IT'S A BOY!!!!

Our ultrasound with our doctor isn't until the end of September, but we are so lucky because our aunt Liz works at a hospital doing ultrasounds and let us come in to get a sneak peak! We are so excited and even though we still have lots of time, I think we've decided on William. My aunt is so great! It was so cool to see how developed they are that early. We were 16 weeks when we went in. She showed us all the different parts of his brain, and his stomach and bladder. Notice his foot... it's 2 cm long!! She told us he was a wild child because he was moving all over the place (we could barely get a good profile picture) but I hope it's because of all the candy I ate that day and not because he really is a wild child...
Here are a couple of the pictures we got of our cute little guy!!!

Bad Blogger Good News!!!

Okay, I am going to postpone the rest of our summer pictures, because it takes me too long to do it, and if I wait to post this until after all the other ones I'd like to post are done, it'll never happen. We have the greatest news ever... take a few guesses... yes, Danny finished the bar (hooray!!!), and yes we moved out of the Village (hooray! Okay, not so much hooray, we made some great friends and we will miss it, but we will not miss the ants!), and yes, we had our one year anniversary last week (another hooray...sorry to those who have not received Thank You cards yet, they are on their way. Seriously.).
That's all great news, but we have some even better news... (better than no ants? YES!) ... Two is about to become three! Yes! We are pregnant! Woo hoo! Okay, "about" means six more months. We are due February 15th. To answer some questions that we are sure will come: I'm 15 weeks, we do not know the gender yet (YET... we'll know by the end of September), yes I have been sick, but not too sick. Luckily. Well, it still is a pain, and I think it's finally easing up (I shouldn't say that because every time I do another wave of awfulness comes). We don't have a specific name picked out (a lot of that will depend on the gender. Obviously) but we do have some we like. For example, for a boy we like William, Spencer or Tyler, and if it's a girl we like Emma, Lucy, Audrey and Ann(e) (we are in the debate of Ann and Anne. More will come on that later if it's a girl!).
We are very excited and trying our best to be patient (I think I have more of a problem with that than Danny does...) to wait and find out what it is. He's convinced it's a girl, but I've had dreams it's a boy. I never thought much about my dreams until I lived in Peru, which is the land of dreams. Dreams always mean something there. But I still don't know if I'm convinced, so I'll keep my mouth closed until we find out.
So that's our exciting news!! We'll keep you updated.

Summer Pictures Part 2

So here are pictures from 2 more exciting events this summer. First of all, Ted finished his Eagle Project! Go Fred! He chose a really cool one, too. This is the Place Monument Park has had a problem with mice so Ted and his group made these really cool owl houses, with little things different from bird houses, and got to go choose where to put them up. Here are some of them ... they got to ride in this thing way up into the tree. The guy also let them pick cherries in it from the very top of the cherry tree.

It was also fun to go see This is the Place... because I don't think I've been up there since we would go up to visit Rachel Doxey when she worked in the Zions store back in high school. The park has come a long way since then. And it's always fun to see the llamas.

Here are the cool owl houses. You'll have to watch for them when you go up. They are right by the llamas.

Another fun thing was the 24th of July. I have to admit that I LOVE parades. Especially the one on the 24th. They are just so exciting! So I took the two cute girls I nannied for the summer down. Sarah and my mom had braided their hair and they looked so cute. This was one of their favorite floats because it had a ballerina. They also got to see their first real clown up close. It was a very exciting moment. :)

We also ran into one of my favorite people. Matt sat with us for most of the parade. It was great to see him again! He still calls me Leah-Miss-Honey.

Summer Pictures Part 1

I've been a horrible blogger (I think that most of my posts start like this), but here are a whole bunch of pictures from summer excitement to make up for it. There are a lot of them, so it might come in a series...

First of all... Brighton! It was so fun to go up and help with the Legend Ceremony (hence the awesome clothing) and to go up for a couple of devotionals during the summer. Brighton will always hold a special place in my heart (and in my stomach on Thursday nights with those scrumptious cinnemon roles!!). I love driving up the canyon, singing camp songs, feeling the spirit and being with great friends!!!

Danny and I also got to go up to his family's cabin a couple of times. It's such a neat place with a lot of history! It's always so relaxing to go up and be away from everything and just get to spend time with family, eat cabin food, play games and not have to worry about anything! Danny's dad bought a raft so we were able to go out on the lake, Tibblefork. It was such a beautiful day! And it was only a few days before the dreaded bar exam, so I think it was good for Danny to relax a bit before jumping in.

An update on our summer...

I never realize how long it has been since my last post until look on someone else's blog and notice that under our name on that person's list of blogs it says "1 month ago". Sorry about that.

Our summer is going very well though. Well, it's definitely been a different summer than we've ever had before. Danny has been preparing for the bar exam at the end of the month, which requires a lot of studying. He definitely has way more self-control than I've ever had. It's probably a good thing that I'm done with school because I was always very good at procrastinating, and that's not something you can do with the bar. So anyway, he has been studying a ton. His night class just ended, so it's been great to be able to sit down and have dinner together again! My time has mostly been spent nannying two cute little girls and trying to throw some sewing projects in there, too.

But here are some fun things we've done:

4th of July: Friday night we went up to Danny's family cabin up in American Fork Canyon by Tibble Fork Reservoir. We went up and had a delicious dinner prepared by his parents. It was so nice to go up to such beautiful surroundings and forget about worries and cares for the evening. We also played a few rounds of the legendary "Bloody Smash." It's a great card game, similar to phase ten or gin rummy that got it's name because Danny's Grandma was so intense while playing. I think we should play it more often...

Then on Saturday we had a barbaque with my parents and sister Charlotte and her husband Jeff. Another delicious dinner. Afterwards we all got lawn chairs and lined them up across the driveway, like we do every year, to watch the fireworks that are lit in the street. We found ourselves sitting there facing the street, as if we were expecting something to just happen. Usually the neighbors across the street are going strong by the time we get out there, but they were out of town, and Ted, Sarah and Tom (younger siblings) were all gone, so no one was jumping up and down to light them. So we sat in a row waiting for something to happen, getting weird looks from neighbors. I can't lie, I love lighting fireworks (and just fire in general. Danny called me a pyromaniac in church) so I was glad when it got dark enough to start lighting them. Some neighborhood kids came out to help, which was good because fireworks aren't as exciting when there aren't little kids running around.

It was a fun fourth of July and fun to be able to spend it with family!

House sitting: We also spent the last week and a half house/dog sitting for my aunt and uncle while they and their kids went to Mexico. House sitting really isn't that bad, especially when your whole appartment could fit in most people's living room. It was nice to have space, play the piano, not have to pay for laundry, be able to sit in the backyard porchswing at night, have a full size oven... and so on. Danny and I also found a new source of entertainment... last time it was Lego Star Wars, this time it was Lego Indiana Jones!!! I'm not going to lie, those Lego games are hilarious. And the nice thing is you don't really die! I hate it when you die and have to start the whole level over. I think we got way to into it though because (I don't know if I should admit this) we finished almost 80% of the game in a week (Indiana Jones isn't as long as Star Wars, so it's not that bad). It's almost worth getting a Wii just for those Lego games. Maybe someday. It's probably a good thing we don't have one now or we wouldn't get anything done.


We just got our car back today after having it in the shop for a week. We've been driving around the awesome Silver Sled that my parents were kind enough to let us use. That thing is a beast. It's nice to be back to a car that doesn't lose all it's power when you turn the AC on. It is a good car though. But the Honda has been in the shop because a 12 dollar part was loose, and if we didn't act fast we'd end up having to replace the whole transmission, which would've been 2,500 to 3,000 dollars to replace. Luckily we caught it in time and that stinking $12 dollar part only cost about $1,400 to replace. Too bad they don't make those transmissions a little bit easier to access. It's nice to have the Honda back though! It's been through a lot.

Okay, that's about all of the excitement we've had that's worth telling about. It'll be an interesting next month or two as we leave the Village and head off to who-knows-where!

My Sister is a ROCKSTAR!!!

I think I'm trying to make up for lost time, cause this is my third post in one day.
On Saturday night Danny and I went to the East High Madrigals Concert, and let me just say that it was great! They did some really fun and neat songs. Sarah played the guitar for a couple of songs and even learne how to play the BASS to accompany Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. She was jammin out! Tom's reaction was the best. We told him in an email and this is how he responded:
"well, how was wawa biffs concert? did she play that Bass well? ha ha, i can just imagine sarah painting her nails black, dyeing her hair black, and putting on thick black mascara, and playing the Bass in a Heavy Metal Screemo band. ha ha ha."
She didnt have black fingernails or hair, but she did a great job! She has a lot of guts (as was shown in her awesome duet with Jim), lots of guitar skills and a beautiful voice! (note: this isn't at her concert. I don't have one of her at her concert... this one was at Char's wedding a year and a half ago... but it was the first one I found of us)We're excited for her to try out with the U's choirs next year so we can go hear more of her!!! Go Biff!

Hi Tom!

My mom had heard rumors of a Salt Lake City School District van with my brother's picture on the back of it, and has been on the look out. She saw the side of a van as she was driving along and got over and behind it to see if it was the one with Tom. It wasn't, but she followed it, figuring it would lead her to the others. Sure enough it did! She jumped out and took this picture. Tom has been in Brazil on his mission for almost a year and a half now so it's a nice surprise to see him in the street!

Best Vacation EVER!!!!!

For Memorial Weekend we joined my parents and 2 younger siblings and went up to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. You know those vacations where everything that could go wrong does go wrong? That sentence describes our vacation perfectly. But it was also one of the funniest and most memorable vacations we've experienced yet!

We left Friday afternoon with the plan of meeting up with my sister and her husband who were driving down from Pocatello for the evening to have dinner with us. We got there and my Dad went in to get the keys to our rooms. We decided to unpack later and drove down the street to find Char and Jeff at the pizza place we usually eat at when we go (not that we go that often... we just eat there every time we do go). The first major part of the adventure started as we drove down the hill behind the hotel to our motel rooms (it was a hotel and a motel). We pull up and notice that a fire alarm is blaring somewhere, and as my dad opens door number one, hot steam bursted out. From where we were standing it looked like smoke so we all thought it was a fire. That is .... we thought it was a fire until we saw the river of water come flowing out.

The note on the door says that they were having problems with a water pipe, so the water would be shut off from 5:30 to 6:30. It was 8:30 when we opened the door. But apparently the problem hadn't been fixed yet...


So then we opened door number 2 right next to it.

The first time we looked in the bathroom the tile that is on the floor in the left picture above was still intact, but was drooping down because it was so full of water. Then, as you see in the otherpicture, that ceiling panal was not the only thing to fall! The bathroom was destroyed...

Back to the first room...

Everything was SOAKED with scalding hot water. The floor was completely flooded and water was constantly splashing down from the pipes above the bathroom...
This video is for Ted. Just a demonstration of how much water there was in the room.

We enjoyed the lovely scenery behind us as we waited to figure everything out.
My dad went up to the front desk three times before anything happened. They just kept telling him that they'd called maintenance. Besides the scenery we watched the river coming out of the rooms we were supposedly supposed to sleep in that night. When they said "Hot Mineral Baths" we didn't think they literally meant in our rooms!

We decided to drive up to Pocatello for the night (there weren't too many other options in Lava Hot Springs). My dad called a couple of hotels to find rooms, but it was memorial weekend. After a couple of overly complicated phone calls my dad tracked down two rooms. Ted and Sarah went to stay with Char and Jeff and the rest of us went to the hotel.

But the adventure doesn't end there... The next morning we all woke up and went to breakfast together before we left Char and Jeff to go swimming. We ate at a great place there in Pocatello. Elmers! Danny's grandpa's name was Elmer, so that was fun. It was really good. I think that if we ever end up living in Pocatello, we'll go there more often.We took off to make the half an hour drive back to Lava, and Char (who makes great mix CD's) handed my dad a "Broken Pipe Mix" in honor of the night before. So we drove to Lava listening to some of my dad's and Char's favorite songs, like "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road." Here are the some of the road blocks we passed on the way. Gotta love Idaho!So this post is getting long, but it's not quite over... We got to Lava and went to the hot springs first, and later went down to the big swimming pool where they had 2 new water slides. After a forty-five minute wait we were three people away from our turn and the pool was closed. The line was stopped completely because in the pool next us a girl jumped off the huge platform, landed wrong and landed herself with a major spinal injury. They had to call an ambulance, but I don't think there are any hospitals in Lava, so it took longer than we expected.

So... after an hour wait, we went down this very exciting waterslide. Needless to say it was a one time thing. We headed to the smaller indoor pool to climb the climbing wall and all that. After a while, and luckily right when we were about to leave it started pouring outside and everyone came running to the indoor pool. We decided to make a run for the car. But it wasn't just raining...giant hail came pelting down. We made a run for the hot pools before we took off, but lightning and thunder convinced us that it was time to go home.

That was the end of our trip. We drove home enjoying Char's Broken Pipe Mix, laughing at all that happened in less than 24 hours. We love Lava Hot Springs!!!

RAIN DANCE!

It's raining! I love it. I stopped by my parents on my way home from work and was watching Monk (Ted's new favorite show. It was my first episode ever) when we heard the thunder! It was POURING. It still is. But Ted and I decided to check it out and it looked like a huge waterfall. SO MUCH WATER! Ted saw his friend outside across the street under her porch so we threw off our shoes and socks, rolled up our pant legs and made a run for it. She was out there with her nieces and nephews doing a rain dance. There was nothing else to do except join in the fun! It has definitely been a long time since I participated in a rain dance. I love listening to the rain and thunder and watching the lightning light up the sky! Sometimes it's just what you need, even if you do get a little soaked...

Daaa da da da daaaaa daa...

Just in case you can't tell, that's the graduation song, and I'm singing it because... I graduated! Hooray! No more finals. Life is good. I must admit, I was not very excited to participate in the convocation, and it probably would've been pretty dull had it not been for my wonderful husband, parents, parents in law, and friends. My lifelong friends (or as far as goes back to how long we've known each other, which is far enough) also graduated in my department so we sat together and it felt like East High all over again. The announcers had us laughing as they said in a very NBA-announcer-like voice.... "LEEEEEaaaaaahhhhh Mmmmmmmmm TYYYYYYYYYLerrrrrrrrrrrrr!" It was great. It was like a competition between the two guys going back and forth. The best reaction came when one of them said "LUKE Alexanderrrrrrrrr.....Neviillllllll" Go Utes. He was so tall the lady handing him his diploma didn't fit in the picture because she was too short. My parents gave me a lovely flower lei, and of course my mom made her awesome candy leis. One for each of the three of us. It was good to much on during the convocation before and after they called our names. :) Monica even came to support us and made us another awesome candy lei. It was great!
The speaker at the graduation was David McCullough. He gave a really neat speech. He talked about the Brooklyn Bridge, and what an incredible structure it was. He told about it's history and the struggles it took to build it. He also told about the man who dreamed it up and saw it through. One of my favorite parts was after telling about the bridge he said this:

So what will we build in the years ahead? What will you build, you of the new generation upon whom so many high hopes are riding?
How will history regard you in years to come - you who are part of this over-ripe, shadowed, uncertain time which has understandably given rise to so many grave forebodings about the future?
Will you help navigate the troubled waters? Will you rise above avarice and indifference and self-pity? Will you be a generation of builders, not more mere spectators who leave creativity and performance and responsibility to others?
Will you take what you have learned here as inspiration to still greater learning?
Will you make your lives count?
The easy answer is time will tell. The better answer, I think, is it's up to you.

His speech is posted on the U of U's website. You should read it. I'll make it easy on you. Click here. I wish I could even have a fraction of his knowledge.
Anyways, we got some great pictures that I need to post, but I'm sure we will get more until Friday because...... Danny graduates! Hooray! Another reason to sing the graduation song! So I'll post some more then. We're excited to be done!

Easter Weekend and Easter Flashback

I love Easter weekend, and this year's was particularly good. First of all I need to say congratulations to Sparkle! Her and Marco were married on Friday. She looked great. Well, they both did. Everything about her plans fit her personality perfectly. It was a beautiful day for a wedding and she looked gorgeous. It was so nice to sit on the temple grounds. It is such a magnificent building!I have to throw this picture in because it's such a Mara face. I probably have a dozen pictures like this up at camp. I love this girl!Her reception was great and surrounded by her favorite color! It was also a blast to see all the Brighton girls. Here we are with Duke and Splash (aka Lauren).
Then on Saturday my mom and sister and I drove to Provo for our cousin's baby shower. I found the pattern for these shoes at Piper's Quilts, and thought it would be a perfect time to try them out. They're so fun to make and leave room for creativity-whatever color you want and with whatever pattern. My cousin wasn't telling the gender, so we put some pink and blue ribbons in as well, just in case she wanted to make them more girlie or something. It was so fun to hang out with my mom and sister all afternoon, stopping at the outlet mall in Park City in search for a dress for a wedding my sister needs to go to and then Costco. I learned something new, by the way, that really impressed me. J Crew gives a 15 % discount to all students and teachers. You just have to have an ID card, or some kind of proof. Isn't that great? I really like their jeans, and it made me like them even more.

Anyways, East Sunday was such a wonderful day. The Easter bunny visited our apartment, and then we went to church and both family's houses. It was such a relaxing way to spend the day. We had lunch at my parents and dinner at Danny's parents. On my mission, I spent one Easter in the MTC and one in the field. The beginning of Holy Week in the field was interesting. We lived in a very Catholic community, and it was eye-opening to see how that week was celebrated. Big ceremonies and activities all week. Friday night was especially interesting, as it was the night of the procession. Members of the Catholic church gathered together, leaving the church in the center of town around 10:00, taking turns carrying a giant platform with a statue of the crucified Christ and lot's of flowers. Schools, office buildings, and people who chose to had been preparing a welcome "mat" (for lack of a better word) made out of different colors of sand, about the size of the base of the platform. They were beautiful, and many had very intricate designs. Our land lady was one of the people who did this. The march went on all night, until about 10:00 the next morning. The had bands follow them, and when the band wasn't playing, they had a stereo. We could hear it all night. Then around 4:00 am, they came to our building. We had a perfect 4th floor view. They'd carry this huge platform over (it had to have been sooo heavy) and placed it on the sand square, and the priest would bless the house with the blessings of the crucified Christ. Then people would pick up their children and hand them to the priest, who would touch them to the statue. The men would line the platform, pick it up, and be on their way in a pace that showed just how heavy that thing must have been. It was so interesting to watch. Of course they were worshipping in the way they thought was best, and correct. They probably think that we are weird for things we do. But then we woke up Saturday morning and went to work, and on Sunday as well. The thing that shocked me was that all day Sunday the streets were empty. Deserted. Everyone stayed home, possibly catching up on sleep from the weekend. It made me sad and grateful at the same time. Sad that people are so focused on the death of Christ that they don't realize how amazingly important it is that he was resurrected. And grateful because we have prophets that have taught us the importance of His resurection. It isn't necessarily a bad thing that they remembered and celebrated so many of the events that happened in the last week of His life, but it's too bad that they forget about one of the most important parts. He died so that He could live again, and so that we all can live again. I love Easter Sunday.

Graduation....

Today Danny and I went to the bookstore to pick up our graduation robes. Is that crazy or what? As we were walking up we saw my friend Megan and her mom. Megan and I have more or less the same major, and it's a good thing that we walked in with them because on the form we had to fill out it asked what college we were graduating in. How am I supposed to know that? You always just click Family Consumer Studies. But I guess that's just the department. Luckily Megan didn't know either, so I didn't feel too dumb. It wasn't too hard to figure out. It definitely wasn't Biology or Nursing. We couldn't help but laugh at the fact that we are graduating and still don't know what college we belong to. But I finished most of my major before my mission and have mostly been taking spanish classes since I've been home (to cut myself a little slack). But it's definitely an exciting feeling to think that we are going to be done!

Snuggies are getting around!

These are for Monica and her love of Snuggies... I don't know if she reads the comics much, but when we read these, we couldn't resist posting them for hre.Here are the last two days worth of Pickles. We'll watch for more. This is definitely one of my favorite comic strips!

I scream you scream we all scream for ICE CREAM!

So when Danny and I got our Kitchenaid, it had a rebate in it for an attatchment-your choice of either a food processor or an ice cream maker. If you were given the option of a free food processor or a free ice cream maker, which would you choose? I think the choice is pretty clear. All we had to do was fill out a little paper and send it with a copy of the receipt and send it in. I filled it out and put it on the table to take to the post office... and it got burried. Then I'd find it and think about how it still had a month to turn in and put it back on the table thinking I'd do it the next week. I found it on Saturday, November 29th at about 10:00 pm, and realized it was due November 30th. Who makes things due on Sunday? Anyways, I took it up anyways, crossing my fingers it would make it in time. After a couple of months I figured I didn't get it in on time and gave up. But it came!!!!

We're going to try it out this weekend... woo hoo! I can't wait. I have to confess something. We have a smaller ice cream maker that some friends gave us when we got married and we LOVE it. It could very possibly be our most used appliance we own. Okay, maybe not. But we do love ice cream! You just freeze the bowls-no ice or salt-pour the mix in and 15020 minutes later you have yummy home made ice cram. It's great. We're excited to try our new one out!!

A great week...

I think I've gotten more done this week than I have in the last month combined, and it's only Monday afternoon! My friend Sharon and I decided to get up early and run at 5:30. When I told my mom I was thinking about doing this she just laughed. I'm typically not a morning person. But we did it today (of course we start right after day-light savings time) and it felt great. Danny has been getting up early to do some homework everyday, and we actually had time to sit down and eat breakfast together. It's great. And on top of that, no work today! It's been so nice. Our apartment is way cleaner than it was, and got a lot of sewing done. I've almost finished my two latest projects. Days off are always nice.
We've had a great last week too. Last week we went to the CDT concert, and our cute niece Kenzie did sooo well! She was beaming the whole time. You couldn't get that smile off of her face for a million dollars. She did such a good job and is a talented little dancer!
Then this friday night we went to Primary Children's for our calling (best calling ever) and decided to go out to eat after. We went to Red Robin on Foothill. The highlight of the night for Danny was that we were an isle away from Kim Tillie, one of the U of U basketball players. It looked like he was there with his gf and family (who are from France, in town to see his last game of the season). Even though we didn't go say hi or good luck it was still fun to see him. And I recommend Red Robin. The service was great and the food was delicious. So if you need anywhere to go out to eat I recommend it! Saturday was nice too because I got to see a bunch of Brighton buddies that I haven't seen in forever.
And can I just say that I love Sundays? It was such a nice one yesterday. Beautiful day too. We had stake conference and listened to some great talks and testimonies because our Stake Presidency was reorganized. Elder Pingree and Elder Wood from the seventy were there as well. They were really neat to listen to. We also got to visit my grandparents (my grandma is very kind and is letting us borrow some organ books and sharing her tips for Danny's new calling...) and she played some songs for us on the piano. We had dinner with my family then watched Superman 2 (the old ones...) with Danny's parents and niece and nephew. What a great movie. Those special effects... amazing.
So those are my ramblings about the past week. It's nice to take breaks from school and work and spend time with family and friends! It was definitely a great week.

Make Way for Ducklings!

I'm never patient enough to sit at the computer long enough to post a lot, so Boston pics might be spread out over a few. But I think I'll start with one of the funnest moments of the trip. It might sound pathetic that I would consider this one of my favorite moments, but it was such a discovery! One day, while Danny was in classes all day, the spouses and guests were taken out on the Freedom Trail. We started at the capital building (very interesting building by the way) and I noticed that in a little gift shop they were selling this book:

Make Way For Ducklings. My mom read that to us a lot when we were little, and it's always been on my list of favorites. I thought it was so odd that they would be selling that in the Massachusettes State Capital building. It's a great book, but I couldn't make the connection. It's not like there were other books there... Just that one. Well, to my great surprise, we left the capital and down the street to a the park where the story took place! I had no idea that the book was based on a real place! All the streets and buildings in the book are real! Danny's aunt said that every summer they do a reinactment of the book, starting at the river and going to the park. Kids dress up as ducks and the policeman walks them across the street! I love it. Of course we took pictures.

Here are the cute statues of the ducklings and the island where the ducks went. The pond has no water... just ice. It was a cold trip. Here I am with my pals Mrs. Mallard and Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack.

Danny and I returned to the Freedom Trail a couple of days later and went through the park again. It's easier to see that the water is frozen in this picture. Notice the dog walking behind us.

This last picture was pretty funny because as we were walking towards the statue, there was a group of Japanese girls taking pictures of each other and rotating who took the picture. Danny walked up behind them and asked them in Japanese if he could take the picture for them. They all turned around with a very surprised look on their faces. It was pretty funny. They took this picture and then a group of them got in the picture with us. I wish I'd had one taken on my camera, too! It was fun to meet them, and a fun opportunity for Danny to use his Japanese. We also bought the book. We couldn't resist (well, I couldn't resist). I recommend it!

Our lot in life...

So... we've been back for about a week now. Boston was awesome. I old myself that I'd post pictures as soon as we got home, but as always, life gets in the way. We are currently house sitting for my aunt and uncle while they and their kids spend a week in Hawaii (I'd rather be in their shoes, but considering that we just had a great trip back east, I can't complain). We've decided that house sitting is what we do on my mom's side of the family. We did for a different aunt and uncle a few months ago while they were in Europe, and next month my parents are going to Florida for a week to visit Ben, Andrea and Max, so we'll help Fred and Sarah gaurd the house then, too. And actually, house sitting is quite nice, depending on the situation. There are many benefits...
1-There is no quarter slot for the washing machine and dryer-it's free!
2-One word: dishwasher!
3-Daily access to a piano.
4-Entertainment systems (particularly the wii... more Star Wars Legos!)
5-Since my mission I haven't been a huge dog person (if you wonder why... go see the dogs that are walking down the street in Peru). However, spending time a week at a time with dogs has helped me realize that they aren't so bad. In fact, I think I really like them. We've been having a really fun time with Punchy this week. Petey and Lizzy were both entertaining as well. Lizzie could chase a ball (or snowball) for hours (trust us...it was great entertainment). We like Lizzie and Petey. At the moment we are in no position to get a dog (if we did decide we wanted one), but it's fun to get our fill in a week at a time.
6-Lot's of space to spread out and work on my sewing.
7-Lot's of space in general.
8-Sinks and ovens that work.
9-Desk space to sit and do homework (Danny appreciates that more than I do)
Ok, I could go on, but I'll stop. It makes it seem like a very nice idea to own a house someday.

Hello from Boston!!

I really love San Francisco. For a while it was one of my favorite vacation spots, but I believe that has changed. I love Boston! Such a cool city!  We've only been here a day and a half and have seen so many cool things. Yesterday while Danny was in classes, I joined about 13 other spouses and guests and we did almost all of the Freedom Trail. We started at about 9:00 and went until 3:30 or 4. It was really neat. I never imagined. One of the highlights was when we were taking a tour of the capital building (amazing...) and they were selling the book Make Way for Ducklings. I thought it was so odd that they'd be selling that book in the capital building. Random. But then, to my surprise, our next stop was the Boston Commons... the spot where the book takes place! I had no idea. That was one of my favorite books growing up. There was the little island with the bridge behind it, and the capital building with the round dome roof. All the streets in the book are based off of real streets in Boston. Danny's aunt Connie (who we are staying with) told us that in the summer they do a big reenactment of the story and kids dress up like ducks and the police man escorts them across the street. How funny is that? I was pretty excited. We bought a copy of the book. I couldn't resist.  Other highlights were the cool ooooold cemeteries, Paul Revere's house, the chapels... I could go on, but I think it's time for breakfast (it's been an interesting adjustment to waking up at 5:30 am, which would be 3:30 in Salt Lake...). We have taken lots of pictures so more to come!

We Found the Remote!!!

To start off, our appartment is not very big. If something is lost, it doesn't stay lost for long because there really aren't very many places that something could be lost. However, in November we moved our furniture around to try and make room for our Christmas tree and shortly after realized that we couldn't find our remote to the DVD/VCR player. This was a bummer, because you can't watch the special features without it. :) Sometimes you can't even get to the movie. Not that it was life or death not having it, but sometimes it comes in handy. We looked everywhere. We looked under the couch, in the cussions, behind the book shelf, but with no luck. Well, three months later I was sitting in the chair sewing when I dropped a pin. It went down the side of the cussion. I pulled the cussion out and watched the pin roll down even further. I stuck my hand in there hoping to not get poked (way down) and felt something hard... I figured it was part of the chair... but it was the remote!!!! I swear we looked there a million times! This probably doesn't sound that exciting, but I'm sure you would appreciate it more if you were to lose your remote for three months. We were pretty darn excited! We can finally watch the special features (We are especially excited to see the extra songs on Pete's Dragon!!).

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Ok, the bags aren't packed... but I'm ready to go!!! Danny and I were planning on going to my cabin this weekend until he found out about the J Reuben Clark Law Society Conference in Boston... so plans were changed and we're flying to Boston on Thursday! It'll be a great trip. A little cold, but exciting! The conference is at Harvard. It'll be fun just to see the campus. I'll go to some of the things with Danny, but I'll also get to do some site seeing while he goes to different meetings. The conference ends early afternoon Saturday, and we'll stay until Tuesday, so hopefully Danny will get to meet with some firms and we'll get to have some clam chowder. Oh, and get this... one of the nights at the conference we'll be eating at Ned Divine's, an Irish restaurant. Anyone who loves the movie "Waking Ned Divine" will appreciate that. I really don't know if there is any connection other than they are both Irish. Anyways, it'll be an exciting trip! Pictures to be posted when we get back!! And if you want something to do this weekend, I recommend the movie.

Pasamaquady!

The internet connection in our appartment hasn't been working so well lately (add that to the list of things that we need to let maintenance know about...) so I'm at school checking my email and what not. I realized that it's been a while since I've posted anything. So even though there aren't pictures, here are some highlights of the last little bit:
1-New movies! Jolley's Corner's Top Hat Video is no more. They are selling all their movies that they used to rent. Now they are going to sell more clothes! Clothes! At Jolley's! Interesting. I mean really...I can't tell you how many memories I have of that place. Yes, it's still there, but not the videos. We'd go walk to Jolley's all the time when I was little for a movie and some candy. I remember one time when my parents went to rent a movie and we had so many late fees that instead of renting the movie he picked out, they canceled our account. They ended up opening it back up because of the convenience of having a movie store two blocks away, but it just goes to show that we rented a lot of movies, and paid a lot of late fees. You know, that could be one of the reasons that they are closing-we dont' rent as many movies as we used to, and that means no late fees. We probably kept them in business, paying more in late fees than we ever did in rental fees. Okay, that's an exageration. But anyways, they have been selling their movies, so I went to get some. Last night we watched Pete's Dragon. That is such a great show! I love Elliot. I really do. Then two nights ago we watched Thoroughly Modern Millie. Another great one. I don't think Danny was as impressed with it as I was though. I do admit, it's been a while since I've watched it, and I realized that it is pretty dumb and has some interesting parts, but... what great music! And awesome Chinese guys. (SIDE NOTE: One of the tech guys here in the computer lab walked by and saw the picture of Pete's Dragon, and said "what was that?" as I scrolled past it. I thought I was going to get in trouble or something, but I showed him and he goes "PETES DRAGON! I love that show!" And continued to tell me that I have got to watch the director's cuts. There are like two more songs and 20 more minutes of video!!! We have got to find the remote control... as he walked away he said "Pasamaquady!!") Anyway, we'll miss Top Hat Video.
2-Basketball! Danny and I both signed up for our ward teams, and then Danny signed up for the law school intrumurals team. Woo hoo! It's been way too long since I've played. But it'll be another good way to exercise. I think I'm finally more confident that I won't re-mess up my back by playing. We'll see. I'm excited though!

3-Projects! I have decided that if I could stay home all day and sew, I probably would. Not that I'm all that good, but I love it. It's fun to have a project to work on. I lucked out... my Mom is amazing and always has good ideas for projects. That and she lets me use all her stuff! I apologize to Danny because some how little strings and fluffies end up everywhere in our appartment.

4-We watched the superbowl and a Superbowl Party at Danny's parents house. It was the first time in my life that I have ever watched the superbowl. I guess I've never really followed football outside of the U of U. It was fun though! We got to play with niece and nephews, hang with brothers, sisters, and parents, and eat all kinds of yummy snacks! Isn't that what watching the Superbowl is all about? That and the commercials.

Well, lot's more has happened lately, but that will have to do for now. School and work definitely take up a huge piece of our time, but luckily not so much that we can't watch fun movies and play a little bball!

May the Force Be With You

So... right before the semester started again Danny and I had a Star Wars Marathon. It wasn't even planned... it just happened. We started with the first of the newer ones and watched all six. Probably in a weeks time, or a couple of days more then a week. I can't lie...I love Star Wars. I think the sixth is my favorite. It's so great when Darth Vador saves Luke's life! And it was fun to find connections between the beginning ones (the newer three) and the ending three (the old ones). Maybe it was a silly way to spend our time, but we enjoyed it. Little did we know that it prepared us for an even bigger waste of time... Star Wars Legos for the Wii!!!


I'm sorry about Leia's inmodesty, but this is the greatest game ever. It's hilarious. We found it on sale before Christmas and got it for my brother. I was a little worried, figuring that it might be dumb because it was so much cheaper than the other games. But that's all he's played since Christmas. We borrowed the wii from him because we had some Peruvian friends over, and we thought they might enjoy it, having never played (and they did), and we've been up late for the last two nights playing. I think it's a good thing we don't have a wii, but it would be worth it to buy one just to get this game. It really is hilarious. Legos. You are a lego. Everything in it is made out of legos-from the buildings down to the flowers. And all the little Lego video clips from the movie are great. It goes through all six movies, so there are tons of levels. So fun. It might be a waste of time, but it's one of the funnest wastes of time we've done lately (if that makes sense...). Too bad we need to give Fred his wii back.

Christmas Trees and Missionaries

Not too long ago my dad gave me a stash of pictures from the last year or so. My dad takes tons of great pictures. Sometimes we know he's taking them... and sometimes we don't. Here are some of my favorites from 2007's Christmas tree search. It's a fun tradition. This particular year was a blast. We stopped half-way up and messed around on a frozen river we found. Notice our cool chuyos (beanies) from Peru.

This one is my dad's favorite. Yup... that's me "sitting" down on the ice.

This one is my favorite. It's me taking my brother down. He won't admit it but it happens a lot. :)There we are with our tree! This was fun because it was just after I got home from my mission and right before my brother left.

Since I mentioned missions... here are two more pictures that were in the stash he gave me. This one was in the airport (after probably the longest flight ever) when I got home and got to see my cute nephew Max for first time!

Then just a month and a half or so later when we took T to the airport to head to the Brazil MTC. Fred has definitely changed since last year!

I can't believe that T has already been gone for over a year...

The Last First Day EVER... we hope....

Back to school! It's been an interesting week as we both have started our last semesters. It was so nice sitting there and thinking "This is the last time I'm going to have to go through a syllabus." I only have two classes, so I went in thinking that it would be easy. And it will be easier then last semester... but after going into my second class I realized that it won't be as much as I expected. You know back in third or fifth grade when you had the mean teacher, and you were terrified of her? Yeah. That's how I feel. Imagine the lady from The Incredibles, Edna, that designs the costumes, only a lot meaner telling you that you should not expect to get an A in her class. I had spent the morning at work, and there was some drama (well, a lot of it) with some of the middle schoolers so I left a couple of minutes late for class. Usually, you walk in to class, the professor just keeps talking but hands you a syllabus and you sit down. No biggie. Well, not Edna. I opened the door maybe 5 minutes late to make sure it was the right classroom, and she stopped what she was saying to give me the harshest crusty I've ever received. She just stood there waiting for me to walk in. Her name was on the board so unfortunately I knew it was the right place and couldn't just walk out. She had been speaking in Spanish when I walked in, so when she "who are you???" in a not-very-nice-or-patient voice, I said "Leah Yo...uh... Tyler," almost forgetting that at the U I haven't changed my name, which just made things worse as she gave an even worse look that said "Pathetic. You don't even know your own name." Maybe that's not what she said, but that's what it looked like. So I sat down, luckily spotting a few friends, and continued to listen to her tell us that we are expected to attend all classes, and that things like work, appointments of any kind, and weddings are not acceptable excuses. And as she talked about the tardiness policy in her class, her eyes kept coming back to mine, as if she was trying to burn it into my head that I had made a big mistake. If you leave early then it counts as an absence. I'm sorry Edna, but life happens. Unfortunately she controls the grades. I was told that as long as you get on her good side it's not so bad. I'm off to a bad start.

Anyways, sorry to rant and rave about my class, but it was traumatizing. My other class seems great though. Spanish Civilizations. It kind of feels like... a high school geography class, only in Spanish. I'm excited for it. And even though my first day of my other class wasn't so great, I can't (shouldn't?) complain. It's only one semester, and it doesn't even compare to Danny's class load. I'll just have to find out how to get back onto Edna's good side.

Number 2!

So once again this is a post in honor of the U Football team. Number 2 in the nation! They are even doing a parade downtown in their honor on the 16th! And the MUSS is invited to walk in it. How many times has Salt Lake had a parade? Well, they always do on the 24th... but they do that every year. Ranking that high is a first for the U. They'll also be spotlighted during halftime of one of the basketball games. They deserve it. I don't think there was anyone who, at the beginning of the season thought "I'll bet that the U makes it to the top five this year." They definitely surprised a lot of people by coming that far! Way to go Utes.

By the way, these are pictures from the U vs BYU game...that was such a great game...

Oh, and during the bowl game, the announcers commented that the Utes had the highest record of fans rushing the field after the game...

Reunions!

It was a fun weekend as I got to see two great friends... First of all, Spiffy (AKA Kristen) got home from her mission. We all went to Sparkle's house for a fun little reunion. She looks great and sounds like had a wonderful mission! So here we are: Jenn, Spiffy, Splash, Hoopz, and Giddy.
Then I got to hang out with Hermana Christensen. She was my last companion, and my only North American companion in the field. We were only together for a month and a half, but it was a blast. We had a lot of random fun as we worked, doing a lot of goofy things that the native companions just didn't seem to understand. Like using squirt guns that were in the shapes of soda pop cans with labels like "Spirit" instead of "Sprite." Or fully enjoying a box of nerds. And because we were the first gringa missionaries in Ayacucho we had special soccer jerseys made that said "Las Gringas Ayacuchanas" on the front with numbers 1 and 2 on the backs with our last names. All of my areas were cool, and I had a lot of great companions, but my one transfer in Ayacucho was definitely unique to the rest! We had a blast remembering all the great experiences we had in Ayacucho and all the awesome people we met and taught.

Good times were had in Ayacucho!

13 and 0!!!

All I can say is... GO UTES! Was that not a great game?? Danny and I went out to Mom and Dad Young's house for gyoza/sugarbowl game, which was both delicious and surprising. We definitely were not expecting that first quarter, and it was obvoius that Alabama didn't either! It was a great way to end the season and show up all those cocky sports analizers that said that we didn't belong in the BCS. So once again ... Go Utes!!!