How is it already August?! Am I really going home in just two weeks!? That can't be right. This summer has gone by so quickly! But thankfully I feel like I've made the best of them. I've met so many great people, lots of learning experiences and so many happy memories. Life is too good. :)
We all made the long drive to Palmyra a few weeks back for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I had already been a couple times, but it was fun to show them around a bit. Our awesome boss let us off a bit early on Saturday, and we made our way to Palmyra. We arrived just as it started, luckily it wasn't raining during the pageant, it did just before and after though! I love seeing those simple tender mercies. We were all hungry so we headed to a very late dinner at ihop, we were the only ones there and I don't think the chef was too happy to see us walk in. :) The next morning we headed to the Sacred Grove, then planned on going to church. Well, apparently the times online for church were incorrect because we got to the church house and found out we were just in time for Sunday School. haha! After finding some lunch, we tried to make it to all the other church sites around as well. Hill Cumorah, Book of Mormon Printing Site, Alvin's grave, etc. It was a great day! But, driving five hours was kind of a long time for just being there for a day. It was definitely worth it though, such a fun weekend with great friends!
so glad we've all been able to become such better friends this summer.
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| the whole group- Chris & Kjersty, Liz, Jake, Me, Cassie, Andie, Kena & Brady. |
My birthday was so good! I felt so loved and was reminded of how many
great people I have in my life. I started the day off with sleeping in,
watching some t.v. in bed, then I learned how much birthdays change as
you get old! I used to look forward to not having to do any jobs on my
birthday when I was younger...this time I cleaned my house, did some
laundry, read a book...but it was very relaxing! :) haha. I had some
delicious lunch with Ester, and Kena & Kjersty (the other two
awesome office girls I work with!), then headed to work. That night my
roommates had made me a cake and we watched The Book Thief (such a good
movie!). I really had such a great day, thank you to everyone who made
it so special. I'm so very blessed!
birthday pancakes :)
look at all those candles, I'm getting so old!
Liz, Andie, Cassie & I decided since we were this
close to Washington D.C. we had to go there and visit. Andie & I had
both been there before so we decided what we wanted to see and started
making plans! We were able to leave after work on Saturday night and
come home Monday night (like I said, our boss is awesome! :). We planned
on taking the train to Philly, then riding a bus to D.C. Seemed like a
perfect plan since we don't have a car! Well our first train was delayed
20 minutes, which meant we missed our connecting train to Philly, which
meant we missed our bus to D.C.! Yes, those few hours were joyous,
stress-free! Just kidding, we were all on edge, hoping we would
eventually get there. But once again we were all reminded that Heavenly
Father is aware of us, and that the little things that are important to
us are as just as important to Him. We made the 9 o'clock bus that night
to D.C., even though we were on stand-by tickets. So, after nine hours
of public transportation we finally made it to our hotel that night.
We've all learned that we can't depend on it as much as thought we
could, haha.
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| this would be the look of frustration, realizing we had missed our train and our bus! |
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| this would be the look of JOY! we had just gotten onto the bus :) |
Sunday morning we got a taxi to church, I won't tell
you if we were able to stay awake during 8:30 AM church, we were
exhausted from just five hours of sleep! haha. The church building we
went to was right next door to the temple, so we just walked on down to
walk around the temple grounds. That temple is SO beautiful! We went
into the visitor's center to ask the missionaries about how we could get
to the Metro Station since the taxi was kinda pricey. They offered to
drive us to the metro station which was so sweet and thoughtful of them.
We got our tickets and tried the metro out...yep that was just about as
good as our train/bus experience! haha, but we eventually made it back
to our hotel. All I'll say is its a good thing we all have good, healthy
bodies and we can walk a lot in one day. That's one thing I was
reminded of, how grateful I am for my legs that can take me just about
anywhere! Sunday we went to all the War/President memorials, and
Arlington Cemetery. We made it an early night since we were all
exhausted, but we did get a lot done! We decided to walk back to our
hotel (about two miles from the National Mall) and we didn't even get
lost! I was quite proud of us. :) By the end of the trip we had learned a
lot about navigating ourselves! haha.
Liz, myself & Andie at the temple.
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| Photo credit goes to the awesome Andie Lou! :) |
Arlington Cemetery & beautiful blossoms
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| hangin' out with Abe |
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| we always have to take a chaco pic of course :) |
While we were waiting in line for the bus in Philly we saw a sign that said something about meeting our future selves....well Andie did just that! This would be the perfect job for her, so we just had to snap a pic. :) And nope, she isn't wearing a huge red scrunchie, haha.
Just before we started the trek to the White House, then onto our hotel! We were exhausted.
Monday
we hit up the Holocaust Museum very first. I had been there when I was
about 10 years old, so this time it meant a little bit more to me. That
place is so heart-wrenching, but so moving. To see all that they went
through during that period of time broke my heart. After the Holocaust
Museum we hit up some of the other Smithsonian museums, had lunch, and
then went to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill
of Rights. I love history so seeing D.C. again was so much fun, to
learn more about our country and how it all kind of started. We headed
back to catch our bus, luckily this time it left on time which meant we
could catch our train! But of course our second train was delayed 20
minutes which meant our poor ride waiting at the train station waited
for us all! I guess that's public transportation for ya. :)
this lunch box has my name all over it...literally. :) haha.
Andie wanted to compare how much she looked like a monkey :)
I hadn't seen a pig for so long, so I was so excited when I found this little guy! :)
Andie is as tall as a elephant's femur! hahah.
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Last night was Liz's last night in Jersey and working at her dream job (hahaha, that's a big joke). So we had to snap some pics by her Nissan and doin' what she has been doing for four months! :)
And...I just wanted a pic with her because she's awesome. :)
While in D.C. we all bought matching shirts...so naturally we had to get more pictures. haha, these girls really put up with me and my camera!
haha...this picture is just great for lots of reasons. :)
- - -
Two more weeks! I think I can last...I've loved my summer out here, really truly have. But, I'm so excited to be home. I've missed my family and friends back home so much! Oh and animals, yep. haha. I guess I'm more of a farm girl than I thought! :) Life is good.
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