July is hot

It's been awhile since I wrote, and I missed talking about a bunch of fun things we have done. First of all, the 4th of July! I don't have a lot to say about it other than that we had a fun time. We went to a BBQ and birthday party for Hannah and then afterwards we stayed in DC and watched the fireworks with Hannah. We ate frozen lemonade and saw a great show. We were on a hilltop right next to Arilington Cemetary and we had a great view of DC. We could see the Pentagon, the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, it was cool. The fireworks lasted like 20 minutes and they were great!

The view from where we watch fireworks... It obviously looked
a lot more impressive in real life.

On our way home there was a bit of traffic and some roads were closed off... Unfortunately this led us right into the middle of the city! It took us an hour and a half to get home ha ha. We literally drove right through the entire city until we were able to get on the freeway again. It was kind of funny. People were lighting off fireworks everywhere! Right next to apartment buildings and on the side of main roads, it was nuts. I don't even know how many firetrucks and ambulances we saw, but it was a lot. When we got home we were able to finally eat our pie. Yes, pie. We made a Blueberry ice cream pie the night before and decorated it with cream and fresh blueberries and strawberries that morning. It was very festive looking... But I didn't take a fresh picture of it, so I took a picture of it while I was eating my midnight piece. Yum.

The weekend after the 4th we went back into the city to go to the Holocaust Museum and see some monuments, the Holocaust Museum was great, it was really interesting and humbling, but it's not something that you can say you had "fun" doing, ya know? We walked over to the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial next, both of which were cool. It was fun to see those, even though we've both already seen them before. The only downside was that it was literally 105 degrees outside plus humidity and we were drenched in sweat and looking and feeling pretty gross. In front of the Lincoln Memorial though, they actually had a big sprinkler set up so that people could run though and cool off, so we did! And that felt really nice.

David running through the sprinkler at the Lincoln Memorial

All wet after our sprinkler run

A few weekends ago David got tickets for us and Hannah to go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was super fun! We saw all sorts of cool things. We spent a lot of time by the sharks, mostly trying to get good pictures of them, which I failed at, but it was still really cool! Them we saw them feeding the stingrays, we saw jellyfish and to top it off we watched the dolphin show, which was great! At the aquarium we joked about how funny it would be if the restaurant there served seafood ha ha. Then after the aquarium we went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and I ordered salmon! So I got my fair share of fish that day.

One of our attempts at a shark picture... But you can't see it's head.

After our late lunch, we went and saw the new Spiderman movie at a nearby Imax. It was a good movie and we had fun watching it. Altogether we had a super fun day in Baltimore. It's a really nice city and we really enjoyed it.

Well, those are the exciting things we've done lately. Other than that it's been pretty boring. We listed our car for sale last week and have gotten a few calls on it, so that's good. Last weekend David hydroplaned or something while driving in the rain and hit a curb with the wheel and bent the arm that connects it to the chassis, so that cost us $450 to fix, one last repair on that car before it's gone! We showed it to one girl yesterday who said that she would let us know by Friday, and several others have called wanting to see it on Sunday, so hopefully we sell it this weekend, that would be perfect! Then we would only be about one week without the car and David can just take the bus to work and back and then we fly home on the 11th!

I gotta be honest, I'm a little excited to get home! Especially because we are going straight to California when we get back for a whole week with my family! I haven't seen anyone in my family since March, so I'm really happy that we'll be able to spend a whole week with them right when we get back. I've missed them. Then after California my dad will give us a ride home to Provo and we'll get to move into our new apartment! I'm also excited for that, I know it's weird, but I love moving into new places... I don't like the actual moving part, that's a pain, but I do like setting up all my stuff and getting to decided where everything goes. Ever since I was in high school I would rearrange the furniture in my room every couple of months. It's fun to be able to have a whole apartment of our own to mess with. I miss Maile and Michael too, so I'll be so happy to get to play with them again for sure. I talked to Maile yesterday and it was so nice to be able to talk to her again, that now I can't wait to see them.

Right now I'm trying to get everything I need done for this upcoming school year. I have a bunch of requirements that I need to fulfill in order for the school to accept my financial aid, so hopefully I can get all of them done as soon as possible so that I don't have to worry about it anymore. I also have to apply for graduation so that I can graduate in December with my Associates. Don't get too excited people, it's just in general education, so all that means is that all of my credits will transfer to another school now, I haven't really accomplished anything. I don't know what I'll do after I have my associates, maybe try for nursing school, or maybe something else, I just don't know. And it kinda gives me a headache to think about it right now, so I'm going to stop.

If we don't sell our car before Saturday, then I think David and I might go to the beach. We'll head to Annapolis and spend the day lounging on the beach, swimming, soaking up the sun, snacking, and we'll probably wrap it all up with a 5 pound milkshake from a restaurant we saw one time on Man V. Food that David really wants to go to ha ha. We'll see how it goes I guess, it would be fun though, I've been dying to go to the beach.

I love AC!

So, we bought a car! Not the one I previously mentioned, but a different one. It is a white, 2005 Dodge Stratus, it has only 26,000 miles on it! And we got it for a steal of a deal! It is currently awaiting us in Alpine, Utah with David's dad until we get back in August. I don't have a picture of it right now so you will just have to wait to see it in August. We will be listing our car for sale here and hopefully selling it before we leave, but it's tricky because we need to use it up until we leave, so we can only list it a few weeks before we go, so we've been praying hard that it'll all work out.

Last week we went to the Washington DC Temple which is beautiful! Our GPS took us on all these back roads to get there and we were really wondering if it was taking us the right way because it sure looked like we were in the middle of nowhere and then all of a sudden we pull out from a bunch of trees and there it was! Angel Moroni on a golden pillar in the sky! it was a breathtaking sight to pull out and see the temple. 

When we got inside we walked town a long grand hallway and when we got to the end we had no idea where to go! We got a little lost inside for a few minutes, but at least we were lost in a building as beautiful as that. We finally figured out where to go and had a great time there together. 

We've pretty much just been hanging out lately. This is a picture of David holding our niece Joanna showing her how to play League of Legends one night ha ha.

So on Friday night there was a HUGE storm! The power started flickering on and off while we were watching a movie in the basement so we ran upstairs and watched out the sliding glass door as the wind was going crazy and it rained harder than I've ever seen it rain before! It was crazy! It only lasted under an hour but the after effects lasted quite a bit longer than that. 3 million people were without power! We didn't have power for almost 2 full days, and when it's almost 100 degrees outside it makes it a lot less fun. No air conditioning in that kind of heat is like torture. We decided to get out of the house on Saturday and went to a place called the Mooseum, which is like a farming / dairy museum. Getting there was a pain though seeing as how almost all the street lights were out and apparently nobody knows how to act when that happens, so it was a bit chaotic. 

Me with my niece Amy at the Mooseum

My husband giving Amy a ride on his shoulders out to the car

Last night before bed we played a lovely game of Settlers of Catan by lantern in which my husband David won, barely, but still. And since it was so hot in the house everybody decided to sleep in the basement, so we had 4 adults and 3 kids all in one big room. It was crazy and I'm pretty sure it was the worst night sleep that any of us has ever had ha ha. But it was a lot cooler than sleeping on the top floor. 

This morning we went over to some friends house because they still had power and they're actually not staying in their house right now because they're at the hospital because she just had a baby yesterday! Luckily the second hospital she went to had power, and by power I mean backup generators. While they are at the hospital though John and Janice were going over to feed their dog and they were nice enough to let us hang out there in their AC. Luckily our power came back on around 3 or so today, we're still waiting for the ac to cool the house back to a cooler temperature. It's still 84 degrees upstairs. Good thing for us we are in the basement where it's like 75 right now and completely comfortable. 

Over the last several days I've been flying through the 6th Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm loving it! I only have like 25 pages left now, so I think I'm going to head off to finish it and then tomorrow I can start on the 7th and last book of the series. Exciting!

My First Firefly

I saw my first firefly about a week ago and let me tell you, it was a very exciting experience! Holy cow, it was cool. David and I were at a BBQ birthday party for one of Hannah's roommates... Whom we had never met before this party ha ha, but yeah, we were there to hang with Hannah so whatever. David and I were in charge of the grilling at first until Hannah took over so that we could eat. It was fun and the food  and conversation was good and afterward we smelled like smoke but it was ok. Here are some pictures of us by the grill.

Last Saturday we went to DC with Hannah and went to a street fair with cute little artsy shops and booths with big hats and vintage clothing. It was fun, we even got italian ice and ate it as we walked around. We ate lunch at the shake shack and then went walking down a street to see a bunch of the embassy's for different countries. 

David and Hannah

This house was for sale so we were trying to see how much it was.

As we were walking someone asked if we happened to know where the Anderson House was. Hannah looked it up on her phone and it was just down the street... So, we decided to go too! We went and took a tour of this place that we had never even heard of. Turned out to be pretty cool. It was some super fancy house from like 1900. It was pretty and the tour was really interesting. We found out that you can actually even rent it out for wedding receptions and stuff, so we think that Hannah should have her reception there! Now that would be cool!

In the Ballroom of the Anderson House

After the Anderson House we just kept walking around. We ended up taking a 5 minute tour of the textile museum and then sitting in their garden for 30 minutes ha ha. The garden was a bit more interesting than the textiles.... Either way it was sure fun!

So, David and I are car shopping. Yep, that's right. We are giving Pearl the boot. She has been a bit too much hassle for us since we've gotten married so we are going to ditch her. We need something a little more reliable. We are planning not to bring her back to Utah with us at the end of the summer. See, the original plan was that as soon as David is done with his internship on August 9th my dad was going to fly us out to California for a week for a family vacation. After the trip we were to fly back to DC and then drive home. Now since we are thinking that we're not going to bring Pearl back, we already have a way home that will be free, faster, easier and we'll have a two weeks after the vacation to get ready for school and move into our apartment! Which is better than just having a few days. So, we are going to try to sell our Hyundai Sonata while we're here and buy a car in Utah. We actually had David's dad look at a car for us yesterday and he is going to go back and test drive it tomorrow and take it to get checked out by a mechanic and let us know what he really thinks. The car is a 2005 Ford Focus with only 54,000 miles on it. And get this, it's only $3900.00! It's a steal and we're really hoping that it'll work out for us. So I guess we'll see. It'll be weird buying a car that we've never actually seen or driven, but of course we trust David's dad, so if he says it's good, then that's good enough for us! We'll see how it turns out.

This is our possible new car, pretty nice right?

Well, we re-watching all of the episodes of The Office, so I have to go because I'm missing an awesome party because the episode that's going and Pam just got back with Roy, boo!

More bread please!

So we went to the National Zoo a few weeks ago and it was great! The coolest zoo I've probably ever been to. And what made it even cooler was the fact that admission is free! There were elephants (which I love), vultures, pandas, a cheetah, zebras, lions, and tigers and it was just a really cool zoo. So we spent the whole day there having fun and enjoying the nice weather because it actually wasn't too hot or humid that day which was nice. After the zoo we went and met up with Hannah (David's sister), John (David's brother) and Janice (John's wife) for dinner at a surprise place that Hannah picked. To my surprise and delight it was a restaurant that I love and had been to before... In Hungary! I served my mission in Hungary and I loved it! There was a restaurant in Budapest that all the missionaries loved to go to called Vapiano's.

Me in front of the Zebras (which you can't even see)

David and I killing time on a bench at the zoo.

Who knew there was a Vapiano's in America, let alone DC?!

I love to swim! Ever since I was a little girl growing up in Phoenix, AZ we always had a pool, which I loved because I could go swimming anytime I wanted... Which was pretty much everyday when the weather was good. But then when I was 14 we moved to Southern Utah and suddenly the only pool I had access to was the Hurricane Public Pool, which was not so fun for me. So my swimming time drastically decreased from this point on in my life. Last summer, having stayed in Seattle, I didn't go swimming at all. I went swimming once the whole summer and it was one day while on my honeymoon in Mexico at a crowded beach with murky water. Boo. So as you can imagine I was quite excited to go swimming this summer since we're in DC. So last Saturday I finally got my chance to go swimming! we went to this rock quarry with Hannah and had a blast! I guess I didn't really know what to expect when Hannah told us about it because I pictured something totally different. There was a rope swing, a diving board, floating platforms in the lake, a pool, picnic tables, grills for BBQ, basketball courts, and some sand volleyball courts. This place pretty much had it all, we went on the rope swing, dove from the diving board, played on a floating log, had a lovely few games of volleyball, which just as a side note I totally rocked at! And of course, we went swimming. I loved being in the water again! I love the feeling of being in the water because I'm not the most graceful person on land and I feel like in the water I have this undeniable grace and I love the feeling of it.

David and I in front of the lake

Hannah with a friend of hers at the lake.

This week John and Janice were out of town, so I took the opportunity to use the kitchen and make my first ever homemade bread. I wend on my mission to Budapest Hungary and it was amazing! One of the most amazing things about it was the bread! I love yummy European bread and I've missed it very much, so when I saw this recipe I thought i would try it to see if it was as good. I got the recipe off my good friend's blog and it sounded pretty easy. My friend's name is Cami and we were mission companions in the MTC over 3 years ago and even got to serve in the same city together for two transfers, I was in Buda and she was in Pest. I have to give a shout out to her since I stole this off her blog. She's great in so many ways so I knew she wouldn't mind me also posting the recipe. Love you Cami!

This is me and Cami on our mission.

This is me buying some yummy Hungarian bread.

And here is the recipe. I took a bunch of pictures and I had a ton of fun making it. I'll be honest in saying that I don't think it was quite as good as I remember European bread being, it didn't have as crunchy of a crust as I was hoping for, but it was still really good and I was proud of my first experience bread making.

French Bread recipe (this amount makes 3 small loaves or 2 large):

2 1/2 c. warm water

2 T. yeast
3 T. sugar
2 T. white vinegar
Add the above ingredients together and let sit until bubbly (about 3-5 minutes). 
Then add:1 T. salt
1/3 c. oil
6-7 c. flour (or a little more if it's too soft), one cup at a time--add enough until the dough is soft but still firm enough to mold into loaves

Cami used a stand mixer to knead the bread for a few minutes (2-5), but I don't have one so I used my hands. I added one cup at a time until it wasn't super sticky anymore. 

Kneading the dough

What the dough looked like after kneading.

Put the dough in the oven (not heated up) with a pot of boiling water. Punch the dough down when it gets to the top of the bowl (2-5 times) (most definitely my favorite part).

The boiling water makes steam and puts moisture into the dough and makes it rise.

Take the dough and the pot of boiling water out of the oven and divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal parts. I used scissors to cut it in half rather than trying to tear it apart. I also needed more flour for this part because it was too sticky. Make them look kinda like a thick baguette. Place on a greased and floured cookie sheet (the flour on the cookie sheet helps with the stickiness when you're molding it too). Make slits in the top of the dough (I used scissors) and then brush with a beaten egg. Let it rise for about a half hour on the counter. 

After forming the loaves and cutting the slits.

Brushing with egg yolks (well, there wasn't a brush, so I
used a spoon at first and then ended up using a paper towel).

This is after the egg yolk has been brushed on and it has sat on the
counter for 30 minutes, see how much bigger it is after rising some more?

Then put them in the oven at 375' for a half hour. I checked mine at 25 minutes and they looked done so I took them out. 

Here's my yummy bread! Looks pretty good right?

I let them rest for about 25 minutes before cutting into them because I didn't want to let all the moisture out. It was still warm when I cut into it though. I had it with some strawberry jam and it was delicious! David and I ate the whole loaf by the next day and I gave one away.

Now I keep finding bread recipes I want to try! There's one that I found on pinterest that I am dying to try! Only thing is that I need to wait until the end of the summer until we're home to use a certain pot that we have. I got this great enameled cast iron pot for our wedding and haven't had a chance to use it yet because I don't really know what to use it for. Well, this bread calls for that exact pot! The pot is French and it's super nice. The recipe says it's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and that it's super easy to make. The woman who posted it on her blog says she adds different things to make a bunch of different flavors too, so I will be having fun with that! 

This is exactly what my awesome pot looks like! My favorite color!

This is what the yummy bread looks like. See what I'm so excited to make it?
http://simplysogood.blogspot.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html

Well, you'll have to wait until September to hear about this one, but I will most definitely be posting about it, so be looking.