My family knows what I did after Gettysburg during my week at home, but the rest of you don't, so I better recap it all for you.

Wednesday morning we just moseyed around at home until the afternoon, when my sisters Angela and Annie, brother Mike, and mama 'Lizbeth and I (and the dog) went to the Great Falls of the Potomac. We enjoyed the views and had a nice walk along a trail, as well as a fun time scurrying around on the rocks down by the river.

This is Great Falls

This is Angela and I being weird...

Thursday was a longer day. Mike and I went into DC on the Metro and saw some sights. Originally, we were going to see the bathrooms of the Library of Congress (laugh all you want, but they are very, very, very nice and last time they were closed so I did not see them), then we were going to spend the day at the Smithsonian and other museums. That did not happen. We saw the House of Reps getting out so we watched them leave, then saw the bathrooms and the actual Library of Congress, then took a tour of the Capitol, then walked down and got some grub from a street vendor on our way to the White House, stopping to see various buildings like the FBI Building. We saw both sides of the White House, then noticed that the president's motorcade was getting ready to leave, so we waited to watch. That ended up taking an hour, but was still neat. By then we were almost out of time. We walked around the Washington Monument, which is still closed from the earthquake. Speaking of the quake, I have a great story. As we were walking around the base of the Washington Monument, we were reading a little informational marker about the earthquake. As we read, some ladies came over and one exclaimed to the other, "Oh, that's why it's closed! The Great Washington-New York Earthquake of 2011." My brother and I walked away trying not to laugh out loud...the Great Washington-New York Earthquake of 2011...oh man. Here's my favorite reminder of that quake:





Everyone does these kind of shots, so I thought, what the heck...here's me holding up the Washington Monument...





Mike at the Supreme Court...





Me at the Supreme Court...














Me at the White House...




I was trying to keep the cold off of me before I finally went under...




This is a mole crab we dug up...he just wanted to go back in his hole...




First time at the Atlantic Ocean! Now I've been to all of them here... Pacific, Atlantic, and the Gulf...










Horse just chillin' on the side of the road...

As I'm sure most of you are aware, I snuck over to Virginia in the dead of night Saturday and surprised my family with a week-long visit. Here's what has happened since then.

Saturday at 11:59 pm I took off from Salt Lake International. Four hours later, at 6 am (time change), I landed in Charlotte, North Carolina. I ate a cinnamon roll and boarded my flight to Baltimore. In Baltimore, I was stranded for an hour at the rental car place due to a little drama involving fees I was not informed of and limited money. Finally, Avis Rental saved me and I made my way from Baltimore to my hometown of Nokesville, Virginia. The family was about to head to church, so I waited in the next town over while having lunch at Cracker Barrel. Fully fed, I rolled up to the farm to the less than thrilled welcome of our female beagle, Shilo. She never remembers me and it sometimes takes her a day or two to warm up to me again. She and I walked around the farm as she followed the scents of rabbits, groundhogs and other animals we have here. Then we sprawled out for naps on the living room floor, before it finally came about time for the family to arrive home from church. I had gone through at least 20 different scenarios for surprising them ranging from hitchhiking on our street to Skyping from the front lawn. The humidity was murderous Sunday, so I opted for a simple plan. Sit out on the lawn and wait to see their confused looks. Here is a picture of what I did, though the umbrella was in the middle behind me when they drove up...and the dog is not going potty as it may appear.



So when the family did drive up, the dog was running around in front of them. They saw her first and wondered why and how the dog was out. Then they see me to the side and had the classic: "Wait...what?" look. According to sources in the car, my mother wondered aloud if I had maybe lost my job. Angela did exactly as I predicted, jumping from the moving vehicle to run and hug me. Camilla also did as I expected, saying things such as "What the? You didn't even tell us!?" Mike knew so he just laughed. Annie was not home but when I tagged her in my reveal on Facebook she called from where she was babysitting and asked what I was doing here.

Monday, I returned my rental to an Avis Rental close to home, had Chick-Fil-A, played through my old songbooks and sheet music on piano, and awaited the arrival of Amelia and brother-in-law Max, who I only ever saw once before briefly at the wedding. They came down for dinner and family night to see me since they live up by Baltimore and won't have much time later this week. We all had a joyous time Monday night.

This morning, Tuesday, mom, Mike, Camilla, and I drove 2 hours up to Gettysburg and took an audio tour of the battleground. It was really cool driving along the actual lines of battle, standing where soldiers stood, seeing how the entire battle played out from all angles. I uploaded all the pictures to Facebook, but here is one anyway.


The rest of the week is yet to be fully planned, but, I will go into DC to see the Smithsonians at some point, see the Avengers in Imax 3D, do some shopping, go to the beach, and see as much as I can before I have to head back to reality, where next week, a heavy load of work awaits.

Song of the day is an easy choice. It's "Back Home Again" by John Denver.

It was a fairly typical weekend. Worked a bit Saturday. Hung out with friends. Rested Sunday. Skyped the family.

Saturday was a particularly great day though. I worked from 9 till about 3...well, I worked from 9 till about 2:30, then we kind of goofed off a bit. For those of you who missed them on Facebook, here are the pictures and videos from our hard work.

There are 2 videos:
http://socialcam.com/u/owTQc0IV

Plus a couple pictures...






































I also have 2 funny stories to share that I told my family today. First, I scared the heck outta my roommate Myles. As good friends and roommates do, we try to scare each other frequently. Myles and myself are a bit harder to scare and you have to get us when we are completely distracted or relaxed (such as right after I pee when I open the bathroom door). After work Saturday I was playing the xbox for a bit and he was on his computer. I was done playing and crept to the door to our room. Certain he had no idea I was behind him at the door, I very loudly yelled "I'M BORED!!". Startled halfway out of this chair, he jumped and flailed his arms and legs a bit. After quickly realizing I got him, almost in the same motion of his startled jump, he leaned back in his chair to sigh, only to have the backrest give out and break, sending him tumbling head over heels backwards. All of this happened within 3 seconds and with him being somewhat large in stature (I just started re-reading the Book of Mormon so forgive the phrase), it almost looked as if he was falling in slow motion as the momentum surprised him and took him upside down. I laughed for a good couple minutes and kept randomly cracking up for a few hours as the utterly hilarious image of those 3 seconds kept renewing in my mind.

The second story is not as hilarious, but funny nonetheless and happened at my expense. As I was driving to work the other morning, I glanced in my rear-view mirror. As I did, I read the date on the paper in my window indicating when my temporary registration expires. I became confused and thought to myself, "Wow, I put the paper on backwards. It's supposed to be facing the other way so it can be read from outside.". I turned around to look at it and had a good laugh as I realized it, in fact, was facing the correct way...the mirror simply flipped the image.

This week has been a great one for me and I hope also for all of you. If not, I hope you take a moment to reflect on what caused it to be not so good and take the necessary actions to fix it. Our Song of the Day today is dedicated to everyone having a great week. Also, I think I will adopt a new strategy for blogging. I enjoy posting every day, but, to enable me to have more time each night for reading and getting to bed, I think I will update just a couple times a week. I usually recap weekends on Sundays, so I'll probably do a couple posts during the week and a weekend post. This will also enable more people to read a higher number of posts since not everyone sees on Facebook or directly each day and if you miss a day all of a sudden you have missed 3 posts and don't want to catch up. Lastly, I think it will enhance the quality of my posts. Sometimes I have little to share about a particular day. Posting about a few days though, there is generally more quality things for me to share.

Before I go, I wanted to again thank everyone for reading. It is nice to have a blog for my family to read what I am up to, but, as many of you have noticed and even commented to me, my posts are not just about what I did one day. I often delve into life lessons I've learned and share personal things I would not otherwise share. For that reason, I am truly amazed at how many non-family members have tuned in to read. For some, it's a once or twice occasion, but there are some who read a few times a week or even almost every post. That leaves me at a loss for words. My life is so insignificant, yet you choose to spend time in your day to listen to me. You inspire me to listen to others more. I have made a very sincere effort these past months to listen more to those around me, so thank you for that. May we all have a fantastic week. Good luck to all you USU students taking finals. Have a good week at school Angela. Hope your eye feels better Camilla. Find a good internship that leads you to eventually become a millionaire so you can help a brother out Mike. I'm loving my new car Annie (oh, and have fun doing whatever it is you do at work). Help get Mitt elected and I'll come visit Mom and Dad. I'll visit you too if I come Max and Amelia. And don't think I've neglected the rest of you. I sincerely hope you all have a peaceful and productive week free from troubles and stress.

The actual story of the DMV is abridged as follows:

I awoke to the peaceful sunshine gleaming across my well rested eyes. I jumped out of bed, excited to dart around town running my various errands. Number one on my list, both in priority and in anticipation, was the DMV. Having recently taken over ownership of my sister's Ford Explorer, the car was due to be registered in my name. I quickly showered, shaved and began my preparations for the DMV. I was unsure what forms I would need and turned to the internet. After some uncertainty, I remembered a page of guidelines sent to me by the bank. With high certitude, I departed. First stop was the auto shop for a safety inspection. Like a lightning strike, by the time I blinked, the inspection was done. A few minutes later, the paperwork to go with the inspection was completed and I headed to the DMV on my way to campus to print out forms. I wanted to make sure I had everything correct the first time so there would be no back and forth all day, so I popped my head in and spoke with a very kind elderly lady who affirmed the forms I would need and gave me two of them to fill out. With me and the DMV on the same page, I went up to campus in my officially certified safe vehicle. After exchanging pleasantries with friends and co-workers, I was able to slip away from the social butterflies to print off the Application for Utah Title from the email from the bank. All of the correct forms filled out, I then swung by home to grab the bank provided check for registration I had forgotten. The completed package finally together, I whistled happy tunes with a smile on my way to the DMV. The kind lady I had spoken to previously was on lunch, so I conversed this time with an even more pleasant lady. I presented all the properly filled out forms, she typed in the information and presented me with a bill of $800. Shocked, I asked why it was $800 rather than the $108 it should be. So silly of me, a normal person with zero knowledge of car registrations and the forms that go with it, I had put the value of the car on the Bill of Sale when the car was a gift, not a purchase. The delightfully helpful clerk let me know I would need the form to say gift to be processed and sent me to fix it. Downstairs, I found an office with white-out and corrected the silly error. I went back up and was directed to a different pleasant lady due to another customer being helped by the second one I was working with. The third lady ever so politely rejected my white-out solution, saying I needed a whole new form. She gave me a new one and I left again. Concerned that they would reject my using an unofficial form of power of attorney to sign the form on my sister's behalf (she lives 2068 miles away in Virginia), I called home seeking the official form she signed for the bank gifting her interest of the car to me. While I patiently waited to see if we had a copy at home, I jovially cruised to Chick-Fil-A and got lunch. For any interested parties, if you like banana cream pie, you will LOVE the limited-time-only Banana Pudding Milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. Back on topic, my family could not locate a copy of the form, so I decided to give one final try with the second lady. I filled out the Bill of Sale with "Gift" in the amount, signed it and headed back up to the second floor of the county building to the DMV. I walked in and was helped by the third lady, who was suspicious of me. Thankfully, as soon as I stepped to the counter, the second lady became available and I asked if she could finish what she started. The third lady recused herself and even left the room as I moved to the next spot over. This time, everything was in order and I signed up for special interest plates. I'm loving being here at Utah State, so I got BYU plates! I know my true blue Aggie friends will hate me for it, but their major beef is with BYU Athletics. No one can or has argued with the high caliber education BYU offers, and I wanted to contribute to that in some way, so, with these plates, every year I register the car with them, I donate $35 that goes to the BYU General Scholarship Fund. Don't worry all you Aggies...between catering, attending on-campus events, service projects and other things I do here, I am contributing plenty to the equally important endeavors of the other great university in the state (the University of Utah gets nothing, sorry). All in all though, I had an absolutely pleasurable experience with the DMV today and I would highly recommend them to everyone...*cough* *cough*

I experienced an odd feeling today. I was sore from head to toe from running, jumping, kicking, diving, and falling during kickball yesterday, but, I loved it. It felt oddly good. Of course, I am certainly not saying I want to feel this sore every day. I guess I enjoyed it because I still feel highly energized. This whole fatigue thing is so difficult to comprehend, even for me, but one thing that is absolute is that since I decided these past couple weeks to renew myself, I have felt absolutely amazing and I plan on staying this way. It upsets me somewhat to think that I let myself digress. The way I felt one month ago and how I feel today are completely opposite.
Anyway...today was recovery day from yesterday. After work, I pretty much rested my oddly good feeling pains. I am off tomorrow (Thursday), and will hopefully get my car registered and try to get insurance squared away fast.

I finally revamped the music on my ipod. Every time I tried to clear the music from it, it would not do it, but this time it worked. I cleared everything, then spent a couple hours going through all my tunes to get what I wanted on there. I will add more over the next week or so and create playlists so I can finally listen to what I want. There was a ridiculous amount of stuff I did not care for before.

That was essentially my entire day. Really not a ton going on right now. I want to find a way to record the song I wrote last year so I can upload it and share it. I never wanted to show anyone, but now maybe around 20 people have heard it and they all really liked it, plus I promised a friend I would give her a copy when I did. Hopefully soon.

It's on my mind right now, so the Song of the Day is "Manamana" by: The Muppets.