Fun Filled Thanksgiving Weekend!

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed in Boston and even hosted the big event at our home. Yes, we made our very first turkey without any help (besides over the phone help from Wonder Chef Maren) from anyone. We invited a couple from our ward over and a couple that lives down the street. Everyone contributed to the meal so we didn't have to make everything so that was great. Oh yeah, listen to this, our neighbors upstairs left for the holiday but before they left they brought us a pumpkin cheesecake from Rosie's Bakery that was soooo delicious! I am so thankful for them!!! Isn't that so nice? I thought it was. The meal turned out very well and we all left the table filling more than satisfied. All in all we had a really fun time. It was fun to cook with Christian and share the holiday with friends. After we stuffed our faces we looked at all the adds for Black Friday and loathed over the toys we would like but are too poor to buy, it is a fun tradition we have each year. I have yet to find a deal to get me to Kohls or Target at 4:00 a.m. however!

On Friday I had to work which was no fun, but I did it so I could take Monday off cause my dad and his girlfriend, Lori came to town to visit us!!! They arrived in Boston Friday night and we ate yummy food at Red Bones and then went Candle Pin Bowling. For those of you Non New Englanders that is a game similar to bowling except the pins are really thin and you use really small balls to try to knock down the pins. You get three turns and only two times in two games was I able to get all the pins down. It is so much harder than it looks. We all had a great time laughing at ourselves and how ridiculous we looked trying to master the game.
Saturday it was FREEZING!!!! We all bundled up really warm and took a Duck Boat Tour of Boston,if you don't know what a duck boat is please see picture below. They go on land and on sea and it was really fun to see Boston that way and a lot warmer than walking around!


After the Duck Boat tour we drove to Charlestown to see Bunker Hill.


This is the Bunker Hill monument and it has 294 stairs that spiral all the way to the top and yes, we climbed to the top, because that "is why we came here." That climb wasn't the easiest thing and my legs were shaking like crazy when we got to the bottom. However, going up 294 stairs on a freezing day is a great way to get really hot, so I guess that worked out in our favor! After that we saw the USS Constitution which was neat as well.

Yeah WE made it!!!

Another fun thing we did while Christian went to school was go to Fenway Park, home to the Boston,Red Sox! Go Sox!


It was really fun to see Fenway and be a part of this historical piece of baseball. We learned a lot about the stadium and the Red Sox. Good times!

Other highlights this weekend:
We put up our first "life sized" Christmas tree. We decided we were grown up enough now to get a big kid tree instead of our 3 foot fiber optic tree. I think it looks great but it is kinda hard to get a good picture.


The best part of my week was getting my very own GPS from my dad for my birthday! The worst part of living in this city for me is trying to find my way around without getting lost witch is really not possible to do! I DO NOT enjoy being lost at all and at times driving has caused major anxiety attacks for me. I am overjoyed with my new toy and I believe I might actually survive in this city now!!! Thanks Dad!

Thanks to my dad and Lori for letting us drag them all over Boston and for all the great food we ate and fun we had. Love you guys!

Two Great Men

This is my Grandpa Evans being saluted by my brother Stevie at a Korean War Memorial in Salt Lake City, 2005.

My Grandpa Evans

Today, two men have been on my mind a lot. One is my grandpa Evans and the other is my brother Stevie.
My grandpa died almost two years ago and today is his birthday. Although he is no longer with us I still think of him often and am influenced by his life and his love toward me constantly. My grandpa taught me so much about unconditional love and hard work. Until the day my grandpa died he was still working hard and never had a thought enter his mind about retirement. He loved to work. He also loved his family, no matter what drama was going on in the family he was always there to put an end to the nonsense. He had/has the respect of everyone in the family and they all listened to him.
As a little girl I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as my parents were working and in school. I remember going to the mall with grandpa to walk and then going back to their house to eat graham crackers and milk. My grandpa always made me feel special and loved. He was there for me whenever I needed him. He was at the hospital when I was sick, he made time to attend special school performances, and always made sure everyone in our large family always had a Christmas present.
My grandpa loved to make people laugh and this talent came naturally to him. He had a way of teasing people and bringing a smile to their face.
Before we left for Louisville, my family would eat Sunday dinner each week with my grandparents and we were able to spend good times with them and create fond memories.
I really miss having my grandpa around, I will always miss him. Love you grandpa!!!

My Brother Stevie

The reason my brother has been on my mind especially today is because he has been serving our country over seas for the past 8 months and his ship the USS Denver will be back in its San Diego port tomorrow. Stevie has been serving in the U.S. Navy for the past three years and will be done with his service this March. His experiences in the Navy have truly polished his hard work ethic and taught him more about respect and friendship. I know it has been hard to be in the middle east the last 8 months as the temperatures were extremely hot and being on a ship with limited AC did not help the situation. Many times he talked about he food and how they had the same thing day in and day out and how he longed just to have a PB and J sandwich, something that is readily available to us Americans. I am so proud of him and the way he has served his country. He has sacrificed much time away from his family, his new bride and two daughters that had a difficult time understanding where daddy was and why he was there. I am thankful for Stevie's safe deployment and that no harm came to him or his shipmates. I wish I could be there tomorrow to see his ship come in, but that cant happen. I know he will be surprised to see not only his wife and children but will be surprised when my mom and grandma show up as well. Love you bro!

Pie Making

The Finished Product

Christian and I went to our first cooking club in our ward last night. There were about 16 people there learning how to makes pies. Christian, I have to admit was most dedicated to making the crust and filling, while I was mostly interested in socializing and eating the final product. Christian loves to makes pies but this was his first cream pie, it is chocolate cream pie and it is soooo YUMMY! Thanks to Barbara who helped us make such delicious food at her beautiful home. We look forward to next months cooking club where we will be making truffles and toffee! mmmmmmm. Don't worry we didn't eat the whole pie, we shared with the neighbors and friends. If anyone needs a great recipe for pie crust or cream pie just let us know!

Hope all of you have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving!



So good!

What are the boys up to?

Many of you guys may be wondering how Christian and McDuff spend their time while I am hard at work all day. This pictures says it better than any words I can write!


Any Questions?

Red Sox Rally Rowdiness!

Posters at the Rally!

There has been a lot of excitement in Boston with the Red Sox going to the World Series and Sweeping the Colorado Rockies! Christian and I are both happy the series ended fast because the games were on pretty late in our time zone and we were getting a little tired staying up late and getting up early for work. We realized soon, however, that it was not just us walking around like zombies, it was the whole city. So yes, we decided we are OFFICIALLY Red Sox Fans, we wanted to share this news with everyone! We came to the conclusion that we cant live here for the next 5 years and not be fans, after all these are the most die hard fans we have ever seen and we want to be part of it!
When the Red Sox won the series the city of Boston has a "Rally"/Parade for the team through the city. It was on a Tuesday @noon and I had to work so I couldn't go, but Christian didn't have school so he decided to head down for the festivities. One may think that not to many people can attend due to work and school but I think 80% of the city called in sick to work and skipped class to be a part of this historic event!


Jacoby Ellsburry is the Center Fielder and one of the fastest guys on the team. Don't you just wish your name was Coco Crisp?

During the Rally the players went down the streets of Boston on the duck boats and waved at the fans. Pretty exciting stuff. Many folks in town took this as an opportunity to be drunk by noon which led to a few people in the crowd being arrested, one of which Christian got to see!
We have really enjoyed the excitement of the events and look forward to following the team that beat the curse!
Go Sox!

Pandora

I have found one of my favorite new websites and I want to share the joy it brings me with the rest of you!
So I love to jam out to my tunes in the morning and while I am getting ready, when I am doing the dishes, or just checkin' the world wide web. But if you are like me, sometimes you get board with the music that you have on i tunes and you are too poor to go and purchase more music from the i tunes music store (I know $.99 is not a lot but I cant just buy one song!) So Christian introduced me to this awesome website http://www.pandora.com Here you can create your own radio stations for FREE!!! I love cool stuff that is free! You just put in an artist or a song that you like and it will come up with a play list of songs that are of the similar genre and it just plays and plays for hours. You can have as many stations as you want it is so great. So it is like listening to the radio with perks. Perk #1 No commercials (YEAH!) Perk #2 You can skip a song if you don't like it. Perk #3 It is totally FREE!
So check it out and let me know what you think. It has brought a great deal of joy to our lives and hope it will do the same for you!