it's been far too long!

WOAH. is all i have to say on how terrible we've all been at this whole time! i guess MOST people only travel in the summer. and i think dad and i officially know why!

so lets see. since the last post:

Eric and Ashlyn moved home. my roommate and i road tripped out to school. We stopped in Buford, CO to see my grandparents. i made multiple trips to UT throughout the semester.
Lynn would like to add that she also met some people.

From Oba 2010

Mom and dad continued their trips around the state for soccer games.

From Oba 2010

on any tuesday or thursday evening you could call dad and find him in a different place in the state haha.

From Oba 2010

Early November mom and dad flew over to Portland to see their beautiful granddaughters and their wonderful daughter.

From Oba 2010

From Oba 2010

I had planned to go to Northern California for the week of thanksgiving. but got stuck in Utah instead.

From Oba 2010

Within a week, eric and ash had moved to the same house we'd be staying at. haha Carol and Sid are the greatest. Eric and Ash now make daily trips out to Park City for work.
This is the resort they work at, NOT the house they moved to. :)

From Oba 2010

From Oba 2010

From Oba 2010

they've had their own share of car troubles and such.

now the most exciting news.

mom and dad drove out to idaho for my graduation.

From Oba 2010

From Oba 2010

after graduation we split. mom and my friend erin from our home stake, left for rexburg heading north then east. dad and i on the other hand, headed south. into a storm we thought we could manage. We had dinner with eric and ash and spent the night in sugarhouse. sunday dad and i headed west toward his moms house in meeker, co. we stopped in Park City to see where eric and ash work at the St. Regis then kept going. after Heber City, the highlander decided it didn't like the weather. long story short, we rolled the highlander.

From Oba 2010

From Oba 2010

we're both alright. we got to ride in an ambulance, be seen in an ER, and then went and stayed with my aunt and uncle. It was a pretty emotional and sore evening for us, having to tell all our family what happened. But it's nice we are able to say 'we're both ok!' no broken bones, no stitches, no anything. except scrapes, bruises, and some pretty sore muscles. we decided neither of us were in any condition to try to drive home. so we flew home. and boy is it nice to be home!

well, i hope this sheds at least a little bit of light on what has been going on with our family and our travels. next stop: nothing in the near future for dad or i. haha

love you all!

sara

MY TURN!!!

OK! Not that we don't love to hear what's going on with Dad and Sara, I must interject here and let everyone know that they aren't the only ones doing some summer traveling and adventures!
And I regret to inform everyone that I don't currently have the camera or pictures from the upcoming adventures I'm about to share with you......but rest assured, they will come in a few days.
Let's start with last Friday, July 2nd: We woke up and saw Eclipse at 11am. It was great! Not many people. The movie was only so-so according to my taste, but it had quite a bit of action which made it fun. After the movie we went home and got dressed and ready for our first night of fireworks. Ashlyn's friend Sarah lives with her family here in Hamden which is only a couple miles from our house. So she invited us to come out with a bunch of the YSA's from the single's branch here in New Haven AKA the Yale Branch. So after fighting traffic we found them and had a great time listening to the Air Force brass band and being entertained waiting for dark. The fireworks were great, much better than Idaho. Plus, it was a great community atmosphere.
Next day: Saturday, July 3rd. We go DEEP SEA FISHING! We wake up pretty early and drive an hour to the dock in Noanck, CT. The boat's name was First Light. We went with my co-worker Johnny, his wife, my new employer, his wife, and another guy they all knew. It was a gorgeously sunny day, but not toooo hot. It was more or less my training day and i had to learn how to set up all the tackle and gear and fishing poles and lines. Then as we went out to sea I learned how to properly cut up Squid for bait, and then it was time to fish! We caught Porgy, Fluke, and some other fun stuff. Ash caught a bunch, and I caught a bunch. We had a LOT of fish, probably about 20 or so. On the way back into the dock I got to learn how to Fillet, which is NOT as easy as some people make it look. Anyway, we were going to stay and have Jimmy (one of the guys that was with us) cook up some fish in a way that Ashlyn would agree to trying, but we were on a time schedule. We had to get home and change to meet up with Ash's mom's friend Annie. We went to her house for dinner and then went to the West Haven Beach for some fireworks. That was quite an experience. People were shooting off their own fireworks up and down the beach and all through the neighborhoods. and when I say fireworks, I mean FULL AERIAL FIREWORKS! It was actually kinda scary. The best part of the night was when I saw a guy dig a hole in the sand and bury his kids dirty diaper in the sand....GROSS!! Anyway, this day ended and were pooped... heehee no pun intended.

(Horns blare) JULY 4th!
After church we head to the train station and catch a train down to New York City!! Woohoo!! NOw that i look back, i should've insisted we go over by the statue of liberty to see that once in a lifetime spectacle... however we were both tired and it was getting really hot, so we just took the subway to Ashlyn's Sister's house in Brooklyn. Ashlyn is spending the week down there until friday, while I work and stuff. However, on monday I had a day off so I spent the night sunday night and we went and did some small sight-seeing on Monday in New York. There's a huge apple store right near Central Park, and we used the wi-fi there to download a Subway App on my iPod-Touch so that we would know where we were going :) Eventually we had to just walk 15 blocks to get to Grand Central Station so that I could get on my Train to come back up to New Haven.

So that brings us to today, where it's over a 100 degrees outside and I'm looking for any excuse to stay out of the house. One excuse was taking some DVD's back to the Library downtown, 2.5 miles away. I thought it would be a good idea to be healthy and ride my bike in, and i WAS SO WRONG! IT WAS STILL WAY TOOOOO HOT! What i wouldn't give for an Air Conditioner right now... haha

Anyway, hope all is well elsewhere in the world, i look forward to hearing more about the travels everywhere.
Love you all!

p.s. i'll post some pictures soon hopefully!

Alaska Continues

First of all, lets all give a big round of applause to Lynn for this AMAZING face-lift! you have an eye for this Lynn, we love it!

Okay. continuing our adventures...

June 1: Tuesday
Dad had class and lab, it was my first day of class. i was very nervous and unsure of what the class would be, since the title of the sociology class is Love, Sex and Heartbreak. and as I sat in the class I kept going back and forth in my head, "okay i'm gonna leave and drop the class and get my money back" " no, this is a new and different experience i need to keep with it" blah blah blah. well, I stayed with the class and have really enjoyed it thus far. Later we went and registered for a Blockbuster membership thing, since there's no redbox in alaska. LAME-O.

June 2: WEDNESDAY
SARA'S BIRTHDAY! it was actually a pretty slow day. I did homework in the morning while dad was at class. we honestly can't remember what we did for lunch. then i went to my class. After class dad had made reservations for my requested steak dinner. We went and got to sit on the patio next to the Chena River. The sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze, it was perfect. and then as i walked to the car to get the camera so we could document this awesome birthday dinner. The winds changed, these dark storms clouds started rolling in, the fountain behind me started 'peeing on us' as dad likes to say. and it just got crummy. as you can see from the picture. OH and this stupid old lady at the table behind me just kept saying 'it'll blow over, it'll be okay in a few minutes.' So, much to the annoyance of the waiters, dad and i request to move into the covered patio so when the rain did come (the weather pessimists that we are) we wouldn't get soaked. (dad's new favorite quote is: A pessimist is an optimist with experience; quoted from a dove bar wrapper.) The dinner was nice, dad got crab cakes and i got my 16 oz alder-smoked bone-in ribeye. it was DELICIOUS! And for your information, the storm DID hit. rain, wind, the whole works. So bad, that the decorative wind spinners were flying horizontally and kept hitting the windows of the covered patio. After the amazing dinner, i wanted to explore the 'mall.' turns out, it really is a mall. no department stores, but it's got my necessities. American Eagle, Pacsun, Zumies, and 3-4 other stores. haha. yep, it's itty bitty one. (but there's also an Old Navy in town w00t). then we went home and watched tv, espn probably, or our cbs nightly shows. Dads eyes were bothing him all day, so he went to bed about 10. aaannnndddd that's my birthday! OH. and about the cake. before dinner (horrible idea) we went to Coldstone and i got Birthday Cake Remix, which is pretty much as good as birthday cake, with out the cake. tee hee.

June 4: Friday
We planned our trip for Saturday, aka dad spent a couple hours looking at The Mile Post and maps. it was pretty uneventful. Dad was a little nervous about this upcoming trip because the Mile Post says that everyone should bring two regular spare tires and extra gas. But after studying the Mile Post and since we weren't driving all the way to Prudhoe Bay dad decided it would be okay with ONE regular spare tire, and no extra gas.
OKAY, this is a flashback to last week. After buying the Highlander, dad realized there was no spare tire. And between the day trips we would take, and the whole drive home, he knew we needed a spare. So he followed a sign in the woods that said 'Tires.' the drive way to a rundown house was lined with piles and piles of old tires and rims, just piled into the woods. One of the workers rummaged through the piles and found a rim and a tire that he thought would work. So after fixing 4 tires on another car, they jacked up the highlander and tested the rim to see if it would fit. it did, so they put the used tire on that rib and sold it to dad for $60. Well a new rim alone is over $100 and a new tire would $75-$100. aka, it was an awesome deal. Dad was even pleased that the full size spare fit into the wheel well where the temporary spare was supposed to be.

That night, Sara wasn't feeling very well so dad went out to run some errands in preparation for our trip tomorrow. He bought a cooler bag thing, and A CAMERA. (early fathers day present) From my standpoint, he was gone for a very very long time, to come back with two items. Reason being: the service counter at Sams club couldn't unlock the cabinet that had the cameras in it. Dad also went to Fred Meyer and got ANOTHER cooler. yeah, he went cooler happy. :-P But chose not to get a five gallon gas can and bungee cords to strap to the top of the highlander for the trip. and that's our friday. OH, and another caution for not going saturday, was that i spent most of friday evening nauseous and vomiting. yaaay fun for me. (shakes head)