Ode to Virginia

Dear Virginia,

I'm leaving soon, for Utah calls...
I'll miss you dearly - and all your malls.

When I'm gone, Nate just might relax,
who knew shopping sprees caused heart attacks?

I found solace in the slower days,
if not in malls, then catching rays.

The apartment pool - the Eastern shore
you know tanning is what summer's for!

You've been a great host, oh sweet V-A,
if given the chance, I'd come back to stay.

But in the end, U-T has you beat,
with mountains, deserts, and normal streets.

Although, the one thing you can truly boast -
Your license plates! I will miss them most.

So in honor of you, oh state of states -
my personal plethora of crazy plates.

Colonial Williamsburg

It's taken me a bit to get these up, but here are a few pictures of our day in Williamsburg. We drove up with Rem, Traci, and Sawyer and had lots of fun even though the weather was peaking into the 100's. The city is all historically preserved and the people are dressed up in colonial attire. We didn't want to pay to go in some of the homes...but we still had lots of fun just walking down the streets and peeking in where we could.
On the way home we had a Jelly Belly competition to see who could eat the grossest flavors. Someone would eat a bean without looking what it was, and then we'd laugh as they were forced to swallow or spit out jelly beans that tasted like vomit, rotten egg, moldy cheese, booger, pencil shavings, and skunk spray! If you've seen Traci's blog, these pictures will look very familiar!

Back Home, Barfing, and Batman

Now that I've had a few days to recover from my travels, (and more importantly-I found a spot where my computer will finally connect to the internet) I thought I'd record my experiences getting back home.
A couple weeks ago I had the chance to fly home for a week of visiting my family. My dad's side of the family has a camp out reunion every summer and since I missed it last year, I really wanted to be there. The fact that Cade is leaving us in less than a month also played a big part in the return.
The actual trip home was a story within itself but I don't really want to say much more than I now have a strong dislike for Dallas, Texas. (In particular, one American Airlines worker in Dallas)
When the Wallentine family gets together there's no lack of good food, laughs, and story telling. My dad has 7 siblings and they all have large families of their own, so dinner time with 40 relatives is normal. I love it! Here just a few of my favorite camp traditions:

Wallentines NEVER cheat at games ;) Some more action shots. Yes, that is my Dad.
And here is the close up. Watch out Cade!Uncle Chris reading the famous "left/right" story.
My Nana, with help from lots of others, gets enough gifts for EVERYONE to pass around the circle while listening for all the "left" and "rights".
And of course, sitting around the fire. I love listening to all the hilarious stories!
While I was home I caught a 48 hour flu bug...or something...so I had to leave the first night of camp to go home due to a upset stomach. (I won't mention any names of who I contracted this sickness from...ahem, Ashley :) ) However, I didn't have to miss too much of the reunion so it all worked out.
I had lots of fun at home and I'm glad I went, but it also made it hard to leave my family again. I was excited to come back to Virginia to of course be with Nate, and it won't be long until we head back for Cade's farewell.
Soon after I got back, Nate's sales office made their goal for the day and his manager paid for all of us to go to the midnight premiere of Batman. I haven't seen any of the other Batmans, but I loved the new one! It also helped that Christian Bale is VERY good looking. :) Heath Ledger was freakishly awesome as well.

July 4th - East Coast Style

Nate worked until 5 on the 4th of July. I think that is the only day they get a slight break...(?) because they usually go until 9. As part of the festivities, his company is awesome and pays for a huge BBQ dinner. It's a BYODC event (bring your own Diet Coke) , which to me, is basically any event.After dinner we went down to the beach with 95% of the population of Virginia (the other 5% was packed into a park a few blocks from our apartment). Then parked 10 blocks away from the action, walked behind slow people for 10 minutes just in time to catch the firework show, and walked the 10 blocks back with the same slow people who were ironically then in a hurry, all after a max 20 minutes of fireworks. I'm used to Romney Stadium's 45 minute celebration duration, so I was completely NOT ready to leave after the so-called grand finale.

I know I probably sound a bit pessimistic/sarcastic, but Virginia Beach really did put on a good show and it was a fun night. The fireworks were set off on boats out in the ocean and therefore reflected in the water when they exploded, so it was like a double dose.
(If you're like my sister, you notice my shirt changed colors. Just think clumsy, BBQ, ketchup, and white shirt...but Nate is very festive)
(This doesn't do the water reflection justice, but I tried)

We missed our families and their parties (and Nate's dad's birthday, Happy Birthday Darrell!), but we also realize this is such a great opportunity for us. It's a time of our lives that we'll never be able to duplicate. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays because it's not focused around spending money or other such things, but just a time for everyone to celebrate our country. Happy 4th!

A Jane Filled June

One of my friends, Dani, brought her copy of Pride and Prejudice to Virginia. I know P&P is a classic, but I found it to be slight coincidence because I had a pile of 4 or 5 books I had intentions of bringing and P&P was one of the lucky few...that is until I forgot them all. Once I heard she had her copy I asked to borrow it. Since that moment we've immersed ourselves in what could be described as "A Jane filled June"--Jane Austen that is.

Our first trip to Blockbuster resulted in a quick concurrence of Becoming Jane. Yes, it has been out for quite some time, but neither of us had seen it. Long story short--we both loved it. I loved it so much in fact, I took it home and nicely forced Nate to watch with me again...the same night.A few days later Dani and I were spotted leaving Barnes and Noble with every Jane Austen book available from the $5 classic collection shelf. Obsessed? Just a little.

The Jane-maina has also resulted in two $5 movie purchases of P&P (the new version with Keira Knightley) and Sense and Sensibility. Turns out Wal-Mart is good for something.
Yesterday, after many hours locked down in my dark apartment, Dani and I finished the A&E 6/7 hour P&P miniseries. And yes, I'm reading the book.

Some might be concerned of a Mr. Darcy overload. On the contrary however. The hours and hours of Janeisms eek out of me in more discreet manners. I just catch myself before I ask Nate, "Pray tell me what be most agreeable for dinner, sir?" :)

Or then of course, I just blog about it.

You're Not in Utah Anymore...

So this post is more to "journal" our time in Virginia but also to share as well.
Last Sunday after church we decided to try and find the beach. It was a bit cloudy and a little breezy but we weren't planning on doing much more than looking. SO... we met up with Rem, Traci, Sawyer boy, and with lots of help from the GPS, made our way to the beach.
Just as we parked the car and set foot on the boardwalk the "rains came pouring down." (As in the Wise Man and the Foolish Man) Sand pelted my ankles as the wind picked it up and threw it every which way. Dark spots grew into dark blotches on our clothes as we ran for cover back to the parking garage. Needless to say, our beach tour lasted a good 10 minutes. We decided a drive by viewing would suffice for now.
As we made our way home, the radio hummed in the background until I heard the long and annoying BEEEEEP that is usually followed by information that you'd probably rather not hear. Well, that something turned out to be a tornado warning. Correct. A real tornado as in those big swirly things that pick up Holstein cows in the movie "Twister". The announcement proceeded to warn people to find immediate shelter, at ground level, and if caught in a tornado, to find an interior wall closet or room and to cover yourself in pillows and blankets - and to stay away from windows.
So being the sheltered "valley girl" that I am - make that Cache Valley girl I guess - I obviously experienced a few moments of shear panic.After we made it home, we looked on the internet to find that Virginia Beach was on the borderline of the warning area. This calmed our worries a "skosh" (as Mrs. Olson would say) and the storm raged on for a couple more hours. Luckily I never saw a witch fly by on a bike or anything. Long story short, we're perfectly safe, and have now experienced tornado ensuing weather.

Lesson learned: I'm grateful for mountains.

We're Heerrre!

Virginia is pretty sweet! (and very warm) Just thought I'd document our very long road trip:
When we were still sane - before thirty plus hours in the car.
After we had to take a very long detour because the Wyoming freeway was closed. Not cool.
Just a few of the hundreds we saw.
Yes, the rumors are true. Kansas is flat.
Eating lunch in Kansas with the Allens, our travel buddies.
Yes. I got pulled over. Stupid Kansas. Who drives 60 on the freeway?? Luckily the guy was pretty nice and just gave me a warning.
I tried and tried to take a cool picture of all the cows and barns for my Dad, but I was always to slow.
A sunset pic with the Allens in tow.
Saying goodbye to our ghetto motel.
Apparently Santa lives in Missouri, not the North Pole.
I love Kentucky! That is where we lived last summer. This is right before my camera died, so from there to Virginia got left out.