museum of natural history

Kevin Maynes flew over from Spokane to hang out with Jake and I for a couple of days. We decided to go to the Smithsonian to walk through one of the museums. We rode the metro, which dropped us off directly between the Washington Memorial and the Capitol. The three of us decided we wanted to go to the Natural History Museum. It was really cool. We saw dinosaur fossils, mammal skeletons, and the hope diamond. After a couple of hours, we became tired, so we caught the metro back to the house. We all took an hour nap then ordered pizza to celebrate the new year. We drove to Bethesda to visit Reed and Michelle. I held screaming children, Kevin took two hours to make half a bowl of popcorn, and Jake took control of the remote. We watched The Sorcerers' Apprentice.
3:30 am came around and we decided it was time to go home. We finally crawled into bed some time after 4.
Kevin is leaving tomorrow at 2:30. His grandpa is picking him up. He will catch a plane back to Spokane, then in a couple weeks he will be heading back to Italy.

Hope Diamond

The evolution of men...

the importance of fuel

So many miracles happened today.


Today was the first day going to our new ward: the Arlington 1st Ward.  During sacrament meeting they had what is called an "impromptu choir" where anyone in the audience may go up and sing a song the choir director provides. Jake and I decided we were going to go sing with the choir. The song chosen was Hark the Harold Angels Sing. The arrangement was the same one found in the hymn book with added piano and organ arrangement. Not to toot my own horn, but we sounded good.


We met a few ward members and made friends (miracle 1) with the Henderson's, a young couple like us, who dragged us off to our appropriate classrooms for Relief Society and Elder's Quorum. Jake and I both introduced ourselves as 'the new members of the ward who will be here for a few months and, yes, we are here for an internship'. During Relief Society, they had a 'lets fill the last 10 minutes with the baring of our testimonies' time ..the sister teaching got done early.. I felt inspired to bare my testimony..the blessing came a lot faster than I would have ever imagined.


Driving home from church, our car started acting strangely, then stopped altogether on the side of the road. Apparently, we should have filled our gas tank up last night. We knew we needed gas, but we didn't think it would run out completely driving the 2 miles to and from church. We were wrong. 


The wind was blowing frigid air and it was snowing for the first time in the Arlington area (miracle 2). Perfect. Jake and I did not grab coats, thinking the only times we would need to go outside were going to and from the car to church. We sat in the car brainstorming ideas of what to do. 


I recently contracted a urinary tract infection (again), so, miraculously, it struck while pulled off the side of the road. I was wiggling and dancing in my seat while searching for gas stations on the GPS. Luckily, there was a gas station half a mile away (miracle 3). We decided to run there. I was wearing flats (miracle 4) so the whole running thing went well until my feet froze.


About half way there, a car pulled up to us and the lady in the passenger seat yelled at us to get inside. It was a couple from our new ward. Maria had recognized me from Relief Society when I had born my testimony. They drove us to the gas station (miracle 5) where I was able to go to the bathroom (miracle 6) and Jake filled up the 1 gallon gas can Maria and her husband had in the trunk (miracle 7). They drove us back to our car. We made it home in one piece, more or less (miracle 8).


Moral of the story: Make sure you have fuel before driving to church.

temple and thai food

Ann and Verne invited us to go to the temple. They flew to Maryland to visit Michelle and Reed. The Washington DC is gorgeous and HUGE. After the temple, we looked around the visitor's center. There were nativity sets from around the world on display.

Tonight, Reed blessed his new son, Levi, at his home. It was just Ann and Verne, Reed's family, and Jake and I.  And Michelle made DELICIOUS Thai food.

o, christmas tree..

Our Christmas Tree is too small for our pile of presents. So, to fix the problem we put the tree on top of the presents.

Home at Last!

10 hours
Kentucky
West Virginia
Virginia
Hardee's (aka Carl's Jr.)
Lots of freeway
Arlington, VA
Home!
Unloaded the car
Set up the Christmas Tree
Went to bed

5.

1. Kansas
2. Missouri
3. Illinois
4. Indiana
5. Kentucky


...the states we went through today.

Today was a 10 hour drive day. Jake and I came up with a plan: trade spots every hour. When it came time to switch, we would find a gas station, take a potty break, stretch our legs, and get a diet pepsi refill. It worked really well. 
We had changed time zones yesterday - an hour later then Logan. (When it was 5 pm for us, it was 4 pm in Logan.)
 At 10, we found a hotel off the freeway to stay the night. While signing in, we figured out that we had switched time zones again: now we were two hours later then Logan. So instead of it being 10, it was 11. 

driving and trying to be on time

Jake woke me up at 8:30 this morning. Jeff's church starts at 9. We wanted to catch sacrament meeting before starting our drive. Jeff gave us simple instructions to get to the church. Only..they weren't very simple. We got lost.

We found the church half way through the water being passed out. Since we missed the sacrament, we said goodbye to Jeff and Donna and started our drive. Since we only got 4 hours of sleep last night, we decided to only drive 8 hours today. 

final destination:

           Topeka, Kansas.

Moving Day

It is Saturday morning.  We woke up at 7 to start packing.  Jake did a little organizing last night, but besides that, nothing has been packed in our dorm room.  My family has its annual Christmas party at Granny's house today at noon.  The plan was to leave by 10, but it took longer then we thought.  We ended up leaving around 11.


The Christmas party was really fun.  Jake and I sat on Santa's lap and told him what we wanted for Christmas (Jake wants a pony..) and we got presents from him.  We hit the road by 4.  Tonight's destination is Denver, Colorado.  Jake's Mom's cousin, Jeff Jost, lives on the outskirts of Denver in a little place called Parker.


Salt Lake to Denver is about 9 hours with good conditions.  We drove to Provo, through Soldier's Pass, and onto 1-70.


7:00 p.m. - We stopped to eat at a place called "The Greek Streak"
11:00 p.m. - I am asleep in the passenger seat; Jake is driving.
11:45 p.m. - We switch.
12:00 a.m. - We are supposed to be arriving at Parker, CO.  We are stuck in Veil Pass going 40 mph.
2:00 a.m. - I am still driving. We are still going 40 mph.
2:30 a.m. - We go through a really cool tunnell: honking and sticking our heads out the window singing "Always" by Erasure.
3:00 a.m. - We take the wrong exit
3:10 a.m. - Turn around to get back onto the right road...took the wrong exit again.
3:15 a.m. - Get onto the right road
3:30 a.m. - Get off the wrong exit
4:00 a.m. - We make it to Jeff's house!!


Our 9 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip...

packing

Thursday, December 16

Tonight, Jake and I drove to Preston, ID to sort our things that are stored in my parents' basement.  We gathered all our garbage bags filled with clothes and ripped them open, choosing the pieces we wanted.  After 4 hours of sorting and stuffing totes into the trunk of our Mazda 6...we are half way ready to leave.

3 week update

Life is good. 


Jake and I are living in Richard's Hall on campus in a "VIP Room". This basically means we are living in a dorm room with a queen size bed, a dresser, bathroom, desk, mini fridge - we provided the mini fridge, and TV for $10 bucks a night. Not too bad. It is small, but it works out great. 


Because of our mini fridge we have a great selection of meals:
Breakfast: Bananas (they sit on top of the fridge)
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Sandwiches


Due to Mom's kindness (giving us leftovers from yesterday) our meals for the next couple of days will be:
Breakfast: Pizza
Lunch: Pizza
Dinner: Pizza with breadsticks


...then it is back to sandwiches!


We will be staying a total of 22 days in our 'home', then it is off to Arlington, Virginia. We found a fantastic place not far from Jake's work. It is a completely furnished two-story, three bedroom townhouse for $1000 a month. 

                 side note: searching on craiglist.com, most one bedroom   
                 apartments,which may or may not be furnished, ranged 
                 from $900 - 4500/mo.




This week is going to be crazy. There are finals to take, a car to sell, and everything to pack. There is a lot that needs to be done before we leave for Virginia. 

concerning legality and raspberries

Yesterday, we stopped by the county clerk's office to get our marriage license. After answering too many questions and making an oath...we are now legal!   ..what a great feeling..


Update on wedding plans: we are basically done. What a relief! Mamma J is taking over the last details of the reception and is doing a FANTASTIC job! :) Thanks a ton, Mom, for planning the reception. It is soooo nice to not have to worry about it. I can't wait to decorate on Friday and see how everything turns out.


Ruelinda, our interior designer, will also be there..thank goodness!..I am excited to see how she transforms the room! She has an amazing ability to combine different elements and objects to make gorgeous arrangements. 


Again, thanks Mom for doing such a great job! Good luck dipping raspberries..there is a light at the end of the tunnel, or should be..

almost there...

jake and i have been dating since may 2010.  jake proposed on september 6...we have been waiting to get married since then. November 20th is the big day...and there are only 6 days left!!  we are almost there...

though we are not married quite yet, i have decided to start a blog on the life and times of Jake and (soon-to-be) KaeCee Reed: our adventures to far away places, mischievous ways, and what it's like being a poor, newlywed couple.