MD 21770

Welp, it's real. 

No longer a dream, or a wish, or a place in the far distance.

Monrovia, Frederick, 

Bethesda, Washington D.C., Baltimore..

It's all really here. And it is more beautiful than 

I could have imagined. I truly think the family I 

am staying with makes everything beautiful. 

5.15.13

My first day working in the Residential Appraisal Services LLC office.

What a wake up call.

They tried to ease me in, but in a home-owned business office you've really got to

jump right in, ask questions, and do everything you are ordered to. 

It gets easier every day, and Charlie says I am learning

faster than most people he trains. He already has plans to 

let me keep working for him when I return to Logan.

Maybe I have a future in appraising.. we'll see.

That evening, I wanted to get out and see Monrovia. Becky, the nanny, 

said she'd take me on a walk to the park nearby the Rohn's home. 

We took Ally and Cal, the youngest children.

On the way to the park. 

We dragged the stroller down a 

giant hill, then up an even 

gianter one. 

obvi, at the park. cute.

sweet Calvin, who would NOT turn around for a photo, so all I could

get was a shot of his little behind.

5.17.13

Baltimore, Maryland. Capitol. Extraodinary.

Inner Harbor, behind a shopping center. Not even kidding.

So, Becky and I decided to take the night off and head to Baltimore to find some legit seafood. We were thinking fresh, right out of the net.. but we ended up going to a fancy restaurant, Phillips. 

My dinner was incredible. Crispy spicy shrimp on an arugala salad with cranberries, seeds, and feta. Also, I don't know what dressing they put on it, but it was to DIE for! Heavenly. Really.

I like selfies, but not loner selfies. Meet Becky, my compadre.

We came across this walkway made from beautiful pavers, and I noticed words along the path. They ended up being groupings of homonyms, spread out

in the sidewalk. I was having a lot of childish fun reading them, and taking

many pictures. how obnoxious. and touristy. but, I don't care. 

5.18.13

Sleep.

I desperately needed to catch up from my jet-lag, so I did.

At about 1:00 pm, Becky and I headed to Frederick

to find a Walmart and a hair dryer. Who knew I would need

one so badly out here..

Then we drove to Bethesda (the city most 

of JAG ((one of the shows we used to watch 

as a family)) is based out of. felt super cool)

and met up with some LDS guys Becky had contact with.

She's got my back.

Paul, diggin' on the sweet cars we saw.

Me, creepily diggin' on him diggin' on the sweet cars we saw..

uhhh. yep. creep.

Picture perfect market/living area.

Someday I'll live in a place like this. 

5.19.13

Sunday. Even with four adults, the six children don't leave 

much time for dull moments. I'll leave sacrament meeting to your imagination. :)

After church, we went to Valerie's parents'

house in VA for dinner and a birthday celebration. 

I got some nice shots of the house and 

surrounding orchards, but pictures of 

the boys are the hardest to get. They don't exactly 

hold still for very long..

Austin is a Charlie clone.

This little one, however, is a

very willing model. I have more

pictures of her than I'd 

like to admit.

5.21.13

There is a 5-foot black snake that lives in the Rohn's front yard.

Great, right? They warned me about it, but thought it must

be gone for the summer already. 

HAH.

Dylan claimed the full snake-skin someone found in the yard

as his own trophy. I want to be afraid of it, but if a 5-year-old

isn't afraid of a snake, neither am I. 

5.22.13

Charlie decided to play match-maker a little tonight, 

and asked Becky and I to make dinner. He then 

proceeded to invite some boys from the ward over for dinner

to sample our cooking. :)

We also invited a guy who does odds and ends for Charlie

to join us for dinner, since he had no other plans.

He isn't LDS, but has great potential. I invited him to come to institute

with Becky and I tomorrow night, but he kindly refused.

When I let him know what we do there, and that we are currently

studying in the Bible, he seemed more interested.

If not this week, next week I'll talk him into coming.

Right before dinner, the kids started to play a game that they love.

They write conversation questions on slips of paper, and you have to read

the one given to you during dinner. They are supposed to be

good questions that help us get to know each other, (secretly

invented by Val to help dinner last longer than 3 minutes :)

but with the young adult.. men.. guys coming over, they got a little excited

about the kinds of things they were writing on the papers. 

(I actually had a lot of fun reading these out loud. immature.)

Whew! I think we made it through my first week. 

I'm in the office from 10-6 every day, with a little 

bit of nannying here and there. Until the boys are out 

of school however, I'll be working for Charlie full-time.

Which, if I'm honest, is really interesting work 

that I feel competent in, and want to continue.

It's a win-win.

All I have to say now is...

Amanda. Come to me.

(favorite summer experience.)