Hunger Games

Okay, so... During this trip I got the chance to finally read for fun! And I took full advantage of this and read all three of the Hunger Games books. They were really good, even though I didn't like the ending of the whole thing  (I know a lot of people are wanting to read them so I won't give it away... Just saying I went to bed angry.) Anyway, they are making a movie that comes out in March. I am definitely making it to that midnight showing! I decided to look up who is playing what. A lot of the times I don't like who they choose to play certain people (Twilight for a HUGE example.) Anyway, here are my favorites that they chose so far.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss

I can totally see this.  She is really pretty but a little tomboyish.  I really liked her in X-Men . It is rare that I like the main female role in a movie from a book but I am super excited and I think she will do awesome.

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta

Peeta can't be super sexy but he has to be cute and grow on you as the book/movie goes on.  I see Josh doing just that.  He is cute, yes, but he isn't supposed to be the hottest thing you have ever seen.  I just hope that he plays the part well.

Liam Hemsworth as Gale

Now, Gale is supposed to be hot.  And Liam is just that.  SOOOO excited!!! :) He is definitely the one I am the most excited to watch.  I just wish he would be in the books more often so we could see more of him in the movie!

Donald Sutherland as President Snow

I don't know if anyone else would be able to portray what President Snow looks like in my head better than he can.

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy

 Now, I imagined someone bigger.. Like Hagrid. But I can see him playing a good drunk.  And I kind of pictured him a little creepy, and I know he can do that.


All the others I didn't really picture or their actors just weren't that interesting.  I am so excited for this movie to come out! If you haven't read the books, get them.  I read them on Kindle Cloud reader.  My mom has a Kindle and I can read her books online for free. Wait no, it's offline... which is even better.  Read them to prepare yourself for the movie :)

Working our way up the East Coast!

Well, we have made it to our final destination! Cape Cod! I have realized how much I miss the ocean.  When we were growing up a lot of our vacations were to the coast.  I have been to a few sunny beaches in the past few years but there is something about the cooler temperatures and the ocean that I just love.  We drove around today after church to look around at all the different beaches and houses (and many Dunkin' Donuts, Bank of  Americas and Post Offices).

Since my last post Marissa and mom caught you up on most of it. Also, if you got my dad's email, they all three cover what has happened pretty well.  So check them out.

I do want to tell a little story that happened at our first condo.
So while everyone else is in their rooms Marissa and I are laying out in the living room. Me trying to sleep and Marissa reading. All of a sudden she says, "Ohhhh gosh.... that is huge!!!!" in a freaked out voice.  I immediately know that she has seen some kind of bug.  It's a spider. And it has made it's way under the bed. Perfect. So we freak out a bit, pick up our bags off the ground. I sit there well awake now and Marissa is telling me to just go to bed.  I hate spiders.  No way.  Mom comes out to read for a bit and we tell her about the spider.  A few minutes later she says in a semi calm voice, "Oh, there's your spider."  We tell her to kill it and she says she wants to kill it just as much as we do.  She tries to get it with the trash can (Marissa won't lend her super heavy nursing books) and the spider takes off.  All of us freaking out once more.  We tell mom to turn off the light as she makes her way back into the bedroom so we don't have to get out of bed.  She stands in the doorway and gives a slight good luck-so long-I'm going to protect myself first wave and shuts her door.  Thanks mom.  We never did kill that spider, we only saw it once in a while the next couple nights.

When mom first planned this trip she didn't think that Washington D.C. would fit  in, but I was happy that it did.  Besides New York (which we also got to drive through) this is a place I have always wanted to go that is on the east coast.  We got to see the Lincoln Memorial (but the hot security officer wouldn't take his picture with us) and we got to see three of the memorial sites.  Going and seeing the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials was very nice.  I have always really wanted to see was the National Law Enforcement Memorial one.  It's very different knowing a family that has a loved one engraved in the stone.  There were a lot less people here so it was easier to have a more private experience.  We were able to sketch over names and hear my dad talk about a few that I didn't get a chance to know.  Washington D.C. was definitely one of my favorite stops so far.

Like I said before we were able to drive through NY, more specifically... Queens. Where Zachary Scoffield is serving! It was really exciting for Marissa and I, even though we didn't seen him... It was the closest we will be to him for the next year and a half.

While at Philly we were able to have some Philly Cheese Steaks. Cheese Whiz makes them just that much better! We got to walk around with dad at night and go to LOVE park and hold some snakes :)  Marissa and I went out a little later to get some food.  There is a curfew for teens and some cops came in to the diner and saw me, stared at me, and kinda smiled before taking their seats. Obviously I didn't look old enough to them or something.. haha

We still have a week left and that means many more stories to tell!!

Finally, summer vacation.

A couple weeks ago was the England family reunion.  Marissa and I headed up for the weekend bringing along some cousins.  The weekend included food, swimming, food, pictures,  helicopter rides, jet ski, food and a whole lot of catching up with family.  I am so happy my boss let me go home for the weekend!

 While playing with Rock I had the following conversation:

Me: Rock, I missed you.

Rock: I missed you too Whitmi

Me: I missed you more.

Rock: No, I missed you more!

Me: I missed you more times infinity (thinking he wouldn't have a comeback)

Rock: I missed you more infinity and beyond!!

I have missed that boy.

I went back to Utah so take a CPR class, pack and move out of my apartment (that I couldn't be more happy to get away from.) Javi was leaving to go back home on the 6th and we weren't sure when or if we would see him before he left on his mission (which he didn't find out until that night) so we went and had a farewell dinner at Tucanos.  As always, it was amazing. And the perfect going away dinner. 

He is going to do awesome, and the people of Chile are seriously some of the the luckiest people.

My dad flew down Friday night to drive up with me.  I guess even though I am 20 I am still my parent's little baby and can't drive home by myself because I may fall asleep. It is always better to drive with someone, though.  And having it be my dad that I don't get to spend very much time with anymore, I was more than happy to have him as a traveling companion.  And you now when it has been awhile when he can't believe how fast I eat. On the way home we made a stop at Cabela's.  How have I never been there before? I definitely need to head back again when I have enough time.  He bought us all very nice shirts to wick away the sweat while out here on the east coast.  Just so ya know, the under armour polyester (I think?) v-necks are amazing.  

We flew out Monday morning after spending the night at the Demeesters.  Besides the fact that I can't listen to directions when the TSA worker tells me to stand still for 8 seconds and right after I move, everything went fine. Until we hit Atlanta.  Although I do have to say being surprised by Linds and Travis was pretty dang amazing.  Our flight ended up being delayed 3 hours after already having a fourish hour layover.  We did have a nice little show of two tatted up girls yelling to the workers and complaining that their seats were taken but they had been in the area for an hour (dad and I saw them walk by not even ten minutes before.) They totally got what they were looking for all along, first class.  Even though it was ridiculous, they put on quite the show that dad and I did not want to miss.

We finally made it to our condo to pick up Marissa and go eat at IHOP, where mom and Marissa were surprised at how good the pancakes really were and understood why it was called the International House of Pancakes.  I'm proud they finally made that discovery.

Today we hit up Williamsburg, so much fun.  I know my mom has lots to say I will let her catch you all up on her blog.  Here are a couple pictures for now :)