Time is slipping away.

I took my seat on a plane last night at 10:20 pm last night. Then I went through a crazy vortex of stars and clouds for five and a half hours, -with little to no sleep- and was awakened by the beautiful colors above (please try not to notice the extremely dirty window. I tried to clean it with a wet napkin but it wouldn't clean. gross.) and landed in home sweet home around 7:30 am.

All in all, it was perfect. Except I have a serious cold. Which I hope is gone by Wednesday!! Yes, THIS Wednesday!! I can't believe it. Really. It's really hard to believe.

Anyway, yes, the trip was SO GREAT! And I just want to thank the dear Bailey family. They are the greatest and I love them all. Thanks for inviting us!
It was totally awesome.

A few things.

 1. I broke an apple in half with MY BARE HANDS!!!

2. Once again. I just love Julie Andrews. And not only do I want to be like Maria, I also want to be like Mary Poppins. She is so great. And magical. And I love her outfits.

But really. Practically perfect in every way. And so clever. And she doesn't put up with any nonsense. And I love flying kites.

3.This is my sister, Julia. She is great.

She is 22 years old and very funny. I love her a lot and I'm thankful for the help she gives me. And she dresses really well. She, too, is going on a mission. And should get her call in a couple of weeks! Hopefully we'll be leaving around the same time. Se we can have Thanksgiving dinner together in the MTC!
She's just wonderful.

4. I definitely survived my trip last week. It was really fun! We went to Maryland for a few days and visited my dear Aunt Ilene and Uncle Doug. (thanks for everything!!!) We went into Ellicott City, MD one day and D.C. another day.

5. Farmer's Markets are great. I love them. And I especially LOVE going to a Farmer's Market in our nation's capital, right next to the Department of Agriculture on a Friday morning!

6. I love Pennsylvania! It's beautiful. I could live there I'm pretty sure. Brandon's family was very nice and hospitable and we did a lot of fun stuff! We went to Knoebel's Amusement Park (so Awesome.) (and you pronounce the 'K'. It isn't silent like you would think it would be.) Brandon's aunt lives on a hill with a creek behind her house and his grandma's house is very decorated with cats, flowers and figurines.

DOUBLE RAINBOW! the second one is on the left...it was brighter in real life. believe me.

7. I have two of the most adorable nieces ever. One of them is turning three in November. And Julia and I are going to miss her birthday and celebration. So, we decided to give her her present early so we could enjoy seeing her wear it. Here you go! She is so cute.

8. I did some painting this summer.

for tyler

Erica's belated Christmas present. for the nephew

Erica's birthday present. for the niece

I went on vacation: Day 2

Sorry it is taking me so long to put my trip up.... But life is crazy!! And great.

Anyway, Harper's Ferry, WV! I just love this little town. It is probably one of my favorite places on earth. If you don't know the history behind this place, look up John Brown on Wikipedia. The weather was absolutely beautiful this day. We woke up to rain and almost canceled the whole day- Thank goodness we didn't- because it cleared up when we arrived and was so pretty all day. I love the mountains, trees, the rivers (Shenandoah and Potomac meeting and merging to continue as the Potomac), the old buildings, the train station. Everything.











My sisters would be great models, huh? Me on the other hand... I think about it too much. I would never make it work.















We ate lunch in Sheperdstown, WV. The oldest town in West Virginia! We ate in a little restaurant that had tea and wraps, paninis and salads and hummus! So good!! And I really liked how they decorated.

This is at Antietam. Look that one up, too. It's important. And I thought this cloud looked like a mushroom cloud.

I think this is called Burnside Bridge. It is so beautiful. It is really hard to imagine the battle that took place here. We got there at the perfect time to watch the sun go down through the trees.

the end.