Home Sweet Home

After a long day of flying and traveling, I got home Friday night late. The next day was the best reunion with all my family. As you can see, I got mawled by all my neices and nephews with hugs and kisses. They have grown so much! I couldn't believe how much they have changed in only 4 months. I missed them so much and was so excited to see them. It's great to be home! I am so lucky to have such a great family to come home to. Phone calls, letters, emails, etc. from them are what got me through the long 4 months.

I not only got doggy piled on, but Melanie, the amazing hair dresser, cut my hair. I didn't want to get it cut in DC because for one, it is so dang expensive and two, I won't trust anyone but Melanie to cut my hair. She is the best :)

I NEED SLEEP!

The past couple of weeks I haven't been able to get a good night sleep. I think I am just so excited to go home and see my family. So last night, when I woke up at 3:30am, I was sick of eating (literally sick) so I got the idea to clean our oven. In our apartment there is this closet that all the crap leftover from previous interns gets shoved into. I thought that there might be some cleaning supplies in there so I jumped up on a broken night stand (yes broken is the key word here) while trying to reach up on the top shelf. Well, my balancing skills are usually pretty good, but not so much at 3:30 in the morning. The next thing I know, a window screen and then the vacuum cleaner are breaking my fall. I was laying there half moaning and laughing at myself for a good 5 minutes. When I finally got up I looked at my leg and realized I have a huge bruise/rash looking thing on my thigh. Good thing I didn't break my leg or anything like that because nobody would have been able to save me that early. I realized how retarded I was being so instead of cleaning, I laid back in my bed and played sudoku while listening to Christmas music! Only 4 more sleepless nights :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year Thanksgiving, I was away from all of my family:( But I made the best of it! Me, Alba, Erika, and Alba's sister and husband had our own Thanksgiving feast. It was so delicious too! Ok, it was no Jackson's home cooking, but I guess it worked. No body can beat Mom's rolls and banana cream pie! By the pictures, you can tell that I ate enough for me and the rest of the apartments. I needed an eating partner, cause let me tell you, these guys are weak sauce! Ha ha, no more tellin me that I need to eat guys!!

The best surprise happened the other day. I was sitting at home wishing I was home with all my family for Thanksgiving when I heard a knock on the door. We never get people at our apartment so it was a little weird. But I opened up the door, and there was a delivery guy standing there with these flowers. I automatically thought they were for Erika, my roommate, but I opened up the card, and to my surprise they were from Mom and Dad! It definitely cheered up my day!! I have the best parent's in the world. How did I get to be so lucky (hence the shirt!!)?? I love you guys!!!

Money, money, money!! I only wish there were more. This is the cash that I had from Chili's. I guess it pays to work hu. This paid for my flight home! Yeah!!!

JAZZ GAME!

One of the best nights I have had here in DC is attending the Utah Jazz/Washington Wizards game! I am being serious when I say that too. I love the Utah Jazz. When I found out that they were coming here while I was still going to be here, I just had to get tickets. So, I got tickets and invited some friends to come along. The game was awesome, even though they lost! They only lost becuse they were feeling bad for Wizards since they haven't won a game yet! Such a generous team right! It was still a close game and will forever remember this night!

Otso, Spencer, Me, and Alba. The guy taking the picture kept giving me really mean glares because I was cheering so loud for the Jazz. Ha ha, he should have known!

Thanks Casey!

Well, here we go...
8 things I am passionate about:
1. Family 2. Ice Cream 3. Basketball 4. Utah Jazz 5. Christmas 6. Horses 7. Winning 8. Church
8 words or phrases that I use the most:
1. I have to pee 2. I have to pee, again! 3. Let's get ice cream 4. I'm freezing 5. I want ice cream! 6. Ice cream anyone? 7. I'm sorry (I screw up a lot!) 8. I'm hungry
8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Get floor seats to a Jazz game 2. Marry in the Temple 3. Have beautiful kids 4. Buy a house 5. Sky Dive 6. Have my own Classroom 7. Travel the world 8. Eat ice cream in Europe
8 things I need right now:
1. a nap 2. a massage 3. sweats 4. ice cream 5. family 6. money 7. eye surgery (my eyes are killing me) 8. a man
8 places I want to visit:
1. Home 2. Hawaii 3. Spain 4. Australia 5. White Clouds 6. New York 7. France 8. the bathroom
8 TV shows I watch:
1. Friends 2. Family Fued 3. American Idol 4. Wheel of Fortune 5. Jeopardy 6. The Price is Right (only with Bob) 7. Reality TV 8. So You Think You Can Dance
8 people I tag:
So, Casey already tagged everyone that looks at my blog, except Dr. Pepper Kris!!! But, anyone else that looks at my blog... You're It!!!

Capitol Building

Alright, so I have been giving tours of the Capitol Building and I realized that I haven't even taken any pictures of it yet! I tried to take a video of me giving a tour, but it didn't work out with my camera. I could say my whole memorized speech about everything in the Capitol, but I won't put you through the torture of reading it all. If you do want to know anything, call me and ask me questions, that way I get more phone calls!

These are the halls I walk through to get to the Capitol Building. I won't tell you how many times I got lost down here (even while giving tours). Every hall looks just like the other!

As soon as we get out of the ugly basement, you walk right into the Capitol and see the Cox Corridors. They are so beautiful! Sorry, my camera doesn't have the best quality, but you get the idea.

Ha ha, I look like such a tourist! Yep, this is the Crypt, the exact center of Washington D.C.

My favorite room, the Rotunda! It is...AWESOME! Words really can't explain how beautiful this building really is. The architecture is so amazing! This painting is called The Apotheosis of Washington and I'm going to stop there because I almost started going into my speech!

I finally made it up to the Washington Monument. It was amazing! You could see everything in Washington D.C. and beyond. If you can see in the picture below, the buildings on the left of the Capitol are the House Buildings. I work in the middle building, the Longworth Building.


This picture was actually taken by some random guy. He was trying to get a picture of himself and the Monument by laying the camera on the ground, but he was struggling. I decided to do my good dead, and I pulled out my tourist picture taking skills and got him an amazing picture. I couldn't pass up on his idea so he did the same for me! I think we started a new trend because everyone started doing the same thing.


I just love this picture! To bad the grass is all dead. And this is the group we went with. Brian, Andrew, Alba and me. This is at the top of the Monument.

We wanted to go into the Spy Museum, but it was too expensive, so created my own Spy Museum. We walked around China Town and saw everything there. Not as cool as New York's China Town, but still pretty fun to go walk around and see all the nasty little Chinese restaurants.

When I am the only one in the office, I get a little carried away with the picture taking! I decided to show everyone what I really do all day... If you can't tell, I am watching a movie! I believe I was watching Head Over Heels. I usually stick with Friends, but I decided to change it up.

Well, if you can't tell, I am just a little excited for this Holiday Season! Christmas is the best time of year and I can't wait to celebrate it with my family. Being away from them for this long definitely makes me realize how much they do for me and how important they are to me. I love you guys!! I really wouldn't make it in this world if it weren't for my family. This time spent in Washington D.C. has been amazing to say the least. I have had so many wonderful opportunities that I will never ever forget about. I am learning sooooo much about the way our government works and the crazy things that come with it. Being out in this big city has made me realize that I miss the mountains and the wide open spaces that Idaho has to offer. Whenever I ride the metro I feel like a herd of cows being pushed along onto the trains. I still can't believe that I am here experiencing these things. I have been trying to take everything in, see all that I can see, do all that I can do, but with the lack of money and time, it makes it a little difficult. So, that is why I am now working at Chili's! It is just a block away from my apartments and being able to transfer made it really easy to start working. Now I will be rollin in the dough right!! Ha ha, if only. Pictures will be coming soon though. I still have many things to show everybody, and many more to come! Y'all ready for this... (OK, stop singing now!)

Another fun weekend trip in DC!! This last weekend was probably the the most fun I have had out here in D.C. Me and Alba decided to go on a real adventure! We rented bikes and biked the Mount Vernon Trail to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. We biked about 25 miles through gorgeous trees and landscape. It was beautiful with all the leaves changing colors and falling all over the place. It was an all day adventure that wore us both out! It was totally worth it though. Mt. Vernon was full of fun. We got a buggy ride, roasted apples over the fire (YUM!!), and even made dolls! Here are some of the pictures that we took throughout the day...

Me and Alba getting ready to head out! The bikes were so comfortable, for the first 3 minutes!!

We finally made it to Mt. Vernon. I couldn't feel my fingers (or nose) because it was a little chilly! I don't know if we were supposed to ride over the lawn, but it wouldn't be the first illegal thing I have done!

This is George Washington's Mansion. It was beautiful inside and almost everything was still the original from that time. This tree was planted by George Washington himself! It is the oldest tree on his whole estate.

This is the National Cathedral. It was probably the most beautiful building I have seen yet on my adventures in Washington DC. It was so pretty!

This is Alba, my good friend that goes on all of these adventures with me. She is a live-in nanny here, but is from Idaho! Yeah! She is so fun and we to see a lot of the sites around here.

We went to Johnny Rockets the other night because we were really feeling like a good greasy burger, fries, and milk shake! Oh man, it was delicious!!!

The Old Stone House is the oldest house in Washington DC. It is right in the middle of Georgetown, where I love to go shopping!!

Mike Simpson's Office

So, Mom has been bugging me to take pictures of Mike Simpson's office, so the other day when I was in there all alone, I finally did it. This sign is right outside his door along with the American Flag and the Idaho Flag.

This is Kaylyn's desk (the scheduler and pretty much everything in the office), but when she is gone, I am in charge! Ha ha, if only!Yes, my own desk! It's not much, but this is where I spend most of my time in the office (unless I am running around Capitol Hill running errands for everyone!). Yep, I snuck into Simpson's office! A typical Idahoan room right! I love all of the dead animals everywhere. While I was in there, I actually sat in his chair, don't tell.

I had the opportunity to attend an Opera on Sunday. I have never been to an opera before so it was a good experience. I only was there for about 30 minutes due to my ride, but it was just the right amount of time for me! I heard, I saw, and I experienced a formal opera. It was great and I sat on the front row! I saw the orchestra and that was probably the coolest part! Don't worry, I made it back for Conference!!!

It was at the Kennedy Center, which is beautiful! I started to take pictures, but then some lady yelled at me because it was against the rules!! Opps, I snuck in a few more though, ha ha!

Poor Brian spent the day with 4 beautiful girls! We went to the Book Fair and walked around The Mall (no, not a real mall. That's what I thought we were doing! Ha ha, the area in DC with all the museums is called The Mall)
Chelsey, Sarah, Jessica, Brian, and Andrea at an art museum. Me and Sarah was a little wet because it was pouring outside and we were looking for a hot dog stand... never found one!

So I bought this awesome umbrella the other day. It is huge! I took out a guy walking down the street! I will be dry though, along with the other 5 people that are under it with me!!

Another week gone by! I can't believe how fast it is going. That's ok, cause even though I am having a blast out here in DC, I miss my family and home so much. I have a lot of pictures to add again. Last Saturday, us girls went shopping in Georgetown. I wish I had a lot of money to buy everything that I wanted there cause I loved it all! I had to resist a lot, but I did buy a couple of things. I have done so much this past week! Monday was FHE, Tuesday was Institute, Wednesday was ice cream night, Thursday was Sushi, Friday was Imax theater, and the Saturday was our ward BBQ. Holy cow something every night, plus working all day! My journal is going to be chuck full by the time I get home:) Today I went on an adventure by myself. Everyone else took a car trip so I decided to go do some sight seeing myself. I ran along the Mt. Vernon Trail and took it into DC and went and saw the museums. The animal museum was the coolest. Not much of an art looker! I did a lot of walking and wore myself out thats for sure! Here are some pictures of this weeks events!

This is the view just right before I crossed the bridge. It is definately prettier when it's dark.
This is the WWII Memorial. Idaho and Utah happened to be right next to each other so it was a picture worth taking right!


The notorius White House!
This was taken at the Smithsonian Museum. It's my sister from anothe mister! Don't we look like twins! ha ha