Drilling

This is my first entry on "our" blog! Matt has been doing this single handed until now. A couple of days before Matt's b-day I made Funfetti cupcakes and took them to school to celebrate his 27th birthday with his fellow students and friends. We had a rather dry get together (I forgot to bring milk) in a side room on the 6th floor of the NYU Dental Center. Since I didn't have work that day Matt burrowed a friends lab coat, thanks Ryan, and I headed into the lab with 120 other students wearing white lab coats. (I fit right in...only I was the only girl with a lab coat that was 10 times to big!) I watched Matt insert an Amalgam filling into a plastic premolar in a dummy's permanently open mouth.

(not actual tooth)
It was pretty cool. I left while he finished up his requirement for the day and then I got to go back up and do some drilling!


I wasn't very good at it. The thought of doing that on real teeth in a real person's mouth is scary!! I am glad it is Matt training for this and not me. Good luck all you dental students; keep up the good work!

How Cold?

How cold was it today? Frozen piss cold!





Julee and I both had the morning off today and so we set out to explore. When the alarm clock woke us up the radio said that it was 15 degrees out. That might not sound all that impressive to those who live in Rexburg or other places were it is that cold all winter, But believe me there is a big difference between dry cold and humid cold! We bundled up and headed out. I was wearing two coats and so was Julee, it made me feel like I was Ralphie's little brother off of the Christmas Story. It actually took effort to put my arms down.

When walking in Manhattan an important survival skill you learn quick is watching were you step. If you don't pay attention you are guaranteed to step in several little presents left by the local population of little rats people call dogs around here. This morning something was different though. The piss was frozen! This set me off on a tangent about how ranking things on a scale of one to ten is too easily exaggerated. When speaking about how cold it is, it should be: "on a scale of one to frozen piss." That way when someone asks how cold it is you can say it is frozen piss cold, and they will know one, that it is really cold, and two, that you are not just exaggerating or comparing it to...lets say, the weather in Florida.



After that excitement we got on the 6 train and headed up to the end of the line to Pelham Bay Park. The park is part of the Bronx and is the biggest park in New York. Julee and I stopped at a diner for breakfast and then spent an hour exploring a small section of the park. We saw a WWI monument, ran through leafs, saw gees, walked on a beach, thought about swimming, and lastly skated on a frozen pond. Wow it was nice to get out of the city and at certain spots you couldn't even see any tall buildings! It was cool to be able to get close to the water and smell the coast.

Christmas in New York

Julee and I celebrated our first Christmas alone. Last year we were still living in Rexburg and were able to hang out with Natalie, Jared, and Julee's grandparents. Christmas in New York was fun; it was like living in a movie. Julee worked hard making Chocolates and I worked at an out doors store selling mostly coats. For me it is now a relief to be able to take a vacation from work and start going to school again.



A week or so before Christmas there was a stake Messiah sing along. When it was first announced I thought it sounded nice, but probably not. Then in church I heard someone talking about how great it was. We ended up going and WOW! It was awesome! There were about 10 people playing stringed instruments, a trumpet, drum, and best of all a base, tenor, soprano, and alto. When the tenor got up and sang the first part it blew me away how loud he could sing. From there the night only got better. Julee and I tyred to sing along when the congregation was supposed to sing the chorus parts but after I sang out of place twice when nobody else was making any noise we stopped. The base could sing louder than scream. By far the best music that I have ever heard around Christmas. What talent in the stake!




On Christmas eave Julee and I met up in Grand Central Station after work and then went for a walk over to Rockefeller Center to look at the huge tree there. It was beautiful, very big compared to most Christmas trees and very small compared to the buildings. Unfortunately it was really packed with people (mostly tourists).





When Christmas morning finally came we opened our presents and enjoyed not having to work. We both missed out families and were grateful for the miracle of cell phones that allowed us to call everyone. Julee received a hanging Jewelry box and earrings form me, and she gave me a Beautiful Blanket she made for me, a beautiful journal, and a pair of shoes.



Christmas was Wonderful for us and We hope it brought you closer to Christ.

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving Julee and I didn’t cook turkey or any other typical foods. Instead we woke up early and rode the subway down to Times Square and Watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We arrived two hours early and there was already a big crowd. We claimed our spot somewhere in the 8th row of people. At about 9:30 the parade was getting close to where we were it started to get exciting. There was a group of six people who pushed their way forward behind a wheel chair. They had southern accents and were defiantly not from NY. As they got closer to the front people were more and more reluctant to let them by. The group reached as far as in front of us and then couldn’t make it any farther. She called out and said that a policeman had said they get to push to the front. Then people in their NY accents replied back that the wheel chair could move forward but not the whole group. The lady looked flustered and said something about how “Just like New Yorkers they were” and then the person in the wheel chair was pushed to the front. Luckily for us the group of ladies stayed in front of us.



I thought it was a little annoying how they thought they would be able to show up right when it was starting and push their way right to the front despite the fact that everyone that was there had been waiting for hours, but right then the balloons started passing and I forgot about the them. After several Balloons had passed some kids pushed their way through the crowd and people let them buy. Then their parents came pushing through; and guess who started getting in their face and full-out blocking them from getting buy? You guessed it, the Southern Ladies. I couldn’t take the irony and asked the lady how she of all people could be giving people a hard time about people pushing forward? She didn’t care to answer. The Black lady and husband that were pushing in then almost got in a fight with several people including the black and southern ladies slamming into each other and the black guy threatening to beat up some other man. Finally someone called for the police and things quieted down. In short there were just eight or so really rood people amongst the 200 or so that were pack in with us.



The Parade was cool, the Balloons were huge, and overall it was a good time. Julee and I both got tired and we decided to leave a little early. The problem was that the crowd had grown from being eight rows think to being one whole block thick. It took ten minutes to push our way out and when we did it was a relief to be able to stretch and bend our legs.



After we escaped from the crowd we then headed up to central park were Julee did some ice skating (Can you find here in the picture?) and then we headed to JFK airport were we saw Cyri and Owen (Julee’s sister and Brother in law) who were on their way to Europe. By the time we arrived home we were beat. We did have turkey and stuffing -leftovers that Julee had brought home from a work party meeting our turkey requirement for the day. All in all a very different Thanksgiving experience.

My Parents are Incredible!

I like to think of myself as a pretty adventurous type, I am young and in good shape and enjoy challenges. This last August before Julee and I headed to New York we made one last quick retreat to Zion with our buddy Steve (shown in the picture) to get a little adventure in. We did several slot canyons and had a good time. Around the end of October my parents along with my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Marcie headed down to Zion national park and did some canyonearing as well. To keep this short they ended up doing one of the canyons that we had done called Spry. It is probably my second favorite slot canyon with over 10 repels and variety of open and very narrow terrain.


Unfortunately my Mom dislocated her shoulder near the end of the canyon (the picture is of them both before she was hurt). At that point the only way out was to continue down the canyon through two or three large rappels. I am sure it was not very fun, and the memory might keep my Mom from letting my Dad talk her into another adventure. They made it though and since then my Mom’s shoulder has been re-located and the ligaments were not torn. My parents both turned 59 this year and I am left hoping that Julee and I are able to continue adventures when we are their age.

The New York Marathon

On Sunday the 4th Julee and I went to church and then afterwards could not get home. The Marathon had taken over the city and First Avenue was blocked off. We took two hours and watched the race on 87th street and also in Central Park. What a fun race!