A free moment

Well blog access is quite limited now that I am working for granite district and unlike jordan they block gmail, blogspot and sites like that. I also don't know what to write about now that I'm back in the day to day life. We had amazing steak last night. It was Brad's first time grilling steaks and we used a marinade recipe from Mom Dennis. Yum, we both thought mmmmm restaurant quality. So I am wanting to take a poll. Do you (whoever reads this) have difficulty waking up in the morning- especially in the winter months? I am conducting a personal research study to find better ways to rise and shine. I consider myself a morning person once I am up and showered but it is the getting up that is difficult. Just 10 more minutes mentality aided by the snooze button is difficult to resist. But 10 minutes late in the morning sets back my whole day. Does anyone else have this problem and what do suggest for intervention.

Home at Last

Brad got home Saturday evening. Yeah! We both felt like 2 weeks was a whole lot longer than we thought. Sunday we went to our home ward (in Utah) for the 1st time. They were so welcoming, and randomly our homeward was the same home ward Lil Josh and the Ashcraft's were at to see their friend's mission talk. Small World. I don't know if it was sympathetic jet lag or I haven't been to a whole block of afternoon church for a while, but Brad and I were both struggling to stay awake in Sacrament meeting. Sunday night we celebrated Jon's birthday with great food and a whole lot of The Great Dalmuti. Brad made Dalmuti into a verb and we both got really into this 1 1/2 hour game. I think the family was a little surprised with our competitiveness with eachother. We can get a little intense:) I love that monday was a holiday because we spent the whole day together. Brad and Dad built a bookshelf and now we have an office because all of his books are off the floor. Hurray! Then we celebrated and did lunch and a movie. The Dark Night was a bit crazy scary for me but Brad liked the plot. We finished the day off with grilled cheese and Seinfeld. Now it is back to normal. It's amazing the things that you miss when your love is absent for two weeks. I feel so blessed to have him in my life. He makes me laugh. He makes me think. He inspires me to be great and he shows me how to love. I love this cute boy.

Top 10 Things to Enjoy While Your Husband is out of the Country

1- Ice Cream Cones every night
2- Gilmore Girls
3- Real Milk
4- The Fun Bus w/ the girls
5- Lobster & Crab buffet w/ the girls
6- Rocking out w/ the girls
7- Love Letters (with him of course:)
8- Having the Computer to Yourself
9- Rearranging/ Decorating w/out questions
10- ok I can't think of 10 it's really not that enjoyable, there is more like 100 things you miss but I was trying to be positive hmmmmmmmmmm, can't think, hmmmmmmmmmmm...................................................................................................... ok I got it
10- Cupcakes for breakfast w/ out guilt!

Back to Reality

Wow what a busy week. We left Virginia last friday and drove all day to Wisconsin where we stayed and spent the next day with Wisconsin family. Then we left Sunday morning at 5 am and drove to Rock Springs WY. We got there about 10:00, and finally found my friends address around 10:30. I think in that last 30 minutes everything Brad did or said annoyed me- probably likewise. But alas, we found our haven and ditched living in our car for the next 12 hours. We got home on monday and found a few surprises at home. A dozen bees and hornets and a black widows web on our patio. Ahhhhh! After discovering the black widows web. I screamed "I'm not ready for home owership!" and was ready to hide in the house, but Brad looked up online how to rid yourself of these infestations and boiled some water which we through on the black widows nest. I got some Bee, Hornet, and Wasp killer at the store and we went Kamikazi (I'm not sure how you spell that) and started spraying the bees and in so doing killed some of the flowers they were around, oh well- the bees died:) I destroyed a hornets nest he was making and we made a mountain dew bee trap we found online. I realized from this venture that I am way above these stinging, poisonous insects on the food chain for a reason and I want them to know that. I also started my job in Granite District this week and am very pleased with the situation. 15-20 min commute rather that 40-45! Sadly Brad left on saturday to go to Turkey for 2 weeks and I started missing him the second he left. It really is a great opportunity for him and 2 weeks isn' t that long right? It sure gives me great admiration and appreciation for women who send their husbands to war. I can't imagine that. What a sacrifice they make. Well back to reality- work, home ownership woes:), and an absent husband.

Final Museum

So after 7 weeks of adventuring I have come to an end of tourism (for now). I debated in my head a while about going to this last museum. At first I really did not want to but I am very glad that I went. The National Holocaust Museum is unforgettable. I have a better understanding of how Nazi Germany came about and was reverenced by the millions of people who died because of it. What would it be like to be hated and condemned to die for your nationality, religious preference, color of your skin, having a disability, having a different lifestyle? Most of us living in the United States will never really understand. Though there is still hatred and nationalism we have built in safety structures in our government to protect each individuals basic rights. So many other countries do not have this and are still threatened by the same roots of the Holocaust. Even though we have these safeguards just like our founding fathers and civil rights activists we need to keep them working. Perhaps it is because I have surrounded myself this summer with American History, perhaps it is because I have my incredible husband who informs me about world politics, but I have developed a greater appreciation for the "one" who fights for freedoms for all people, who is informed about problems and dares to make changes, who raises their voice when they witness injustice, and mostly who has a perfect brightness of hope that all people can learn to forgive and love and the world can be a better place. I want to be the"one".

Ethiopian Food

So saturday Brad and I doubled with my friend Maria (from BYU) and her boyfriend. We celebrated our last weekend in DC at an Ethiopian restaurant in Adams Morgan- which seems to be where the night scene is in DC. Ethiopian food is entirely different than anything I have ever had. The appetizer was delicious- some sort of deep fried cabbage and mashed potato. The meal came out on this big pancake crepe thing (see picture). After I looked at it for a moment I was ready to try this interesting looking thing and looked around for my fork- no fork, maybe some sort of stick thing?- no... this is African not Asian food. So I asked and Brad laughed at me and explained you eat it with your hands. What? This did not look like finger food to me. So I mimicked what he did and tore off part of the crepe and tried picking up the food with it. Some of the food was really good, some was different. Afterward we walked down the club strip of Adams Morgan, Maria and I spotted a bookstore we had to check out. We parted at the metro station and Brad and I took our last metro ride home in DC.

The last Farmers Market

Yesterday I went to the last Farmers Market I will be able to attend while we are in Herndon this summer. It was a little sad especially when I got my last cookie from Poppy's Gourmet Cookies- mmmmmmm... the best cookies I have ever had. The historic town of Herndon has been really fun to explore and relax in this summer. It has a relaxed southern feel which I have come to enjoy and I will miss, though I am really excited to come home and see family and friends. See you all soon!