Girl in Philly

Last Tuesday Todd had to take a national clinical test in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a seven hour drive from here, so I went down to Philly with him. We got three of my friends to take care of the boys, I decided that if they were split up it wasn't such a huge task to ask someone to watch one kid, versus three kids. Monday Todd and I drove down. The drive was amazing. Not only did I not have to entertain and take care of the needs of three kids, but I was able to talk to Todd without any interruptions - something that is really a rarity. When we got to our destination we kept on saying how quickly the time flew, and how easy the drive was. Road trips are much easier without kids.

Back at BYU Todd & I had a little study group, made up of people from Ohio plus me. One of the guys in our group is from where we live now, and a few years ago I set him up with my dear cousin Natalie. They actually got married (and now blame me for all their woes), and he is getting his PhD from UPenn in Philadelphia. We stayed with them, which was tons of fun. We got to talk about our old times in Provo, and discuss how our lives are going now. They have a 2 year-old son, who is very cute, and the best part was that I got to play with him without being responsible for him.
Natalie, Lyndee & I


My sister, Lyndee, is going to NYU. Philly is only a 2 hour train from NYC, so Lyndee came in to see us too. It was so much fun to see family and feel that support from those of us that are so far from our families.



Despite Todd having to get up really early Tuesday morning to go take his very important and very expensive test, we stayed up a little too late playing guitar hero band thing (I really don't know it's real name). Todd absolutely loved it, but around 11 PM we forced him to go to bed. Then Lyndee, Natalie and I stayed up until 3 in the morning just chatting. The next day while Todd took his test we talked some more and of course went and got ice cream.

Todd would quit the whole med school thing if he had some real skills in music

After Todd's test, Todd and I drove down to Washington DC to go to the temple. It was a little out of the way, but when you don't live near a temple & you have kids, you really take advantage of every opportunity to go. We were nervous that because of traffic that we wouldn't make it to the temple on time, so with a prayer in my heart the entire drive we continued on. Luckily we hit little traffic and made it one of the last sessions of the night.


The DC temple was awesome. I have always wanted to go, and glad that we could make it. It's always kind of been Todd's temple. It's the one that his family was sealed in, and he always thought that he would get married there, so he finally got to take his wife there. After our session, and grabbing a bite to eat we headed home (at 11:30 at night). Todd had class on Wednesday morning, so we took turns driving through the night - which is very painful. We got home at 6 AM, and after a quick shower Todd headed to school while I slept for a couple of hours before picking up my boys.

Even though in some ways it was a chore setting all this up, it was great to spend the time with Todd and also having no kids - even though I do love them. And even though it has taken me almost a week to recover from the all-nighters, I'm glad that I got to do it. So, if your husband ever has an exam, I recommend getting rid of the kids and going along with him.