Happy Kissiversary

Last week marked 2 years since our first kiss...what's not to celebrate? AND Jon recently had his 3 year jobversary at his current job--congrats to Jon! "ersaries" are fun because they remind me of tons of things that happened before and everything that's happened since the last "ersary". I hope everyone celebrates kissiversaries, graduatverseries, jobversaries, and other such "ersaries" of good things in life, because in addition to all other good reasons for celebrating, they're another excuse to bring out the ice cream, and who doesn't want that?

6 months (a.k.a. 28 weeks, 2 trimesters down)

These photos were actually taken at 27 weeks, but they were 3 months before the due date of little baby Smith. We're getting so excited for him to come! Every week I get bigger, and every week he reminds me more that he's hanging out inside of me...he is a mover!! This kid is moving, kicking, shifting, pushing, and doing double back flips from the second I wake up in the morning until after I go to sleep at night. I absolutely LOVE feeling him, and it's so fascinating for me when I get to look down and SEE him moving! How fun is that?!? I can't believe this little person in me has enough room in there! I love every time he moves, and the only concern I have is that the doctor said I should start to notice his regular schedule of resting and being active. Umm...I don't think he ever sleeps. Is this a sign of long nights to come? Or just evidence that we really will have a mini Jon on our hands? Good thing we're both night people; looks like it might be coming in handy for something besides studying for finals or doing other ridiculous things that should never be done while half asleep. :)

Jon loves him moving just as much as I do, and he makes me laugh. A couple nights ago when I got excited and put my hands on my stomach because the baby was moving, Jon pushed my hands away and said "Get out of here! You get him all day long! It's my turn!" I love how excited he is, he'll be such a fun dad.

As for the belly shot showing the view of my feet...I had to lean forward to see those toes. A week or so ago I tried to put on shoes for the first time in months (it's summer, flip flops are such a blessing), and I just couldn't physically bend my body in half. It was the funniest thing. I'm hoping Jon will start volunteering to paint my toenails when that becomes impossible, but I'm waiting for the affirmative response on that. Three months left!!

Miracle update--the Nats won a game!

I have a huge project (this is Melissa) at my work that I'm solely in charge of laying out, editing, and final printing for every quarter that called for a huge redesign this quarter, and it was pretty much a nightmare. Well, everything went mostly well despite the regular back and forth changes that always happen with content people vs. layout/design people, until I took them all to print (450 copies, 30-page full-color books, this is loads of paper and production) without realizing that one of the settings was off that made the back pages not line up with the front pages...hard to explain in type, but suffice it to say every single page had been misprinted without my knowing until it was too late. Thousands of pages gone wrong was enough to make me sick and give me the first reason ever for an emotional breakdown at this job. Luckily everyone in my office was super supportive and understanding of needing to reprint EVERYTHING, I stayed 5 hours late printing, and the books still met their deadline without corporate ever knowing something had gone wrong. So when my corporate marketing director offered me 4 tickets to a Nats vs. Reds game the next weekend--without ever knowing of the hard week I had with my big mistake doubling with the frustration of apartment searching at the same time--it made my day.

Our good friends the Allens came with us and it was so fun having them. We totally weren't expecting the seats to be as great as they were, but we were seriously 10 rows from the field, right in line with third base, it was so rad. Clearly somewhere we'd never sit if it weren't free. It was also Jon's and my first time the new stadium, and it was almost futuristic, we were so impressed. It was awesome! I couldn't believe the difference a good stadium made. The night was perfect--we got pics with bobble head racer Teddy Roosevelt, we had Five Guys burgers and dippin' dots ice cream, even though it sprinkled off and on it never downpoured on us, and the Nats WON! I certainly wasn't expecting the worst team in the league to pull a win, so it was fun for us to have something to cheer for. Thanks for coming Rach and Shiloh, we had a blast!!

We see famous people...

Thanks to our friend Nicole who scored us some sweet tickets, last week we got into a local DC one-time event that was loaded with famous celebs, people that normally we wouldn't just head out for a night on the town with. Or maybe we just went to the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in DC. But we gotta hand it to Madame Tussaud, she's got some kickin're-creation skills that she handed down to modern sculptors. These guys looked so real! The lighting in the photos make them look less real, but the exhibit is awesome. Did you know Madame Tussaud was a wax sculptor during the French Revolution and people made her dig through guillotine victims to recreate wax replicas of them? Very interesting. You wouldn't believe the hours that go into making just one of these wax statues. We were totally impressed and had a lot of fun. Thanks again Nicole!

It's official...we're moving!

After 6 weeks or more of painful apartment searching (as noted in previous American Dream post), we have indeed been blessed and found something that fits our needs, our budget, and our liking. I knew (or I at least hoped somethin' fierce) that this day would come, and we're so grateful it did. The deal we're getting is unheard of here and nothing short of a real-life miracle for us.

This week we signed a 6-month lease starting Sep. 1st for a 2-bedroom basement apartment in a neighborhood that's perfect for us. Unfortunately it means a change of ward (and stake), but we are excited for the move and feel really good about it. It's actually just over 5 miles from where we live now, so we'll still get to keep in close contact with our friends, which we're happy about. The apartment will need some definite touches to give it that home-y feeling, but Jon and I are up to it and excited to make a new place our own.

'Making it our own' will imply, among other things, locating a bunch of furniture since we currently own nothing. So if you happen to be dying to get rid of an extra bed, couch, kitchen table, chairs, or anything of the sort, we'd be more that willing to take them off your hands! :) Otherwise, I'm off to craigslist again to do what I do best--bargain shop. As soon as we have the place up and running, we'll be sure to invite everyone over to visit, and now we'll even have room for you!!

The Pageant on Mormon Hill (trip)—Post #3

Monday: Day 3

This road trip ended up taking a lot more posting space than I had originally intended, thus the 3 posts. To go in order, you'll have to scroll down to #1, then up to #2, then here.

Monday of our trip was such a good day. We started it off by showering (FINALLY) at our campground (nice work KOA, way to keep your bathrooms clean), and then rushing off to a 9:00 session in the Palmyra temple. The temple was beautiful on the inside. It was my first time inside a mini temple, and I loved it. The youth were doing baptisms right across from the endowment rooms, it was fun to be able to see all aspects of the temple working so close together. We LOVED the stained glass in this temple, all of which was fashioned to look like the Sacred Grove. It was so simple, but so pretty. There is also one clear window through which you can look straight through and across a field to the Sacred Grove, about which President Hinckley said the Palmyra temple is the one place you can stand in one temple and look out and see another (or something like that) in reference to the Grove. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

One of President Hinckley's sons was actually in our session, and my favorite thing about that is that if Jon hadn't heard someone say that in the men's dressing room, we probably never would have known. He was dressed just like the rest of us, sat where the rest of us sat, and did everything the rest of us did. I love how the temple makes us all equals and it seems to erase our differences that are more obvious out in the world. We didn't speak to him, but it's fun to see his family continuing onward full of faith. I'm sure he's a wonderful man like his father.

From the temple we drove down to Fayette, NY to go to the Peter Whitmer home, another site we had missed on our trip last year. It was perfect timing since all the pageant people had left, and we had a tour with just one other couple in addition to ourselves. The senior sister missionary giving us the tour was great, and she knew so many extra stories about everything that had happened here—she'd really studied up on her church history, and she made it a lot of fun. We loved it. We took our time, and the truthfulness of the events that happened there seemed so peacefully obvious as we were reminded of their great significance. The reorganization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was on April 6, 1830 in Lafayette, NY, in the Peter Whitmer home. So many sacrifices were made for that event to happen, and so many blessings have flowed worldwide since. It was a perfect way to follow our temple session.

The replica room of where the church was organized and the first sacrament of our day was blessed and passed. They fit 50-60 people in here!

The Peter Whitmer home was also where much of the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph with Oliver Cowdery, after the persecution in Harmony, PA had become too extreme to finish it there. History and journal research says the room they finished the translation in probably looked somewhat like the room below. Fayette is also where the prophet was when the priesthood was restored on Earth through Peter, James and John, depicted in the sculpture below. We would totally recommend going there to anyone who hasn't been. We stayed until the skies opened and dumped an entire ocean on us again, and then we were off for the rest of our drive home.




Addendum: the drive home
On the way back to VA, we stopped in Williamsport, PA, because who wouldn't want to stop in the big city with a small town feeling where the Little League International Championship field is? Okay, maybe not everyone would stop, but my dad did once with us on a family vacation, and luckily Jon wanted to do the same. I LOVE baseball fields, and this one is especially cool. It's down off the side of a huge hill that makes for a pretty cool stadium feeling where people can watch the game from the sides of the hill. We loved it, and we probably spent 45 minutes there or so, just walking around, reading signs and plaques they'd put up, and living up the little league life. The truck says it all...

The Pageant on Mormon Hill (trip)--Post #2

Following the Grove, which was beautiful, we headed with the group up to Hill Cumorah to see the Moroni monument and the view from the top. We love it there, and we couldn't believe how much they had already cleaned up from the pageant, less than 24 hours after we had been there watching it.

From there we split up, the Morris' and Nichols' headed back to VA, and Jon and I stuck around for another day, which was perfect, because we still had things we wanted to see that we had missed last year as well. #1--Martin Harris' home/farm. #2--the Eerie Canal. #3--Alvin Smith's grave. And we nailed them all.

Martin Harris' home is actually a private residence, someone really lives there now, but they allow you to come park by the home, walk around it, and read all the signs that they have kindly allowed the church to place there. We thought it was really nice of them that they'd let people do that.

Alvin's grave, ironically, was in the EXACT same cemetery we went to last year just because we thought it looked cool, and we had probably looked at every grave except his. We felt pretty dumb to see how obvious it was just sitting there, but it was fun to see it all the same. The Eerie canal was pretty cool too, especially when we drove around for a while and found a little dock spot with a bridge that went over it, where little kids were fishing and there were stop lights on the bridge for incoming canal boats. It was a really pretty area. The canal is mostly significant because without it and the commerce it brought in during Joseph Smith's time, there probably never would have been a printing press so advanced as the EB Grandin Press(which we got to see last time we were here)--the printer of the first copies of the Book of Mormon.























After that we found a little park in downtown Palmyra, and had a little fun playing there like kids. Not that it's a common occurrence for the Smiths to act like kids...

P.S. I don't love the pictures of me on the slide or the teeter totter at all, and usually that means they get deleted, but those were some of Jon's favorites, so I put them on to humor him. I better get brownie points for that, or at least ice cream or something.



On our drive toward our new campsite for the night, we saw this awesome brick wall and had to pull over to get some photos. For the record, it poured again that night, just before we set up the tent and again right after. That adds up to mean that over a weekend of camping, there were no campfires to be had. Saddest thing ever. But props to Jon for making a valiant effort with some $4.00 logs and a ridiculously wet coalbed. I can't believe he didn't pass out after all that blowing. I've got nothing on his lungs!

Thanks be to the Nichols for saving us with their gas stove they let us borrow, which does in fact cook s'mores, but it sets them on fire twice as fast. We did set up the 8-man tent just for the heck of it on the second night, and we felt like we were in a camping mansion. Throw in the air mattress, memory foam mattress pad, and blankets, and were living a pretty posh camping life. It made us wonder...is the need for more padding a sign of getting old? If so, we must be aging nicely.

The Pageant on Mormon Hill--Post #1

Last weekend we had the chance to head up to Palmyra for the final day of the Hill Cumorah Pageant this year. We left at the crack of dawn on Saturday (9:00 is early for some of us, don't judge) since Jon didn't get off of work until the wee hours of that same morning. The drive clocks out to be just over 7 hours, but it was beaUTiful and 100% worth it. Jon and I love road-tripping, and we always make a soundtrack of our roadtrips in advance--making a playlist of our latest music finds, then burning them onto a CD so that those songs will remind us of that trip in the future. This trip's soundtrack was a hit, our favorite being a recommendation from Dave Cox called I Sing I Swim by Seabear. Thanks for the tip, Dave!

Our drive took us past the finger lakes in upstate NY just before we hit Palmyra, and Lake Canandaigua was incredible. It tempts us to throw normal jobs out the window, pack everything up, and move to a small middle-of-nowhere town, making a living selling pies or something (Monica's Pies shop tells me it's possible). Or maybe having a hot chocolate shop, which is our real dream. Alas, I'm pretty sure I'd die after some time of feeling cut off from the real world and its modern conveniences. And people. Either that or become totally sold on it and never go back. It's a definite contrast from DC, we'll just say that.

The pageant was great, I forgot how many "special effects" they have. We managed to watch the pageant sandwiched between two major rainstorms--one about an hour before and the next about an hour after. The windows of heaven thankfully shut for a few brief hours so the show could go on. I'm not talking about a little shower, I mean SERIOUS downpours. These downpours followed us the entire weekend. And we were camping. :)

Here's a feature photo with King Noah himself, as well as one of 3rd Nephi chapter 11. I don't know how they every do all their moving and fighting and whatnot on that stage. They seriously made Abinadi RUN down the entire set to get burned at the stake so they could get him there before the next scene started. But what could this stage NOT do? It rained, flooded, turned into rivers, and spontaneously lit on fire or crumbled in earthquakes. The cast only has a week to rehearse for this, and we heard they choreograph their own fight scenes with very little coaching. Pretty impressive.

I SO wish we had pictures of our tent next to the tents of the two couples we camped by, it was so hilarious. Remember our tent from our Labor Day trip last year? Same one, this time with a monster 8-man tent rain fly staked on top of it like a big X landing pad and a broken tent pole duct taped at a 90 degree angle holding up the front of the fly by the door so we could get into the tent without army crawling. This was a must because the fly our tiny tent came with was probably 1' x 1'. No joke. So we may have looked ridiculous, but we survived every storm of the night and came out dry as ever. In the morning when I saw all our tents together I asked everyone if they thought our tents were reflective of our actual housing we were living in at that time. This would be so much funnier (that's totally a word) to you if you could see the picture, especially after my huge post on housing. But we were limited with pics because we were having a memory card problem which we didn't solve until after we got home, so we actually had to limit ourselves--that's like a swear word in our home for vacations. There will be no photo-taking limitations!! So our photos are lacking, just take that as a disclaimer.

Sunday we went to church with the Morris' and the Nichols in the building in Palmyra across the street from the temple. We got ready in a tent to get more in touch with the scriptures and what the children of Israel must have felt like. Thus we were feeling very wilderness-esque, somewhat like Lehi and Sariah. I'm kidding, but my hair was sporting some awesome humidity waves, and those can get pretty wild.

After church we went back to the county Fairgrounds where we'd camped (this is not how you 'rough it', although the bathrooms were pretty gnarly. This is how you get back from the pageant before all other pageant goers because it's the closest) for a little Sunday picnic, which was sunny and pleasant and ended in a sudden monsoon, at which time we cleaned up in literally 30 seconds and made a mad dash for the cars. If you're out there for longer in that kind of rain you'll be drenched for hours. Those drops were HUGE! Then we headed off to visit all the Palmyra church sites, which were also visited sporadically by sudden downpours, followed by direct sun and humid heat. The sky was so emotionally confused!

The photo totally doesn't show it at all, but we witnessed a large monsoon from a small tent pavilion in front of the Joseph Smith log home. The sister missionary had to yell over the roar to be heard by our group. The next pic is us in the replica of Joseph's room where Moroni visited him, followed by a pic outside in the previously stated direct sun and humid heat, just down the path from the log home, across from the temple.



Next was the Joseph Smith framehome, the original, where we got some sweet shots of the group. My favorite is the one with everyone intently listening to our tour guide while getting the prep course outside of the house. Or maybe the one with Jon palming my basketball belly.


We got pics of everything AND the kitchen sink.

And of course, some Sacred Grove and near-the-grove photos, which includes bugs, nature, fences, Jon putting out the vibe on a bench, and me sporting a well-rounded and continuously growing baby in my body. This trip definitely allowed for ample belly shots, which you'll definitely see more of.

Asian food tour, anyone?

We had the great privilege, with the Allens, to go on a tour of the local Asian food markets by our friends Luke and Becca Nichols. Being with the Nichols alone is an experience, they're hilarious and so entertaining. They are pros at getting the local steals on Asian food, not to mention the Asian experience (Luke served his mission in Japan). We got to see all sorts of exotic fruits and vegetables, live animals sitting ready to be bought for dinner, and more variations of rice than we knew existed. The highlights were:

1. The man grabbing live Maryland blue crabs with tongs and dropping them into a big paper bag. You should have seen the way they all pinched onto each other into a giant live crab chain, and then he'd beat and swing them with the tongs until they separated, like it was not big deal. Just taking live crabs with their pincers un-tied home in a paper bag. So funny.
2. The nasty looking soft shelled turtles for sale at $15 a piece. Dinner! We were grateful Lincoln is a pretty turtle to dissuade us from eating him for dinner.
3. Luke giving us every possible tip on rice cookers, asian treats, and which fish is the best to eat and how. We loved how he made us feel the skin of a shark (this one was already killed, no worries) because it's soft in one direction and feels like sandpaper in the other direction. He told us they used shark skin for the handle of their swords because it gives you such a good grip.
4. Walking into the Great Wall of China store only to hear an awesome dance remix version of Spice Girls' If You Wanna Be My Lover, combining America, China, and some sweet 8th grade memories all into one moment.
5. The koala cookies, pictured here. My family better remember these!! When we had Japanese exchange students living with us back when we lived in Maryland about 18 years ago (wow, we're geting old!!), they left us with some of these tasty chocolate filled treats, and the box still looked exactly the same, I was so stoked, and Jon was an instant fan.

So, if you're ever looking for a foreign excursion right here in VA, we would recommend a few hours with the Nichols. And Dad, I hope you're so proud of me for getting some quality exposure with a little bit of every-day Asian culture.

What the world needs now

A couple weeks ago I came home from work to find these beauties on the counter, complete with a love note and a children's book from Jon. We're not huge gift-giving people, so when it happens, it's a very exciting (and thoughtful) thing. Jon wanted to thank me for his big surprise birthday barbecue and the book I gave him with write ups from all his friends/family, and he did it in the sweetest way. Of course he had to give them to me on a day when I was in a grumpy mood and complaining the whole way home after he came to pick me up after my commute (does the metro wear on anyone else?? It was the week of 30-45 minute delays EVERY night, so I felt somewhat justified), so a sweet note from my husband and some beautiful flowers made me feel somewhat sheepish for my complaints, grateful for his listening all the same, humbled by his quiet acts of love with no thought of reward, and so happy to have a husband so perfect for me.

I loved the flowers, I loved that they made me forget the metro and that I got to enjoy them in our house all week long. And I LOVED the children's book, called The Incredible Book Eating Boy, that he saw on someone else's blog. It has great illustrations and it totally brainwashes you into reading more books. I'd definitely recommend it, even though we've mostly only acquired thus far books that we wouldn't trust our child with for 5-6 years, and this is probably one of those. We're thinking into the future, don't worry about it.

And I thought I'd contribute a bouquet of my own to keep that fresh feeling in our home. Or maybe I should use our fresh produce before it wilts. I'm skeptical about "crisper" bins in fridges actually preventing this.

The Smith version of the American Dream--this one's for the journal

I have a feeling this is going to end up being pretty long, because I have bajillion apartment/housing thoughts in my head, but I'm only writing them down here mostly for family-documentary purposes, so feel free to skip this post. No seriously, when I write, I write exactly how I think...this is going to be a novel.

For the past couple weeks Jon and I have been in a mad search for new housing to welcome this cute little baby into our family, and when I say mad search, I'm not exaggerating. I thought of a very logical comparison that makes perfect sense to me.

I once told Jon that if we were Nordstrom/Macy's shoppers or if I were an Anne Taylor/Anthropologie regular (I'm talking non-clearance, full-price everything here), that clothes shopping would be so easy. Find the clothes you like, pick the color you want, get your size, and voila--new outfit!! Cut out price comparison, and suddenly it becomes a simple game: 1. know what you want, 2. find what you want, 3. get what you want. Easy. Beautiful. I don't know if you've ever joined the masses at Ross, Marshall's, the Goodwill, or the like, but easy isn't the word I would use to explain it. It takes dedication! Not to mention patience, compromise, improvising (that zipper can totally be fixed, and that hole can go unnoticed), nothing comes with its match, when you find what you like it's rarely in your size (and good luck finding another), but when you walk away with a $4-$15 steal, it makes the whole madness worth it. This is a totally different kind of game: 1. go in open-minded about what you want, 2. compromise what you want, 3. get something that probably wasn't what you wanted at all, but makes for a pretty rockin' replacement, which in turn makes you feel on top of the bargain shopping world.

Well it turns out our style of shopping for clothes apparently overflows into other areas in our life, in this case, shopping for housing. If we were high-income housing searchers, this whole thing would have been over months ago. 1. know what we want, 2. find what we want, and 3. get what we want. Contract for loads of money to live in a super-sweet apartment, with granite countertops, brand new carpet, stainless steel appliances, washer and dryer in the unit-- basically a 2 bedroom urban mansion. Yet, we find ourselves in pure bargain shopping mode, not only because we've been spoiled in our current conditions by price and location, but also because throwing out nearly $2,000 (that's right THOUSAND) a month for a house seems completely ridiculous to us! In my head, that translates to mean "Come live in a safe, secure, beautiful apartment (not even talking about a home here, people, no picket fence or backyard) by giving up your monthly money for food and other such survival needs." People really pay that?!?! So believe me, I am ALL about Ross shopping for an apartment. Going through every rack until I find what fits us.

But it definitely comes at a price. I've seriously been having housing nightmares for like a week straight. And so the process has begun. 1. go in open minded about what you want. At this point I have memorized Craigslist and how to pick out a potential plot for our little American Dream. I know exactly where to flip to in the paper, I've memorized all the apartment listing websites and know exactly what questions to ask when I call one of the landlord hopefuls. I know which stats to scan for first, and I know the square footage, utilities costs, bedroom/bathroom ratio, parking, metro accessibility, etc. details that are essential to our decision. This should be easy, right?

2. compromise what you want. Well...we really have been spoiled in our current pad, and the reality of DC living costs is hitting us hard in the search. Thus far, to stay in what we consider 'reasonable' pricing, we have to compromise something we want. Safety (which seems like a very illogical thing to do since the whole reason we want to move is to make a room for a home where the baby and I can stay all day), size (again illogical, since again the reason we're moving is to make ROOM for the baby), or location (which would be a total bummer, because that means either losing each other for longer amounts of time due to the commute, or moving out of the ward, which would be sad after taking so long to finally feel integrated into it, and frustrating to switch wards when we think this is a very short-termed move until we MOVE move westward anyway). Then I ask myself, is it our budget we need to compromise? But then that's hard too, because we're trying to hard to be thrifty and money-smart, and we'd hate to go throwing that logic out the window too. But something's gotta give. Either that or a miracle has to occur. I vote for option B.

Needless to say, we haven't yet made it to step 3 of the shopping comparison, because this is not a post announcing our new apartment. We've come close to a couple, but that was before we saw the rave reviews from past tenants saying "I wouldn't recommend this place to my worst enemy!" or the google search that brought up a sex offender listing at the same apartment complex. Okay, so maybe we were leaning toward compromising on the safety option, but don't worry! We didn't go through with it!!!

Today as I was walking from work to the metro, of course lost in apartment searching thoughts, wondering if I'm just being high maintenance or completely off my rocker for trying to conquer this whole thing, I was reminded of the few times I've been walking down that very street when the Spirit has offered me feelings of peace and comfort...about getting a new job, about having a baby...and even today, I felt the comforting reassurance that our search is not in vain.

I feel like I have very much been pushed forward to find a new place for us to live, and I've also felt a very strong peace that it will work out if we're patient. So I need to remember my bargain shopping skills: dedication, patience, compromise, improvising...and most important on top of all those things is seeking the Spirit and its guidance. I know that soon I'll be walking down that street after work and I'll feel that familiar comfort that everything is done within the Lord's timing.

On that same walk from work tonight, I was also reminded of something from the Sheri Dew book I read 2 years ago just before I met Jon (p.s. that anniversary was just last week, two years since the luau!!). It's from her book If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard. In one of the final chapters, she's telling a story of when she went house shopping for a friend (with the friend), and after they went and looked at one her friend particularly liked, they said a prayer together. Sheri offered the prayer and said "bless her (her friend) that this house will work out, and if not, that she will be blessed with something even better," or something like that. And then she goes on to talk about how the Lord really WANTS to bless us with great things, He's just waiting for us to ask for them. I'm kind of foggy on the whole thing, but I think that's the basic summary of her thought.

Well at the time I originally read that 2 years ago, I instantly felt like it applied to my dating and the several difficult experiences I'd had that just kept seeming to fall short of what I thought they needed to be to become something eternal. And suddenly, I felt like Sheri Dew had given me permission to ask the Lord for my "something even better," just a little better. So I did. And less than a week later, Jon sat next to me at the ward luau. It wasn't one of those eternal plans at first sight sort of things, but it was interest and fun at first sight, and in the short month that relationship had to develop before I left to go back to Utah State, I knew and strongly felt that whether things worked out with Jon or not, the Lord had heard my prayer, and had blessed me with "something better" at that time. I'm so grateful that it was a permanent something better, and soooo much better than anything I had hoped for.

Reminiscing aside, I now ironically found myself reminded of that part of Sheri Dew's book, and now directly in its original context--in searching for a house, or home, or housing, or whatever you may call it. I felt strongly that again, the Lord is giving me the opportunity to ask Him for "something even better, " and that just as before, and as He has done in every other aspect of my life, He will hear me, answer me, and guide Jon and I together to what He knows is best for us.

This all may seem a little over the top for just looking for an apartment, but I'm pretty sure I could afford for Someone much wiser than myself to help us carry the stress at this point.

Life is so amazing, and I feel so blessed. I feel that way when my little brother calls out of nowhere, or when my sisters make sure I'm doing okay, or when my dad calls on a layover from a business trip or my mom reminds me of all the good things in life. I feel that when the weather's just perfect in the summer or when I get to look out a metro window and see the Washington monument in the distance. I feel that when a friend calls me to make plans on a Friday night when they know Jon's gone, or when it only takes us 10 minutes to get to church and hear the same lessons they're teaching everywhere else in the church that Sunday. I feel that when I am reminded all the time how great my in-laws are, or when Lincoln (our turtle) does something really entertaining for Jon and I to watch. I especially feel that way when my scriptures are open in front of me, when the baby moves inside of me, or when Jon smiles at me like he hasn't seen me in months, and it's only been a day. Life is so much fun. All these things and so many more are witnesses to me of how aware God is of each of us, and I know that Heavenly Father will help us, even in something as simple and seemingly trivial as finding temporary housing.

Now if only I could figure out how to make myself a lily of the field or a fowl of the air that takes no thought of raiment or whatever all that other stuff is they don't have to worry about. But "how they grow..."

23 weeks, and no longer debatable...

While I'm still getting used to having a big bumper in front of me, it's nice to no longer leave people in question during that awkward "is she pregnant? or did she just gain weight?" period. Be proud, I caved and finally bought maternity clothes last week. Our boy is growing by the day, and I feel him move constantly, he's gonna be one active kid!!

Yesterday on the metro there was somewhat of an ordeal (are we surprised?) and the doors on my train decided to stop working, so they unloaded ALL of us at the very station I got on, right during the evening commute. 15 minutes and 2 trains later, I crammed on with the rest of them so I could get home. I was next to a lady that was visiting from PA, and we were clearly playing metro sardines, since we all wanted on the train so badly. We were standing near the door, and when people tried to get off on one stop (after she'd already made her "and you're pregnant!" observation to me), she said loudly, "Watch your belly! Pregnant woman here!"

A little awkward, a little funny, and just a hint of what the next 4 months of my commute will be like. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of excited for people to start giving up their seat for me. And Jon's counting down the days until I qualify for the Expectant Mother parking at Target. So bring on the belly, I say! :)

I heart America

Another 4th of July in our nation's capital means another year of sticky heat, heavy humidity, rainstorms that evacuate everyone off the Mall at least twice that day, and thousands of people willing to brave all of the above—us included. :) No matter the craziness of being in the district on the 4th, there's just something about being surrounded by the Capitol building, the Washington, the Jefferson, and the Lincoln monuments, flanked by the White House on the side—when that first firework of red, white and blue shoots up into the night, it makes the whole experience worth it. Not to mention the rockin' finale that knocks your socks off. I love fireworks! And I LOVE the 4th.

Last year we watched the show from the Jefferson Memorial, and we were a little disappointed at how far the fireworks are from there, so this year we stole a sweet spot next to our friends Rachel and James who were nice enough to let us jump in on their location in front of the Washington (facing the Lincoln) 30 mins before show time. I'm SOOO glad we were there this year, it was such a great view. We also got to meet up with Nate and Stephanie and their cute little girl Abby (she did so good with the fireworks!!), which was loads of fun since we've never got to hang out with them before. I'm glad Jon made me carry the tarp in for the day, because we were a hit when the ground was all wet and it started to rain again! We all got cozy sitting on half the tarp and pulling the other half up like a sleeping bag. How clever are we?


















After facing the metro madness and making it home an hour and a half later, Jon and I were totally stoked to light up our own fireworks (no, that's not a metaphor) we'd picked up at the econo-firework shop in some little somewhere, NY, on our anniversary trip. After trying one firework in the small parking lot next to us for some small apartments, we were SUPER embarrassed by how LOUD it was, considering it was 11:00, and we were the only ones in sight. Picture a whistling pete going off in the middle of Temple Square. Awkward!!! Maybe it wasn't that bad, but we were totally ducking and holding our breath until it was over. The second it stopped screeching and spitting fire, we grabbed all the evidence and bailed as fast as we could in hopes of avoiding the creation of neighbor-enemies.

Instead we lit up our little works at a nearby park, and we had a great post-show. People were walking home from the metro and cheering us on, it was kind of weird. But we had fun and got some cool photos. At the end we played around with huge sparklers and our camera and tried writing in the air...maybe it will work a little better when we invest in a new camera, but we've included the pics here for your viewing pleasure all the same.

And just so you know...we saved some fireworks for the future, so if you're ever craving some quality explosions or innocent sparkler twirling, we're you're go-to people.


Some of the big hits of the night, the Flying Betsy, and Mango Madness, or something rad like that.















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Celebrating 30 years of Jon Smith!

You only turn 30 once, and since Jon would never let me openly plan a party for him, I had to go covert and plan one without him knowing so we could all celebrate the completion of his third decade of life. The occasion called for nothing less than a surprise barbecue at the park (ironically the one we got engaged at). I have to say, during this whole month of planning it was soooo hard to keep quiet to the person I love to talk to the most. I was so excited! In the end, there was a great turnout, the weather was perfect, the barbecue was tasty, and Jon was so surprised it took him a minute to actually realize that all the people were there for him. That was confusion on his face everyone, not lack of excitement (except for maybe a twinge of disappointment since I got him there by telling him that I wanted to play football with him, and he pretty much fell in love with me all over again for saying that—but upon our arrival at the park he quickly realized there might not be any football playing that night). Believe me, he LOVED it. He couldn't get over everyone that was there and how no one had slipped telling him ahead of time.

I have to give a massive shout out to Rachel Allen, my co-host that has helped me for weeks to pull all the pieces together, pick the park, and round up the troops. I could not have pulled it off without her. Thanks also to the Croshaws for housing the meat and charcoal and taking them over for the party, and a huge thanks to Ashlee Cutler, who let me play Betty Crocker at her house up until ridiculous hours night trying to finish Jon's cake the night before. And congrats to everyone for keeping the secret, Jon was so perfectly un-suspecting. I love how easy it is to surprise him because he's just so easy to please!! Thanks a MILLION to everyone for coming, Jon LOVED seeing all of you, and he had so much fun!! I tried to get pictures of everyone, but seeing as I forgot to even start taking pictures until we'd all been there about 45 mins, I missed some party-goers, sorry about that.

And for those of you from near and far that I had write in the memory book for Jon, it turned out SOOO good. I didn't give it to him until he thought everything was over and we were back from the party, and he could not believe how many people I had to to write something to him. I told him all his friends that don't even know me probably think I'm some really obnoxious and demanding girl after all the emails I sent begging for their responses, but I promise I'm not really like that...it was only because it wouldn't have been complete without all of you in it! Can we still be friends?? All your efforts were totally worth it, because Jon absolutely loves it. And I have to admit that I had so much fun reading all of your entries, because I got to learn more things about Jon and more things about each of you, and some of you I hardly know at all, so whatever high opinions of you I had already probably multiplied by at least 10. :) Thanks again...the cover of his book is the last picture in this chain of photos, in case you want to see it.

Party on...


the cake


the grill



























the peeps








some of the cute kids



the gifts