Smithsonian Internship

Well, I guess I'll just post a few highlights from my 12 week stay in Washington DC since there is too much to cover. I had the opportunity to live with Kristen's family in Alexandria, VA while working with the Horticulture Services Department at the Smithsonian. It was awesome to get to know my in-laws better and grow closer to them since I hadn't been able to spend much time with them previously. I was treated like the star child during my stay and sharing a two-bedroom townhouse with 6 other people was actually pretty fun!! OK, so there were 7 of us for only a few days during Kristen's visit, and 6 of us for just a few weeks between Kortney and Kordan returning from and leaving on missions. The rest of the time wasn't that bad with only 5 of us, especially with all the traveling each of us did.

I was only a half hour drive away from my brother and his family in MD so I got to visit them a few times during my stay. That too was a great opportunity to get to know my nephews better and catch up on visiting with family I don't see very often. It was great to be with them during General Conference, Halloween, Thanksgiving and other random weekends! I even got the basement to myself and had the chance to hear my nephews running around upstairs early each morning!

My internship was a good learning experience and the location was great. I worked at the Capitol Gallery office building just a block or two south of the the National Mall, and my Metro stop at L'Enfant Plaza was right outside the building. I would catch the Huntington Apartment shuttle each morning at 6:45 and ride the Yellow line directly to work arriving around 7:20. I worked until 4:00 with an hour lunch time around noon. I packed a lunch each day and often enjoyed eating it on the roof of my office building. When I got home I would either work out at the apt. complex gym or relax a bit before eating a delicious dinner prepared by my mother-in-law. The rest of my night consisted of de-wrinkling clothes for the next day, packing my lunch, showering & getting ready for bed and of course video chatting (skype) with my wife. Thank goodness for modern technology that helped the distance be more bearable!

At work I was able to attend meetings with the two full time Landscape Architects and do other various projects for them. I got a lot better at using AutoCAD & SketchUP and got a good feel for working in an office environment. The main project that me and the other L.A. intern worked on was updating irrigation zoning maps for all the museums. We went around with the irrigation technicians and mapped out the boundaries of each zone as they came on. It was great to see people scatter as sprinkler heads popped up unexpectedly and started overspraying sidewalks! The system usually runs early in the morning when no one is around so it's interesting to see the amount of broken or mis-directed heads that come on. They do their best to keep up on maintenance but it's a huge system with a lot of variables to take care of.

I got to see a lot of cool sites through field trips at work and with family on the weekends. Some of my favorites included: Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, the Maryland Science Center, Mt. Vernon, Fort McHenry, Gettysburg, Hershey and of course all the gardens, museums and monuments right in Washington D.C. The following pictures highlight a few of my favorite memories from my internship experience.


Busch Gardens had some pretty sweet rides! My favorite was the Alpengeist roller coaster - it was crazy!

The German food at Das Festhaus was delicious. We were able to attend a stake meeting in the upper assembly room and do a session in the DC temple. I also made it back a second time during the festival of lights. It was beautiful! We decided to check out the Library of Congress after seeing National Treasure 2 The Solar Decathlon competition was really cool. The whole middle of the Mall became a little community for a couple of weeks and I was able to explore some of the houses. I think I even caught a glimpse of bigfoot in the woods at Mt. Vernon!

Civil War grounds at Gettysburg from Little Round Top
Hershey Pennsylvania was a pretty cool little town
My brother and nephews at the Maryland Science Center
The Declaration of Independence - looks easy enough to swipe....
The National Mall at night
From inside the Washington Monument looking toward the Capitol
The National Cathedral My brother's family at Ft. McHenry - birthplace of the National Anthem

Kildew Lane 4th of July

I know I am slow! I am just getting around to telling about the rest of our 4th of July. At least I am doing it while we are still in July! :) We went up to my Grandparent's house for the 4th. They live kind of in the middle of nowhere between two small towns in Idaho. I love it up there! We don't get cell phone reception or anything. I use to go live with my grandparents during the summer between semesters while I was going to BYU-Idaho. It is definatly my second home. Wherever my parents are is my first. I may never have seen where they live, but it is crazy how the second I walk into their home wherever it is, it just feels like home. Anyway! So I am really close to my Grandparents and I am so glad Mark really enjoys going up and visiting them. It probably has to do with the fact that my Grandma is an AWESOME cook and loves to cook for Mark because he eats soooo much! :) It is just relaxing also. So our 4th was filled with food, sun, sleep, tennis (I almost cried when Roddick lost Wimbledon! He fought so hard!), and Shoshone Falls. I have tons of pictures so...here we go!

First off, the drive up was BEAUTIFUL. There was a storm rolling in and it was so cool to watch.

The next morning, Grandpa going to check on the fields. Just a Good 'ol Boy and his horse. :)

We went to Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls on the 4th. It was so cool! It is the perfect year to go because the water is so high.

We had a picnic in a park area near the Falls. It was fryin' hot but so much fun. Great idea Grandma and Grandpa!

Jack...

Jack, after Mark did his hair...he's a new man!
My Grandparent's house and yard...I have never seen it so green. Love the rain!
The view behind their house...I love it out there!
We had a beautiful sunset on our drive home also. The End!

Kordan's Mission Call

One of the biggest highlights over the 4th of July weekend was my youngest brother, Kordan, getting his mission call. Mom called and we were on one of the many phones they had going when he opened it. We were all guessing that it would be state side because it was such a thin envelope, so when we found out where he was going I think everyone was in shock. The video is priceless so hopefully I can download it. He is going to Vladivostok, Russia! At first when he said it, I thought he was kidding but it is real! He goes into the MTC on October 7th so we have a month from when Kortney (my older sister) gets home from her mission to when he leaves that we can have a family reunion.
I just want to say how much I love my family and what a great example each one of my siblings is to me. We may all be spread across the country, but we are still a very close knit family. After all the moves we have been through and the only people we knew being each other, we turned into each others best friends. It didn't seem like it growing up sometime, but that is the case now. Kordan is going to make a great missionary because he is such a hard worker and so charismatic. He has an amazing testimony and I can't wait for him to share it with the people in Russia! :)

Thanks to Kristen

I just have to clarify from the last post that the only way I (Mark) was able to do well in school was because of Kristen's support. She allowed me to focus on school by working so hard and taking care of everything else. My dad keeps joking that in his college days the wives of graduates were honored by receiving a 'PhT' (putting hubby through) degree. Well, if anyone deserves one it would be my wife! Thank you Kristen for putting me through school and being so supportive - even with the many all-night projects!

One of the many all-nighters that I won't miss one bit!

I have to agree that Kristen does make some very amazing trees though!

GRADUATION!

On May 2nd Mark graduated! Wooohooo! He graduated with honors from Utah State with a bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. It was a very exciting day since Mark has been working towards it for 6 years! It took him forever to figure out what he wanted to do. We didn't know he was graduating with honors until we looked in the commencement program. I don't know how he did it when EVERY project was turned in late! I have been around for 4 of the 6 years of college, and I have learned that Mark is a procrastinator and perfectionist which is a hard combination. I can't even tell you people how many all nighters he has pulled! I only pulled one with him in all the years...I made trees for him all night. They were amazing trees if I do say so myself! :) Other than that, I couldn't help much because I don't really have an artistic bone in my body. He is so smart and talented. I am very proud of him.
We haven't had any luck with the job search yet, but I am not discouraged. We have always been taken care of. He will be working for Landscape Expressions like he has for the past 3 summers for now. His boss Ben is a great guy and has been very generous to us. I think one more summer of manual labor will help light a fire so he will look harder for a job in a landscaping firm doing design work instead of the labor. :) We are still in limbo right now, but I am very excited for what the future holds.

Mark marching into the Spectrum...

My cousin Bryce graduated the same day! I was excited I got to see him. Wooohooo Bryce!

Mark getting his degree...It was a LONG ceremony. It reminded me of why I skipped all my graduations...I went to my seminary graduation and that is it! hahaha...I graduated a semester early in high school so I decided to skip the ceramony 6 months later because it was our last night in Germany and I wanted to be with my friends. Then I decided to skip again when I got my associates degree at BYU-Idaho. I didn't mind supporting Mark though. :)

Mark and his parents...we had to take all our pictures in doors because is was raining so hard all day. :(

I thought this picture was funny because Mark's Dad was like,"Smile like you are having a baby next week!" or something like that hahaha...I think my face says it all! Don't rush me people! I will get there eventually! :) Notice Mark doesn't look too excited either!

Congratulations Honey! I love you!

Phoenix Racquetball Roadtrip

We (Loran, Marcile (Mark's parents), Mark and I) went to Phoenix last week and I just have to say that I loved it! I would move there. The weather was perfect! When I say that, I realize that it gets a whole lot hotter, but I think I would still do it. Never having to drive in the snow again…FANTASTIC! I had been there before, but my observations didn't get very far past the car that I was riding in. What can I say…It was a HOT car! This time I paid attention to my surroundings because none of us knew where we were going. Poor Mark! He had 3 passenger seat drivers and a GPS that hadn't been updated in awhile. I was a lot better than I normally am though. I only said, "Breaks, Breaks!" like twice the whole time. I have been in so many accidents that I am a freak in the car now. None of them my fault by the way! That would be a fun blog post...stories of all my car accidents! :) Anyway, it is a good thing Mark is so patient and laid back. I wasn't even driving and my blood pressure was out of control. Thank goodness I have 2 weeks before my Apple health test to calm down! :)
We went down to Phoenix for Mark's racquetball competition at ASU. I only saw the student rec. center and I wished I had gone to school there. It was awesome! Mark did alright in the competition. I know he wanted to win a few more games. He started getting body aches and a sick stomach on the second day. He didn't eat very much that day and I knew something was wrong! The games were pretty cool. When Mark was playing I got really in to it, but as soon as he wasn't playing and I tried to watch other games my eyes would glaze over. Thank you Katie for your entertaining text messages!! You are why I didn't lose my mind!
We got a chance to hang out with Mark's cousins down there. They are all really cool girls that I could see myself hanging out with! We stayed with Brock and Ang in their little casita. Their house is BEAUTIFUL! We lived in luxury while we were down there. :) We were able to go see Bob and Krista's house and Kim's also. They all have really nice houses and are all great decorators! We were also able to go to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa temple. It was really neat and I would recommend going if the opportunity arises. Anyway! It was a fun trip and great to get to know the cousins a little better.




(We were not good at taking pictures at all so...most of these are pretty lame. Mark is the jumper in the first picture in case you can't tell.)

Jackson Hill Climb

Mark and I were finally invited by Jen and Chris to the Jackson Hole Hill Climb! Woohoo! They have been going for years now and we have finally been invited! Just kidding! They have probably invited us before and we just have had stuff going on. We drove up to Afton, WY Friday night March 27th and stayed with the Bucks. I guess I had met them before but didn’t remember. They are so cool! They have a way cute cabin nestled in a huge snow bank, in the middle of nowhere! We played the Wii and everyone laughed at me because I can’t help but get my whole body involved in playing. They tried to get video, but thank goodness I lost before they could get too much damaging footage. I have an image to protect people. Geeez! So fun! I have to share an incident that proves I am not ready to have children though…They have the cutest little boy named Xander. I messed up on the game and shouted, “CRAP”. The next thing I know…I hear him shouting, “Crap, Crap, Crap”. I felt horrible! They said he already knew the word and not to worry about it, but I still felt bad! I really shouldn’t be over the Nursery in my ward! Who knows what I will teach the little children on accident!
Anyway! The next morning we woke up bright and early to get to the mountain. We rode the lift up and slid down the mountain to where we wanted to be and got in touch with our inner rednecks. It had just snowed a couple days before so the snow was pretty good which means there weren’t many wrecks! I was kind of disappointed because these hill climbs are all about the WRECKS baby! It was still fun and Jen and I enjoyed doing our hip-hop/hustle dance for everyone to stay warm! It was cold so Jen and I had our own workout session with squats and running in place. Good times! I think the slide down the mountain on our butts, sorry mom, BOTTOMS made my whole day though. That was soooo much fun! Thanks Jen and Chris for showing us such a great time! Great memories! In the first video...you have to watch Chris. I hate to laugh because he hurt himself, but it was funny! He is the guy in black behind me.