Around the Country in Ten Days - Destination 1

There is no better way to beat the winter blues than to get away from it for a while. I was able to take a little week and a half trip and pretty much cover every side of the U.S. of A. My first destination was Minneapolis, MN for my cousin Ted's wedding. I know, I know... not the best place to escape the winter since it was colder there than in Boston. Luckily, though, it was only negative 8 (F) when I landed and not in the negative forties that I heard about the week before I arrived.Ted's fiance, Jenny's family had a dinner at their home Friday night. They were a fun bunch, and very kind. Ted loves Superman, so the ice cream toppers were Superman and Wonder Woman. (Jenny also showed us a fun little Superman gift she got at her bridal shower.) The next morning I woke up early to do a session before the wedding at the St. Paul Temple. This was number thirty-five for me (currently more than half-way there).
They were brave, good sports to get married in the middle of winter in Minnesota, that's all I'm saying. It started snowing just as we were leaving the temple.They did most of the pictures inside, before the reception. The church was lovely, and all of the decorations and food were very meaningful to represent things they had experienced in life. Ted also composed and played a song for Jenny on the piano. Very sweet. I am so happy for Ted and Jenny. They really seem to fit well together.
Yes, I caught the bouquet. I didn't try very hard. I held my arm up, and it hit me... slid down my arm and scratched me, (It hurt!) then it fell on the ground and no one else picked it up... I even hesitated before I finally picked it up. In case anyone is counting... this is the fourth bouquet I have caught, including my sister Jessica's when I was 18 (ha!), and a friend's bouquet a week before I went on my mission.
After shaking it on the dance floor and watching them open presents (they were leaving the next day and had to get everything to Alaska somehow), we went to the Mall of America. Yes, it is ginormous! It has a theme park in the middle of it. We decided to go on one ride and chose this beauty, Rock Bottom Plunge. The first leg goes straight up, then straight down. It was a little strange to be staring at a glass ceiling covered with snow instead of the sky, but still cool.The next day, we explored a little bit around the city after church. There was this yummy sculpture garden. We walked along the frozen Mississippi near an old mill. It turned much colder at this point. Brrrr!
It was really fun to be with the Simpers. They are lots of fun, always laughing, and really care about people. It was good to spend time with them. Thanks for letting me come!

Work Friends

We had a little good-bye party for one of our old co-workers Andrew, who is moving to Seattle for a new job. We gathered at the Cheesecake Factory a week before Christmas. After an excruciatingly long wait (we got free appetizers, though... if you haven't tried them, avocado egg rolls are to die for!), we had fun hearing great stories about push-up contests and such at work.

Reid, Mike, Cody, Brian, Charlotte, Bethany, Clint, Andrew

Our official work Christmas party was held after Christmas (and New Year's) for ease of scheduling. It was held at the same restaurant we went to the year before. It is called Oleana's (in Cambridge) and was chosen for one simple fact. The Baked Alaska.

Due to my dislike of coconut texture, I opted for this delectable dessert instead. It had little crunchy cocoa beans on top there. Much better than the flowery thing I ordered last year.

My company is really very kind about taking us out to eat often. This was nice to be able to see everyone's wives and/or girlfriend. I work with some great peeps. :)

Game Night

Liz held a fun game night and I introduced everyone to a game that I played with my old roomies in SLC. Everyone puts in two people, places and things. Round 1 is played like Catch Phrase, Round 2 like Password (only one word as a clue), and Round 3 like Charades. Two teams take one-minute turns to get as many words (passing the bowl to each member) as possible until all the words are gone. It's a little easier than it sounds because by the third round you've already heard all the words twice.

My favorites of the night were...
... Michael acting out "Athens" by winning the Olympics.
... me having to melt as the "Wicked Witch of the West".
... Adam getting increasingly cute as "Sarah Palin". :)

Fast Forward

My roommate Katie and I had an interesting discussion today... What scenes did you (or do you still) fast forward when you watch certain movies? The ones I remember are...

...the scary bike scenes in Pee Wee's Big Adventure and the part where he holds the neighborhood meeting and goes crazy.

... the Love song in Robin Hood. Just a little boring.

... the Candle in the Water song in Pete's Dragon. Again, just a little boring to a kid.

Any other good ones?

Happy 2009!

New Year's Eve snowed and snowed and snowed and was very, very, very cold. By the time I got home from work, I wanted to bundle up in my pajamas and not go anywhere. So I almost rang in the New Year at home alone.
But I didn't.
I invited myself over to my dear friend Denise's house. :) We watched Mamma Mia, ate fresh and beautiful homemade pie, and chatted it up. Did I mention that we sang karaoke (including "Girl Hits" and the Grease songs) until two in the morning? We are rockstars.

United State of Pop 2008

My friend posted this awesome mashup of the Top 25 hits of 2008. Don't you love it? You can download it here.

Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - Low
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Alicia Keys - No One
Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major - Lollipop
Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic - Apologize
Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown - No Air
Sara Bareilles - Love Song
Usher Featuring Young Jeezy - Love in This Club
Chris Brown - With You
Chris Brown - Forever
Ray J & Yung Berg - Sexy Can I
Rihanna - Take a Bow
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl
T.I. - Whatever You Like
Rihanna - Disturbia
Rihanna - Don’t Stop the Music
Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine
Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain - Kiss Kiss
Ne-Yo - Closer
Colbie Caillat - Bubbly
Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes
Pink - So What
Finger Eleven - Paralyzer

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. :)