Our "House"

Oh a theme for my life lately....Just writing that makes me imagine a bunch of doctors staring at a bunch of x-rays and one turns to the other and says, " What should we call this?" Seriously. I am beginning to accept the fact that "Survival Mode" is not a mode at all it is my life. Now in the grand scheme of things I truly have it made and my mode of surviving is "normal" for us. I was talking with a friend the other day and we were discussing how some people make it look so easy. I am not saying it is for them...it just 'looks' that way. An example?? House cleaning. I suck at it. Now I am nowhere near having the show "Hoarders" on my doorstep, but they say (they as in people who have to have an answer to every question) that when you look at your house it is a reflection of how you are feeling inside. Oh who am I kidding, my psychiatrist told me this just the other day....but using the word 'they' doesn't make me sound so crazy. But using the word 'psychiatrist' does. Let's move on. I'm sure those of you reading this are thinking, "maybe she should have waited another couple months before updating her super awesome blog." But sitting here at 12:23 a.m. this is me and how I am feeling. I am feeling like the dishes in my sink. Gross. I am feeling like my daughter's school papers strewn about with no particular order or purpose. I am feeling like my laundry. Piled up and yearning to be finished. Then I go out in public and present my "house" feeling like someone just rang the doorbell and I am doing the mad sweep-shoving who knows what into who knows where so that I at least look "presentable." I know I am not the only one, but this rain cloud has been over my "house" for quite a while and I am tired of waiting for the sun to come out.

Now those of you who are still reading this and haven't left to go stalk another more happier blog, I thank you. So let's put on our smile and start this, shall we?

I have so many pictures and yet so much to say....and then I write forever long posts. It is so annoying. I haven't posted since November. Oh dear is right!

So in December we had Christmas. You did too? Coincidence? I think not. I was scheduled to work Christmas morning 7-1. That was until some babies in heaven heard that this is a day we humans celebrate a birth and they wanted to join in. Let's just say I got to leave at 6pm. Luckily we decided that we would have the kiddos open their presents at 5 in the morning so that I could witness the blessed event. It worked out well. I didn't post any pics of it because I think you have all seen a Christmas morning before...bad hair, presents and wrapping paper confettied around the living room.

The first person I would like to talk about is: Sariah. As most of you readers are aware, she has that super fun disorder (Selective Mutism). She is doing AWE-SOME!!!!! Seriously. I have had many a tears shed in her behalf this school year. She adores the crap out of her teacher. I think her teacher kinda likes her too. This teacher has created such a safe haven in her classroom that Sariah (brace yourself) talks to some of the other kids in her class, talks in a MICROPHONE for show and tell, reads out loud to her reading group and has even been caught making noise in front of strangers that come to the school. I know!! I know!! Calm down!! You can't? Me neither!!!! Aren't you so super excited? Deep Breath. In. Out. In. Out.

She is reading amazing which is super sad when you as a mom don't get to read bedtime stories anymore. I'm over it. They have been learning to write letters to people. This picture is of the first one she wrote. I made her read it to Bubba. It made me cry.

Guess what? Next on our list to talk about is Bubba. And then guess what? He is a super fun kid. And then guess what? He is almost 4. And then guess what? He talks like this ALL DAY LONG!!! Bubba does not stop talking. He says"and then guess what?"ALL DAY LONG!!! I love it (most of the time). Sometimes I say, "WHAT BUBBA!!!!" rude. I know. He loves to tell story after story. He loves to talk about Backagon, Donkey Kong and monster trucks. Did I say monster trucks? I did. So we took him and Sariah to monster Jam. Dad and the boy loved it and Mom and the girl were bored stiff. Here are some super cool pics from our very expensive day.

Rus and the kids in front of 'Grave Digger!' Calm down.

Me and the kids in front of (you can read the bumper) 'El Toro Loco'

Bubba chillin by 'Bounty Hunter.' This truck did flip over on it's back in the show when it tried to fly over a mound of dirt. So exciting.

Bubba showing Dad everything in case he didn't know what was right in front of him.

Sariah. Calm. Down. Her mother is making the same face on her left side.

On to prettier more delicate things. We went to a tea party. Dressed like we were going to a tea party. Don't we look so profesh??? We were invited by our friends here in town to go to an 'Alice and Wonderland tea party' and when they do something they go all out. I have to admit I was a little nervous to go out to a public library like this. But that all went away when we went to a Mexican restraunt after and the Queen of Hearts joined us in her getup. It was such a fun night. On a quick side note: I have to say that I have the sweetest friends a girl could ask for in this town. They have taken me under their wings and have allowed me to really feel like I have someone I can depend on.

Sariah's dearest friends.

A friend at work gave me some costumes that her boys had grown out of. Go Go Power Rangers!

Sariah and Dad all ready to go to 'Dads n Donuts.' So cute and precious!!!

I went and got my hair done and took Bubba with me. She cut Bubba's hair for me. Oh sweet relief-he looks normal. His dad has been cutting it lately with scissors (no clippers). For all the movement, screaming and length of time it looked pretty good. But with this lady, he let her use the clippers and she put blue in it. He thought he was so cool. Man, was he right.

Bring on November!!!

Have I ever mentioned that I do not care for hunting season? I don't think I have, considering I am the most supportive wife ever. But this October has brought my distaste to a whole new level. It's like on the old Mario brothers game where you pass the game once and then when you start again, all those black shell bugs take the place of the birdy-turtle things. Intense. This would describe my life.... I hate to admit this, but I seriously almost said the "A" word one day!! I kind of feel bad, because it's not my husband's fault that people are idiots and shoot things they are not supposed to, shoot more than they are supposed too, and any other illegal thing that they are not SUPPOSED to do.

Being the awesome husband that he is, my husband loves me anyways. Weird. Speaking of awesome, my husband's best friend got married. When me and Rus were dating, it was always the 3 of us. I would sit in the middle of them in the old brown truck. I would go with them to archery class....So what I am getting at is, that this was a big deal. The ceremony was so cute and it felt nice to finally sit next to my husband and remember the good ol' days.

Rustin was the best man. Doesn't he looked so overdressed? How embarrassing. We showed up in Levis thinking it was an "open house" deal. We were wrong. Good thing his best friend has an amazing awesome family who has taken us just the way we are for a very long time.
My kids with their awesome aunt Tahnee.
One week, Rustin has worked all his hours in a couple days and had to attempt to have a day off. So out of the blue we decided to go to Scary Hill (Cherry Hill) and see what they had to offer. We went miniature golfing first. It was so so fun for me and Rus to finally just tease the crap out of each other and have some serious competition. I got like 3 holes-in-one and he still beat me. But the picture above is of Sariah showing her true colors-This is her normal cute mad face. Disclaimer: I did not pick her shirt out, in fact I have attempted to give this shirt away numerous times and she keeps pulling it out of the bag and putting it on. Tulips are my favorite flower...but this by far is NOT my favorite shirt.
This is the ultra lame hay ride. Do you see any hay? Neither did we. The guy pulls you through the camp ground with his noisy tractor and you look at an occasional Halloween decoration stapled to a tree. Bubba LOVED it.
Batting cages. Me and Rus totally got into it. The kids played with the helmets.
Now on to Halloween.....Once again the traditional Halloween parade around the track continued. Sariah was a giraffe. Her teacher was "the bride of frankenstein." Sariah says to me, "Mom you never taught me that frankenstein had a bride." I was so upset, that is what my next Family Home Evening was all about.....Seriously?
This photo was taken by a 6 year old photographer. We should have set the timer and all that business, but we were tired. We got invited to a halloween party. Being the super planner, me and Rus have been going and getting tatoos for months. We are so dedicated. But seriously, we have been fighting for months about what we were going to be. Rus being his ever enthusiastic self really never joined the fight, he just listened to me freak out about it. So the night before, we went to one of those halloween stores and got this get-up. I thought Rus looked awesome!! I on the other hand had to work that day and came home and threw myself together. Anyways, the party was AMAZING and, sounds funny to write, it had a touch of spiritual moments...
The kids ready for a night of fun at the trunk-or-treat-or-lets-go-in-the-church-to-get-out-of-the-pouring-rain party. I had the pleasure of doing the giraffe's make-up. I know I did Am-a-zing!! Then there was Donkey Kong. Isn't he so cute??? I didn't do his make-up. Bubba is a little bit obsessed with gorillas right now and loves Donkey Kong to pieces so he was super excited to be wearing the real deal.
Love it!
Does life get any better than this?

OHHHH What did we do in the Summertime???

I know, I know...I said private....and I meant it. But until it happens I'm going to keep on blogging every day like normal....hee hee. Let's continue. So now that the leaves are changing and the weatherman is threatening snow soon, I thought I might as well give my final farewell to summer. We had a pretty busy summer. Being the amazing photographer that I am, my camera was so tired of being lugged around and then LEFT IN THE CAR. yep. So these pics are what I would like to call, " I remembered it."

When I was a wee child, we would go boating with a family friend. We loved the "water banana" and were pulled for miles around the lake. This summer, my children's buttocks sat in that same boat (my dad bought it from the family friend). It was so fun...except there was no banana and no pulling due to the rope (probably the same rope from my childhood) breaking. We did however stop in the middle of the lake and jump out. My father even did a cannonball off the boat. Good times.
I hope my sister doesn't mind, but I took this awesome pose of her enjoying herself. Yes this is the same sister that is picking up a bag of M&Ms in my Easter post. She really knows how to work the camera.....
Here is Sariah making a face that says, "Do I like this? Yes I like this. Oh wait, do I really like this? I'll just make this face and hope it looks like I am having the time of my life!"
Mickell, making the same face as Sariah.......Bubba is just chillin.....
We took long, comfortable naps.
Bubba thought he hated peas. That thought was removed by my mom in law who fed him peas on one of their weekend trips. He LOVED them. I found him this shirt at Target (of course) that shows a pea doing the peace sign and says, "Give PEAS a Chance." It is one of his favorite shirts and allows him to do awesome, daring tricks like the one pictured above.

We went to Wendy's probably more than we should have this summer. That statement can be confirmed by this picture. Sariah and Bubba got these glasses. You know Sariah.....HAD to wear them to the parade.
Sariah and Bubba LOVED playing in the sprinklers....for about 10 minutes. Sariah has to use her umbrella. I'm sure the umbrella is doing her a lot of good considering the "rain" is coming out of the ground and not the sky. She was singing very loudly a song she made up called, "it's raining in the summer!"

We went to one of the cabins that Rustin's work owns. It was really fun. There was no electricity and there was a very manly outhouse.
We got to meet an American Kestral bird that Rus rescued. It is a highlight part of the job when he calls and says he has something to look at in the cage. We got to meet an owl the other day. Look how positive I am......
And this is my cute daughter on her first day of school. It went very well. I actually got to drop her off and go home. Unlike Kindergarten where I got to attend the entire time and also enjoy my butt on a kindergartner chair with a kindergartner on my lap.

We have really enjoyed living here. The people here are very very sweet. I finally met a doctor that I trusted enough to change my meds and it has really helped. I know I am a spiritual dork, but I really can see the Lord's tender mercies in my life. I LOVED conference. I also got the pleasure of going to the RS conference session. I needed to hear the words from Pres. Monson. I now tell myself all the time- Today I am a golden chrysanthemum in a dented metal pot-who knows what will happen tomorrow. It was a talk straight to my spirit!!! Okay I'm done. Oh wait, I really enjoyed Elder Holland's talk too......

A Wish, A Wish Come True and FINALLY a post for you!

I am going to skip ALL the Blah Blah Blah about me not getting all this information out sooner and just get on with it. This post also comes with a Warning (what do you think happens when you take 2 trips so close together?): It's a doozy.

1. A WISH:

I am the mother of a 6 year old! I am still in denial. Sariah is getting sooo tall and sooo beautiful. I would not make that judgement on this picture however. She is on a I-can-do-my-own-hair phase. So for her birthday, I took the kids to the Treehouse Museum-oh joy. That in itself should have been good enough, but she also got a new dress and some new sandals. The night before her birthday we also took her to Taggarts. If you ever have a huge craving for the best sugar cookie in your life, head on over to Taggarts. In the words of my father: "It's so good it'll make your tongue lick your brains out!" Don't ask me.... Sariah got to pick a cake out and since we were in Ogden (Treehouse) we took the cake and ventured to my parents for a quick candle blowing because it was pretty late. As I stated previously, I am in denial and if you ask me about any of the above activities, I will have no clue what you are talking about.

As you will notice in this picture, Bubba and Sariah are wearing similar shirts. It was all Sariah's doing......what a kid!

2. A Wish Come True:

As you read in one of my previous posts, I was going to Washington, DC. Well I went. I had an AMAZING time and it was UNFORGETTABLE. As also previously stated I went with my sis-in-law Tahnee, who bought an extra special zebra print suitcase for our little trip. I however got a classy suitcase from TJ MAXX after full inspection by my husband of every suitcase in the building. I wanted the cute purple one, but got a very sturdy, strong zippered black bedazzled bag. Now that I have explained our luggage "YAWN" let's keep the momentum going.

We were given a ride by my husband to the airport. Rus gave us "the talk." We were supposed to not look like or act like tourists. He also gave deep details about being on the lookout for anyone who might want to injure 2 ignorant women. I will give one example from part of his speech: "So when you get in the cab, I want you to get on your cell phone and pretend like you are talking to me. You need to say something like: "Oh you're going to be following us in the cab behind us?" or look to Tahnee and say something like: "Tahnee can you believe how good my husband did at his UFC fight last night?! He amazes me." I will give you a quick fast forward to the cab ride. Here's our conversation ".....................(look at each other and smile)..........The end.

So we flew into Denver, (uneventful). Got on the plane headed for DC. Tahnee let me have the window seat (it was a row of 3) just in case her long lost soul mate was going to sit next to her. So after the old lady sat down we were ready to fly. (I hate romance movies).

We had a very flamboyant guy stewardess who loved his job (you could just tell). But the funniest moment is when we landed in DC and he comes over the speaker: " Thank you for flying Frontier. If you live here, welcome home. If your here on business, I hope it goes well. If you're here on vacation I hope it goes SAFELY!" Me and Tahn look at each other and try and remember every detail of "the talk." As we were getting off of the plane there was a guy in front of me that had an Army backpack on. When he walked by, our flamboyant friend says to him something about where he is headed. The Army guy tells him that he is headed home to somewhere (listening to other people's conversations is very hard on an airplane, I wonder if it has to do with the cabin pressure or something). With that the Army guy lifts up his shirt and says, "Took 2 rounds in Baghdad." To which our friend responds, "Ooh Owwie." But it made my heart leap. For some reason I got a little teary and felt a huge load of gratitude for this man. What a way to start my trip.

So we are walking towards the baggage claim.....what's this? Up ahead? It is this beautiful woman. She looks like she is waiting for someone and she is crying. She looks very stressed (you know walking back and forth). ENTER ROMANCE MOVIE: Me and Tahnee immediately decide that this is Army man's girlfriend. So what do we do? We stop. Stare. Stare. Watch. We are so caught up in this moment, we feel like we are the directors for the film and we are just waiting for the actors to hit their cues. Then I notice in the corner of my eye Army man turn the corner....and then turns and goes the opposite way.NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Then we hear the girl scream and run towards a lady and a little girl bawling. Talk about disappointment! But it's okay because there was a pregnant girl who was on our trip since Utah and she looked a good 8 months pregnant. She stops cold in her tracks and puts her face in her hands as her handsome husband meets her and they hug for forever......you guessed it teary eyed once again.

Our luggage was obtained and we were off to the line for the cab. Please note it is a good 11:00 pm at this time. We are handed a paper that has a map on it and a bunch of lines that designate cost. Pretty soon the gentlemen in charge of this whole get up start asking people in line where they are going. People start saying DC and they shove them in a cab. I being so non-tourist say the address to our hotel. He makes us step aside. Wasn't our hotel in DC? Nervous. So finally they come back to us and ask the address again. Apparently it is not in DC it is in Arlington....So in the meantime the girl behind us thinks that we are invisible and walks right ahead of us (how could she miss Tahnee's glow-in-the-dark zebra suitcase?) The man asks the girl where she is going and proceeds to show him on the weird map. Then HER cab pulls up (which was supposed to be ours). Out of the cab gets this very scary looking man and I wanted to kiss her for going ahead of us. Is that rude? Then our cab driver comes and he is not scary looking...blind maybe...but not scary. It was a little nervy in the cab. We arrive at our hotel and non-scary-blind-guy hoists the zebra and the bedazzler out of his trunk. We say thanks and I saw on the meter it said $16.15. The driver says to us, "That'll be $16.00." So Tahn gives him $16.00. At first I thought we got a deal and then my little brain said, "Is this like the hairdresser??? Am I supposed to tip him?" As I was thinking this, he drove away -15 cents.

Oh one thing I forgot to mention is: It's near 12:00 a.m. there and we have had NOTHING to eat since the morning at the SLC airport. Online the hotel said it had a little store called: The Pantry. Well surprise! It was just a small corner by the desk offering minimal overpriced options. We ate some of it anyways. The next morning being Sunday, it was time to do what we came for:

To get there we had to ride the Metro. Online the hotel said it had a free shuttle service. Surprise! It's closed on Sundays. So we had to walk the block and a half. We found the elevator and went down, it was so so freaky. It was all cemetery and old bricky looking. Plus being a Sunday there was NOONE there. We had no clue what we were doing. So to look non-touristy, we read the entire metro card dispenser instructions like a thousand times. We decided we would just buy $10.00 worth of riding time. Then we went up to the helper window and asked if we did it right (so un-tourist, I know). The lady in the booth was the first nice person we encountered since landing in DC. She let us know our $10.00 would "be lettin' us ride for a long time." But it was worth it.

I thought I knew what to expect from such a museum, from reading the countless books. It was so much more. It was weird for me when people would say they had been to the museum and yet weren't able to say much. Or how so many survivors never want to talk about it. Now I can sort of understand. Me and Tahnee spent 7 hours in the museum, only leaving after it was closing. We read every sign, watched every movie, and saw every display. By the time we left, my eyes were drying, but my heart was still weeping.

In case you were wondering. It was freezing cold in the museum. It was so humid outside-let's just say this is the last day our legs saw pants.....

The Washington Monument. HUGE!! Did you know that for a while they had to stop building it because there was no money? Then when the government bought it they were able to start building again, yet they used a different colored stone. You can see where one era left off and another started. There was no eating this day either. I guess when you are so focused on something you forget. Well our stomachs remembered. We found a Boston's Market. Can I just say this meal tasted like heaven. Seriously.

After our delightful dinner, it was time to keep on going. Tahnee had a friend from DC who came and got us at the hotel so we could see some nightlife. Our first stop on our tour was the White House. So for some reason I thought it was bigger than it was. I kept staring at it hoping to see one of Obama's kids peek through a window-but alas it was not so.



Embarrassment coming through......I thought the White House and the Capitol building were the same thing. I know they look nothing alike, but I am the girl who had an "AHA" moment in science class in the 7th grade when I realized the sun and the moon were two completely separate things. I would always stare at the moon and the sun when they were in the sky together and wonder how both could be showing at the same time...uh huh.

Anyways, I took this picture out of the car window-with my flash I might add. Tahnee's friend kindly tells me it probably doesn't look normal for a car to be driving by the capitol on a Sunday night and be taking pictures. Something about security......

Our second day could easily be called: "You did all that in one day?" We walked our tooshies off. But I am getting ahead of myself...We woke up and got ready while listening and dancing to Lee Dewyze. We decide we are not paying $12.99 for the buffet at the restaurant again (I paid the price for 2 boxes of the mini boxes of Frosted Flakes and a banana) and went to Subway on the way to the Metro. It was pretty good if I do say so myself.

Scene: Monday morning in Washington DC. Pure chaos. People everywhere walking around in their suits and ties and briefcases galore.

Scene2: Metro. NO ROOM. We are stuffed in there like Sardines. There is no aisle space and nothing to hold onto. So being my lovely short self had to reach up to the top (on my tippee toes) and hold on to the bar directly above my head. It was so so awkward. It made me think of that deodorant commercial, "raise your arm if your sure." Then poor tahnee had to literally shove her arm into all the midst of people to find a pole to hold onto. And if this wasn't awkward enough...It was dead SILENT. No one at all was conversing with each other. Everyone was just staring straight ahead (or at my armpit, I don't know). Me and Tahn kept looking at each other and smiling and trying not to laugh. I swear if we said one little thing, everyone would turn their head and look at you like, "this is a disturbance of the peace!" Awkward.

We began our little self-given tour at the Washington monument (that really tall thing). It is huge! You can only stare at a building for so long and then it is time to move on...To the World War 2 memorial. It was so so beautiful. I loved walking into it and along the sides of the wall are these beautiful bronzed pictures. They were taken from many different times and represented different groups (like Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force).

You have to look kind of close, but this one is of the Air Force people. Isn't it amazing? I loved all the different scenes they had. I thought I would take a picture of this one because my nephew thinks he works at an airport at night and it made me think of him....

This is on the sidewalk area that surrounds the memorial. Isn't it so amazing???? I stepped over it because I didn't know if it was sacred or something. The feeling in the memorial was very awestruck and humbling.
There were huge pillars all around making a circle shape. Each pillar represented a state. It looked really cool and all along the walls were engraved quotes from important people at that time. Then they had this huge long wall that was covered in gold stars-it was awesome.

The flag in front of the memorial. It made my heart fill up with so much gratitude. I think I will be saying that phrase a lot. But overall, I think it would be the motto for the trip.
Here's a picture of the Washington Monument and World War 2 memorial from the Lincoln monument. Yes that is the reflection pool, also known by some as the "jenny pool" thanks to the movie Forrest Gump.

Funny moment just walking to the Lincoln monument: There was a group of little boys (maybe 8-9) walking back while we were walking towards....One of the boys, this super cute African American kid says to one of his friends in the most excited voice ever, "Hey wanna race!!?" and before the other boy could say something, the excited kid's tone changed and he said, "Oh never mind you got asthma!"The way he said it was so so cute because he was ready to explode with excitement and just in a snap he got this sweet look on his face and said never mind like racing is the stupidest thing ever invented. Just a little tender moment...

So Lincoln was kind of in the same running with the Capitol/White House and the Sun/Moon issue. I thought it was a smaller statue and I for some stupid reason was excited to sit on his lap. When I told Tahnee and her friend that the night before, they just looked at me in the all too familiar, "Oh-my-gosh-she-has-got-to-be-kidding-there-is-no-way-in-the-whole-wide-world-she-can-even-be-remotely-serious look. 'Nuf said

'A'

Tahnee's friend was very knowledgable about EVERYTHING. I guess it would be cool to live there as a child and your field trips were to these historic places instead of to the Hogle zoo retirement home. And we're continuing....I guess some important guy (yes I listened!) Lincoln knew was deaf, so he created the statue with his hands in sign language for 'A' and 'L' (Abraham Lincoln). Or maybe it was the carver himself that was deaf.....anyways I thought it was special nonetheless.

'L'

Right outside near the Lincoln Monument is this engraving on the ground. It is where Martin Luther King stood for the world-alterating speech. They are building a monument to him right now.

The Korean War memorial. This was my favorite war memorial. It was absolutely breathtaking! There is this patch of land and on it are all these sculpted soilders looking like someone just took a picture of their everyday life. Once again, my heart was full of gratitude. But this time it was a special kind of gratitude because I knew that my Grandpa served in that war and was given a medal for saving some of his fellow soldiers' lives. Teary. Oh I could go on forever, but there really are no words to describe the feeling there.

So our next stop was the Arlington Cemetery. It was about a mile down the road from everything else. We walked across the bridge to get there. We went the Visitor's center and right in front of the sign that said, "No food" there was a bench, and upon that bench sat two starving non-tourists eating the free apple we aquired from the hotel desk that morning. It is really hard because it says 'no food' everywhere so they force you to make the decision to break the law. Well the cemetery was huge, so we decided to take the tour on the bus. We were blessed to be grouped in with a bunch of high school/juinor high kids-respect is slowly depleting from the youth today. I am so old.
I never realized that there were over 200,000 gravestones there. It was sureal. I took a million pictures and they all look the same just from different angles. There are different sections for the gravestones. For example, there was an entire couple fields dedicated to soilders who were unknown and were buried there so the family would have somewhere to go. There was a section for all the African American soilders who fought for our freedom when they themselves were fighting for equality. There was the grave of the pilot who was killed in the plane that tried to attack the Pentagon. Once again heart full of gratitude. It was overwhelming!

From there our Tour-mobile took us to:

As most of you know it is protected and guarded 24 hours a day. It felt very patriotic. Do you see the wreath behind the soilders? We got to see them accept a wreath from 2 different schools. Also during change of the guard, the same group of teens that presented the wreath decided not to pay attention to their water bottle and kicked it right on the path. It was kind of mysterious to see what they would do. He stepped over it and then a soilder came out and did some kind of salute and picked it up. If you look super close to the soldier on the right near his foot you will see the mentioned water bottle.

From the Unknown Soilder, we decided to go for yet another trek to the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is one of those that you don't know by name, but you usually recognize by picture. We were walking and there was a couple in front of us who were having a "disagreement" about how to get to Iwo Jima. We non-touristy folk looked at our map and we were on our way. The couple mentioned prior was walking in front of us staggard-like (woman in front of man). Soon we came to a place where we had to decide to go up a road or straight. We chose straight they chose up. We won.

I, once again, stood in awe. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It screamed emotion and courage. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.Also, I didn't know it was right in front of a military school. There were Army runners everywhere!

Speaking of everywhere-this is where we decided to walk. We looked out near the highway and noticed a sign that we thought was near our hotel. Being so knowledgable about the area now, we decided we didn't need to ride the metro home, we decided to walk to our hotel from Iwo Jima. This would go against everything my husband talked to us about, but we were professionals now. We looked at our map and we were confident we knew our way.We strapped on our pride and started walking.......and walking.....and walking. Pretty soon we are crossing freeways and looking at the map right smack in the middle of a scary neighborhood. We tried to make it look like we weren't tourists, but the cameras dangling from our necks and the confused/freaked out looks on our faces gave it away. After looking at the map, we would think we had it all figured out and would start walking confidently-opposite ways......frustrated!! We finally arrived at the hotel.....very sweaty and laughing our heads off. This night we ordered take-out from an italian place somewhere.
The Final day:

We awoke and decided to go get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument (the really tall thing). We were set. We had a little time to kill so we decided to go on a little jaunt to the Smithsonian museum. We went to the air and space museum. It was very.....interesting. It was cool to see all the airplanes and space stuff (hence the name of the museum-duh!). We found a place that was offering motion rides. We did pay the trillion dollar entrance fee for a ride that was so underwhelming me and Tahn had to elaborate it just a bit. First of all, we were supposed to be feeling like we were on a roller coaster in space...(this was no space mountain my friends). Second we had to be in the second row and have two people we did not know in there with us-awkward! The ride begins and so does the smiling (due to how much we just paid to ride something we could have just closed our eyes and imagined for a whole lot cheaper!) So I decide to start squishing Tahnee like it's whipping me all over the imaginary place. Then it starts playing rock music and we busted out our air guitar duet. We were rocking out so hard!!! We were laughing our guts off (very quietly). When it ended, Tahnee says out loud, "That was awesome!" One of our dear front seat riders says, "yeah it was!!" Oh dear.

We arrived just in time to ride to the top of the Washington Monument. It was really awesome. I didn't know that states donated stones to build it and they had messages written on them on the inside. So while we are riding down the elevator it turns on lights inside and you can read those messages...But up top was really cool too. You could see so far. It looked like they were having a BBQ at the White house. I thought that was random.

Now it was time to depart to our final destination-HOME! We got back to our hotel and got our luggage and asked about the shuttle. This shuttle that came with our hotel had never met our butts-no not ever! We were once again informed that the shuttle was not available until 4pm that day. So we stood there-in shock. We did not want to take a cab and pay another tipless amount when we had money left on our metro cards. It was decided then-we would take our luggage with us and get on that metro for the last time!!! It was super weird. We had to get off at the "blue line" to catch a different metro. It was right smack dab in the scary part of town and I felt like I was in a movie......waiting for the climax. But it didn't come (thanks to the prayer we said before we left). We got on the metro and everyone was staring at us. This really scary guy was staring at Tahnee (or maybe he was hungry and wanted to eat her zebra suitcase). We get off at the airport and are hoping we can find the shuttle-NOPE! We dragged our suitcases at least a half a mile (no lie) to get to our check-in area. We were so tired, so sweaty and so hand-blistered that we were both on edge. So it was not very funny (but it was soon after and now) when Tahnee stuck her Zebra suitcase up on the scale and it was 2 pounds too heavy! In the attendant's words, "Your bag is overweight!" The lady told her it would be an extra 75$ to check it on that way. So Tahnee takes it off and takes out a ton of stuff...She puts it on the scale and it equals the exact weight-then she zips it up and it would be 2 pounds over again. This happened 3 times before the darn zebra finally had lost enough weight. After we were finally on the plane-all of our day's experiences turned into the giggles. A roaring case!! We were laughing so hard about Tahnee's poor suitcase being called overweight. We could not stop laughing-tears were honestly streaming from our eyes. It was a perfect way to end the trip. Thanks Tahn!!!! And thank you for reading this experience.

This last picture is so lost. But I took it to show my mom that the only place worth eating at is dedicated to our family (and the other folks who have had to go through the battle).

And other news:

This is our new puppy Anna. She is so teeny in this pic compared to now, but hey hopefully more posts will be coming. She is a pretty good dog. Very hyper.

And one more thing....I never in my life thought I would be writing this, but we are going to go PRIVATE!!! I know so rude-but I was looking at my followers and noticed a fellow I have never even heard of. So you all know the drill. Now here is the thing, I am a major blog stalker myself and I hate when I can't get in........too honest? So SERIOUSLY if you like to read about my ultra exciting life and want to continue reading a new post every 4-6 months, tell me how you found me and I'll pray and ponder about it and let you on through......so we are shutting down world wide publication in exactly 7 days and counting...if you are more comfortable emailing me go ahead: snike33@aol.com.