Things that are different here

I wanted to make a list of things me and Billy have decided are very different about here compared to other places:

1.  Diversity.  Need I say more?  There are so many different kinds of people here.  I had culture shock really bad when we were first here, but now not so much.  I realized that people are just people living their lives like I am living mine...not everyone is out to attack me at every turn :)

2.  Lots of people smoke here.  Don't they know it's bad for you?  C'mon!

3.  My hair is gross here.

4.  My skin is more clear here which is nice!

5.  There are squirrels EVERYWHERE!  Not only that...there are BLACK squirrels!!!  WHAT?!?!  I have never seen them before in my life.

6.  Cats can be funny, but also creepy when they stick their paws under a door when you are trying to get ready.  That's more of just an FYI.

7.  People are SO nice here!  The other day we were trying to find our way to a restaurant when this guy just looked at us and knew we were lost and said "do you need help getting somewhere?"  And then he pointed us in the right direction which was so nice!  Also, my metro card ran out of money the other day and I had forgotten my wallet so I was stuck and the guy at the metro booth put $3 on my card for me!  So nice!

8.  There are lots of trees here.  Like forest trees everywhere.

9.  It's super cold here.

10.  There is so much history here!  I feel proud to be an American everyday which is fun!

That's all we can think of for now...change can be tough but also fun am I right?

Presidential Inauguration

Last weekend we decided to brave the presidential inauguration at the Capitol building!  We figured this was a once in a lifetime experience and we should go...even if it wasn't our ideal president choice :)  All of Billy's fellow interns were planning on spending the night at the Senate office and heading to the inauguration early Monday morning.  We thought we didn't really want to spend the night and would just head down to DC early on Monday but we were told by several people not to even risk riding the metro on Monday because it was going to be crazy.  So we decided to spend the night in the office!

We ordered pizza and had soda and ice cream and had a party all night!  Making a cup tower:

Yep it was an exciting party :)

Actually, around 11:15 at night, Senator Lee came by the office to pick something up so we all got to meet him!  None of the interns had met him yet, and I got to meet him too which was fun.  I got introduced as Greg's cousin which might have put me in the Senator's good graces since he really likes Greg.  I felt really lucky that I was hanging out in a Senator's office chatting with a Senator for the United States!!  Super cool.

We slept for a few hours on cots that night, and headed to the inauguration at about 7:30 in the morning.  It was SO crowded and pretty cold.  We had to head to our ticket section, then wait in line forever to get through security.

Then we found out that our section was all full so we had to go in the overflow section, but then another area magically opened up so people started running closer.  We were getting pushed around so much...I probably could have just lifted my legs off the ground and been carried.  At one point I was being pushed on all sides so hard and one of Billy's fellow interns was on my left pushing me and he yelled "this is crazy!  And there's no one on my left!"  I was like what?  hahaha then why are you pushing me so hard?  It was so funny to me.  Anyways, we got to a much closer spot which was nice...but we were still super far away :)

Our first spot...

New spot...

It was really fun being there with all of my fellow Americans!  After the inauguration we got pushed around for a while trying to get back to the Senate office :)  We saw a really big protest in one intersection where people were laying in the middle of the street with fake blood all over them...it was pretty gruesome.  It was a protest against drones flying in planes or something.  Very interesting.  Then we went home and took long naps :)

God bless America!! 

Billy's First Two Weeks

  So, I am interning in Senator Mike Lee's office this semester.  It's been pretty fun.  Here's a picture of the building that I work in -

  Here's the work of art inside the building.  I think it's called Mountain and Clouds.  Cait and I were pretty impressed with how neat this building is.

 

  My first day at work was filling out a bunch of paperwork and watching a video about ethics.  The next day, we learned about all the tasks we would be doing, like sorting mail, speaking with constituents on the phone, responding to emails, and taking people on tours of the Capitol.  I work with 8 other interns and they are all fun and good people and we got to go to the Capitol a lot.  Like a lot...  My legs were tired and sore from walking around the Capitol so much my first two weeks.  It's a pretty incredible building with the art and architecture and history it contains.  Here's a picture of one of my favorite parts of the Capitol -

The inside of the dome

  I really like my experience so far.  I'm learning so much about American history, government and keeping up very well with current events. 

Caitlin's first two weeks

Well well well it has been a crazy two weeks.  I'm sorry I haven't blogged any updates yet, we have both been SO busy!!  And this has to be a quick post because we are leaving soon to go spend the night in the Senate office for the presidential inauguration tomorrow!!  We are such cool married people living such an urban life!  Haha jk.

There is really too much to write about.  Everything is different here.  We are learning how to do a whole new way of life!  It has been hard for me to get used to being gone ALL day...like I leave before the sun rises and get back after it sets.  And then I only have like 3 hours before I have to go to bed.  It is weird having to be so strict with how I use my time, and it might only get worse as I start teaching more and have to prepare more lessons and grade papers!  Ok let me back up...

Caitlin's first two weeks:

Last week was a lot of seminars and meeting the other girls in my program, touring the schools we will be at, sightseeing, etc.  I got assigned to teach 7th grade Biology at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC.

 (except it doesn't look like that because it is winter so there are no leaves and it looks a lot more dreary)

We went and saw the Library of Congress one day as a group after eating lunch at Union Station:

Friday last week was the longest day of my life!  Being at school ALL day is hard!  And repeating the same lesson 5 different times kind of drives me insane.  But I am getting used to it.  The weekend I honestly can't even remember.  I think we went to Costco.  Which is in Crystal City like an hour away so we have to carry our big groceries on the metro haha.  Oh and we saw Les Miserables again! 

This week I have been in the school all week getting to know the students and learning how to teach.  It is really difficult.  I don't really like 12 year olds anymore...they are crazy :)  But I am learning about classroom management and how to motivate students.  It has been really interesting.  I have so many stories already...I'll have to share a few.

The majority of the school is black kids, which has been interesting for me to get used to.  First period everyday is pretty good.  There is one girl named Milan (I can probably use names...I don't think they'll find our blog) who is so crazy.  She is weird and it is so funny.  One day she ran in and was like "My hair is like Beauty and the Beast but only the Beast!"  It was so funny......I guess you had to be there. 

Second period is my mentor teacher's prep period.  My mentor teacher is awesome.  She is so good at making me feel comfortable and giving me really good feedback on my teaching and how to be better.  She includes me in everything and never fails to introduce me to people which is soooo nice.  Third period is like the period from heaven.  All the kids are so focused and well behaved...its awesome.  Fourth period is lunch and fifth period is the period from hell.  Well, not quite.  Sixth period is the period from hell, 5th is just almost as bad.  There is a  boy Jevon in 5th period who is so apathetic it makes me so frustrated.  And 6th period there are tons of kids who are just insane...like ADHD off the wall.  7th period is better but there is one kid, George, who bullies people every single day and he talks back and never obeys and OMG it is frustrating.  So now if I tell stories about those kids in the future, you will know who I am talking about :)

Wednesday this last week the metro was crazy.  Something broke on one of the tracks on the red line and so no trains were coming at all and the ones that did come through were SO packed that no one could fit on.  Once I finally got on a train it had already been like 40 mins.  Then it only went a few stops so I had to get off and transfer and to make a long story short...I got to school wayyyyy late!  It was probably my most stressful event so far.  You should have seen me trying to catch a taxi in the rain by myself at the Chinatown station...haha so sad and pathetic.  I decided to just get back on the metro because I was already super late.

In other news, I got a gym pass!  To LA fitness which is only like 2 blocks away.  I had felt like I was getting fat/ over stressed so I thought it would be good to get one.  I have enjoyed it so far and I am excited to keep using it! 

I'm just going to post this and let Billy do his own blog post of his first two weeks :) 

Christmas Break!

(See post right before this one for our first days in DC update)

Well, after all the chaos of moving away from Provo, we were so relieved to finally make it to San Diego!  Yay!  We got in on a Saturday night and had a good time relaxing at home.

Sunday we headed up to Brea for Carter's baby blessing!  It was a good blessing and so fun playing with Sierra and Whitney (even during church hehe).  They are the cutest girls ever.  Sierra kept wearing my necklace as a crown and she was very proud of that.  We went over to Jenny's to eat and hang out for the rest of the day.  Whitney was playing so hard with Billy that she fell asleep on him during a movie :)  And Sierra had a lot of fun taking tons of pictures on my phone...

Thanks Jenny for having us over for so long and feeding us!!

Monday and Tuesday were wedding prep for cousin Tyler's wedding, and then the wedding day on Tuesday.  Monday we make all the flower arrangements and headed up to Gene and Michelle's for a rehearsal dinner type gathering/pool party which was great.  Tuesday was the big wedding day!  Billy and I were really happy we were able to go to their sealing.  It was great.  The only bummer was that it was POURING rain that day!  Kind of a major bummer for your wedding day!  But they seemed very happy and to not really care too much :)

We headed over to the reception and set up.  It was at the Marine Room, which is a restaurant that is RIGHT on the water.  It was awesome.  And the food was incredible...it was art-ish food, but that made it so fun to eat and to take pictures of.  I took lots of pictures of the food.

Lobster Bisque

I didn't like my Lobster Bisque so they asked me if I wanted a salad so I said "sure!" and this is what they brought...uhhhhh...

Billy's salmon

My Lobster

Cake and ice cream :) (sorry it's sideways...I am too lazy to fix it)

 The view out our window at the restaurant

The sunset on the way home from the reception...beautiful!

The next day was busy getting everyone to the airport and such.  Don't remember what we did to be honest :(  Thursday we were lucky enough to get to go to Cody's wrestling match in the evening and see him wrestle!  Yay!  It was awesome.  Then we went to eat at Rubio's as a fam :)

Friday was such a fun day.  We got to go to DISNEYLAND!!!  It was Cami and Travis' one year anniversary and they invited us to come celebrate with them at Disneyland.  It was such a great day.  We had so much fun.

First ride of the day...Tower of Terror (Travis was so scared haha) (Also look at my golden hair...how I miss it!)

 California Screamin!  Awesome faces by all...(sorry for the glare :( )

 California Screamin' again...this time it broke down for a sec so no one was ready for the picture but ME!  Hahahaha hilarious am I right?

Throwing up the gang signs...I can't tell if Cami is making a funny face in this one or if that is her scared face haha love this one.

The new Cars ride...no one knew where the camera was.  Believe it or not that is my genuine happy/excited face!  Yikes.

Cars land...at night

Out to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe!  We ordered the Volcano dessert but didn't want to because they shout "VOOOOOLLLLCAAANNOOOO" as they bring it out...how embarrassing.  But we had to, for anniversary's sake.  And it was delicious.  Happy Anniversary to these two!!!!

And us, the tag-a-longs

It was such a fun day.  We got to ride lots more rides than shown, just don't have pics for them.  We rode everything we wanted to, minus space mountain because it was closed (as always).  Thanks for inviting us Travis and Cami!

We dropped Travis and Cami off in Long Beach and then headed back to Jenny's to spend the night.  We had some more fun playing with the girls :)  They love to play this mommy/baby game where they pretend to be babies.  It's weird but funny.

Being babies...

Whit Whit laying on me all limp...so funny she pushed me down then just laid on me like that

Then we headed back to San Diego.  We went over to the Walton's for a graduation party for Sadie which was way fun and the food was so good!  Then we went to Christmas Card Lane on a double date with Cambrie and Cody!  We like hanging out with them...they are fun.

Cody

Cambrie

Me being creepy Elf

Billy

 Me being pet by Yoda over there on the right and Billy holding Jar Jar's hand

Cody and Cambrie being goofs

Me being a dalmatian

Cody and Cambrie being people

Cambrie: "What should I do in the picture?"

Cody: "I don't know.  Go over there and do something funny"  Haha!

Such a fun time!  We got back to the house and watched a movie while eating lots of treats as usual :)

Sunday was fun seeing everyone who was home for the holidays!  It is always fun going back to your home ward.  That night we went to dinner over at a ward member's house.

Monday was Christmas Eve!!!  Me and Mom went running and then worked on making food all day!  Gene, Michelle, Maddy, Cami and Travis and the missionaries came over for Christmas Eve festivities including delicious food, a small program, and the Cajun Night Before Christmas.  It was the best. 

Tuesday was CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wooooooo it was so fun!  Pennie was going crazy all morning it was so funny.  Christmas is her favorite day.  We did the whole usual morning routine of seeing what Santa brought, looking in our stockings, then a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, then opening presents!  It was a great Christmas for sure.  Billy and I came away with a brand spankin new CAMERA!  A Canon Rebel T3.  Its sweet.  Want to see tons of pictures we took on Christmas with it?  Okay...

First picture we ever took...boo ya

Scary...

Pennie...my main subject

All the boys got airsoft guns

 

Fire

Mom trying and failing to get out of this picture hahaha

 Success!  He shot the can...see it spraying?

 

Took these on "sport" mode...

 All the airsoft bullets Jayce has dropped...

Talking to Derek!!!

The sunset on Christmas...

Eating a bone

 

Me stretching after running the day after Christmas

 Strawberries in the winter...amazing!

Mmmm bacon...

Yep that's it for Christmas and the day after.  We were a bit camera crazy.

The day after Christmas was me and Mom's shopping day!  We were in heaven...Nordstrom had so much good stuff.  And we scored some new boots too.  It was a blast.

Thursday was the big day of.......................the haircut.  I cut off at least 12 inches.  Not sure how many.  I was NOT expecting to cut that much, but it happened.  And I am sad, but getting used to it.  It was very traumatic I caught myself tearing up a few times.

I thought this was all he was going to cut...

 But nope he kept going...I think this is about where I started crying.  Too short!!

This is my "he cut it way too short and I just want to leave and cry" face:

Later that night, out to dinner at Islands.  Feeling a bit better about the change.

Yep, that was sad.  Can't wait to grow it back out :)

Friday we went to Costco (yay!) and then Skyzone!!  I don't have any of those pictures, I'll have to get them from my Dad.  Skyzone is this place filled with trampolines and stuff and we had a blast jumping around and diving into the foam pit.  I think me and Billy thought we were younger and more athletic than we really are because we were way tired after :)

Saturday was the Sutherland Christmas gathering!  We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and a Christmas program and hanging out.  It was super fun...I love family!  Grandpa is the best for keeping us all together as a close family.

Sunday was just a normal day :)  Then Monday was New Years Eve!  Me and Billy went with my parents to see Les Miserables!  OMG IT WAS AMAZING!  I am dying to see it again!  I made everyone watch the Liam Neeson version the next day hehe I love it.  We went and dropped Cody off at the New Years  Eve dance and then came home and played games like Apples to Apples and Headbandz where Jayce would do a terrible job at answering yes or no questions and basically just give us the answer every time.  It was so so funny.  For example, I had a picture of scissors on my head and I asked "am I clothing?" and Jayce was like "you cut clothes with it" and made scissor motion with his hand hahaha too funny.  At midnight, we went outside and sprayed silly string everywhere!

New Years day we went with Jen and Brandon to Coronado Island with the intent to go ice skating on the beach!  I've never been to Coronado in all my years living in San Diego so I was way excited to go.  When we got there, ice skating was way expensive and the rink was super tiny, so we just walked around, soaked up the view and ate ice cream.  It was a blast!!

Fun on the beach with Jen and Brandon

Hotel Del!

I felt like a tourist but I was so excited to finally see this place in person!  And look Billy even caught a seagull in flight.

Yummmmmmmmm

Terrible pictures of us with the beautiful view

Driving over the bridge back from the island, looking at Downtown San Diego

It was so so fun!  Thanks Jen and Brandon for the fun time!!

Then we came home and ate delicious New Years dinner!  Pennie always wants to be where all the people are.

Wednesday we just had to pack, pack, pack.  It was tough getting everything to fit, but we did it!  Even though we had to bring an insane amount of luggage...we did it!  Mom and Dad had to leave for a while that day and Mom said as she left "Pennie may want to hang out with you guys" to us like she was a younger sibling wanting to hang out with the cool big kids hahaha and she was right!  Pennie did want to hang out with us.  She followed us around everywhere.  I love that funny little dog so much if ya can't tell.  She made it kind of difficult for Billy to pack...

Thursday morning we left the house at 4:30 am...gross.  It was the funnest break ever and we were so sad to leave.  Luckily we had a direct flight to Baltimore, which I basically slept all the way through.  It didn't hit me what we were actually doing until we were descending into Baltimore and I saw all the trees and I was like whattttttttttt are we doing?  We are crazy but we are here and we are living it up!  Sorry for this novel of a blog post...just had to get it all down!

Tomorrow Billy starts his internship and I start getting oriented for student teaching!  Wish us luck!!!