our way out of town. Delicious!

Lunch at Sandy's (Sandra Bullock) restaurant in Austin. Sadly she did not come in while we were there. But it was almost 80 degrees as we were walking down towards the river. Beautiful!

A little stop in Waco to visit Krista and Jeff.

And our last night in Texas was spent in Dallas with Hugh and Lucy. So grateful for such fun and wonderful family!!

I couldn't leave Texas without getting more Blue Bell. They didn't have the flavor I wanted in the pint size, so I just got the big one. Sadly I couldn't eat it all and it melted.

New Mexico...I have never thought of it as enchanting.

AZ. We're getting so close!!

This is how excited we were to drive in to Utah!

And these are the nice women who took our jumping photo for us.

We finally made it! Home Sweet Home!!

We spent the next seven days eating, playing, singing, laughing, etc with all 20 members of the Harold and Sheri Haynie family. I could not have asked for a better Christmas.

Happy Holidays to all! Look for my next post for an update on the next stage of my adventure. It's going to be FUN!!

Here's the story...

2010-12-09T13:46:00.003-05:00

After explaining my decision and future plans to the last 50 people who have asked one by one, I figured it would be easier to be able to refer everyone to a blog post that explains in detail my plan (or the lack thereof) for the future. So here it is.

First I need to explain that I realized before I graduated from BYU that accounting was really not my cup of tea. But after spending a significant amount of time and effort on a degree, I needed to give it a chance. I had goals that I made when I was in 9th grade, and by golly, I was going to be responsible and achieve them. Working at Deloitte was a great experience, the people were my favorite part. But when they brought me in to tell me they were making cuts in my group, I was more than happy to go my own way. I was done with corporate accounting and never wanted to do it again. Over the next 6 months of "Funemployment" I did a lot of thinking and talking with people about what I should do with my life. There were many suggestions, everything from Tour guide/travel agent to seminary teacher to counselor. I appreciate each suggestion and really did look into a few of them.

When I finally made it back to DC, I really felt like I still needed to be here even though I had been planning on leaving. So I found another job in accounting that I hoped I would like more. I avoided the large companies, certain that I would like working in a smaller environment with smaller clients. Because that's where I had always pictured myself some day. I also wanted to get experience doing individual and small corporation tax returns so that I would be able to help people I know. Well I got the experience and I learned a lot, including the fact that I will NEVER like the practice of accounting. I really enjoyed studying it and I have enjoyed teaching it for the last semester. But the actual practice of it bores me to tears. Those who had the opportunity to interact with me on a regular basis during busy season can testify that it was a rather rough time for me. One that I decided as soon as it was over, I would not be repeating if I could help it. So I started looking into other options.

And I found a dream job, with USAid. As a Junior Foreign Service Officer. I would be doing the finance track and living over seas and potentially learning new languages, for the next 20 years, dream come true. I applied and got an interview and had the best interview experience of my life. Became friends with the other candidates, felt good about all parts of the interview, and a few days later I got a call from the woman who interviewed me saying that it wasn't official but if my references checked out, HR would be calling with an offer. Holy Smokes!! Then came one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. I REALLY wanted this job, but I wasn't supposed to take it. So I said no. Ouch. I've been a little bit mad and frustrated about it ever since. But mostly confused. I knew exactly what I DIDN'T want to do with my life, I thought I had figured out what I DID want to do, but then I wasn't SUPPOSED to do that. Seriously?

Soooo, that pretty much brings us up to where I've been for the past 6 months, in a state of confusion. I had to quit my job before another busy season, but where would I go next? Should I move, should I stay? I had considered everything, and decided to stay in DC. I was going to worm my way into international development somehow, but not as an accountant. With the help of friends and Craigslist, I lined up interviews. I had also been approached about doing recruiting and I was considering that a little bit.

Then one day last week I realized that I wasn't interested in doing any of the above. At least not right now. The thought of getting another desk job, be it in international development, recruiting or accounting still wasn't appealing to me. After talking to my dad, he is so wise, we came back to the tour guide thing, and I started looking into it. Afters a few hours I found this place www.backroads.com, (hiking, biking and multisport adventures) and they said they were hiring for their 2011 season!! And suddenly I was excited about a job again.

But, I still didn't take it very seriously. I sent the link to my sister Brianna who would also love to do something like this and is looking for a job. We talked about how great it would be and suddenly I really wanted to do it. So I called my dad again and asked him if he thought it was a crazy idea. He of course loved it. Thought it was the best idea ever. But the season doesn't start until April. How am I going to survive until then? I can't really afford to do that in DC. And this also isn't the place to be making connections in that industry. So the thought crossed my mind that I would need to move back to Utah. As I voiced it to my parents, it all just seemed to make sense. I think most people know how I feel about moving back to Utah, so the fact that this felt right, must mean it really is, because otherwise it never would have been an option. And from there everything happened really fast.

I was already going to be headed that way for the holidays and it didn't make sense to go out there then come back and then go back, so I decided to do it before Christmas. I had already given my 2 weeks notice at work, I called Brianna to ask her to fly out and drive across the country with me, and now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get all of my stuff out there, or get rid of it. The last week has been crazy and the next few days are going to be even more so. I'm excited, scared, happy, sad and a bunch of other things all at once. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that it feels right. I have been praying for guidance for a long time. I never thought it would be to head to Utah, but I'm willing to give it a try. My dad said something about this being a step into the darkness, I said it was more like throwing myself off of a cliff into the darkness...

So there is my story. The adventure begins next week with our Southern Road Trip (North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas), then Cedar City for Christmas. And after that...your guess is as good as mine.

P.S. Christina decided she needed to document every single day of my last two weeks here. Here are some of the photos we've taken. Classic.

A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater - So delightful.

The Nutcracker at Warner Theater - Beautiful. I still dream of being a ballerina.

Some typical dancing/craziness from Christina and I at the Scottish parade in Old Town.

Awesome face cupcakes I made while teaching someone about cake decorating.

When you have a gratitude attitude...

2010-10-28T10:18:00.010-04:00

It seems that every Sunday since general conference I have heard a talk or a lesson on gratitude. I'm sure this is due in part to the wonderful talk given by President Monson, The Divine Gift of Gratitude. Regardless of the reason, I am GRATEFUL for the reminder to be more GRATEFUL. I needed it. And so here are a few of the things I am most GRATEFUL for.

My family. All of them.

6 sisters, 3 brothers, 1 brother-in-law, 1 sister-in-law, 1 niece, 4 nephews, 1 mom and 1 dad. Love them.

Especially these two.

And these three.

And these two.

Could they be any cheesier? I am so grateful to have parents who are my best friends and who love and support me and are the best examples and want me to be happy more than anything.

And I cannot forget my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. I have A LOT of them. And they are all wonderful. I'm grateful that I have been to a family reunion almost every summer of my life, which helps us all stay close. Here are some little clips from our Minute to Win-It Games this summer. They are just too good not to share.

And of course, I can't forget good friends. I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends who love and support me and have really become my family. These two especially. I don't quite know what I'm going to do with out them.

And these men. Where would we be without their inspiring stories, leadership and examples?

And this truth. I am most, most grateful to be a member of this church and to know that it's true.

And this building.

And this beautiful city. I'm going to miss it.

The list could go on and on but I'll stop there and just say that I am very blessed and I'm GRATEFUL for all of the blessings I have.

Summer o' Fun #4 - Birthday, Amusement Parks, National Dance Day!!

2010-09-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

Well here is the fourth and final installment, for a while! I know you're probably sick of reading all about my adventures, but I'm recording it for posterity's sake as well.

We went to one of the Smithsonian museums and we were trying to act out the artwork.

There was an entire room dedicated to peacocks. It was beautiful.And we wanted to pay tribute to it. hahahaI love Emily and Clark for their willingness to be a peacock!We went to the National Folklore festival that was on the National mall. I love DC for the fact that you can ditch work any day of the week and attend something wonderful!

Helped my friend Shandi make some Texas cookies...that Texas pride.

One of my favorite sister missionaries who went home a few weeks ago. She is GREAT!!

Dianna kicked off my birthday week by taking me to dinner and to this amazing little place called Artfully Chocolate. Truffles and every kind of chocolate you can imagine, but the best was their chocolate shakes made with real melted chocolate and syrups and other goodness. YUMMY!! My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Anyone who has talked to me about it knows that I refuse to work on my birthday. It's just not right. Maybe this stems from the fact that I never had to go to school on my birthday because it was in the summer. I don't know, but my goal is to be doing something more fun than working on my birthday. Last year I was in Guatemala eating the most amazing chicken nachos from Mono Loco. This year it fell on a Wednesday and I couldn't work a trip in, so I decided to take the day off and go to the closest amusement park, Kings Dominion. Several friends were kind enough to ditch work with me and made it one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Truly, I was queen for the day and it was fun! :) Especially my "birthday cake" which was a huge funnel cake with ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream on top. More deliciousness.

Then came my lovely little birthday gathering put together by my roommates. Christina made me the most AMAZING cheesecake! I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends in my life. I really don't know how I'm so lucky.

So the last weekend in July was a CRAZY one!! To say the least. It started with Bree having some time off from work and wanting to do something fun. I was happy to take some time off to play and we decided to meet up in Hershey, PA to go to Hershey Park finally fulfilling a dream I have had since grade school. I'm actually not joking about that. There were these Hershey track meets at my elementary and if you won at school and then state you got to go to Hershey, PA for the nationals and you got to go to Hershey Park of course. I had some really talented friends who went a couple of years in a row, but I just wasn't that fast and couldn't jump that far. So I never got the chance to go. Until now!! I invited my friend Seth to come with us and we had a GREAT time!! I love amusement parks!!

When we decided to meet up in Hershey, we were just going to go back to MD that night and stay with Stacy and Aaron. But then we found out that Carrie Underwood was going to be on the Today show summer concert series on Friday morning. So of course we changed our plans and instead drove to NJ, arrived around 1:30am, slept for 3 hours, got up and drove into NY where we stood around for a while to see Carrie. But it was totally worth it!! Loved it all. The drive back to DC later that day was a bit rough, but we survived.

Next up in the weekend of fun was National Dance day. I hope you all know what I'm talking about, but if you don't, July 31, 2010 was declared National Dance Day by the U.S. government. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton made it official in the DC celebration on the National Mall by presenting some plaques or something to the one and only Nigel Lythgoe!! The TV show, So you Think You Can Dance, also had two of their choreographers (my favorites!!) Napoleon and Tabitha, choreograph a dance for the occasion that would be performed all over the country. We of course learned the dance and participated in the flash mob on the mall that day. It was EPIC!! There were also a lot of dance performances by local dance groups that were incredible. Russell, the winner of SYTYCD was there and gymnast Dominique Dawes. Sigh, it was a dream come true.

Christina was understandably excited about seeing Nigel in person!!

There were quite a few peeps there to celebrate!
Congresswoman, Russell, Nigel, Miss Dance USA, Dominique Dawes!!

My fellow dance day entusiasts!!

I have an obsession with The Legwarmers!! This is my third concert in less than a year, and I will probably go again in the next few months. I can't get enough. If anyone has a love for 80's tunes and awesome concerts, come out and visit and we will go!!

It's amazing what a crimper and a lot of hairspray can do for a girl!

Look how amazing these girls look!

Yes, I heart them.

Sigh, the love of my 80's life, Cru. We chatted with him again after the show. I'm officially a groupie.

Next was my roommate Lindsey's bday bash. And my dear cousin Adam and some friends came to visit. Well they weren't technically there to visit us, but we gave them food and shelter and they more than repaid us by being some of the best, most entertaining

house guests we've ever had. So much fun!

The Air Force memorial. Our Super Hero picture. Christina wasn't supposed to move...

Yes, we were laying on the sidewalk around the tidal basin at midnight on Sunday night, singing. A random couple who was out walking actually came and joined us for a minute.

Our dear friend Shannon turned the big 3-0 and we wanted to help her celebrate in style. She wanted to have a Mad Hatter tea party, so that's what we did. Together with her roommates, the whole thing was delightful. I had a great time creating a somewhat crazy cake. Lots of bright colors, etc.

Summer o' Fun #3 - Riverdance, Boston, Family Reunion

2010-08-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

Wow, here is the third installment of my Summer o' Fun! Enjoy!!

We went to Riverdance at this outdoor theater called Wolftrap. It was very fun but we got a little bored when we were waiting for the show to start. Boredom + camera = the following photos.

We can look normal when we want to.I never knew that Riverdance had flamenco dancers, but they do and this woman was AMAZING! I mostly just want a dress exactly like hers. Talk about a good twirling skirt!Another Summer 'o fun activity put on by the DC Dayclub was a Summer Soiree. There was a dress code and it was held in our friend Whitney's backyard out west of DC. I contributed a honey peach pie, which I had never made before, but I think it turned out okay. My friends from Guatemala, Andrew and Clark, were both in town and it was delightful.June meant Bree's birthday and of course I had to make a trip up to NJ to celebrate with her. Her idea of celebrating was doing her first ever triathalon. Ya, she's kind of a

big deal. So Em and Adriel and I jumped in the Vibe and drove north. We got there SUPER late, but we had a good time on the journey. We would have been earlier if it weren't for the fact that it took us an extra hour just to drop by FedEx to get some posterboard to make posters for the next day. NJ has these silly things called jughandles and you can't make left hand turns ANYWHERE!! Needless to say, NJ is now my least favorite state to drive in.Look how amazing she is!Just about to jump into the OCEAN for the swim part.Yes she is riding pretty much a children's bike and wearing a white styrofoam helmet. Awesome.
Bree just about to cross the finish line and laughing at all the awesome posters we made!There was another poster that said "We like blonds, chubby ones". Those of you who love Sandy as much as our family does will recognize these favorite lines.The beach there was pretty great.We went straight to a YSA activity in Princeton, NJ. Canoeing is always fun.And finally we ended the day with some serious line dancing. This place was so great! We were the youngest people there by probably 20 years and those people take their line dancing VERY SERIOUSLY. We were all best friends by the end of the night and they told us to be sure we came back soon. :)

There is a serious following of Dayclubbers in DC. Every once in awhile they do an activity that tempts me to call in sick and this one could not be passed up. Jet Blue had an incredible sale and we all got cheap tickets to go up to Boston for the day. DC day club does Boston, Ferris Bueller style. It was a dream come true. Especially the Red Sox game. I am a fan. Everything you've ever heard about Fenway is true. You walk in and you can't help but be a Red Sox fan. It was

one of the greatest athletic experiences I've ever had. I say that because I don't remember who they were playing or who won, but I just loved being there. It is American history captured in a baseball field. If I lived in Boston, I would spend A LOT of time there.

One the girls had a friend who met up with us in Boston. It happened to be a guy who I was in the MTC with me. We took a picture exactly like this the day before he was leaving the MTC, so we had to reenact it! Good old Elder Ross. Walden Pond. Beautiful.

What could be better than family and Carrie Underwood to celebrate the 4th of July? It is my favorite holiday and I was so happy to head to Utah to celebrate with my family. We did the Stadium of Fire and then the parade and other stuff in Cedar City. All of this was before heading up to our family reunions. First in Brianhead and then up in Heber at the church camp up there.

I love these little men!Grandma and the boys!He's just a little man.

Good old dad running for school board. Of course he had to be in a old car :)

Cute little Trent.

Allie is just adorable always.

LOVE this face!!

My cute Grandpa.

We played some rip roaring games at our family reunion. My dad has some serious booty shakin skills.

I absolutely love my family. They are the greatest, end of story. I can't imagine my life without them. These family reunions have been the best part of my summer my entire life. The best part of the Haynie reunion this year was hearing from my grandfather. He shared some letters from my grandmother that they had written when they were first dating. It was amazing to sit there surrounded by my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings and realize that all of us were there because my grandparents had met, fallen in love, gotten married and made the choice to start a family. I'm so grateful they did.

Summer o' Fun #2 - Memorial Day Weekend and Bluegrass Festival

2010-08-23T14:03:00.013-04:00

I know that you've all been waiting anxiously to read more about my summer.

I can't believe that we're already at the end of it. How did that happen? Where did the last few months go?

Once again, this will be a brief update, with LOTS of photos!! This is the second but there will be two more coming soon!!

This is how we started out our Memorial Day weekend in Southern California. Katie got into a crazy bicycle accident a few weeks before (not her fault) and her knee was broken. So Colton and I and others got to be helpers all weekend. It was great for getting through airport security. Straight to the front of the line. Katie was I'm sure less than thrilled about this, but she didn't complain once. She is so tough.Next to the night time segway tour that I once did with my sister in DC, this was probably the best touristy activity I have ever participated in. Yes, these are Gocars. The cure for boring tours of city sights. It is a GPS that gives you a tour if you stay on a certain route. We did downtown San Diego and it was so much fun to be cruising down the streets in this little guy!!
By all the big ships.
The Gaslamp district.Of course we had to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's to get Katie's favorite treat. Don't worry, we had the cashier take the picture for us.

My dear MTC friend Maren who is lives in Pacific Beach hosted us for the first few nights we were there. She is a gem. So wonderful to catch up with old friends. So many good memories.Tyler was our gracious host. Well technically his parents were, but either way we appreciated it greatly. Such a beautiful home and kind people.We stopped by the newly remodeled Mormon battalion visitors center. They have all sorts of fun stuff there. We were really excited about the panning for gold.I'm grateful for running water.Katie realizing she is VERY grateful for washing machines.Our faces in this are priceless. Katie was REALLY excited to be in this wagon.
The crutches also served as great props throughout the weekend.Hmm, what a lovely lighthouse. And if you can't tell, that's Katie and I standing in front of it. This is a perfect example of what happens when you ask someone else to take your photos for you...
Brittany Watson, soon to be Jeppson. One of my all time favorite people happened to be in SoCal that weekend and I took advantage of the chance to see her. She is getting married and moving to Denmark and DC will miss her greatly.My freshman roommate Vauri and her adorable children. I hadn't seen them in years and I took advantage of being down there to catch up. Oh the silly boys.The crew at the Dodgers game. One of the funnest baseball games I've been to due to the fact that the Dodgers barely won in the 9th inning!! We were sitting in the middle of the serious fan section. I felt bad I wasn't wearing blue. I became friends with the guy next to me and he was giving me all the stats on the players. Loved it.This is my friend Bill. Attorney by day, musician by night. He has a great love for Bluegrass music and festivals. I always love experiencing new things so my cohort in crime Emily and I planned to attend a festival with him. "THE" festival, according to him. It was in Gettysburg, PA from Friday to Sunday and we camped in a field with all the other bluegrass lovers. The weather was wonderful, the music was magical and the people watching was plentiful. Our little campsite. Just cooking up some oatmeal for breakfast. Turns out the Vibe is perfect for field camping.

Some of Em's photography. Gettysburg is a beautiful little area and we spent part of Saturday visiting some of the sights. One of my favorite moments is reading the Gettysburg address while standing where Lincoln would have stood. Truly inspiring.The weekend's participants:

Bill - the true Bluegrass authority. We were lucky to be with him. He was giving us all sorts of inside information.

Me - a lover of music and camping, especially together.
Em - The girl who is always up for any adventure especially if it involves dancing and singing in the streets.The most disappointing taco salad we had ever seen. It was just one of many food disasters that weekend.
Hahaha, one of Em's better ideas. She was using the tarp to see if she could fly. Just look how fun that is! Yes it's true, Alison Krauss and Union Station. Sigh, it was truly beautiful music.The cute couple who we sat by all weekend. They have just been married a few years and they came to the Bluegrass festival for their honeymoon so they come every year. They were great.

Ladybugs anyone?

2010-07-01T09:20:00.007-04:00

I realize I still have a lot to catch up on and I promise that will come, but I just had to post these pictures for everyone to see. My friend Cady was throwing a birthday party for her little girl Quinn who was turning one. She knows I love doing cakes so she asked for my help. I of course said yes and then proceeded to get a little out of control with a lot more than just the cake. I couldn't help it! I love themed parties and this one was just too perfect!!

Enjoy!! And yes I will gladly help all of you plan your children's festivities. :)

I had to use so much food coloring to get the frosting red that it stained her little hands and face pink. Luckily it came before they had to go to church the next day.

Summer o' Fun!! #1

2010-06-06T12:14:00.020-04:00

Well folks, here is another marathon blog post with very little writing and lots of fun photos. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. The good news is that tax season ended on April 15th and after spending WAY too much time indoors during the first few months of 2010, my goal for the remainder of the year and specifically the summer, was to spend as much time out of doors as possible. Begin Summer o' Fun 2010. I realize that summer doesn't start in April, but that is when my activities began. So every weekend since then has been spent doing something delightful. I really do lead a glorious life. It is amazing how much time there is for fun when you are only spending 40 hours/week at the office. To add to the fun of having more time on my hands, Emily Hardman has been living on our couch for the past 5 weeks. Those of you lucky enough to know her personally realize how wonderful this has been for me, if you aren't one of those lucky people, I just have to say that not only have we had endless hours of fun, but she has also made me a better person. Now...on to the photos!! Which to choose? There are too many!

It all started with me getting on a plane April 15th to visit my nearest and dearest. Well not really my nearest as I had to fly across the country to see them, but definitely my dearest. I flew in to Grand Junction where Janae and her tribe picked me up from the airport and after staying the night there, we headed out for Cedar City to spend the weekend at the family homestead. Brianna was also flying in from NJ that weekend and Kendra came down from Provo. So the only ones missing were Helaman and Tara. In keeping with my goal, I spent a lot of time out doors on the trampoline and swingset with Parker and the niece and nephews. Parker is only 10 and I think that he thinks I am an old woman sometimes. So when we were out on the tramp one day he asked if I could do a flip. Phhhe...of course I can do a flip! So I had to show him my front flip AND my back flip. And in reality it had been years since I had done this and I was not entirely sure if I still had the skill but I had to show my little bro that I was still fun and youthful! Luckily all the hours spent on a tramp as a youngster came through for me and I was able to land both of them. To further demonstrate my youthfulness I pulled some pretty awesome tricks on our swingset, including crossing the monkey bars (that used to be so much easier), hanging upside down from the monkey bars and pulling myself up, and though I no longer dared to do it, I described to him the glorious days when I could do cherry drops from bars like that. (Cherry Drop = hanging upside down without hands and then swinging so you can flip down and land on your feet.) I'm pretty sure Parker was sufficiently impressed and I was proud of myself, though I was also REALLY sore the next day. We also spent time hiking in St. George, I LOVE the red cliffs down there. There is just something wonderful about hiking across red sand stone cliffs. We also went swimming at Aunt Ellen's and got to play with Uncle Doug's new toy. They live outside of St. George so their backyard is essentially a sand dune. Perfect for driving one of these:

This isn't exactly what it looked like. But you get the idea. F-U-N!! The whole weekend was just wonderful. I love my family so much. They are wonderful and so much fun. I don't even know what I would do with out them.

How can you not love these faces?!

Tyler is obsessed with tractors. There happened to be one working across the street from my parents' house. He was in heaven!!

Drinking peach drink (fruit smoothie). Love the face!

The wonderful mother of these cute kids. Can you believe she just turned 26? Crazy!

I may have made Tyler some pajama pants to match mine. They have construction trucks all over them. He loved them!

The next adventure was Christina's birthday. I don't know if I've talked about her a lot on here, but she has been my friend/roommate for almost 3 years now and I just love her. She is truly one of the greatest people I know and I am better for knowing her. I flail more and my accents have become so much better. (yes we flail and talk in accents, sometimes at the simultaneously) I just have great roommates period as you can see from some of these ridiculous photos.

The birthday girl. Yes we made her wear that hat the whole night.

I made cow pie and she loved it and when she blew out the candles she definitely blew the oreo cookie crumbs all over my face. Awesome!

Happy Birthday!!

The birthday was a mid week activity and that weekend we went hiking up at Great Falls in MD. It was a little bit rainy but still beautiful. I just love the great outdoors!!

Great Falls with Adriel and David.

Went to the BYU Management Society Gala that night with some friends and ended up sitting at a table with this lovely couple, who ended up being my brother-in-law's mission president. Love it.

I just realized that I skipped a couple of activities that happened prior to April 15th so I'll throw in a few of those photos. Mostly because it was conference weekend and Bree came down from NJ and we had a wonderful time. Conference was just what I needed to help me get through the last few weeks of busy season.

Showing off our skills at a YSA skating activity.

Cherry blossom festival. So beautiful and so crowded.

The next weekend started off with a 5k on Friday night. It was around Crystal City and there were a bunch of fun people who did it. Christina and I decided to dress up a little bit for the occasion.

Some pre-race warm ups

Walking over to the race from David's house. We just needed a reason to stop and pose.

Post race. It was pretty warm. I love running 5ks.

Saturday was filled from morning to evening. In all my planning and love of doing fun things I tend to overbook myself sometimes. But I couldn't say no to kayaking or to a bridal shower or to going to dinner to celebrate Christina's birthday, just the two of us. So I did all of the above and loved them all. Though I did have to go to the bridal shower smelling a little bit like the river. Oh well.

My home teacher Jared has some kayaks and promised to take me as soon as we both had some free time. We finally made it happen and we had so much fun! Up til this trip my only kayaking experience was in the ocean in sea kayaks, which are a little bit different.

Jared and I had our own kayaks and he taught me some great tricks for how to use your companions kayaks to get ahead.

We were one the river for about 8 miles and over 3 hours. The whole journey was absolutely beautiful. These pictures do not do it justice. and what is crazy is that we were in Northern Virginia, practically in people's backyard, but you would never have known.

I was trying to stand up in my kayak...apparently this isn't a good idea. But I didn't fall in :)

Jared dropped me off at the bridal shower which I was a little late to. But I got there just in time for the best part...belly dancing!! True story, my friend Abby had a belly dancer come and give us a lesson at her shower. Hands down the best bridal shower I have ever been to!

I think the just off the river look that I'm sporting is the hottest look :)

Thanks to my dear friend Dianna, that Sunday I discovered a new part of DC. The National Arboretum is a little slice of heaven in the midst of a crazy city. The azaleas were in bloom when we were there and it was amazing. We can't wait to go back to find more amazing things.

Nothing like a little yoga in the middle of the Asian gardens.

My roommates wanted to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and they definitely lived up to the "Go big or go home" motto. Sombreros, pinata, guacamole, even an awesome mustache.

Next stop on the summer o' fun train: river rafting in Ohiopyle, PA. One road trip with Emily Hardman and Matt Fischer coming right up. The river rafting itself was great! My first time, and we had such a great crew even though our feet were like blocks of ice by the time we were done. But the trip itself was quite the journey. We got started late and then we decided to make a little stop in Cumberland, MD. First of all because we were switching drivers and we wanted to get some ice cream, and second of all because there were some beautiful church steeples beckoning us from afar. The city is very quaint and we stopped on their little main street to try to find a treat. Keep in mind it was already pretty late at this point and there wasn't anything open. So we entertained ourselves with some interpretive dancing as well as a guitar concert from some friends we met hanging out on a bench. They informed us that McDonald's was just around the corner so we headed over in search of some ice cream cones. We found that and more. Apparently McDonald's is the only thing open late so there were all sorts of characters there. We sat down with some older gentlemen who were telling us all sorts of stories about the city and their lives. Not to mention giving us advice about not wearing sunscreen among other things. Hilarious. They also gave us a recommendation about where to eat in Ohiopyle. Which came in handy the next evening. After leaving Cumberland it should have only been another 45 minutes to our destination. Somehow it just didn't work out that way. We didn't have an exact address for the campsite (it's a campsite!) so after driving on random dirt roads that led to the top of a hill in the middle of a field, we were finally able to get cell phone service and talk to some one at the camp site who gave us gps coordinates (bless Ryan Blick). We finally got there after 1am when almost everyone was asleep. We set up our tent, blew up our air mattress (sorry other folks next to us who may have already been sleeping) and settled in for the night. Lucky for us the tent we were in was good and rain proof because it POURED for several hours which equaled me getting very little sleep. But the next morning was bright, sunny and chilly. We didn't go rafting with the morning group but waited til later. Em decided not to go at all and then she got lost while we were gone and we couldn't find her but really she couldn't find us. It's a long story, but we finally found her and we all made it home safe and sound. After a stop at the recommended restaurant that had rolls as big as our heads and delicious coconut cream pie that they gave us for FREE!! Wow! So here are a few photos to document the journey.

Em's lap was the only place to put the firewood.

We found a random playground in "town" and had a marvelous time.

Minus spinning around on this thing. It was definitely one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" moments. Bleh!!

Trying to avoid the smoke around the fire.

Somebody's excited!

What a great looking crew. Many thanks to Seth who just has all this gear and lets us all use it.

The beautiful but chilly river.

The rolls as big as our heads. They were delicious but Em swears they were just two rhodes rolls put together. Either way, we were hungry and they tasted delish!!

I think that is enough for one blog post. There is so much more to write! I am only up to the first weekend in May! Stay tuned for more delightful adventures. Hopefully you didn't get too bored with this one.

Pour some sugar on me!!

2010-02-28T21:42:00.008-05:00

Livin' on a Prayer

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Summer of '69

Footloose

99 Red Balloons

Jessie's Girl

Eye of the Tiger

Jack and Diane

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Mickey

Wake me up Before you Go Go

What do all of these songs have in common? Only that they are all from one of the greatest decades of music that ever existed. And me being the lucky girl that I am had the joy of hearing them all performed live by the most amazing 80's cover band ever, The Legwarmers.

Words cannot describe the music, dancing, legwarmers, bangs, and bright colors that made this night one of the greatest thus far in my life. So I'll just stop writing and post some photos. Sigh, it was a dream come true.

Oh, but I do just need to say that the lead guitarist/vocalist, "Cru" and I had a serious flirtation going on during the concert (I may have been pressed right up against the stage) and I actually met him after the concert!!! To quote a great movie that I'm watching right now "I was star struck" (anyone?)

Christmas, New Year's Eve and the Snowpocalypse!!

2010-02-10T21:20:00.005-05:00

I'm stuck inside and have been for more hours than I care to think about. This is courtesy of the craziest set of winter storms that the Washington DC area has ever seen...or at least that any one who is alive can remember. Snow fall records have been broken right and left. All of this has resulted in me working from home for several days and spending a lot of quality time with my roommate Christina. Our most recent endeavor to keep ourselves from going crazy was an impromptu dance party. It started at the end of Step Up 2 and we just had to keep going. Here are some photos to show all the fun we have had. Shoveling up a storm and baking delicious things. Baked French toast, cinnamon rolls, and tortilla soup. We figured if we were going to be confined to the house at least we would be well fed. :)

So here are some photos of my Christmas break, which was wonderful. This first one is the family acting out the nativity, a Christmas Eve tradition. It doesn't get any better than Parker "Joseph" pulling Bryson "the donkey" by the hair while Shandi "Mary" is about to fall off his back. Except for little Tyler "a wise man" yelling at the other shepherds and wise men when they stole his "golden" from his little box he was carrying. Adorable.

We wanted to get out of town for New Years so we decided to head down to Charleston, SC. It was delightful.

Going out to dinner in DC for restaurant week with the girls.
The snow boots Christina finally invested in...a little too late. But they sure are cute.
Shannon's truck.
Trying to clean all the snow off my car.

Van Dorn...a street that usually has hundreds of cars going up and down at any given time.
Our parking lot in the middle of the blizzard.

All good things must come to an end

2009-09-29T16:46:00.021-04:00

My funemployment has come to an end. I am back in a cubicle. I am the newest senior staff accountant at PBGH LLP, a small CPA firm in Fairfax, VA. While I am happy to have income, I can't say I am thrilled to have rejoined the work force. I have been working for just over 3 weeks and after being FUNEMPLOYED for 6 months, it has been quite an adjustment. Luckily, my new job is pretty great. Nice people who believe in work/life balance and leave the office at reasonable hours. Really, the latest I have been at the office is 5:45! Love that. And yes, I will be working more when tax season comes, but they do something called compensatory time which means all the overtime I work goes into a pool and I get to take those hours at a later date of my choice. As far as accounting jobs go, it's a good setup. Not my dream job but it will do for now.

Now for a few updates on my last months of freedom and how I enjoyed them to the FULLEST! I won't write a lot, but just know that my six month break was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Loved it all and highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance.

First of all, to wrap up my time in Guatemala, I finished working at the orphanage and spent the last little bit traveling with friends. I went up to northern Guatemala, Flores and Tikal and then over to Belize and then Rio Dulce. SO GREAT!!! Beautiful lakes, rivers, ruins, beaches, sailing, friends, food, tree houses, boats, volcanoes...loved it all.

We hiked Pacaya, a live volcano. And we roasted marshmallows on the lava. Not joking.

This is the "tree house" I stayed in on the Rio Dulce. Totally reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson.

Riding up Rio Dulce on a speed boat was magical. It was actually my 3rd of 4 boat trips that day after traveling down Belize back to Guatemala on 2 different boats and then the tree house was only accessible by boat, so I took a boat to dinner. Amazing.
Our favorite eating establishment in Placencia. We ate every meal there, looking out onto one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to.

I just love this sign. Read it with an accent.
Our first stop in Belize was Caye (pronounced "key") Caulker. A small island off the coast of Belize City. And life really did slow down here.

Our little beach cabins where we stayed.
Our all day sailing/snorkeling crew. We all became best friends. They were all wonderful but I think the bottomless rum punch may have helped.
Captain Steve.
Who doesn't want to swing from a vine when you're in the jungle?
One of the famous temples of Tikal. These ruins are amazing.
I like spiders.

After stopping in DC for a day to exchange my Guatemala stuff for normal stuff, my first stop was Mesa where I visited my old roomie Lisa and her cute family.
I was there along with my entire family to pay tribute to one of my heroes. My grandmother Laurel Petersen Ellsworth passed away while I was gone and I was lucky to make it back in time for her funeral. She was an incredible lady.
Driving back from AZ. This is one of our favorite spots to take family photos. I'm not sure how many pictures we've taken here, but there have been a lot.
I spent the next month in Cedar City enjoying my family. Going to high school football games, homecoming assemblies, and being very domestic.
At a ward party with my fam. My dad loves his crazy clothes.
Made a trip up to Provo to have a reunion with all the Mozambique crew except for Mags who was in Michigan. I love these people. Love, love, love!!
Bree and I had so much fun helping my mom with Caige who is one of the foster kids living with my parents right now.
Can you even believe how big and tough Bryson is? What a heart throb!
Making salsa and crying our eyes out!!

Saryn was on homecoming royalty and she looked beautiful!!
Bree and I took advantage of our funemployment and headed down to our favorite place in Mexico. Puerto Penasco. Our lovely cousins were kind enough to let us hang out at their condo for a few days and it was heavenly.

Next domestic project was making a dress from some old patterns from the 1950s that I bought online. My mom is a genius. I helped, but I never would have been able to do it without her.

We also made a t-shirt quilt for Bree while we were there. This shirt did not make the cut though pretty incredible she can still fit into it! Since this is what she looked like when she first wore it :)

I LOVE this temple. Love it. And love that I got to go with my mom.
So blessed to attend several sessions of conference at the conference center (thank you Isom family) and got together with one of my favorite visiting teachers of all time.
Spent time with my MTC companion and her cute family. She makes faces just like her mom.
And finally made it back to DC where since I was still funemployed, I took over several home improvement projects to keep myself busy. This is one of the only ones documented but this is Christina in front of the couch that came with a chair and ottoman that I found on Craigslist for FREE. Thanks to Shannon for letting us use her truck for the day after she had only known me for 3 days. We moved this and also purchased a new coffee table and dining room table from our favorite thrift store, Unique. I need to write a whole blog post about that later. The dining room table needed a lot of work, it was only $6 and it looked like it came from a school or something. It was the yellow wood and it had markings on it and gum on the bottom...ya pretty gross. I wish I would have taken a before picture. But I sanded it down and painted it red, and then black and then distressed it and it now looks quite lovely if I do say so myself. It was a great project. I also painted my room and the kitchen and started getting decor for my room.
Jen and I really wanted to go on a picnic, unfortunately we chose to go the day it turned cold. It was still fun though!

I LOVE So you think you can dance. And I attended the concert tour for the 2nd year in a row and am fully planning to attend this next one as well. It all started back in Season 2 when I was an intern in DC and I have loved it ever since.

Christina and I took a road trip up to PA where they had just opened a branch of my favorite store!! HOBBY LOBBY!! And we spent 5 hours there. And we ate lunch in the aisle at one of the display tables, we came prepared with a packed lunch. They really need a cafe in there or something for those of us who take our decor and craft shopping very seriously. If you want to know more about my obsession with this place, just ask. And if you want to come with me on the next trip, it will be happening soon after the new year.

There was some AMAZING fall foliage on our trip back down to VA.
We stopped in Gettysburg on the way home.
My cute cousin Anna left her husband and boys behind to come spend some time with me. We had a great time shopping, taking photos and visiting family up in MD.

I love karaoke!!

You may recognize Clark from all of my Guatemala photos. He is now in Philly going to law school and he came down to visit. It was a lovely weekend.

I took advantage of my last week of funemployment to head south for Thanksgiving. I stopped in NC to see my old roommate Ani and then headed to SC to visit with the Houghtalings and then to Atlanta to stay with Ryan and Amber. This is at the children's museum there. Curt and Lindsey were down as well and then we all headed to Carl and Court's in Alabama for Thanksgiving day. It was such a fun road trip. I loved seeing all of them.

Am and I may have been doing some "leaping" reminiscent of Sunday night aerobics (you girls know what I'm talking about).
Oh the annual ugly sweater party.
And finally this last weekend was just about as much fun as a girl can handle. One of the reasons I chose to move to DC was because of the lack of this white powdery stuff. But occasionally it still comes and this time was a doozy. It started on Friday evening and did not stop until late Saturday night. Linds and I stayed cuddled up warm in our house all day Saturday and finally resurfaced on Sunday to find the entire area shut down. All church meetings canceled and only a few brave souls on the roads. We walked to visit our closest friends down the street and then came back to spend the next 4 hours digging out our own cars and several others in the parking lot. It was a great way to meet all of our neighbors!!

Well that was the longest post ever and now I'm pretty much updated. I leave today for Cedar City and can't wait to see my family. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

One of the best things about being in a third world country...

2009-09-21T16:25:00.015-04:00

...is that they let you do things that you would never be allowed to do in the US of A. From the first weekend I got to Antigua I had been hearing about this place called Semuc Champey and how I needed to do one of the weekend trips there. We finally found a weekend when we could all go so Clark, Drew, Julie and I all booked with our favorite little underground travel agency to do a Friday through Sunday expedition. Julie, if I haven't told about her yet, moved into the house where I was staying after Simon and Zoe left to go back to England. She is also from England and just absolutely adorable. We were friends within the first 5 minutes of meeting. So all 4 of us planned to go together. Clark and Drew arrived from Patzicia late as usual. But we met a new friend while we were waiting. Her name is Lizzie and she made up the 5th member of our weekend party of 5.

The drive to Lanquin, where we would be spending the night, took about 8 hours. It was not the funnest drive of my life, but we bonded with the other people in our group. There were two vans full of people. Our driver's name was Jose who I had become friends with from booking other trips and shuttles. His little friend Chris was also riding with us and we had a good time becoming friends with him. He was quite the ladies man. He told us one of the girls in our van was his girlfriend which was funny because she was at least 10 years older than his 12 years :) And every time I saw him around Antigua after that he usually had his arm around at least one girl. Anyway, the point is that our guides were really great. They were all originally from that area so they had grown up in the places they were taking us.

Saturday morning started early with a delicious breakfast and then we all loaded into the back of pickup trucks to drive the 45 minutes on a slightly bumpy dirt road down to the river/falls/caves. This was very reminiscent of a drive we took at a family reunion many years ago in the back of a cattle truck. We were on our way to Pacheco where my grandfather was born, but instead of 45 minutes it was 3 or 4 hours. Now that was an adventure. We were all sore for the rest of the family reunion.

When we arrived at the river our first stop was actually on the bridge that crossed the river. Jose stopped the truck, got out and told us this was our chance to jump. And so we all got out and most of the group jumped off the 30' bridge into the beautiful blue-green water. This was just the beginning of our adventures that day. After we all got back into the trucks we rode a little further to the trailhead of the lookout point for Semuc Champey which is a chain of natural pools that reminded me a lot of Havasupai. When we hiked down to the pools, our whole group followed our guides like little lemmings as they told us where to walk and when to jump off the waterfalls. We worked our way down the right side of the falls jumping, swimming and falling on the slippery rocks and finally arrived at the big waterfall where our guides tied a rope to this stake and then we all climbed down the waterfall. No we did not have harnesses, nor any sort of safety gear, yes there was water rushing down over my head preventing me from seeing anything, no we did not have any idea where we were going so when the guide told me to go down I was a little nervous about where I was going to come out. Turns out that there was a cave underneath the pools where the underground river comes out. So great!! After hanging out there for a bit, we jumped off the next little section of the waterfall, swam across the river which had quite a bit of a current (no they did not ask us beforehand about our level of swimming skills) and then climbed up the other side of the waterfall using another rope, no safety gear, with water pouring down over our heads. WONDERFUL!!!

We didn't have as much time to swim in the pools as we would have liked, but it was because we had to get on our way to our next adventure. And sadly I don't have any photos of this because we had to leave our cameras at the bottom. After walking back to the trailhead we walked back across the river and over to what is called Lanquin Caves. Here we left all of our stuff and then we hiked up a little trail to where a stream/river was coming out of a cave. As we entered the cave, our guide lit our candles that each of us had been given before hiking up. We walked into the cave and at first we were just walking through water, but then we came to a part where we had to climb up a ladder. And then we came to a part where we had to swim, well dog paddle while trying to keep our hand with our candle above the water. But the two best parts were where we arrived at a rushing waterfall and there was a ladder on one side and a rope on the other. I just assumed that even though our guide climbed up the rope that he was going to make us climb up the ladder, but he gave us the choice! And when you're given a choice between climbing a ladder or a rope up a waterfall, inside a cave, by candlelight in Guatemala, there is really only one option...the rope!!! It was exhilirating. We didn't actually hold our candles while we were climbing. We handed it to the guide before we went up, and we got it again once we got up. There were several times when everyone's candles went out and we had to get them relit. Just before we turned around to head back out, we got to a point in the caves where we could climb up on a ledge and jump down into a pool. At first when we stopped, we had no idea what we were doing and the guide was just kind of pointing and motioning with his flashlight. Then after the first guy did it, we understood what we were doing. And once again, cliff jumping inside a cave, by candlelight is not something you can say no to. It was hilarious because the guide would just point with his flashlight to the spot in the water where he wanted us to jump. AMAZING!! Once again, this whole description doesn't really do this experience justice. We all kept looking at eachother the whole time as if to ask, "Is this real? Are we really hiking/climbing/swimming/jumping in a cave by candlelight?". It was very much a combination of Pirates of the Caribbean/Goonies/Indiana Jones.

When we returned to daylight, the last adventure of the day was tubing down the river to where the truck would pick us up. And after all the exercise we'd had that day, I was more than happy to plop down in a tube in a beautiful blue-green river, surrounded by jungle and just relax for a little while. Sigh. It was magical.

The rest of the trip was just full of bonding with the others in the group, eating good food and spending more time in the van on the ride back. There were once again SO many great people in this group. We would run into them all the time for the rest of my time in Guatemala. Mary Claire from Scotland, Suzy from Canada, Lizzie from England and the list goes on.

It was one of the best weekends EVER!

I'm home and ready to update

2009-09-16T23:30:00.001-04:00

Updating is obviously something I'm struggling with. That is partly because the computers in Guatemala were pretty slow with blogs and partly because I was having so much fun that I didn't want to spend time blogging about the fun things I was doing. So my goal for the next week is to update with at least most of my adventures that I had while in Guatemala. I'm going to start where I left off which was really just the first week I was there. The second week I was there I actually got really sick. The kids at the orphanage all had the flu and kindly passed it on to us volunteers. I now understand why so many elementary teachers keep large bottles of hand sanitizer on their desks. I called my mom during this weekend and she thought I was going to die from the sound of my cough. I felt like I was going to die. And I realized that even though being sick at home is not fun, it is a far cry better than being sick in a third world country without the comforts of home. After a few days of sitting in my red cement walled room for several days straight I left to attend church partly because I wanted to find the Elders to ask them to give me a blessing and partly because I was so sick of being in my bed. It's amazing how much better it is being sick when you have television and movies to pass the time. Needless to say, I didn't go anywhere fun that week.

By the next weekend I was finally recovered enough to venture out. There were some volunteers from the orphanage who were heading to Honduras to visit the Copan ruins, so I decided to go with them. The actual distance is not that far, however, the journey was less than exciting. We left at 4am on Saturday and there were 12 of us packed into a small shuttle van. The roads are windy and the van got hot. I was in the back seat and the only way I kept from getting sick was putting my headphones in with some calming music and telling myself over and over that I was not going to be sick. My friend Tom who was sitting in the back with me did not have a system like this and we ended up having to pull over to let him out. After that he switched places with someone and sat in the front for the rest of the journey.

We finally arrived in Copan Ruinas, which is the quaint little town next to the ruins, around 10am and quickly found a really cheap but lovely place to stay and went in search of some breakfast. The ever faithful Lonely Planet had some suggestions and we took one of them, ending up at the most delicious little restaurant called. The breakfast was delicious and it was accompanied by a fresh mango smoothie that was even better. They have fresh fruit smoothies called liquados in almost every restaurant and because they're so cheap, having one with my meal became a tradition while I was down there. After breakfast we headed to the ruins. Copan is part of the Mayan civilization and it is famous for its well preserved carvings. As you can see in these pictures, many of the columns and temples have carvings on them that are very clear. We had a great tour guide and had some fun taking photos. It was so much hotter and more humid down there than in Antigua. We were all gross and sweaty by the time we were done looking at the ruins. But it was beautiful. It is so incredible to think how many hundreds of people lived in those civilizations over the years. They built them all without machines or even wheels. I don't know how they did it. We took it easy that night as we were all so exhausted from our early morning. Phoung and I were sharing a room and we actually watched Gossip Girls in Spanish for awhile. That was pretty entertaining. Because of the long journey home, we had to leave at noon the next day, but luckily our shuttle was much less crowded on the way home. In fact I had my own seat and was able to sleep most of the way home.

It was a quick trip but I'm so glad that I went. I loved getting to know Phoung, Tom and Simon better. We also ended up meeting some other new friends while we were down there who went around the ruins with us. Meeting new people was one of my favorite things about my time down in Guatemala. Everywhere I went there were fun new people who were just waiting to share their stories and make new friends. It was delightful. I love people!

Lake Atitlan

2009-07-30T19:27:00.007-04:00

This is a typically dressed little Mayan girl. It never ceases to amaze me how they can just walk around/sit/converse with tons of stuff on their heads.

This is a woman doing the typical Mayan backstrap weaving. These take forever and I can't imagine doing this for your entire life.

This is our photo shoot for the next "Lake Atitlan" teen drama series. As you can see I'm the only girl character...you can only imagine what kind of drama is going to happen!!

This lake is so beautiful and the pictures don't do it justice. I didn't want to leave.

Lake Atitlan at Sunset from our deck and from the restaurant where we ate dinner.

Our boat ride across the lake was AMAZING. We actually had our own private boat and he took us to three of the small villages. They were each so beautiful. We felt like each one was actually it's own island.

Here I am riding in the back of a truck on the way to visit "Maximon". A local idol who is known as the black Jesus. He smokes and drinks and he moves from place to place. They took us to the house where he was and they were having some type of ceremony. Very interesting. The drive around the lake was beautiful though.

Photos of the kids and Guatemala

2009-07-23T20:18:00.005-04:00

These are pictures of Antigua where I'm living. It is a beautiful and fun city.

Hermana Aury, Alejandra, Levy, and Brandon.

Marina

Tania

Oscar. He is so adorable and probably one of my favorites. But they're all adorable.

Mangy, Bryan, Neta, Andrea and Tania.

FUNEMPLOYMENT!

2009-07-20T20:37:00.003-04:00

The title of this post comes from one of my new Guatemala friends who told me that is what I have been doing since I was laid off. And it's true. My unemployment is definitely fun. The last 6 weeks have included sightseeing in Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, and of course Utah. Those were some good times. But as good as they were, I think my first week in Guatemala eclipses them all.

Like any major change in life, it's been a little scary and stressful. Monday was a little crazy since I got no sleep on Sunday night. I flew in from Utah at 10:30pm and had to be at the airport to leave for Guatemala by 5am. So I did some packing and cleaning, and no sleeping. By the time I arrived in Guatemala I was a little bit tired and delusional. Mandy and Guillermo picked me up from the airport to take me to the orphanage which was an hour away. I was grateful that I was not the one driving. Holy cow they are crazy here. Aaron, I now understand the rules of driving that you were explaining to us when we were in Puerto Rico. There really aren't any. But my first glimpses of the country were beautiful. Everything is so green and beautiful. A different green than I've really ever seen anywhere before. The fields that go straight up the side of the mountains are great

That first day I arrived at the orphanage and met the kids and some other volunteers who I'm working with, who are all so great. Simon and Zoe are a married couple from London who have been traveling south and central america for the last 6 months. Tom is a student from England who wanted to do something fun with his summer. Phoung is a school therapist who also wanted to do something great with her summer. And the list of fun new people goes on and on.

There are 15 kids at the orphanage, ages 13 - 11 months. They are adorable. I have had a chance to hear some of their stories and it is heartbreaking. Mandy and Guillermo are doing an incredible thing by bringing them in and giving them a home and a family. Because that is really what the orphanage feels like. The kids fight and play and help eachother all the time. I love seeing their interactions (not so much the fighting ones). I will post some photos of our activities. But basically what we're doing is teaching them school. Which is pretty awesome since none of us are teachers AND each child is on a completely different level. It's pretty crazy some days trying to figure out how we can help in the best way. The reason they're not in school has to do with the way Guatemala runs their public schools. A little messed up. But I'm happy I can help. We do school in the morning and activities in the afternoon. Sometimes I feel like I'm babysitting 10 kids...which can get a little out of hand. But the kids just love you and love being around you, and it's nice to be loved.

The latest development is that I actually moved to Antigua on Monday. I was at the orphanage for a week and after talking to the other volunteers I found a homestay for really cheap that provides all my meals and I am taking Spanish lessons once a week. I actually feel really spoiled down here. I don't have to cook or clean or do anything except teach school, play with kids and do fun things on the weekends. Anyone who wants to join in the fun is welcome to come down. It is amazing. I need to write an entire different post about this last weekend. But I want to get something posted tonight so I'm just going to post this right now. I'll also remember to bring my camera cord next time to send some photos.

Hasta luego!!

Guatemala!!

2009-07-13T01:32:00.002-04:00

Well this has to be quick but I just wanted to let everyone know that I am leaving for Guatemala in about 5 hours. I will be gone for almost 3 months and email will pretty much be the only way to get ahold of me. The story of how I got to this point has more details than I have time to write on here seeing as how I am still in the process of packing, but I would be more than happy to answer any questions if you comment or write me an email. I will be working in an orphanage in Chimaltenango and I am very excited about it. I am going to try to post updates occasionally. Wish me luck!!

Sun, Scuba and...Swine flu?

2009-05-21T13:09:00.013-04:00

No I do not have the Swine Flu. But I did have a great time in Mexico. And I am grateful for the Swine Flu only because after being in Mexico for a week, my office would not let me return to work for another 5 business days! I had to "work from home" for another week!! Which means that instead of just one week of vacation I practically had TWO full weeks of relaxation. Well, to be honest, the second one spent at home was probably more relaxing than the first one spent in Mexico. This is due to the decision Dianna and I made to get scuba certified while we were in Mexico. It turned out to be more of a challenge than either of us anticipated. Those who have been will hopefully sympathize with me. If not, please don't tell me how easy it was for you, I don't want to hear about it.

We flew into Cabo San Lucas on Saturday afternoon and our trip was already off to a rocky start. Our flight from DC to Atlanta ended up sitting on the runway for much longer than it should have due to a gate change. This made an already tight connection even tighter. We made our connection, but were certain that our luggage would not. Our fears were confirmed when we arrived in Mexico and were greeted by no luggage, but instead a form with our name and information on it saying the next flight that could bring our luggage would be arriving the next day at the same time. We were very disappointed to leave the airport without our luggage but comforted by the fact that they had been organized enough to already have our info ready when we flew in. We were the first in our group to arrive at the resort and we couldn't check-in so we went on a tour. We were staying at a very nice place called Villa del Arco. Great pools and an okay beach. Honestly, the best beach I have been to is still our beach in Rocky Point. Love it. We ate an incredible pizza at the outdoor restaurant over looking the ocean while we were waiting. All in all, we were just happy to be in Mexico enjoying the beautiful weather and freedom from real life, even without our stuff.

Lucky for us, we were sharing a room with two other girls, my sister Tara and her friend Amanda. We were able to make due with the few things we had with us until the next day when our luggage gratefully showed up as promised. Sunday was a great day that started with a visit to the local branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I love visiting church in different countries. It was in Spanish so I understood some, but not all. You also never know who you're going to see there. For instance, Ryan Denney happened to be visiting that Sunday as well with his family. Now I didn't know that it was him, but other people who actually recognize professional athletes told me that it was him. We made some new friends there who directed us to the best local bakery and tortilla factory. As I have already mentioned on here, I love good food. And so much of traveling is about the good food you get to eat. Fresh tortillas are at the top of my list of things I love most, so anytime I can get them, I eat a lot. We also found at the bakery these cream cheese bread that we always get with my family when we're at Rocky Point, but I promise these were the best I've ever had...Princess Bakery, you rock. We made a stop at Costco to get some supplies for the week. Yes there is a Costco and a Sam's Club down there. It was just like at home. My experience going to Costco in a foreign country wasn't nearly as exciting as my cousin Shane's. He went in Tokyo and wrote a very funny post about it.

Monday started our SCUBA training at Amigos Del Mar. The first day was just book work and watching videos with our instructor Jonathan. Since we had both read the book on the flight there, we had the info pretty fresh in our minds and passed each quiz with flying colors. We wrapped up early and were feeling good about getting to practice in the pool the next day. We went to this random pretty empty resort across the street from the scuba shop and their pools were nice. What wasn't so nice was us in the pool. To make a long story short, because I don't want to type it all, the actual practice of the moves ended up being a lot harder than reading about it in the book. We survived the pool practice with all the gear and and the floating and the breathing, etc. For some reason, I could not get the "hovering" along the bottom down. The next two days we had our ocean dives and Dianna and I were each at different times terrified and frustrated beyond belief.

The first dive ever in the ocean, we weren't down that deep and I had a REALLY hard time with the whole neutral buoyancy thing and I accidentally floated to the top a couple of times...without being told. And for those of you who know something about scuba diving, you know that this is a very bad and potentially dangerous thing to do. So much so that after the second time it happened, when I finally got back down with the rest of the group, Jonathan, our instructor, grabbed my arm and pulled me down until I was sitting on my bum on the bottom of the ocean. He then proceeded to scold me for my bad performance with a lot of gesturing and finger shaking since talking/yelling was obviously out of the question. Needless to say, my first dive was not my favorite. In fact, when we were finally back on the boat, the only thing I could say was "I hate scuba diving". Sad. Fortunately the next dive that day went better inspite of getting caught in some crazy currents. And the two dives the next day went well for me. I started to enjoy the things we were seeing a little bit instead of just being constantly worried about whether Jonathan was in sight and if I was getting too close to the bottom. Dianna was not as lucky. During our first dive of the 2nd day, she actually kicked her fin off and had to go back to get it. She was kind of panicked which caused her to breathe harder, resulting in her running out of air and getting to use our newly learned air-sharing skill in real life. Crazy. She was pretty shaken up, but she got back in and we conquered. I have to say that I will definitely need a break before trying it again, but I am proud that I got the certification.

The trip was amazing and I came back with a great base tan to start off the summer :) Though I must say that I think I like Rocky Point and being at the beach with my whole family a little bit more. Viva la Mexico!!

Food Glorious Food!

2009-04-23T15:23:00.013-04:00

There have been several occasions over the last few months where delicious food has been a main focus. I feel that these delicious foods deserve some sort of recognition.

First, my friend Dianna introduced me to a delicious recipe for Veggie Pizza. It's easy, healthy and so very yummy. Whole wheat dough from Trader Joe's, Pesto sauce, a base of spinach, lots of chopped veggies of your choice, and a light sprinkling of mozarella cheese. No better way to get all your servings of vegetables.

Second discovery, also courtesy of Dianna, the Pear'wich. This is another healthy meal that I have eaten a lot over the past few months. All it takes is 2 pieces of bread (I like to use OatNut though the recipe says to use whole wheat), a smear of Almond Butter, half a pear-sliced, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. You assemble these as you would any sandwich and you have the most delightful treat of a sandwich you've ever had.

Third, the delicious banana cake I talked about before. I have pictures this time that show just how lovely and scrumptious it was. We changed up the recipe from the one on SmittenKitchen and did a cream cheese frosting with pecans sprinkled on top. Wonderful.

Last of all, we put together a rather impressive Easter dinner. We were lucky to have some visitors, my friends Jess and Megan were in town as was Daniel (as of that weekend, Ani's fiance!!). Dianna had a recipe for Island Pork Tenderloin that she shared (she is a wealth of good recipes!) and ask anyone who ate it, it is DIVINE!! It consists of seasoned, baked tenderloin served on a bed of coconut rice, sprinkled with mangos and topped a brown sugar glaze. My mouth is watering just thinking about the deliciousness of it all!

Ani made lemon cake for dessert and Christina and I had put together a little Easter basket with special prizes for everyone. They had to follow the trail of M&Ms to find it. heeheehee. It was great fun.

I love good food!

Stomp the Yard??

2009-04-20T15:54:00.007-04:00

First of all, this happened quite a long time ago, in February to be exact, but I never got around to blogging about it because there were too many other things going on and because I was waiting for my mom to see if she could find a video of me from high school when I did a step routine for half time at a basketball game. The video could not be found, but I just went back and watched all of these videos and remembered why I wanted to write about it so much.

My friend Amanda had some co-workers who were participating in George Washington University's Annual Step competition and when she mentioned it I immediately asked when and where. We gathered quite a group for what turned out to be an incredible show. These two videos are a sampling of what we watched for many hours that night. Most of the groups were from fraternities or sororities, but these two are high school groups that performed as "opening acts". They were actually better than most of the college groups. (seeing these girls dance reminded me of Amber, Anna and Syd doing their step routine)

I have never been to a step competition before, but ever since seeing "Stomp the Yard" I have wanted to desperately. This was a dream come true! I became friends with the girl sitting next to me and I asked her all sorts of ridiculous questions through out the night. She was great and explained everything to me. One of my favorite tidbits was that the mean looks they have on their faces while stepping is called "grit". This photo is of us practicing our grit during intermission. Which brings me to my other favorite part of the night. During intermission, the entire auditorium got on their feet and it turned into a huge dance party!!! Not kidding, the emcee was calling out songs to the DJ and there were people up on stage dancing. Wow, I loved every second of it!!! Did I mention that we were pretty much the only white people there as well? Loved that too. The whole auditorium felt like one big party with people chanting and cheering on their favorites. It was definitely an audience participation performance. This is something they apparently do quite frequently, and I can't wait to go to another one.

My other new love

2009-04-16T22:56:00.005-04:00

There are so many things I need to post about but I don't have time to write anything too long so I decided to just do something quick about one of my new loves. That love is Golds Gym. It's true. Up until about 2 months ago I had never belonged to any sort of gym. Didn't really believe in paying money to work out. But I have been converted. It started because I was looking into taking some sort of dance class out here, but with my work schedule, etc. it's hard to commit to the same time every week. After a lot of research, I decided that Golds was the best fit for my lifestyle/schedule. There are 6 gyms in the area that have different class schedules every day. With all those options, I can always find a class I want to go/can make it to. And the classes are AWESOME!! For those who have never been to Golds, they have this program that has "Body" classes that include the following:

Body Flow - A combination of Tai Chi, Yoga, and Pilates

Body Jam - Basically you just dance your heart out for an hour

Body Pump - Weights

Body Attack - High Level Aerobics, super intense

Body Step - Step class

Body Combat - Mixture of different martial arts/kickboxing

I have done all of these classes at least once, except for Pump. My favorites are Flow and Jam. Jam perfectly fulfills my craving for dance. The music is some of my favorite dance tunes and the moves help you get a work out and yet are completely funky/fun at the same time. I LOVE it! And with flow you get stretching, strength building, balance and relaxation. My friend Dianna who is my workout buddy has an equal obsession (more so than me actually) with Flow and she teaches a Body Step class. I actually spent 2 hours at the gym on Wednesday doing Attack and then Flow. I'm more than a little bit sore, but it's the good kind of sore. The point is, I have become one of those people, the gym people, and I can't believe it.

Cake Decorating Course 1 - Check!

2009-04-03T10:00:00.007-04:00

I am an official graduate of the Wilton Course 1 Cake Decorating class. We learned many things, like how to frost a cake and not show the crumbs, how to smooth it with parchment paper, some borders, flowers, and of course the rose. Which I never thought I would be able to do when our teacher, Ashraf, showed us. But all the roses on my last cake were made by yours truly! I spent almost 5 hours baking, making frosting and decorating that cake. Holy smokes! Good thing I truly love it.

The first class where we decorated a cake, I had signed up to feed the missionaries the next day and I thought, "Perfect. I don't want this cake sitting around my house, and Elders always want more food (at least in my experience)." Which is why the cake has a CTR on it. So great.

The rest of the cupcakes and cake I brought to work the next day and my co-workers love me. It's amazing what free food does for the work place. I have already started Wilton Course 2 and I LOVE it! I made cupcakes last night just so I could practice decorating them. Yes, I have an obsession. I also keep finding all these great cake/baking blogs and last weekend I made a yummy banana cake with cream cheese icing and pecans from a recipe on Smitten Kitchen.

I have decided my dream job is to own my own little bakery/cake decorating shop. But it has to be in a small town, not DC. So if anyone knows of any cute, small towns that need a cake decorator, please let me know and I will consider moving there to open a shop.

Back after 18 years!

2009-03-25T12:23:00.023-04:00

Where did I go back to after 18 years? That would be Philadelphia, PA, the city of brotherly love. I went there the summer of 1991 on a family reunion trip. Here is a photo, courtesy of my parents, of the kids in front of the Liberty Bell. Can you tell which child is me? And now, 18 years later, with friends Amanda and Christina.

This was just a quick weekend trip to visit Amanda's house actually and pick up some china from Amanda's mom for a tea party we're going to have. Her parents live in a darling cottage outside of Philly. And since her parents were such amazing hosts we felt like we were staying in a B&B. Not kidding there was a little bedside table with a rose and drinks plus a basket full of random shampoos/soaps/toothpaste/etc. for us to use. And the next morning even though Amanda's mom had to be at work by 5am or something, she still laid out a beautiful breakfast for us. So sweet. We enjoyed our stay very much.

We met up with Stacy and Krissa after visiting the Liberty Bell and we all went to the market where the highlight was definitely the baker's dozen of delecious gourmet cookies that we purchased and then divided into 5 parts so we could all sample each one. This is a video of Amanda cutting up the cookies. She was taking her job very seriously. The cookies were AMAZING!!!

The rest of the day was spent walking around Philly, taking random photos, visiting the Art museum, running up the Rocky stairs which I actually never knew were in Philly. (I don't know that I've actually even seen that whole movie...) The museum was probably my favorite art museum I've ever been to. They don't just have art on the walls, they have entire rooms that are from all over the world. This was one of my favorites. Christina and I walked in and both of us were instantly reminded of Sound of Music when Maria is dancing in the ballroom. I of course had to take a picture of me doing the same. I just wish I would have had a dress on like hers.

The funny part about this trip is when Amanda gave us a list of "must dos" for our day in Philly, the majority had to do with food. I already talked about the cookies, the other two major foods were soft Pretzels and Philly steak and cheese. The pretzel story is kind of ridiculous, but basically we couldn't find a place open and we finally found one when we were on our way home. They were good but I prefer Pretzel Time (which always reminds me of hanging out in the St.George mall when I was in middle school). And for the Philly steak and cheese, those of you who know me best will recognize that steak is not something I usually eat, but I sacrificed, and it was surprisingly delicious. I took off about half the steak that they piled on, but combined with the onions and peppers and some ketchup, I enjoyed it. I think I could handle eating one every few years...

All in all, the trip was fantastic. I love living in a place where weekend road trips can take me to places so different and historical.

Domestic Goddess

2009-03-11T13:14:00.014-04:00

I have always enjoyed doing arts and crafts but lately I have been delving into all sorts of new and exciting things. There are so many projects I don't even know where to start. So I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

My friend Dianna and I decided we were going to have a sewing night. I really wanted to make some pajama pants. For all you tall girls out there, you understand how difficult it is to find PJs that are long enough and not 13 sizes too big. I mostly just have one pair of warm PJ pants, my beloved gray sweats. Oh how I love them and will continue to wear them until they are nothing but threads. Anyway, I decided I wanted to make some new pants. We stopped by JoAnn's and picked out some fabric and other sewing paraphenalia (pattern, elastic, thread, etc.). I have made PJs before but it's been awhile. But after washing and drying the fabric, I was able to put them together pretty quick. And I love them. Made them just the right length and they are soft and cozy. Yes they are orange and they have dump trucks and contruction signs on them. My 2 year old nephew Tyler is very jealous. Love it.

So that was the first project. Next came my manager's baby shower. I was helping plan/prepare and I was in charge of making cupcakes due to the reputation I have gained at work from bringing cupcakes to people for their birthdays. Many people have suggested I open my own cupcake shop on the side, which is an entirely different story, but let's just say that I would love to except that DC is already being taken over by cupcake shops. So I decided that I didn't want to make just any kind of cupcakes, they had to be delicious and beautiful (of course). I did some research and found so many ideas I couldn't decide what to do. There was one cake website I came across that has the cutest cakes I've ever seen. You should look at it.

http://www.pinkcakebox.com/

Finally, I combined some recipes to come up with my own creamcheese filled chocolate cupcakes with creamcheese frosting. YUMMY!! And I piped the frosting on and put little chocolate hearts and words that I made from melted chocolate chips. Yes this was a fairly time consuming project, but I loved every second of it. And everyone else loved the results so it was a worthwhile project. Oh and I also made some very delicious, and aesthetically pleasing punch.

Next on the list was Valentine's cookies. When I started doing all the research for cupcakes I discovered the Wilton cake decorating aisle at Michaels. How I have missed it all this time, I don't know, but it's my new favorite aisle. I used my coupons to buy a whole set of tips and bags for decorating and Dianna and I decided to try them out for Valentine's Day. And we had a great time. I had no idea what any of them would really do, so I tried as many as I could. I just remember my mother spending hours on our birthday cakes when we were younger. I wish I had the pictures of some of the works of art that she spent time on. Now that I have labored over my own cookies/cakes, I have a greater appreciation for her efforts. She did a great job and I think it might be hereditary because I think I have a knack for handling a bag of frosting, Dianna told me so. And on Sunday asked for my help frosting her delicious chocolate ganache w/raspberry cream topping cake. Another delicious creation. And all of this fun stuff led me to look into the cake decorating classes that are offered at Michael's. I didn't think I would be able to do it because of work but I finally found a class that worked and I have my second lesson this week!! I love it!! And this is just course 1 but I'll be sure to post photos of my creations.

Just two more arts and crafts. My friend Jack had purchased some blank Matryoshka dolls that he wanted to paint and he invited me to help him. But instead of doing the usual doll and flower pattern we decided to get creative and used 5 Little Monkeys Swingin in the Tree as our inspiration. I was in charge of buying the acrylic paints and as I was selecting the proper colors it reminded me of all the paints that mom has that I have used for various projects through out the years. I'm finally starting my own collection. Hooray! We didn't have time to finish (imagine that, me running out of time on a project...perfection takes time!) but we got a lot done. And I of course loved the entire experience and can't wait to finish them up.

Last but not least, I have recently been watching a lot of old movies on TV due to our apartment deciding to upgrade our cable to Direct TV with DVR. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Katherine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and all of my favs. There are so many enjoyable things about these movies but the one I have been noticing lately are the great dresses these women got to wear. It's true that fashions recycle and those dresses have been back "in" for awhile now. I have tried some on, but they just aren't made for girls with long legs and torsos. So what do you do when you can't buy something that fits and you don't have your mom around to make something that fits? You get online and find old dress patterns. That's exactly what I did. No joke, http://www.oldpatterns.com/, has hundreds of old patterns organized by year that you can search through. I ordered four of them and I'm anxious to start the latest project. It's going to be hard to fit it in with the cake decorating, painting, etc. but I'm determined. And even though my mother is way across the country, you can bet there will be many phone calls made to ask for help. I don't think I've ever made an article of clothing other than PJs. The best ones being some Tara and I made in sewing class many years ago...oh how I wish I had the photos from that fashion show. They resembled a tent and had hot pink, VERY itchy lace around the neck and arms. Did they really expect us to sleep in that?

I hope you have all been inspired by my craftiness and felt the urge to go create. I was listening to Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from last Relief Society broadcast and he encouraged us to make things beautiful and to create. Hopefully my latest endeavors will fulfill this counsel.

Gravedigger vs. Superman!

2009-02-12T09:11:00.015-05:00

I have a theory that I need to try everything at least once to see if I like it or not (good things mind you). So when my friend Lorena invited me to go to a Monster Truck Rally, I thought, sure. Never been, would like to see what all the fuss is about.

I was not disappointed. I had to go straight from work so I didn't have a lot of time to prep accordingly but there were enough mesh hats and belt buckles there to go around. It was loud and crazy as I expected. But I was surprised when the drivers got out of their trucks to wave to the crowds. These guys are not guys, they are grown men (and one woman! Madusa!) I was talking to a co-worker about it the next week and I asked him if that was really every guy's dream. He said he would love to be doing it and he was going to start practicing on his way home. :)

The ironic thing was that the star of the event was Gravedigger. It's a truck from North Carolina and we actually drove by it's home on our road trip a few weeks before. I remember this because I was driving and I couldn't figure out why there would be an old bus buried in a hill of dirt in the middle of a random field. Then we saw the Gravedigger and it all made sense.

But I think the highlight of the night came during one of the inbetween acts. They had a 4-wheeler race, there were probably 15 or so out on the track. And apparently there was a DC team out there...which just seems like an oxy-moron. DC and 4-wheelers aren't really two things I would put together. But the crowd totally got into cheering for "their team". And they actually won the first round due to the winner bumping another guy out of the running. When they were talking to him after a few things struck me, the first one was how old he was!! I was expecting a teenager. Nope, definitely not a teenager as you can see from the photo. The second thing was that the guy he bumped off came over and they started fighting!!! It was quite exciting for a minute. This is a picture after the announcer and some other guy pulled them off eachother. Who knew 4-wheeler racing was so intense!!

I can't say that I'll be jumping to go to another one any time soon, but I had a great time!