Washington D.C.

So Mark and I just got home from our great trip to Washington D.C. We had so much fun and saw so much!! So here are a few pictures from the trip.

Please don't judge how hideous i look in this picture. We left on Wednesday morning at 8:30. Landed in New York around 12:30. Then waited on the plane for an hour while they brought the "people mover" over to get us. For some reason they didn't bring us directly to a gate, so they had to bus us over to the terminal. Then we had a few hours to sit in the airport. This was my first time to New York and it definitely didnt count because we didnt have enough time to go do anything there, and i couldn't even see anything from the airport. not even one little building.

Then we got on a new plane and flew to Washington and got there around 9:00 p.m. So we spent all day in airports and on planes. Yet again they didnt bring us to a terminal, so here I am, standing next to airplanes, looking like i spent all day in airports and on airplanes. So once more, don't judge. (in case you can't tell, i'm pointing to the Washington Monument)

We took a taxi to the hotel where Mark's dad was waiting for us. He was smart and paid the extra money for a direct flight. he left 3 hours after us and got there 5 hours before us.

The next day was "business day." We met all the Utah delegates (2 senators and 3 congressmen) Here we are with Jim Matheson

After our meeting, we went and had lunch in some basement of some congress office building. I had a crispy chicken wrap. it was pretty delicious!

Then Mark and I headed over to meet the other congressional award people for a group picture. It was pretty miserable, but it had a great view!

We spent the rest of the day meeting people. Then we had the award ceremony. Sorry no pictures. I didnt want to be like all the other annoying family people stepping over everyone for a picture.

Then that night we had a very fancy, fantastic dinner with the congressional award people. It was just delightful! We sat next to people from Wyoming, and lets just say they have a lot of "state pride."

By the end of the day i wanted to scream because i had been wearing my heals all day and walking EVERYWHERE!! My feet will never be the same.

The next morning we had an appointment with Orin Hatch. I almost cried when i had to put the evil heals back on my poor feet.

After Hatch's meeting we went over to the Supreme court building. It was pretty cool. Plus, Mark's dad got us into the library there which you can't get in unless you are a lawyer. So we felt pretty cool.

Here is Mark, just reading a book from the Supreme court library.

After that Mark and I took a taxi home (i could/would not walk one more step in those shoes.) to change our clothes (hallelujah!!)

Then we set out to see some museums.

Here i am in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Mark and I outside the National Art Gallery. ( i think that's what it's called)

Mark being a dork. Isn't he so cute??

Then we went back to Senator Hatch's office and a nice girl there took us on a Capital tour. It was really cool. Then she took us out to where all the President's are inaugurated on the front balcony thing of the Capital. So here we are standing on the inauguration spot!

Every state gets to have 2 statures up in the Capital. I dont know who this guy is, but he is one of Arizona's, so i got a picture with him. (In case you were wondering, Utah has one of Brigham Young, and one of whoever invented the T.V.)

Then Mark and i headed over to the Library of Congress. I must admit, i was not excited about this. Mark kept saying he wanted to go there and i just didnt get it. I mean, come on!! we are students, we spend our lives in libraries. But once we were there, it turned out to be one of my favorite places we went.

The outside

the inside

Then we headed back to the hotel for a little rest. Then later that night we went to see the monuments. I think seeing them at night is definitely the way to go. they just look so much cooler all lit up!

This night we also saw the WW2 memorial and the Viet Nam memorial

Then the next day we went to the Newseum and the Holocaust museum. Both very cool, if you can call the Holocaust cool.

Mark trying on Lincoln's head in the Newseum.

Then we said goodbye to Mark's dad, and the two of us headed over to have some lunch.

We have some friends, Dave and Karly, who live in D.C. They had been out of town until Saturday night. So, we went over to their apartment, got their car, and picked them up from the airport. Then we went to see the National's and the Orioles. It was pretty awesome!

That night we went and saw the Jefferson monument and the FDR monument. Both very cool.

The next morning, Mark and I got up and went to wait in line for the National Archives. We had been trying to see these the whole time, but every time we walked by the line was huge. We were so glad we went first thing in the morning because the wait was definitely much shorter.

Then we met up with Dave at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Here we are in front of some plane!

We took this picture looking into the helmet of a space suit. Cool huh!

Then we went and picked Karly up and had lunch at the Burger place Obama went to. I know, we are such tourists!

Then we went to Arlington Cemetery and saw the Changing of the Guards and JFK's grave.

Then we got on a plane and came home. well kinda. We got on a plane, taxied out to the runway, then had to turn around and go back to the terminal while they fixed something for an hour, then flew to Mineappolas and waited for about 2 hours then flew home. We didn't actually get to our apartment until 2:00 am.

All in all we had a great time!! Everyone needs to go to D.C. i think!

Hair History

So i thought i would put a little "history of my hair" in pictures on here for your pleasure and enjoyment!

Disclaimer: some of these hair styles are pretty scary. continue looking at your own risk!

No history of my hair can be complete without including this little beauty. This was the first 8-10 years of my life: "the side pony"

skip to my 17th birthday

Later that year:

and later that same year:

Corny High School graduation picture:

the "brown" phase:

Back to blond:

Ha Ha!!! I just noticed i was wearing the same shirt in those pictures!! I must have really liked that one.

engagement hair:

just married hair:

Long hair:

another awful "brown" phase:

March "back to being me" hair:

May grown out hair:

And are you ready for it???





are you excited yet??




the NEW hair:

Wendy, Celtic music, and Sushi

On Friday Mark had a camp out so I had a little date with Wendy!

we went to a free concert. It was this family that formed a band called "Fiddlesticks" they play Celtic folk songs.... i think. They threw a little cowboy/Mormon twist on it.

And then we went and had sushi! It was my first time and i loved it!! I must admit, i was pretty nervous, but Wendy helped me through it. (P.S. Wendy, someone told me about a place at the Riverwoods that we need to check out.)

It was the greatest. After sushi we went to red mango and had some yummy yogurt! Then we went back to her house and walked Sydney. Then i went home to pout because Mark wasnt there. But i got a GREAT surprise!! It started raining pretty bad so he came home to me!!! it was so great!

Air Force Week

So, Air Force Week just ended. I guess every year the Air Force chooses 3 cities to host the Air Week and this year they chose Salt Lake/Hill Air Force Base. So Mark and i went to a few of the events that they had going on.

We started the week off on Monday going to a Bee's baseball game. We took the public train system TRAX to get there. here we are having a little photo shoot on the train.

Oh my. so GQ.

At the game they had 4 guys parachute in. The first one that landed brought the ball for the first pitch.

Then the last guy brought the flag. it was pretty cool!

Here I am getting pretty excited for the game... and my hot dog! We had some pretty killer seats! first row!!! and we got the tickets for free!! We finally found something to use our American Express points for.

The coolest part of the night was when we were singing the National Anthem, on the last note they had a big bomber with 4 jets fly really low over the stadium. it was awesome!!

We didnt get a picture of them over the stadium, but here they are getting ready.

Once the game got going we had some bad weather. It eventually started raining pretty good so we gave up and went home. But not before getting some pretty cool pics!

On Saturday they had the BIG hoopla! We got up early and caught TRAX in Sandy, took that to downtown Salt Lake, then got on the FRONT RUNNER to Clearfiled, then got on a shuttle to Hill Air force Base. It took us about an hour total, but it was well worth it. Here is the FRONT RUNNER pulling in. As you can see it was a beautiful day!

When we got to Hill AFB they had a ton of different kinds of planes (and a few helicopters) that you could just walk up to. Most of them you could actually climb into! Mark liked this one because it was the one the parachuters jumped out of at the game. (and later on this day!)

We loved this plane. It is a transporter plane. We got to talk to the pilot of this plane and he said that they transport everything from tanks, cars, other planes, ANYTHING that needs transported. It was SOOO HUGE!!! He said it weighed about 400,000 pounds, and it can haul up to 200,000 pounds of cargo!

Here is the view from the other end.

Here are the ones we really wanted to see fly, but didn't get to stay long enough. They are the "thunderbirds." They go real real fast!

Here is another cool plane.

Once the show started, they had 11 parachuters jump out and land in front of us

Here is the guy bringing in the flag

Ha Ha!!! This little girl was sitting in front of us and she kept licking the umbrella!!! It was so weird and gross!!!! She was really going to town. (notice she is wearing "ear plugs." those planes are so loud!!!)

Here is another cool shot

On our way home we got to stop at Lagoon for a while. Mark's dad had some free tickets for his work party. So we stopped and went on a few rides and got free lunch!!

After Lagoon we had to RUN to catch the train. We barely made it!! here we are being so happy that we didnt have to wait 1/2 an hour in the sun for the next one.

Between the air show, lagoon, and free lunch, we got all stamped up!!

Once we got back we stopped at Mark's parents and i got to work on on a quilt!

We had such a long day! But we had so much fun!!! And the best part, it was all FREE!!! well, we paid $4.00 for the shuttle to the AFB, but that doesn't really count right? I love being a student! If we didnt have our bus pass through school, just the transportation there and back would have been about $26.00

For those of you who are interested, here is a little video from the Air Show. It definitely wasnt one of the coolest ones, but it was all cool!