It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

(Amy)  Dave and I returned home to Connecticut yesterday following a perfect week at the Choules' home in Arizona for Christmas.  The only complaint I have about our time there is how quickly it went!

We arrived on Christmas Eve (at 1:00 AM!) and after a good night's rest got up and went for a walk and then played "wallyball" as a family for many rounds.  It was a blast!

Christmas Eve in the evening we went to the Mesa Temple to see the beautiful lights and hear a gorgeous vocal performance by Gilbert native Jordan Bluth.

Later, back at home we shared a beautiful evening reading the account of the birth of the Savior from Luke 2, sharing testimonies, and opening our new pajamas.  Mom made all of us girls pajamas!

Christmas morning Michael gave all of us a framed picture by Walter Rane.  It was so wonderful to finally meet Michael in person, he is such a wonderful person and a great brother.

A Wintry Adventure

(Amy) After my shift at the hospital today, Dave and I were beckoned by East Rock Park to explore the area in the newly fallen snow. It was a beautiful drive to the park.

We had never noticed this bridge before on our previous visits to the park.

Here I am still in my scrubs enjoying our walk in the snow.  It was such a fun, impromptu adventure with Dave!

A very Christmasy and lovely church.

It's so fun to look down on New Haven from East Rock, there are so many steepled  churches, rivers, and beautiful homes to view!

The view of New Haven from East Rock.  Because of the snow, Dave and I had to walk to the summit.  It was such a fun way to spend the early evening

Two Birthdays and a Baptism

(Amy) This weekend was our nephew Spencer's eighth birthday and his baptism.  Mom, Dad, Dave and I were so happy that we were able to make it to Massachusetts for this important event.

Spencer has been looking forward to his baptism for a long time.  It was fun to see him absolutely beaming with excitement and happiness that his baptism day was finally here (Matt looks pretty excited and happy too!).

I love this picture of Mom and Dad with Spencer following his baptism and confirmation.

A picture of all the Squires family or at least, technically, about half of our family.  It was great to be together but we are so excited for our vacation this summer with the complete Squires family!

Back at Matt and Dionne's home, we celebrated Spencer's eighth and Dad's 61st birthdays.  Happy Birthday!

The birthday cake was completely made-from-scratch and it was delicious.  Cade seemed to especially enjoy it!

I had to include this picture of silly Drew who not only had his pants on backwards but was also wearing his little cowboy boots on the wrong feet!    

It was great spending the weekend with family, we enjoyed every minute of it.  Now Dave and I have to buckle down for just a few more days, we both have our final exams this week and Dave has to write a paper but then we are done with another semester!  Hurray!

Early Christmas

(Amy) My Mom and Dad came for a visit last Wednesday, though Dave and I are still in the thick of school/work it was so great to just see my parents and spend some time together this weekend.  While they were here, it only seemed appropriate to open our Christmas gifts for each other together! 

My cute Mom opening her present.  We gave her The Doctrine and Covenants Made Easier by David Ridges.  

Last time Mom and Dad were here, Dad picked out Dave's copy of Herodotus The Histories and was so captivated by it.  Dave came up with the idea of giving Dad his own copy for Christmas, I think it was a perfect gift!

Dave and me in our pajamas before opening our gifts.  We received so many great gifts.  I'll highlight just one, Dave was given the BBC's Planet Earth DVD set.  They are just amazing and Dave and I have been awed by every scene, our earth is an amazing place!  We highly recommend these videos, they're absolutely enthralling.

It was wonderful to be with Mom and Dad for a few days during the Christmas season!

Boston Weekend

(Amy)  Following my shift at the hospital Friday, Dave and I headed up to Ben and Jenn's home near Boston to continue our Thanksgiving weekend celebrations.  We rang in the Christmas season by singing Christmas songs around Ben and Jenn's new piano, it was so fun.  

  Saturday morning, Dave and I made our way to the Boston temple to do a session; it was a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving weekend.  We are so grateful for the Restored Gospel.

  Following the temple we drove to downtown Boston and started our sightseeing at Boston Commons.   We loved seeing the skaters enjoying Frog Pond, which is free to skate on with a $5 charge to rent skates only!

Here I make the acquaintance of one of the frogs of Frog Pond.  Boston Commons is absolutely magical to me, I love great public parks like this!

Dave and I met up with Dave and Emily to explore the Freedom Trail.  Here we are in front of the Massachusetts State House.  We also saw Park Street Church, King's Chapel and Burying Ground, the first public school site, the Granary Burying Ground, and the Old Corner Bookstore.  

We then met up with Ben, Jenn, Henry, and Ellis for lunch at the Cheers Bar which was used for the exterior shot for the television show Cheers.

Following lunch Dave and I headed to the Boston Opera House to see a matinee of the Nutcracker performed by the Boston Ballet.  We loved seeing all the children dressed up so beautifully and eager to see the performance, they were so cute.  The ballet was wonderful; the dancers were all just amazing, the orchestra perfect, and the sets and props were just spectacular!  The Boston Opera House is so majestic, Dave and I were enthralled by the entire experience and want to make it a Christmas tradition in our home.

On our way back to our car, we couldn't resist stopping in at the Brattle Book Shop to peruse their selection of used and rare books.  Dave made out with a copy of Carl Van Doren's biography of Benjamin Franklin for $3!  We loved our time in Boston, it was a perfect Holiday weekend!

Our Thanksgiving

(Amy) Dave and I had friends over for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Ben and Jenn, my friends from good old Layton, Utah who currently live near Boston, and Jenn's and my former BYU roommate Emily and her husband Dave, who live in Philadelphia, joined us for a wonderful feast at our place here in New Haven.  

I cooked my first turkey and it was a bit of an adventure, but it seemed to turn out fine.  Dave carved the turkey which was his first time as well!

Here we are, half of the girls of the Centennial #315 apartment.  We had such good times together in that apartment!   It was fun reminiscing together about those crazy days.

In the evening, we were joined by yet another Layton friend, JoDee, and her husband Brandon and daughter Olivia.  JoDee, Ben, Jenn, and I were all involved in Layton High School's choir and graduated together in 2000.  It's so fun to be able to spend holidays with such great friends while we are so far from home.   

A Shoe Story

(Amy)  Dave and I were on our way to an oh-so-needed  dinner date in downtown New Haven when I began to notice that my left shoe didn't feel quite right.  I continued walking but the further we went the more apparent it became that something was definitely wrong with my shoe.   I soldiered on until we were seated at our table at the restaurant where we finally were able to survey the damage.   We were both surprised to see that the sole of my shoe had literally split wide open! 

I have had these shoes for at least 7 years, I think I only paid $10 for them so I definitely got my money's worth out of them!  Actually, I wasn't too fond of them so I can't say I'm sorry to see them go!