My big boy's first haircut (by me)

On Saturday I cut KC's hair for the first time. With the corney, outdated video, KC's advice, and any memory I had from my mom doing it, It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And hopefully it will only get better from here. We are happy with our Costco hair cutting kit but will definitely have to replace the scissors with a more cuttable pair. KC was a great sport and we both glad we can cut the cost of his haircut every three to six weeks. We both go to the same stylist. I don't need a cut nearly as much as he, so when I have to pay, it doesn't seem so bad. But when he has to fork over $20 plus tip, it seems silly to not take this task upon myself. My haircut costs more than his which is also silly because mine is probably easier to cut. Oh the price we girls will pay for a good haircut. I've tried the less and more expensive route when I first moved here, but with the black population being so high, they are usually skilled with that type of hair. When you find someone you like, you must hold on. But something that makes me more happy than saving money about this situation is that cutting my husbands hair really makes me feel like a wife. I remember my mom cutting hair on the porch countless times, and I'm happy to join club. I tried to take pictures of KC, but I think he was too nervous and wouldn't let me, so maybe next time. Yay for all the hair cutting wives!

Surprising pleasant time at the MVA

I went to the MVA (or DMV for Utah people) to finally change my name and address. It's about time. Everytime we fly, I'm still Emily Graham. So I braced myself as we all know this can be a tedious and long journey. I had a doctors appointment in the same area at 10:45 this morning so I thought I'd get in the already formed line at about 8:00 to get in the doors pretty quick when they open at 8:30. I was actually thinking it would be stretching it to be done in time for my appointment. They started letting people in and they were handing the first numbers to license renewals, which is the category I was in. I wasn't sitting down for three minutes when they called me up. They took a picture, not a bad one for a license picture if I do say so, and that was that. I think that is record time. 15 minutes from the time I stepped in to the time I stepped out. I have been there a few times for car/license issues. In fact, I have had my picture taken there three times since I've lived here. None of those times were as easy as this. Now I had 2 hours before my appointment and I was 25 minutes from my house. So I decided to get some things done and read some of my book I brought along. Even my doctors appointment was just as quick and smooth, and we all know those can be an awfully long wait as well. So what I thought would be a hectic and annoying morning went quite smoothly. It was such a welcomed change since I've felt like ever since I got home from a hectic week out of doors, I've been faced with a hectic week inside. I think Heavenly Father was blessing me by making thse often tedious experiences a little more bearable while everything else is crazy. He knew I would break if something went even the tiniest bit wrong, so he went easy on me. I think sometimes he even tells the little babies to act really good for me while I'm taking their pictures so I can have a pleasant experience at work. The babies have to be on their best behavior for my job otherwise nobody is happy with the pictures, so it's nice when they cooperate. It's good to recognize the blessings we have in the places we aren't always looking. Heavenly Father knows us and how much we can take, and he gives us signs along the way to remind us he's there. KC and I are at a point right now where we both describe it as "unsettled". We want to move sometimes, but there's no reason to. We want kids, but well... We love our callings in church, but wouldn't mind helping in other areas. We're grateful for our jobs, but feel like there's more out there. We know all these things are coming in the future, but we are learning a great deal about patience in this awkward yet wonderful and easy time of our lives. I'm sure it's something a lot of people go though after the newlywed stage is coming to an end. Although, I don't think I'm quite done with it yet. I don't want this to sound like I don't love my life and the blessings I see in it every day. It's just been a time of reflection, you know? I think our lives have many more of these awkward years to come. I am enjoying it, but I'll enjoy it even more when we move to a place with a little more leg room.

It's OVER! Girls camp is over!

I am home and I think have recovered from a week in the wilderness. It was certainly a long time for me to be outside my comfort zone. I'm not much of an outdoorsy person unless I can go home and have a long shower immediately after a long hot day. So I tried to embrace my surroundings and enjoy not caring what I look like for 6 days. It actually was great. I am so glad I was asked to go. It was an experience that I'm so glad I was a part of. There was so much to mention that I think I'll just make a list and let you look at the slide show if you so desire.

-For the first two days it was 110+ degrees. I really didn't think the girls would make it. Our clothes just continued to stick to out bodies.
-We had different ethnic foods at every single meal. Some had an American twist to them to appeal to all the little picky eaters. The food really was amazing. The people in charge really knew what they were doing. Everyone giggled when I'd take pictures of my food at every meal.
-Some of the meals included: churros, chow mein, fried plantains, chimichurris (Dominican burgers) with homemade sauerkraut, Milanesa (breaded and fried stake from Argentina) Ethiopian chicken with injara bread to be eaten with fingers only, and many other food adventures.
-Being a leader is much better than being a young woman at camp. I could drive to Wal-Mart or McDonald's whenever I wanted. I only did this twice when there were others that wanted to go as well.
-I think I started really having fun when we went swimming at the beach that was a couple miles away. I thought we'd never escape the heat. I was giddy in the water. The girls thought I was a little crazy, but I think they enjoyed it.
-It rained and poured as we were cooking dinner over a fire on the third day. We all managed to hold tarps over the fire before it went out and ate very well.
-I showered three times in the 6 days of camp in the most disgusting showers.
-The bathroom was quite a distance from the camp and for some reason I always had to use it in the middle of the night when I had to walk all alone.
-I was so excited for KC to come on Thursday. My girls were excited to meet him . They all laughed and told me to keep it PG when I ran and jumped into his arms when he arrived.
-The skits were actually really fun to watch. The youth leaders topped them all by imitating a few of the leaders. They borrowed my cowboy hat and sunglasses I was wearing. I was laughing pretty hard.
-I never sang along to one camp song. I despise them.
-There is a Spanish branch in our stake so a lot of the girls were Spanish speakers. We had many girls from Africa as well. It was a diverse group.
-The second to last morning, we all woke up at 5am to attend a sunrise service. The YCLs, a few leaders and a couple men, including KC bore their testimonies in their home, or learned languages. There were over 14 languages spoken and a wonderful experience for everyone.
-I was in charge of the YCL challenges which I think went over very well. They really enjoyed the competition.
-I carried a bag around with me the whole time full of necessities that I might not want to walk all the way back to the tent to get. It was the magic bag. Any time anyone needed anything, I seemed to be able to pull it right out.
-I faithfully wore sunscreen and bug repellent. I got minimal burns, and only about 6 small bites. It was a miracle. Some girls had countless bites on their leg. It looked miserable. I sprayed so much that my watch and toenail polish actually started corroding and melting. I think my skin was reacting to the repellant by itching. Ironic, wouldn't you say.
-One of the meals was cooked in a pit in the woods dug by a few cook girls. We cooked whole chickens, and vegetables. Some of them weren't done when we took them out so we had to turn on the gas skillets and cook them in pieces. There were still rave reviews.
-I learned a lot about people's dedication to their callings and service. It was amazing what all the leaders, especially the director and the one in charge of the food did for the girls. What amazing women. And hardly a complaint.
-I learned that young women complain and whine about the dumbest things. It especially bothered me when I knew someone had worked very hard on what they were griping about. I hope I was never like that.
-I became really good at bossing the girls around and having them actually listen to me. It was great.
-Every night, the camp director and food director (long time friends) put on a News at Night program to tell of the events of the day. Their names used to be Seymour Butts, and I.P. Freely. One leader had a problem with that so they were Harry Back , and Harry Pitts this year.
-One day when we were waiting for someone to come for pictures we got bored of standing there and started singing randomly. It turned into a competition between the a few leaders and a few girls. We had a sing off for probably 30 minutes. I even broke out my Darrin's Dance Grooves. It was a great stress buster.
-We had so many left over marsh mellows from the YCL chubby bunny challenge, I thought we
should play "I am a chubby Bishop" when they all came up. It was a hit.
-I slept in my own little tent the whole time except when KC got there. It was a very good decision on my part to have my own space.
-I had no trouble falling asleep in my camping chair on a few occasions.
-When we finally got home I had a wonderfully long shower, checked emails and fell asleep for 14 hours. It started out as a nap and I didn't get out of bed until the next morning. I was very refreshed.


So that's it in a nutshell. Pretty random and probably boring to everyone, but that's how it was and I'm glad I was a part of it. I really bonded with my fourth year girls that I was over, and the girls in my ward I didn't know that well in the beginning. We have such a great group of young women and I really grew to love them.

Belated Indepencence Day

I have been getting ready for camp that is now only hours away and haven't had a chance to blog about my last culinary adventure. It was Jake's birthday last Saturday and since he was jipped on a cake from being in New York (boo hoo), and the 4th was right around the corner, we decided to combine the occasions for a very special cake. Jake's birthday is always fun to experiment with since he doesn't mind something really rich and over the top. The construction of it was diagrammed on a post it note so I wouldn't leave anything out. This cake went as follows: The crust was made of leftover chocolate chip cookies, then there was a layer of chocolate ganache on top of that. Then I lined the sides of the spring form pan with halved peanut butter cups. The design didn't quite work out . Then a layer of cookie dough ice cream was spread followed by a layer of chocolate cake. The ice cream and cake are repeated, and topped with another thin layer of ganache. That is frozen overnight and when it was time for the party it was topped with a border of ganache and loaded with fresh whipped cream, along with broken pieces of chocolate chip cookies. The reason I went so into detail into describing this heart attack on a platter is because this is the result of someone telling me to do whatever I want. Especially when their favorite things are peanut butter and chocolate. The possibilities are endless. It was kind of hard to stop adding different components. Anyway, we went to Cami's for the fun and you can read her blog for more July 4th details.

For now I have to say good bye for a week as I'm off to give my life to 70 teenagers. I feel pretty prepared and I think it will be a good experience despite how much I may have complained about this and that. I'll miss my honey until he comes on Thursday, but I know we'll be fine. With my own tent equipped with a queen sized air mattress, I think I'll survive.

Thank you, come again.

As some of you may know, 7-Eleven is transforming some of it's stores into Kwik-E-Marts (from the Simpsons for the uneducated) to promote the new movie coming out later this month. KC was reading about it the other day and found that one of the dozen nationwide locations they have renovated is only but a mile from our home. We decided to check it out. Man, there were so many people taking pictures, getting squishees, buying boxes of Krusty-Os, taking free packing boxes, the O's were shipped in, and purchasing much more Simpson memorabilia. I even overheard a guy say that he was annoyed when they were driving all the way there, but now he was glad they did. That lead me to believe that he had driven quite the distance since there isn't another closer than New York or Florida. It was quite the scene. Security and everything. I'll present you with this slide show of our adventures. If there are any requests for any Simpson keepsakes, let me know and I'll make another trip. Lili, I already thought of you so don't worry. And course, on our way out, we were told my many Kwik-E-Mart employees, including the Indian cashier,"Thank you, come again."

Another eventful summer weekend

We had a pretty busy week but had a big weekend to look forward to. I had work off on Friday but spent a lot of it helping a friend with some food she was making for a shower on Saturday. She always does such great things for the parties she throws. She made dozens of royal icing cookies, stacked them to make a wedding cake, and topped them with tiny royal icing roses we piped. It was fun to get into my tools from school again and try to remember how to do the techniques I was taught. The cookie favors turned out beautiful. We also did some cupcakes. She wanted gold and pink cupcakes so I had some pretty cupcake cups I've been wanting to use, and then loaded them with pink buttercream that everyone seemed to love, myself included. She and a couple of other ladies made the rest of the food and it looked beautiful. Friday night we went to 1408, the new John Cusack movie. I needed a movie to remove all thoughts from my head. something to really distract me from normal life. It sure did it. Not only was the movie scary and thrilling, but the audience members were distracting as well. We decided we can't go to movies here without getting upset at the rude people who think it's their time to tell us all about their lives. I can't believe the disrespect of some people. But The movie was a good one.

We had been planning to help babysit the Turpin boys while Cami took Jake on a birthday trip to New York. We picked them up at about noon, after our car insurance meeting, and they were very excited. We had been invited the night before to birthday party at the Drapers for Thomas. We told them we had the boys and they said to come along anyway. We were also asked to bring out ice cream maker along. The kids always love that. They had the makings for mint chocolate chip. It was very minty, but very good. The boys were excited to see other kids and play with the new presents. The parachute was fun for everyone. I headed to the shower while they played and then we took the kids home to relax after a long day. We had a good time reading books and eating pizza, and they went to bed very well. KC and I watched a little Jaws until they came home. We stayed up way to late talking and eating the sugared nuts they brought us from NYC that I love so much. It was fun to spend a day in the life of the little Turpins. They had us constantly laughing.

I like eventful summer weekends, as long and I have a chance to stop for a few moments to soak it all in before the season is over. With girls camp next week, I'll have a lot to do until then. I think the summer will be a lot more relaxing when that is over.

Catching up

I had to take a breather after that long post about the trip but I suppose it's time to come back to the blog. We've had some fun happenings around here. On Friday we were having the best weather. It was a nice cool breeze and I couldn't resist eating outside. I also figured it was too windy for the mosquitoes so I took advantage. We had cheese steak pizza, and perfectly ripened ice cold nectarines. It was very nice.

The next morning, Saturday, we had our yard sale. Yes, the thing that has kept stuff piling up in our little hallway for months. Matty and the gang were getting things together too. We had a couple dressers, broken and not, many clothes, bags, toys, and free homemade cookies and suckers. Cheverly had silly rules about signs. You have to register, pay a one dollar fee for one authorized sign, and put it up in an authorized location. I was very annoyed at the time going through the silly process, but all was well in the end. Good thing Craigslist was an option. We planned on no one showing up but actually got a few shoppers. We made a decent chunk of change, but the best part, aside from how excited jack was about customers and selling his toys to other kids, was ridding my home of all unnecessary items. All my old clothes are out including some shoes that were hard to part with. Before everything went to the salvation army, the Grahams and we exchanged a few things and then it all went.

We went immediately to a ward picnic and more time in the sun. It was nice to visit with friends. Luckily Matt and Cortnie told me about these new citronella bracelets that you can wear to keep mosquitoes away. I didn't get one bite all day.

KC's mom flew in on business that night and was staying in DC. We decided to have dinner in Georgetown. We don't go there often enough so it was nice to have an excuse to go there. After all, it's only a short distance from our house. We ate at Clydes, a local, chain that was very delicious. We did some shopping and walked along the water. It was a beautiful night. My throat was getting a little froggy by this time of night and I was praying and it was just the result of a long day in the sun and wouldn't amount to anything. The next day my voice became worse and so did the cough. It's not a major cold or anything, but enough to take my voice and keep me coughing for a couple days. I have a history if losing my voice and it's not too pleasant. Maybe tomorrow I'll find it again.

Sunday was kind of catch up for me. My substitute apologized that she had forgotten to teach both of the two weeks that I had asked her to. Luckily our primary presidency and kids are flexible. I told them what had happened without mentioning any names and they just laughed. I just made up a lesson since my manuel was still in the hands of another. We had lunch with KC's mom at our place. It was nice to see her again. It had only been a couple weeks since we were together, but it's always nice to see people in your own neighborhood.

Our friends the Millers invited us over for a game of Settlers that I was playing for the first time. It was fun to play a new game even though I lost miserably. And you can always guarantee there will be popcorn at their house. This time they put parmesan on it so it was extra good. We were debating on going to IHOP at midnight, it being Sunday and all, but our long weekend demanded a good sleep for work on Monday.

They invited us again yesterday along with a few other friends for a graduation ice cream party for a couple of the guys. There was so much ice cream and toppings, it was hard to stop eating. We played more games, part of which I slept through, and had a fun time. I really enjoy the time we spend with our friends here. It feels like we really have become close.

So there is the catch up. I just felt it was a nice weekend that I didn't want to let go by without recording. Now, what to do with all the garage sale money we made?

Bittersweet

Whew, that was a trip! It was so great to get away to be with both sides of the family, but it's always hard to leave the people we love. I promised my real journal that this would have more details so it is very very long. I tried the slide shows instead of a few pics so that it would take up less space. I'm not offended if you just read fragments.

I'll begin with California. The Robinsons have a time share with Marriott and this year they chose Newport Beach. We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a not so hot Orange County. It was in the upper 60s, lower 70s the whole time. I quite liked the weather. Better than blazing hot, in my opinion. It didn't make for very fun wave jumping at the beach, but much better for touristy type things. Anyhow, they showed us around this resort where we were staying and it was something. There were multiple pools and hot tubs, a sports court, a tot lot, a fire pit, tetherball, activities for the kids everyday, and beautiful suites to stay in. The lobby even had a choice between ice cold lemon-lime, and mixed melon water to drink. I had anticipated waking up well before anyone else so as we were walking around the wonderful Marriott property, I was making note of things I might do at 3 am when I wake up. Not only do I normally wake up earlier than most, but we were also three hours earlier than Maryland in CA. There were eight of us in the suite and we fit quite comfortably. That night we ate at the cheesecake factory until we were very full, but didn't forget to order several cheesecakes to go. We ate them after a rousing game of Hoopla.

So the next day, I did wake up hours before anyone else so I decided to take a stroll to the tetherball court and get a little exercise. I was in my pajamas and the only jacket that I brought. It was a beautiful crisp morning and I was so excited to be out instead of staring at the ceiling until the others began to stir, which is what I normally do in these situations. I actually had a lot of energy running up the stairs and straight to the tetherball court where I instantly fell into the freshly sprinkled mud surrounding it. My whole right side was coated in dark, thick, mud. I wasn't sure what to do so I kept walking and stumbled onto some sprinklers and had a nice little shower. Than I went in to the pool gates, before pool hours, to soak my feet in the hot tub after a slightly traumatizing experience as it was at 5 am. Eventually I went home and showered and whispered KC the story. Later we went to church where the Temple also was. It is a beautiful temple and we took many pictures. Then we went to LA where KC's sister Camille lives. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits and found out very fascinating things about the fossils found there. It was even better when we found out there was a dog show on the property that day. Then we then went to The Getty museum. It was massive and so much to see. It was also getting very cold. Camille took us to a great burger place where you can customize your's however you want from the meat to the sauce with many options for each component. Mine was a turkey burger on wheat, with gruyere cheese, banana peppers, grilled pineapple, sprouts, and avocado, with a horseradish mayonnaise. It was amazing and the sweet potato fries were great with it.

Monday we did some shopping and lunch at a huge mall. We went to the beach, and it was suddenly cloudy so we just played in the sand for a while. KC's cousins and a new wife don't live far so they came for dinner. We had grilled teriyaki salmon, and smores at the fire pit later on.

Tuesday was all about Disneyland. Michelle wasn't feeling well when she woke up, and the parents had recently been to Disney World, so it was Nicole, Casey, Camille, KC and I that headed to the happiest place on earth. It was silly that we could only get a reservation for 4 at Club 33. Camille was really nice about not making me feel bad for having her be the only one that didn't get to go. It was an amazing lunch of appetizers, London Sirloin, and a great dessert buffet. I'll probably never look at Disney Land the same. Since Camille is a local, I told her to bring some friends some time and I'd try to get her in. We stayed as long as we could walk, and enjoyed finding lines shorter than we thought, in some cases. The new Nemo Submarine ride was a 6 hour wait. I'm glad those people were in that line and not the ones that we were in. I had a quest to find that wonderful pickle we always get there and it was delicious.

The vacation to California was so wonderful. I feel like I’m getting to know the Robinsons so much better and they are really welcoming me in as one of the family. They are so close and I love that because mine is the same. They did so much for us including driving everywhere, providing all the food, and planning fun things to do. I’m so glad KC comes from such a loving family. I know ours will someday be that way too.

So off to Utah I went. It was nice short flight and there to meet me was Mom, Melody and little sleeping Julia. I was in tears looking at her in person for the first time. Dad was driving. I was pretty hungry so we stopped off at Crown Burger. It more than satisfied us and we didn’t even finish the two we were sharing. Amber was slaving away making all the fixings for Café Rio Salads exactly as they make them at the restaurant. Turns out it is pretty close to the recipe I had on my food photo a while ago. The slow cooked, brown sugar, salsa, chicken and tomitillo cilantro dressing that I had made into tacos. This was better and so like the real thing. We ate it after one of Katy’s baseball games where she did very well.

The next day I helped with Julia’s bath and then had a fun time with Grandma Julie who came to visit. We had to get a picture with the namesakes. We had lunch, took lots of pictures and took naps. The Pecks had more games that we watched, and then had pizza at their house. The kids wanted to sleep over at Nana and Papas so we had a slumber party. Man, the party never stops. Unless it’s forced to when you wake up with some bad stomach bug at 4 am and throw up for 12 hours straight. Mom came down with it about 5 hours after I did. We were two poor pitiful girls all day. Melody came over to see us and was nice to get a few things at the store we thought would help. I wanted to hold the baby so bad, but I could hardly open my eyes without wanting to puke. Since I went into the hospital last time, I knew what kind of great medicine they gave me to stop the nausea, so I asked my dad to take me. What is a trip to Utah without a trip to the ER? They gave me an IV again to replenish my fluids. They could barely find a vain since I was so dehydrated. I felt much better after more medication and a shot. They also gave me a prescription that mom think helped prevent her from throwing up a few more time. What a waste of a day!

We made it up the next day with shopping, black and white movies, and dinner on the deck. I didn’t forget to stop at Purple Turtle after visiting Grandmother to have a coconut dip cone that I love so much. I may have over done it eating all I did after being so sick, but I was so hungry!

It was so unreal to be with my new niece. Melody and Jonny are such patient, easy going, loving parents. They are so sweet to let all the kids constantly take their turns with the baby. (They all think the baby is their own, especially Jordan and Allyson.) I took more pictures than I really needed but I just couldn’t stop. I wish I could be more a part of her life as she grows up. Melody will have a lot to teach me by the time I have my own baby, so she better be keeping notes. I had a wonderful time spending time with everyone. Amber helped me make a beautiful watch with her beads, the kids and I had a slumber party, Melody and I were always together, mom and I were sick together, dad and I did an Ice Cream Run, and I presented Lili with a Club 33 keychain she would appreciate much more than I would. I feel like I really bonded with everyone and it makes me want to be with them even more. I also used the old BMW for my wheels the whole time and you know how I love convertibles. It was a nearly perfect trip, minus being sick and husbandless. Thanks to everyone for always making me feel so loved when I come home. I love you Julia! Check out her pictures. They are priceless.

Are you here in America?!

That is what Amber asked me when I was talking to her on the way home from the airport today. I guess Maryland is far enough be considered another country to her. Funny how she can make you laugh before you can even get a word in.

Anyway, I have spent the last few days in Southern California with the Robinson clan and we did so many great things. Of course I don't have my camera usb to load any pictures right now, but when I do next week, I will narrate all the fun we had through the pictures. That way I won't leave anything out. I took pictures of everything. It's kind of turning into a bad habit. I already took a million of the little baby Julia I came to Utah to see, and I've been here less that eight hours. I love her so much already. She is was beautiful and alert and patient with all her admirers (so are her parents). I can't wait to see her other little personality traits that come out while I am here.

KC is still in California and is leaving to go back to MD tomorrow morning. I'm sad that he's not here with me now as I get ready for bed. It's funny that only a couple posts down I was writing the exact same thing about his business trip. At least it has given me a reason to want leave Utah where I have so many people to be with and no work or church responsibilities (no wonder we love vacations so much.). Wherever my KC is, is where I'll go. Soon things will be all normal again. Until then, I'll enjoy this vacation and talk to hims many times a day via cell phone.

I told myself that this trip was going to be one that I do something I wouldn't normally do at home. We'll see what that turns out to be. Maybe I'll come back with a shaved head.

Whatev

Mom just informed that I have a problem with homonyms. Just so everyone is clear, when I'm blogging, I'm usually writing pretty fast and not paying as much attention as I should to my spelling and grammar mistakes. I am very particular about homonyms: two, to, too--there, their, they're--where, wear, to name a few, and when I make a mistake in that area it's a silly one. I know the difference, but I don't intend to start being more careful about my blog just because my mom pointed this out to me. I just wanted to make it known and for you all to ignore such mistakes as they occur. My mom just took me through my last blog and helped me to correct all the errors that were made, and we were quite giggly about it and actually had a pretty good time. So if any of you fell so inclined to read my ENTIRE previous post again, there are some corrections, but I'm sure you'll still find a mistake or to! (Haha. That was intentional.)

Lazy me

It's taken me this long to sit down and write about last weekend. The baby has been occupying my thoughts and KC is out of town for a couple days. I hate when he's out of town. He has a conference in Virginia, so it's not too far away and he'll be home tomorrow. I think I'll make it, but going to sleep alone is the weirdest part. I piled up the pillows on his side to trick my sleeping self. Only one more night to go.

Well Last Saturday all of the family we have here got together to go to Kings Dominion, also in Virginia. We rode up with the Turpins and had a good laugh at what the boys were doing the whole time. They sure have a lot of toys to make the ride a comfortable one. There was some kind of traffic, but it only put us about 20 minutes behind schedule. Matt's fam was just behind us by about 20 miles so it was a nice smooth ride and we were anxious to get to the park. Of course, we didn't realize that this was the first Saturday that the park had been open this season. It had opened on Memorial Day. Man the people just kept coming in. Don't they have a capacity limit? There was a constant flow of people walking through the gates, and I'm not one who likes to go where the crowd is going. No matter what it is, a concert, a movie, and especially an amusement park are places that I usually avoid when there are gigantic crowds. But I got over it and embraced the heat and the lines and tried to get my money's worth. It was so hot and humid so I really enjoyed the time we had at the water park. I would've been content to stay there the whole time, but the famous roller coasters were calling our name. I'm happy to say that KC and I were almost completely sunburn free with the exception of KC's neck, part of his arm and few spots on me--little places we just missed while putting sunscreen on. We are a very white couple and we embrace that trait we have. I used to hate being this almost fluorescent color and would rather be burned than white. Now that I'm older and wiser, sunscreen is a great friend of mine. The spots of burn we did get did show us that we would be in a lot of pain without our sunscreen, so we are very grateful. We did a few tube rides, and one that we even took everyone, kids included, on. It was funny to see them crying on the way down, and being happy that they did it when it was over. They are pretty brave if you ask me. After a little more wave pool, we changed, ate lunch, and went on a couple more rides. That's another things about parks like this. You stand in line forever, in our case with the Volcano, 1 hour 15 minutes, for a 30 second ride. We must all look like a bunch of dummies waiting in the heat that long. But we didn't have to wait in line at all when I got a text from Matt that they were going on the new Italian Job ride so I guess I shouldn't complain. We wriggled our way into the very front of the line where they were and didn't wait but 5 minutes. I think that's against the rules, but oh well. We were mad that they made Jack leave the ride right before we was going on because he was too short. He better wear taller shoes next time.

The heat was really getting to all the adults and we called it a day at about 5:30. The kids picked out some souvenirs and we were on our way. We rode with the Grahams on the way home and stopped for Arbys. If I had to choose fast food at any time, it would be Arbys. Their new Orange Cream shake is very good after a hot day in the sun. We slept well that night and again were glad we were sleeping on still white backs.

On Sunday, our ward had four convert baptisms. Cool, huh? It was quite an event and so many people stayed to witness this great event. I always love watching the baptisms and just thinking to myself the life they now have ahead of them. I never had a life without the Gospel, but I know the joy it brings to me and those around me. Man, to be without it would seem crazy to me. To not live with this knowledge. When I realize what is really happening when a baptism is being performed, it makes me so excited for them to live their new lives and see all the changes that will take place. Living with the spirit is an amazing thing. Now my class has two new kids. One who got baptised, and one whose mom did and will when he is eight. I really have to teach differently now. The kids before knew a lot about the scripture stories and the primary songs. I really to start from the beginning now because these kids really don't even know who Nephi is, or the words to I am a Child of God. It's refreshing to have a reason to liven up my lessons. I can't wait to see the testimonies develop in these children's hearts, and mine as I teach and learn.

Yesterday I went to a friend's house to talk about girl's camp. I also found a cute pair of shorts that she and her sewing machine helped me alter. And of course, we went to get ice cream at about 9:30 pm. It was a good way to spend an evening away from my love. Last time he was gone, I hadn't made any friends yet. I spent a lot of time with Cami and Lili since she was visiting and remember folding his laundry and being so sad he wasn't here. It's so nice to have friends and family here. We have met a lot of great people in our ward. I love it when you make it to that certain comfortable level with people. Like being able the open the fridge without asking. Maybe it's that I always had a best friend and was never forced to make any, and now I'm married, I don't really put myself out there to be a friend. There are some people that are good at involving people, and sometimes I let myself be one of those that waits to be involved. I'm going to try to be more of a go-getter in the future. If my friends hadn't invited us to game nights here and there, we might not have been so open to make new friends. I was completely different in high school, but life in the real world is not quite the same. I had to really pull myself out of a shell to talk to KC the first time, but he had to really push and pull to keep me coming to friend type things. I am very grateful for these gestures as it made me really understand the value of good friends.

Well this blog is much longer and more reflective than I anticipated, but I have lot to think about when I 'm not wondering what to put in KC's lunch, I guess. This weekend we're headed to California for the Robinsons summer vacation. And after that it's straight to see my new little namesake. I can't wait!

Julia EMILY Rejholec

Well, it has happened. My twin sister, the has had a baby and I am not there to see either of them. I am planning to go there in a couple weeks, but I'm dancing around waiting for the time to pass. Melody can attest that I was bawling streams of tears from the time she told me until we got off the phone and after. I was in a building that had no signal on my phone all morning, so when I got out, I just had a couple text messages saying I had pictures sent to me but I could only view them online. I was kind of suspicious but I just went on with my errands. Then I made my routine call to Melody and her excited "Hello?!" gave it away. It's almost as if it hasn't happened since I'm not there. I have to really convince my self that the pictures on her blog are real. I can't express the love I have for that little Julia Emily, and I haven't even seen her in person. Yep, her middle name is after me and it was a total surprise and that made me cry even more. Oh, Melody knows how to push my emotion buttons. Only 12 more days until I see the little Rejholec family. I love you guys!

Miserable mosquito bites!

Okay, the quarter sized bites have now grown into half dollars. Even walking with the pants rubbing against them is so so so annoying. I took a Benadryl last night to alleviate the itching and put packing tape over them to prevent me from scratching them in my sleep and still woke up time and time again. I'm heading to the store to stock up on the best repellent money can buy. I would post some pictures but they are anything but flattering with my leg being swollen and as white as white can be, but I think you get the idea. Sometimes when people show me their bites they are so tiny and I wonder what that would be like. Mine are always huge. I'll make it a summer goal to get as few bites as possible starting today!

The Morial Day

That is what my primary kid calls it anyway. When asked what we celebrate this weekend he sweetly answered, "The Morial?" They always say funny things and it's hard not to laugh out loud. Anyway this has been a busy but fun holiday weekend. we started it off on Thursday by buying a car that we'd been looking at. We decided on a Honda Accord and we're very happy with it. We're hoping it lasts a long time as a Honda should. My car is about to go kaput so we are still wondering what to do with it. Anyhow we of course went to the Shakespeare play on Friday which seems like ages ago.

On Saturday we made a trip to Matt's house and had a big car wash in the 90 degree, plus humidity weather. Our cars were nice and shiny by the end and so were our faces. We did everything from waxing to leather conditioning. The cars were in tip top shape. We also watched The Da Vinci Code which was very thought provoking as I knew nothing about it. It was a nice day.

Sunday was also nice. We decided to have the fam over for a barbecue in the evening. We started grilling the kabobs and not long after the Turpins arrived the sky turned very gray. KC knew it was threatening but we tried anyway. We had already set up tables and chairs and then the wind and the rain took over. Our landlord is out of town so we decided to take advantage of using the patio without being in her way, and there is much more room outside than inside our apartment. Then this happened so we were forced to fit 9 people into our little apartment. We had much more food than we thought so kabobs and watermelon turned into that plus three different salads, and smores which we ended up making under the broiler since the grill was drowning outside. There was even a hail warning. Yikes! Anyway we ended up having quite a good time and the kids even seemed to enjoy themselves in the small amounts of play space they had.

We both had to work on Monday but decided to have some friend over in the evening again, only this time the weather was just perfect. KC churned some of his awesome pina colada strawberry ice cream. He inherits his ice cream skills from his dad who is the supplier of the recipes and is famous for it around his neighborhood. I'm am glad this is a family tradition. I made a lime pound cake to go with it and we had a lot of fun. Our back yard was full of cute, blond, blue eyed kids. My only complaint is the two quarter sized mosquito bites I got on my leg, with repellent, mind you. But I consider this a success since I usually end up with a dozen after any summer outdoor activity. It would've been more if KC hadn't put the citronella candle right by my feet while we were chatting. I'm loading up on the good stuff for girl's camp for sure. The friends with kids went home at bedtime while the rest of us ate more ice cream, went inside, and played Wacky Six for a while. I plan on making a lot more ice cream this summer. I can't wait.

Shakespeare free for all

Last night we were invited by Su Draper to go to a free Shakespeare performance. It was in an amphitheater downtown. It was a beautiful night, we packed some tuna sandwiches and watched a very funny, and clever Love's Labor's Lost by The Shakespeare Theatre Company. I was a modern take on this play working in a lot of rock 'n' roll, and jokes only this era would understand. Even the costumes were very early 70s. It was sort of all over the place, but very entertaining. I had to read the synopsis to really understand. I am not ashamed to say that Shakespeare is very difficult for me to understand. I feel like I have to read a line six times before I can really understand what their saying. However I got the gist of what was going on and really enjoyed myself. They didn't let us bring our camera into the theater so the only picture I got was KC eating before we went in.

Imogen Heap

KC and I were at Borders one time and he had me listen to the demo of Imogen Heap's cd and I needed to buy it. I love her music. It's a little different, and that's what I like that about it. In the cd cover she tells how she spent one year by herself in a studio to make the album. You need a lot of talent to arrange the music like she does. I could listen to her all day. I had this song, Hide and Seek, in my head all morning, and ironically it was on my ipod when I turned it on this morning. It's her kind of music that help through those tough days. Just turn up the volume really loud and all your problems seem to go away. Goodnight and Go is another one I really like. Enjoy.

Oh yes, I also bought The All-American Rejects CD for five bucks today at the hospital book sale. I only know a couple songs, but they seem pretty cool. I'm excited. Are you proud Lili?

Leader Camp

In preparation for girl's camp in July, the leaders went to the camp site where we will bring the girls to see what is had to offer and be able to plan a little better. We went to Elk Neck State Park which runs right along the Chesapeake Bay. It was beautiful. We could play at the beach, or in the trees. It was the best of both worlds. We can a groups of about 12 people and had a great time. We played in the sand, had great food, and actually slept quite well on air mattresses that most of us brought. For dinner we had a great cucumber, salad, and Spicy Curry and Rice. We had banana boats later that I was especially excited about. We planned some great activities for the girls and got to know each other a little better. Of course I was the first one awake and so I had to wait for anyone to wake up to get any matches to build a fire, but I did and it was pretty good if I do say so. I was pretty beat all day the next day, so I don't know what 6 days and five nights will be like in July, but let's just pray I make it through. And that is doesn't rain, because then I really won't make it. It will be weird going as a leader instead of a girl at camp. I think I'll like delegating. And it was my mistake to take so many pictures because the camp director is now making me be camp historian. I said I'd gladly take pictures, but there would be no scrapbook involved in my job description. I do not do scrapbooks. I think camp will be fun as long as KC comes up for one or two nights.

The first of many uses of the Grill

So our landlord bought a grill last summer and has asked us to help her get use out of it. So we took advantage yesterday and made some BBQ Turkey Burgers. The barbecue sauce was a recipe a friend gave me that she uses for her brisket. It had an extra kick. We had them bunless. Not because we are on some kind of low carb diet, but because we didn't have any. But I would've probably eaten it that way anyway. I made baked sweet and regular potatoes to go with it and it was quite a nice summer meal. I wanted the potatoes to have an Outack-esk crispy skin, so I slathered them with olive oil, and paprika before I microwaved for about 7 minutes, and them baked at 475 for about 30 minutes. They were perfect. The russet potatoes were loaded with all the fixins and the sweet were just butter and brown sugar. It was a great combo. While we were grilling I had a good time playing with our land-dog, Penny. She likes to play a game where she'll bring the frisbee to you and drop it at your feet. But the second you try to pick it up she grabs it and won't let go for anything. You have to be pretty tricky with old Penny. It was quite amusing. I should play with her more. It's good exercise for me.

I guess I can celebrate Mother's Day.

Well, since I will eventually be a mother, KC surprised me with some beautiful flowers that I can't stop looking at. They really brighten up the place. We had a nice time at church where we were all given a long stemmed rose, and then I went home to make the mother's day dessert I've been planning. It was a peach, blackberry, shortcake. This is definitely one of my favorite desserts to eat. And I was so inspired by all the pretty fruit this spring, I couldn've help but make something using them. We went to Matt's where beautiful salmon, salad and corn were prepared by Matt, and Cortnie and Cami brought homemade bread. Everything tasted so good. I hope all you hard working moms out there had a great day. I didn't get to talk to my mom since we were all trying to get a word into her conversation with Drew, so Happy Belated Mother's Day mom! I love you!

Spring cleaning and girls relaxing

Yesterday I was supposed to speak at a baptism, but found out a couple hours before that it has been postponed. So I had my whole day ahead of me. I couldn't help but start my spring cleaning. I only did once section of our apartment before I got too tired and needed a nap since we got to bed pretty late due to Guitar Hero at Cami's. I did the stove, fridge and the nooks and crannies of the kitchen. Then I did some dusting and mopping. I know, sounds pathetic for needing a nap, but oh well. I went ahead and took some pictures to document our first apartment so if you haven't seen it yet, here is our living quarters. I still am working on a couple photo projects for the walls, but it has come a long way. The other rooms weren't spring cleaned yet, so we'll wait on those.

Later that day I went to my friend Cortney's house for a girl's night we've been wanting to have for a while. Rebecca brought over lots of supplies for our manicures/pedicures, and I made a huge plate of nachos, (Notice, the platter is the one that was signed by the girls at my shower here in Maryland. It was perfect for the nachos.)which were devoured much more quickly than they should've been. We also had fresh salsa that Rebecca made, cupcakes by Christina, and ice cream. That is vinegar we were soaking our feet in, then we used a lot of different lotions, cuticle creams, buffers, polishes--she had everything. We played games and of course, there was never a dull moment and we were all beat by the end because of the mixture of extremely full stomachs and bending over our toenails all night. The boys made a spur of the moment gathering to play Risk. They could've played much longer than the 1:00 am finale of our party, but they called it quits so we could all go home and go to bed.

Never a worse musical number

We were asked a few days ago to sing at an annual ward function, that took place last night, where ward members (mostly kids) are encouraged to invite their teachers to an nice dinner to show how much they are appreciated. The theme this year was Heroes. So of course, they wanted us to sing Never a Better Hero, by Kenneth Cope. All I have to say about that song, and most other songs of his (sorry any of you Kenneth Cope die hard fans out there) is yuck. I don't like his style at all, and KC more than agrees with me (even though they do have the same initials). It's weird to sing in a duet as well since they tried to take a song that was sung by a man who clearly likes to stylize every line differently, and put it on paper with all kinds of weird syncopation, to recreate the way he sings it on the cd. KC sings like an engineer, right on the note, and right on the beat, so obviously this type of music isn't for him. I can adapt to this kind of music, except I woke up with a very itchy, coughy, and raspy voice. It got progressively worse throughout the day and I felt very blessed when I actually hit and held the 6 beats of the high D that was required of me(not hard for me normally but a stretch under the conditions). Today, I wouldn't even try. The whole thing was comical to us, from the choice of song, to KC trying to add three notes into one beat, and me praying to hit my notes by my sporadic loss of voice. We drove home saying "worst musical number ever!" We don't mind singing for a crowd, in fact we've been successful before, as long as we choose the song or it's one that suites us. I wonder when all those stereotypical Mormon music will go out of style once and for all. They have come out with better music in the last few years, so why do we always have to resort back to the songs from the 80s. Oh well, the message was there, and we were only there to serve. Our job was done. I'm probably making it sound worse than it really was, but we all know what are personal best was, and that was not ours. Now If I can just get rid of this annoying cough.

Spur of the Moment

A friend and I are planning to start is a little dessert demonstration business. It is very far from being ready to start but we have been trying to get together to do some practice rounds. I called her this morning after a very quick day at the hospital to see if she was up for it. She said she had made plans to meet up for lunch with a former co-worker of our's and invited me to come along. I agreed and we had a great time. We went to the shop where we all worked toether to see other co-workers, and them walked to this charming little cafe in Bethesda. It is called Lilit Cafe, and it happens to be run by a man who is a good friend of another co-worker from the Hyatt. She has her own business selling gluten free desserts called Sweet Sin. Lilit is also a gluten free restaurant, and had the most wonderful gelato that they gave to us on the house. The Ruben sandwhich I had was very extrememly good as well. It was so good, I'm going there again with KC one of these days even though it's pretty far away. We girlfriends had a great time catching up. It was nice to do something spur of the moment instead of planning it ahead of time.

I managed to take a couple pictures despite the camera woes I've been having lately. I left my camera at Cami's after Ethan's birthday, and I feel completely lost without it. I feel like a camera gives me power for some reason. But I remembered, after the initial panic of realizing that I had left it, that I do have a camera that I used before we started using KC's. It has a lot of problems (You need to hold down the battery lid thing really hard or else it will think there are no batteries, and even then it sounds broken with it turns on.) I didn't think it worked at all but found a way to make it work because I was so deperate. So I have managed. We will get it back now that Cami is back in town. So that was all to tell you why the pictures are not so great. The nice Indian man that took our picture was very good to hold down the battery lid the whole time. It's hard to worry about focusing and angles while you're simply trying to push the button to take the picture.

Hard at Work

Well, I am here at work waiting for my next customer to arrive. The one had scheduled for right now is delayed due to her baby being with the pediatrician. I never like to interfere with the doctor's business, but some days I find this stressful when I have a full day and there's no way to reschedule the mom who is leaving the hospital in an hour. But today is so slow that I was happy to tell the mom that she can come back in one hour if that is okay with her. So I have my computer here connected to the Internet definitely not complaining about the few extra moments I have to relax. Although, I did get here extra early since in the past people have been lined up before I even arrive. How unpredictable. I guess with a job based on how many babies being born each day, you really have to be flexible. I like the variety each day brings. I guess I should find something work related to do.

Happy Bithday Ethan!

Well as my gift for most birthdays, I make the cake unless other arrangements have been made for one. I like these opportunities to try something new, or make an old fave. I usually ask the birthday person what their favorite dessert is (a birthday treat doesn't always have to be cake) or in Ethan's case, where the child won't even partake of it, I make something I think the adults will appreciate. Don't worry, the kids got cupcakes that Cami made, which they thought were much more appealing. I was planning on making a peach, caramel pecan cheesecake (an idea I thought sounded good for some reason) and with two unsuccessful trips to the store to find any fresh peaches, I settled on the pineapple. So it was a pineapple, strawberry, cheesecake with a lime syrup to make the fruit flavors stand out a little more. Of course, I want to make it again right away to fix all the things that didn't go right (I always feel this way about anything I make. A curse of the culinary mind.) But I think we've had enough cheesecake, until the peaches come back in season or course. Ethan was patient to sit down again for us to sing "habby booday" as he says it, again even though I think he was much more excited about the initial singing. He was so cute, and I can't believe he's FOUR! These kids have really grown up since I moved here. Man, when I came, he was scooting on his bum with a big cast on his leg. We can't help but giggle at whatever he says, or even at all of his different expressions on his face in all the pictures we take of him. I can't wait to see how he make us laugh next. Maybe someday he'll be requesting a cheesecake for his birthday and actually eat it. I don't know if I'll be around here by then.