Fun in the heartland...

This year for the Fourth of July, we headed West to America's heartland to celebrate our nation with real Americans...most particularly Justin's parents.  Here's what we did:

We saw a lot of fireworks--which were kind of loud and scary...

...but totally awesome and worth clapping for--when they ended.  (There are seriously a lot of fireworks in Nebraska.  You have to see it to believe it!)

Justin pulled out his artistic side once again and created another license plate map of the U.S. for his mom.

Voila!  It looks pretty awesome!

We walked with the gorillas.  

And discovered that the Durham family is deeply involved in the Omaha zoo.

We had lots of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa!

We posed with several animal sculptures.

And I showed off my 5 month baby bump. 

It was lots of fun.   And now every time Colton sees and airplane, he points to it and says, "Go."  When I ask him where we should go, he makes his signs for Grandma and Grandpa.  I think he misses them a lot...

Dr. J's Death March of Fun (a.k.a. The Subway)

I love family vacations.  Growing up, our family vacations usually consisted of either a beach or poolside destination--most often, St. George.  Activities usually alternate between swimming (and by swimming, I mean lying next to the pool), watching movies, and playing games--and eating way too much.  I'm not going to lie.  Our vacations are usually not very active.  In fact, they are deliciously inactive.  Despite our proximity to Zion National Park and my dad's love of "beauty," his desires to get out and see some of it are usually ignored as we head to the pool.

This year, Justin decided to take matters into his own (very active) hands, and took a small group of us (Me, Emily, Dan, and Margaret) canyoneering down "The Subway."  It was a small group because some people had to stay behind to babysit, and some apparently only go "hiking" if it's on horseback.  

We had an amazing time.  Justin and Margaret in particular came much closer together through this experience.  Let's just say that in a tricky maneuver climbing down a tree, Margaret sat on Justin.  And let's also say that it's a good thing that Justin turned his head at the last second so that she straddled is shoulder instead of his face...  We now like to refer to this as Margaret and Justin's cheer-leading move. I almost peed my pants.  It was really that funny.

Anyway, I had to officially document the Durham's getting active on vacation.  The pictures were taken with a disposable under-water camera, so they aren't the best quality...but you can use your imagination.

This is technically the last picture taken when we finally found the trail marker to get out of the canyon.  (The hike out of the canyon is really long.  Some might even call it a death march...)  We were really happy. Really.

We just stopped for a casual rest along the way.

I look like a total girl in this picture, but that water was seriously cold!!

Now can you tell why this canyon is called "the subway'?  In the distance, you can kind of see (from left to right) Margaret, Emily, Dan, Me.

This was the part when we saw the angel.

There was a lot of swimming...in really cold, murky water.

We posed like this together to show that we are sporty and in love.

I soooooo wish that you could see Margaret's facial expression in this picture.  This was the first swim...and the water was shockingly cold.  Her look was priceless.

Those are two wild and crazy guys!

A Wicked-awesome birthday

You don't turn 29 everyday. And, in all truthfullness, I didn't actually turn 29 this year. (If you look hard, you can see two little toothpicks aflame...we kind of forgot to buy more candles since Justin's birthday.) But Justin did a great job making this a memorable birthday. He surprised me with a trip to New York to see Wicked!

We started our trip out with a nice workout...running from Metro Center past Union Station to the Greyhound station so that we wouldn't miss our bus. For those of you unfamiliar with D.C. that is approximately FAR (see map). And let's just say that one of us hasn't exercised in a year and one of us was carrying a suitcase. I'll let you decide which was which.

Fortunately, we made it just in time to get on the bus. (And can I say that taking the bus is really the best way to get to NY these days.)

Anyway, when we got to NY, we checked into our hotel and then strolled around Central Park. On our way back, there were suddenly tons of police everywhere and barracades around the street. We were very confused until we looked over and saw a huge tree...and Rockefeller center. It turns out we were there the night they lit the tree. If we hadn't already had tickets we would have had a front row spot for the big event. As it was, we had to push our way through the crowds to get back to our hotel.

We then enjoyed a nice dinner at Carmines. I would highly recommend it. We ordered an appetizer of fried zucchini. Too bad we didn't have an extra 14 people with us to help us finish it...

Let's just say that at Carmines, the portions are large...But it was fun to get all dressed up and go out.

After dinner, we headed over to the show. We had great seats--sixth row, almost center. It is a fantastic show. (And yes, Justin liked it too. For some reason, people keep asking if he liked it. I guess they don't know how cultured he is.)

Justin gets full points for giving me a great birthday! (And Michael and Julie score some big points as well for tending Colton for us.) It was a great way to start a thirty-one-derful year!

Oh how lovely was the weekend...

There's nothing like breaking the end of pregnancy up into manageable chunks. Hawaii was obviously a major event that we were looking forward to. Thankfully, our dear friends Jen and Matt Pierson decided to get married last weekend, which provided another lovely event to break up the baby count-down.

Since Jen grew up in Rochester, the wedding was held in the Palmyra temple. Due to the fact that my camera was out of batteries, I don't actually have any pictures of the happy couple or their nuptual celebrations. It was quite a perfect weekend. Between the sealing and the reception, we were able to visit the church sites.

We were also fortunate enough to be able to hang out with the Fronces for the rest of the weekend--and they were smart enough to A) plan activities for us to do, and B) bring a camera to commemorate the festivities. On Sunday, we headed up to Niagara Falls to take in the splendor of nature. Too bad it is surrounded by a freaky fun-town. I'm kind of scared of Canada now. Also, since my last boating experience was less than ideal, I decided not to go on the Maid of the Mist. Justin and I got ice cream instead. I could be wrong, but I think we made a good choice. (Next time you're in Upstate New York, you must get some Perry's ice cream. It's all over the place, and delicious.) You can tell my belly has grown a lot in the past two weeks!


On Monday we discovered an amazing gem of a state park called Watkins Glen. I'll be honest, it was cooler than Niagara Falls. Anyone going up to the greater Palmyra area should definitely check it out.


Next major milestones: Two weeks and we finish the year of teaching seminary. Three weeks after that and I officially end my consulting career (woot!). Then I will lie by the pool for a few weeks until the baby comes.

A Snorkler's Paradise...ish

As part of our Hawaiian adventure, we decided to spend three days on Hawaii's Big Island. We hiked to waterfalls, watched the volcano erupt, and explored some of Volcano National Park. We also spent an entire day snorkeling...

We heard about a bay that is great for snorkeling, but only accessible by boat. When we called the boat company, we discovered that they also do a night snorkeling adventure with Manta Rays...and if you sign up for both, you get a crazy discount. So we of course signed up for both. It was well worth the money. We did a morning snorkel at Kealakekua Bay. It was about a 45 minute boat ride. On the way out, they served breakfast, and then once we were secured at the bay, they had a barbeque on the boat. We snorkeled for a while, at lunch, snorkeled some more. It was fantastic.

Now, I'm always the littlest bit queezy on boats, and this was no exception. Usually by closing my eyes and breathing deeply, I get over it. However, this time, it didn't seem to matter how many deep breaths I took...as we headed back to the dock, it seemed to get worse and worse. Just as we neared the end of our journey, they stopped the boat and announced that we were being followed by dolphins--which is truly wonderful, unless you think you are going to throw up, in which case, you simply want the stupid boat to go back to dock. As everyone rushed to the edge of the boat to watch the dolphins, I sat on the bench breathing deeply and trying to identify the best place to puke. Fortunately for the people down below, I had already noted that puking over the side of the ship would actually only land on the people below, so when I passed the point of no return, I headed for a large garbage can. It was a little awkward as I started wretching next to some excited Asian tourists madly taking pictures of the dolphins, but there wasn't really that much I could do about it.

I felt much better after puking, and we arrived at the dock shortly thereafter, so all seemed fine. We headed to our car for a nice afternoon nap (since we'd gotten up at 5:15 am in order to drive from Volcano to Kona) and prepare ourselves for the night snorkel. I was optimistic that things would be fine, since the night experience only involved a 5 minute boat ride. Oh, how I was mistaken.

First let me say that snorkeling with Manta Rays was amazing. It was worth the puking that was to come. They literally swam within an inch of you with their huge mouths open wide. We were lucky in that seven gigantic manta rays actually showed up that night, so we were totally surrounded by them.

But let me continue my tragic tale of sea sickness. We rode the five minutes to the spot where the mantas come, and I felt fine. Then we had to wait for it to get dark (because they come out at night to eat plankton). So we sat there for about 30 minutes waiting for the sun to set. Meanwhile, the boat was just parked in the bay rocking back and forth. As everyone lined up to jump in the water, I headed to the edge of the boat to throw up. Yup, right into the ocean. The crew kindly offered me some water and suggested that I might feel better in the water. This probably would have been true if we weren't just floating on top...because after about 30 minutes of watching the mantas, I started to get that feeling that told me I should probably swim away from the rest of the group. Sure enough, I got ten feet away and threw up right there in the ocean.

At this point, I seriously considered just swimming back to the dock because getting back on the boat didn't sound like a great idea, but I got back on the boat anyway, wrapped my towel around myself, closed my eyes and started breathing deeply. Everyone else continued snorkeling for about 10 minutes, and then we headed back to the dock. Just for good measure, I went ahead and puked one more time over the edge, just to make sure that the fish got every last bit of my dinner.

It's hard to explain how truly terrible I felt--especially knowing we had a 2 1/2 hour car ride back to Volcano that night on windy roads. Even though we were off the boat, I couldn't seem to get the ground to stop rocking. I also thought that I should probably try to at least re-hydrate myself, so I had Justin stop and get me some Gatorade. I took one small swig...and that was enough. Good thing I'd told Justin to get a plastic bag just in case! What an exciting day. I will say that despite all the motion sickness and throwing up, it was still a very fun day, and quite the adventure. I think I will just avoid boats for the rest of my pregnancy, and maybe a little beyond as well.

Aloha!

I think everyone should get to spend ten days a year in Hawaii. I'm having a devil of a time thinking of a witty way to present this vacation (probably because the snorkeling pictures haven't been developed yet...and will involve another post with "vomit" in the title), so I think I'll just stick to the facts:

1. Spending time with the Bradshaw's is one of my most favorite things to do! Especially when it involves burrying Sam in the sand, building a sweet beach shack out of drift wood, getting shaved ice from Matsumoto's Grocery store, or snorkeling in six inch waters with my sister (tragically, we didn't get a photo of that, but the people watching the ridiculous site will probably have it engraved in their memories forever).

2. Sam and Colin are both experts with a light saber. Colin makes a great Batman. Jane can belly dance, play the violin, and climb like a pro. Charlie can take 13 steps at a time.

3. Justin has officially replaced me as the favorite. How can I compete when he is the ultimate tickle monster, can pick the kids up and play them like a guitar, and can match any of them at climbing trees? Although I think I may have proven myself in both red rover and colored eggs. The big bad wolf seemed to really like calling out my color.

4. Volcanoes are cool. We watched one erupt, explored through a dark lava tube, and climbed to the top of one. (Not bad for 6 months pregnant!)

5. Waterfalls are also cool.
6. Snorkeling is fun.
7. I should not ever go on a boat (ironic that I married a sailor--more to come on this particular topic).
8. Napping in the car is a good way to rejuvenate.
9. Mangos are free in Hawaii if you park next to the right tree.
10. Hanging out with Justin is never boring.

Em and Dan--thanks for providing us with food, shelter, edited videos, and lots of fun!

European Adventure: Conclusion

So Spain was amazing! Here's what happened next:

We left Ronda and headed south and drove along the beach past Malaga to a little beach town called Torrox (close to Nerja). We didn't actually bring beach towels with us, so we showed up amidst the crowds of people with their beach chairs and chaise lounges, and set out our hand towels and sat down. Fortunately, we found a grassy area, so the hand towels were adequate (but it was pretty funny).

After a lovely afternoon at the Mediterranean, we drove up to Granada and went on a moonlit tour of El Alhambra. We didn't know what to expect, and were pretty much blown away at the intricate decorations on the walls and ceilings. A very impressive building. We stayed the night in Granada, woke up late the next morning and had a lovely breakfast (at noon) of churros dipped in hot chocolate pudding (good, but could have used WAY more sugar) and gazpacho. It turns out that I really like gazpacho--it really hits the spot on a hot day.

Justin doesn't count a vacation a vacation unless he's climbed there...so he found a random mountain called El Chorro, and we headed off the beaten path to find it. We expected it to be in the middle of nowhere, and thought it was more than likely that we'd have to sleep in the car. In fact, when we saw a sign for El Chorro right in front of a tiny dirt road, we assumed that was the turn off. We took our little Ford Fiesta off-roading a little ways before seeing a road down below and deciding that maybe we should try that instead. It turned out that El Chorro is actually a major Spanish tourist attraction, much like Zion National Park combined with Lake Powell. (There are huge limestone rock faces and a really deep reservoir in the middle of the desert.) It also turned out we didn't have to sleep in the car because there was a sweet resort called La Garganta that had lovely little apartementos for us to rent. We liked it so much we stayed two days. The first day we went climbing with our chain-smoking, f-bomb dropping climbing guide, Sergio (the highlight of the trip for Justin.) And the next day we spent swimming at the clean, beautiful, not-too-cold lake (the highlight of the trip for me). We were going to climb up to this little pathway built across the gorge at El Chorro, but I had a last-moment panic attack, so we didn't do it.

Instead, we drove back toward Rota to catch our flight--which we thought would be around 8pm the next night. We stopped in Jerez de la Fontana to sleep for the night. Fortunately for us, we woke up at nine that morning (an hour or two earlier than the rest of the trip...it turns out that in Spain, they stay up late!) and called the air-base, because the flight had been moved up to 11:25 am instead. We high-tailed it back to Rota with just enough time, only to find a sign at the car rental shop that said, "Back at 11:30." STRESS!! We started booking it (with all our stuff) onto the base to sign in, and then we'd worry about the rental car after that. Fortunately, a nice family in a minivan stopped and asked if we needed a ride, and they drove us to the terminal on the base. Once we were checked in, Justin ran back to the rental car place and returned the car, and then ran back. Let's just say he was kind of sweaty. :) But we made it on the flight, and got back Sunday night.

It was a perfect week adventure! Click here to see the pictures.

European Adventure, Days 2 and 3: Arcos and Ronda

So we actually made it to Spain! We sat at the terminal at Dover pretty much all day Monday, but for some reason, it didn´t seem that bad. There were a bunch of nice people there (some of whom had been waiting for 5 days to make it on a flight). We flew on a C5--which is a huge cargo plane. It was pretty awesome. The best part was that there was enough room to lie down on the floor and go to sleep.



We made it to Spain early Tuesday morning, rented a car, and headed out to the hill towns of Andalucia. We went to Arcos de la Frontera in the morning (a beautiful white-washed city built on the side of a cliff, with small winding roads similar to venice). Then we set off to the next little town, Ronda, and that´s about when we hit a wall. Not literally, although, driving in Spain where we don´t know what any of the traffic sign mean, it´s probably fortunate that we didn´t hit a wall. And that we´ve actually found our way to the places we want to go. Anyway, we were both about to fall asleep by the time we made it to Ronda...so we found a hotel and took a nap.



We spent the evening wandering around the beautiful little village, again white-washed and built on the side of a cliff with an impressive bridge across a gorge. Anyway, this afternoon we´re heading to Granada, and tomorrow we are going to do some rock climbing. So fun!

European Adventure, Day 1: Dover

Just to give you a little explanation of the entries that are to follow, Justin and I decided on Saturday night that we should just take the risk, and hop on a military "space-a" flight to Europe. The reason this is a little risky is because it is not uncommon for people to get over to Europe only to find there is no room on the flights coming back. This could be bad as we checked the prices for tickets heading back from Europe, and they were all about $2,000 each. So, you can see we are taking quite a gamble. Our original plan was to head to Italy, but reports of people getting stuck there were pretty high, so we changed our plans to go to Spain. And after a quick conversation with Cousin Ted about what to see in Spain, we both became very excited about our destination.

Day 1:
We were going to try to get up really early and make it to Dover AFB in time for the flight that was heading to Spain at 8:40 am. But let's be honest, Justin and I decided at 7 pm Saturday night to go to Europe, so we didn't exactly get to bed early, and we decided that we'd just aim for the 12:40 pm flight instead.

Here's what was supposed to happen next: We would leave our house at 8:00, drive two hours to get to Dover (Delaware) and hop on the flight to Spain at 12:40.

Here's what really happened: We left our apartment at about 8:55 am. We were cruising right along, an hour later than planned, but still plenty early for the 12:40 roll call. And then, at 9:43, our plans came to a screeching hault--or at least traffic did. Now, we all know that DC traffic isn't known for being kind and accommodating, but this was probably the worst traffic experience I can recall. You know things are bad when passengers are getting out and walking alongside their cars, and when the driver of the car in front of you gets out, grabs his deodorant, applies it and gets back in the car. It literally took us about four hours to go two miles. By living at 9 am we thought we'd for sure make the 12:40 flight, and if not, we thought that there'd be no way to miss the 4:20 pm flight later that afternoon. But...we did! (Actually, we arrived about 4 pm, only to find that the 4 pm flight was canceled.)

Anyway, it turns out that a tractor trailer somehow went over the edge of the Bay Bridge (the one bridge across Chesapeake Bay from Maryland heading toward the beaches of Delaware) so one side of the bridge was closed. And it is kind of a weird sight to see a huge truck in the bay, so there was plenty of rubber-necking.

Long story short, we ended up staying the night in Dover and actually had a great time. We watched the Olympics (which I LOVE), and screamed at the top of our lungs for the USA swimming relay team, and found an amazing little place for dinner. (Justin ate a 24 oz. steak. That is a lot of meat!!)

Now we're off to hang out at the terminal and hope for the best. If we don't get on the flight today, our European vacation may turn into a New England vacation...but here's hoping!

Happy Birthday America

So, these pictures probably won't look super patriotic (we have no pinwheels, tiaras or sparklers), but this was probably my favorite 4th of July in memory. Here's why:

1. We got to spend time with Ali and Jim
2. We did not capsize into the Charles despite the fact that Jim (though he be a certified helmsman) had never had anyone else in his boat, or sailed on a red wind day. I did get soaked with river splash, hoewever.
   
3. We got to break a Happy Birthday America pinata made by Jim. It turns out that Jim has been making a plethora of pinatas. (Although technically Will was the one to actually break it, we all benefited from the spoils.)
4. I was reminded how much I enjoy playing frisbee.
5. We wandered around Boston's Freedom Trail, felt the spirit of '76 and were filled with patriotism from the cradle of the revolution.
6. Watched the best failed western TV show pilot ever made.
7. Spent some time on a slightly chilly, uncrowded beach. (Although, it turns out that I did not get tan.)
8. The best fireworks show I have ever seen in my life...accompanied by the Boston Pops and Rascal Flats.
9. Besides one minor spot, we did not hit traffic the whole way home.
10. Did I mention hanging out with Ali and Jim?

It really was a fantastic weekend in Boston. Here are the pictures:

Dude, I think you're in trouble...

This entry is chronologically misplaced. Technically, Justin and I had our adventures in home canning after our trip to Seneca, WV. However, I had to upload the canning pictures for an assignment for class, and I had no such impetus for these pictures, so you are getting an account of my life out of order. I thought about just skipping it and moving on with the next post, but when one scales the face of a very high cliff, one generally wants recognition for it. Such is the case with me. I actually climbed my way to the top of the cliff you see to the right!

How it works is Justin climbs first, and he puts gear in as he goes (so that if he falls the damage will be minimal...), then I follow and take the gear out as I go. The idea is to get both people and all the gear safely to the top.

Everything was going very well until my foot slipped unexpectedly. Usually when I fall, I'm well aware of the fact that it is going to happen. This time I was totally taken by surprise, and my hand was ripped across the sharp rock that I had been holding on to. I thought that I had hurt my elbow, but when I checked it, there was nothing wrong. And then I noticed that my finger was bleeding profusely. It looked pretty bad, but it was actually just a scrape.
And because I am so tough and rugged and outdoorsy, I decided that we should keep going to the top despite my damaged finger.

Okay, this next part is probably totally inappropriate for the internet, and someday if I ever run for office, I will probably wish it weren't here, but it is the funniest part of this whole adventure. So right after I made it to the 2nd anchor point (it took four pitches to make it all the way to the top of the cliff), Justin decided that he would go to the bathroom. Clearly, this is much easier for a guy when you are wearing a harness and standing on the edge of a cliff. I thought it would probably be a good idea for me too, but the logistical nightmare that it represented made me think that I could just hold it. That is until Justin told me that it would be about 4 more hours before we made it to the top, and we were about to leave the tree line. This was my only chance. So I went behind the rock that Justin had been hiding behind, pulled down my pants (a very tricky thing to do while wearing a harness) and squatted. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but something went terribly awry with my squat, and I started tumbling backward. (I think perhaps my backpack weighted me down wrong, or maybe it was just more of a hill than I had expected...either way, I started tipping backward). Though I wasn't super close to the edge of the cliff, I thought it would be a very sad way to go...falling off a cliff with my pants down, so I grabbed onto the rock, and noticed that there was liquid in the little crevace of the rock. And then I noticed that the liquid was warm. And then I realized, not only had I just fallen into the dirt on my naked bum, but I had put my hand into a puddle of Justin's urine. Everywhere I tried to grab seemed to be wet. Apparently, since I had said I wasn't going to go to the bathroom initially, Justin didn't attempt to localize the stream... (sorry, Justin...too much info...) So that was pretty darn funny.

Anyway, then came the part where I stood in a windy crevace for about two hours. This is the part of the story where I stopped having fun. It was so cold. And then when you are so cold that you can't move your hands, it makes climbing out on the edge of a cliff that much scarier. I think Justin realized that I maybe wasn't ready for Seneca when I started shouting at him that I wasn't having fun any more, and I just wanted to get off the stupid rock. (A guy who was at the top at the same time said to Justin, "Dude, I think you're in trouble. You should never take your girlfriend rock climbing." I'm pretty sure that my mom agrees with that guy.)

Fortunately, when I made it to the top, I was out of the wind tunnel and shade of the crevace, and feeling the warmth of the sun (and the possibility of soon repelling off the cliff) made me quite happy to be there, and I'm glad that I made it all the way to the top. I am also glad that now Justin knows not to take me climbing when it is cold and we are going to be in the shade all day. Important lessons for both of us.

Vomit and Hives

I have to start out this blog by assuring everyone that I am not involved in hanky-panky. The reason that I must begin this way will probably become apparent by the end--especially to those of you who are accustomed to the BYU honor code rules. So just keep that in mind as you read on...

Many of you many not be aware of the fact that I went to Girls' Camp this year. Well, this blog has nothing to do with that, but I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of how truly self-sacrificing I am. And now that I have officially nullified any potential blessings, my story for today begins the day I got back from camp. My roommates and I decided that we needed to have a beach day before the end of the summer, so we planned to go to Virginia Beach the Saturday after I got back from camp, and then stay and go to church there on Sunday in the ward Justin attended in high school.

So Saturday morning we (me, my roommates Rozlynn and Katie, Katie's boyfriend Dave, Justin and our other friend Brian) loaded into the cars and drove down to Virginia Beach. I kind of started feeling strangely nauseous on the way down, but after eating some delicious sour cream and cheddar chips, I felt much better. We had a great time at the beach. The water was perfect (those of you used to Newport Beach should try the Atlantic ocean for a blessed relief!). I continued to feel a little sick all day, but it would come and go, so I wasn't too worried.

After a delicious meal at Sonic (I only ate about three bites of because my stomach issues had begun to get a little worse, but I did have two large strawberry limeades--yummy!) we rented some sweet two person tricycles and rode up and down the beach. At this point, I decided that my nausea warranted more extreme measures. As we traveled up the beach in our tricycles, everyone else stopped to get Blizzards at Dairy Queen, and I went across the street and bought some Pepto Max at the Pharmacy. It's hard to say who enjoyed their treat more...

The Pepto did the trick, and I started to feel much better. By this time, it was around 9 pm, and everyone else decided just to drive back home instead of staying the night. However, I did not really feel like driving all night to get home, so Justin and I decided to stick to the orignial plan: we'd find somewhere to sleep (we were thinking sleeping bags at the stake center) and go to his old ward for church the next day, so we said goodbye to the rest of the party.

Since it was still early, we decided to drive around and see if we could find Justin's old house. Unfortunately, a lot has changed in Virginia Beach in the past 9 years since he lived there, and we couldn't find it. Meanwhile, the momentary relief that the Pepto had given me was starting to wear away. On top of the nausea, I was also insanely tired from not sleeping well all week at camp. In my pitiful state, I told Justin that maybe we should find a hotel rather than camping in some random location, so we decided to just drive up the freeway until we saw one of those blue signs for lodging. It turned out that we had to drive for about 40 minutes before we finally found somewhere with a bunch of hotels--and we figured that at least one of them would be in our price range. During this lengthy drive, I finally gave up fighting the tiredness and nausea and went to sleep.

I woke up to Justin telling me he'd gotten us a room at a great rate (the military discount is fantastic! And another reminder that I am not the kind of girl to be involved in hanky-panky). So I got out of the car, and Justin started gathering our stuff out of the trunk. He handed me his suit to hold while he grabbed some other things. At this point, though I hadn't thought anything would come of my nausea, I started to believe that there was a very good chance that something was about to come of it, so I handed Justin back his suit and said, "I think I'm going to throw up really soon. Like now." But just then, the feeling passed, so I took back his suit and said, "Never mind." And then, just as quickly as it passed, it came again--this time I knew what was coming. So I again handed Justin back his suit, and being in a hotel parking lot, decided that the best place to puke would be on the grassy median between rows of parking. So I got down on my hands and knees and wretched. It was really a magical moment. When I finished, Justin's comment was, "Well, I'll always remember that the first night I spent alone with you in a hotel started with you on all fours throwing up in the parking lot." It was pretty funny. And fortunately, that one vomit did the trick, and I didn't feel even the slightest bit sick after that.

But, as if me throwing up in the parking lot wasn't humorous enough (or enough to ensure that nothing unseemly would transpire with the two of us alone in a hotel room), when we got up to the room, Justin started rolling around on his bed scratching his back and stomache and claiming that his skin was trying to kill him (he was suffering from a nasty case of poison ivy already). I took a look from where I was, and it looked like he had a nasty sunburn all over his chest and back. On closer look, however, it turned out that his entire upper body was covered in hives. We laughed pretty hard. There we were, alone in a hotel room without the slightest temptation. He had just watched me throw up strawberry limeade, and he was covered in hives. Pretty funny.

I'm sure you all have some interesting memories that this story has evoked. Please share!