Hello Seattle

When Cameron told me that we were going to be living in the Seattle area for the summer I had mixed emotions. The emotion that was most present in my wee body was excitement. What an opportunity. Cameron was offered a paid internship. He's so smart! I'm extremely proud of him because not only is a paid internship fairly uncommon but he didn't even apply for the position. Since he is only a Sophomore, it's pretty uncommon to have an internship that young since actuaries have a bunch of exams they have to pass and as a sophomore you don't take them yet. I was so happy for him and what an opportunity! The company that he is working for is called Milliman. If everything works out, it is our plan to intern this summer and next summer then after he graduates he'd work there full time.

After my excitement wore off, reality set in. I was going to be a newlywed living with his the basement of his grandparents house,I'd never been to Washington, what would I do for work, my family is in Utah or Idaho, and what about the rain? These were a few of the things going through my head. However, I'm proud to report that I've lived here officially 2 months and I'm alive and actually loving living here.

Cameron's internship is going well. He really loves working there. He knows one of the principal actuary there, Tim Barklay. Tim has kids the same age as Cameron and his siblings. Cameron is friends with his daughter Erin. He leaves to catch the bus every morning at 6:18. There is a Golds Gym on the first floor of his building so he goes early and works out then goes to work. So far they have him working on random projects. He rarely sees Tim but he has a super intelligent Asian mentor named Cynthia.

A few things that I love about him working everyday and working so early is that he sets out his outfit the night before for the next day. He's so cute! He so great and makes his lunches for the week a head of time and he proudly takes his Curious George lunchbox everyday. I love when he wakes up and kneels down to pray he holds my hand as I'm lying there pretty much looking like death warmed over. He's very considerate of me there sleeping, he tries to be so quiet. I rarely hear him because by the time he's finished his shower I'm usually incoherent. He makes his own breakfast and before he leaves he touches my shoulder and gives me a goodbye kiss, tells me to have a good day, and tells me how much he loves me. He is seriously the best man alive.

Living with his grandparent was not my ideal living situation after just getting married, but it's been pretty good. In all honesty at first I struggled a bit living here simply because his grandparents are so different from me. However, now that I have two jobs and I'm not home quite as much things have been better. We play cards with them about 2-3 nights a week. We play "Mormon Bridge" or "salad." It's hit or miss. Sometimes I rock and sometimes I tank. That's just how it is. Cameron LOVES playing Mormon Bridge. He loves playing games in general, but he really loves Mormon Bridge. We've had some good laughs while playing cards. Grandpa Byrd comes up with the most random sayings sometimes. He'll say things like, "we can have mashed potatoes and gravy without the gravy if we had mashed potatoes." ya, doesn't make sense. Grandma Byrd has a few key phrases that she says a lot such as, "You just never know, you just never know," or "I took that?" "I go first?" They are a lot of fun to play with.

Since I've never been to Washington ever in my whole life I thought I'd get lost a bit more than I have. But thanks to the handy dandy GPS mom and dad gave us, I feel like I know the area pretty good now. Well, I did just get lost running this morning so maybe I spoke to soon. I can at least get to church, the grocery store, and work without using the GPS. How 'bout that!

I love the ward we are in. I've been most excited to get visiting teachers and go visiting teaching. I haven't had that in my life since December and quite shockingly enough I REALLY miss it. That is one thing that I've learned is that I absolutely love and really need other women. I need relief society. We got called to serve as subs in the primary but since Sister Kerksick just had a baby we are taking over her Nursery A class while she is home for about 6 weeks with the baby. I love nursery and we have darn cute kids, but I long to be in with the other women. Maybe it's because I nanny two little kids and when I'm not nannying I'm taking pictures of little kids so I'm socially deprived. I talk to Cameron and that's about it for talking to anyone my age. So other than Cameron my social life is with 2-5 year olds or 70 year olds. Yes, I need girls.

Work is great. I actually like what I do. I got a nanny job for the Bridwell family. They are great. Chad and Jolene just celebrated their 10 year anniversary. They met at Ricks college and now live in Lynwood which is about 15 minutes north of us here in Shoreline. They have two girls and Jolene is due with their third child around Christmas. It's been nice working for a family that are members of the church because I can reinforce what they've been learning in primary, their home is decorated with familiar images. Basically, I just feel safe there. Here is a little about the girls.

This is Grace. We call her Gracie. Her wh

ole name is Elizabeth Grace Bridwell. She is 5 and absolutely LOVES princesses. We are constantly dressing up as princesses and going to a ball or dressing up the princess dolls. Her room is ceiling to floor pink with Disney everywhere. He has such a cute laugh and loves laughing. She hates being wet, except in the bathtub. She loves blowing bubbles and playing on the monkey bars. She is very protective of her swing on their

backyard swing set. She has to have the swing on the right. She is very smart and has a very active and super creative mind. I'm constantly laughing at some of the things she wants to do. She is really good to her little sister Abby. It's cute, she always calls her "Honey." Like any 5 year old, she does NOT like to clean her room. Typical little girl! She is darn cute and I love playing with her.

This is Abby. Her whole name is Abigail Rose Bridwell. She is almost 3 and she has the biggest brown eyes. She's adorable. She loves playing gymnastics. It's so fun to watch her run. she puts her head down and really concentrates with her cute little bum waddling. Super cute! She loves wearing shoes. I'm pretty sure that every 15 minutes she has a different pair of shoes on. Probably just as much as she loves changing her cloths.She is ALWAYS changing outfits. Both her and Gracie change outfits during the day at least 4 times. Abby loves going down the slide but won't go unless I'm banging on the side of the slide so that she knows that I'm there. She loves doing anything that Gracie does. She does a great job at keeping up with her older sister. She wants to name the new baby that will join their family in December Sarah. She has a big vocabulary for a 2 1/2 year old. One day she came to me and said that she just wanted to sit with me because she was "Really Frustrated!" What 2 year old says frustrated? She is cute. She loves paining nails and her nails are never all the same color. One thing that impresses me about Abby is her manners. I was talking to Grace once and she said, "Excuse me Julia, but will you please push me on the swing." The thing is she's like that about 90% of the time. She's very polite.

I do love both of these girls. They are really fun and keep me young. I work a few times

a week with them which is just great. This weekend I'm spending the entire week with them. Chad and Jolene are going up to Canada for their 10 year anniversary so I'm taking them all weekend. Should be quite the adventure.

I also have yet ANOTHER mall job....blah. I've liked both mall jobs that I've had in my 25 years of life, just not the mall environment. I work as a photographer at a place called the "Picture People." I do really like it. My favorites are taking candid pictures. There is a lot to know about taking pictures of people! Whew...who knew? I bet other photographers did. Anyway, I work with a fun group of people which has most definitely helped my deteriorating social life. There is a fun girl Stephanie that is from Jersey so of course she is my favorite! Karla is the manager there and she is a lot of fun too! Interviewing for this job was different because it was a group interview and I'd never done that before, but they hired all three of us so it must have gone well.

Last weekend, my wonderful husband took me there. Since we live so close to downtown Seattle, I've gotten a list of the "must see" places One of

those places is called Pike Place Market. I've struggled saying the name correctly and he told me that as soon as I could remember it and say it right he'd take me there. He's so good at helping me be better. We rode the bus down which was another one of my "firsts". We walked around the booths. There was swarms of people all around. I enjoyed the smells (not so much the fish stands) and seeing all the fun items for sale at the booths. We also ran into one of my favorite coworkers at the Picture People. It was quite the switch to have us go somewhere and me know someone and not Cameron. It was a one time deal I'm sure!

Cameron tried to show me where he worked but it was locked so I didn't get to...bummer. I didn't get to see the specific floor that he works on but this is what the building looks like. This is the Rainier Tower. It is the upside down pyramid looking one. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki who designed the World Trade Center. It was completed in 1977. Yes, I do my research.

I love spending time with my good looking husband! He's so wonderful! We had such a good time people watching. It's one of our favorite things to do. These are pictures of us at one of the edges of Pike Place Market. What a fun day we had! And

we didn't even get sunburned. I'll tell ya when we did get some sun, the 4th of July which is by far my favorite holiday. This year if you were to look in the dictionary the definition of an American, Cameron and I would have been there. We went to a baseball game and ate not one but one and a half hot dogs. We wore our red white and blue all day, we went to a BBQ at Cameron's dad's cousin's house (which was also the house of one of the sister's in our mission. Yes, Cameron's cousin was in our mission. Hermana Gleed. ) where we ate watermelon and drank root beer. Can you get anymore american? I submit that you cannot. I hope the video that we made works. Let's give it a try.

Quinn was the reason we were at the baseball game. His team was in a tournament. They won their first two games which put them in the championship but then they lost that game. Sometimes I forget how much I love playing or watching baseball until I was it. Then memories of when I was younger playing in the field for FHE on dad's homemade bases. Or the times I played on teams. I love baseball/softball, it's so fun.

Let's see, what else has been going on this summer? I've run a lot and I'm awesome! : ) Not to toot my own horn but I've been working pretty darn hard and have improved a lot. I've set a goal to run a half marathon in October in Provo. I'm on a 12 week training program and it's been just the right amount. I'm shocked that I actually prefer the longer runs over the short runs. Yesterday was probably one of the better runs I've had. Not diarrhea runs, exercising runs! Hahahahah, I just had to say it, that's what it just sounded like. Yesterday I ran 5.25 miles in 53 minutes! Woo! Go me! Tonight when I told mom that she reminded me that I was at sea-level. Huh...running in Utah will be different. Oh well, I still rock!

So, I have a domestic husband. Have I mentioned how wonderful he is? We've been watching a TV show called Pushing Daisies and it's about a pie maker. It got us in the mood for pie so one week we made a peach pie (YUM) and the latest pie we made was a blueberry pie. And when I say "we" I really mean Cameron. Yes, that is a lattice top!

Well, I think that's the update. Life is wonderful. I LOVE Washington. We've had a lot of really good experiences here. We've worked a lot with the missionaries which has been wonderful since Cameron and I both love missionary work. Washington is fantastic but I will be really excited to get home and see my family. Especially since Morgan just got home from his mission. I got to skype with him tonight so I actually got to see him. He's so cute! I've missed him. I can't wait to hug him. I love him. I also got to skype with the Johnson family. They are pretty darn cute and I miss them. They all have grown! What wonderful nieces and nephews I have. I really am blessed to have the the most wonderful kids to call my nieces and nephews. Messicks and Johnsons, they are the love of my life.

Well...that's how life is.