Fell in Love with the City of Brotherly Love

This last weekend Mitch and I went to Valley Forge and Philadelphia with the Washington Seminar program. We loved exploring Philly and Valley Forge was a historically enlightening visit (yes that is right, I just referred to it as historically enlightening).

After a 3 hour bus ride with all the other BYU students, we arrived at Valley Forge. For those of you who haven't been there before, you must go because it is absolutely beautiful. The National Park is so lush, green and beautiful. We spent Friday on a tour of Valley Forge and were able to see where George Washington and his men lived during the winter they spent there. Besides the very hard bed we slept on in the dorms we stayed at, it was a great trip there.

The green fields of Valley Forge 

On Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Philadelphia. We went on a tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was written and then we toured the Constitution Center Museum. The past three weeks I have learned so much about our government and the founding fathers, so being able to be in this historic building was such an amazing experience. It is incredible to think that what those men did in that room has allowed me to enjoy the freedoms that I have. We are so blessed to live in America.

In front of Independence Hall 

In the room where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed

After we toured Independence Hall we were able to spend a couple hours on our own exploring Philly. Since my Dad and brother Tyson both served their missions in Philadelphia, I have heard about this amazing city my whole life and was excited to get to do some exploring of my own. The first thing I wanted to do was try an original Philly Cheesesteak, so Mitch and I walked to Pat's and Geno's to get a cheesesteak at each place and do our own test to see which one was better.

And after trying both we decided that Pat's was better (even though the line for Geno's was way longer).

Mitch and I spent the rest of the day walking around and exploring the city. I didn't have any idea what Philadelphia would be like or what to expect, but I quickly found that I love the city. There are so many beautiful things to see in Philadelphia and the buildings and churches we saw were incredible. Of course the two things we were most excited to see was the LDS temple that is under construction and the famous Rocky steps and statue.

After a long day in Philadelphia, Mitch and I were really excited to come home to D.C. (I never thought I would say come home to Washington DC). If we could spend all of our time exploring new cities around the country and the world, we would. We are on the search for a job that will pay us to travel around the world - we will keep you posted if we find one! 

A whirlwind of a week!

The past week and a half has been so busy for Mitch and I, and we have absolutely loved it! Mitch's family came to DC and it was such a blast to spend time with them and then my mom, Cindy came to visit us! We have had so much fun exploring the sites and spending time with the people we love! Mitch and I both feel like we are settling into living in DC and are finally figuring out how to get around and how to live in this amazing city.

Since there has been so much going on the last couple of weeks - here are some pictures of the highlights for us.

1. We met Elder Ballard (one of the 12 apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)! This was such an amazing experience. Elder Ballard came to DC and spoke for all the members of the church that work in congress and since Mitch is a part of the Washington Seminar, we were invited to attend his talk. It was absolutely incredible. The biggest thing I learned was that he truly has been called of God and set apart as a special witness of Christ. I know this man and the other apostles truly are exactly what they say they are, apostles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was so neat to hear him speak and shake his hand!

This is the best picture we could get of him

2. Mitch's family came to town! Seriously we had so much fun exploring D.C. with Mitch's parents and sister. I love my in-laws so much and am blessed to be part of such an incredible family. Here are some pictures of what we all did.

We went up to the top of the Washington Monument - which was very cool to see all of DC but it also made me very afraid of heights! I don't think I will make it up there again :D 

We tried frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.... mmmmm delicious! 

We went to the Natural History Museum... here we are acting like elephants... logically! 

Love this cute girl!  

On our way to the beach we found Morris Rd! Here we are at the corner of Morris Rd and Friendship Rd. 

We drove all the way to Ocean City, Maryland thinking it would be a nice relaxing and lovely day at the beach, only to find out it was hot rod weekend. There were old classic cars and pimped up trucks from all over the country dragging through the town. It was fun for a little while, but then all the revving of the engines got old! None the less we loved the beach :D!

On our way home we found a farmers market where we could pick fresh strawberries 

We ended up picking way more than we could eat... these strawberries were seriously delicious!

Luckily at the farmers market there were toys that my husband could play with! 

So we had a race on John Deer tricycles... clearly Mitch is beating us.

Late night walk to all of the monuments 

At the Washington Monument after a great run from Lincoln to Washington.

We had so much fun exploring the beach and more of DC with our family!

3. The day after Mitch's family left, my mom came to town so we were able to spend time with her. Cindy and I were able to go to the holocaust museum which was an incredible experience and I recommend it to anyone who can go. We were also able to go to Mount Vernon and explore where Washington lived. I love visiting old homes and was absolutely amazed by his home and all of his property. It was absolutely beautiful. I have come to respect George Washington even more as I have learned more about him. Going to his home was evidence to me of just how lucky we are that he was our president and he helped create this great nation we live in. 

Love her so much! (and isn't Mount Vernon beautiful?!?!?)

Mitch and I are so excited about the next couple of months and all that we are going to do here. We just got called to be ward missionaries and we are loving it. We are going to go out with the Elders a few times this week and we can't wait. It is starting to get real hot in D.C. and we are prepared to sweat in the humidity for the rest of the summer... can't wait for that :D!

Adventures on the Hill

We have officially made it through our first full week of living in DC and we still absolutely love it! We just got back from grocery shopping and it is one of the simple things that I love about living here. I have always wanted to be able to walk to the grocery store and walk home with all of my groceries - life dream accomplished!

Mitch has been busy with his new internship and so far he is learning lots and loving it! He is working for an international relations firm that focuses a lot on international trade and they are the middle man between businesses and government. For his internship so far he has been doing a lot of research about trade regulations for the consultants at the firm and he also gets to go to congressional hearings. He went to a hearing about human trafficking which I was super interested in, so I decided to go to the hearing with him the next day since they are open to the public. It was about the U.S.'s involvement in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The first hour was really interesting, but the last two hours were a drawn out repetition of the first hour and I got bored... really bored! Although it wasn't the most thrilling three hours of my life, I can now officially say I have been to a congressional hearing and I know a lot more about government sanctions! I felt very important as I walked up to the hill and walked through security and listened in on what the congressmen all had to say.

Mitch and I on the way to the congressional hearing! 

Right before the hearing - Mitch was loving it and I was a little bit more nervous (and bored)! 

Since getting to D.C. I have been able to relearn so many things about our government and our country. I have gained an immense respect for the Founding Fathers and all they established. We have been spending our evenings walking to all of the memorials and I have been so moved by the goals the Founding Fathers had for our country and the way they envisioned this nation. I have also been extremely touched by how firmly the Founding Fathers believed in God and believed this nation would thrive as we, as a people, remained close to God. This quote by Thomas Jefferson at his memorial has been the most impactful thing yet...

This quote has definitely given me a lot of things to think about in regards to where we are today. 

The sites have been great and I love seeing all of D.C. but the best thing about this adventure so far is the fact that I get to spend every single day exploring with Mitch! We seriously have had so much fun learning how to get around the city and finding new things to see! Mitch puts up with my desire to read every single historical sign and then bombard him with random facts about history and our country. He even gets excited now when we see certain historical things because he knows I will be excited. I am living in a history nerd's dream and he is going right along with it, which I really appreciate! I love D.C. and I love my husband so much and can't get over how excited I am for the next three months! EEEEEEK! 

At the Islamic Center bazaar. We ate food from Indonesia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Afghanistan! 

Outside of the National Cathedral.
We were able to sit in the Cathedral during a wedding ceremony which was a very unique and exciting experience for us. It was a beautiful ceremony and we loved hearing what the priest was saying about marriage and Christ. 

I love being married to my best friend!!! 

Exploring the World without Leaving Massachusetts Avenue

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am fascinated by learning about new people and new cultures. There are very few things I would rather do more than learn about how other people live and experience life. Luckily I married someone who either shares this passion or pretends that he does (I haven't figured which one it is in our short three months of marriage). Mitch and I have set a goal that while we are in DC we are going to learn as much about other people as we can, we are going to explore different cultures and we are going to say yes to everything (as long as we can afford it and it doesn't go against the commandments or our beliefs). We don't want to miss out on anything!

Saturday there was the annual open house of the embassies, so Mitch and I took a bus to the South African embassy to explore. We waited in line for about an hour and then we got to go in and try some South African food and drink and look around the embassy. Mitch was in heaven eating South African food again - and for good reason - it was delicious! After we toured the South African embassy we were able to go to the Venezuelan embassy and the Belize embassy. It was such a neat experience to get a little flavor of these countries and it made me want to explore the world even more.

Mitch with the statue of Nelson Mandela outside of the embassy

We don't know who this guy is but we didn't want to miss out on getting a picture with him...
and I got to speak to him in Spanish! 

On the same street of the embassies was the Islamic Center. There was a line to get in so we decided there must be something we needed to see! Mitch and I had the great opportunity to go into the DC Mosque. They gave me a veil to cover my head and a long skirt to wear over my clothes. The inside was beautiful! Everything inside the building was donated by Islamic countries across the world, which added to the feeling I had of leaving the US and exploring a place I may never visit.

Mitch and I made it to the Mosque at the perfect time because it was right before the third call to prayer of the day. I felt like the luckiest person in the world because we just happened to walk into a mosque and we just happened to be there at the time of prayer. A man in the mosque explained more about the Islamic religion to us and more about the call to prayer. Everyone that wasn't Islamic and wasn't participating in the prayer was invited to stay and sit in the back of the room and observe what the call to prayer was. Mitch and I were super grateful that we were able to be there for this moment. I don't know when I will ever be able to have that opportunity again. It was a very moving experience for me and I was grateful to be able to witness first hand how the Islamic people in DC (and across the world) profess their belief in God. I was so touched by their reverence towards prayer and their devotion.

This experience allowed me to really reflect on my reverence and attitude towards what I believe is sacred. I believe that prayer is the most powerful tool we have to worship our Father in Heaven and it is important that we take advantage of the opportunities we have to really communicate with Him throughout the day and throughout our lives. I believe we can learn so much from the way others choose to worship God and this was a beautiful opportunity for me to do that.

Waiting outside the mosque 

The amazing chandelier donated by Egypt

Three days down, three months to go and we can't wait to see what lies ahead! 

Fin.

We May Never Come Home

Mitch and I packed up all of our belongings and put them in storage (except of course the three suitcases we brought filled with my shoes and new business casual clothes for Mitch) and moved across the country to Washington D.C. We have been here three days and I already think I am in love with this city! We have had so many amazing opportunities to explore our Nation's Capital already. Everyday I feel filled with pride to be an American and a desire to explore and find any adventure I can. We have come to the conclusion that we may never make it back to Utah... not just because we love it here but because we aren't going to have enough money to buy our plane tickets home after we explore everywhere we want to go to on the East Coast and we eat at every delicious restaurant we see! We are already learning how to restrain ourselves and know we won't be able to go on every single adventure we see!!!!

To sum up the last three days we love our Nation's Capital and we are so excited that we get to live here for the next three months!

Getting the last stuff we needed to pack up and move! DC BOUND

Cooking in our dorm room! Sunday dinner at its finest :D

SundayFunday! Walk around the National Mall

Such a perfect day!

Love him!