First Loaf of Bread...

I was pretty proud of myself for making my first loaf of bread ever. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself and Clint practically eating it up in a day and a half confirms that. :) (Thanks to my Grandma Larsen for giving me some yeast tips that helped out a ton.)

Boston, Massachusetts...

This Saturday we thought it would be fun to take the two hour drive up to Boston, Massachusetts and check out the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is basically a 3+ mile trail through Boston that hits a lot of historical sites like Paul Revere's home, graveyards where Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Payne, etc. are buried, and other early American historical sites. We didn't know what to do with Oreo so we decided he could use a trip out of the house and also the exposure to unknown people. Boston driving turned out to be a nightmare (I would not recommend ever driving downtown Boston). After accidentally putting ourselves on the other side of Boston and then having to pay a toll on the bridge to come back, we finally parked and walked. We made it about half the way through the trail and then Oreo became rather heavy and the heat and humidity got to us. But before that point we did get to see some really cool graveyards where most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were buried and some other influential people in American history. We also saw where the Declaration of Independence was first read and where the Boston Massacre took place.  Seeing all of these places more fully made me realize how true these history "stories" that you learn about are and what important rolls they played in our nation becoming what it is today. It gave me a greater sense of gratitude for what this country is set upon and for the founders that set that foundation up.  Boston was a really neat experience and we hope to go back soon and finish out the Freedom Trail and explore more of Boston. 

Where the Boston Massacre took place and also where the Declaration of Independence was first read.

An example of some of the really old graveyards. Here Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, Thomas Payne, and a few other well known people are buried.

Paul Revere's gravestone.

The purse dog I always wanted. (Just have to find a rather big purse to fit him in.)

Taking a break after the long and hot walk along the Freedom Trail.

Essex, Connecticut...First Train Ride...

Today I got to ride in my first real train ever is Essex, Connecticut. Clint and I purchased some tickets for a steam train and riverboat ride combination. It was a fun little adventure that consisted of an hour or so train ride and then another hour and a half boat ride down the Connecticut River. It was a fun little Saturday activity that I quite enjoyed and now I can say I have ridden a steam train. :)

The Train

My first train ride

Clint on the train

The riverboat

Us on the riverboat

Beginning of our Connecticut Adventure...

      I believe I am on a roll... one blog entry every seven months. This past year has been pretty crazy for us, but hopefully I will have more time now to update this thing a little more often. For you that don't know, Clint graduated in April with his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. He was offered an internship with Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut, so we packed up our things and moved out here in May. Just getting to Connecticut was an adventure in and of itself. Here are some pictures of our adventure so far.

Before heading out here, we made a trip to St. George to watch my sisters and cousins participate in the Dixie Jr. Livestock Show. 

Chancie, Keely, and Misty

Misty

Keely

Chancie

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore at night

Mount Rushmore during the day

George Washington

Ice Cream Capital of the World :)

Mississippi River

Nauvoo Temple

Carthage Jail

Our new puppy Oreo

Our bed on the floor :(

Halloween Fun and Birthday Celebrations

I absolutely love Halloween. It is a time to be creative with pumpkin carving, making decorations, scary candy, and getting to dress up as whoever you want.   Monday, Clint and I did our tradition of carving pumpkins and roasting the pumpkin seeds (not a very long tradition, but will be as the years go on).

  I think with the limited carving tools we had (a kitchen knife, serving spoon, and drill) we did a pretty good job.  Clint decided he wanted to put little eye holes in our pumpkin, so like a TRUE man he got out his drill to accomplish that. I would not expect anything less. 

We had a few projects going on at the same time as we were carving our pumpkin.  Needless to say we put the pumpkin seeds in the oven and kind of forgot about them. They came out a little browner then normal, but if you pick out the not so burnt ones they were still pretty good.

Well my man turned the big 2-6 yesterday. Do not believe him if he tells you he is 21 (that is what he has been telling everyone).  Friday we went up to Ogden to have a birthday dinner with his family at Texas Road House.  

On the drive up there, he turns to me and says "Oh man, I know why you want to take me there." 

Acting nonchalantly and said "why?". 

"Oh nevermind, it was nothing." 

Boy did I get him.  After a very yummy dinner and some great family time they brought out the beloved Texas Roadhouse birthday saddle.  I love these moments where I get to embarrass Clint just a little bit. It is not an easy task most times.  If anyone wants to partake in my pleasure, take a look at the video.  He told them he was 21,  but do not be fooled by his boyish charm. He is 26.

Yesterday was Clint's actual birthday.  I love birthday surprises and trying to sneakily organize things in the weeks leading up to the birthday.  In the morning, while Clint was in the shower, I snuck out to his car and wrote on the window "Honk It's My Bday!" Surprisingly, he got some honks on his drive to school. Success!

When he left, I decorated the place with a "Feliz Cumpleanos" sign and birthday balloons (or so I thought). After closer examination, I realized I bought baby shower balloons. So I turned them all over to make them look like plain balloons.  Clint got a good laugh about them and asked if I was announcing something. No, I am not announcing anything. It is Wal-Marts mistake for having baby shower balloons in the birthday section.

 

Clint got home and he opened up his birthday presents. 

Then we went to Fat Catz and  tried out our very rusty bowling skills.  Needless to say, we don't have much skill but Clint got above 100 both times and I tried to keep mine above 50.   Afterward, we went to dinner at Teppanyaki Japanese Steak House.  It is one of the restaurants that does the Hibachi grill. It was fun.  After dinner we went home to eat Clint's cake.  Now he is a hard one when it comes to cake. He does not like cake so I had to be creative. I decided I would make a cookie cake. Basically it is just one big cookie. I made two of them and we decided maybe it would be good to put ice cream in the middle and make an ice cream cake.  I made some really good frosting to go on it and I decided a red cake would be cool.  I forgot that it is near impossible to make red frosting with red food coloring.  It ended up a pink frosting.  When we were done frosting it, Clint turned to me and said "I honestly have never had a pink cake before." hehe.. Now he has. It was not the prettiest of cakes, but it was fun putting it together. 

Starting our blog...

Well, here I am. I guess I have finally fallen into the blogger trend. I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile, but life has been crazy as always and I just have not had time. So I finally sat down this weekend and decided I was going to put together our blog. Viola! Here it is. There is not much to report at the moment, but check back for updates.

P.S. I just uploaded the movie I made for my Dad's 50th birthday.  If you want to check it out. It is under my videos tab. :)