I know what you're thinking...

ANOTHER VACATION?! What can I say other than we are lucky?

Yes, we did go to Maui with Ja's parents and my parents. It was my parents first time to Maui so we had a lot of fun experiencing Maui with the first timers. On our first day my mom said she wanted to do everything she could this trip because they wouldn't be coming back. Then on the way to the airport to go home my parents were discussing how they can start saving to come again when my brother gets back from his mission. I thought it was so cute. 

Here are the highlights from our trip. The weather was beautiful and couldn't have been better. 

We got leis from the hotel.

We found a really cool peninsula at D.T. Fleming Beach and had a blast exploring all the rock formations formed from lava, watching two turtles, and running through a crop maze.

We took the infamous "Road to Hana." Luckily no one got car sick and we had a great time discovering new flowers, visiting a black sand beach, and swimming in streams.

Ja tried paddle surfing.

We also went on a catamaran to Molokini (a crater) where Ja and my dad were able to go scuba diving with an instructor. They loved it and now want to become certified. We also went snorkeling at turtle bay. Unfortunately these pictures are on my mother-in-law's waterproof camera.

We went parasailing 800 feet in the air. My mom doesn't swim so I couldn't believe she did this. It was amazingly high up in the air. I have pictures from 800 feet up but they are also on the waterproof camera. Those are my parents up in the sky.

We had great food and very much enjoyed each other's company.

Oh, and for some reason, Ja never washed his hair. I think he wanted to be a surfer dude.

p.s. all the pictures are posted on our web gallery

We have a date!

Ja finally got word from PwC when he will start his job. Training starts August 24th. We are happy to finally receive a date because a) that means he still has a job, b) the job is in D.C. and c) we can start planning our life!

Our New Pet

It turns out we were taking care of a new pet, unbeknownst to us. It's probably been living in our car for the past week and a half. It wasn't smelly, didn't pee in the car, or eat any of our food. Luckily it didn't chew through any wires either. Here is a picture of it's home.

Jonathan took the car in to get an oil change and this is what the mechanic found. A rodent nest in our engine. It's no wonder why the check engine light came on. Now it's really time to buy some rodent repellent.

Williamsburg Family Vacation

The family met up in Williamsburg, VA this year for our historical family vacation. It rained on and off most of the week, but we realized that was a blessing. Thursday and Friday were sunny which made it very hot. We also had a few surprises: Holly was put on bedrest and Addie had to get stitches on her lip. Other than that we had a great time. 

Our first day was historical Williamsburg. We walked all over the town and I tried to take as many pictures as possible before my camera battery ran out. Did you know that Williamsburg was the capitol of Virginia before it was moved to Richmond? And that the college, William and Mary, is the 2nd oldest in the U.S.? Here are some of our pictures.

Henry, Luc, Addie, Brigham watching the cattle. Isn't it cute?

Ja, Addie, Trevor. The only time Addie sat still.

The kids loved having the wagon to play with.

Addie loved walking through every puddle she saw.

We also enjoyed some night time activities without the kids. We listened to ghost stories being told about places in Williamsburg. They have you walk to the homes where the ghosts are and then tell you the stories. The best part was attending the witch trial. Since it was against the law to be a witch, anyone thought to be a witch was put on trial. The judge, lawyer, sherriff, the witch, and witnesses were actors and we all pretended to be the jurors. We got to ask the witnesses questions, the accused and the witnesses got in a few verbal fights, and we voted wether we thought she was a witch. I voted her a witch because she failed the witch tests which were considered law at the time. She floated "unnaturally" when put in water, her "devil's teeth marks" didn't bleed (her moles), and she couldn't recite the Lord's Prayer. 

On Tuesday we went to a Mariner's Museum and learned all about the Civil War that was fought on water. I never thought about the water battles, I figured all the fighting was done on land. Both sides had large submarine-like ships that were the first of their kind. 

Next was Yorktown. It's a small little town on the coast. I don't remember too much about that place, except that we had a great lunch and took a family picture.

Jamestown was our fourth day and we enjoyed learning about the first settlement and the exploring the Indian village, the ships, and the soldier camp. The boys, I mean men, liked posing with their battle gear on.

We saved the most exciting part for last, Busch Gardens Williamsburg. This theme park was so much fun and the rides were very scary (fun after riding them but frightening while you're on it). Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but you can check out the website here. 

We had a blast and were very sad to return home and go back to work. But not for long because we leave for Maui in two days! Life is so hard.

Jonathan Graduated!

We traveled back to BYU for Commencement ceremonies so Ja could officially graduate. We really had a great time. President Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson were the speakers and both were very good. We had a much smaller group this time so picture taking only took a few minutes.

On Friday, we took a mini tour of campus, and Ja was able to graduate with two of his accounting group buddies, Joe and James. 

We then enjoyed a great dinner at Good Wood and Ja received his family written candy letter.

On Saturday we went to a couple of parties (James' BBQ and party at the Jones') and met Joe's new baby girl (born two days before). It was really fun having babies walking, crawling, rolling all over the place. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends. (Truman not pictured)

We returned on Sunday and I gave Ja his graduation present from me. He LOVES his new professional looking briefcase. I was a little nervous giving it to him, but he kept repeating, "This is so great. I love this" so I figure it was a good gift. 

The Missing Piece

As I was pondering life, I realized that something is missing. I thought it was the lack of something to look forward to, like anticipating Christmas. But I realized I have plenty of trips and vacations this summer, so that's not the missing piece. Then as I was varnishing a table at work I realized the missing piece is a project. I need something to look forward to when I come home from work or when Ja is gone. I've done things like sew quilts, scrapbook, and, well I guess that's it. 

Now I am trying to figure out what my new project should be. Here are a few of my ideas:

1. scrapbook more recent pictures

2. make cards for some occasion

3. refurbish a piece of furniture

What are some other good project ideas? None of these totally excite me yet. What have you done before that you really liked?

Two Reasons Why Jonathan is So Great

We had this weird daddy long-leg bug flying around our house and it eventually landed on the wall across from our couch. Instead of whacking it with something Jonathan wanted to try and shoot it with rubber bands. So we sat on the couch for 20 minutes trying to shoot the bug. I'm still new to the shooting-a-rubberband-off-your-finger-thing so whenever I got a good shoot Ja was proud of me. Neither of us could hit it which resulted in a lot of rubberbands on the floor. And Ja even cleaned up the rubberbands! I was so happy! Eventually the bug died, probably from the stress of high-speed rubberbands coming at him.

We went shopping so Ja could use up some gift cards from Christmas and his birthday. I was sad and said I wished it was my birthday so I could buy things. He then said one of the sweetest things he's ever said, "If you find something cute that you like, buy it."* Ahhh, I knew he was the right one to marry.

*I didn't use any of Ja's gift cards, he used those all by himself.

New York, New York!

Last weekend we had the chance to go to New York City and stay in the Marriott Marquis hotel which is right in Times Square. 

Here are a few highlights of our trip:

Wednesday night we ate at a restaurant at our hotel named "The View." The restaurant is at the top of the hotel and SPINS around so you can get a view of the whole city. It was awesome.

Ja and I got up early Thursday morning and went to the Today show. We got to shake Matt and Meredith's hand and got on TV at least 3 times!

Went to the top of the Empire State Building.

Went around Rockefeller Center and took at picture in remembrance of our new favorite show "30 rock." 

Took the subway to the financial district and saw the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. 

Ja found a huge red cube.

We took a ferry to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. As we floated past the Statue we realized it's on Ellis Island. Oh well, we still took a picture of her.

Took the subway again to Central Park. It's wonderful having a huge park in the middle of the huge city.

That night we saw "In the Heights" which was a musical about a Latino community in Washington Heights. It was a fun show and had some fun musical, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Afterward we went to Juniors for dessert and hot chocolate.

And that was all on one day!

Friday, Ja had to help his dad at the AIUM Conference (which was the reason we went to NY) so Dorothy and I went around town.

We went to Grand Central Terminal. It was so beautiful, clean, and fun. There are stores and restaurants all around inside.

We then went shopping, ate a delicious Italian lunch, then went to the temple in Manhattan. At 6 stories high, it's one of the smaller buildings around. We took cabs instead of the subway and now I know why Jerry Seinfeld said, "Wow, I wouldn't do that in my car!" Those drivers are a little crazy.

Then it was off to 39 Steps, a play with only 4 people in it, but a lot more characters. Two people play lots of different people which was funny; funnier now when I think back on it. It was very different from what we expected so we all thought we would like it better a second time.

Saturday Tiffany, Jeff, Dorothy, and I drove to West Haven, CT to visit an old family friend, Mary. I've heard sooo many stories about "the fluffy lady" from the DeVore family so it was nice to finally meet her. The drive was nice until we were only .9 mile away from our hotel. So many streets were blocked off it took us one hour to go that .9 mile! New York streets are absolutely cramped and crazy! We felt like getting out of the car and running the rest of the way back to tell someone we love them and not to leave the country. Oh, wait, that's a movie...

Saturday night we saw the best musical of the weekend, Guys and Dolls. The songs were great, the one-liners were funny, and the whole stage looked awesome. Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls was one of the main characters. It was her Broadway debut and she did great. Oliver Platt was also another main character. I really liked watching someone I recognize on stage. 

Sunday we listened to Greg give a talk at the Conference. Tiffany and I agreed that there is no one better to do our future ultrasounds because it seemed like a lot of the doctors in the audience didn't know what he was talking about. He does have an expert knowledge of ultrasound and the fetus. 

I loved being in New York with all the hustle and bustle. I loved walking everywhere and having everyone else walk with you. The horns are honking, the wind is blowing, people are everywhere all with an agenda. You better know where you are going or you'll get run over.

There are 8 million people in the little part of Manhattan! I thought LA was crowded with 3 million and that is over a much, much larger parcel of land! 

We can't wait to go back!

Another Laura Sighting!

I hope you all don't think I'm vain for always posting where my pictures show up. I just think it's funny that pictures taken almost 2 years ago pop up all over the place. My brother-in-law was watching a demo movie for a software and he found this picture. Maybe I should have a prize for the next person who can find my picture.

Weird Yellow Signs

Around town I've been noticing weird yellow signs with black letters. The letters never make any sense. Sometimes they are numbers and letters, or sometimes a letter or two may be upside-down. With my crazy "the worst is happening" mentality, I thought they were for some cult guiding people where to go. (Another example of this: I was vacuuming the other night and I heard this weird noise and freaked out because I was sure someone was trying to break in. I later realized it was the vacuum cord hitting the carpet.) Well, this week one of these weird little signs showed up by our house! 

Thankfully Dorothy was able to calm my fears about the whole cult thing. She got an email from the Country Club that the "CYE" sign meant that the filming of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm is  being held a the Country Club. I'm so glad these weird yellow signs are guiding the extras for the shows and not a crazy cult. One problem solved. Now, what to do about that crazy scratching noise in our wall...

A New Car!!

Last night we went to test drive some cars we were interested in, and ended up driving away with one! It's a Suzuki XL-7 Luxury edition. It has all wheel drive, 6-CD changer, iPod hook-up, leather seats, front seat warmers, optional 3rd row back seat, and sun roof. It's a 2008 with 13,000 miles. Before us it was a rental car so it was very well taken care of. In fact, Ja's dad thought it was brand new. We never thought of owning a Suzuki, but with all the features you get you can't beat the price.

Going to CARMAX was a very enjoyable experience, I would definitely do it again. The salesman we had wasn't pushy at all and he was very open to showing us many cars. We learned later that they aren't paid commission from the price of the car, but a flat rate. We were grateful for this because he first showed us car that was out of our price range but had no problems showing us a cheaper car. AND CARMAX has a 5-day return policy. If you don't like the car for ANY reason you can return it no questions asked and get your full down payment back. The Manager said he's know some people drive it to Vegas and back to test it out. It doesn't matter how many miles you put on it and you don't have to return it with a full tank of gas. I would recommend CARMAX to everyone.