my first earthquake

As I sat at my computer around lunch time today, I began to feel the ground shaking beneath my feet. I suddenly realized I was experiencing a real earthquake! I leaped out of my chair and ran to the doorway, and I stood there wimpering in fear trying to hold steady the violently shaking walls. It was a 5.4 in Chino Hills about 30 miles away. Scary! I found out that the earthquake was the biggest California has had in 10 years. Anyway, I was pretty shaken up for the rest of the day, Pete was fine in his office, and M&M, Krystin, Tono, and Patti are all ok. The chihuahuas too. :)

Houston with Pete's Pops

This last weekend was soooo incredibly fun! Pete and I left at the exact same time from LAX and baltimore, he was supposed to wait for me at my gate, because his flight was supposed to have arrived 20 min before mine, but my flight was really early and beat his. I sprinted down the terminal to surprise him!! It was such a wonderful reunion. :) Then we did the Longhurst tradition of going to IHOP on the night that family gets in town. It was so fun. Then pete and I stayed up until 4am talking and catching up and being in love. It was so nice. Then we parted, but only for 3 hours until I went and woke him up really early at 7am so that we could go running before the houston heat came out to bake us. We had a great 3.5 MIN run. That was the first time I have tried to go running since my knee surgery, 3 months ago. I could only run for like three and a half minutes, because the muscles in my legs are very atrophied. Anyway, when we got home Craig made us a great breakfast of eggs, toast, peaches, bacon, bananas, and oranges, and that awesome LOOZA nectar juice.....mmmmmazing! Then we went to 'the club' as Craig calls it. It really is a nice sports mall type place. We had a lot of fun.....i beat them at horse and around the world, pete beat us at 7-on-the-line, and craig beat pete in 1-on-1. I would have played, but I am not allowed yet. then I watched craig and pete play tennis. They were tied at 5-5, but I walked in and pete lost to craig in the final game. :( but hey at least that tells you he can't concentrate when I'm in the room. I think that that is endearing. Then we swam and hung out at the pool. Then we went to the Nordstrom sale. We consulted for craig and helped him buy some nice new shirts and shoes. We are compensated through a small consulting fee of getting something we liked. pete found a few really nice shirts (one with stripes! Can you believe it? (he always wears checkers and only blue checkers, this time it was striped! and blue. we're making progress though!!)) and I fould a cute white jacket with big buttons vintage style. :) Then we went out to a nice tex-mex restaurant. Then to a movie. Pete and I woke up early to make breakfast and head out to the family ward for church. We met up with Ryan Dalling a mutual friend of ours. I took a math class with him, and pete takes business classes with him. We love Ryan. He is so cool. He came to lunch with us later that day. Then Pete and I had to say goodbye at the airport gate. :( it was sad, but we get to see eachother on Friday-- I just finished up with Maryland, and I am excited to get back to the west coast!!! I miss my roots!!

Pics of NYC and DC, far overdue :)

mom this pic is for you ,we went to yankee stadium and got an awesome tour. They are tearing down the old stadium which has so much history, and we loved learning about what die-hard fans do.

general lee's home, it overlooks arlington cemetery in VA
changing of the gaurd at the tomb of the unknown soldier

top of empire state building!
inside the metropolitan museum of art



the UN
lincoln memorial

Vietnam war memorial in DC
Washington monument
the village in NYC
capitol hill
the white house

WWII monument in DC

Fourth of July in the Nation's Capitol

Our first stop was to see the campus of University of Maryland. My campus!! It is so so so beautiful here. We are the mighty Terrapins, or 'Terps,' that's a giant turtle in case you didn't already know that.

The next stop was downtown to see the mall. We went to the National Gallery of Art. It was so beautiful, but it was extra interesting with the new live exhibit. you'll have to ask about that one.
This is another fountain in the museum of art. It had such beautiful courtyards. Such an amazing structure the gallery is!

This is Harper's Ferry, where the shenandoah meets the potomac river. It was beautiful. Sorry this picture does not capture the beauty. Pete and I didn't take many pictures that day, because we decided to enjoy the time in that beautiful area while on the river! We went white water rafting, which was actually so so so fun! It was slow for a good portion, but there were some really fun parts of the river, and I am so glad I was able to go with my knee being injured still.

This was the actual Fourth of July with fireworks and everything. we stood in awe while on top of the lincoln monument gawking at the gigantic fireworks above our heads. It was so fun! We also went to Georgetown that day to play and look around. pete was lucky, because all of the shops were closed. ;)

Anyway, on Sunday night we had to say goodbye, and it was hard. It was kind of a tease to have him here for such a short time, but I am so glad that I was able to show him my world and what it's like here in Maryland. I love it here. I miss my home greatly. I miss all of you, but I have one more month, and then I will be home again. :) yay!!

Tonight I leave for Kentucky to visit Mom, Tiffy, Branden, and Savannah!! Yes!!!

Philly (cheesesteaks, shopping, and history)

On Saturday, Tanja, Debbie, Blake, Zachary, William, and I all packed in the van to visit Philly. Tanja is my roommate and the others are the Durtchi Family. They are so fun! Zachary is three and William is 5 mo. They are so much fun! I was so grateful to have little buddies to keep things exciting. Philly was really neat. It is a must-see for history buffs!! :) We did everything all in one day. Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Downtown, South Street, Penn's Landing, Betsy Ross House, Ben Franklin House Site, First and Second Banks, Art Museum (Rocky steps :-)), listening to live actors whose passion is history, and enjoying a philly cheesesteak at a pizzeria, because the famous Jim's had a line around the block and it was 3 pm and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. It was such a neat city :) oh and one more place, the really neat reading market....("redding" market) really neat, the amish had already gone home because it was saturday night :( sad. anyway, life is good here in Maryland. I have one more month in the sticky beautiful place where I enjoy meeting new people, going to almost every YSA activity, learning about American History every day, soaking in regular down pours of rain, walking a mile away from my ghetto neighborhood and almost calling the police to have them pick me up because I thought I was going to get jumped, I didn't know that industrial district was right near my house....scary 'hood. Luckily I found someone's backyard and proceeded to walk right through it to get back to the residential area, but little did I know the dude would be standing in the front yard. awkward....but safe....wheehhw, well what other crazy things do I find in DC?? Well let me think, oh, I was the only white at the gym last night. That was interesting. Ok not really but almost. I love it here. It is like living in a foreign country. Oh yeah, and did I mention I have four roommates. a Chinese, Englishman, Norwegian, and a North Carolinian. and two are dudes. If this is not enough of a shock to you, tomorrow we are going lunch with our research group here, two romanians, a brazilian, and a Pakistinian, all graduate students in Electrical Engineering. The only Americans I meet are undergraduates. Where is our country headed? I hope they all stay here, and become citizens, and improve our country.