What's happening in our world...

I got TAGGED! Here are my thoughts...

Well, I have been in Young Women about a month now, maybe a little more, and I feel like I have learned so much since then! One of the things I really like about Young Women is that when we have the lessons on Sunday, I leave feeling enlightened. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED being in primary and I learned a lot from the kids, but I left Primary feeling DRAINED! This has been a welcomed change.
We took the girls to Seminary Super Saturday about two weeks ago. It was a Tri-stake event and the girls really had a good time. There was a dance following the seminary activity and we had a good time at that. It was fun riding down with the girls and getting to know them, their likes and dislikes, etc.
My counselors and I just finished our first young men/young women combined activity. We played the Brandon Ward Youth Olympics. It was fun. We had six different "events" set up throughout the church including: hopscotch, floor darts, bowling, jump rope, bean bag toss, and the clothes pin toss. The kids worked in teams and completed the meadly, and even had a "baton" they had to pass back and forth. The kids had to answers church related questions at each station correctly, before they could complete the task at the station and then advance. Without the kids knowing, their "Baton" held a piece of paper that said "my testimony", so at the end of the evening, a member of the bishopric gave a little talk about how when we share and pass along our testimonies with others, we all succeed. It was awesome! We then finished with "gold medals" aka Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a snack. It was a lot of fun!
This evening the girls are staying over at our house for the night and we are going to go "heart attack" the less active girls. I think they will have fun. Then tomorrow early in the morning we are shipping them off to the church so they can go on their temple trip.
I love young womens, but goodness, it's a lot of work!

I am excited to make this post because as the title states, Kam only has one more year of law school left! His last year of law school starts on Wednesday the 20th. It feels like these past two years have both flown and drug by. We have had a lot of stuff go on in the past two years, a lot good, a lot bad, but this is going to be great! I am so excited for Kam to finally finish, and I know he is too. The new motivational phrase at our house is going to be, "only one more year." So, to Kam, I wish you luck this last year, study hard, and make good grades! Soon you will be graduating and studying for the bar!

We just returned from our visit to D.C. where we were able to spend time with Kam’s family who are living on Andrew’s Air Force Base. Let me just say, D.C. is one of the most awesome places I have ever been! The city is so beautiful, well kept and clean. There is so much to do, and there is just this awesome, upbeat, fun feeling to the city.

We flew in to Baltimore on Thursday evening and basically just hung out with Kam’s family. Ellison was being a little difficult when we got there, but she soon perked up and was excited to see everyone! On Friday we spent the morning visiting, going to the BX (a department store on the base) and then spent the afternoon and evening on the mall visiting all the monuments. We were able to see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, a World War II Memorial, the Vietnam wall and the White House. We also saw the Capital building from a far. It was a lot of walking, but totally worth it!

On Saturday we spent the day at Mount Vernon, which was totally awesome. We toured George Washington’s house, saw the room and the bed that Washington died in, and toured his home. It was really beautiful and we learned that 40% of the furniture in his home is original…very cool! We also spent that night touring the building Kam’s dad works in on Andrews, visiting his office, etc. and it was so interesting! I also got my hair cut and colored that night, can we say hallelujah! Thanks Tiffini!

On Sunday we said goodbye to Kam’s sister and her family and then headed out to Gettysburg. We toured the museum there and saw all the battlefields. Gettysburg had this awesome historic feeling to it, and it was so green and beautiful. The downtown of Gettysburg was totally touristy, but so cute! We were also able to see the Washington D.C. temple along the freeway on our way to Gettysburg, and it was so beautiful. It looks like this castle that is floating above the freeway!

On Monday we went downtown again and visited the Holocaust Museum which was so interesting and then tried to go see Ford’s theatre, but it was closed, however got to see the outside of the building, as well as the building where Lincoln died. After walking past the theatre, we went to the International Spy Museum, and played a spy game, which was so fun. We had to find our way into the game by pushing on the wall and then once we were in the game, we were taken around by our “Field Officer.” We had to follow a double agent who had a meeting with her cousin on video equipment, then we had to “break into” an office and diffuse security camera’s, rifle through papers, and find a “trigger” to a “nuclear bomb” that was going to be sold. We then “jumped” into the back of a van (which was really just a moving room) and were debriefed about things we found in the office. We then went and “conducted a lie detector test” on the double agent. After that, the game was pretty much over. It was so much fun! Kam, Ellison and I headed home with Kam’s mom after that to meet my cousin Shelli, her husband Lige and their two little ones Liam and Remy, as well as Lige’s little sister Cam. It was so fun to visit with Shelli and her family. Her little ones are so cute!

Tuesday Morning we went to Arlington and saw the changing of the Guard, which was totally awesome. I have to relay a funny story. During the changing of the Guard, they ask you to remain standing and silent out of respect for the Unknown Soldier. Well, Kam’s brother Kory decided to bend down, I think to get a better shot with his camera. Well, one of the soldiers announced that everyone needed to remain standing during the ceremony, directing the comment at Kory. We then went into Baltimore and hung at the mall a minute or town to grab something to eat, and kill a little time before the flight left. We flew home on Tuesday evening.

We had a great time. We played some emotional games of Settlers, drank lots of Slurpee’s and heard people randomly singing the “milkshake song” throughout the trip. Of course we all came home with colds, but also a lot of really great memories! Kam, Ellison and I can’t wait to get back!