Sunday, April 27, 2008

New England Part 1

I thought it might be easier to break this trip up in to multiple posts instead of one huge one when we get back. We have had a great trip so far. We have seen lots of cool things and really feel like we are experiencing New England. If this gets long and boring I'm sorry, it is our journal of the trip. We got in late Wednesday night, our flight from SLC to Denver was delayed a little so my bag didn't make it on the next flight (from Denver to Boston). After multiple calls to India, we were finally able to pick up my bag the next morning back at the airport. I was determined not to let this little incident start our trip off on the wrong foot.

Thursday morning we did a session at the Boston Temple, it was a beautiful temple and we are glad we were able to go. That afternoon we spent walking all around Harvards beautiful campus in Cambridge. It is really lame but I kept thinking of Legally Blonde. The campus is huge and gorgeous. I can really see why seeing Boston in the fall is a must! That evening we headed to Woburn to meet up with our friends, the Jacksons. They were the best hosts! Joe brought home lobsters for us, which were SOOOO delicious and New Englandy. That night they took us to Concord, MA where the "shot heard round the world" took place, marking the beginning of the Revolutionary war. The towns here are so cute. They all have town squares with big churches, cute shops, and green parks. After Concord we hurried back to catch The Office, which never disappoints.

Friday morning we got up and Jen made us the most delicious blueberry pancakes! It was such a treat. Thank you so much to the Jacksons, we had a great time with them and their recommendations for the remainder of our trip have been awesome! After breakfast Jason and I headed for Cape Cod. I thought Cape Cod was a city, but it is not, it is a bunch of cities along the cape...duh! So we went to Chathum. It was such a cute city. We walked along the main street and down to the beach and saw the lighthouse. We ate at a cute downtown restaurant. After that we headed to Newport, Rhode Island. Oh, P.S. if you ever come out here either bring a GPS or get one with your rental car, we brought ours and it has been a huge lifesaver!!!! Once we were there we found a cute Bed and Breakfast to stay in that night. Then we walked along the coast which was lined with tons of resturants and shops. We got a pizza, then headed back to our B&B to relax (I watched Father of the Bride 2 and Bridget Jones Diary simultaneously, it was great).

Saturday we got up, had breakfast, drove the Oceanside Drive which showed off all the spectacular homes and a great view of the ocean. We then did about 1/4 of the cliff walk ( I knew we would be walking a lot later and wanted to save my energy), then headed back up to Boston. After a few wrong turns (yes even with our GPS) and a near accident in the tunnel, we finally made it to downtown Boston. Jason decided it was best that we kept our sanity rather than trying to find a free parking spot, so we paid $12 to park downtown (this was really hard for Jason...don't bring it up to him :-) We walked along the farmers market and then onto the Freedom Trail. This is a trail that leads through downtown Boston highlighting many of the historic locations. It was a long walk and we picked and chose the things we wanted to see, such as Paul Revere's home, site of the Boston massacre, USS Constitution (Old Ironside) and Bunker Hill. Don't worry if you don't remember what all these things are, I had to relearn what a lot of these sites and events were. Based on a recommendation of a local, we ate at a tavern in Charlestown (across the river from Boston and on the freedom trail). It was great, it was a favorite of Paul Revere, so it felt historic. While we were eating we mapped out where we wanted to stay that night, so we headed back and got our car and drove to Rockport, MA. We found a nice bed and breakfast which is where I am currently blogging from. Stay tuned for Our Trip part 2 in the next couple of days.

Jason and I in front of the Boston Temple
Jason in front of the temple sign
This is our cute rental car...it is the first time we actually got the economy car we paid for (rather than a free upgrade), it is a Chevy Aveo in case you're wondering
Jason and I on Harvard campus
This is a bridge that you cross to get from one part of Harvard campus to the other...it is seriously so big there. We would ask students where the business school or the law school was because at BYU they are each just one building, the students would look at us and say well that building is part of the business school or part of the law school...it was just so big
Jason in front of one of the business school buildings
Yum...lobster at the Jackson's, a highlight of the trip for sure
The Millers and the Jacksons
The cute Jackson family, they were so accommodating to us, we had a great time with them
Jason and I at the Chatham beach on Cape Cod
The Chatham lighthouse
One of the many mansions in Newport, Rhode Island...this one reminds me of Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice
The cliff walk is a 3 1/2 mile walk that takes you along the coast, you can see all the huge houses as you walk along
If you haven't noticed, I'm obsessed with farmers markets...I love them. This one is in Downtown Boston
Jason in front of Paul Revere's house
Jason with the USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer battleship, Jason was really intrigued
Me at the Bunker Hill monument, I told Jason this was a bad angle for me but he did it anyway...yuck
This one is no better, but we liked this sign. We walked sooooo much this day, I was tired!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Excellent Ice Cream

With a pregnant wife in the house you can imagine that we consume our fair share of ice cream. In fact as I write this there are 5 ice cream containers currently in our freezer; so I take note when an extra good ice cream comes along. Well let it be know that I have discovered the greatest ice cream to ever grace the freezer section of your local grocery store. This culinary masterpiece goes by the name of: Private Selection Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (see below for a picture). I just finished contacting Interamerican Foods (the maker of the ice cream) with the following customer service email:

I am just writing to let you know how amazingly good your Private Selection Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is. I am a mint chocolate chip ice cream connoisseur and of all the premium brands on the market yours is by far the best. From loads of thinly sliced chocolate shavings that melt in your mouth, to the smooth cool minty flavored ice cream, it never fails to delight. I will quit rambling now, but let it be know if you ever mess with this masterpiece and come out with a "new and improved" mint chocolate chip ice cream you better plan on getting an earful from me! Thanks again.

P.S. For the record the worst ice cream ever is Bryer's Rocky Road, whoever invented that fake marshmallow swirl crap should be imprisoned, "All Natural" my butt!

***This post written by Jason***

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Graduation Weekend

Some of mine and Jason's family came into town this weekend to see me graduate from dental hygiene school and to celebrate Jason's graduation next week. Jason decided he would rather go on a vacation than walk in his graduation so we celebrated both this weekend. It was so nice of our families to come spend time with us, and we had a great time. My graduation was nice, I had to speak in it since I was a class representative. I really wasn't too excited about speaking but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I was nominated for a few awards at school and received one, so that made the ceremony a little more interesting (since we didn't know who was getting what). Even though my class has an associate track and a bachelor track we all wanted to graduate together. Because I am in the bachelor program I still have six weeks of class. Jason has 3 more finals in his college career, this would be more exciting, but he pretty much checked out before the semester started (having a job in place and only taking classes for your minor will do that to you). We leave for Boston, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont on Wednesday. I feel like I have had no time to plan anything, but we are really looking forward to it. Baby is doing really good. He hardly kicked this weekend when I wanted to show him off to everyone, but now that they are gone he is back to his active self! Each week is more fun, and we can't wait for July.
I love her...isn't she pretty!!
Letty, Chrissy, Lys and Jason at Guru's
Me speaking
My beautiful sisters and I
Jason, me and Jan (Jason's Mom)
Shelley and I
Tracie, Lateesha, Breanne and I getting ready to graduate
Jason and I
Me with Jason's Grandparents
My fam (minus Alyssa and Jack)
We borrowed a cap and gown so we could get a picture of Jason and I 
I think it is so cool that our baby does everything with us...he got to go to the graduation too!
We had a picnic on Saturday
Jason and Lys playing on the playground

Yeah!!


Mmmmm...slurpees! (ok usually I don't like slurpees because they are way too sugary but for some reason that day, the cherry slurpee was so delicious)

Sisters
Baby getting more kisses
The fam playing turbo cranium (I look HUGE)
The girls minus Mom

Monday, April 14, 2008

Colorado Rockies My World

As I mentioned before Jason and I jetted off to Denver this past weekend to visit our wonderful friends Jeff, Kelly and Elle. We love them so much, and it was great to catch up. Once we are together it feels like we have never been apart! Jeff was kind enough to let me visit him at work (he works for an oral surgeon) so I got to observe some implant surgeries, which would probably not be that cool to most people, but it was fascinating to me. That same day Kelly showed us a really cute gourmet market called Tony's. I love those kinds of markets, I wanted to buy everything. I was lucky enough to find the arborrio rice that I haven't found around here (I don't look too hard), so I can finally make my red wine risotto...yeah!! That night we ate at Pei Wei, which was delicious. Jason and I visited Boulder last time we were in CO and we loved it so on Saturday we headed up to Boulder for the afternoon. Jason had found a wet suit on craigslist (for his upcoming triathlon) so we picked that up and walked around Pearl Street. That night we met up with Jeff and Kelly's friends Jason and Ashley and ate at The Cheesecake Factory. They were really cool and we had a great time playing games with them after dinner. We didn't leave until late Sunday night so we got to go to church with them and have dinner with Kelly's family. We had such a great weekend, thanks to the Thompson family for accommodating us and to Jeff and Kelly for taking us to do so many fun things. We can't wait until we get to hang out again...Monterey in August maybe???
Kelly and Elle playing Guitar Hero
The manly men working on the car
Is this girl not the cutest!??!?
Kelly and I checking blogs
Jason and I in Boulder
Kelly and I, don't mind that Kelly is like a foot taller than me
Elle modeling her moms glasses
My Nicole Richie impression
All of us at the Cheesecake Factory
Me, Jason and Jeff
Kel, Ashley and Jason
We love this little girl (Jason tried to make it in the picture but it didn't really happen)
The gang right before we left
Elle getting ready to give our baby a kiss
Seriously how cute is this, she is giving our baby little kisses