Gone. Home. and Gone Again.

Wow! I have so many things to catch up on here on my blog. Life has just been so great and crazy. After about two weeks of homelessness, I finally moved home to Arizona today. And I'm off again to Baltimore tomorrow! Crazy, huh? Yes. I am going to Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit friends and family with Erica and her children. We are flying. With a two-almost-three-year-old and a one-year-old. Wish me luck! Seriously. But I'm super excited. I will be thoroughly enjoying the green and the humidity and everything once again. And I'll be just north of my future place of residence for the next 18 months. Hooray!

I really need to go pack. I just want to say, yes. I do miss Utah. I never thought I would say that. But I do. Plus the high was probably 400 degrees today. SO. That might have had something to do with it. And I love my friends and family. A lot. I'm excited to spend time with all of you in the coming months before my mission. It is going to be a party. All. of. the. time. And I'll just be with the people I love. What a perfect way to live. Thanks for everything, everyone. (you know who you are). You are the best.

See you next week!

I hope I get used to 'Sister Barney'...

Hello World!


It came yesterday! And what a joyous occasion it was. Thank you so much for everyone who came and called and got excited with me! I love you all. 


I'm going to the Virginia Richmond Mission leaving November 10th.


As many of you know, I looooooove the East. And though I have never been to Richmond specifically. Or any area in my mission for that matter, I am sure I am still going to love love love it!! Williamsburg is in my mission!!! Holy cow. Oh man. I'll get to VA around the first week of December. Just in time for Christmas decorations!!!! I know. It sounds like I'm going on vacation. But I really am going to be serious missionary.

The only problem I have seen so far is that my little booklet thing that came with my call said 'No jeans.' . . . . . . . . What the heck am I supposed to wear?? It says I need full length pants. What else is there? Other than dress pants..... khaki... I was getting frantic! But, then my mom came to the rescue and reminded me that corduroy exists!! Thank you, Mom!! I want a pair in dark brown, I think.

Anyway, here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

I was kind of hyperventilating.

   
 Thanks for coming everyone!! And thanks for making cookies Shell! Everyone obviously enjoyed them.

ahhhh.....the lovely Huber sisters.

soooooooo excited! and attractive.....

talking to Tucker on the phone!!

dinner with the fam and missy! at jdawgs!! i love those hotdogs! and i love my family! and missy!

thanks for the pretty sunset, Utah!

we ended the night going to my cousin's son's wedding reception (which was so great and i got to see more great family!!! And then we drove up to my Grandma's in Marion to watch the meteor shower (which was great!) and sleep under the stars. When we arrived, the thermometer read 55 degrees outside, so Missy and I were a little worried about being warm enough. So, we pulled some hats, scarves, and sweaters off the hooks for protection from the cold. Then we realized we looked like old men.

I had a very warm, good night's sleep. outside, all night. under the meteor shower. on my Grandma's front lawn, with my dear friend, Missy.

Dreams.

Well so far, I've dreamt that I was going to Morocco, Australia, and southeastern Arizona. I woke up this morning actually thinking that I had already gotten my call and really was going to Australia! And I was really excited! Then I remembered it was only Monday, not Wednesday. And that I didn't have my call yet. So, I'm not going to Australia.

Also, someone in my ward asked me if I had made a facebook page yet so that people could make their guesses as to where I'm going. And answered in the negative. Sorry folks, I just don't do that... But, if you reallllly want to take a guess, go ahead. The world is yours! Really.


I had an absolutely lovely week last week that lasted all the way to this morning, when I had to return to Provo, sadly. I went camping for work, went home to Arizona to attend my best friends wedding reception and hold my dear new niece, Lillian, then I came back up to Utah for a family reunion! It was the best ever!! I had so much fun and my dear mom and Aunt Irene did such a great job planning it! It was hard to come back. But also good because I don't have much time left here in dear old Provo! I have to move out of my apartment on Saturday! And then I'll be gone the week after that or so. This summer has flown by. But I have so many wonderful memories.

They're in!

Check back in a couple weeks to see where in the world I'm going!

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.

I went on vacation: Day 1

It started out at the Smithsonian Castle. A truly lovely building. I love the red brick and the vaulted ceilings.
It was such a beautiful day. I love blue skies and white clouds. (as I'm sure most of you know.)

And let me just say that I am so glad that I was able to go again with my dear sisters. We missed Erica, of course. But it was such a treat being there with Michelle, Julia and Kate.


















This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip, I think.

Then we went to my all-time favorite place ever! The National Gallery Sculpture Garden. It is located just south of the Archives and in between the the National Gallery and the Museum of Natural History. It is a wonderful spot. Especially when you want to cool off and just read a book or listen to the fountains or talk on the phone. This is where I spent a lot of my time last summer.


This is in the West building of the National Gallery. It is SO big!

The National Gallery is one of my favorite museums of all because it is so big and has so many excellent things. Their ceramic collections are amazing and they have a lot of paintings from my favorite artists.

Right now they have an exhibit, "From Impressionism to Modernism" and they had so many beautiful paintings. I was so happy. And I actually went back two different days to look at it again.
Monet's Bouquet of Sunflowers is one of my very favorite paintings. (sorry it's blurry. the lighting was really bad and you can't use a flash inside the museums.)




Next was the Freer Gallery. This is another one of my all time favs. Charles Lang Freer was a great guy who commissioned one of my favortie artsists, James Abbot McNeil Whistler, to do many paintings for him. He was also very interested in Chinese ceramics.

So you can see why I would like this museum so much.

This room is awesome! It's called the Peacock Room, or the Blue and Gold Room.
I love everything in it! Someone commissioned Whistler to build and decorate it to showcase his ceramic collection.

There is a fire place under that big painting and there are sunflowers andirons in front of the fireplace. I want some of those!


I love this door! I would have it in my own house someday. Those windows are so beautiful.

Then we headed over to the modern art museum, the Hirshorn. It has a pretty cool fountain, too, but you can't dip your feet in this one...

I really like what they have in the Hirshorn. It opens my mind up to so many different possibilities. So inspiring!




This is a sculpture outside the American History Museum.























At the end of the day, we returned to the Sculpture Garden to enjoy a free jazz concert. It was so fun! We dipped our feet in the fountain and read our books, soaked up the sunshine and good jazz. It was a perfect end.

I was reading The Hobbit. (first time) And I loved it!