Jonathan Graduated!

We traveled back to BYU for Commencement ceremonies so Ja could officially graduate. We really had a great time. President Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson were the speakers and both were very good. We had a much smaller group this time so picture taking only took a few minutes.

On Friday, we took a mini tour of campus, and Ja was able to graduate with two of his accounting group buddies, Joe and James. 

We then enjoyed a great dinner at Good Wood and Ja received his family written candy letter.

On Saturday we went to a couple of parties (James' BBQ and party at the Jones') and met Joe's new baby girl (born two days before). It was really fun having babies walking, crawling, rolling all over the place. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends. (Truman not pictured)

We returned on Sunday and I gave Ja his graduation present from me. He LOVES his new professional looking briefcase. I was a little nervous giving it to him, but he kept repeating, "This is so great. I love this" so I figure it was a good gift. 

The Missing Piece

As I was pondering life, I realized that something is missing. I thought it was the lack of something to look forward to, like anticipating Christmas. But I realized I have plenty of trips and vacations this summer, so that's not the missing piece. Then as I was varnishing a table at work I realized the missing piece is a project. I need something to look forward to when I come home from work or when Ja is gone. I've done things like sew quilts, scrapbook, and, well I guess that's it. 

Now I am trying to figure out what my new project should be. Here are a few of my ideas:

1. scrapbook more recent pictures

2. make cards for some occasion

3. refurbish a piece of furniture

What are some other good project ideas? None of these totally excite me yet. What have you done before that you really liked?

Two Reasons Why Jonathan is So Great

We had this weird daddy long-leg bug flying around our house and it eventually landed on the wall across from our couch. Instead of whacking it with something Jonathan wanted to try and shoot it with rubber bands. So we sat on the couch for 20 minutes trying to shoot the bug. I'm still new to the shooting-a-rubberband-off-your-finger-thing so whenever I got a good shoot Ja was proud of me. Neither of us could hit it which resulted in a lot of rubberbands on the floor. And Ja even cleaned up the rubberbands! I was so happy! Eventually the bug died, probably from the stress of high-speed rubberbands coming at him.

We went shopping so Ja could use up some gift cards from Christmas and his birthday. I was sad and said I wished it was my birthday so I could buy things. He then said one of the sweetest things he's ever said, "If you find something cute that you like, buy it."* Ahhh, I knew he was the right one to marry.

*I didn't use any of Ja's gift cards, he used those all by himself.

New York, New York!

Last weekend we had the chance to go to New York City and stay in the Marriott Marquis hotel which is right in Times Square. 

Here are a few highlights of our trip:

Wednesday night we ate at a restaurant at our hotel named "The View." The restaurant is at the top of the hotel and SPINS around so you can get a view of the whole city. It was awesome.

Ja and I got up early Thursday morning and went to the Today show. We got to shake Matt and Meredith's hand and got on TV at least 3 times!

Went to the top of the Empire State Building.

Went around Rockefeller Center and took at picture in remembrance of our new favorite show "30 rock." 

Took the subway to the financial district and saw the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. 

Ja found a huge red cube.

We took a ferry to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. As we floated past the Statue we realized it's on Ellis Island. Oh well, we still took a picture of her.

Took the subway again to Central Park. It's wonderful having a huge park in the middle of the huge city.

That night we saw "In the Heights" which was a musical about a Latino community in Washington Heights. It was a fun show and had some fun musical, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Afterward we went to Juniors for dessert and hot chocolate.

And that was all on one day!

Friday, Ja had to help his dad at the AIUM Conference (which was the reason we went to NY) so Dorothy and I went around town.

We went to Grand Central Terminal. It was so beautiful, clean, and fun. There are stores and restaurants all around inside.

We then went shopping, ate a delicious Italian lunch, then went to the temple in Manhattan. At 6 stories high, it's one of the smaller buildings around. We took cabs instead of the subway and now I know why Jerry Seinfeld said, "Wow, I wouldn't do that in my car!" Those drivers are a little crazy.

Then it was off to 39 Steps, a play with only 4 people in it, but a lot more characters. Two people play lots of different people which was funny; funnier now when I think back on it. It was very different from what we expected so we all thought we would like it better a second time.

Saturday Tiffany, Jeff, Dorothy, and I drove to West Haven, CT to visit an old family friend, Mary. I've heard sooo many stories about "the fluffy lady" from the DeVore family so it was nice to finally meet her. The drive was nice until we were only .9 mile away from our hotel. So many streets were blocked off it took us one hour to go that .9 mile! New York streets are absolutely cramped and crazy! We felt like getting out of the car and running the rest of the way back to tell someone we love them and not to leave the country. Oh, wait, that's a movie...

Saturday night we saw the best musical of the weekend, Guys and Dolls. The songs were great, the one-liners were funny, and the whole stage looked awesome. Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls was one of the main characters. It was her Broadway debut and she did great. Oliver Platt was also another main character. I really liked watching someone I recognize on stage. 

Sunday we listened to Greg give a talk at the Conference. Tiffany and I agreed that there is no one better to do our future ultrasounds because it seemed like a lot of the doctors in the audience didn't know what he was talking about. He does have an expert knowledge of ultrasound and the fetus. 

I loved being in New York with all the hustle and bustle. I loved walking everywhere and having everyone else walk with you. The horns are honking, the wind is blowing, people are everywhere all with an agenda. You better know where you are going or you'll get run over.

There are 8 million people in the little part of Manhattan! I thought LA was crowded with 3 million and that is over a much, much larger parcel of land! 

We can't wait to go back!