My first date......continued

When I turned 16, I had my first date. My brother (then married with a few kids) told me that he was going to be my first date. He took me to the movie Anaconda. I was scared out of my wits and held onto his arm the WHOLE time. (He later told me he was glad no other guy took me to that movie.....however, I wouldn't have EVER said yes to any guy WANTING to take me to that movie).

Fast forward 15 years and we continued that date. Same brother, just an outing a little less scary this time.....well, parts of it anyway.

The date? Washington D.C.

Matt lives in Washington state but is out in D.C. a few times a year for conferences.

So I grabbed a rental car (if you THINK either of our cars would make a 6 hour drive, you're crazy) and went up BY MYSELF! The only problem? I got in at 1 a.m because I kept getting lost and asking scary people for directions and my cell phone was dead too (picture me backing up on the highway to get an exit I missed and you'll get the right picture).

I need to explain though, my brother is a genius. He know EVERYTHING having to do with history, govn't and especially D.C. Infact, he used to lead tours through downtown D.C.

So I got my personal tour. And BOY was it jammed with knowledge. Matt didn't know this but people would stop closer to us and listen to Matt of all the things he was saying in parts of it. We looked at maybe 4 exhibits in the Smithsonian before we sat down on a bench and he told me all about his adventures in Iraq where he worked with Iraq's leaders and when he was doing some interrogations at the prison Abu Ghraib (yes, that prison that later had that scandal). Next thing we knew it was 3 hours later and my pregnant belly was HUNGRY!!!!

I got an AWESOME turkey/avocado pita that totally hit the spot.

Oh, I forgot to say, he hasn't changed much. When I was younger (there's 12 years between us) he used to ALWAYS get on me for always having to stop and go to the bathroom. We both thought it funny how many times we had to find the bathroom for me, but this time, I was old enough to tell him I didn't want to hear his complaining. He just laughed.

Then we did a TON of walking around, more fascinating history facts, etc.

Next we saw the White House (this is the back) but when we walked all the way around front, he dared me to jump the fence and start running towards the White House. Which the young Baloo (that's what he calls me) would've done ANYTHING my older brothers dared me to do. Thankfully now, I have a little more sense and told him no.

So he did the next best thing to embarrass me. He walked right up to the guard at the gate and said, "My sister here is pregnant, and wants to know if she can come in to take a picture!"

I FELT my face going red and it got crimson by the second because of the look the guy gave us. After he told us no (duh), Matt just smiled and walked away.

Boy, do I miss my brothers.

Ok, ok, I KNOW this post is getting long, but I DO have to insert that I've ALWAYS loved this brother, his sense of adventure the the hikes he would take me on. But he LOVED to always tease me. I still remember walking the three boys' room where the laundry shoot was in my nightgown and all of them would point and me saying they could see my undies. They were ALWAYS teasing......especially this brother. Well, when it came for the time for me to get baptized my dad asked who I wanted to baptize me (my oldest brother baptized my sister right above me, so naturally I should pick Matt, right?). Well, I picked my THIRD brother because "Matt teased me too much." How funny is that?

After I dropped him off at the airport, I drove north a little ways to the temple.

It's quite a site to see driving down the highway.

It was huge, and yes, I got lost a few times. But it was the perfect ending to my trip.

Although my trip wasn't done yet.

I left the temple at 5:00 and didn't get home until 1 am. ARG.

Why? Well, traffic, returning rental car, and running into a HUGE rainstorm (that was producing hale the county over from where I was), that I couldn't even see enough to pull over on the side of the road. Crazy. Let's just say, I was pooped, by the time I got home.

But the trip was so worth it, to hang out with my brother.

I don't know about any of you, but my older brothers have ALWAYS been a sort of safe haven for me. They've always watched out for me! (Like the time when I would bring different guys home for future prospects of a spouse and they didn't like any of them......one guy just for the fact that he "threw like a girl"...then I brought Brooks home and they gave their approval....finally someone my brothers liked.)

There's really no way to describe how I feel about them and how much I just love to be hugged by them and be with them. I was so grateful he made arrangements to stay longer in D.C. so we could hang out.

And if you THINK that the kids missed me while I was gone, you're wrong. Apparently they just have a LOT more fun with Daddy. :)