The Mother Post

I decided to change the blog around a bit since everyone seems to have the best blogs ever. Just trying to keep up with the Jones'. Holy Smokers... I'm a little intimidated by this post that I'm about to write... It's going to be sooooooo long and soooooooo fun. :) Alrighty. Starting now.

{I'm going to use bullet points unless I feel the need for the actual story} - this is for memories sake.

7/31 (Tuesday)
-We arrived at the airport at 845, got on plane and left by 10.
- Strange lady sitting next to us that had lived in Idaho
- On the plane ride, Mike and I watched an episode of Rookie Blue which was absolutely amazing! (The one where the blond girl gets kidnapped...) We almost had heart-attacks.
-When we landed we got Quiznos (Yay!! I had been craving it for-ever)
-Jeannie and Matt picked us up in Chris and Karols van ...and Matt was driving crazy - no surprise there :)
-On the way to the house we got to hear all about the ticket Matt got for speeding
-Stopped at Dans on the way to the airport
-Picked up Lori from the airport (She had been telling Mike that she wouldn't be able to make it.. so sneaky)
-Left for the Beach House
- Jeannie got pulled over at the same spot Matt did earlier (speed trap - 50 mph to 30 mph)
-We got in at 1 and set up camp in the Living room

8/1 (Wednesday)
- We (Mike, Matt, Allison, Lori, and I) all went running that morning. We ended up running about 3 or 4 miles but I was pretty proud of myself because the humidity was killing me!! It was still fun though because it started to rain :)
- It rained for a while that day but the coolest thing happened! We weren't able to go down to the beach because of the crummy weather so we went out on the balcony and right as we did a crack of lightning hit the water... it was so loud! I had never been that close to lightning in my life.
-The night we had spaghetti for dinner and Mike, Matt, Lori and I all went to the boardwalk and had salt water taffy, funnel cake, polish water ice (Mike was excited for me to try that) and we also got these amazing fries... unfortunately no one has free ketchup. I know right? They all charged for it. EVERYWHERE. So we ate plain fries and loved it.

8/2 (Thursday)
-Ran with sweet Allison! We went about 5 miles which was amazing and I loved my time with her. It was always so relaxing.
-After we got home from the run, Chris made these delicious shakes (I can't even remember what was in them now) but wow they were good.
-We all went down to the beach for a bit and played with frisbees and kites. Benny lost her shoe.. :(
-Mike and I got locked in the bathroom together because whatever genius installed the knob... installed in backwards!! There were plenty of pranks that went on with that.
-The girls did their toenails! I had never tried the little sticker things but they are wonderful and they don't come off for weeks. Sweet deal!
-Chris ordered Pizza and at first sight I thought it was a huge box! But, never underestimate the Engels, they will finish it off! :)

8/3 (Friday)
- Allison and I skipped running, I woke up late and it was too toasty by then!
-The whole family went to the boardwalk and because it was during the day, especially when it was the hottest day of the week, we were all eyeing the ocean the whole time. Needless to say, we didn't stay very long.
-Mike and I got dip n' dots (Cookies and Cream flavor)
-Got to try Jeannie and Ray's homemade chili for lunch {SOOO DELICIOUS!!}
-We spent most of the day at the beach trying to cool down
-Most memorable part of the day, Mike slapped Matt in the face with a big wad of sand from about 10 ft away. {Mikey loves telling that story}
-Benny found her shoe all torn up by the sand machine that comes through... not sure what to call it.
-First night playing Uno with the fam... guess who won!! Surprisingly me. Yeah, everyone was shocked because apparently I had some serious people to beat.

8/4 (Saturday)
-Packed and left from Ocean City. That was fun trying to fit everyone and everything into three cars!! I forget how much stuff is needed for a big family.
-On our way out traffic was crazy so we decided to stop and have breakfast outside of town. We ended up at Ihop {Yummy... Unhealthy... So yummy}
-Mikey and I went to Rutters for some tastey cakes but they didn't have the coconut kind which Mike was bummed about.
-Stopped to look at Lake Williams (which was flooded last time I was there)
-Jeannie made BBQ chicken which was so delicious!!
-Played uno of course.

8/5 (Sunday)
-Slept in... that was so nice!
-Went to church
-Pappy came over. That was the first time I met him, he's cute. He told me he almost called me Lori a couple times since she used to have blond hair.. definitely took it as a compliment. She is beautiful.
-Lee and Karen visited (Lee is Ray's brother)
-Dan and Allison taught us how to play bang - I can say it's one of my favorite games now!!
-Played uno again :)

8/6 (Monday)
-This was the day that all the sicknesses started. Mike got his sinus infection. Boo!!
-Ally and I went for a run on a beautiful trail and ran a crazy steep hill. She was a champ though.
-We all went Kayaking at Lake Williams! I loved being out with the family.
-This was the day that Lori left - so sad
-Karol accidentally backed up into the mailbox and took it out :)
-Chris, Mike, and I went to Sams club to pick up Karols b-day present!!
-Later that night, Matt, Kacey, Taylor, Mike and I went over to Taylors to have a fire. They are all so fun to be around. That was the first time I met Taylor and he is AWESOME.

8/7 (Tuesday)
-We all went to Alexanders for breakfast. This is the restaurant that I had heard about from Mikey for-ever. He always had good things to say about and especially for how cheap it was. Well I tried the chipped beef and whatever the heck thing he had. IT was So good. I crave it sometimes now, too bad we don't have it out west. Bummer.
- This was also the day we all went to run errands. We stopped in at Michaels for Karol to pick something up and I found these amazing wood plaques that you could do basically anything with! Oh my goodness, I would have so much fun with those!
-Drove to Karol's to get her beads and on the way I was enjoying the houses way too much. The character that they have is absolutely stunning. It's nothing like I've ever seen!
-Stopped in at Brown's. Cutest. Shop. Ever. They have everything I could ever want. Fresh food. Potato and Pasta salad. Fresh jam. Mmmm, I could have stayed forever. We got their peaches and they were to die for. Jeannie also bought the pasta salad and potato salad and we had that for lunch when we got home.
-After Karol knocked over the mailbox, we noticed that there was a wasps nest under the post so we couldn't do anything about it until that was fixed. There were also a couple nests up by their door - I usually went through the garage if I could help it. Mike was a champ and went to the store for the spray and took care of it. What a man :)
-Jeannie made Chicken Pot Pie for dinner. But it wasn't the normal kind all of us Westerners think in our cute little heads. They make it with mashed potatoes so when I went up to get the food, you can imagine my surprise. I just couldn't believe they could call it Chicken Pot Pie, I mean where was the crust?! But it was certainly delish and it might even be as good as the normal stuff.
-My first favorite part of the day: When Bentlee said the prayer. She asked to say the prayer so Jeannie helped her and she started off... "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day..... thank you so much for this day. Please bless we will have a good day and this food. Jesus Christ, Amen." I just wanted to take her home with me. Little kids prayers are the best.
-My second favorite part of the night: I got to see fireflies for the first time in years. Oh. My. Word. I was so excited!! I would have chased after them but we happened to be over at Josiah's house and most of them were in the woods. (They have scary bugs out East... I wasn't taking my chances).
-To demonstrate this... when Mike and I got home from Josiah's there was a HUGE centipede in the garage. Even Mike thought it was big. Yikes.

8/8 (Wednesday)
-Today was Karols birthday!! Wahoooo!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAROL!!!!
-This is the day Mike and I went to Maryland. Wow, it was so fantastic down there. The original plan was to go to Washington DC but Mikey was still feeling Crummy so we decided to leave that for another day. When we got there, I realized we were in a super nice part of town. How did i know? Because we were able to count the old cars on our fingers... instead of counting the new ones like in Rexburg. Hahaha. That was strange. It kind of felt like a false reality because I have never been around that in my life. I mean, Sandy  has wealthy people but everyone doesn't own a Lincoln...it was crazy. We stopped in at the mall and I loved it so much. I found a store called Madewell.. their stuff is amazing!! But stupidly expensive unfortunately. So I wasn't able to even half convince myself of buying something. I mean we were in and out pretty fast.
-The real reason we went to Maryland was because I wanted their famous crab cakes. We had the hardest time finding them for some reason though. We stopped at a Crab Shack... thinking they had CRAB cakes. But the guy looked at us like we were the dumbest people on the planet because they only sold full on crabs. Anywho, we eventually found a place and he cooked it for us on the spot. It was awesome and so good! It was basically a fried crab ball... nothing to really give it a different taste which I loved. MMMM. Love me some seafood.

                                    {I talked Mike into going to Pottery Barn with me... this will be our living room one day}

8/9 (Thursday)
-Hershey Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So fun :) I went with Mike (obviously), Matt, and Kacey. IT was the best. I hadn't been on roller coasters forever and it was totally worth it. Even if I did feel like I was going to fall out and die on the Sky Rush. Future reference, don't go on it. Ever again.
-This is the day that I got super sick. I had been feeling a little under the weather but I had been taking medicine for the past couple days. Hershey Park was my excuse not to take it and that was a very bad idea. Mike and I stopped in at the Hersheys Chocolate Factory (like we did the year before when the park was flooded) and watched a Hershey's 3D show and went on the little ride. So fun. "Moo Moo Moooo" :)
-Their chocolate... they have lots. And they have huge packages of it. I mean Huge.
-Did I mention that they have Huge Candy bars there? HUGE.
-Oh... their candy bars are HUGE
-Had to leave early because I was feeling super super sick.
-That night I slept for 10 hours. Apparently I needed it.

8/10 (Friday)
-Orioles game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super fun and fabulous. Matt go lost on the way down because he missed the exit (the one he was sure wasn't it... turned out to be the right one hehehe). We got to Dan and Allison's, had some delicious spaghetti with a side of fruit and salad... MMM and we waited for the babysitter (Jacinda- yes she's white) to come take care of Connor.
-Left for the game
-Walked for a little to get to the actual stadium (which was awesome until we had to walk back in the dark)
-We bought nachos that were super delicious! They were spicy which gave it a nice kick.
-Orioles won 7-1 against Kansas I think it was.
-Mike kept calling the babysitter Jaquesha on accident. (His excuse: Well I just knew it was a black name!!)
-Slept over at Dan and Allisons (watched an episode of Rookie Blue... Duh).

8/11 (Saturday)
-Woke up to a beautiful breakfast made by Allison. We had waffles and cherry/oatmeal shakes. So. Good.
-We left for DC. Saturday was our day with Dan and Allison. Mike and I were super excited to hang out with them since we hadn't seen them as much as everyone else while we were down there.
-When we got to DC, crazy girls were running around in their bras holding posters about being slutty and getting raped. So strange. We weren't really sure what they were trying to get at.
-Saw the washington monument, Lincold monument, and White House! (I wasn't able to get a hold of Barack... so sad.)
-We stopped in at the Smithsonian very last and it was incredible. Everything they have there is... well I don't really have words for it. If I could go there and just read all the information that would be the best day ever. (If I could retain it all that is.) We saw this crazy long snake that was apparently able to eat dinosaurs? I think that's what it said. Anyway, I wouldn't want that laying around my apartment. No way.
-When we headed back to the apartment, we all wanted something to eat super bad and for some reason we could not find a Subway. Hahaha Allison and I are totally alike when it comes to not eating. We. Get. Grumpy. But we found one eventually and we were all good :)
-After we got back, Ray and Jeannie came over with Mikes recipe of Tinga. (Yummy. Spicy.)
-Watched random videos. And left. That was the hardest part for me. Leaving Dan and Allison - even Connor- who I felt like I could really relate with and have fun with if we lived closer to each other. Someday maybe. :)

8/12 (Sunday)
-Slept in again. Yes.
-Went to Church
-Jeannie made a wonderful dinner. We had pork roast. :) My favorite.
-We all watched the closing ceremony of the Olympics! We thought it was all kind of strange but Kacey was so optimistic and cute and kept telling us it was awesome and cool to see. What a gem. Love that girl.
-This was the night that we were all able to sit in the family room and just talk. It was so nice to just hang out with everyone while everything else was turned of (...the TV) and nothing else was going on in the house. It was just calm and I loved it. And that was the night that everyone seemed to really connect. (There wasn't even fighting until Matt turned the TV back on hahaha)

8/13 (Monday)
-The last full day with the Engel's. This was a hard day for Mike because he knew that seeing his family wouldn't come again for a while.
-That morning Mike and I watched Bentlee and Preston. Preston slept for a bit though because he cried all the night so he was tired. Mike and I took turns sleeping on the couch while the other one watched the kids. They are seriously the two happiest little ones. I love them to pieces.
-Mike took me to the house he used to live in. Ray and all the boys helped with building it! Isn't that awesome?! He took me to see it which was in a small town called Red Lion so we stopped in a couple antique shops to browse.
-Stopped at Perrydells on the way home and had heavenly Bannana Ice cream. Where has that been all my life?!
-We had Roburittos for lunch which was a HUGE and I mean HUGE burrito. I couldn't even eat half of it!
-Later, at dinner, we stopped in and had Marinos pizza with Stronbolis. They were pretty good but I stuck with a salad since the burrito killed me for lunch.
-We had to stop in a a lady's house (in the ward) to pick up a table for Chris and Karol. Her house was amazing! I mean it was decorated like my grandmas house... I'm talking about the architecture though. I mean you could do amazing things with that house if we moved in and renovated it. It's so much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. Just take my word for it, you would be just as surprised.
-Stopped by at Chris and Karols to say our last goodbye's and headed home to spend the last couple hours with Ray and Jeannie.

8/14 (Tuesday)
-Woke up at 430 for our flight.
-Don't remember what we had for breakfast.. I think it was cereal.
-It was so sad to say goodbye to Jeannie.. I know Mike had a hard time with it.
-Slept on the plane for 1.5 hours but I've decided planes are not comfortable.
-Finally got to Utah, mom picked us up (I was happy to see her) and we headed home to do laundry and take naps.
-Mike and I got Subway(me) and Panda (him) for lunch. I swear, Panda is the best fast food chinese restaurant out there! We both decided P.F. Changs is 100 times better... and we are going there once we graduate.

Utah was a blur so this might not come in order... But after we got to Utah, Hal and Jared showed up and we were all (Mom, Dad, Trev, Me, Mike, Hal, Jared, Stormy, Frank, and Summer) able to drive up to Bear Lake and ride on Jet Skis!! It was so much fun to spend time up there with everyone. It was the first time Jared met Mike too so that was cool. Stormy really took a liking to Mike which I was thankful for. I'm mostly thankful she was vocal about it to me. I love Mike and I'm glad my family does too- that's the most important thing. Thursday we went to Boondocks and spent the night there with my Mom's company. They had a work party so we were all able to get in for freeeeee :) Sweet deal. We had pizza, played laser tag, payed arcade games, went for rides on bumper cars, and go-carts. It was a fun night. Friday the cousins and Hal went to Raging Waters. It was so stinking fun. Mike got stung by a bee on his foot though so that was a bummer... I was proud of myself I was sitting among those bees for about a half an hour and I didn't freak out (outwardly) once!! I can't remember what happened on Saturday... or Sunday. All I know is that Mike and I left for Rexburg on Monday and were not too excited to be driving home. But, once we got back it was so nice to feel like we could just relax. We had been going and going and going for 2 weeks with activities going on every day so it was nice to just chill out for a second.

                                                               {The thirteen mosquito bites I got the last day in PA...)

8/22 (Wednesday)
-I went out looking for jobs which was discouraging at first because I wanted to find something at a dentists office since I am planning on becoming a Dental Hygienist eventually (YAY!!) but nothing was open. At all. So I tried the next best thing, a bank, and what do you know! I basically got hired on the spot. It was a long interview though so that's probably why. I met with all the girls and got interviewed by them too basically. They are really into getting along with all the workers (which was why they came to talk with me) but they were awesome and so funny so I knew I wouldn't have a problem working with them. I started work on September 4.

Exciting news: I added pictures (finally) to our bedroom wall. I'll put a picture on here. But I love it. And Mike loves it so I'm very happy about that. He was such a champ and went to Porters with me (a craft store) to pick out a letter and a wood block to frame it in. Best. Husband. Ever. Especially cause we spent WAY too long in there. I can't help my craftiness!! :)