Feeling Crafty

One of my goals for the summer was to do some DIY projects. I love working with tools and building things so I picked three projects that allowed me to do just that. It was also nice to express my crafty side for once. 

All of the ideas came from Pinterest but I didn't follow any instructions. I saw what something was supposed to look like or had the basic understanding and then just went for it. I think I did quite well and can't wait to get my hands dirty with another one!

Project #1-Simple Yarn July Wreath

This took about an hour and was super simple. You wrap yarn around a foam wreath and add stars. That's it! I found some foam glow-in-the-dark stars that worked perfectly.

These next two projects were done in Colorado at my parents house. They had the tools and the space. I also had about 4 days of down time before lots of family came in for the Pioneer Day celebrations so it was perfect.

 

Project #2-Barn Wood Flag

We knocked down an old shed a few years ago and the leftover wood was perfect for this project.

I found the pieces I wanted,

 cut the boards,

 spray painted,

 then connected the wood with wire and added the stars.

 I did one for myself and one for my mom.

 

Project #3-Card Table Redo

My parents have a couple of card tables and chairs that have been used and abused so with some spray paint, new vinyl tablecloths (so you can easily wipe them clean), and a staple gun, they went from this...

 to this...

This one is my favorite. I was proud of my color/pattern choice. I may just take it home for myself.

I think I have accomplished my goal. I even enjoyed it so much that I will start my search for another. 

Any ideas? Let me know!

Washington DC Trip

For those that know me well know I have a bit of an obsession with history. I LOVE IT! I minored in it in college and that fueled my passion. I also have huge crushes on George Washington and Abe Lincoln. When I die, they are two of the first people I want to meet! With this said, what better place to go on vacation then Washington DC?! I have wanted to go there for a very long time and this year I finally made it happen.
I went with my sister Sarah and friend Sara. We were able to stay with my cousin and his family which was great. It was fun getting to see them. We got around the city with a rental car and bikes rented from Capitol Bikeshare. For anyone going to DC, I would highly recommend these bikes! They saved our feet and were so much faster. There are several docks around the National Mall and surrounding area. You can hop on and off whenever you want, they were wonderful.

And they look cool too :)

I won't bore you with too many details (well, maybe a little) so here is what we did:

Day 1:

Our flight was at 7:40 in the morning and with the time change we arrived around 3. There wasn't time to do much that day. Plus, it was lightly raining which we hoped would stop. We got some fast food in a sketchy part of Maryland and started our trip off right with a session at the Washington DC temple. The temple was beautiful!

 After the temple we happened to pass the Washington Cathedral so we stopped by and looked at it. Unfortunately it was closed so we couldn't look inside but it was still cool. 

We then headed over to my cousins house, ate, and had a good time visiting and catching up with him and his family.

Day 2: We started off the day by visiting all of the monuments on the National Mall. 

FDR

 Martin Luther King Jr.

 WWII

 Lincoln

 Korean

 Vietnam

 Washington (scaffolding is because of the earthquake a couple of years ago)

 Jefferson

The Lincoln monument was of course my favorite! We also stopped by the White House, rode around on the bikes, and visited a few of the Smithsonians - American History and Natural History. My favorite exhibit was the Star Spangled Banner in the American History. It has the actual flag from the War of 1812 that inspired our National Anthem. I may have cried even :)

 We ate at Good Stuff Eatery and ended the day in the hot tub to rest our tired legs and feet.

Day 3: The day started out a little rough. I may or may not have had trouble backing out of the driveway and hurt the rental car and my cousins lawn :) It continued to get depressing as we spent almost 2 hours in the Holocaust Museum. It was very cool though and definitely makes you think about life. Things quickly picked up as we had a tour of the Capitol.

Next was the gorgeous Library of Congress, National Archives, Air and Space Museum, and dinner at Nando's Peri-Peri. 

By the end of the day our feet were even more tired so it was another night in the hot tub.

Day 4: We got to spend the first official day of summer in DC, doesn't get much better. We first went to Ford's theater (one of my highlights) and the house where Lincoln died. 

 We then spent 3 1/2 hours at Arlington Cemetery which was amazing. 

Next we met up with Sara's friend who lives in Arlington and got too see the Rockies play the Nationals! They lost but at least I got to see my Rocks play this year.

Day 5: This day was probably my favorite because we got to see Mount Vernon. Like I said, I love George Washington so seeing his estate was fabulous. 

After that, we headed into Alexandria to catch up with a friend then went into Old Town for dinner and ice cream. Our waiter gave us his phone number and my ice cream fell off of my cone onto the sidewalk (just like you see happen to little kids). It didn't stop me from eating it though! We headed back to the National Mall to take a nighttime ride to see our favorite monuments at night then called it a day.

 Day 6: We woke up to rain which means we timed everything perfectly. We arrived in the rain and left in the rain but the weather was nice in between. We couldn't have asked for anything better. We were absolutely exhausted by Sunday so we slept in and took our sweet time getting ready and packing up. We found a YSA sacrament meeting then headed to the airport. There, they found damage on the rental car that we didn't notice before but hopefully insurance will cover it. Our then 5 hour flight turned into nearly 9 when we were delayed for 4 hours on the ground for mechanical issues then bad weather. Note to self: Never take United out of Dulles again! We are talking sitting on the plane for 4 hours before ever taking off. Luckily they let us out for about 20 minutes to get food. We arrived back in Salt Lake at 12:40 am. We were supposed to be there at 8:40 :( We were tired but had an absolutely amazing time! It was a perfect trip and I would definitely go back.

As with any trip, not everything goes smoothly. This is what makes a trip memorable though and creates an adventure. Here are my not-so-good moments that I will always remember:

1. I realized while we were in the airport getting ready to leave on day 1 that I wasn't wearing a bra!

2. The incident with the rental car and the lawn

3. Getting an infamous "Miller Stomach Ache" in the middle of the National Mall when EVERYTHING was closed and barely making it to a restroom on time.

4. Rushing to get to the Capitol in time for our tour even though we ended up being perfectly on time.

5. Being disappointed with the size of the White House and the scaffolding on the Washington Monument.

6. The stupid plane on the way home.

Other than that, perfect trip!

Catch Up

School got out June 6 and since then life has been 10x more busy! I had one great day of rest and relaxation and have been going non stop ever since. Finally, things have calmed down and I'm looking forward to sleeping in, watching lots of movies, reading books, starting some tv shows, and exercising whenever I want. I have been looking forward to this for a long time and am glad I picked a profession that allows me to do so!
For those interested, I will play a little catch up and fill you in on the happenings of my life before blogging about my DC trip. The Friday after school got out was a wonderful day of rest which I hope I will have many more of coming up. The week right after work was very busy. I am starting to work on a health endorsement and had a health class for 5 hours Mon-Thurs. Overall the class was very helpful and will be a good resource for the future. It did however, have a lot of homework. Now I know why I am putting off grad school. It was so hard getting myself motivated to do it! Plus, my sister and I were moving the upcoming weekend so I had to balance tons of packing and cleaning with homework. We got to start moving in to the new place on the 16th so we began the moving process. Notice I said STARTED. We had that weekend to move some things over and then we went on vacation for 6 days. Although amazing, vacation can be very tiring and this trip was definitely that! When we came back, it was back to moving. Since Sarah had to work, I did lots of moving and cleaning by myself which was very difficult and tiring. Thankfully my parents came up for a week to help with that process. We did all the heavy moving and cleaning over 2 days. The rest of the week was spent unpacking and finally getting settled. We also had two apartments for 10 days which means paying two rents and never knowing where my stuff was. Add a couple of dentist appointments and lack of sleep in there and it all added up to a very stressful time. I was wondering if I'd ever get a break. I probably wasn't in the best of moods while my parents were here but I was extremely grateful for all of their help and support.
Now things have finally settled down. I am completely moved in and organized in the new apartment and it feels nice to be done. Bring on the REAL summer vacation!

Spring Break

Spring Break couldn't have come any sooner. I was wearing out and my students were too. Just as I did last year, I was able to go home to Colorado. I was excited about escaping from work and Utah to spend time relaxing and being with my family. I had to work for a few hours on Friday, March 28, and then endured the long 10 hour drive home by myself.
Being home was wonderful. I got to spend some much needed time catching up with my BFF, ate a lot of good food, slept in, and it was amazing not having to worry about work. I did however, feel pretty sick for a couple of days starting on Easter. I'm almost embarrassed to say but I think I had altitude sickness. I was extremely nauseous, weak, and dizzy. Luckily I got over it quickly but it was not fun.
It was nice being able to spend Easter at home with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and grandma. The weather was also nice which is unheard of on Easter in the San Luis Valley. Everything was dead and ugly of course, but it was warm and had no wind! I also got visited by the Easter bunny even though I'm 25 years old which was awesome :)

The following days where filled with activities that were exactly what I needed. They included things like spending time with Grandma, eating a lot of Mexican food, seeing The Host, and having a wonderful girl's day with Whitney and my mom.

The highlight of the trip happened on April 5, when I went through the Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple to receive my endowments (To learn more about temples go here). This is something I had been thinking about for quite awhile and I decided I wanted to do it with the majority of my immediate family there and in the temple I grew up going to. That made Spring Break the perfect time. My parents and I went down to Albuquerque Thursday and spent the day there. We visited Old Town, shopped, and went to a movie.

                                  I've always been intrigued with old churches-this is in Old Town

On Friday morning we headed to the Temple where we met up with Whitney and Andy so we could all be together as I went through. It definitely felt like someone was missing since Sarah wasn't with us but I look forward to going with her many times in the future. Overall, it was a wonderful experience. It was a lot to take in so I'm anxious to keep learning and gain understanding each time I attend the temple. I cannot describe the feeling of ultimate joy and happiness I felt seeing my family in the Celestial room and it will be even more wonderful when we are all together with no one absent! I am glad I made the decision to go through and that I was worthy enough to enter.

Here are a few pics from the temple. Keep in mind it was a very windy day!

I had a wonderful week and couldn't have asked for a better vacation.