tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67020511610676248052024-02-20T16:57:34.315-08:00Jessicajessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-73272626343866842712013-11-04T23:56:00.000-08:002013-11-04T23:56:03.872-08:00The Proposal Story :) <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If any boys are reading this, pay attention! This is how a proposal should be done. I realize that my last post was in February, and I was talking about events that happened a year ago. So I'm just gonna skip ahead to this and then go back and re-cap the last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just had to get this story up because lots of you have been asking to hear it. And it's so good that it just has to be told! So here is the story of how Jeff and I got engaged:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Warning*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This may be long...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago I got a text from Jeff that said not to plan anything for Oct 17, Oct 29, Nov 8 and Nov 9 because he had dates planned for those days. I -accidentally- looked at the calendar on his iPod and saw that October 29th had an event entitled "The Date". He told me that he was meeting with my roommate on the 21st to pick out the ring (I picked out 6, he narrowed it down to 2, and then recruited Jaylene's help/input to pick the final one). He was so good at lying and deceiving (hope that's not the case for the rest of our marriage. haha.) that I didn't think the proposal was coming for another couple of weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plan was to leave at 5 (after work) on the 17th to go up to City Creek mall and eat and do a little shopping. So I was surprised when he came at 3:30 and told me he arranged for me to get off work early. I could tell something was up, but I was SO convinced that he was just doing all of this to make me think that he was gonna propose and then he wouldn't actually do it. So I didn't want to have any expectations for the night, or get my hopes up just to be disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ate dinner at The Garden on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, then we did a little shopping at City Creek. We went to walk around Temple Square, and as we were waiting to cross the road a horse and buggy drove by. I turned to Jeff and said, "when it's Christmas time and all the lights are out, can we go on a carriage ride?" He said, "maybe". We entered Temple Square and started walking to this obscure area that I've never really been to and I said, "Do you know where you're going?" He said, "Yes" and we walked out the gates, where that same horse and buggy was waiting for us on the side of the road.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got in the carriage and rode up to this adorable area of Salt Lake and into Memory Grove Park. We stopped at this cute little bridge and the driver said, "This is a good place to stop and stretch your legs. I'll go turn the horse around and see you in a few minutes." We got off and walked over to the bridge and Jeff started looking over the side saying, "this is a cute little stream." It looked like he was looking at something so I leaned over to see what it was. When I turned back around, he was on his knee holding a little black box. I thought for sure that he was faking it, but then he started talking all serious about how we've had so much fun together the past few months and how he can't wait to marry me and keep having fun.... honestly I don't remember that much. It was all a blur, and even up to this point I wasn't for sure if he was actually proposing or not. He showed me the ring and it was definitely not any of the ones that I had picked out, so that was another reason I thought it was a joke. But then he said, "this is not the real ring. It's just a place-holder for tonight and you will get the real one tomorrow. There's a surprise and it will be like Christmas for you". Then he asked if I would marry him and I nodded and he </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">put the ring on my right hand. haha. He was nervous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then he started talking about how he wanted to propose in private, but that we weren't alone.... there was someone, somewhere, taking pictures. These random people came over and started snapping pictures with their phones. I didn't recognize them, so it just seemed like some people passing by saw a proposal happening and they thought it was cute, so they came over to get pictures. Come to find out, it was our friends, Josh and Karen, wearing wigs as disguises. I totally didn't recognize them! I was wondering, "who are these people taking our picture?!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Josh and Karen, our secret picture takers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Putting the ring on the wrong hand...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Realizing that there were strange people taking our picture...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point, I had finally figured out that it was a real proposal and I started crying.... what can I say? It was super romantic. But it's not even close to being over yet! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day (Friday) I went to work as normal, knowing that there was going to be something going on sometime during the day. I was sitting at the front desk of the office and I see a huge vase of flowers coming up the stairs. I figured they were probably for me and got super excited. The guy came to the desk and said, "These are for Stephanie Vincent". My heart dropped a little, but then I realized that something sneaky was probably going on, and the flowers were probably for me after all. *Stephanie Vincent is married to Steve Vincent, who is the 1st counselor in the bisopric in our singles ward. I work at their Real Estate office and they know both of us, so I thought something might be going on. Sure enough, at around noon, I got a text from Brother Vincent that said, "Come to my office and bring your phone."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got to the office and he said, "These flowers are for you. There's a box tied to the vase. Give me your phone, and I'm going to record this as you open the box." He also handed me a piece of paper with words to read out loud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I opened the box and there was a ring inside. I thought for a second it was my real ring, but it didn't look familiar like any of the ones I had picked out, and more importantly, Jeff wasn't there to give it to me. I couldn't imagine that he would have someone else give me the ring, so I figured out pretty quick that it wasn't the real one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you can't understand me (I was apparently having a hard time reading) it says,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> "Sorry, I thought I gave them the right ring. Like you said, it isn't always the thought that counts. </i>(One day Jeff said that he had thought about buying me a ring and I said, 'It's not the thought that counts'.)<i> I figured this would be a good place to start considering the Vincent's kept you around for me to date you longer. Who knows what would have happened if you had moved to Salt Lake for the other job. </i>(While we were beginning to date I was working in Salt Lake with the plans of moving up there. This job at the Vincent's company opened up and they put in a good word for me. Luckily I got to stay!) <i> It's probably been like Christmas for you all night and today, but you'll have to wait a little longer. I left your real ring at the next locations: See you at Kneaders next to Riverwoods Mall at 1:30, your lunch time. I love you, drive safe, don't hate me!"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went to Kneaders at 1:30 thinking he would be there. I waited around for a few minutes and didn't see him, but then I saw our friend Josh pull in.... the same friend that took the pictures the night before. We went through the ordering line and Karen was working. She told me that my lunch of Chicken Caesar salad and a sugar cookie had been paid for and she handed it to me. Josh and Karen ate lunch with me and gave me a bag with another fake ring and another note.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Remember when I was supposed to throw this ring pouch away? Well I started thinking this could come in handy so I kept it. </i>(A prize from Mary Kay had come in the pouch and I figured I didn't need it, so I had him throw it away. Apparently he had other plans for it.)<i> Remember that time at the Christmas auction when I bought your cookies? Well here... have a cookie - and lunch. Also that night that we went on a little date to the other Kneaders and we overheard that customer complimenting the cashier on her ring. I'm sure you'll get some </i>(compliments)<i> about your ring soon. Hopefully you don't hate me for not having the real ring, but it looks like I didn't leave it here. Next! </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Try out the Scera Theater at 5:00 by the concession area."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next stop was the Scera Theater. The back story on this location is this: Mark Gordon, the Elder's Quorum president in our ward was in a Christmas play at the Scera. A group of us from the ward went to watch the play and we all met to carpool. Everyone had a ride and the only people left were me and Jeff. So we decided to ride together. We had never met before so we started the small talk to get to know each other. He started talking about how excited he was to see "The Hobbit".... 3 times. And I told him how I grew up on a farm raising sheep. I guess you could say that there wasn't a lot of interest at that point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I get to the theater and walk to the concession area where I find Mark Gordon sitting on a bench with a bottle of Lemonade </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(well it was Limeade, but we don't need to get technical). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Oh shoot, wrong box. Where on Earth could I have put that thing? On the way to Mark's performance was the first time we sat and talked to each other. We were stuck in the car one-on-one and I was just some nerdy guy talking about The Hobbit, and I wrote you off as a country girl. Little did we know! Before you head to the next stop I'm going to need you to leave your phone. Next stop: Disneyland! Just kidding. Actually Texas Roadhouse. Go straight there and I'll see you there momentarily."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Went to Texas Roadhouse and as I walked in I saw Kayla Spurlock standing by the hostess desk with a video camera. The story about Texas Roadhouse is that we went there for dinner on my birthday. After the play in December, Jeff and I didn't really talk much again until February, my birthday. I invited a bunch of friends in my ward and one friend, Jared, asked if he could invite his roommate Jeff to come along. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jeff didn't have time to eat a full meal before he had to go to volleyball practice, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so he just ordered some cheesecake and then left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Hey, do you remember that time when it was your birthday and I was invited to come along and we sat next to each other here? I just had cheesecake, barely knew you, and then I left you for volleyball. Here’s some cheesecake to remember me by. Well there is one last stop. We have to be there by 6:15, so I’ll be leaving work and</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> I’ll pick you up innnnn…probably 20 minutes. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Go home, put on a dress or something, and I’ll see you soon."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kayla and I drove back to my apartment to eat the cheesecake. We chatted for a minute then I decided I better go change into my dress before Jeff arrived to pick me up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I opened the door to my room and..... well, the video speaks for itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I finally got the real ring, and it is AMAZING.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I put on a skirt and we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We walked in the front door of the restaurant and Jeff just walked past the seating host. I was confused for a second, but as we kept walking toward the back of the restaurant I saw some familiar faces. My parents, grandparents and sisters were the first people I saw. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I recognized all of Jeff's siblings, nieces and nephews, and his mom. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They were all there waiting to celebrate with us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(I had been bugging him for a couple weeks saying that our families should probably meet each other. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> He wasn't too worried about it because he had this planned all along!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a pretty perfect proposal. He put so much thought and effort into it and I loved everything about it. He had a lot of people in on the planning and execution and pretty much everyone I know had been keeping it a secret for almost 3 weeks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't believe no one let it slip! I was surprised every step of the way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's the story! It was an amazing couple of days and we have lots of planning coming up for a wedding in January. Thanks to everyone that helped out with the proposal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It made it special to have you all a part of it. And thanks Jeff for making it so I get to tell people a really awesome engagement story! I love you :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WE'RE ENGAGED! :)</span></div>
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jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-41346933574285159662013-02-12T21:13:00.004-08:002013-02-12T21:13:58.036-08:00Mt. Rushmore!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have these 2 friends. Their names are Jenae and Audrey. I met them when I moved into my apartment complex. Jenae was my roommate and Audrey was our unofficial roommate (she was basically there 24/7). We became really close friends. And then Jenae moved back home to upstate New York, and Audrey moved back home to Eastern Utah to prepare for her mission, and I missed them a whole lot. I got this crazy idea that I wanted to drive to Mount Rushmore over Labor Day weekend. I had the day off work, so it would be a long weekend. And it just so happens that one of my co-workers from Shenandoah National Park - cute, little, old, Louise - was working at Mt. Rushmore this season. It also happened that Rick and Tut, other co-workers from Shenandoah, were working near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was the perfect set-up! So Jenae, Audrey and I had a 3-way phone call and we made a plan. Jenae would fly out to Utah and we were going on a roadtrip! And conveniently, Jenae has an aunt that lives in Jackson Hole, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so we had a free place to stay. Couldn't have been more perfect!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So we left early in the morning, hoping that we could drive all the way from Utah to South Dakota and get to Mt. Rushmore before sunset. I have a goal in life to see all 50 states, even if it is just driving through. I hadn't been to Nebraska, so I figured while we were already so close, it would be really easy to take a detour through the corner and then head straight North to Mt. Rushmore. It would only add an hour to our drive. We didn't quite leave when we were planning because we had to stop at Walmart and get some groceries and wait for a bank to open so Audrey could get some money. So we headed out a little late, but made up some time while driving. We just ate sandwiches for lunch in the car and only had to stop a couple times for gas/potty breaks. We made it all the way across </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wyoming and into Nebraska and then into South Dakota</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to Mt. Rushmore at around 7:30 pm, which was pretty good. They have a lighting ceremony at 8:30 that we didn't want to miss. We got there while it was still pretty light outside, so we parked the car (entrance is free, but parking is like $11... in case you were wondering/planning a trip there in the future) and walked through the entrance, which is lined with all the state flags. I was really excited to see the monument! I love traveling and doing all the touristy stuff, and I love history, so I knew this would be really cool. We finally got to the opening and..... it was smaller than I was expecting.... But still so neat! So we found a seat in the amphitheater and waited for the ceremony to start. Once the sun set, they showed a video about the presidents of Mt. Rushmore and a little bit about how it was built. As the video is playing the lights on the monument slowly light up, so when it was over, the lights were on all the way and it was awesome to see. Then they called down all the people who are serving/have served in the military and had every single one of them say their name and what military branch they served in. I was teary-eyed by the end of it. I get really emotional about stuff like that, and I'm so grateful for those that serve our country! To end the night, we stopped in the gift shop to see when Louise would be working. I couldn't go all the way there and not see her! Luckily they told us she would be there the next morning. So we went back down the hills and into a cute little town called Keystone, South Dakota. It's got a bunch of hotels and restaurants and shops.... a cute tourist town. We were planning on getting campsites along the way and just setting up a tent, but we found a hotel room in Keystone for a good price so we just stayed there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">The next morning we got up and went back to the gift shop to see Louise. I told her I would be coming on Labor Day weekend, but we didn't really make a plan to coordinate or anything. So when I showed up in the gift shop, she was so surprised! It was so fun seeing her! I miss her sweet little self. We talked for about 20 minutes and caught each other up about our lives. She introduced us to a guy in the store named Nick. Nick actually worked on building Mt. Rushmore! He was super old, but it was so cool to hear his stories. He wrote a book about his experience, so I bought one, and he signed it for me! He was precious :)</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We then had to say goodbye to Louise and head out. We had a long drive ahead of us. Instead of stopping halfway between Mt. Rushmore and Jackson Hole like we originally planned, we decided that we just wanted to drive all the way there instead and get it over with. I can't decide if it was a good or bad idea. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a LooOOONNG drive </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(longer than any I've ever done before, and that's saying something, cause I've had many long days of driving). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Just decided that I'm going to post all of this in a separate entry -- stay tuned!</span></div>
<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-82796822271268320742013-02-05T17:42:00.002-08:002013-02-05T17:54:53.172-08:00My problem<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems I have a problem..... I, for the life of me, cannot keep up on this blog. It might be because I know subconsciously that since I am not posting about engagement/wedding/marriage/babies/etc., that people probably aren't as excited to read it. Or it may be because I seem to have no concept of time. In my head, I can think I did something a few days ago, but it was really 3 weeks. And I will think I did something 3 weeks ago, but it was really 2 months ago! My friends at work make fun of me for that. I will say, "I talked to that customer the other day...." and they say, "No, Jessica, you talked to that customer in December". So when I think I updated not too long ago, it really has been a while. And now, it is February and I have yet to make a post about my Labor Day trip to Mt. Rushmore....(coming soon!) It's been 5 months since I went, but I swear it was just a month or 2 ago! It's crazy how time flies. I kinda sound like my grandma when I say that, but it really is the truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I guess I'll start working on posting the Mt. Rushmore Road Trip. It was a blast! Lot's of pictures too!</span></div>
<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-90549614002950720752012-11-11T21:23:00.000-08:002012-11-11T21:23:02.554-08:00National Night Out (still catching up on August)<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August is a bit of a boring month. There's no holidays or anything. So I found <a href="http://www.brownielocks.com/month2.html">this website</a> that has a whole bunch of random holidays for each day of the year. At work we thought we would celebrate one weird holiday each day in August, but that didn't happen. Too much effort that I didn't really have the time or motivation to put in. We did celebrate Root Beer Float Day (yum!) and a few others. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnsckSiR8aRD7I3echMna5xGGWswfZ_cWuQOWmj76osJQI5nvrvLF5aq6yIG9Sq5KBLMgQs7_RJyGy4PX-GPWp0tZZ1Nzk_qrNO9lhDLnUL77OWNPIvaeh6MFeyLyHxcHfp_b0FeAw4g/s1600/national+night+out+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnsckSiR8aRD7I3echMna5xGGWswfZ_cWuQOWmj76osJQI5nvrvLF5aq6yIG9Sq5KBLMgQs7_RJyGy4PX-GPWp0tZZ1Nzk_qrNO9lhDLnUL77OWNPIvaeh6MFeyLyHxcHfp_b0FeAw4g/s320/national+night+out+003.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But by far the best one was National Night Out! How awesome is it that there is a whole night devoted to just going out and having fun? A big group of people from my ward got together to go to Karaoke Night at Applebee's. We had a lot of fun. All the girls got up and sang "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, and then I also sang by myself. After, we all came home and hung out on the basketball court and just looked at the stars for a while. I'm so grateful to have such good people to surround myself with and make life a lot better.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaF7WtJeev9tToQYxTaIXEkQyO5ZXrUkiq1nlPbU4AXYqu4445kUxi0_a0Xa0Vb0x6JY7ZlHl_A54WDhpMNTnw9Zo84TagiZ-MzbCNepIRHqwZdyVTYsnlxK4TxOP5fNWFg5nhmtBHY8/s1600/national+night+out+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaF7WtJeev9tToQYxTaIXEkQyO5ZXrUkiq1nlPbU4AXYqu4445kUxi0_a0Xa0Vb0x6JY7ZlHl_A54WDhpMNTnw9Zo84TagiZ-MzbCNepIRHqwZdyVTYsnlxK4TxOP5fNWFg5nhmtBHY8/s320/national+night+out+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-12155544158802796572012-11-09T20:35:00.000-08:002012-11-09T20:35:00.150-08:00August 2012<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDdXpG7RzovecSopAxQx05_jpf1F0HXDSzFJv5onkvAKHqqfywC3BurN5m6xLvdmH33mUN4Rw0M91WFjhTHYX37AYwL0CH7tIcst6VOT8KgeLm60vI2k1xGI-lHayUypCc0wdA5as_Mo/s1600/summer+2012+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDdXpG7RzovecSopAxQx05_jpf1F0HXDSzFJv5onkvAKHqqfywC3BurN5m6xLvdmH33mUN4Rw0M91WFjhTHYX37AYwL0CH7tIcst6VOT8KgeLm60vI2k1xGI-lHayUypCc0wdA5as_Mo/s320/summer+2012+017.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most excited part of August was my last minute road trip to Idaho to try out for American Idol! This year for Idol, they had a small town bus audition tour. The American Idol tour bus traveled across the country and stopped in 10 small cities to hold auditions. The first stop was in Idaho Falls. They announced the date only 2 days before the auditions, so I had to decide really quick if I was actually going to go or not. I arranged for someone to cover my Saturday shift and I called my friend Jill. She is a great singer and she mentioned to me once that she's always wanted to try out for Idol. It didn't take much persuading to get her to come with me, so we packed up the next day and drove to Idaho Falls. It was only about a 6 hour drive, so it wasn't too far. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We weren't expecting too many people to be there. Idaho Falls is not a huge city, and the auditions were only announced a couple days before, so I didn't think that many people would even know about it. Not the case. We got there and there was a huge line already. We showed up at 9, and didn't get through the auditions until about 2. The audition format was weird. It was outside and they had groups on both sides of the tour bus. They brought us up in groups of 4 and we each stepped forward and sang one verse of our song, then stepped back. Jill and I were in the same group with 2 other girls. One girl was pretty awful. And the other girl was superrrrrr annoying. She dressed up in a hula shirt with a bow-tie and huge glasses and flip-flops with socks. She sang a showtune and was super dramatic. The judges apparently liked it, because they had her sing another song and she sang normal this time. She was actually pretty good, and she moved on to the next round. To the other 3 of us they said, "There's some great voices in this group, but we can't take everyone, so takes for trying out, and please come back next year."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, we were a little disappointed, but it was so cool to have the experience. And every time I sing in front of a bunch of people like that, it gets easier and easier. I get a little less nervous each time. </span></div>
jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-39339515736823572092012-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:002012-09-17T22:03:33.933-07:00July 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">July is full of exciting holidays.... The 4th, 24th, and of course LAMB DAY!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the 4th of July, my family and I went to the parade in Provo. It was a cool parade but I was so disappointed that they didn't throw any candy. What kind of parade is that?! After the parade, we hung out in Provo and went to the craft fair, then got snow-cones and took a nap. We went to the roof of the Provo City building to watch the fireworks. They didn't shut off the lights around, so we couldn't see too well, but it was fun to spend the day with my family and friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone that knows me, knows that Lamb Day is my favorite day of the year! I love it! This year was different because Brittany wasn't there, but I got to spend time with a lot of family and friends. Lamb Day week is the best because everybody comes home to Fountain Green. You get to see people that you haven't seen since last Lamb Day. Everybody is happy :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I played co-ed softball, as usual. I don't know why I play every year....I'm pretty bad at it. I'm just glad no one takes it too seriously. My team took 3rd or 4th.... or maybe 5th place. I forget.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mutton fry was as delicious as ever. I love serving the sourdough scones (5 years running!) and watching my grandpa fry up some lamb chops (his are always the best). Best. Meal. Ever!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday I always help in the lamb sandwich stands, and this year I sold Lamb Day t-shirts. It rained this year, and I can't remember another Lamb Day that it rained. It was very different weather than the hot-ness that usually happens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the scariest moments of my life: singing the national anthem in front of everyone I know. I was asked to sing the national anthem before the championship games of the co-ed tournament. I thought I would just be able to stand by the bleachers and sing, but they made me go out on home plate. OMG! I was so nervous! It's easier for me to sing in front of strangers, but this was my hometown and all of my friends and neighbors. It went well though. No mess-ups. Thank goodness!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the 24th of July, me and Jess went to the Days of 47 rodeo. I've never been to an indoor rodeo before, but it was really fun. I love rodeos.... getting to wear my cowgirl boots :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love July and getting to celebrate all of the history and heritage of my country, state, and hometown. A few other fun events in July were: going to a Salt Lake Bees game, going to the Drive-In movie, and the Easton Corbin concert. I even got to meet him! He's a cutie :)</span></div>
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<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-89320339837202723862012-08-07T18:41:00.001-07:002012-08-07T18:41:16.259-07:00May/June 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently May was a rather boring month. I can't really think of anything exciting that happened. We went camping for memorial day and went on a long 4-wheeler ride around Emery County. There was a lot of cool scenery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">June also wasn't too exciting. We went to the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo and one of my old roommates flew in from New York to come hang out with us. I love when I'm able to hang out with all my girls! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eating at Wingers before the rodeo :)</span></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-54711447564844073262012-08-06T23:26:00.001-07:002012-08-06T23:26:32.756-07:00Catching up on 2012 - April<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Warning--this may be a long post*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main thing that happened in April was getting to go on a fun trip with my grandma to South Carolina and Georgia. I seriously love the south, especially the coastal areas. Our tour guide on the trip even said to me, "You should become a coastal girl. You look like you belong here!" If I didn't love living in Utah and being close to my family so much, then I would probably do it. All the places we went were so amazing and I could totally see myself living there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was able to go on this trip because my grandpa couldn't. Every year my granparents take a trip or two, usually in the fall and winter. This trip was in the springtime, right in the middle of lambing season, so my grandpa was way too busy at the farm to go (not that he was very upset about it... he doesn't like traveling much). My grandma really wanted to go still though, because South Carolina was one of 2 states that she hadn't been to yet. She paid my whole way, so it was a pretty sweet deal for me. My granparents go on the trips with a tour group, so the travel agency takes care of everything. You just have to pay your money and show up. The crowd that goes on these tours are not exactly what you would call.... young. It was me on a bus with 30 old people. haha. But I loved it, and they loved me! They all told me how nice it was to have some youth on the trip. I really did have a lot of fun with them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, Day 1, we left early in the morning and flew from Salt Lake to Charleston, SC, with a layover in Atlanta. The day mostly consisted of just traveling and settling into our hotel. I left my phone on the plane on accident, so the whole trip I didn't have my phone. It was actually kinda nice, other than when I would loose my grandma and needed to call her. That night we ate at the Charleston Crab House. I don't really like any seafood, so that was one thing about being in this area.... everyone was eating shrimp and salmon and crab, etc. I had chicken for almost every meal, because that was the only other option left on the menu. I did have lots of variety of chicken though, and it was all good. Southern cooking.... yum! I have never eaten more in my entire life. We probably ate more in the 6 days of the trip than I would eat in an entire month. Hey, if it's free, I might as well take advantage of it right? I will say I did like the crab hush puppies. They were pretty tasty!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 2: We went on a tour of Charleston. Let me tell you, these old cities were definitely not made for big tour buses. At all! We had some pretty tight corners and a few close calls with parked cars, but we had an awesome bus driver who got us all out alive. We drove through the streets and saw all the colleges throughout the city. One of the coolest colleges is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Citadel,_The_Military_College_of_South_Carolina">The Citadel</a>. It's a military school, and we got there just as class was getting out. Oh man.... so many cute soldiers! I was in heaven! A few of them gave me some weird looks because it was me with all the elderly folk. I didn't fit in too well with my group (I got looks like that everywhere we went). We had a great tour guide named Joy, who told us a lot of history of the city and made the tour so interesting. We also went out to Fort Sumter, which is were the Civil War started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Citadel</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQX58E6gV0xo2mjHUujvGdLZI0AIxckB-c3RdJ0Mh3lunyYyp2zyroUgSwzDzUEmyQvCYeOyfUM4z6dzuR-GdRFHYi7AefyWl_PyytK5fFtXofvRpDcGgRVNb9tgkkBqsBFN4nqjZNgPc/s1600/South+Carolina+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQX58E6gV0xo2mjHUujvGdLZI0AIxckB-c3RdJ0Mh3lunyYyp2zyroUgSwzDzUEmyQvCYeOyfUM4z6dzuR-GdRFHYi7AefyWl_PyytK5fFtXofvRpDcGgRVNb9tgkkBqsBFN4nqjZNgPc/s320/South+Carolina+014.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fort Sumter</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77bEAetLOG7cOrEAyzwqJuVVdXoJSRjLwyp252KxhVYjY075u-oGDPTqUyhUsmwjzh3gAs2PCp4gSUqYNan_kosxiX7kGNQcCDRJapzbW_qpRzxpyVvXwroi_752ULL6Bqn73ngkSzcw/s1600/South+Carolina+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77bEAetLOG7cOrEAyzwqJuVVdXoJSRjLwyp252KxhVYjY075u-oGDPTqUyhUsmwjzh3gAs2PCp4gSUqYNan_kosxiX7kGNQcCDRJapzbW_qpRzxpyVvXwroi_752ULL6Bqn73ngkSzcw/s320/South+Carolina+015.JPG" width="320" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The skyline of Charleston. It's nicknamed "The Holy City" because there are so many churches.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFcZK5lDoHUoZWj_YvlYJPbz_G3nRZjyLYGOZcMdYat_dW3d0Sy9PCmZvXzIAY_ydBZgcu3O3VBQTOo7_Zj9LoWALzWKdrbbLvNgEbQLaRr9pNHA8XDvv8dNxvuaTcfByGholqcqMmQmg/s1600/South+Carolina+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFcZK5lDoHUoZWj_YvlYJPbz_G3nRZjyLYGOZcMdYat_dW3d0Sy9PCmZvXzIAY_ydBZgcu3O3VBQTOo7_Zj9LoWALzWKdrbbLvNgEbQLaRr9pNHA8XDvv8dNxvuaTcfByGholqcqMmQmg/s200/South+Carolina+007.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1g9ocKeDg0V1xU-5yLx5bhher8UkVADzo4G6C0otCWokMAF_Y8JkCmbjs9j6KfI0Tt3McNb98Q8AulHjwmMlJpCtVcgPylnisVUu6h5yaUsPiO91hA_lmWNNZ3luxAbwTjIyZJ652-E/s1600/South+Carolina+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1g9ocKeDg0V1xU-5yLx5bhher8UkVADzo4G6C0otCWokMAF_Y8JkCmbjs9j6KfI0Tt3McNb98Q8AulHjwmMlJpCtVcgPylnisVUu6h5yaUsPiO91hA_lmWNNZ3luxAbwTjIyZJ652-E/s200/South+Carolina+009.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lots of cool old buildings. And lots of boats! In this picture there is </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> a fishing boat, a sailboat and a battleship.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF5TAiAmgqF9SLBMMq9nbl_Bbwzv4ViG5A3FXZpGA-0VW3Sj5-nDSZhaqnRSOt8IKvn_IBtDFHKlhyyR1BwwmIbvaa704hdOntD2D-XRs4V6sO2rcgBIumnwEtiYQfD_81ax0Mu70HWE/s1600/South+Carolina+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF5TAiAmgqF9SLBMMq9nbl_Bbwzv4ViG5A3FXZpGA-0VW3Sj5-nDSZhaqnRSOt8IKvn_IBtDFHKlhyyR1BwwmIbvaa704hdOntD2D-XRs4V6sO2rcgBIumnwEtiYQfD_81ax0Mu70HWE/s320/South+Carolina+010.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything is so green and pretty. Flowers, bushes, and trees EVERYWHERE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 3: We went to the <a href="http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/">Magnolia Garden and Plantation</a>. It is an old rice plantation that has been turned into a garden for tourists. We were there right in between the spring flowers and summer flowers. It was still very pretty and green, but not many flowers. We took a train tour around the grounds and saw a whole bunch of birds and alligators.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylwGJ6jmS6qXhx-ewInRHwI1-Zo8gHLMpvO9b91BIAMdz-i9-M0z_5LDVIeuWmO8M4888kmh4slaNMRaxnoywVf8o1F2gnC0klHlqb2D1hPukfsMnfQxtP9x3QwbWo1xID8bxX3j1uYI/s1600/South+Carolina+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylwGJ6jmS6qXhx-ewInRHwI1-Zo8gHLMpvO9b91BIAMdz-i9-M0z_5LDVIeuWmO8M4888kmh4slaNMRaxnoywVf8o1F2gnC0klHlqb2D1hPukfsMnfQxtP9x3QwbWo1xID8bxX3j1uYI/s200/South+Carolina+020.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8h-MhKlgwlIEqR1yy2_BnwwMEIjUNqIhff1eE4PZArZi6lP15z6B3W6ikhcIavpsU52rNVTwgJL2aLPQ9KYcyQ7Yz-yx13MqODokMqXN0BmrFxw78_wJGL5kyhyphenhyphenpd_VAswSi0XFX6C7c/s1600/South+Carolina+029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8h-MhKlgwlIEqR1yy2_BnwwMEIjUNqIhff1eE4PZArZi6lP15z6B3W6ikhcIavpsU52rNVTwgJL2aLPQ9KYcyQ7Yz-yx13MqODokMqXN0BmrFxw78_wJGL5kyhyphenhyphenpd_VAswSi0XFX6C7c/s320/South+Carolina+029.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Old slave houses</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Alligators in the swamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cute little swing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the plantation we got on the bus and drove to Savannah, Georgia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got there around dinner time and we ate at <a href="http://www.thepirateshouse.com/">The Pirate's House</a>. So cool! My variation of chicken that night was Honey Pecan Chicken. It kinda tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios, so it was pretty good! I was proud of myself for trying something like that. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a super picky eater.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVaDkiI5EjvTBr-liPNToXwI5s0ZxdDP31ic-Pp6svbIm9X8GO2y6kiknU-wTIxfEEf7K9cFMM69tszQWSFXC56Y24wVdfIu0Re1Ed5MIlpDwL6dufWwOIu-2m4z9K9NRelOjwFMv9gw/s1600/Savannah+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVaDkiI5EjvTBr-liPNToXwI5s0ZxdDP31ic-Pp6svbIm9X8GO2y6kiknU-wTIxfEEf7K9cFMM69tszQWSFXC56Y24wVdfIu0Re1Ed5MIlpDwL6dufWwOIu-2m4z9K9NRelOjwFMv9gw/s200/Savannah+002.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxkJbESj3Sor-Od4nr0z0I8wWpUjdFmxyvoOoakLqBPw8LaEzthPd7hKzhkevZ87wp4S5yF0b7f1sytYSb8hRqCAL1IfrYP1vAVvbXLOxX7XUdw1G5nTMrJjamMEauLDx6_fMX_5fNFA/s1600/Savannah+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxkJbESj3Sor-Od4nr0z0I8wWpUjdFmxyvoOoakLqBPw8LaEzthPd7hKzhkevZ87wp4S5yF0b7f1sytYSb8hRqCAL1IfrYP1vAVvbXLOxX7XUdw1G5nTMrJjamMEauLDx6_fMX_5fNFA/s200/Savannah+003.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After dinner we went on a ghost tour. Savannah is one of the oldest and most haunted cities in America. We got on the "ghost trolley" and drove around the city at night while a tour guide told us some creepy stories of Savannah. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This town square is where the gallows were back in the day.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOv3n9A154ITKFfhWHw11GkNoPk-45Gz65pJTuD5xp0dnAZ7q7sEXaojvYBOsVr0p7Rovw2le88til6zFwEXPIVtYzBpt9IwKLWP8AyJWhxZcB4Cj82DYN13DFHnsGXg6IebmBP3SsoM/s1600/Savannah+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOv3n9A154ITKFfhWHw11GkNoPk-45Gz65pJTuD5xp0dnAZ7q7sEXaojvYBOsVr0p7Rovw2le88til6zFwEXPIVtYzBpt9IwKLWP8AyJWhxZcB4Cj82DYN13DFHnsGXg6IebmBP3SsoM/s320/Savannah+005.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 4: We went to Jekyll Island, which is a ritzy resort island used by all the rich folks back in the early 1900's. Today there is a hotel that people can still stay at and golf courses (The golf movie "Legend of Bagger Vance" was filmed on the island). All the old houses have just been turned into tourist spots. It was a beautiful day on the island and we had a nice fancy lunch at the Jekyll Island Hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienZsZpNUJE8v0opT8Q05Hvo-u0dlQWla5wQU1fkXDTXQk_XvoGV8-tymJqodeImoBVdcnEkC52SyG_91B_nay6HCIHreYB63VtQP1KCw0PQC5PriD1JMF17din9pPKG4lZ2LWrlxkpcc/s1600/Savannah+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienZsZpNUJE8v0opT8Q05Hvo-u0dlQWla5wQU1fkXDTXQk_XvoGV8-tymJqodeImoBVdcnEkC52SyG_91B_nay6HCIHreYB63VtQP1KCw0PQC5PriD1JMF17din9pPKG4lZ2LWrlxkpcc/s320/Savannah+013.JPG" width="239" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Jekyll Island Hotel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Me & my new friends hanging out on the porch :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So at this point I was ready to find a beach. I have heard so many great things about beaches in the south, and up until then, we still hadn't gone to one. But then we went to St. Simon's Island and my wish was granted. First we saw an old church and an old graveyard. Fun fact: The difference between a cemetery and a graveyard is that a graveyard is affiliated with a church and a cemetery isn't. So all the cemeteries on church grounds are actually called graveyards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckUhtNeEhQVLuQXzwXFY9pe1wUkmf116AKXvc0Inwhu4GuEk91xhAsfRxw28tyR9YnDgAmN_J9n_da0LO2p8e6hSUfI0s7nJ2hQQQ9kjHkJsk_V3Wh7BhpnUHGzz9uZvFdLN4DmIPSxQ/s1600/Savannah+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckUhtNeEhQVLuQXzwXFY9pe1wUkmf116AKXvc0Inwhu4GuEk91xhAsfRxw28tyR9YnDgAmN_J9n_da0LO2p8e6hSUfI0s7nJ2hQQQ9kjHkJsk_V3Wh7BhpnUHGzz9uZvFdLN4DmIPSxQ/s320/Savannah+018.JPG" width="239" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stained glass window at Christ Church in St. Simon's Island, Georgia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After seeing the old church, we finally went to the beach! Oh my goodness, I loved the town of St. Simon's! It was so cute and had a whole bunch of quaint little shops and restaurants. And of course the beach. I walked along the sand and went to the top of the lighthouse. We even saw some dolphins just off the beach. They were so close! I could have spent a lot of time there, but unfortunately we only had one afternoon. Then we returned to Savannah for the night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMMUXkwRK03VZ2CmPsCvGzPzdTo5j0a8yXb4JZZ0zzjSkp1q1qoR7RrcLAwi5EC2wRmWrNDLVg4w6LqZ37pjyQB8l5A2KoWUdfKcCWOBJZP11uMAhResbHZ-2k4xO3Yn6tmC_MaEigMs/s1600/Savannah+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMMUXkwRK03VZ2CmPsCvGzPzdTo5j0a8yXb4JZZ0zzjSkp1q1qoR7RrcLAwi5EC2wRmWrNDLVg4w6LqZ37pjyQB8l5A2KoWUdfKcCWOBJZP11uMAhResbHZ-2k4xO3Yn6tmC_MaEigMs/s320/Savannah+020.JPG" width="320" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">View from the lighthouse</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrX0mVA88LzRQeI4hXnYAZ-1VG8v-CzddekHJQKIWy78e1GEKayK6YNVqEw-6z0BiFC3To_tkCN69BFunbfcGZ-LteG-kHkCHyeRHKU_3Fix_fUYyWbdOayRPC06u15a76yl-nwTNYqdM/s1600/Savannah+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrX0mVA88LzRQeI4hXnYAZ-1VG8v-CzddekHJQKIWy78e1GEKayK6YNVqEw-6z0BiFC3To_tkCN69BFunbfcGZ-LteG-kHkCHyeRHKU_3Fix_fUYyWbdOayRPC06u15a76yl-nwTNYqdM/s320/Savannah+021.JPG" width="320" /></a></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zJVe7v2H-cPQAriGx1XyQxLT86aK9IqPa0vGWQ-JxvXBggWEt8EtqCJQiheiSK_zXA00dhNn8HVREqCFo8p0vBBfYkxO-6BuAcgi9qCWLXDw06Tw9qp1bHAwtz1f7C9lK3Aq8vAtKeA/s1600/Savannah+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zJVe7v2H-cPQAriGx1XyQxLT86aK9IqPa0vGWQ-JxvXBggWEt8EtqCJQiheiSK_zXA00dhNn8HVREqCFo8p0vBBfYkxO-6BuAcgi9qCWLXDw06Tw9qp1bHAwtz1f7C9lK3Aq8vAtKeA/s320/Savannah+023.JPG" width="320" /></span></a>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 5: We went on a boat tour of the rivers around Savannah to do some dolphin watching. We got to see lots of dolphins just playing in the water and the captain of the boat gave us a really cool marine biology lesson. He cast a net into the water and pulled out a whole bunch of creatures and told us all about them. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPiNCASrWDxLMZ-1nvPaf8fjqqX6I0MiumfJo5n511d0PqmjAG2L0xTYfuv2-ida8fzpb547jEe8qcKXtd2DWmUcvLOr1vGhCOX8Gua5i-miKBFHT-n4v6aaAiimPzzURcg15BZ-3JiM/s1600/Savannah+029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPiNCASrWDxLMZ-1nvPaf8fjqqX6I0MiumfJo5n511d0PqmjAG2L0xTYfuv2-ida8fzpb547jEe8qcKXtd2DWmUcvLOr1vGhCOX8Gua5i-miKBFHT-n4v6aaAiimPzzURcg15BZ-3JiM/s320/Savannah+029.JPG" width="320" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had the rest of the day to just explore Savannah. We went to the Juliet Gordon-Lowe house--she was the founder of the girl scouts. We also went to the Savannah Bee Company. We tried like 25 different kinds of honey... yes there are that many! We ate lunch at this crazy restaurant with tons of alligators in the front yard.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMa7VYouajQoDVFin5EnfG5ZIaTzHqVY_XlNzSVvXnxzN2tJZeURBoSR7-QkhN09n6y9er9ww4DV1WtfBdgOVwG62Z-BGeoznlXv7zFk-53T1nhu9ugc27mnve44MxTFbV-t1CKK4F5o/s1600/Savannah+030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMa7VYouajQoDVFin5EnfG5ZIaTzHqVY_XlNzSVvXnxzN2tJZeURBoSR7-QkhN09n6y9er9ww4DV1WtfBdgOVwG62Z-BGeoznlXv7zFk-53T1nhu9ugc27mnve44MxTFbV-t1CKK4F5o/s320/Savannah+030.JPG" width="320" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then in the evening we went to the <a href="http://www.savannahtheatre.com/">Historic Savannah Theater</a> to see a show. It was an incredible performance. I would love to go there again and see a few more shows. They did a great job. Right across the street from the theater is the town square where parts of "Forrest Gump" was filmed. The parts where he is sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. The actual bench wasn't still there--it is in a museum somewhere. But I got a picture of another bench, just to show that I had been there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNnWDPDIWoBIwLlLJcqh8dtZUGTvsAUfkEBPj1q4wQhN4EZEnyP78OMLz8a7twUEEjpRfwNN6Zd9SUxNxqT0oD5EV_Q4F7bT4IjLtZTqoyyJmvrHkoGL4qCHAlnjG873Hk7XkziQsUbY/s1600/Savannah+034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNnWDPDIWoBIwLlLJcqh8dtZUGTvsAUfkEBPj1q4wQhN4EZEnyP78OMLz8a7twUEEjpRfwNN6Zd9SUxNxqT0oD5EV_Q4F7bT4IjLtZTqoyyJmvrHkoGL4qCHAlnjG873Hk7XkziQsUbY/s320/Savannah+034.JPG" width="320" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Historic Savannah Theater. The show was called "The Beat Goes On". They sang only music from the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> 60's, 70's & 80's. It was so fun, and I even knew every song!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeMdzWARyzowsUMPIfMpvTQozR80gq9QcyvtzwxwuF6JX0keKUkRsXWv-aXglGFLcP4V23fBJ8Zy2BJZ2eDP0bjqk9F48wmyM3FujNxzFeYfgRZOQ81Pg3rWew1hNvs3ywnWJBPfvzTU/s1600/Savannah+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeMdzWARyzowsUMPIfMpvTQozR80gq9QcyvtzwxwuF6JX0keKUkRsXWv-aXglGFLcP4V23fBJ8Zy2BJZ2eDP0bjqk9F48wmyM3FujNxzFeYfgRZOQ81Pg3rWew1hNvs3ywnWJBPfvzTU/s320/Savannah+036.JPG" width="320" /></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Forrest Gump's bench.... well, close enough. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 6: In the morning we got to go to go to Paula Dean's restaurant for brunch, then headed to the airport to fly home. When we got back to Salt Lake at about midnight, my grandma realized she hadn't had her van keys the whole trip. We searched through our luggage 3 times and finally called my sister to come get us. Then we had to wake up at 5 am to go meet my mom at her work with a spare key and go get the van. Come to find out, there was a spare wired to the bumper the whole time. If only we had just called my grandpa in the first place. We knew he had to get up early to go to the farm, so we didn't want to bug him at 1 in the morning. Oh well.... we were very tired the next day but we survived. It was a great trip and I got to see some amazing places. </span></div>
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<br /></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-15905191643764318492012-08-04T21:51:00.000-07:002012-08-04T21:51:05.567-07:00March 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Msot of March was pretty boring. But the last 2 days of March were pretty dang exciting. I took a trip to California to audition for <a href="http://www.kob.com/kobtvimages/repository/cs/the-voice.jpg">"The Voice"</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had been waning to audition for American Idol a while, but I just never got the chance. Then "The Voice" started and I had a great opportunity to try out in Los Angeles. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. My friend, Ry'lee, from work went with me. She had been a nanny in LA a few years ago and the family she worked for were incredible enough to let us stay at their house. They were on a family vacation to Costa Rica, so we had their amazing house all to ourselves. They live in the Brentwood area of LA, in the same neighborhood as Jim Carrey, Conan O'Brian, Alannis Morisette (their next-door neighbor) and Ben Affleck! swoon! It was so nice to not have to pay for a hotel and feel safe in a nice area of the city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had such a fun time just hanging out in LA for a day. We went to some shops in Santa Monica and went to the beach for a few minutes. It wasn't very warm, so we didn't swim or anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Ry'lee and some of her friends got me to eat Thai food. It was actually pretty good, especially the desert: Sticky rice with mango. <a href="http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/mango-with-sticky-rice/">Here's a recipe</a>...I'm definitely going to have to make this one day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day was audition day. They had us come in 2 groups, one at 9 am and one at 2 pm, so that everyone wasn't showing up at the same time. I was in the 2 pm group, so we took our time getting ready and went to Glendale and ate at Cheesecake Factory for lunch. The auditions were at the Los Angeles Convention Center, right in downtown. The venue is right next to the Staples Center and there was a Lakers game going on at the same time, so there were A LOT of people in downtown LA that day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's how my audition process went: we got in line at the convention center. We weren't sure how long it was so Ry'lee walked to the front of the line. Literally, 20 minutes later, she came back. It took her 10 minutes to walk to the front and 10 to walk back. The line went all the way around the building and then inside. The line did move pretty quick though, we were in line for about 3 hours, and considering how long the line was and how many people were there, that was pretty good. Ry'lee was nice enough to wait with me the whole time, but when I got the doors, she wasn't allowed to come in. After I got inside, it was about another 30 minute wait. They checked our registration papers then brought us into a room. They explained a few of the rules and then they took us in groups of about 50 into another room. Then they took us in groups of 10 into the hallway where we waited for a judging room to be available. There were about 6 rooms, each with 1 judge and we went in in our groups of 10 and sat in some chairs facing eachother. That made it a little awkward. The judge called us up 1 at a time to sing a few bars, then sit down. I sang "Wild One" by Faith Hill and I felt really good about my performance. There were a lot of great singers in my group. There wasn't one that was bad. After everyone had sang, the judge said something along the lines of, "Thank you all for auditioning. You were all great, but unfortunately we won't be taking any of you to the next round." I honestly was not expecting to move on, so I wasn't that disappointed. I was just more afraid of everyone else's expectations. The hardest part was coming back and telling people that I didn't make it. And even though I didn't, I'm so glad I got to have that experience and to be able to say that I tried.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the auditions we got back to the car and tried to type in the address of the house in the GPS, a.k.a "Jack", but he was feeling sick and didn't want to work, so we had to try and find our way out of town by ourselves. In the process of driving around LA, we stumbled across the Kid's Choice Awards at USC. There were a bunch of kids standing on the sidewalk and as we drove by. We got stopped by a cop for a minute so that a car could pass us and while we were stopped, all of a sudden all the kids started screaming and freaking out! We couldn't figure out what was going on, so I started looking around and about 30 feet away from my car was </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taylor Swift! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I wanted to roll down the window and wave, but the cop made us keep moving. So we parked the car and went back over there and stood with all the 10 year olds. haha. We saw Jesse McCartney and a few people from Nickelodeon shows.... none of which I knew. Ry'lee camera died at that point, so we started to leave, but then Will Smith came out, so we went back. We didn't get a picture of him, but I promise I saw him!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a pretty cool experience. After we left there, we went back to Brentwood and it was pretty late, so we decided to go take pictures in front of all the celebrities houses in the neighborhood. I kinda felt like a stalker. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning we went to Hollywood for a little while. I always imagined Hollywood as this glamorous area of LA, but it was actually pretty sketchy. I got to see the Hollywood sign and find some of my favorite people's stars, then we headed back. It was such a fun trip and I got to have a lot of great experiences!</span></div>
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</div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-6476085605660759092012-08-02T22:39:00.005-07:002012-08-02T22:39:49.753-07:00February 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">February started out with my birthday on the 5th, which fell on Superbowl Sunday. I had my annual football/b-day party and had a lot of fun with friends and roommates. For some reason I didn't get any pictures though :( </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next week was especially awesome because I got to see some friends from Virginia--Wayne and Leah. Wayne was the manager of Loft Mountain and Leah was my roommate for a few weeks until Brittany came. They're awesome and I was so glad they were able to come visit me! When I was working with them 2 years ago, they were saying how they wanted to come out to Utah. They had never been here and had heard lots good things (of course) about the scenery and the people. On their off-season this past winter they went on an extreme road trip, driving from Virginia and up to New York and Boston, then back down the coast to Florida. From there they went to Alabama and all the way across the country to California. They started heading back east and stopped in Utah for a couple days. It was so great to see them. No matter how hard you try to keep in touch with someone, nothing beats getting to see them after a year and a half. After they got into town, my grandpa made us some lamb chops. They had to listen to me talk about lamb chops, lamb days, and all things sheep for 4 months, so they couldn't come to Fountain Green without getting to partake of the deliciousness. They had gone to Zions and Bryce before coming to FG, so the next day I went with them out to Moab and to Arches National Park (we also took a detour to Goblin Valley). I told them that if they didn't see anything else in Utah, they had to see Delicate Arch. That is definitely one of my favorite places in the state and I was really excited to take them there. The hike was a little harder than I remember.... I'm not quite as in shape as I was in high school :( But it was definitely worth it. We got up to the arch just before sunset.... so incredible! We hiked back down and stayed in a hotel for the night, then they continued east and I headed back home. I only got to see them for a day and a half, but it was so great. I sure miss them and everyone else at Loft Mountain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goblin Valley. I'd never been here before. It's way neat!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">^This is Leah--she's awesome!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delicate Arch. I love it here!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunset. I gotta say I took a pretty awesome picture!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me and Wayne at Arches.</span></div>
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jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-39873051149068300922012-08-02T21:35:00.000-07:002012-08-02T21:35:12.795-07:00Catching up on 2012 - January<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I'm finished with my posts from Virginia and other east coast adventures, it's now time to get caught up on all the happenings of 2012. After coming home from Virginia, I got a job at Barnes & Noble in St. George and lived down there for a while. I absolutely loved working there, but the pay wasn't great and I wasn't getting very many hours. It was hard to get by on those pay checks, so when I was offered a full-time job at The Blindman, I didn't hesitate. I moved back to Fountain Green for a while and was driving 60 miles each way for work everyday. With gas prices the way they are, it was more economical for me to get an apartment. Plus it's way more fun than living at home! I moved to Orem and I got really lucky with great roommates and an awesome singles ward. 2012 has been full of fun and exciting events. Here's a few thing that happened in January :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me, my roommates, and Jessica (roommate from SUU) went to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival. We were determined to meet a celebrity! Well, we didn't have any luck with that, but it was still so fun to be in Park City during the festival. We walked up and down main street and had some really good pizza. I've never been in Park City during Sundance, but I think this might be a yearly event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Me and Jess getting ready to leave for Park City. Love her!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple weeks after Sundance, two of my roommates and I went to the Brad Paisley concert!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh. My. Gosh. I just love him. Seriously, how amazing is he?! He was a great performer and he just seems like a great guy in normal life too. I'm pretty much in love with him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scotty McCreery and The Band Perry were his opening acts and I love them all too, so it was a fantastic concert!
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Scotty McCreery and The Band Perry, there was a 20 minute wait until Brad Paisley came out. We were getting a little restless....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRPLKOlKvbpTPl1VFFd-6SJIOPxDeiWlaibda5_RnWlBtCwXmNbInWEBOhE5u6rpdY4FHTN4dtyGMUSJAtQqDloZTsU3_6wy9JP6QPDgZMNOy3r6XEiEvTaY3jqsnhSTbjtrFI-zroF0/s1600/Brad+Paisley!+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRPLKOlKvbpTPl1VFFd-6SJIOPxDeiWlaibda5_RnWlBtCwXmNbInWEBOhE5u6rpdY4FHTN4dtyGMUSJAtQqDloZTsU3_6wy9JP6QPDgZMNOy3r6XEiEvTaY3jqsnhSTbjtrFI-zroF0/s200/Brad+Paisley!+013.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN2iEfVTHTTe7_QAcHaCF6IwIrHXRROJHJ8bDoV88hB1Vjqr4YPvT_BbsCt4a2ngG4advIru4AXzNKmkaRm3GSmLQliWPXrZJvmP8VgJg0Uqr-3dQxvNpLnHge7laqUvSxBAvA9i6COk/s1600/Brad+Paisley!+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN2iEfVTHTTe7_QAcHaCF6IwIrHXRROJHJ8bDoV88hB1Vjqr4YPvT_BbsCt4a2ngG4advIru4AXzNKmkaRm3GSmLQliWPXrZJvmP8VgJg0Uqr-3dQxvNpLnHge7laqUvSxBAvA9i6COk/s200/Brad+Paisley!+012.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally!! AH!</span></div>
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jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-48630060577448536522012-07-25T00:18:00.003-07:002012-07-25T00:18:58.277-07:00Finally Home :)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Cedar pretty early on a Sunday morning so that we could be back in time to go to church with our families. I almost cried as we pulled into Fountain Green. I know 4 months isn't that long to be gone, but I just love home so much and was so excited to be there. I dropped Brittany off at her house then drove down the street to my house. I hadn't even stopped my car in the driveway before my mom came out the door to give me a hug. It was nice to know they were excited to see me too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was the week of Thanksgiving, so over the holiday I got to see a lot of family members and everyone was so excited to hear about my adventures and see pictures and everything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*So that is the end of all that. It's appropriate that I finish up now because it was 2 years ago this week that I loaded up my car and headed out there. That was such a fun time in my life that I will never forget. I learned so my about our country and about myself, and I'm really grateful for that experience. For those of you that have actually read all of these, I hope you enjoyed them. I know it was so long ago, but I still had to update so that I wouldn't forget anything in the years to come. I'm actually surprised by how much I do still remember. But now I can finally start posting about stuff that is going on currently in my life (which isn't much). So thanks everyone for bearing with me while I got caught up.*</span></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-90755187410601323942012-07-25T00:07:00.002-07:002012-07-25T00:07:45.293-07:00Trip home day 6-7. Almost home!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After we gassed up in Amarillo and almost got blown away.... pretty sure a tornado was coming or something because I have never experienced wind like that.... we headed out on the longest leg of our trip. We were going all the way to Vegas, a 13 hour drive. Vegas is a little further west than home, but we wanted to stop in St. George and Cedar City to see friends and family before going to Fountain Green. Since Vegas has cheap places to stay and it's always fun there, we just decided to stop there for the night then head into Utah. We drove from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona. Holy moly, that was the most boring/not very pretty drive. I know there are parts of those states that have really nice things to see, but our route did not have ANY! We were so glad to get to Vegas. <span style="background-color: white;">Seriously, New Mexico would probably be the last state I would ever want to live in!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While driving in Texas we got pulled over. Apparently it's illegal to just drive in the left lane of the freeway unless you are passing someone. Is that a law in Utah too? I don't know, but there was probably only 2 or 3 other cars within a mile of us, so I didn't see why it was a big deal. I guess having out of state license plates makes you more of a target for getting pulled over too. No ticket luckily.... the cop could tell that we genuinely didn't know we were doing anything wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This long drive was great for us to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 1 of the last movie was coming out in a few days and we were going to go see it in Cedar City with my sister and my cousins, so we wanted to read the book again before seeing the movie. We borrowed the book from our friend Cortney in Virginia, with the promise that I would ship it back to her once we got home. The previous days of travel, we probably got halfway through the book, but in this last day, since there was not much to look at, we finished the whole second half. We finished the last chapter right as we pulled into Vegas. It worked out pretty nicely. Our throats were a little sore from reading out loud for 4 days though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to our hotel at around 7:30 and all we did was watch TV until 8, then go to sleep.... I know, we were such party animals in Vegas. lol. But it was a long day and we were super tired. The next day we just walked up and down the strip and the only thing we really wanted to do was see the Bellagio fountains. That's my favorite part of Vegas. We got to the fountains around 12:30 thinking that there was a show every 15 minutes like usual. We waited forever and nothing happened! We kept thinking, "Okay they're going to start at 1", "okay, they're going to start at 1:30..." Finally at 2:00 there was an announcement that the first performance would be at 2:30. We waited at those fountains for 2 hours! But it was worth it (almost) because the first performance is a double show. They do the fountain show for the National Anthem, plus the regular show, so we got to see 2 songs. It felt good to just chill and relax though after long driving days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Vegas in the afternoon and arrived in St. George to stay with my sister for the night. It was so good to see a family member. The next day we went to Cedar City and stayed the night there. I got to see old roommates and friends from SUU, and we saw the Harry Potter movie with my cousins. We were almost home, and couldn't wait to get to Fountain Green the next day!</span></div>
<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-16073335394727165242012-07-24T23:36:00.000-07:002012-07-24T23:36:23.467-07:00Trip home day 5<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Arkansas and drove through Oklahoma. For once, Brittany drove! It was a miracle. Brittany has this problem that as soon as we get into the car, she falls asleep. So the fact that she drove 6 or 7 of the 9 hours was great :) I slept through most of Oklahoma (It's not super exciting) until we got to Checota, which is the hometown of Carrie Underwood. I love Carrie Underwood and she has a<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-AuIapysR0&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1"> whole song about Checota</a>, so we had to stop there. If you listen to the lyrics she talks about places in the town. It was way cool to see the "Sonic and the grocery store" and all the places from the song. I had my camera ready in case she was home visiting her family and just happened to be at the store at the same time we went in to get lunch. haha. I knew it was unlikely, but I can still dream right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We continued into Texas and stopped in Amarillo for the night. I actually really liked Amarillo. We found a cute western store that we went in and tried on boots and hats, and then we ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse.... in Texas! whoa! ;) The sunset was so amazing and I thought of the song "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc823UD0LeU&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1">Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean</a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-9318679381317668432012-07-24T23:19:00.002-07:002012-07-24T23:19:39.622-07:00Trip home Day 3-4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Days 1 and 2 were both spent in North Carolina. After leaving NC we drove through South Carolina and Georgia. We got to Atlanta around midnight so we couldn't really stop to do anything, so we just drove around a little. It was a little scary to be there that late. There were quite a few homeless people all over the city. We did get a picture of the Coca-Cola factory.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We continued to drive through the night, stopping at a church in Birmingham, Alabama for a quick nap. As morning came, we passed Tupelo, Mississippi which is the hometown of Elvis Presley (love him!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We kept driving through Northern Mississippi and upward to Memphis, Tennesee. I was really excited to go to Memphis for some reason. I really wanted to see Graceland, and I've just heard it's a cool city. All over the eastern states there are <a href="http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/Q8/waffle-house-lg.jpg">Waffle Houses</a> so Britt and I definitely wanted to eat at one of those before our trip was over. We got to Memphis at around 8 in the morning, so we just typed in 'Waffle House' in the GPS and went to the closest one. Now I hope no one is offended by this, but we were the only white people in the whole restaurant. When we walked in the doors, everyone was staring at us like, "what are these girls doing in here?" We ate our breakfast, which wasn't anything special, but it was pretty good, then we went to the motel we were planning on staying at. All I can say is thank goodness we didn't pre-pay for that place because it was SCARY! We got out of there in a flash. We drove around a little trying to find another place that was in our budget, but everything else seemed even worse! Since it was still early in the day and we weren't super tired, we just decided that we would keep driving a little and stop in Little Rock, Arkansas for the night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First we had to see Elvis country though :) I love Elvis and we really wanted to see Graceland, but admission to the house was about $35 dollars each, plus $10 for parking, so we didn't quite think it was worth it. We tried to drive around and see if we could just see the outside of the house, but it's so surrounded by trees that you can't see anything. We found some cool gift shops to get some souvenirs though before heading west to Little Rock for the night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not much to say about Arkansas, except that there are lots of Wal-Marts. haha. Wal-Mart started in Arkansas, so they are all over the place. It was a nice, safe place to stay. When we got to Little Rock, I called my mom and she had talked to a friend at work who went on his mission to Memphis. When she told him that we were in Memphis, the first thing he said was, "tell them to get out". haha. I'm sure it's not all bad and there are very nice places that we didn't get to experience, but we were glad to be a little closer to home anyway. Instead of a 12 hour drive to Amarillo it was 9, so that was nice.</span></div>
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<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-59629563623956414232012-07-22T23:48:00.001-07:002012-07-22T23:54:41.181-07:00One Tree Hill fans... Be very jealous! :)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it's not exactly on the way to Utah, but I just couldn't leave the east coast without seeing where One Tree Hill is filmed, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Anyone that knows me, knows that's one of my favorite shows, and I was not about to be that close to Wilmington and not take the opportunity to go there. Since we knew we were taking a southern route home, we planned it so we would head straight south from Shenandoah <a href="http://www.idcide.com/i/mc2/nc/wilmington.gif">to Wilmington</a>, then start heading east through South Carolina and Georgia. So it wasn't completely out of the way. haha. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can I just say that I love North Carolina? Not just Wilmington, which was beautiful, but the whole state. We passed through Durham, where Duke University is, and the capitol city of Raleigh. North Carolina is definitely a place that I could spend a lot of time in.... and probably even live in. But like I said, Wilmington was such a pretty town. It lies on the Cape Fear River and is just a few miles away from the ocean. There are so many old houses and churches and other buildings, and our visit there turned into much more than we expected.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We checked into the hotel on Friday evening and decided to order some pizza and map out our game plan for Saturday. We ordered Papa John's online and right when we clicked the "order" button, the internet cut out. So we tried ordering again and 20 minutes later our pizza arrived. Well, a few minutes after that, there was another knock at the door and another pizza. Apparently, the first order did go through so we had pizza for quite a few meals. lol. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found a website where a super-fan of One Tree Hill had compiled all the addresses of filming locations for the show. All the exterior shots are filmed at actual houses (that people really live in) and other buildings, so we wrote down all the addresses and on Saturday we drove to them all. I kept hoping that we would run into one of the actors somewhere. I took my camera everywhere with me, just in case we came across someone at Wal-Mart or a gas station or something. Seriously, I would just die if I could meet <a href="http://images.cwtv.com/images/c/0003/cw-onetreehill-prt-JLafferty-season5_009522-06ca5b-325x434.jpg">James Lafferty</a>. We never had any luck with that, but I did run my first ever red light because I was paying more attention to the sidewalks instead of the road. No other cars were even around, so no one was hurt. Luckily there were no cops around either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRa2VWQLAlCiOigSLofNRGb_mlGPKBJv4dtBp8jpDiSy8mBSAhpynXNi6yUMsSOiWffa_l6qmn-t2gbmPKAxVApg1xJkRURJCErioSQt5lq9pLALv333PTlCOYWEqo_iJV_Ffms9_Sr8/s1600/north+carolina+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRa2VWQLAlCiOigSLofNRGb_mlGPKBJv4dtBp8jpDiSy8mBSAhpynXNi6yUMsSOiWffa_l6qmn-t2gbmPKAxVApg1xJkRURJCErioSQt5lq9pLALv333PTlCOYWEqo_iJV_Ffms9_Sr8/s320/north+carolina+020.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tree Hill High School. Not really....haha. It's actually Cape Fear Community College.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GyqMUsM40LrpbLeYnnsc2kfjSG9pDD_X_2zVr62vEmJLDEtQyktRhFskjo16Vp8MOErMGsFMHsqVfsHAv4rnqWoP00ZTNtxJeTJb7g9IiS-icbL3DNT5VTFz68nUAuv938cQFuGpD4s/s1600/north+carolina+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GyqMUsM40LrpbLeYnnsc2kfjSG9pDD_X_2zVr62vEmJLDEtQyktRhFskjo16Vp8MOErMGsFMHsqVfsHAv4rnqWoP00ZTNtxJeTJb7g9IiS-icbL3DNT5VTFz68nUAuv938cQFuGpD4s/s320/north+carolina+014.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We walked up and down the river walk to find this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noyKdAi40tg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1">exact table</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clothes Over Bro's/Karen's Cafe :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We saw all these way cool places and I really wanted to see the river court, but there was a tri-athlon going on in Wilmington that day and the finish line was in the same park as the court, so they wouldn't let us drive our car over there. We had to drive to the other side of the river and park our car, then ride a ferry over. But because of the inconvenience for all the tourists and people involved with the race, the Battleship North Carolina was letting people on for free. It's an actual battleship used in WWII, and now sits in the Cape Fear River. They let people on to walk through the ship and we were glad we were able to do that (especially for free!) My grandpa was in the navy and experienced ship-life, so it was cool to see some of the things he got to experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It doesn't look super huge, but it was actually really big!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6pVlbKqOYM3KtdkBr8y7aMcl8MVnsWq845oPZwNfuUBihyFrYaTKVc3XaX4FFFJS5cGSqT2QF30czjFA1lAUG-NoUw35LNvp75NHZYdm7gBQnzpsL9-fQyRRwx6LzuVtM0ggtLh3EJc/s1600/north+carolina+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6pVlbKqOYM3KtdkBr8y7aMcl8MVnsWq845oPZwNfuUBihyFrYaTKVc3XaX4FFFJS5cGSqT2QF30czjFA1lAUG-NoUw35LNvp75NHZYdm7gBQnzpsL9-fQyRRwx6LzuVtM0ggtLh3EJc/s320/north+carolina+010.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oqhxZUAqti1-8r70IbODmMofOuhf0U1mDcCG3Ez-PxZNY4CJsW15esZeUmDkMGnxtw9mpKU6H4dbTPTQgHu1SepjHHysL_1VAARiEMUFVR-DnIczxcwL7_26ySoMppIsNmHz0TD7ffQ/s1600/north+carolina+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oqhxZUAqti1-8r70IbODmMofOuhf0U1mDcCG3Ez-PxZNY4CJsW15esZeUmDkMGnxtw9mpKU6H4dbTPTQgHu1SepjHHysL_1VAARiEMUFVR-DnIczxcwL7_26ySoMppIsNmHz0TD7ffQ/s320/north+carolina+009.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of the tri-athlon, there were so many people at the river court. So we just decided to come back the next day. We got to meet some cool people though who had husbands/brothers/etc. running in the race. People came from all over the country to participate. The swimming part of the tri-athlon is in the ocean and part of the running is along the beach, so it sounded pretty cool. Not that I would ever do it. : \</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day was Sunday and we found a church to go to in the morning. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. I love that about the church.... you feel loved anywhere you go. After church we got some tacos at Taco Bell and took them to the river court to eat. That's right. I ate lunch on the river court :) I'm glad we went when there were no people so that we could just spend time and not worry about the crowds. So many of my favorite One Tree Hill moments are on the river court. I seriously almost cried when we got there.... almost. haha.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30TMicSuLR0lYPdYTxUnPuKm-QdiIrIutSsJ3dz5tOinIUWTQuUuwXq0S2MNULFOtpknKSpr3rkNmhl73KwlGaz_JRGrfNJbE20Q1q42vwFvY4mIMfN7HkOA0NHOXu4Cf4tVlGcVOc74/s1600/trip+home+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30TMicSuLR0lYPdYTxUnPuKm-QdiIrIutSsJ3dz5tOinIUWTQuUuwXq0S2MNULFOtpknKSpr3rkNmhl73KwlGaz_JRGrfNJbE20Q1q42vwFvY4mIMfN7HkOA0NHOXu4Cf4tVlGcVOc74/s320/trip+home+003.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People thought we were a little crazy for going that far out of our way to stop in Wilmington. Well, when we were at the river court another group of girls showed up that were from Australia. Now I don't seem so crazy, do I? lol. Even if I am a little overly crazy about the show, I'm glad I got to see "Tree Hill". </span></div>
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<br /></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-91394042883569194422012-07-22T22:31:00.001-07:002012-07-22T22:32:29.459-07:00Heading Home<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end of our season at Shenandoah came to an end. We packed up our stuff into the car and headed back to Utah. It was a little bittersweet because we loved it there. We had so much fun and were able to meet so many great people, but we were excited to get home and see our families. We started our trip home the 2nd week in November and we planned it out to be home 2 days before Thanksgiving.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9K4wPhjl6aoGt1HVLlLaCWqBX-wMlv-is9y7mF0ak1HDGgxijDYIJ0BdpH-ch2LdJbSnMOAnUAitpwMyE66UMPIHkbLX2eHcf38ombFGSog40LE5K5M3RSm4A3xEv8zeCdvyU0OiWgj4/s1600/north+carolina+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9K4wPhjl6aoGt1HVLlLaCWqBX-wMlv-is9y7mF0ak1HDGgxijDYIJ0BdpH-ch2LdJbSnMOAnUAitpwMyE66UMPIHkbLX2eHcf38ombFGSog40LE5K5M3RSm4A3xEv8zeCdvyU0OiWgj4/s320/north+carolina+001.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goodbye Loft Mountain :(</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadie and I drove to Virginia on I-70 pretty much the whole way, which goes across mostly middle states. Since it was getting late in the year and little cold, Britt and I decided it would be fun to take a more Southern route on the way home. I wanted to see states that I hadn't seen yet, and we didn't want to run into any snow storms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was one place we wanted to see before we got out of the state of Virginia (well, way more than one, but we just didn't have time for them all.) This spot was right on the way, so we were excited we would get to see it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Appomattox</span> was the place where the Robert E. Lee surrendered the Civil War. I know I've said it before, but I love actually being able to see the places that these great historical moments took place at. It's amazing to me that I saw the actual desk where Robert E. Lee sat and signed the papers that said the Union had won the war.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Appomattox Courthouse, which is where I always thought the surrender took place, but it actually happened inside this house (below), the Wilmer McLean house, which is just down the street from the courthouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a quick stop, but it was so cool to see such an important place in our country's history.</span></div>
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<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-78383079052891688392012-07-13T00:10:00.002-07:002012-07-13T00:10:54.783-07:00Lost Debit Card = Not Good!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I explained in the last post, I lost my debit card in DC. It was nowhere to be found. Normally in that situation, one would just cancel the card and order a new one. Well, it was wasn't that easy in this situation. I called the card company and they said a new one could be made and sent to me in 17 days. The problem was, we were leaving in a week so that wasn't an option. I love Zion's Bank, but there aren't any outside of Utah (and maybe Idaho), and especially none in Virginia, so I didn't have the option of just going to the bank and withdrawing money. I had to have my money though, because we had to pay for hotels, gas, and food on the way home. It was quite the predicament. So after a long series of phone calls to Visa, Zions Bank, and Western Union, it was arranged for me to have money from my own account wired to me in Virginia and I could pick it up at a Western Union. It kinda sucked to have to be carrying around that much cash and not being able to use a card, but I was grateful that I was able to get it taken care of and wasn't money-less.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I experienced a small miracle in this situation though. At the end of the season we went out to dinner with all our friends at Loft Mountain and with the managers over the whole park. Throughout the season we were able to earn "bucks" by doing certain things, like excellent customer service and promoting park events. At the end of the season they put everyone's "bucks" into a drawing for a $50, $75 and $100 gift card to Wal-Mart. I usually don't win stuff like this, so I wasn't expecting anything. They drew out the $50 and it wasn't me. Then they drew out the $75 and it wasn't me, so I knew that I had no chance. If I was going to get anything it probably would have been one of those, so I didn't get my hopes up. But guess what!? When they drew out the $100.... It wasn't me. No, just kidding! Of course it was me, or why else would I be telling this story? haha. It was a great blessing to have that extra money on the way home. Every meal pretty much consisted of Wal-Mart food, whether it was from the deli or something we could just eat cold, but I wasn't complaining! I was glad to have that. I even had a little extra when we got back to Utah and I think I bought myself some shoes. haha. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are all of our comrades from Loft Mountain. We were quite the random group, but we had so much fun!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Left: Wayne-He was the manager at Loft. He's a local Virginian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Middle and Right: Rick and Tut- Not to be confused with <a href="http://i27.tinypic.com/rk92t5.jpg">Rut and Tuk</a>, the moose from Brother Bear. haha. He is retired army and school teacher and she is a retired librarian. They are from Southern Alabama. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andrew was also a local. He was a little creepy sometimes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWd38gRzq_J4aWRvDEKReKaOBscx9nWdbzC4b4vfBVkujTrtMKIlLWf46E0MGnevJjSSg0DB7yR3CZ1_gYfCw1gcMKk8JLde8PoiOk8SZsrfCSFVK8yqs6WIhQmVF8m5ENoZZVrjSxIQ/s1600/gettysburg+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWd38gRzq_J4aWRvDEKReKaOBscx9nWdbzC4b4vfBVkujTrtMKIlLWf46E0MGnevJjSSg0DB7yR3CZ1_gYfCw1gcMKk8JLde8PoiOk8SZsrfCSFVK8yqs6WIhQmVF8m5ENoZZVrjSxIQ/s320/gettysburg+036.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me, Britt, and Leah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leah was my roommate until Brittany got there. She is seriously so cool! She's from Buffalo, New York. We had a good time with her :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5W-yjxHSvYvrgeBgB2Vutx8w9G1XtxBjiLSN1Jj7SgAGTHyYw_8OXWplfubJPF5irvo5lfLf5E9uEGhUPXCxocDD9OIQQc3E7GYq5gW8MBDY9J85Cbpcvf4a2vyMU3TSpZfZKIP-49MA/s1600/gettysburg+038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5W-yjxHSvYvrgeBgB2Vutx8w9G1XtxBjiLSN1Jj7SgAGTHyYw_8OXWplfubJPF5irvo5lfLf5E9uEGhUPXCxocDD9OIQQc3E7GYq5gW8MBDY9J85Cbpcvf4a2vyMU3TSpZfZKIP-49MA/s320/gettysburg+038.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The guy on the left is John. He is originally from Canada, but works every year at Shenandoah and spends his winters in Florida. He was great. Quite a character.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Left: Karen-From Boston. She was the assistant manager. Oh, the stories I could tell about her. Let's just say that she wasn't the most well like person. There were days that I really did enjoy her, but one day she told me my hair <a href="http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/76/42/53914276/photos/undefined/clay+mathews+long+hair.jpg">looked like his</a> and I never fully recovered. haha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right: Louise-Sweetest lady ever. She is from Missouri and we just loved her. She turned 75 during our season but she is still so fiery and awesome! I want to be like her when I'm 75.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p9wqn0RHxVtcId6_sM4UcNlpp-c8zBn-nAlHhnZtk2QlpRHzlv6c-fveX2nV_-YbMPPq_gdP86N7TaiaIFpADZ25Jta5m-uTMGby9mBCyFpmzUlZN9b8I1N3rWkL8nOI5QFyfFo3RyM/s1600/gettysburg+040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p9wqn0RHxVtcId6_sM4UcNlpp-c8zBn-nAlHhnZtk2QlpRHzlv6c-fveX2nV_-YbMPPq_gdP86N7TaiaIFpADZ25Jta5m-uTMGby9mBCyFpmzUlZN9b8I1N3rWkL8nOI5QFyfFo3RyM/s320/gettysburg+040.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can see, it was a pretty diverse group of people, but that's what made it so fun. Through our traveling and interactions with these guys, we were exposed to some new cultures from all across the country. I would love to go back and do it again.... maybe next summer :)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-1866888476356792152012-07-12T23:29:00.001-07:002012-07-12T23:29:10.060-07:003rd trip to DC<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end of our season at Shenandoah was drawing near and there was one last place we HAD to go before we headed back home. I had already been there twice, but I could probably spend years in DC and never get sick of it. I really love that city, and we couldn't leave without Brittany seeing it! This was a budget trip because we knew that we were going to have to pay for gas and hotels to get home and we wanted to spend as little as possible. It's easy to do in DC though, because almost everything is free :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of getting a hotel, which are pretty expensive in DC, we decided to just get a camping spot at a state park in Maryland and sleep in the car. It was only $15 a night (we stayed for 2 nights) and it was only a few blocks away from a Metro station, so we just rode that into the city. Even though it definitely wasn't as comfortable or warm as a hotel room, I think it was a pretty good idea. Saved us lots of $$.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture is blurry, but this was our hotel room for a couple nights. * Side note--You see that quilt? That king-size denim quilt that I spent hours cutting up old jeans and sewing? Well, it's now missing! I can see loosing an earring or a $20 bill, but how do you lose a quilt? It's a mystery. I'm so sad :( I'm almost positive that it made it back to Utah, but when I went to go use it again it was gone. Weird, I know!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDHuW5EAIglSuQKnP1l-n41pJ3bNRNinCevu-kd9VmhoVam0iUGUIk7gBlVWOWC7qaYjF1GGStGbsYzJ179Ngr6IDhTNhv3E7z_SG2Xxoh7alW_ad-waXV7T_ZuF-31OAHu85nzg726U/s1600/gettysburg+025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDHuW5EAIglSuQKnP1l-n41pJ3bNRNinCevu-kd9VmhoVam0iUGUIk7gBlVWOWC7qaYjF1GGStGbsYzJ179Ngr6IDhTNhv3E7z_SG2Xxoh7alW_ad-waXV7T_ZuF-31OAHu85nzg726U/s320/gettysburg+025.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent time in a lot of the museums. We planned to go on the weekend that we did because there was an Elvis exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery and I really wanted to see it. I love Elvis! So I got to see some of the museums that I had already been in, but we also went to ones that I hadn't. Brittany is an artist, so we spent a few hours walking through all the art museums. I like looking at pretty paintings and sculptures, but some of the "art", I just don't get. haha. It was still great to see though. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We tried to get tickets to go up the elevator in the Washington Monument but it was out of service or something. Every time I have been there was something wrong and I wasn't able to do that :( Some other things that I saw this trip that I hadn't seen before were the Korean War monument and Ford's theater where President Lincoln was shot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were in DC the first week of November and it was a perfect time to go. There were not as many people and we weren't ready to die from the heat. We both just had little jackets and it was perfect. If you ever go there, I would suggest going in October <span style="background-color: white;">or November. Next time I go, I would love to be there in the springtime with all the cherry blossoms blooming. Ahh! That would be so incredible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While we were eating at a cute little cafe, Brittany and I were saying that we should go to a movie. We didn't want to be out late but we weren't ready to go back to the car yet. It's not like we could watch TV or something. The cook overheard us mention going to a movie and he said, "The theater down the street is only 20 bucks." We were in shock!! He was saying that $20 was a cheap movie ticket! I sure do love Utah movie prices. Needless to say, we did NOT go to that theater. We found one out in Maryland near the campground that was only $9. We were the only people in the whole theater until right before the movie started. Then these 2 ladies walked in. And out of ALL the seats in the theater, they sat RIGHT NEXT TO US!! Oh my gosh.... I was so annoyed. We went out to get a drink and came back in and sat in different seats. Seriously.... who does that?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall the trip was so great, but we had one little dilemma. And when I say little, I mean giant! I remember using my debit card at the movie theater and then I never saw it again. We looked all around the campground, all around the car, and went back to the theater to see if it was there. It hadn't been used so I didn't think it was stolen, so we decided to just go back to Virginia and clean out the car. We were sure that we would find it when we got everything out, but no such luck. More on that in the next post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got a good shot of the temple on our way back. The drive home was a little sad because we knew it would be our last adventure before we started our drive back to Utah. But everything we did and everywhere we got to go was so amazing! </span></div>
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<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-19503248370157933772012-07-12T18:46:00.001-07:002012-07-12T19:18:05.762-07:00Almost Done!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just a few more posts left to finish up my time back East..... bear with me :) Can't wait to get it all done and be able to remember it all forever!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up: last trip to Washington D.C.</span>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-87187566836951612132012-07-12T18:39:00.002-07:002012-07-12T18:39:32.139-07:00Harper's Ferry & Gettysburg<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great thing about being in Virginia, or anywhere back East for that matter, is that there is history wherever you go. The whole state of Virginia is just covered with Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields. There were 8 presidents born in Virginia, and even the houses and churches and cemeteries are all historical. Brittany and I loved visiting all these places. We were able to go on a day trip to Harper's Ferry and then to Gettysburg.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you look at a map you can see a spot where Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia meet. That's where the town of Harper's Ferry is at. I had heard of it before and knew a little about it, but not a lot. So here's a bit of history. Harper's Ferry is the site of John Brown's raid on slavery. John Brown was an abolitionist and picked Harper's Ferry as his place to start raids and protests against slavery. He and 20 men invaded the town and captured their arsenal. But after most of those men were killed or wounded, John Brown was captured, convicted of treason and hanged. The raid made the country pay more attention to how awful slavery was, which eventually started the civil war.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of the location of Harper's Ferry, it was caught right in the middle of the Civil War. The town is right where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet, and also had key rail lines running through it. Throughout the course of the war, Harper's Ferry went back and forth 8 times being controlled by Union and then Confederate troops.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now that we've had a history lesson.... here's some pictures.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2ZdTY6GPdHwpmWLqJhrhyphenhyphen-bee4Hsm1kKPVe971NC6fR82AfYhwpurVcIce-Ii1N6FqmKjZ47k6NRhBXc7bjt5uaBuu0MaalHTnswO6FFgX67o6TdD1p_UxFo1pYT_mldWgwcko8W7tY/s1600/gettysburg+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2ZdTY6GPdHwpmWLqJhrhyphenhyphen-bee4Hsm1kKPVe971NC6fR82AfYhwpurVcIce-Ii1N6FqmKjZ47k6NRhBXc7bjt5uaBuu0MaalHTnswO6FFgX67o6TdD1p_UxFo1pYT_mldWgwcko8W7tY/s320/gettysburg+003.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's lots of cute shops along the streets in the old buildings.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oj6M7NPhb4cxMUvAPiv4xiC-rCwEdVE_WCPKx_LNFBzejGcgCpXIkvJj2aIOj3W9vfO19JNbnv4PjtHvN6z7sz_zqiA1pHFYTjiCYpR8jB7O9F62cljiQ4KbKdubKYlG6wbfeYnicTs/s1600/gettysburg+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6oj6M7NPhb4cxMUvAPiv4xiC-rCwEdVE_WCPKx_LNFBzejGcgCpXIkvJj2aIOj3W9vfO19JNbnv4PjtHvN6z7sz_zqiA1pHFYTjiCYpR8jB7O9F62cljiQ4KbKdubKYlG6wbfeYnicTs/s320/gettysburg+004.JPG" width="239" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The leaves were amazing!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnO5qNYn7717JuGhswGZqzz-8UBMZ2u2pyC8a20rHeazjk6taKNfSnGSjqIa0pEirxde8pHBFE6QK-bgkG_FSkvtKujatsoc27OKYQv8N5S21f-w_3rYoQmG0aymyJcrnGOLI0dGsfVFE/s1600/gettysburg+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnO5qNYn7717JuGhswGZqzz-8UBMZ2u2pyC8a20rHeazjk6taKNfSnGSjqIa0pEirxde8pHBFE6QK-bgkG_FSkvtKujatsoc27OKYQv8N5S21f-w_3rYoQmG0aymyJcrnGOLI0dGsfVFE/s320/gettysburg+005.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfA8VKKjMFuzfuGKZpVAjTaSqv5nvn-08ZmB_FWVFWDfBWoSYr06xLcZBnOABboh-cUH6lw84MwwoUllGGMG20CbT7qnAk5XfH0y6XOft_zzC0QXDppi1CkXxGraU4_MAUZkiOJWiXYc/s1600/gettysburg+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfA8VKKjMFuzfuGKZpVAjTaSqv5nvn-08ZmB_FWVFWDfBWoSYr06xLcZBnOABboh-cUH6lw84MwwoUllGGMG20CbT7qnAk5XfH0y6XOft_zzC0QXDppi1CkXxGraU4_MAUZkiOJWiXYc/s320/gettysburg+006.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Harper's Ferry we headed on up to Gettysburg. We saw a cute little apple stand and just had to stop. We bought some delicious apples and asked the guy where the battlefield was. He said, "You're standing on it." Holy moly, did I get the chills! Gettysburg was definitely one of the places I was most excited to go. I really like Civil War history and this was one of the biggest/most important battles. We got a map and drove around for a little while. When I think of a battlefield, I usually think of a literal field. Like one of the fields at my grandpa's farm. Some battlefields are small like that, but Gettysburg is so big! The fighting was really spread out. I also imagine the battles in an open area which wasn't really the case at Gettysburg either. There's so many trees and only a few open areas. We found a lookout tower, so we climbs the steps-it was probably about 10 stories high-and just looked out over the whole area. I felt a mixture of emotions.... It was so peaceful to look out over the scenery, but imagining what happened there was a little unsettling. I couldn't even imagine being a soldier in those hot uniforms in July. 8,000 soldiers were killed, 50,000 were wounded, and about 5,000 were missing (in case you were wondering). The battle was in the middle of a town. People lived there and this was happening in their back yards. It's pretty crazy to think about. We saw the Gettysburg cemetery and the site where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvFlWaJVQlr9wvj69YW3paDiQ_-HzCt8FPurf3Opbzx6COxlOO2vtAp6FAzko5cj6Wypl31XUy5Ejq1-2a4RRv1vhSB18oCYjI4_hoVwmZuF4R11DD3neSwpLRgQgfxwWzED4xKedmIU/s1600/gettysburg+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvFlWaJVQlr9wvj69YW3paDiQ_-HzCt8FPurf3Opbzx6COxlOO2vtAp6FAzko5cj6Wypl31XUy5Ejq1-2a4RRv1vhSB18oCYjI4_hoVwmZuF4R11DD3neSwpLRgQgfxwWzED4xKedmIU/s320/gettysburg+009.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Lincoln was awesome :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdik0ZXyGoOr8YDt99j6UIToivtfynFYV9JSwymJUJebYeVyqt9MeT1AQEdDqEf8pRfElVZVTJNQ3I5zv430Agp1kvzHnDrTxMBP9m_OBDwyJ6urSzgp9B7tR9BG2WEgkUHJsukTic_So/s1600/gettysburg+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdik0ZXyGoOr8YDt99j6UIToivtfynFYV9JSwymJUJebYeVyqt9MeT1AQEdDqEf8pRfElVZVTJNQ3I5zv430Agp1kvzHnDrTxMBP9m_OBDwyJ6urSzgp9B7tR9BG2WEgkUHJsukTic_So/s320/gettysburg+012.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Views from the lookout tower</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Memorial for the units that fought at Gettysburg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Houses like these were used as hospitals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The site of the Gettysburg Address</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunset at Gettysburg.... so amazing!</span></div>
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<br /></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-1100640390604739982012-07-01T23:21:00.000-07:002012-07-01T23:21:01.715-07:00Dollywood<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year my grandparents take a couple trips. This year they just happened to be going to Tennessee and North Carolina. My grandma called me and asked if it would be possible for us to drive out and meet them and it just so happened that our days off would be the days that they would be in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. If the name sounds a little redneck, that's because it is. haha. But it was one of the funnest places I've ever been. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With them being so close to us, how could we not go see them? So we drove about 5 1/2 hours from Loft Mountain and down the western panhandle of Virginia into Eastern Tennessee and met my grandparents at their hotel in Pigeon Forge. It was so great to see familiar faces after not being around my family for a few months. We got to go to a great show at the <a href="http://www.countrytonitepf.com/">Country Tonite Theater</a>. I love fun shows like that, and this one was especially great because it was all country music :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day my grandparents tour group was scheduled to go to Dollywood. Instead of following them in my car, the tour guide told me and Brittany that we could just ride there with the group, we would just have to tell a joke before we got on the bus. Those old people love them jokes. haha. They especially loved mine....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Did you hear about the guy that got his whole left side cut off? .... He's all right" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's silly, I know. But they laughed real hard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we got to Dollywood and it wasn't really what I was expecting. I just thought it would be a fun place where you could eat food and buy crafts and listen to performers. It did have all those things, but it also had some of the funnest roller coasters I've even been on! There were a bunch of crazy rides. It seemed like every single other person in Dollywood that day was over the age of 60, so me and Brittany were in amusement park heaven! We were basically the only people in the whole place that were riding the rides. We would just get on a roller coaster and ride it 3 times in a row and then move onto the next one. My grandpa was awesome and would ride the rides with us. He's so cool. He loves rides, and I think he was glad that we were there to go with him because my grandma doesn't really go for that kind of stuff. We did convince her to get on one roller coaster, and I was a little afraid that she might have a heart attack. You know the pictures that they take on the rides? Oh my goodness.... her face in that picture was priceless. Unfortunately I don't have ANY pictures of that day because I forgot my camera :( And my grandma doesn't believe in owning any type of camera besides the disposable ones, so we didn't get pictures from her camera either. In one of the pictures taken on a ride, Brittany's hair was coming out of her ponytail and we were going so fast that it was a little wind-blown. The guy at the photo booth showed us our picture and said "It looks like you have wings!" Except in his awesome southern drawl it was more like, "Looks like you got wangs!" haha. We still laugh about that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After spending the day in Dollywood, we had ridden every ride probably 6 or 7 times. I've never had so much fun in an amusement park! Someday when I have little kiddies of my own, we are definitely taking a trip to Pigeon Forge.</span>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-29008486952646781592012-07-01T22:42:00.004-07:002012-07-01T22:42:46.139-07:00Autumn in Shenanadoah<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In late October the leaves were fully changed and Shenandoah got really busy. The main attraction at Shenandoah is the fall leaves and we had people from all over the world visiting the park. I met people from Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, and lots of Canadians! It was so fun to interact with people from other countries and hear what they had to say about America. I probably met at least 1 person from every state while I was there as well and it was pretty funny to hear people's reactions when I would tell them I'm from Utah. "Are you Mormon?" "Are you a Jazz fan?" The funniest comments were from people from Florida and coastal regions where the elevation is pretty much zero. They would get in the Appalachian Mountains and freak out because the elevation was so high. haha. I would just laugh at them. The elevation in that area is around 2,500 to 3,000 feet, so coming from Utah I would mostly describe the Appalachians as rolling hills. So when I would tell people that my house sits at almost 6,000 feet, they were a little shocked. They would ask how I stand it.... Call me crazy, but I love the dry air that doesn't turn my hair into a frizzy mess. *My hair is so naturally straight that the humidity doesn't make it go curly, it just makes it super frizzy. However, my skin was always really soft with all the moisture in the air*</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fall is my favorite season. I love the crisp morning air and the leaves and everything that autumn time brings: soup, sweaters, hot chocolate, Halloween, etc. Being back east during the fall season was amazing! Autumn in Utah is great, but it is so short and there is not an over-abundance of trees. But autumn in Virginia.... whole 'nother story. Every day I would just walk out into the forest and stare at the trees. According to my manager, who is a local to the area, that year wasn't even a good year as far as the leaves go. He said it had been a dry year and the colors were duller than they usually are. Even with the 'dull' leaves, I loved experiencing the autumn time in Shenandoah.<br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This picture is in Northern Virginia, pretty close to the Maryland border. This was pretty much what it looked like everywhere. Even though it's not a great picture and not very close up, you can still see how many trees there are and all the different colors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Skyline Drive. We drove this road pretty much every day. [I did not take this picture though. Found it on google :) ] The first time we saw a tree that had started to change colors, Brittany and I freaked out a little. We were so excited to see the full effect of all the trees with colorful leaves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems like such a silly thing to get all worked up about, but there are not a lot of things in this world that make me happier than fall leaves. If I could choose how the seasons go, I would probably make it be fall for like 6 months out of the year. I love it!</span></div>
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<br /></div>jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-69768462206203934862012-07-01T17:55:00.001-07:002012-07-01T18:02:06.957-07:00Day 2 of New York<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Day 2 in New York was pretty great. We got to see so much! Before we came on this trip, we knew we were only going to have about 24 hours in New York, so we picked out the few things that we wanted to see the most. But when we got into the city we found lots of people selling tickets for the double decker tour buses. We paid $45 for an all day ticket that takes you all around the city and had several stops that you can get off and on anytime. Probably the best $45 I've ever spent! The bus took us to all the main tourist attractions. There's so much to see!</span> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeUQ1IgjcS-EB6IiqhFEk11UGDERCabUjijdyuKqVljQfs_qWvIwsWt_QdsVjyscCp0RBlUUB8kSyI2QWbjxscF5PO7U0yMG6TTpDwDc3LW99Jh8hYOGc7w262lFYF_w7DtA3kIWLQnI/s1600/new+york+2+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeUQ1IgjcS-EB6IiqhFEk11UGDERCabUjijdyuKqVljQfs_qWvIwsWt_QdsVjyscCp0RBlUUB8kSyI2QWbjxscF5PO7U0yMG6TTpDwDc3LW99Jh8hYOGc7w262lFYF_w7DtA3kIWLQnI/s320/new+york+2+003.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New York University campus. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It was very interesting. When I think of college/university campuses, I imagine a nice, sprawled out, grassy area with trees and buildings. There's no such thing as sprawled out in New York though, so the campus is a whole bunch of skyscrapers.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpUGptXh9Bvo4MXCcrDvi-UYqC9Ptpd48GzC2qK7Y2tw8AprCWI-g-dB7iTji0tCkcFcWji1yWLdeQIbAaXgxCoVRwvE1U9xBKwNZpMfYcpk0aFJW-bi5ZGtKHoNOQaOKqvi8Y3uVTeI/s1600/new+york+2+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpUGptXh9Bvo4MXCcrDvi-UYqC9Ptpd48GzC2qK7Y2tw8AprCWI-g-dB7iTji0tCkcFcWji1yWLdeQIbAaXgxCoVRwvE1U9xBKwNZpMfYcpk0aFJW-bi5ZGtKHoNOQaOKqvi8Y3uVTeI/s320/new+york+2+004.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Washington Square Arch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got a little lost trying to find this because we got off on the wrong bus stop. But we had another opportunity to find out just how nice most New Yorkers are. Quite a few people saw us looking at our map and looking a bit confused, but everyone was so nice and willing to help us out and give us directions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizINo07RmIalBEFOCP0qfMIOVMwDs0mMiDD7-nTqtNGWnyvtSCGiaUlY5WbmRs63C2eNx2jFC1nkfQ9jv3f-g_VCvbQXB0ME5qzWwHwEeJv6p0zbpPcAIE_PuLRwJodfLuos0WGrhsB6A/s1600/new+york+2+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizINo07RmIalBEFOCP0qfMIOVMwDs0mMiDD7-nTqtNGWnyvtSCGiaUlY5WbmRs63C2eNx2jFC1nkfQ9jv3f-g_VCvbQXB0ME5qzWwHwEeJv6p0zbpPcAIE_PuLRwJodfLuos0WGrhsB6A/s320/new+york+2+009.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ground Zero. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was under construction at this point and we didn't get a very good view, but it was still very sad to see.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAg4NQSyFs5KAjNC1IwAlGdeU7Az47GAmcXTEhRYIwlMCDYAT8vZDmHQhQCA1JIX70yFJlvx0tXMVYbucgobMVLSt7Mpbekusq6J7KBIqstlMHAhYE8mOYbujCfr0lgY4vskgOqiip_k/s1600/new+york+2+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAg4NQSyFs5KAjNC1IwAlGdeU7Az47GAmcXTEhRYIwlMCDYAT8vZDmHQhQCA1JIX70yFJlvx0tXMVYbucgobMVLSt7Mpbekusq6J7KBIqstlMHAhYE8mOYbujCfr0lgY4vskgOqiip_k/s320/new+york+2+012.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brooklyn Bridge</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX0Rv_iJt4QdDJiy9fhHQlr095cHMKeSCJYl7L4XtbVvPKuIl_2HtjMFe4ggecAjs-Wuy13iZMSwkC96f44mPH-rQVqf-xSKT0_Cee0ATRSRsKOpX-MHHnLsn-QrHkTF0sR-nitvAUa4/s1600/new+york+2+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX0Rv_iJt4QdDJiy9fhHQlr095cHMKeSCJYl7L4XtbVvPKuIl_2HtjMFe4ggecAjs-Wuy13iZMSwkC96f44mPH-rQVqf-xSKT0_Cee0ATRSRsKOpX-MHHnLsn-QrHkTF0sR-nitvAUa4/s320/new+york+2+013.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinatown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent a little time here. It was very interesting to see all of the signs in Chinese. We actually ran into a couple missionaries on the street. As we passed them we waved and yelled, "We're Mormon!" haha. They just laughed at us and kept walking.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQ9e2rqDKqt6psiSK4HTJgwlbDOP2iVE_9yI9B4qZoKoszNtpZffl9chzCS7xg_4LJvuLk32tfAsZdUlWFBUURdihKVuVarGgpfuj-U9QZiZjSW8FfpV48oPGG8trSAFC8jm4kj8YPC8/s1600/new+york+2+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQ9e2rqDKqt6psiSK4HTJgwlbDOP2iVE_9yI9B4qZoKoszNtpZffl9chzCS7xg_4LJvuLk32tfAsZdUlWFBUURdihKVuVarGgpfuj-U9QZiZjSW8FfpV48oPGG8trSAFC8jm4kj8YPC8/s320/new+york+2+014.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chrysler Building</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnrbTzupL429eKNOUeOxap9mPp0mEkBq2yExRxnHug6ifNRmqD7tWzQ8jYsadpojGFQSjOHOoIQprv53mVMHel03A1mA9UCx8ecNJIKGIXX8WqLgzqk5VeKg4jNV4bjjROqIG7scjvtg/s1600/new+york+2+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnrbTzupL429eKNOUeOxap9mPp0mEkBq2yExRxnHug6ifNRmqD7tWzQ8jYsadpojGFQSjOHOoIQprv53mVMHel03A1mA9UCx8ecNJIKGIXX8WqLgzqk5VeKg4jNV4bjjROqIG7scjvtg/s320/new+york+2+015.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">United Nations Building. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would really love to go inside the building someday.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_KNw-sy0e_GzXpZKBEBoAY0U4GZOJaMw9gUH0Gc5kZJHEAfS3ct6vlNl_6k3x8QqdL6UXdUzDVlvPpN8BDxZz-Yyir03TqWpXWsV0N53q7WpX0ArcURzMlnNHMRBd59yJfWONZUx63I/s1600/new+york+2+016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_KNw-sy0e_GzXpZKBEBoAY0U4GZOJaMw9gUH0Gc5kZJHEAfS3ct6vlNl_6k3x8QqdL6UXdUzDVlvPpN8BDxZz-Yyir03TqWpXWsV0N53q7WpX0ArcURzMlnNHMRBd59yJfWONZUx63I/s320/new+york+2+016.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rockefeller Center.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can kinda see people down there ice skating :) That's also something </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would love to go <span style="background-color: white;">back and do one day.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmlW9MH-Smt3kj47brviauJCrW8Ug_8O8VJS4SWQiaWeWg-b-Mpq1KD0YN6mMb702kIb3dop6nf8Aj0Ob-Z53jyBAQDuWgCi-vIA0zUs2WHc7-ByHJnUqZJYpVjWt4oDuYQfDeWVRP4U/s1600/new+york+2+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmlW9MH-Smt3kj47brviauJCrW8Ug_8O8VJS4SWQiaWeWg-b-Mpq1KD0YN6mMb702kIb3dop6nf8Aj0Ob-Z53jyBAQDuWgCi-vIA0zUs2WHc7-ByHJnUqZJYpVjWt4oDuYQfDeWVRP4U/s320/new+york+2+017.JPG" width="239" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Radio City Music Hall</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijn_CNFAAgjpoiW6MIoalUEN6LY9ShBPSEYh3d2WMKe8HLcmVDtGWekJk0ExJJRCTK6aTUqhp91m1HJEByP4vIiHqTCLwU_kVfSYxiAa8Bw2I2X9ZL0ZAJ2uNMbUc1PGpy2SFogOJcO70/s1600/new+york+2+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijn_CNFAAgjpoiW6MIoalUEN6LY9ShBPSEYh3d2WMKe8HLcmVDtGWekJk0ExJJRCTK6aTUqhp91m1HJEByP4vIiHqTCLwU_kVfSYxiAa8Bw2I2X9ZL0ZAJ2uNMbUc1PGpy2SFogOJcO70/s320/new+york+2+019.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Plaza Hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was so pretty. I can see why people love to have weddings there :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBq6xl2D_NR1Lm1iyfy-SGSp73TAFR9jBKcVIQUagqpxsM3Vt-s8f0W4cIdfHS8BB6EGfv3pc1oSZpD4N7EyEAewcNunXG3C-H_2vgS_6iSfX7X-jXLS6Tbl5hqsP4c95xGVa57yf4qk/s1600/new+york+2+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBq6xl2D_NR1Lm1iyfy-SGSp73TAFR9jBKcVIQUagqpxsM3Vt-s8f0W4cIdfHS8BB6EGfv3pc1oSZpD4N7EyEAewcNunXG3C-H_2vgS_6iSfX7X-jXLS6Tbl5hqsP4c95xGVa57yf4qk/s320/new+york+2+021.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Central Park</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And some random woman that walked into the picture. It's really hard to get a picture in New York without someone walking past, so we just didn't even try. I never realized how big Central Park really was. We wanted to go to the zoo and see the penguins, but entrance to the zoo was $20 and this was obviously a budget trip, so we just decided to walk around the park. We were there for about an hour and we only saw one small corner! We did get some good souvenirs here though.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqb7FIfUTaJ-FpCiIKhzcvEI-uOyZ7pn6kVbM1rUA5LyRiPigIwceyHSAMU8pYJx6ZTACHmAR5DhoGln8EbLMB8XBDuntdlIa3Q0UNyqvDR45J7ifHXScu092WipkKjY55cs3c_ZTFRoQ/s1600/new+york+2+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqb7FIfUTaJ-FpCiIKhzcvEI-uOyZ7pn6kVbM1rUA5LyRiPigIwceyHSAMU8pYJx6ZTACHmAR5DhoGln8EbLMB8XBDuntdlIa3Q0UNyqvDR45J7ifHXScu092WipkKjY55cs3c_ZTFRoQ/s320/new+york+2+023.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carnegie Hall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of the tour bus in Times Square. We had to get a picture of the Wicked poster.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOx3sfvaygHKTepRIQ-iMV2hq_ak6S8ETtDOgJ5UTC1W-tioSY7Wj1sGn-zopzwLVKfpZ3yhPcQ8GchYQF-T9hC0n6F-cmKKFC1OUQdN8zCASA-xZg2DVkhUfkWAlhaXduo3TqlzN8CA/s1600/new+york+2+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOx3sfvaygHKTepRIQ-iMV2hq_ak6S8ETtDOgJ5UTC1W-tioSY7Wj1sGn-zopzwLVKfpZ3yhPcQ8GchYQF-T9hC0n6F-cmKKFC1OUQdN8zCASA-xZg2DVkhUfkWAlhaXduo3TqlzN8CA/s320/new+york+2+036.JPG" width="239" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just so you know.... it costs like $20 or $30 to ride the elevator to the top. So we just decided that an outside shot would have to do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, so I was really excited to see this</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9MwKF3I8rrxmVvJ23boTAOtMANF6JZB1acu-MLhTOfwd4fhDkdGpoNF4dKBFVkVG_DsOfsQ3TU5rNac6LXS19j0h4Ak2zjI8pNpPqG-4N4Kb-Zw2fESCln4fERrItPRqPelo43r-cuQ/s1600/new+york+2+039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9MwKF3I8rrxmVvJ23boTAOtMANF6JZB1acu-MLhTOfwd4fhDkdGpoNF4dKBFVkVG_DsOfsQ3TU5rNac6LXS19j0h4Ak2zjI8pNpPqG-4N4Kb-Zw2fESCln4fERrItPRqPelo43r-cuQ/s320/new+york+2+039.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what the subway looks like at 5 in the afternoon. Everyone is getting off work, and you can't even move! I had a hard time just putting my arms up to take the picture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a very exciting day of seeing all the sites and eating some authentic New York Pizza and New York Cheesecake, we went back to our car and started the drive back down to Virginia. It was quite the whirlwind trip, but I'm so glad we were able to make it up there. Coming from a small town, I'm pretty sure I would not be able to live in New York permanently but it was fun to visit. I would love to go back and spend some more time there.</span></div>
<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702051161067624805.post-88670823956334045782012-06-22T22:11:00.001-07:002012-06-22T22:18:25.896-07:00New York City - Day 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">This may be a little bit of a long post, but I can't leave anything out! After leaving Philadelphia around noon on Tuesday, we headed into NYC. It's only about a 1.5 hour drive. I've seen pictures of the New York skyline my whole life, and I've gotta say, it way more amazing seeing it in real life! The closer we got, the more excited we got. </span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib61xyrYfsw78G5jZI00oooUZzbP1PauLz_Tn5Zeb4UHsBeJIPppCviXuW4_bfE-VhvUa8VtFeQtjVlyhOi9K93pek48IQxLEW6QUwi0ffkMt8BVpVbJHy9vKYBDL87DfXV7CDThyphenhyphenSEbQ/s1600/new+york+1+028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib61xyrYfsw78G5jZI00oooUZzbP1PauLz_Tn5Zeb4UHsBeJIPppCviXuW4_bfE-VhvUa8VtFeQtjVlyhOi9K93pek48IQxLEW6QUwi0ffkMt8BVpVbJHy9vKYBDL87DfXV7CDThyphenhyphenSEbQ/s320/new+york+1+028.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As excited as we were to just get into the city, we had to check into our hotel first. Hotels in New York are super expensive and parking costs like $75 a night! So we found a great deal at a place in Jersey with free parking and we just decided to ride public transportation into the city because I was not about to drive my car in Manhattan! No way! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we got to the hotel around 3 and we had tickets for Wicked which started at 7. We were trying to decide the best way to go about everything. We had bought cute new dresses and shoes to go to Broadway but we didn't want to carry them around or have any extra bags, so we just changed into our dresses at the hotel and decided just to wear them since we only had a few hours til the show started..... bad idea.... Our feet were hurting sooo bad by the end of the night. But I'll get back to that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a friend in our ward that had just gone to New York a couple weeks before us and she was telling us the best places to park. She said to go to Liberty State Park and take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and then over into the city. So that's what we did. However, it caused some problems later on :( We pulled into the parking lot and it was only $5 to park which was great for New York, and I asked the lady what time the lot closed. She said "It closes at 10, there isn't 24 hour parking". I remember thinking, <i>We'll be cutting it close.... our show starts at 7, but we'll probably be okay.</i> But I'll get back to that too....</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got on the ferry for the Statue of Liberty. It made a stop at Ellis Island first, but we didn't get off. I would like to see that one day though. We got to the statue and I was surprised at how small it was. It really isn't that big, but it was still so cool!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiuBWLDBggQ1XpvMMHB6yN4CSGfu80AvWwHyD3uqtH2GSnp2ehGW__I56EwOYeAEKryS5-L2bThn6-esGFI8O-rzoEDVoct1EPr_onmSjMVFbiK9veASetOTh7iUdJ-JWGodGbOjYb7Y/s1600/new+york+1+029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiuBWLDBggQ1XpvMMHB6yN4CSGfu80AvWwHyD3uqtH2GSnp2ehGW__I56EwOYeAEKryS5-L2bThn6-esGFI8O-rzoEDVoct1EPr_onmSjMVFbiK9veASetOTh7iUdJ-JWGodGbOjYb7Y/s320/new+york+1+029.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">View of New York from the ferry</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVH57MqTzorfsumlXgI4IquIxEkLvVebbcyvC3j2Wq-HKkyzlc100Fz2l0hsytoiz40UpiTgMnStcPCrjHah5NZPEwxfC4VcVZVvh7ODzQfTCISTEuPhGV0URMJPMNuB-inBOLpECcWM/s1600/new+york+1+032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVH57MqTzorfsumlXgI4IquIxEkLvVebbcyvC3j2Wq-HKkyzlc100Fz2l0hsytoiz40UpiTgMnStcPCrjHah5NZPEwxfC4VcVZVvh7ODzQfTCISTEuPhGV0URMJPMNuB-inBOLpECcWM/s320/new+york+1+032.JPG" width="239" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWB9xHv_u7YZ1yJokUezTORpCKTbqVWPbfcHwf5W_-Q8FM52mVfCN422KbzNZ1v41ccrHTdr27ET2XQ8C8eOj5HVMpzGrm5R3yd1IFPXlCpSBnFdqoQVfiDIJ4GT17OuUcOvUClHeH7Q/s1600/new+york+1+033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWB9xHv_u7YZ1yJokUezTORpCKTbqVWPbfcHwf5W_-Q8FM52mVfCN422KbzNZ1v41ccrHTdr27ET2XQ8C8eOj5HVMpzGrm5R3yd1IFPXlCpSBnFdqoQVfiDIJ4GT17OuUcOvUClHeH7Q/s320/new+york+1+033.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got back on the ferry that took us over to Manhattan. It let us off at Battery Park, the southern most part of the island. We finally set foot in New York City. We got on the subway and took it to the Times Square station. Coming up from underground into the light of Times Square is probably one of my favorite moments I've ever had. Brittany and I just looked at each other and let out a little squeal.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHou5Go0bhuNNHm9nn0ifTUMBxEzmdR21s9Mo2VPLPUZN_XFEHGBvDVyAC85wX3-C18CGgXbdO5RWtkQaaE4a-JGfLXkjGRouhzQ6WRDf3sTGtFKGWmnG3M9DVrp-NNQt78QjCqegMok/s1600/new+york+1+037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHou5Go0bhuNNHm9nn0ifTUMBxEzmdR21s9Mo2VPLPUZN_XFEHGBvDVyAC85wX3-C18CGgXbdO5RWtkQaaE4a-JGfLXkjGRouhzQ6WRDf3sTGtFKGWmnG3M9DVrp-NNQt78QjCqegMok/s320/new+york+1+037.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ate at Olive Garden in Times Square. (It's my favorite restaurant, no matter where I am. haha) It's not very new and exciting, but we knew we could afford it. After dinner we sat on the red steps for a few minutes and just soaked it all in, then we walked over to the Gershwin Theater, where Wicked shows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now we get back to the hurt feet and parking in New Jersey. You walk - a lot!- in New York. And in our shoes, 2 blocks felt like 2 miles. If you ever go to New York, I would NOT recommend wearing high heels no matter how long you're going to be there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We got to the theater and asked the usher how long the play was and he told us 2 hours and 45 minutes including intermission! If you remember, we were told the parking lot -in New Jersey-where our car was at closed at 10. So that meant if we staying for the whole show we would have 15 minutes to walk 2 blocks to the subway station, then transfer to the train and go under the bay and into New Jersey, then transfer again to the light rail and get back to our car.... yeah, not gonna happen!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We decided that unfortunately we would have to leave the show about a half hour early and hope that we had time to make it back. Wicked was incredible! Oh my gosh, it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, getting up and leaving the theater with 30 minutes still left of the show. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8Hby6o1ChQWzIMuhLSymgLaR7Ci9IS_NbdKIMdbkDUXKlVLF0U-yUhIcbFZGXVYOUmH_yxv1qXbZQfuk-HVJDLHsMYhxuh3UrrhFb_0eYYT7ptA1j2nOsVFn39zT7GJESKb-eNWvzXU/s1600/new+york+1+039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8Hby6o1ChQWzIMuhLSymgLaR7Ci9IS_NbdKIMdbkDUXKlVLF0U-yUhIcbFZGXVYOUmH_yxv1qXbZQfuk-HVJDLHsMYhxuh3UrrhFb_0eYYT7ptA1j2nOsVFn39zT7GJESKb-eNWvzXU/s320/new+york+1+039.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The set of Wicked. We had really good seats. But we almost got in trouble for taking this picture. lol.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our journey back to the car did not turn out in our favor. We were so worried about making it back before 10 that we were just running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We went to the wrong subway station and then we couldn't find the light rail station in New Jersey. Luckily people were very nice and were willing to give us directions. We came across a hotel in Jersey that had a suspicious car parked out front. The guy in the car could tell we were in a hurry, and he asked us if we wanted a ride. This is how the conversation went:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guy: "You need a ride?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "No, we don't need a ride"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guy: "Are you sure? I am a taxi service. I can take you"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: sounding very suspicious -"You're a taxi service? This isn't a taxi cab."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guy: "Okay, I'm a limo service. See, I have a GPS. I usually charge $200, but for you, just $30"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brittany proceeds to try and get in the car.... oh, silly girl she is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: stopping Brittany "No we'll just walk, but thanks"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then we walked away. Now, he may have been telling the truth, but I wasn't about to take my chances in New Jersey.... I've heard stories. We did borrow some pepper spray from our co-worker Leah, so that made me feel a little safer. So at this point it's about 10:20 and we are FREAKING OUT. I was so worried that my car was going to be booted or towed and I was going to have to shell out a ton of money. And after switching trains 3 times and walking through a couple parks, we finally got to the parking lot. There was a police car parked on the road by the lot and I went over and talked to them. This conversation went like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "Our car is parked in this parking lot"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cops: "Okay..."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: "They told us the parking lot closes at 10"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cops: "Oh, you can still get out of the parking lot after 10, you just can't get in"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can imagine how our poor little hearts sank after hearing those words :( We rushed and worried and left our BROADWAY SHOW early to get back and we didn't even have to. One of the most disappointing moments of my life. Feel free to be sad for us, because I am still sad (probably always will be). We went back to the hotel and read a summary of how the show ended on Wikipedia. SO not fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brittany took her shoes off and this is what her tights looked like at the end of the night. They went straight in the garbage</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2TFhpPGUIrSIq6qnjw98-K2LO-RmL2BcCwteVwG9NFQv8ZkVs7gRqtBEJ0xaK7Q4SVl13su7L3sGsX8f3zwCWDDt1S_hsRAVFSSh1ErH7PMRymBZurEzL1L7btIgyfqaIn5vryC_GhE/s1600/new+york+1+041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2TFhpPGUIrSIq6qnjw98-K2LO-RmL2BcCwteVwG9NFQv8ZkVs7gRqtBEJ0xaK7Q4SVl13su7L3sGsX8f3zwCWDDt1S_hsRAVFSSh1ErH7PMRymBZurEzL1L7btIgyfqaIn5vryC_GhE/s320/new+york+1+041.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were very happy/relieved to see the car.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbi2dqRexQdGu38lECgnXRKOsf47fWUi5rHijq56wYJh7BwF6iFU8TCX11edpKrPLme1nUq9kydx70JgDauYeU0lPeIzhMQS6r80DiylTlOn3Fjc1SiMLp8HGGxVS9cXGDSXYW9O5xJQ/s1600/new+york+1+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbi2dqRexQdGu38lECgnXRKOsf47fWUi5rHijq56wYJh7BwF6iFU8TCX11edpKrPLme1nUq9kydx70JgDauYeU0lPeIzhMQS6r80DiylTlOn3Fjc1SiMLp8HGGxVS9cXGDSXYW9O5xJQ/s320/new+york+1+042.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day is a lot less stressful, but it will probably have to be it's own post because this one turned out really long! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<br />jessicaiviehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14641960438177462750noreply@blogger.com0