I'll just start out by talking about this past week. Winnie and her sister Helen came out from Utah to visit for a week and it was sO fun. They flew in on Friday and we drove up to New York, where we stayed until Sunday afternoon. We stayed in New Rochelle with Laurel Lan and her family....she used to be in the YW presidency with my mom about 2 years ago. They were so sweet and hospitable the whole time and it was really nice of them to let us stay with them because they are about to move in like 2 weeks and things must be so crazy for them. We took the train in to NYC and saw the Statue of Liberty, walked on Broadway, took the ferry to Staten Island and back, ate some New York pizza, shopped in Chinatown, and went to the giant Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. We had so much fun taking pictures and all, even when it started raining as we walked from the World Trade Center memorial to Little Italy for dinner. The whole thing was really fun for me because even though I live like 4 hrs away from NYC, I've only been a few times in my life and the only reason I went was because of Winnie and Helen. I guess it's true that you never really appreciate what you have!
When it was time to go home, the lady at Grand Central Station told us the wrong train to get on and after waiting an hour to board the wrong train, we were dropped off at a train station in Connecticut and given tickets to get back to New Rochelle. We then proceeded to miss our stop and ended up stranded at the train station in Pellham, New York, watching the last train for the night leave the station. Thankfully Laurel was able to come get us and it wasn't too far!
And of course, no road trip involving Connor girls would be complete without us getting lost. Which we did on the way home the next day. We missed one exit and when we tried to backtrack, we found ourselves driving around some town in New York full of one-way streets, missing street signs, and unhappy-looking townspeople. This time, Brother Blasko came to our rescue. He stayed on the phone with us until we were back on the main highway and I really don't know whattt we would have done without him!
On Monday, I had nannying from 8-5. I started nannying 2 weeks ago for this family who lives about 5 minutes away. There is a little girl named Malan (May-lynn) who is 3 (but when I asked her, she said she was 14) and a little boy named Owen who is 9 months. They are suchhh sweet kids. Malan is probably one of the girliest girls I have ever met. She loves makeup and nail polish and dresses and fancy shoes and purses and dancing and singing. She also really likes talking. She is so chatty and she says the funniest things. On my third or fourth day nannying, she said: "I love you all my heart" to me. It was so cute!
Owen has a birthmark on half of his face and his skin is super-sensitive to sun and stuff, so whenever we go outside I have to put lots of sunscreen on him. At first I noticed it a lot but now I hardly even notice that it is there. One day I took Owen and Malan on a walk and when we were waiting on a street corner to cross the street, this guy who was probably about 20 or so was walking by. He stopped and looked at Owen and said, "What happened to that baby's face?" all stupidly. And at first I was alarmed, because I didn't realize he was talking about his birthmark and I thought something had happened to Owen's face while we were on the walk. Then I realized what he was talking about and I said, "Oh! It's just a birthmark." But the whole exchange actually really annoyed me. You know how some people just exude stupidity? This guy would definitely fit in that category. If I were to totallyyy judge him, I would say he had no job and no gumption whatsoever. He was overweight and smoking a cigarette (which, I don't understand in the first place, why would anyone smoke in this day and age when we know so much about smoking and there is pretty much a direct correlation between smoking and everything unpleasant that could happen to your body) and I really wanted to say something snotty to him. I wanted to say, "Oh, his parents were smoking when he was born" but I didn't because, even though Owen isn't going to pick up on it, Malan probably would, and people are going to ask questions about Owen's birthmark. It's just something that people aren't always aware of. And if I could respond like it was a natural question with a natural answer, then it wouldn't seem so much like something to be embarrassed of.
Anyway, Owen is a really sweet baby most of the time and taking care of him is fairly straightforward. Malan, on the other hand, needs something different every day. Most of the time she will be happy just coloring, but 8-5 is a long time and she needs a big variety of activities. So sometimes we will go on a walk, or play with sidewalk chalk, or make something to eat, or have a dance party. One day she had so much energy and Owen was being really fussy so I just gave him a bottle and put him down for a nap and then I timed Malan running from one side of the living room to the other with the stopwatch on my phone. She did that for like a half hr and then she was ready to just sit and color.
So on Monday, Winnie and Helen slept in and then at about noon they came over and played with Malan and Owen and me. After that we went to the temple with my family and took some pictures there. I love living close to a temple, and I think the DC temple is so beautiful, so that was fun.
On Tuesday, I had the day off from nannying, so Winnie, Helen and I just hung out the whole day. We went to the Columbia mall and did a little shopping. It was probably the most successful shopping trip of my whole life! I got a pink dress with sleeves, a headband with a bow, some sunglasses, and some Chick-Fil-A fries for $10. I KNOW. It was pretty sweet.
Then we took the metro up to Woodley and spent a few hrs in the National Zoo. It was a perfect day and we got some cute pictures. By the way, I love elephants. A lot. They smell like terrible but their mannerisms are so cute to me.
On Wednesday I was nannying again. Jake went into the MTC so I talked to him for the last time on the phone for about a half hr before he had to go. Then I just sat in Malan's room for about 2 hrs while she handed me tissues and asked me why my heart was breaking. She was being so sweet! At one point she started making faces at me to get me to smile and I had to laugh at that.
Thursday was the girl's last day in Maryland :( and I was nannying again. My Aunt Carol and Uncle Brett and Grandma Hammer came for dinner and after that Kelly, Winnie, Helen and I went up to Little Italy in Baltimore for some frozen yogurt and just to see the Inner Harbor. We went to this place called Mr. Yogato's that we discovered on Kelly's birthday celebration this year and it is like, my favorite place. It is so good and pretty cheap and there's a room in the back where you can decorate a spoon version of yourself, just stuff like that. And the walls are bright yellow and hot pink and I love it.
Today, we dropped them off at the airport. The last time Winnie and I said goodbye when I was leaving UT to come back to MD for the summer was miserable and we were both such a mess. This time there were no tears because I will be seeing her again in July when my mom's side of the family is having a family reunion. I'm prettttyy excited. I miss Utah! Then I went nannying and now I am babysitting for the Walburgers. I seriously think that babies and little kids are like, therapeutic. I love themm. I guess it's a good thing I am going to be a teacher!
Anyway, I think that this is like the world's longest blog entry so I'm gonna close now. Good night!
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