Noel

This year I was able to spend a whole week at home in Utah for Christmas. This was the longest I have been able to go home since moving to Boston a year and a half ago. As a quick rundown...


Sunday - I was able to see some of my favorite Woodledgers at church, followed by my sister Jodie's Christmas party, where she served yummy white bean chili.

Monday - I joined some of my best Alpha friends Joy, Amy & Danella for lunch. Amy and I then had a little spa time and shopping with Joy. I joined the Peo's and Powell's for yummy dinner. We played a fun round of Curses and made snowflakes with the kids.

Tuesday -I think we did some more shopping this day... I just know that my morning-birdness (and East Coast time) doesn't correspond well with my mom's night-owlish tendencies. I probably zonked out somewhere really early.

Wednesday - I played volleyball with some of my favorite ladies at the Stake Center. Good memories of when I was the YW Assistant Sports Director for the Stake. It was my brother-in-law Kevin's birthday, so we sang and had cake, then a traditional Bolivian Christmas Eve dinner.

Thursday - Merry Christmas! We managed to make it through the blizzard to Jessica's to watch the kids open their presents. We then had my mommy's delicious breakfast at home and opened our presents, then dinner back at Jessica's.

Friday - My Mom, Hilary, and I went shopping to find some good day after Christmas deals. By the way, I get tons of compliments on the skirt you helped me pick out, so thanks! It was my nephew Julian's birthday, so we celebrated with dinner at Red Robin. That night I was able to get together with some of my old Downington roommates and Sugarhouse friends. We played some fun new games at Patty's.

Saturday - I went to breakfast with good friends Joy & Jakob at the Village Inn. Um... I've been gone too long. I didn't remember it was there, but I guess we went to breakfast there last time I was in town too. We finally were able to make it to Jodie's house to watch the girls open their presents. Then I headed over to babysit and play with Jessica's adorable kids. My friends Natalie and Eric dropped by with their cute baby as well.

Sunday - I went to Sacrament Meeting, then went to my abuela's on the way to the airport. She gave me one of her delicious cheese rolls. Mmmm.... She is the best!

It was really good to get to see so many people that I love and bask in the familiar. I did miss Preston's birthday (three Baggaley birthdays during the week of Christmas... crazy, eh?), but hope he had a fun time.

So... I have a tendency to forget just one thing on each trip that I take. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but this time it was my camera. Sad, I know. It was better than forgetting my deodorant in hot Puerto Rico... or my underwear in California.

please note

if you hadn't noticed, i tend to post things out of order when i finally catch up... to explain the horse apple, it was related to the october post called stuffed. there may be a few in there earlier that you haven't seen if you just pulled up and saw the horse apple time and again. :)

as a side note, if you're invited to read jessica's blog and stopped reading because she never posts... i post funny little stories about her kids there every now and again, so it might be worth a visit.

I am Famous!

Yesterday was Mormon night at the Celtics game. As a result, I was lucky enough to get tickets on the 10th row for pretty cheap. I was close enough to get the above shot with my cell phone (can you believe I forgot my camera!?!). I was so close I was being sweat on, I could see the tattoos on the players arms, or the skanky dancer outfits. The section we were in had some interesting people in it... one (drunken) man who kept calling the referee "you stiff" and other choice expletives... another who yelled "get D" the entire game... and basically a bunch of people who were too old to get up and shake it. But not Kristie and I... no, not us. Since we were the only ones up and dancing in our close to the floor section, we appeared on the jumbotron, not once, but TWICE! That was a definite first for me. :) We also enjoyed yummy nachos and saw Michael Phelps walk by. I promise he is in this picture.

This was actually my second Celtics game this month. A couple weeks ago, I was able to get some last-minute tickets through work to sit in a suite. My friend Cassie was able to come with me and we had a blast. Nothing like free food and drinks and an unobstructed view. :)

Celebration of Carols

I was able to sing in this year's relief society Christmas concert. The music was challenging, but really fun and different from the typical songs you hear. Our last performance was the best Surprisingly, I was able to make it through, even though I was battling a cold and had a sore throat on Sunday. I think it's because I've learned a little more the proper way to sing. :) Speaking of which, our music director was Holly, who is giving me piano/voice lessons. She did a fantastic job. Here are some of the songs that we sang:

Personent Hodie (In Latin... we marched in from outside after an Alleluia chorus sang from the balcony)

Austrian Yodel Carol
Deck the Hall (This was a small group number that my roomie Katie sang in. Beautiful!)

Pat-A-Pan

Stable In Bethlehem

Prepare the Way

Carol of the Bells

Stille Nacht (Silent Night in German)

Mary's Lullaby

Infant Holy

The Wondrous Night

Joy to the World

Katie asked to Victoria record our final performance with her little hand recorder. Victoria favored us with a little rapping to a choir/congregation song. We also had an enjoyable time as we discovered that the only way to fast forward was while it was playing. We reach amazing heights in Personent Hodie. :)

Swing of Sixty Degrees

Sunday was finally the first snow fall in Boston. Luckily, I went from this (on my deck)......to this. My work sent me to Puerto Rico again!Last time I was mostly in the hotel for a conference, but this time I was out and about trying to find different locations. The one thing I couldn't believe is that it is even more confusing than Boston! Example one: I asked for an address to an office and was told it is on Road #2. When I pressed for more info, I was told that they don't use house numbers. Now, this may not have been so confusing, but you can imagine that by generally using numbers rather than street names, there were many a road #2. I found a road #2 and drove the entire length of it three times before parking and trying on foot so I could ask people. It turned out that the office was on highway 2. Example two: One area did use street names, however, my Garmin GPS had completely different names for the streets than the signs I was seeing... and, like Boston, there is more than one street with the same name. I didn't mind the trouble so much, though. The landscape is amazingly green and tropical... and did I mention how sunny and blue the sky was? A nice change from the cold and gray.

I did manage to find a little time to see some sights (for Mel... the longest word we found in Russian: dostoprimachatelnocti). My favorite place was Viejo San Juan. It was built by the Spanish Empire and I imagine it to be what Spain would look like. I'll need to go there just to make sure. ;) There are also two castles/fortresses that were built hundreds of years ago, as early as 1539, and continually fortified for over 250 years. They had to protect the riches they gathered on the island.

First, I went to Castillo San Cristóbal. It was built second of the two and protected San Juan from land based attacks. This little guy somehow found his way into the castle and was hanging out.
Underground, they built mazes of tunnels connecting different parts of the castle, as well as access to outside. This was the dungeon. Really old graffiti of Spanish ships on the walls. Amazing, right?These three flags are the old Spanish military flag (known as the Cross of Burgundy), the Puerto Rican flag, and you probably recognize the US flag.

This is one of the four troop barracks, restored to what it would have looked like in the the late 18th century.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro (or El Morro, as commonly called) was built to protect this port city from sea going enemies.The half circles on the ground were tracks for the cannons, so they could swing and shoot them any direction.The main plaza where troops assembled for parades, inspections, and guard mounts.I also walked down to La Puerta de San Juan. This door was the official entrance to the city, through which everyone had to pass.Looking to the right of the gate along the shore.Old San Juan has amazing artwork scattered throughout the town. This was remembering fighting against the British when they attacked in 1598.

These blue bricks were used as ballasts, loaded in Spain to stabilize the ships until they could be replaced with gold bars in Puerto Rico.

One night, I attended a Festival at San Cristobal celebrating Puerto Rican culture. I love the horses on these three wise men costumes, who come on January 5th. Christmas is celebrated from the day after Thanksgiving until the middle of January.

Another tradition for parades.The many costumes were beautiful. Puerto Rico had influence from many different countries. For the last number, each of the crew brought up someone from the audience to dance. I went up and was awarded a travel book of Puerto Rico.This is the Plaza del Colon, all decorated for Christmas.

I really enjoy Puerto Rico, especially the warm weather this time of year. It caught up to me, though. As soon as I got back to Boston, I caught a cold. I wonder is the drop in temperature of sixty degrees had anything to do with it.