A Night at the Museum

(Amy) Last night, Dave and I went to the Yale Peabody Museum to view a special exhibit that has been going on there this week. Tibetan monks have been creating a special piece of art known as a mandala. Mandala are created using colored sand which is painstakingly arranged in an intricate design. These designs take days to complete! When the design is completed, there is a special ceremony in which it is destroyed. We loved watching the monk carefully fill the design with sand. We also liked looking at the other exhibits at the museum. It was a great activity for our date night!

BOSCH-alicious

(Amy) Today was our inaugural use of Dave's graduation gift--a Bosch mixer (thanks Mom and Dad Choules!). We've used the blender attachment a few times to make smoothies, but we made cookie dough for the first time with it tonight! We made a batch of cake mix cookies in record time, I swear it took less than 3 minutes from start to finish! These cookies are always yummy and so easy to make, here's the recipe:
1 box cake mix (any flavor)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I like using Reese's peanut butter chips when I make these with chocolate cake mix)
Mix first 4 ingredients together and then add the chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Connecticut River Valley

(Amy) Dave and I took a day trip to the Connecticut River Valley area Saturday. It was so beautiful and we really enjoyed visiting Essex and East Haddam.
In Essex we visited the shipyard and went shopping at a fantastic Christmas Shoppe (housed in a barn that was built in the 1700's)...we also treated ourselves to ice cream, it was delicious!
In East Haddam we went to the Gillette Castle which was built in 1919 and made to look like an old ruin of a castle. It was built in a beautiful area overlooking the Connecticut River. Next, we made a quick stop at some waterfalls at Devil's Hopyard, a Connecticut State Park.
Our last stop was in East Haddam, home to the Goodspeed Opera house. It was a fun day!
(hope you enjoy the video, my first attempt at creating a slideshow using our macbook!)

Pilgrimage to Boston

(Dave) Yesterday Amy and I made our first pilgrimage to the Boston Temple. It is about two and a half hours from our home in New Haven. Having to block off seven hours of our day to attend the temple helped make the experience so special! - A big change from driving down the street in Provo, Mesa, or Bountiful. There were only four of us at the session, it was beautiful! After the session Amy and I planned to tour Old Cambridge, but the crazily congested traffic, the incompetencies of the driver (me), and our hunger changed the plan. We are excited to return often!

Working Woman

(Dave and Amy) Today was a HUGE day in the Choules' household. Amy has officially been hired at her first choice hospital: St. Raphaels. She'll be working as a clinical technician on the Cardiology Unit. Her first official day of training is on Monday, Sept. 24. She's so excited to have more things to do! Her position is similar to what it was at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, but it will be a new experience working on the Cardiology floor.

Edgewood Park

(Amy) After a very rainy day yesterday, I was happy to see the blue skies and sunshine today! It was such a beautiful morning that I took the camera with me on a walk to Edgewood Park. Dave and I have really enjoyed living so close to this beautiful park, it's literally a 3-minute walk from our home! We've taken quite a few morning jogs and walks there.
The weather is getting really nice and Autumn-like, the high temperatures this week have been in the 70's. This is just an ideal place to be right now. I couldn't imagine my life any better than to be living here with my very best friend! :)

Tour Our Home

(Dave and Amy) We have created, for your viewing pleasure, a lovely video tour of our home! We live on the 2nd floor of the home pictured at left. Our neighborhood is a nice area and we love looking at all of the colonial homes nearby. We also live about a block from the beautiful and spacious Edgewood Park, designed by the illustrious Frank Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1910. There is a forest about a half mile west of us, and a picturesque lakes conservation park is only 15 minutes away. This might all sound great, but you really need to see it 'in person' to fully appreciate it (our bid for visitors). We have a blow up mattress (queen size) with a down comforter available at request. If you're ever in the area, please give us a call! We'd love to see you!

Dave's First Day of School

(Amy) After an exhausting night of last-minute preparations, Dave officially began teaching 1st-grade today! We went in together early this morning to finish preparing the classroom and put up our cute "Welcome" sign that we made in the hall. Everything looked great!
Dave is going to be co-teaching this year with a wonderful and adorable lady named Dorene. She is a 31-year veteran of teaching and I think she and Dave will make a fantastic team!
Not only is it Dave's first day of teaching today, it is also his first day of classes at Yale! It goes without saying that he is going to be very busy!

Our One-Month Anniversary!!

(Amy) Welcome to our new blog! We're going to update this site frequently so our friends and family can know what we're up to out here in Connecticut! It's hard to believe that we have already been married for a whole month! Friday we celebrated our one-month anniversary by going out to the New Haven Lighthouse Point Park. We enjoyed a popsicle on the beach, walked along the coast, and took a ride on the carousel there (which was built in 1916 and cost only 50 cents to ride!). We had a great time and are both fast falling in love with this area!