Just For Fun

Edy's ice cream brand (which is Dreyer's in the West) gave us something to smile about today. Their new flavor "Red, White & No More Blues!" is a yummy blend of strawberries and blueberries in vanilla ice cream and is meant to cheer us all through the recession. We found out that Edy's/Dreyer's also created the aptly named Rocky Road ice cream during the Great Depression "to give folks something to smile about." I definitely appreciate their effort to bring some fun to these more serious economic times plus the flavor is great to boot!

Summer Days and Nights

I am so enjoying not being a student or studying for the NCLEX anymore! Yesterday was just the best Saturday with no tests, papers, or clinical to worry about. I'm definitely going to get used to this!

In the morning Dave and I rode our bikes downtown to the farmer's market near Wooster Street, it was our first time to go and we discovered we've been missing out on a lot of fun there. There were tons of vendors with beautiful produce, baked goods, cheese, salsa, jam, and even delicious lemonade! You also could get soap, yarn, and even vegan ice cream there. We bought some yellow squash, zucchini, and blueberries. Tonight we had a yummy squash and zucchini saute with dinner and a blueberry milkshake for dessert!

In the evening we packed a picnic and had dinner near a river at Devil's Hopyard State Park in East Haddam.

We had Southwestern Chicken Wraps, Chex mix, and Birch Beer! Have you ever had Birch Beer? We love that stuff but think it is a pretty local thing. If you're ever in New England you need to try it!

We had rented Prince Caspian this week and thought it would be fun to read the whole Narnia series together. We started reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together by the river there. So fun!

Afterwards, we went for ice cream before seeing Camelot at the Goodspeed Opera House. I loved Camelot, the performance was wonderful but the ending is really heartbreaking and made me cry.

Family Vacation

We've been spoiled with a visit from all of my family this last week and a half. We've done so much together and had so much fun! We started our vacation in Boston for the 4th of July. It was a gorgeous day!

The flag at the U.S.S Constitution and beautiful Boston in the background

Dave making his way down to the lower levels of the U.S.S. Constitution

With our nephew Drew

This is the view from where we watched fireworks over the Charles River. My nephew Connor said it was the "second best" fireworks show he had ever seen! I think it might have been the best he's ever seen or ever will see but he's entitled to his opinion! :)

Visiting the Boston temple after church on Sunday.

On Monday we had family pictures taken by the Old Manse and North Bridge at Minute Man National Park. I love this picture of Dave and our nephew Cade. All of our nephews just love their Uncle Dave!

Mark and Rachel's twin boys Russell and Ryan listening to the park ranger at Minute Man National Historical Park. This was our first time to meet them and we just fell in love, they are so adorable!

We then went for a walk around Walden Pond. I'm modeling a necklace that Connor made for me from a shell he found during a recent trip to the beach!

In deep thought at the site of Henry David Thoreau's cabin.

We went to a park at the Air Force Base near Concord (where Matt is a civilian employee) and had a delicious barbecue. All of the nephews loved playing together on the playground.

Carrie with the cute Mike Wazowski (from Monster's, Inc.) pinata that she and Charles made for the occasion...

...and Drew taking a whack at him with his bat. Everyone loved the pinata but especially when it broke and poured out tons of candy!

Dave and I headed back home to New Haven after the pinata activity Monday night. Dave had work teaching summer school Tuesday morning and I needed to prepare and rest up for the NCLEX (nursing boards) that I was scheduled to take on Wednesday! Thursday night my family picked me up and we drove down to New York for the remainder of our trip...

Friday we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I was enjoying myself but kept feeling sick to my stomach when I thought about the NCLEX. I wanted to know if I had passed or not and I knew that my results would be posted in a matter of hours.

Dave (who was still in New Haven for work) had been checking online all day for my results to be posted and they finally appeared around 4:00 PM...and I PASSED! Here's how we celebrated when we were reunited in NYC! I'm finally a REGISTERED NURSE! I was able to enjoy the rest of our evening in the city visiting the Plaza Hotel, FAO Schwartz, and Times Square.

Saturday we went to Ground Zero. The poster shows the pictures of all the firemen who lost their lives that day. We all felt a reverence as we visited the site.

We then went up to the observatory on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, it was awesome!

My dad went on his mission out here and this was his mission home, right across the street from Central Park on 5th Avenue! What a beautiful building and in an incredible location!

Dad, Trey, Spencer, and Connor on the front porch of the mission home. After visiting the mission home we walked through Central Park to the American Museum of Natural History. After a visit there we made our way back home to New Haven.

This pretty much sums up how we all were feeling after such a busy couple of days! It was so wonderful to be with everyone. I love my family so much!

Dinner and a Show

We spent a fun night in East Haddam last night. We started with a wonderful dinner at the Gelston House. Since we ate there last summer with my mom and dad I've been wanting to go back for more! It was definitely as good as I remembered it being and I just love the view from the dining room of the Connecticut River.

We then saw 42nd Street at the Goodspeed Opera House. It was such a fun show, I was smiling the entire time. The dancing was incredible and the whole performance was spectacular!

In the late-1800s, actors and guests arrived at this dock as they came by steamboat to the Goodspeed. We love the Connecticut River Valley, it is one of our favorite places to visit!

Pioneer Days

Our stake had a pioneer trek for the youth last week from Thursday through Monday.  The stake had asked me to come as part of the medical team (!) and Dave and I joined the youth from Friday evening on.  By the time we had arrived the youth had completed the actual trek and were settled in at their base camp.  The camp was in a beautiful location.  All of the kids looked great and talked about what a wonderful and challenging experience the trek was.

Saturday was a fun-filled day with tons of stations for the kids to do:  survival skills, blacksmithing, pioneer games, pioneer music, bread making, quilt tying and others that I can't remember! In the evening they had a hoe-down dance with a caller, everyone had a blast!

Sunday was a spiritual high for everyone starting with a sacrament meeting.  The youth were then instructed to go out for solo time.  Each of the youth's parents had written their testimony down for their child and these were given to the kids to read during their time alone.  After 3 hours of solo time the youth returned with wonderful experiences of meditation, prayer, and testimony.  We then had a testimony meeting that was just awesome, the youth in our stake are so great.

Dave headed home Sunday night so he'd be ready for his first day teaching summer school on Monday.

On Monday we took the camp down, packed our handcarts, and trekked about a mile to the pick-up point where tons of parents and family members anxiously waited to be reunited with their children.  It was awesome seeing how unified the kids had become as they cohesively handled their handcarts.  It was an emotional moment for me as we pulled our handcarts up the hill the youth began singing hymns as their families cheered us on.  We're so grateful for the testimonies of our pioneer ancestors and our personal testimonies of the restored gospel.  My testimony means everything to me and I hope the youth of our ward and stake will remember the experiences they had during the trek.

City Love

Dave had one personal day with the school district that he would lose if he didn't use it before the end of the school year.  We decided to make the most of it and make a quick trip to NYC!  After work on Monday we headed down, dropped our stuff off at Robbie and Emily's, and then headed to Times Square.  Our closest Jamba Juice is in Manhattan and whenever we are there I indulge myself with a Peanut Butter Moo'd smoothie.  They had Times Square barricaded off to vehicles and had lawn chairs set up in the street!  Here we are enjoying a Jamba Juice in the middle of Times Square!

Robbie and Emily treated us to dinner and cheesecake at Junior's!  It was sooo yummy!

We then headed back to Robbie and Emily's place for the night and played Rock Band and Wii sports until 2:00 AM!

Tuesday morning we discovered that we had accidentally parked our car in a school zone and it had been towed.  We walked to the tow pound in Queens to pay our fine and get our car back.

Though it certainly wasn't how we would have wanted our day to start, it didn't dampen our spirits and we made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We were given a feast for the eyes.  Here is a sampling of our very favorites:

Dave and I on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We took a picture of our reflection with the city in the background.

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We took a breather in Central Park.  I love people and dog watching here!  We then walked down Fifth Avenue before heading back to Robbie and Emily's to play Ticket to Ride and then call it a night!

This morning we drove to our favorite parking garage that specifically caters to the "Later-day Saints." We enjoyed visiting the temple and then made our way back to New Haven.

Finish Lines

(Amy) We started off our Saturday with a 5K race in Norwalk.  It was a beautiful morning and the race was through a very quaint neighborhood.  Dave and I really had not prepared for this race and just thought it would be something fun to do today.  We had a great time but we both are feeling very sore tonight!

Tonight was the end of year celebration for the Teach For America program.  This year marks the end of Dave's two year commitment to the organization.  Dave has given so much of his time, energy, and talents to his students and the results have been remarkable.  His class scored an average of 20% higher than their peers in the school district on the state math exams.  Some of Dave's kids have improved their reading levels by 2 or 3 years in the space of one school year!  It can be heartbreaking to know the struggles these kids and their families have, but it makes such a huge difference when they have a teacher who has high expectations and believes that they are capable of meeting them.  I felt so proud of Dave tonight as he and his fellow teachers were honored for the work they have done.