Virginia is for Lovers: Day One

Our adventure began on a Monday evening at the Long Beach Airport. We departed around 10:30 and my plan was to sleep the ENTIRE flight. I even took some dramamine to knock me out. Unfortunately, my plan backfired and I was awake for most of the flight, which left me with nothing to do but browse infomercials. I saw a couple funny ones like Body Gospel .

We finally landed at Washington, Dulles at 6:00 AM and arrived in Ashburn around 6:30. Jonathan and I were exhausted, so we took a nap for a while but eventually woke up to play with 3 beautiful little munchkins:



There's nothing I love more than little newborns who let you cuddle with them all day long. In addition to cuddling with baby Mi Na Anne, we played hello animals and read a Dr. Seuss book entitled, "Put Me in the Zoo." It's a good one and I highly recommend it. But I'm sure by the end of this trip I'll have it memorized, so I can just tell you the story.

After the kids went to bed, Jonathan and I went for a little run and enjoyed the unusually cool Virginia air as the sun set. We even spotted some fireflies while we were stretching. They're amazing.

Happy Birthday, Best Friend

Today my best friend, Katie Backus, turned 20. Honestly, I'm not really sure how I'd survive without her. She keeps me laughing and smiling whenever I'm around her. I love that I can act a little crazy around her. Katie, Cassie and I have all been best friends for a while now and I wouldn't have it any other way. So many good memories:

countless years at girls' camp
many mornings at seminary
lots of nights at mutual
sleepovers
surprise birthday celebrations for each other
personal progress projects
youth conferences
sleeping under the stars in my back yard
scooter/bike rides
home videos
tie-dying

and the list goes on.

There are so many things that I love about this girl and I just want her to know how loved she is on her birthday. Katie Nicole, you're the most beautiful gal I know. Happy, happy birthday. I love you!

My favorite four-year-olds

I love my nephews, but I always wanted nieces so that I could play with their hair and do their nails. Well, in June of 2006, I was lucky enough to get two nieces within 3 days of each other. I may just be the luckiest aunt in the world. Now it's 2010 and they're four! It's crazy to think that it's been four years since these two bundles of joy came into the world.

Mei Li and Mylee,

Happy Birthday! I love watching you grow up and being a part of your lives. I love doing your hair and painting your nails. I love that you two are such good friends and I hope you stay close forever. I hope you have the happiest year ever and I can't wait to see you both this summer!

Love,
Auntie Ie Ling

"It's Not Just a Show"

I just want to share a few things about my roommate, Cassie. I love her a lot. We can connect on a lot of different levels: knowing the names of too many OPI nail polishes and bonding over dramatic shows are just a couple. We do our nails on a regular basis together and if we don't watch our shows together, we always have a discussion.

So the point of this blog. Recently, Grey's Anatomy had it's most dramatic season finale EVER. I can't imagine that many of my readers watch it, but I'll give a heads up anyway, this will be a little bit of a spoiler. So, in the finale, there is a shooter in the hospital and he is shooting everyone because Derek Shepherd(Patrick Dempsy) unplugged this man's wife from life support according to her orders. This man had begged and begged him not to do it, but Shepherd went through with it anyway. So, this man comes shooting everyone in the hospital including Derek, in front of his wife, Meredith, who just found out she was pregnant that day and hasn't told him yet.

Cassie gets very invested in her shows. She had a definite panic attack while watching the show and claimed that they were shooting all her friends. So, I got some of it on video, and it never fails to make me laugh.

M.O.A.B.

This past Memorial Day Weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Moab with a wonderful group of people. There were 15 of us total and it was a definite success. I headed out Thursday evening with Greg, Liz, and Preston and we made a claim on a couple camp sites. We were pretty famished, so we headed to the Moab Diner where I had a delicious taco salad. After dinner we set up camp and then went to sleep.

In the morning I dropped of Greg and Preston at the Slick Rock Bike Trail so they could go biking. I went on a lovely jog and then bonded with Liz on the top of our little mountain next to our campsite. We spent the rest of the day hiking and eating and enjoying each other's company.

The second wave of people arrived that evening and we played at the most wonderful park that had, for some reason or another, several xylophones. It was extremely cool. We then hiked to our mountain to watch the sunset which was exquisite. There is nothing more beautiful than watching the sun set.



Saturday was a big hiking day. All 15 of us set out for Arches National Park where we hiked to Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch and Double O Arch. The weather was amazing and I think we all had a fun time. I'm usually not very adventurous, but I decided to stand on top of Double O Arch. It was pretty exciting and thrilling and I'm glad I did it.

Once again, we returned to our mountain for sunset and then bonfired the night away. I left Sunday morning to get back in time for church and I had never been so excited to take a shower. Although camping can get a little uncomfortable and dirty, I love being out in nature and being able to appreciate all the beauty that is around us. For those of you who haven't taken a trip to Moab, I highly recommend it. It was one of the best weekends EVER.