American Vacation.

{ Distance makes the heart grow fonder.  }

I guess it's weird to call it an American Vacation.. normally, as an American, one would leave America for a vacation but not me, I now go TO America for a vacation. And It was one crazy vacation at that. I landed in San Fran, then flew to Utah, Chicago and home to Iowa and then drove from Iowa to Arizona with my family, driving through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and then into Arizona.










My trip started off with me dancing and singing around the San Fran airport -- 'Oh beautiful for spacious skies.. for amber waves of grain.... AMERRRRICA... AMMMERRRICA.' yup that happened. I was soo excited.






UTAH.

me and my co-worker, Hannah

My first stop, one of my favorite places on the planet, Utah.. the land of Cafe Rio, some of my bestest friends and my first 'real' job. (notice how Cafe Rio is listed first.. I have a problem!) I stayed up late every night I was there 1. because of jetlag and 2. because I had too much fun to be had. I got to see my best friend Pierie, who so kindly let me stay with her and her new husband of a week - I'm the worst friend EVER! But it was so great to see her and meet her hubby.

Target. boom. done. greatness.

We played Quelf, which was hilarious. If you haven't played it - you probably should. Although be warned, if you get embarrassed easily then just don't play it. I don't usually, but this game pushed those lines. I was supposed to belly dance with my stomach exposed.. yeah right.. no way. I totally took the penalty. We went to Target - which I almost cried with joy just walking into it. There we made the boys, actually I think they kind of volunteered, try on some girl clothes/swimming suits. Oh that was a hoot/disturbing.

Natalie and I and our Costco ice-cream

I got to see my friend and her new baby and my other best friend, Natalie, who was 3 weeks away from her due date! You know just some normal Utah stuff. I also got to hang out with my good friend Jordan, who was basically my 'driver' for a few days, who I owe a huge thanks to for being a good sport and not complaining -- too much! He was even going to let me drive his car... but I didn't trust myself, so I didn't. We watched Pitch Perfect. Hilarious. Watch it. NOW. stop reading about my lame life and watch it :) (be warned it's not the cleanest.. but nothing too bad.)

CAFE RIO.

This Cafe Rio was the best EVER for a number of reasons.. 1. my first time eating it in a good 9 months! 2. I was with my 2 amazing roommates - Pierie and Kelly and 3. I got to meet Devin Graham, yes THE Devin Graham. Ok, Kristen.. who's this guy... Well, he's a youtuber who is becoming more and more famous by the minute! I am not just making that up! He's been on CNN and NBC recently and other stations for this --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmc2l-pk_A . It was part of his latest video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJc1_IBKJA , which already has some 9 million views! And it was put out 2 weeks ago ... So, I knew of him a while ago (and sort of met him) because he is good friends with my friend Jace (also an awesome videographer!) I have been keeping up with all of Devin's videos, since they are awesome and artsy and just super fun.. involving lots of craziness. I actually knew it was Devin the minute I saw him because he was wearing his hat - the one he is ALWAYS wearing. haha So, of course me being me, I couldn't just let him walk by without talking to him. I probably scared him.. but oh well! I told him that my kids in Korea love his videos and to keep up the good work! :) I was kind of shaking after talking to him. He really is a great guy and his videos are fantastic. I told him I was jealous of him and he said why? It get's pretty lonely.. see I'm eating here alone. I told him he needs to find a good travel buddy.. ahhhem me :) haha Look up more of his videos! Just type in Devin Graham or Devin Supertramp into Youtube and you'll find tons!! You can also watch his behind the scenes, where he shows you how he does what he does!

   CHICAGO.


Next was Chicago to see Morgan. I hadn't seen her for about a year and a half or something dumb like that.. so she was high on my list of people to see! We hung out all day on friday, ate some sushi and then had Korean food for dinner - weird. yes. Why? I don't know but I kind of craved it. And I am proud of myself for knowing almost everything on the menu and knowing more Korean than the waiter. Yup. I WIN. I flew out on Saturday and headed for Iowa.. my home.

IOWA.

I had to fly that small little 8 seater plan into Burlington because my family doesn't love me enough to come get me from Chicago. I really always feel like I'm going to die when I get on those things, but I guess it is kind of cool to be able to see the pilots and see all the controls, but it's still scary. But I made it safe and it was actually a great flight! I got into the airport and didn't see my dad/sister.. so I was like - great they are late. But no, they were hiding from me. Those turds. However, I was still so excited to see them :) They even let me drive my car home - first time driving in over 6 months. kind of scary! I spent my time in Iowa, watching Kenzie play volleyball, seeing a bunch of family and friends, shoveling snow, giving a speech to my biggest fans at my 'welcome back for a visit' party, a million and one doctors appointments, a photo shoot of baby Eliza, and then some packing to head for Arizona. It was a whirlwind to say the least.

Photo shoot of baby Eliza.

NEW MEXICO.

sisters at white sands -- on top of the dunes.

First of all we are crazy.. ok.. now let me tell you why. We drove from SE Iowa all the way to White Sands New Mexico (some 19 hours) only stopping for gas and to go to the bathroom. It was insane, and I was so sick of being in the car after this. I also got one of the crappiest driving shifts -- I had to drive from 3-5 am. I also volunteered/had to pull Alex out of the driver seat for the 7-10 am shift because I just really wanted to drive through New Mexico. I wanted to go to ABQ.. because I love it, (.. if you've ever been you probably think I'm insane, because it's kind of weird and dirty and not all that pretty.. but I really do love it) butttt.. my dad vetoed that as it would have added a couple hours to our trip. I almost cried. But I mistakenly told him I would cry if I went or didn't go. Meaning I would be so happy I would cry if we went and sad tears if we didn't. But he looked at it as tears either way, fine no go!

these might just have to be her senior pictures..
which I don't see a problem with it. That's what she always
looks like anyway!

can you say ghetto? no room in the van.. (because of all our
stuff) so the sleds got a place on top and were held out the
window when we drove!

At least I got to stop at White Sands, NM! We got there, bought some sleds and wax and headed for the dunes. I just want to note that I had tan lines after about 15 minutes of being there. Ok, I do seem to tan uber fast.. but come on that's just insane.. I guess it's all the reflective white sand! :) Sledding, was so fun. I had been before with my cousin Marie, but this time was more intense. I think the wax did the trick.. oh and maybe also just my family pushing each other and running and jumping down the dunes.


























ARIZONA.

Andrew batting -- Thursday game in the stadium. They won by 11 :)

the putting green in our backyard

Arizona was perfect. We arrived in Tucson and watched Andrew's first game of his Senior year! (I think that was my 3rd game that I've ever seen -- I saw a couple of his last time he played in AZ his Freshman year.. sad. But it shows how much traveling I've been doing in the past few years!) Then we headed for the house we would be staying at for the week. The running joke was that is was a trailer.. but thankfully it wasn't. It was complete with a pool, spa and putting/chipping area. It also had the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in - no joke. (that's not even just because I've been living in Korea - the land which lives by the motto 'the harder the better' when it comes to beds.)

We also hit up Saguaro (said Sah-wa-ro) National Park... which was of course full of cacti and other pointed plants that could kill you if you touched them (ok not really.. but kind of!) We watched a short video where they explained that the cacti resemble humans.. and they kind of do. At least some of them. We wandered around the park a bit, did a small hike and took some pictures. Arizona has a different sense of beauty about it, kind of like New Mexico. It's not apparent that it's pretty, but when you look closer, you see it and appreciate it.

On Andrew's day off we went to Phoenix to take mom to the airport. For lunch we hit up CAFE RIO.(my 3rd time since being back in America!) I almost cried when I learned that Cafe Rio had branched out to the Phoenix area and is no longer only in Utah! It was fantastic as always. We also went to another baseball game - the Angel's spring training (hoping to see Pujols but that didn't happen). Although we didn't get to see Pujols we did get to see Weaver, the Angels' ace pitcher almost get beaned by the 'nobody' catcher as we named him. The catcher was making his warm-up throw down to second and almost took off Weaver's head. Weaver had to duck down and ended up rolling on the ground to get out of the way. The next inning Weaver darted off the mound to make sure he was CLEARLY out of the catcher's way. He was all smiles after this (probably thankful he didn't get hit!) - the picture on the left is right after he darted out of the way during the 2nd inning!

My Dad and I made a smaller bridge -
like da Vinci's desin - which apparently
gets stronger the more weight you put on it!
GENIUS!

We went to a science museum and got to see some of da Vinci's work. I didn't realize how much of an inventor he was. I knew he did lots of drawing and kept many sketch books. Of course we all know he did the Mona Lisa (which I saw in person in Paris - it's small and really not that impressive) but a bridge and flying machine? now that's crazy! I also learned the Mona Lisa has changed colors a lot! It's not really supposed to be that dull yellowy color. There were actually some blues and greens in the background! It's also not finished, which I didn't know. I guess da Vinci kept going back to it over the years.. and it was never really done. He also sold it to France, which is why it's in the Louvre. That night we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, where we had the nicest waiter. I really think AZ has some of the nicest people.

Oh and how could I almost forget about the Camaro. So, my sister Alex is crazy about Camaros ... seriously. Her goal is to go to college and get a job that will pay enough for her to get a Camaro. That's it. That's all she talks about. So of course the whole way down she freaked when she saw one. Well at the last Andrew's last baseball game (for us) Kenzie and I found one in the parking lot, we called her out there and she started taking a million pictures and freaking out. Well, one of the dads on Drew's baseball team came and started talking to us... turns out it's his car (a rental). He later asked Alex if she wanted to drive it.. of course she did, so we took that baby for a spin. So much fun and she was shaking after! It will now be all that she will ever talk about!





 BACK TO KOREA.


On Friday I was up at 4:30 and on the bus to the Phoenix airport at 5:30. I was not too excited about going back to Korea, but I knew I had to and knew it was what was best for me. It didn't help that I just spent 6 days in the warm Southwest! But I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to go down there with my family and to see Andrew play baseball! He  played pretty well and the team was 3-1, for what we watched! Not too bad. :) The plane ride back over was pretty uneventful. I watched a couple of movies (Silver Linings Playbook and Now is Good), both good movies. I thankfully had a seat open next to me, which is amazing - just so you know. It's basically like winning the lottery!















Yup, we clearly stayed as far away from North Korea as possible - which I was A-OK with! :)