Labor Day weekend!

This week has been extremely FUN!

First off...Sunday, my friends Shauntelle, Ben, Katy, Amanda, and I went to the DC singles ward and I said I haven't seen the temple here yet...so we made a pit stop and took a trip to the TEMPLE!! It is soooo beautiful. Too bad it was sunday and we couldn't go in!

I guess all temples are pretty but the Washington DC is in my top favorites right now.

 Sunday Dress

Katy, Me, Ben, Shauntelle, and Amanda

I've made a great friends here so far...THANK YOU CHURCH! haha without the Church I think I would be a lost and lonely soul. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be able to have Sundays off from my job and be able to go to church and get a little piece of home. I took advantage of the fact that I had two temple 15 minutes north and south of where I lived. Now...this is the closest temple...45 minutes away and the next closest one is the New York one...so I am very lucky where I come from. Speaking of people I have met around here...I've become great friends with a girl named Erin Dean. I freakin love her! She is like my twin. We even finish each others sentences! haha!! She is so awesome and such a great girl. SUPER hilarious! I'm so glad that we have gotten along...we are definitely going to be best friends!! She is going to be serving a mission soon and I will be really sad but i'll send her letters! 

LABOR DAY!

I really don't understand why we have a holiday called Labor day or the purpose of the holiday?? So. I googled it:

The Purpose of Labor Day - the first monday of september, and is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Yeah. I still don't understand...we are celebrating that people have jobs...yet we still make them work on that day?? Hmm...sounds sketchy to me..but oh well. I had the day off..and you know what I did to celebrate?!

 A DC TRIP...yeah yeah!!

First we (Me, Jennie, and Erin) drove to the "mall" which is a very deceiving word..it's not a mall at all! It is a patch of grass between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. (ps. I did an AMAZING parallel parking job in downtown DC...thank you creepy driver's ed teacher for teaching me a great skill.)

 The "mall" with Erin.

 Here is the Washington Monument.

(ps. this was BEFORE it started raining)

After taking some pictures outside we decided to visit the National Art Museum...and any of you that really, truly know me...I would never CHOOSE to go into an art museum..ever! hahaha! But of course I am starting to try new things...it was fun. I recognized some pieces that I studied in a college class, made fun of some pieces, and saw a lot of body parts that should have been covered up on female and male pieces...but it is art. So they make exceptions I guess? :) haha! We also met up with some of Erin's college friends, West and Chris. They were a good help to figure out where to go.

 Mimicking the fountain man

 Getting a wee bit bored of the museum! (ps. this is Jennie. She is such an awesome girl as well! I really like hanging out with her!)

As we were walking out of the museum...and around the mall...it started to lightly rain...and then turned into a complete DOWNPOUR! We had some miscommunication as well with the times the Smithsonian's were open..so we didn't get to check them out...and we had no idea what to do as we were huddled underneath a snack building! SO...great idea. Metro ride to "Foggy Bottom" (bahahahaha that is the funniest place I have ever heard of!!) and we went to get something to eat at this GREAT Mediterranean Grill called Roti. It was delicious.  

 Wet on the metro!

After eating, West had to leave and so us 3 girls and Chris went to Michelle and Barack Obama's house to visit...but they wouldn't let us in. :)

SO. A great day off I must say! It was awesome going around the city. Thanks to great friends and a historical city so close to us!

BTW. I am not sure if i've mentioned this before...but Maryland is famous for Blue Crabs...it is like Idaho and their potatoes. So the first day I was here we had crabs for dinner..and can I just say...crab is DEVINE. It was so so good. If you have the chance to try crab...DO IT!

 I think I posted this because I am craving crab right now! haha!

AND...one last thing.

Today is the one year mark for Elder Thomas Miles Hatch being out on his mission. 

He is serving in the Fort Worth, Texas mission. It is crazy how much has happened since he has been gone and how much change we both have gone through but it is definitely for the best. It really doesn't feel like it has been a year...it feels more like a couple months. But that means time is flying by and it will continue to until next September when he gets home!! I am so so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord. He is the BEST missionary out in the field right now and if anybody decide to disagree with me...I will put up a fight for this one. Because he is worth it!! I cannot wait until the day I get to hear his crazy laugh and see his goofy smile again! It will be a bittersweet day. And although we didn't officially date for very long, I've known him for years and hope to continue to know him for more. :) He makes me the happiest person in the world.

So. That's all for now. Thanks for reading yet another long blog post!! 

Have a Happy Thursday!

Brunswick, Ball-Games, and Beaches

OH MY LANTA!

I have not posted a blog in almost two months...geez. So much for keeping up with what I am doing...but seriously I have been so busy since moving out here to Maryland. I LOVE IT! Let's start off with before the trip out here..

 (Nursing Pinning)

I GRADUATED!!! yay!!! For those of you who don't know...I was (and still am) attending Brigham Young University - Idaho and graduated with my Associates of Science - Nursing degree. It was just the two year RN degree but still...I graduated! It was a bittersweet, hectic, blissful, rewarding kind of day. Glad to be out of the Rexburg, Idaho scene and into the real world where people don't have curfews in college ;)

So...onto my trip out here...we did in fact drive the entire way from Rupert, Idaho to Brunswick, Maryland...2,193 miles to be exact. It should have taken us at least 2-3 days to drive..but we made it a 5 day trip to accommodate my mom's slow driving and we stopped in Sandusky, OH...more on that later...here are my state signs!!

We stopped like every half hour because one of us either had to use the ladies room, we wanted to walk around, or we just were sick of driving...I think Wyoming was the worst! It was nothing but truckers and mountains and highway! 

We stopped in Sandusky and stayed for 2 nights there and went to what is known as the "coolest" amusement park ever..which I have to agree...Cedar Point. It seriously is the bomb-dot-com! It was the funnest place I have ever been to...it puts Lagoon to shame! It wasn't until the last day...on our last ride...that I was not to happy with the outcome of the day...here's the story:

(Millennium Force)

Meet this monster of a rollercoaster. It was seriously huge. 310 ft up in the air...and you drop at a 90 degree angle down. Well we went on this our first day and we LOVED it...but on our second day at the park we decided to just do the water park instead of rides...so we had to wait until our third and last day to get back on this baby. We decided this was going to be our last ride so we could get into Maryland at a decent time. The wait was 45 minutes in line...but it was well worth it...or so I thought...anyway. We get all strapped in and ready to go...we start climbing and are in the 2nd row (the front seats were an even longer wait) and it was a great view from the top of the coaster looking out over Lake Erie. OK...so I am usually pretty well-behaved on rides and NEVER get sick or anything...but as we made our decent...I started seeing black spots..I looked out to the lake at a boat...and that is the last thing I remember seeing. I guess...according to my moms story...I was flapping around all over her and she was like "what the heck are you doing?!" and lifted my head up and I had loads of slobber coming out of my mouth and was unconscious! My mom was seriously freaked out and could not stop repeating the story the entire way to Maryland..anyway. She held onto me to the rest of the ride so I wouldn't get any worse whiplash than I already had, and notified the workers that I had passed out when the ride came to a stop. Long story short...the ride was delayed a good 15-20 minutes because I was passed out in the coaster car and they didn't want to move me until the EMT people got there..they picked me up out of the car...and onto the stretcher and down to the first aid building...way to leave with a boom! hahaha We realized later that I hold my breath on those sort of rides so that I don't end up sick or throwing up or anything...so I am now more careful about that since that little episode and rode a rollercoaster this past Monday without passing out or holding my breath :) Also...sad to say...I had a little accident in my pants (#1) and had to walk clear out to the car with wet shorts :(

NOW! MARYLAND STORIES! FINALLY!

I got here on the 31st of July and have loved it ever since. I currently reside in Brunswick, Maryland. About 40 minutes outside of DC/Baltimore area. I had a few days with my mom before I had to take her to the airport and then was all by my self here besides the family I am nannying for...which are SOOOO awesome. They have the cutest little girls in the world...but they are surely spoiled rotten! and do not like when I say the word 'no' to them!

Here we are at this awesome seafood restaurant in Cambridge..I think that is where we were...anyway...it was delicious food, live music, and right on the water.

There were a few days at the beginning that I was super homesick and missed my mom alot, I cried to her on the phone two days in a row, but since I went to church out here that has helped me out so much! It was nice to go to church and it be the same as what happens at home..I felt apart of something. The people in the ward out here are also VERY nice and very helpful! One of the Bishopric members, Brother Allgaier, had me over for sunday dinner and FHE my first sunday here. Him, his sweet wife, and 5 children all welcomed me like I was part of their family! That definitely helped out the adjustment out here very much so and the fact that they live right down the road from me! I met soooo many young single adults in the area too. The first weekend I was here, I stumbled upon a tri-stake YSA conference/dance. It was a very...eye-opening experience....to meet the people out here. Don't get me wrong, some of the people I have met, I have become very close with and consider them great friends already...but there are ALOT of weirdies out here!! haha! It's all good though. I am having all sorts of fun out here.

Ball-Games:

Baltimore Orioles Baseball game 8/12/11
~ Mormon Night with the missionaries and YSA's~

Baltimore Ravens Football Game 8/25/11
I was very lucky to be able to go with the family that I nanny for, to this preseason Raven's game...it was a GREAT experience and so much fun even though it POURED rain while we were tailgating...i'm already a fan! :)

BEACHES!!!!!

8/13/11

 I was invited to go to Virginia Beach with my great friend Bryan...who lives in Fort Washington, Maryland...little did I know it was going to be with his entire extended family...but I loved it and I made some great friends and I love his family so so much! They were VERY welcoming to the only white girl that tagged along with them to the beach!

then...

8/30/11

I went with the family I nanny for to Ocean City, Maryland. Another beach trip in the month of August. We went right after the bay bridge opened back up after the hurricane passed and we stayed in their families beach house for 3 nights and went to the beach, rode some pier rides, ate out, and enjoyed the last sun of the summer!

This blog post is getting extremely long..but I will post more often now that I am settled down and into the groove of things. I plan to keep this updated...PROMISE!

One more thing...speaking of the hurricane...that added something to my list of new things I've done since being here:
1. Ate crab for the first time -- and LOVED it
2. Ate an oyster for the first time -- YUCK!
3. survived an earthquake AND a hurricane all in one weeks time...the most natural disasters I've ever been in!
4. Got introduced to REAL traffic
5. Went to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time ever!
and yeah...there are many more..I plan on writing a book..haha just kidding! But I am keeping track of things I have learned while being here!!

Just an FYI for all you mothers, mothers to be, or just random people reading my blog...don't put regular diapers on a baby and let them go swimming...the diaper just sucks up ALL the water and then they waddle around because they are packin...big time! So..buy the swim diapers! hahaha I learned that first hand...


Anyway..I hope you endured to the end and are reading this..if you are..I admire you..if not...I don't admire you! :) hahaha only kidding!!

Bye Bye for now!!

Habits...some should be formed, some should be broken....

(My view everyday at work)

"Jefferson Hills, This is Mercedes. Yes we have a tee time at 3:00. You want it? Ok, how many players? 9 or 18 holes? And do you need a cart? Ok you are down for 3:00, have a good day."

This is my habit I have formed.

I have worked at the golf course for two years now and have loved every second of it. I've become familiar with so many different things like the "good" golf balls (Titleist ProV 1), the "good" golf brand (Taylormade), how to tie down the governor so the carts will go faster :) and of course, the worst part of golf, the prices..(It is an extremely expensive sport!) It is almost a daily occurrence that I get at least one person complaining about how golf is such a rip off (I always want to be like "THEN DON'T COME IN AND PLAY!") The best part about my job is that I have made life long friends. My boss and his wife are the bomb.com. They are huge supports in my life and even encourage me to do my homework while at work! The "boys" that work here are such goobers but I love them all and am so thankful that I have become friends with them. There are so many memories that I have at this course: playing high school golf, work, riding the carts at night (shhh), helping with Jr. golf, sitting outside my whole shift and getting a tan, the drunks, the sobers, and beating Tom at golf on this course. Here is a picture of us from last summer when I did in fact, beat him by two strokes!

("This is my...friend?...Tom." hahahaha)

That was such a fun day. Only few people know the inside joke about that. 

Anyway. I will miss this place the most while I am gone to Maryland. I have become so comfortable here and it is just normal to me. I've finally caught on to all the workings of this place and know most of the members names...but I'll have to wait until August 2012 to continue. I love this job so much that I am even working on the day that I graduate from college. Crazy right? 

I hope to always keep this as a part-time job because I like it so much. Obviously I'll be a nurse for the continuation of my life, but working here gives me a break from the craziness of life and lets me enjoy a sport I have come to love.

This is a habit that I have formed, it shouldn't be broken, but it has to be to continue on with my adventures in life. Habit: broken on the 22nd of July 2011.

I'm a NEWBIE!

ok. First off...I am a little nervous to start this up!

This is very very new to me.

It is weird to write down what I am doing with my life and everyone knowing about it.

But what better way to document memories by making a BLOG!

I doubt many people will keep up with me...or "follow my blog" (I am getting the lingo down haha)

But I am moving soon and I want to remember all my fun activities!

So bear with me for a while.

I was told that it doesn't matter what the blog url is but what has to be catchy...is the title...it's a good one..don't you think?! :) I like it.

So now i've got to figure out how to change the outrageously nasty background to something else.

Pray I get the hang of this!!

Mercedes