Adventures of the Week

Here is a brief photo recap of my adventures from the last couple of weeks:



Became a true American by purchasing food from a street vendor. Yes, to be a TRUE American, I should have bought a hot dog, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat what looked like a slightly warmed over stick o' mystery meat slathered with room temperature mustard, ketchup, and relish.... so I bought a pretzel instead! :-)

Experienced Jackson Pollock in person at the National Gallery of Art's east wing.

Rocked out Irish style at a St. Patty's Day party. I also cooked Corned Beef and Cabbage for the first time.

Visited the National Zoo and was convinced that though apes DO have very human-like attributes, there is no way I could have descended from an Orang-utan or Gorilla!

Oooed and Aaawed at the perty flowers at the Botanical Gardens.

Took a tour of the capitol building....

and snapped a photo with good ol' Brother Brigham Young



Learned more about our Judicial system by listening to an Oral Argument at the Supreme Court.

Shed a tear or two and pondered on the meaning of the thousands of lives lost in the Civil War during a visit to the Gettysburg battlefields.

Spent the weekend with the in-laws for my birthday weekend. Rebecca, Taia, and Baby Marleigh even got to be there!!! What a great family I have!

Learned about early American architecture and new trends to build more environmentally friendly communities during a visit to the National Building Museum.

For those of you who care to read and have the time, interest, and attention span, here is a longer more detailed journal of this week (March 15-21, 2009):

This week was another one full of adventures. On Sunday I spoke in Church about trusting in the Lord during our trials. I shared some of the things I have learned from being a widow. I was a little nervous about being too personal in sacrament meeting, but many people told me that they really appreciated what I said. I am very thankful for the lessons I have learned from my experiences, and I hope that I can use what I have learned to help others.

St. Patricks day began with my front tooth breaking when I took off my retainer that morning. Actually, it wasn't my tooth, it was the cosmetic veneer on the top of my front tooth that my dentist put on a few years ago after I got my tooth knocked out. Luckily, my supervisor at work knows a good dentist that was able to get me in right away and fix it up. Later that evening I had an Irish feast of Corned beef and Cabbage with my friends. It was my first time making it, but it turned out pretty good.

On Wednesday I saw a show about planets and galaxies in the Einstein Planetarium at the Air and Space museum.

On Thursday I had a tour of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. I saw some famous works by Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns.

On Friday we had 3 great lectures in the Washington Seminar class that I am taking. Elder Hardy from the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us about his experiences in Washington DC and how his membership in the church has been a great blessing in his life. (For those of you who are not a member of the LDS faith, "Elder" is a title that is given to men who hold a certain office in our church. A Quorum is an organization within our church. Click here to learn more: http://www.mormon.org/ )

We also had a lecture from the Syrian Ambassador who gave us a different perspective on the conflict in Israel and the Gaza strip than what we usually hear from our media. I have a lot more sympathy for the Palestinians because of the crimes against Humanity that have been committed against them by Israel. As the Ambassador said, no country should have the right to dominate the lives of citizens in another nation. Right now the Palestinians in the Gaza strip and the West bank are being held captive in their own neighborhoods. Israeli soldiers often occupy the homes of the Palestinians, prevent them from traveling between checkpoints even within their own neighborhoods, and have cut them off from outside resources. The Palestinians have been driven to despair by the suffocation of Israel's control. It is no wonder that they have been driven to extreme measures to the point of firing makeshift rockets into Israel as a sign of protest. Hearing the atrocities that are going on in places around the world like this makes me so thankful that I live in the country that I do. The United States is not perfect by any means. There are many problems here that need to be addressed. However, I am thankful that we are able to enjoy the basic freedoms of life. I think this is something that we all take for granted.

The third lecture we heard was given at the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia by Judge Griffiths. We were able to sit in his courtroom and learn more about what he does and about the opportunities there are for us if we want to go into a legal career. I am always amazed at the talent and intelligence of many of the people that I get to listen to. Being here has totally opened my eyes to how many opportunities there are to make a significant difference in this world.

On Friday night I went to another performance of the National Symphony Orchestra with my friend Jason. He has a sweet hookup where he can get free tickets to NSO performances. I love being able to participate in amazing cultural experiences without having to pay a dime!! Later a bunch of us went to Hard Rock cafe, where I had a less than favorable experience with my beef fajitas. I have been to Hard Rock a couple of times before, and I am always disappointed with their food. For some reason I forget how bad it is until after I'm already there and my plate is sitting in front of me waiting to be eaten and I am again disappointed. oh well.

On Saturday I had a tour of the Capitol building. I re-learned a lot about our system of government and once again was amazed at the genius of our Founding Fathers. I picked up a copy of the Constitution on my way out and have been reading it. I am embarrassed to say that I think this is the first time I have actually read the whole Constitution. I used to not be able to understand the language and would lose interest soon after the famous preamble of "We the people...." Now that I am in DC and have actually seen the buildings where much of the work of our government takes place and have listened to senators, congressmen, judges, and lobbyists who actually do a lot of that work, I understand it a lot better.

After the Capitol I had a tour of the National Building Museum. Its a really cool building inside, but theres not that much to see.

Thats about all for this week. I know I've missed a few weeks of blogging, but with so many adventures to be had, who has time to blog?

So much to do!!!

So, I have to apologize because I keep telling people that I will update my blog, but I haven't gotten around to actually doing it until now. I have been having so much fun here in DC! I am falling in love with this city one adventure at a time. This is such a perfect place for me to be, I mean, really, where else could I begin the day with a briefing from an expert discussing the foreign relations and nuclear policies between US and North Korea, then meet at the national headquarters of the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC), then stroll through a museum filled with amazing works of art by the likes of Da Vinci, Francisco de Goya, and Thomas Cole, then watch an IMAX movie about Dinosaurs in 3D, then see the Hope Diamond, and top it all off with an amazing performance of Dusapin's "Apex," Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major followed by Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique by the National Symphony Orchestra!! And the best part of all of this: IT WAS ALL FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does life get better than this?

There are so many diverse cultural and educational opportunities here. It would take way too long to give details about everything I have done over the last few weeks, but here is a short list of what I've done to recap:

-Wandered through Gothic hallways and Creepy Crypts at the National Cathedral

-Enjoyed a 7 course dinner at a Morrocan restaurant with a belly dancer for entertainment

-Devoured Devilishly Delightful Desserts at Chocolate Festival in Fairfax, Va.

-Wondered in awe at the amount of knowledge contained in the books at the Library of Congress

-Basked in the Golden Glow of James McNeil Whistler's Peacock Room

-Perused Presidential Portraits (including the new one of Obama) at the National Portrait Gallery

-Wondered if I was the only Mormon on campus while taking a test for my independent study class at Catholic University of America

-TOTALLY rocked out at the Ben Folds/Jason Mraz concert at GWU

-Spent WAY too much money getting my hair done, but man, do I look good!! (;-p)

-Laughed at watching my life unfold on the silver screen in "He's just not that into you"

-Lived it up wild style dancing at a bar in Adams Morgan. A creepy drunk guy tried to touch me, but my friend slapped his hand away. (Thanks Ashley!)

-Paid my penance for the night at the bar by going to church and becoming spiritually enlightened at a "Why I believe" Fireside at the DC temple visitor's center.

(Okay, this photo isn't from the visitor's center, its from the national cathedral, but I thought it was funny and just had to include it)

-Learned about one of the most amazing men in history at George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate.

-Found a room made just for me at Mt. Vernon-It even has my name on it!


Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression that its all fun and games here. There have been lots of non-adventures in between, like getting sick, doing homework, actually going to work to do my internship, etc. But overall, I am enjoying myself thoroughly and I'm so glad I decided to come.

I love all y'all and hope life is treating you just as well as its been treating me!

Peace out!

Inauguration

Okay, the long awaited post about my experiences at the Inauguration is finally here! Yay! I guess I'll just begin by saying that being here during this historic time of our nation's history was FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I began the day on January 20, 2009 by walking from the Barlow center down Pennsylvania Avenue and then down to the National Mall. My friends and I left at around 9:00 in the morning and joined the thousands of other people who were excitedly making their way down to the mall in eager anticipation of witnessing our next President be sworn in. My friends and I had plans to watch the inauguration at the reception being held by the Utah Delegation in the Senate Building which is actually behind the Capitol building, but before we went there, we wanted to at least see a little bit of all the craziness that was happening down on the mall. So we joined the other hoards of people making their way in that direction.

If I was looking to be a part of a crowd, I definitely found it. The streets were pretty much filled, but still moving steadily with plenty of space between people, and at that time the south end of the Mall was very busy, but still quite open. As soon as we got near the Washington Monument, however, the crowd quickly thickened into a sea of people that was difficult to navigate through. We had to change directions several times because we frequently found ourselves in spots that were so crowded that there was absolutely no way to move forward, and if we didn't turn around quickly, we would have been swallowed up in the ocean of bodies and would have been stuck out in the cold for the next 3-4 hours with the rest of the crazies.

Luckily, we were able to find loopholes and work our way through the crowd until we found ourselves on the far east end of the mall. From there we worked our way around the city until we could finally get up behind the capitol building. At about 11:15 we found the senate building, and made our way inside, went through security, up to the top floor, and found ourselves warm, comfortable, and happily enjoying cookies and hot chocolate with a nice view of some big screen tvs with a few minutes to spare before the inauguration took place.

Here is a map: you can see my route in Black. :-)

The atmosphere throughout the whole city was one of excitement and anticipation. People were cheering and clapping all the way to the mall. When President Obama took the Oath of Office, everyone was shouting and applauding and spirits were high. I do have to admit that I got warm tingly feelings all over me when I heard Obama give his inaugural address. I wasn't much of an Obama fan before I came to DC, but my opinion of him is quickly changing to one of favor. I think he will definitely bring changes to our country, and I do believe that many of them will be constructive changes that will have a favorable impact not only in our country, but also in many countries around the world that have suffered from hasty and mis-informed decisions made by the Bush administration. From our location at the top of the Hart Senate building, we were able to see President Bush's helicopter lift off from behind the Capitol and fly over the mall as a departing salute as the mantle of power was transferred to our new President.

After the inauguration a few of us decided we would try to make our way towards Pennsylvania avenue to see the parade. However, once we reached the parade route which was completely blocked off with caged barricades and check points, we saw that there were huge lines of people waiting to go through security to get into the parade area. I was tired and sore from having walked probably 6 to 7 miles that day, so I decided to head back to the Barlow Center to watch the parade on TV. I was glad that I made that decision because the parade didn't start until a couple hours after I got back home. I was able to see part of it on TV after I had eaten a nice warm lunch and had changed into comfortable clothes. I saw the Presidential motorcade make it almost to the White House, I saw Obama and Michelle get out and walk part of the parade route, but that is the last thing I remember because the next thing I knew I was waking up after having fallen asleep on the couch and the parade was almost over.

Later that evening, a few of my friends and I walked down to Georgetown to see if we could see any movie stars because we are only a block or two away from the Four Seasons Hotel where many famous people stay and then go shopping in Georgetown. But apparently all those fancy people were already attending exclusive inaugural Balls somewhere else because we didn't see anyone. So we went to this cute little french cafe and had hot chocolate.

I am so glad that I was able to be here for this event. I think I picked a great semester to be here in Washington. A lot of people on the news remarked on how "cold" it was during the inauguration, but I didn't think it was really that bad. It was probably in the low 30's, which is cold, but not as cold as many other parts of the country. And I didnt' really have to stay out in the cold that long because I watched it inside the senate building. Considering that many people who had tickets to get into the areas close to the capitol were never able to get in because they were stuck in a tunnel near the mall through the whole thing, even though what I saw of it was on a tv screen that wasn't much different than what someone in San Diego would have seen on their tv, the fact that I actually got to see what was happening as it was happening and only a block or so away from where it was happening is still pretty cool. The only bad thing about what happened is that I think I got tendonitis from walking around all day in boots that were actually pretty warm and comfortable, but were probably not made for walking around all day in. My achilles tendon in both legs have been throbbing since Wednesday morning and it hurts to walk and go up and down stairs. I guess I should have stretched my legs before and after making such a trek around the city.

Anyway, even in the few short days since the inauguration, Obama has already made some huge decisions that are definitely going to enact a lot of changes throughout the world, so I am excited to see what else will happen under the new administration.

Orientation

I am really blessed to be able to be part of BYU's Washington Seminar Program. Every day I realize even more what a fabulous opportunity this is. I have been surprised at the positive responses I have heard from people when they find out I am from Utah. One of the first things a couple people have asked when they find I am from Utah is if I go to BYU. Apparently we are well known in this city and people always have good things to say about others they have known from BYU. I am blessed to have a nice place to stay that is probably the cheapest housing in town. It is called "the Barlow Center" and it is owned by BYU specifically for the purpose of housing Washington Seminar interns. The building is also used for LDS Institute of Religion classes and for the LDS Church's government affairs offices. I have nice accomodations, even if it is a bit small, it has just enough storage and is certainly a well kept property. I am in a great location located conveniently close to a metro station, and I'm surrounded by other great interns from BYU. My roomate, Ruth, is great and we are getting along famously.

This was our first ride on the metro on our way to church.

If you would like to know more about the Washington Seminar program, check out this link:

http://washingtonseminar.byu.edu/ProspectiveStudents/information.aspx

I have had a busy first couple of days getting oriented to the city and learning more about my internship. I have learned a few interesting things about Washington DC. One humorous fact is that people here tend to freak out about the smallest chance of inclement winter weather. At my internship they said that if there is any threat of snow or ice, often the federal government will call a "delay" where they notify people coming into the city to delay their commute by 2 hours or more so people arent rushing to get through traffic, or if there really is a storm, they will shut down altogether. Now, for someone coming from Utah where we have heavy snow storms on a regular basis, this all seems a little silly, but I guess people here consider themselves more important than the weather.

Anyway, yesterday we spent the day becoming familiar with the metro system and finding our internships. I saw my first motorcade parading down Pennsylvania avenue. I'm not sure who was in the big black suburban, but they must have been pretty important because they shut down all the side streets and the suburban was accompanied by a parade of motorcycle police, an ambulance, a firetruck, and several other big black suburbans with serious looking dudes with guns looking out the windows. It might even have been the President!!

I walked by the Capitol building, bought a metro card with a commemorative photo of Barack Obama, and almost got stuck in the metro doors because they don't wait for you to move before they close. :-\

I found the place where I will be interning which is in an office 3 floors underground beneath the Smithsonian Castle. The entrance to the building is a little structure that has a roof that looks like an upside down tulip. The great thing about my location is that its one of the safest places to be if there was any kind of attack or anything. The bad thing is, that if there was an attack, I would likely be stuck underground for 3-4 days with the rest of my co-workers. So they advise us to pack an emergency bag to keep at our desks with food and water to last for a few days. Also, since I am so far underground, I get absolutely no cell phone reception, so if anyone wants to contact me while I'm working, sending me an email is probably the best way to get in touch. I am located right on the national mall, so sight-seeing after work or during lunch will be quite convenient for me.

This is the inside entrance to my office at "The Smithsonian Associates." The entrance is nice, my cubicle is okay, but my computer makes a strange sound that makes me think it is going to self-destruct in 4.5 seconds. ;-)

I learned a little bit about what I'm going to be doing, but didn't have much time to do a lot today, so I'll save the details for another post!

Visit with Family and the Battlefields at Antietam

Before beginning my internship in Washington DC, I decided to visit my family members that live in the DC area. Just before New Year's I flew in and spent some time with my in-laws who live in Virginia and West Virginia. I love this area of the country! It is so beautiful with the gentle rolling hills and trees everywhere. Right now everything is kind of brown and icky, but it is still a beautiful landscape. My father-in-law and I have an ongoing debate about whether or not the "mountains" out here on the east coast are "better" than the rocky mountains back home in Utah. I think we have agreed that though both landscapes are very different, they both have very admirable qualities that make them beautiful in their own right.

My father-in-law lives on a beautiful farm in Delaplane, Virginia. He recently acquired a flock of turkeys, chickens, and guinea hens that make all sorts of noises. Our favorite thing was to interpret what they were saying like "Who's that?! Who's That?! Who's That?!" or "Hi, Val! Hi, Val! Hi, Val!" or "Hey Frank! Hey Frank! Hey Frank!"

I love visiting this farm for many reasons. The first reason is because it is absolutely beautiful. The quaint farmhouse is so unique and has all the charm you would expect of a century-old Virginia homestead. The rolling hills are covered with trees and everywhere you look is as picturesque as a postcard. The second reason is because I love the people there. My father-in-law, John, is a great man. He always tells entertaining stories that make us laugh. Sometimes he doesn't say a lot, but what he does say is always either packed with a punch line, or very meaningful in other ways. Uncle Robert and Aunt Sally and Cousin Megan live just up the lane on the farm and I like to catch up with them whenever I stop by. I am very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. And the third reason why I love this place so much is because it reminds me of my husband. I remember the first time he brought me to the farm and he showed me all his favorite places. I knew I was in love with him before he brought me there, but I quickly fell even more in love with him and in love with the landscape after being here a short time with him.

They say Virginia is for Lovers, and I agree. Even though Lucien is no longer here with me physically, I sense his presence here in these places that he loved so much. With that being said, though I will always love Lucien and know that he loves me, I also recognize that I need to move forward with my life and allow myself to love again. So one of the hopes that many of my family have mentioned to me is that I can find another wonderful young man who I can continue to build dreams and make memories with. Who knows... maybe he will be here in Washington DC! ;-)


Antietam, Maryland:

I found out that my mother-in-law lives just a few miles from the Antietam battlefields in Maryland, so we decided to make a little visit. If I had realized sooner that she lived so close, I would have visited before! Oh well, now I know where it is and can visit again.

For those of you who aren't U.S. History buffs, Antietam is where one of the worst battles of the Civil War was fought. It is the place where the bloodiest single day of the war took place. There were over 23,000 soldiers killed there. Other battles had more deaths, but those battles were longer in duration. The majority of these soldiers were killed in less than 12 hours. It is very sobering to see so many graves and think about what these people died for. There are a lot of graves for unknown soldiers.

To learn more about what happened here, visit the official website:

http://www.nps.gov/anti/

Christmas 2008

This year was a fabulous Christmas. On the morning of Christmas Eve, my sister-in-law, Rebecca gave birth to her first baby, a sweet little 7 lb 6 oz girl named Marleigh Jane Fuga. Since I am leaving to go to Washington DC for my internship on Monday, I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to meet my new niece before I left because she actually wasn't due until after January 1st. But luckily, she gave me my first gift of the season by coming early enough for me to meet her.

This year for Christmas my parents, my brother Ammon, and I went to our sister Marian's house in Lewiston, Utah. We left on Christmas Eve and arrived at Marian's right before a huge blizzard pounded the whole state of Utah. We spent Christmas Eve playing Cranium and eating lots of yummy food.

On Christmas morning we drove a treacherous 2 blocks to my other sister Rachael's house to eat a delicious breakfast and to open presents. We had a lot of fun with my neice, Taylor, and nephew, Johnathan. Christmas is just so much more fun with little kids around. Mom and Dad got a digital camera (yes, we are forcing them to become part of the 21st century digital world) Marian and Rachael got new Bosch kitchen mixers, I got a pizza baking stone and some drinking glasses, Ammon got some new shirts, and Taylor and Johnathon got loads of toys, including a John Deere tractor set that both Johnny and Grandpa were pretty excited about.

After breakfast we went back to Marian's house where her step-children had arrived to open their presents. With six kids ages 17 to 7, and with Taylor wanting to "help" EVERYONE open their presents, it was chaos for a while.

After all the commotion, Marian and Vern and their kids left to go to Idaho to have dinner with Vern's family, we went back to Rachael and Clay's house, and then we watched movies and took a nap. It was a great day. The kids had lots of fun chasing and being chased by the "Grandpa Monster."

Rachael and Clay then argued about who knew how to make dinner better, but eventually dinner got made and we had delicious pork roast, ribs, rolls and green beans. Clay's sister, Tarin and her son Treyson came over to join in on the fun.

In all it was a fantastic Christmas. We were all glad we could be here to spend time with the kids.

Merry Christmas to all!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies that I had originally intended to bring to some of my friends. Well, I got busy and wasn't able to bring them to my friends when I had planned, so I had all these cookies just sitting out looking really delicious.

So, as I was rushing out to school, I would eat a couple for breakfast. When I came home for lunch I had a couple more. And then dinner time came and I just had to have another.

So the next day as I was driving to school (while eating a chocolate chip cookie, of course) I started thinking about how often I had eaten chocolate chip cookies, and my thoughts ended up in a rhyme. (They do that sometimes. I often think in rhymed couplets. It must be attributed to too much Dr. Suess as a child or something.) And then I even added a tune, but I don't now how to include the tune on my blog. Anyway, this was the by product of a bored mind with chocolate chip cookies on the brain:

I like chocolate chip cookies for breakfast,
I like chocolate chip cookies for lunch,
I like chocolate chip cookies for dinner,
and I eat 'em on Sunday for brunch.

I like chocolate chip cookies at midnight
I like chocolate chip cookies at noon
I like chocolate chip cookies in broad daylight
or under the light of the moon.

I like chocolate chip cookies with ice cream
I like chocolate chip cookies with milk
I like chocolate chip cookies in my flannel pajamas
or a nightgown made of silk!

Chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies!
Chocolate chip cookies! I love you so! Yes I do!
Chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies!
Oh chocolate chip cookies! To you I'm true!