4 girls, 48 hours, 1000 miles and a Mini Cooper!

How's that for an amazing weekend?!? Tabbi, Nicole and Carlie let me tag along on their road trip up north to Palmyra and Niagara Falls! It was a quick trip, but it was pretty fun to see Canada, eh!

Some of the highlights...

Our first stop was Palmyra, NY. It's a teeny town, with a very peaceful feeling.


The Sacred Grove in my mind...


The Sacred Grove in late October...good ole' Daylight Savings strikes again-it was only 5pm but seemed like 10pm. But even at dusk, the grove is so serene.


I sat in the Sacred Grove alone for a bit and through the dark and the trees, the Palmyra Temple just shone so bright-I love to see the temple!


Outside the Grandin Print Shop-where the first copies of The Book of Mormon were printed.


Inside the print shop with Nicole, Tabbi, and Carlie .


A copy of a period Bible along with a first edition Book of Mormon...the two most important books in the world side by side.

Our touring of the church history sites was quick, but worth it. I'm definitely going back in the summer...its just an amazing area.

OH, Canada here we come...we hopped back in the mini and left Palmyra for Niagara Falls, Canada! We got there after dark, so we grabbed some dinner and took a quick peek at the falls before crashing at our hotel.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to explore the falls...so beautiful!





Look at that mist...so cold!



We took a "Journey Behind the Falls" and went into some little tunnels behind the falls...so cool. The water is moving sooo fast...pretty amazing!


Aren't our yellow ponchos so fashionable?!?


The falls were beautiful...the rest of Canada was a eh. It reminded me of Las Vegas or Atlantic City-way too commercialized. That being said, it was still totally worth it...all 48 hours and 1000 miles.

Off to the races!

I love living in the city! Things happen here that you'd never find in little, old Tremonton-both good and bad! Not sure which category this fits but on the Tuesday before Halloween everyone gathers near Dupont Circle in DC for the annual Drag Queen race! These "ladies" dress up, throw on some high heels and strut up and down 17th street before racing down the street in their high, high, heels! It's definitely a sight!


Todd Palin supportin his girl Sarah


And here's Sarah now


Princess Diana and her bodyguards


The FLDS Polygamist wives running around with all their kids


Mayor Adrian Fenty-DC's Mayor (the real guy-he is not a drag queen!)


Miss Coco Chanel


Oh, the sites and sounds of DC...gotta love this place (and these girls-Tabs, Jenny, and Carlie bravin' the cold with me!)

Home Sweet Home...on a budget

President Uchtdorf's talk at the General Relief Society Meeting renewed Diana and I's confidence in our ability to create a real home. After last fall's remodeling project (black paint+ fake wood dressers=headache), we'd taken a lil break from the decorating and home projects. But after some encouraging words, we figured it was about time to get back in the home decorating saddle. Di and I spent a whole day searching every possible cheap home store in northern Virginia and we found some pretty good deals.


We got shelves and a big star to put up on our bare walls, decorations for our mantle, and new pillows to add a little flare to our couch. The front room is really looking up-in fact the neighbor boys even commented on how welcoming our house is (SCORE!!). We'd whipped the room into shape, but we still had one BIG problem...


Hello ugly, denim ottoman in the middle of the room! It was simply not acceptable, so we took matters into our own hands and turned the eyesore into this...


That's right, we reupholstered our ottoman...not too shabby if I do say so myself!

The Leaves are fallin...

There's nothing quite like autumn on the east coast (it's right up there with autumn in Sardine Canyon-if you can believe that)! There's definitely no shortage of trees here so when they start turnin' colors its pretty spectacular. Diana, Jenny and I headed to Shenandoah National Park and took a little ride down Skyline Drive, this great road that winds up the mountain overlooking the Shenandoah Valley with little pullovers all along the way to stop and view the vista. The leaves weren't completely changed (we were about a week too early) but it was still so pretty and peaceful! Virginia is lovely!!!











This is the old barn we hiked back to see...so quaint and peaceful.

Cheesesteaks, Rocky, LOVE, and Walgreens!

Who knew King of Prussia/Philadelphia had so much to offer?!? Diana, Hope, Wayne and I took off for a weekend in Pennsylvania and we couldn't have dreamed up more amazing adventures! We knew we'd hit the jackpot when we rolled up and found a Super Wal-Mart (having its Grand Opening!) just down the street from our Motel 6! Heaven...we walked around that goodness for awhile then headed to the M6 to check-in. What can I say about the M6...uhh, it was really cheap ($13/a person!).
(doesn't my ugly face say it all!?!)

The next morning we took off down I-76 (gotta love the tribute to 1776-USA's b-day!) to the City of Brotherly Love-Philadelphia! We hit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Important stuff happened here folks...this is where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Constitution of the United States was drafted and the foundations of this great nation were established. Beautiful and historic-who could ask for anything more?


All that history worked up our appetites, so of course we had to try a Philly Cheesesteak! We put Pat's and Geno's steaks to the test to determine which is really the best! These two are across the street from one another and battle over the title of the original and best Philly Cheesesteak. Geno's is flashy, painted bright orange with an orange convertible parked out front, and Pat's is a little more dive-ish. We ordered 2 sandwiches from each, cut them in half, and held our own taste test. Pat's was the hands-down winner...super good bread, nice and juicy filling, and all around tastier! YUMMERS!



We took in more Philly sites...

The LOVE statue


Running the Rocky Steps

The man himself

and now for the highlight of our trip-Walgreens! We didn't know the excitement that would come from this little drugstore! We walked in and poor Wayne was just targeted by everyone around us.

Here's the story in Wayne's own words (with a lil Kami commentary in parenthesis)... "As I am waiting an 80ish year old lady steps right in front of me. She looks at me a little surprised to see me and the other people waiting. I tell her it is ok if she cuts, I really wasn't in a hurry and didn't mind. Dorthy (WE NEVER REALLY CAUGHT HER NAME) looks at what I am buying and tells me to take it and leave. Dorthy says she buys enough stuff from the store that I can take it and leave she has me covered. She then turns to Kami, who has joined me in line, and tells her drink is no good for her (COKE IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE, ALWAYS) and to take it and leave.

At this point I am mildly amused with this sassy old lady and so I strike up a conversation with her. She tells me she moved to Philly when she was ten and has lived there for 40 years. Thinking she is hilarious at telling me this joke she basically falls into my arms laughing.(TOTALLY FLIRTING WITH WAYNE) The conversation moves on and we talk about politics, her living two blocks down but still taking the bus because it is free, and how she is being a good neighbor for buying adult diapers for Mary (wink/wink).

During the conversation, Diana joined us in line as well as a cross-eyed fella. Dorthy begins to establish that Kami, Diana, and I are all together. She then proceeds to see which one of them is dating me. Dorthy discovers we are "just friends." She then says something about me not being their type but being her type and that she is more than happy to take me home. We all get a good laugh...but it is ruined by the cross-eyed fella. He had joined in some points of the conversation but when Dorthy said I was her type....he pipes up and says "Well he is my type."

Dorthy's eyes just go big and the store kind of goes silent. Not another word is said and we all buy our stuff and leave. Kami, Hope, Diana and I walk out of the store and bust up laughing."


Oh Philadelphia...good food, good friends, and good memories!

West Winging it...

My good friend Jared works for President George W. and gets access to the WEST WING of the WHITE HOUSE, you know, oval office, situation room, rose garden, press gallery-where it all happens! He hooked me and some coworkers up with an awesome tour of it all! If you know Jared, you know this tour was far from ordinary. This guy is a blast, so full of energy and just so entertaining!

The White House was actually the Pink House in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! So cute!


I love the press room...even when its empty you can tell magic happens in here!

Sometimes I forget how awesome it is to live in the nation's capital...and associate with such high rollers! Really cool places and really cool people! Thanks again Jared!

I've grown a bit since moving to DC...we all thought this pic from inside the Executive Office Building was pretty funny :)

They call me Fukudome....

but not because I'm good, only because I'm Asian.

This summer, thanks to my friend Shule, I took up an old hobby I let die many, many years ago. The last time I played softball (not including the one intramural game I played in college-when my newsie friends laughed me off the field) my mom was my coach, we wore hot pink jerseys and chanted things like 'mayonnaise, mustard, lett-uce, ketch-up.' Oh to be 10 again!

Anyways, it's been a lot of fun playing with the Raucus Caucus. We play our games on the National Mall-anywhere from the Washington Monument (bad idea-hitting uphill with left field sloping off into oblivion) to the foot of the US Capitol. It's the most beautiful setting to play America's favorite pastime!

I've shown some promise this season.
Exhibit A: My awesome head over feet, shoulder roll slide into first. Okay, so I really tripped over my own feet and stumbled my way to first. Nothing like sacrificing your body for the team (I'm still counting it as a sacrifice even though I was out.)
Exhibit B: My ability to "bunt" (disguised with my homerun swing) and then outrun the throw to first 50% of the time.
Exhibit C: I made a few catches, tagged one person out at second, fielded at least 2 or 3 grounders and proudly filled the third girl spot on many occasions-preventing forfeiture for lack of females.

The season is winding down and I must admit, I'm really going to miss the Raucus Caucus! I met some really great people-ones that laugh with you when you strike out. Wish us luck as we continue our quest to become champions of the congressional league!



FYI: for those of you who don't know who Fukudome is...