Beach Day

Today we came to Ocean City. It was a four hour trip from Hagerstown. In the four hours I managed to lose my wedding ring down a crack in Amanda's car
Erik and Daniel had to fish it out. Lucky thing Erik has slender wrists.

The overcast day turned into a pretty wonderful beach day. We all jumped in waves and Amanda and I were pummeled by the waves. It was fun except for salt water in the eyes and nose. Yuck!!

Amanda and I picked through the sand and found shell treasures for a picture frame. It was a lot of fun wading through the sand and water searching for shells.

We found an Italian restaurant, Antipasto Restaurante, within walking distance. It was not worth it. We ended up splitting a steak. But it was outrageously priced and not that great. Anyhow, we walked down the beach and boardwalk forever. We ate some delicious ice cream and had the best fries. I'd never had fries with vinegar, but that's the way they do it here and it wasnt horrible.

We saw some neat sand art. And eventually we made it back to the Casablanca Inn. I've never had sand in so many places....

My bee crank flashlight

This is so cute I just had to share! It's the flashlight Daniel got me at Retro Metro. It doesn't need betteries, all you do I'd crank and it gets so bright! Love it!

Krumpe's Donut

Today we had our first two Krumpe's donut. We stood in a long line on DoNut Alley. The smell of grease and dough overcame you as you walked through the door. We ordered an assortment of flavors. I enjoyed the glazed cake donut best. Daniel likes the chocolate cake donut the best so far. Overall the cake donut lived up to the rave...the original glaze was not as good as the Krispy Kreme donut originals that melt in your mouth.

A Day in Baltimore

I woke up to Kitty knocking on the door. Sadly I responded thinking it was Erik or Amanda.

When we finally woke and prepared for our day, Daniel noticed a huge ground hog hanging out on the shed window. He was so cute, I even snapped a picture of him hanging in the window sill.

The drive to Baltimore was long. The navigation led us through a scary neighborhood. I snapped a picture of this door cemeted off. Crazy!!

We finally reached Inner Harbor and began our search for lunch food. We originally started looking for a nice seafood restaurant...but after looking at several menus we realized $35 a meal was too much for lunch. Daniel settled on Johnny Rockets and the rest of us ate Phillips express seafood. It wasn't bad, but I kind of have a tummy ache now..

The Baltimore Aquarium was cool. We saw lots of amazing animals. My favorites were the dolphins and jelly fish. I have some great photos to share once we get home, unpack our computer, and upload them. Hooray for today. I am so tired...I Ned to get into bed as soon as we get to their house. ZzzzZzzzzz

Arriving in D.C.

My mom dropped us off at the SLC Airport July 29th. She witnessed a very scary car accident only moments in front of her. Luckily she was not harmed in any way, just very shaken up. We flew out of SLC without any delays. Daniel is my lucky charm because usually we get stuck somewhere, but thus time everything went smoothly. At the Houston Airport we thought we were getting lucky and that we were going to get to D.C. early, but it wad not the case, the flight was a different one, nearly identical to ours. But we did eventually make it to D.C. And after we gathered our bags, we headed to Hagerstown, Maryland. It took us 2 hours because Erik navigated wrong because of the barely visible signs....hahaha....we managed to pass a toll Booth three times. It was pretty funny to me because at this point it was about 1a.m. and I was exhausted. But we did make it to their house and Amanda had yummy cupcakes waiting for us, a birthday banner, and flowers the Kitty had knocked over. It was good, and eventually we headed to bed.

We slept in the next morning. We went to Erik's school and I saw my very first groundhog. It was so cute and fat! I wished I could have seen it closer! It was neat looking. I guess a family of them use to live under Erik's class in the portables, but now he has a cute room in the building.

We ate at the Bull and Bear downtown. It was much too cold, but pretty tasty.

Amanda and I finally convinced the boys to play Settler's of Catan with us after some yummy smores. The best part of smores was when Erik brought out the lightening racket to kill bugs. It zaps bugs when You hit them with it. Erik intentionally touched it and was zapped. Daniel accidentally grabbed onto it and was shocked. It was pretty insane.

The caravan extension they have for Settler's was tons of fun. I was close to winning tonight, which was a total miracle because You go in order of birth year so it always goes Erik, Daniel, me, and Amanda. Usually Amanda and I do bad...but that night I was one point away from winning.....so close! Oh well, I am learning to be a better sport.

Crystal Grottoes

Today was such a beautiful day. We woke up to perfect weather, packed a picnic, and headed to Crystal Grottoes, a cave with more formations than any other cave in Maryland. The cave was cold and beautiful. My favorite formation was the one shaped like shark's teeth.

We went to Fredricks for a picnic and sat by these beautiful bridges. It really was such a nice day....We did get a little sweaty walking around, but overall not as bad as I thought it would be. We went to this store called Retro Metro. It was full of all sorts of great stuff. Daniel and I got these cute penguin hot pads we've been needing to replace our burned up rabbit oven mitts. Daniel got me this super cute wind-up bee flashlight. It is absolutely adorable!

After visiting this cute little down town area we headed to the bead store. I bought beads to make a necklace for our night at Mary Poppins which is at The Kennedy Center. I am excited!

We came back to Erik and Amanda's house: swam in the pool, prepared dinner, and ate. In the pool Daniel tried to bombarde me with a cold water filled splash ball. Most of the time he was kind enough to squeeze the water out...but a few times I was splashed with cold water. I felt pretty bad because I made Daniel fall off his little inflatable matress a bit and more into the water. Sadly, someone left these soft eating mango licorices Amanda gave me on the ground....ants helped themselves to a delicious treat while we sunned. It was a sad moment for us all.

The BBQ chicken was made with this great Frank's sweet and chili sauce, soy sauce, and garlic. It was so yummy!

We found ourselves at the best buy after dinner. Daniel and I convinced Erik and Amanda that they needed a blue ray player. While the boys played Amanda inteoduced me to the world of 5 or less...I think that's what it was called. But it wad tons of gray stuff for $5 or less. We got headbands to make cute flower bands, and Also got flowers. They are going to be awesome!

We had ice cream at a place called Friendly's. They were not very friendly, but the ice cream was spectacular. I got a nut of caramel and Daniel got tons of peanut butter stuff with peanut sauce. I was stuffed.

Amanda and I made our jewelry while the boys put together the blue ray player. I made a three strand necklace, ring, and bracelet. It wad tons of fun sitting and talking with Amanda. I have truly missed her.

We bought our tickets for Baltimore Aquarium-
$25 each!!! Can you believe it?!?! As long as we get to sit in the splash zone at the dolphin show it will be worth it! Gotta get some sleep because I'm waking up in less than 6 hours.....

Fourth of July

I feel really blessed to be an American. Since Daniel has been home I count my blessings he made it home safe, however my heart goes out to all the families that still have a deployed love one, or who has lost a loved one while they were protecting our freedoms. I am so proud to be an American, I love our country and am so thankful for all that we have and are able to do, due to the sacrifices of many. I hope we will always stand tall and make our country proud. May lives and time from family not be in vain...do your best in all you participate in. God bless America!!

I found the song I was looking for!

This is one of my favorite songs! I couldn't think of what it was earlier, then all of a sudden it hit me, so I found the lyrics to share with everyone.

Oh Lord, My Redeemer

And the Roman soldiers laughed
When they saw their pris'ner stumble.
He did not revile them back.
And wondering, I asked,
"Who was this man so humble?"

And a woman at my side
Choked on her reply.
Though she struggled not to weep,
The tears poured down her cheek,
Her heart breaking as she cried:

"Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
Thou has done so much for me!
Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
All my love I give to Thee!"

And the crowd went pushing on.
I felt compelled to follow.
I knew that they were wrong
How they mocked Him all along.
Suddenly my heart felt hollow.

For they nailed Him to a tree
On a hill called Calvary.
While I stood there filled with wonder,
The heavens roared with thunder,
And again I heard this plea:

"Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
Thou has done so much for me!
Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
All my love I give to Thee!"

I could not forget His face
As I wandered from that place.
With the questions ever burning
I put myself to learning
And each answer came with grace.

And I knelt in earnest prayer,
His memory still there.
And the more that I'd enquire
The hotter burned the fire.
I found joy beyond compare.

And the day turned into three.
Morning found me in a garden
Where the gentle April breeze
Returned me to my knees,
Pleading for a pardon.

And I can't say when or why
I opened up my eyes
But his feet were there before me,
But His hands were open o'er me,
And His face I recognized.

"Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
Thou has done so much for me!
Oh Lord, my Redeemer,
All my love I give to Thee!"

Park City Weekend:5/21-5/23

My fabulous sister planned a family get-together in Park City. We took a plane up to SLC and we spent over 6 hours waiting in the airport due to inclement weather in the East. It was pretty disappointing, and by the time we got to SLC we were pooped. My dad picked us up in his new Jetta. The plastic hadn't even been taken off of the back seats! We drove through the rain and snow up to a rented condo in Park City....and did we fear for our lives? YES! I sometimes wonder how my dad has made it as a driver....but we somehow survived....although slightly frazzled...

When we arrived we were happy to see my mom, sister, cousins and aunt. My cousin Emigh and Raymond have the cutest kids! Below are just a few photos from the weekend. My favorite is when Olivia was singing this Hello Kitty song. She has a hard time saying K's, they usually sound like T's, but by the end of the weekend she had smartened up, and shockingly her K's were sounding much more like K's than T's.

Angelina also had a lot of fun putting mustache's on all the girls....here's pictures of the mustache club....

Olivia's Mustache.

Sidney looks great with a mustache!

...But Sophie's is the best.

This is us hanging out with the girls. Shockingly I'm the one with my eyes closed, instead of Angelina.
Now this is one of my favorite pictures. We played rock band into the late hours of the night...and well at one point Olivia wouldn't share the microphone with Ang and me, so we decided to use her braids...she didn't like it very much.

Angelina with Sophie eating dirty carrots.

Sophie holding Sydney, what a funny sight! Sydney is practically the same size as Soph!

We went to Olympic park in Park City to ride the bobsleds, but while we were there the weather turned snowy and wet, so they shut the course down. =( We didn't get to ride the real bobsleds, but we are going to try to some time. However, we did go walk down town and go to The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. For those of you who know not what I speak of, I speak of the most magnificent place to go when you have a sweet tooth....the caramel apples are so amazing and they have such a huge variety of things to eat that it's almost overwhelming when you go in.

Olivia, Me, and Daniel in a bobsled at Olympic Park in Park City.

YIKES! Would you seriously want to ride in one of these? I think not!

Olivia and Daniel playing a fun game at Olympic park.

This video is kinda funny. It really shows how fun and spunky Olivia is. She's a cutie...however, she got too smart for us! She wouldn't say Kitty after the first time....even if it meant she liked going to bed more! (Which she doesn't!)

Anyhow, Park City was a great adventure, despite the waiting at the airport and crazy weather. It was fun seeing family and just hanging out. Hopefully we will get to do it again real soon!

March 14, 2010

So, if I understood Daniel correctly on the phone....March 14, 2010 is the day that he should be heading back to America. He has a bunch of tests he has to get done so he has to come back before his unit. Then from that point we will figure out a date I guess? Who knows, it's a miracle Daniel has a date for that. SO, HOORAY!! HOORAY!! HOORAY!!!