Maryland is NOT like Utah...

Well this is our first week here in Maryland. We arrived last Friday night. And we found a house on Saturday! I really didn't think we would find one so fast but it just felt right and we are so excited about it :). The only down side is that we can't move in until sometime between Saturday-wednesday. But the wait is worth it :), it's a great deal for what we are getting and it has everything we want! So right now we are just camping out in a hotel and exploring our new area! There is just SO MUCH to do and see around here.

So far here are the differences we have discovered with our new home state :)

- Maryland is a JUNGLE, it is SO green. There are tree's everywhere... except for where there are obviously buildings and such.

- The humidity is definitely a change, but I don't mind it. I just need to figure out how keep my hair less frizzy.

- There is a lot more diversity in Maryland and it's super fun! We have met a lot of cool people and it's just so crazy seeing so many people from totally different walks of life.

- There is not a LDS church every block unlike utah... but that's an obvious, utah is unique that way :)

- The DC temple has to COOLEST visitor's center. They had a concert last sunday that we went to and it was super neat. We also went to the visitors center on saturday (we were going to go to the temple but it was closed and so we checked out the visitors center) and one of the missionaries told us to watch an 11 min. video about the plan of salvation. The main message was about family's being together forever, made possible through the temple. I was such a baby, I was basically crying the whole time and I usually don't cry so much... I'll just blame it on the spirit and being pregnant :). But it was a touching video and made me so grateful for the gospel in my life and that I can be with my family forever!

- Although there is a lot of great people here the general safety of the area is not the same as utah... at least so far when it comes to valuable items. Yesterday Ron and I were in a stupor for a couple of hours after our lap top was stolen right from under us in the Rockville library :(. I was writing a letter and had my lap top by me and when I was done with it, it was gone. I know that could happen anywhere but at least at BYU/provo the chances of that happening are a lot less. That was a good/sad wake up call!

- There are stores, shopping, restaurants GALORE here!! Grocery stores, all kinds of misc, stores, and restaurants are EVERYWHERE! Parking is also MUCH more limited than in utah, (even compared to salt lake) especially when you are in the downtown areas.

- Transportation and traffic are definitely different. There are SO many roads and free ways! Traffic is really bad in the morning and evening. But it is nice there there are SO many buses that can take you any where you want and the metro system is great to get through traffic. And I have to admit I really miss the grid and number system Utah had. I am learning Lot's and lot's of street names and Google map has been a very wonderful friend :)

- It's cooler to be a pregnant lady here :)... I felt like in utah EVERY one was pregnant.... okay not really. But still so many people, and it's way awesome of course. However, it is kinda cool to feel a little more unique and special since there aren't so many women here expecting.


Well so far those are some of the things I have noticed. We really are excited to live here! I do miss my family and friends. But it's an exciting adventure we are starting. Ron starts a week long military camp next week and then has a bunch of other military things so he will be really busy soon.

I know this is a long post so I'm impressed if anyone has read this whole thing but I just wanted to briefly summarize my HUGE 2 year post delay from when I was engaged to when I was pregnant.... haha. The simple explanation for that was school, soccer, other misc activities keeping me busy, and a lack of motivation and prioritization. In fact I gave up on my blog so I didn't even touch it. I didn't know how to make it look good either. But my awesome sister Kylee :) has helped me get something I like! Kylee, my mom and other family members have also inspired me to keep a blog. Now that I don't have school and soccer being an excuse I think I could use this to update friends and family on my life. Who konw's how consistent I will be?... but I know I can definitely improve by posting sooner than every two years!

*** One more thing, there are no pictures because of the unfortunate event of my lap top being stolen. I am in the library using a computer. And I am being to lazy to do it with this computer. But I will try to post some soon.