Our Day Downtown

As promised, Tim and I went to downtown DC (or "the District" as some locals say it -but I will probably never call it that). We've both been there several times, so I wanted to do something I hadn't done before. We went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. The building also had a pretty cool display of historical political cartoons from election years. It was pretty fun. I now need to watch National Treasure again.Since I got to make the agenda, I also wanted to go to Arlington National Cemetery. I've been there once before (thanks to Jessica S.), but I remembered the changing of the guard was pretty cool. We got there and headed up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when it started POURING! I'm not kidding. This was a full out tempest -one set of stairs looked like a waterfall. We took cover under a tree for a while, but it wasn't letting up, so we took our flip flops off and started running back. We ended up getting lost in the cemetery (it's bigger than I remembered) and got back to the Visitor Center just as it let up and got sunny again. The dry European tourists were just walking out to see everything as we came up soaked to the bone. We left without seeing the changing of the guard. At least we'll get a chance to go back again.

Before the rain-dry.

Just as the rain let up

Virginia is for Lovers...they say

Things are going alright out here. Last Friday night the Larsens (Scott and DeAnne, Aubrey, and Tim and I) got together with Aubrey's roommates and had an Olympic Opening Ceremony Party! Go USA! We all wore some kind of international clothes and brought different foods. Tim and I later decided that when having international food, it's probably best to stick with one culture- though all of the food was good.

We've spent most of our time driving around, looking for apartment stuff, and applying for jobs (keep your fingers crossed!). I just wanted to list a few things about our new home...

• Falls Church has a LOT of different ethnic groups. I'm guessing mostly Asian due to the high number of Asian restaurants/markets around here and low number of stores that would be familiar to Utahns (The closest Walmart is about 20 miles away and I don't even think it is a Super Walmart)
• This area of Virginia has a really nice running trail that I like a lot. It is made from an old railroad line and has smaller, connecting trails that go all over. The main trail is almost 30 miles long!
• Our apartment is very spacious and we have almost no furniture. We need a couch...
• Even the big thrift store out here is much more expensive than the DI :(
• Our apartment complex has a pool (with the dumbest hours: noon-8pm), tennis courts, and a fitness center (If you can call a room with 2 treadmills and a bike that)
• The weather here has been very nice. No complaints there!
• The traffic here is the WORST! Tim says he can't tell if people here get a kick out of doing the dumb things to deserve the honks, or if they get a kick out of honking for dumb reasons. Scott says people here just never learned how to drive (I'm not prejudice, but I wonder if it has to do with other ethnicities and driving in other countries then coming here...)
• The BEST thing is that Tim and I were looking for furniture stores last Saturday and we couldn't find any for a while, and all of a sudden, we could see the Washington Monument. We ended up near Arlington National Cemetery, crossed the river and we were downtown with all of the tourists! It was only about 10-20 miles away! I'm looking forward to being a tourist this week too. Then I'll turn into a Local.
  

We Made It...Finally!

After 6 days stuck in Tennessee, we're finally at our apartment in Virginia! We're actually pleasantly surprised with our apartment. It is not new by any means, but it has everything I asked for...a washer/dryer, a dishwasher, and nice carpet. Plus it is much more spacious than our last apartment. Now the job hunt continues...
While we were on our way here from Texas, I took a few pictures of us making the most of our situation. Who knew Nashville was considered the "Athens of the South?"

Athena and the Nashville Parthenon

The county fair we found one night! Look closely and you'll see pig races and me petting a cow and feeding a camel!

Us in Little Rock, AK before all the trouble started. The bottom left picture is of me walking the "Medical Mile" because they're such a healthy city! The bottom right picture is of me and my injuries. I took a hard fall one morning running in San Antonio and again when walking Tim's aunt's dog. I've had a tough week.

Nightmare in Nashville

Well, we are not in Virginia yet.

I have to tell you, I've had a lot of faith to quit my job, pack up all of our stuff, and drive across the country (well, with a 20 hour detour to San Antonio) to live in a place I'm not familiar with, but I feel like I've had a good attitude...until now. Though we pretty much have nothing worldly to our name, we've had a good car, and been very thankful for it. You've probably read my past posts about it's problems, but few have been serious.

As it happens, we had planned to drive 14 hours from San Antonio to Nashville one day, and 11 hours the next day up to Washington DC so we could save money on hotels, etc. Well, last Wednesday we had driven over 12 hours and things were going well when all of a sudden, our car jumped a little bit and we lost power to accelerate. Tim pulled over on I-40, and we looked under the hood only to hear a clicking sound. A cop followed us 4 miles to the nearest exit and we spent the night at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. We got towed 90 miles to Nashville (Franklin, actually) and had the car looked at at a Honda dealership. We expected the worst and even thought about the options of buying a new car, so we were somewhat relieved to find out it was NOT the engine (phew!). The problem is the timing belt. Yes. The timing belt we spent over $500 getting replaced in Provo 3 months ago so we wouldn't have any problems. The dealership said the place that replaced the belt before didn't put the screws on right and may have even dropped one into the engine which caused the timing belt to break and ruin a few other things under the hood. Now we're stuck in Tennessee at least until Monday and I've had it! DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO JAPANESE AUTO REPAIR on 300 S in Provo! More like Japanese Auto RUIN! I will update you later, but I had to vent.

Where are we?

Well, here is your first clue...We have been in San Antonio, Texas staying with Tim's parents for the past little while until our apartment in Virginia will be available this Friday. We've had fun playing tourists and trains, but we'll continue on our cross country trip this Tuesday or Wednesday...

Everything really is bigger in Texas

Tim's dad set up the biggest train track yet in the living room of their new house. It is actually a triple track with three different trains running at the same time! The picture is dark, but we're sitting in the middle.
And on the way down, we stopped in Phoenix to spend a day with Makayla and Will (I can't bare to not see them). I make cookies with Makayla and Tim make her sandwich into a peanut butter and jelly-fish-shaped sandwich!

My Family

It was a wonderful vacation, and we had a great time. Here is the family we spent the week with...Thanks for everything mom and dad! Here are some other random pictures I may or may not have posted...

Crazy Kids

It's obvious, but my favorite part of family vacations is seeing my nieces and nephews. Here are some pictures of them.Me and Will

Makayla (bottom right is her with a gigantic dog...she loves dogs)

Kate. I know I have a lot of pictures with her, but she was always up to something. The middle pictures are her showing off her "sad face" and her "happy face."

Jonas. He pretty much just enjoyed the trip no matter what we did.

I'm a lucky aunt!