The Fullers

Arctic Art

2012-01-24T12:26:00.000-05:00

1 Ice Sculpture = Pretty Cool

A Whole Festival of Ice Sculptures = Awesome and AMAZING!

Sure it's cold, but there are a few advantages to living through the icy winters of the upper mid-west. One of these advantages? The Plymouth Michigan Ice Festival - the largest free ice sculpture display in the USA.

There were tons of ice sculptures to see through out the park, as well as sculpting demonstrations and competitions.

The best part of the festival was the interactive sculptures. They were great photo ops for kids. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of us riding the giant ice dinosaur but we did get a few others.

Mammoth Cave

2012-01-21T20:43:00.001-05:00

On the way home from Georgia we decided to stop and take a tour through Mammoth Cave (the longest cave in the world). We always pass it on our drives but have never stopped.

The formations inside the cave were beautiful. It was a little difficult to get good pictures (plus the flash was giving James a headache) but we got a few.

A creepstery pic of Jamesy.

We went on the "frozen Niagara" Tour. Here's a picture of the formation that gave the tour its name. It's actually quite large and goes down the whole side of one of the cave walls. Cool huh?

A New Generation of Jumpers

2012-01-16T11:12:00.000-05:00

The kiddies were quite interested in using my camera. After I showed them to take awesome possum still shots of airborne jumping action, they wanted to try it out.

We demonstrated...

... and they followed.

They wanted to do it over and over and over again. I was so proud!

Christmas in Georgia

2012-01-16T11:03:00.001-05:00

This year we spent Christmas with James' family in Georgia. James' brother and his wife were nice enough to let us stay in their home during the holidays.

James's mom Carolyn and Grandma Fuller came to have Christmas morning with the family. Might I just say that Christmas is so much more fun with little kids.

We don't get to see James' family nearly enough. He absolutely loves seeing his brother. Allen does all kinds of fun things with James that I won't usually do. I like camping but backpacking really isn't my thing so during the week, James and Allen went on a backpacking trip in northern Georgia. They also discovered they could play each other in Metal Storm over the internet on their respective apple devices. I haven't yet seen the end of it.

The best part of Christmas with kids is helping them to try out their new Christmas presents! Most of my time was spent playing with play-doh, having picnics, and dressing like princesses.

This little one didn't like me so much, but he sure did love his uncle James. He wouldn't let James put him down.

Right before we left Georgia we took Carolyn out for a fun night at the Japanese Steakhouse. Delicious! Not the most flattering pictures, but it's all we got.

Family Photos

2012-01-09T20:27:00.000-05:00

On November 23rd my mom organized family photos in the Lebanon Memorial Park during the Thanksgiving break.

We got a few decent family pictures.

Obviously, we had to include a jumping picture as well.

There were a few pictures with just the girls.

And even one for just the boys.

That day was James' and my 4th wedding anniversary, so we got a few pictures with just the two of us.

Expecto Patronum!

2012-01-07T15:10:00.001-05:00

If you haven't noticed, whenever my family gets together, the picture taking gets a little out of hand. This trip was no different.

After the spooky haunted house in Indy, Marissa wanted to show us how to make a few ghosty pictures of our own. Only problem, she couldn't really remember exactly how. So... we played around with the camera a bit.

Then we thought to ourselves, "selves - that looks just like a soul being sucked out of someone's body by a dementor." Why not? And so we did...

Awesome, no? But we didn't stop there. Flash lights got added to the mix and after a few outlining pictures and some fireball action came the Harry Potter pictures.

Expectro Patronum! Add a wand and you got yourself some magic. We may or may not have taken these pictures until three in the morning.

Lots of Wizarding Duels ensued...

But we all came out friends in the end!

Haunted House = A house often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased ... where you eat dinner and paint peace signs

2011-12-20T19:44:00.051-05:00

Our Thanksgiving vacation events included a girls night out to an old house in Indy for some dinner and painting.

The house was haunted. And creepy. And we took advantage of these ghost infested rooms for a small photo shoot.

There were lots of ghostly creepsters following us around from room to room, as you can see below.

Mandy found herself a little friend.

Mandy + Her new friend = super scary.

See that lady in the picture. Yeah, she's dead. Died the morning after she slept in the bed that was sitting right next to this dresser. Spooky.

I was fairly certain that we might get kicked out of that house after our escapades. But we made it to dinner without getting into too much trouble.

After dinner the painting began.

Here we see Marissa; quite the professional.

Mandy isn't the most ... artistic person in the family, but on this evening, she dressed the part and decided to give it her all. In fact, she worked so hard perfecting her painting, that before she had finished, all the dishes had been cleared and everyone else had left.

My mom finished her painting ...

Me and Marissa finished ours...

And 20 million years later ...

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron

2011-12-18T17:50:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving! A wonderful day to share with family. And that's what we did.

We spend the Thanksgiving holiday at my parents house along with Justin, Marissa, and Amanda.

We all shared in cooking the Thanksgiving meal. There was a bit of a disturbance when someone (it probably wasn't me ... ) put too many potato peels down the garbage disposal at once. They were shooting out under the sink for a little while but James and Marissa did a great job cleaning them all up.

Per request of my little husband, we spent Saturday afternoon preparing and serving meals at the Shalom House in Lebanon. We had a lot of fun working together to serve those who came in for something to eat. It was a great experience and something that I would say deserves the status of new Thanksgiving tradition.

Contrary to the contents of these photos, I was actually there to help out. I was the primary food scooper. When you are the picture taker, you don't always remember to get photos of yourself (which I'm usually just fine with). But, as proof of my participation, I did remember to get one of James and I before we left.

Anniversary 4.0

2011-12-14T17:38:00.001-05:00

This year on November 23rd we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!

We were at my parents house and decided to spend the evening in down town Indy at the city circle.

We wanted to go to Pot Belly for sandwiches since we had gone there on our honeymoon but when we arrived, we found out they had closed three minutes earlier.

We settled for Pennstation instead and then went to the South Bend Chocolate Company for some of the best hot chocolate known to man.

We LOVE hot chocolate and theirs was so delicious! It was topped with real whipped cream, melted milk chocolate and a cherry. At $2.00, I highly recommend it!

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-11T19:56:00.000-05:00

Our friends took us to see the lighting of a huge tree in downtown Detroit in early November.

Her business had a party over looking the lighting, but after the party we went outside to walk around the 60 foot tree. It boasted 18,000 lights on three miles of wire. In this picture the tree doesn't look nearly as cool or as big as it actually was but, believe me, it was spectacular. What an awesome start to the Christmas season.

Shout Out to Quality Customer Service

2011-12-07T09:43:00.001-05:00

Why yes, I do have a huge back log of blog posts that need to be completed. Why do you ask?

It has been brought to my attention that I have not, of late, been keeping my blog regularly and sufficiently updated. Per specific request by a few blog stalking parties (ahem, mother and Stacey) I will dedicating my free time these next few weeks to our recent goings-on.

But first ... A shout out to decent customer service.

I have worked many customer service jobs within the duration of my short life. They aren't always the easiest of jobs, but I always tried to be as pleasant and helpful as I was able to the customers I dealt with.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is the mentality of every customer service rep. Rudeness in customer service seems to be a very rampant epidemic.

Don't get me wrong, I do undertand what working in the customer service industry is like - I was an insurance claims agent for crying out loud. I understand that every once in a while you get that customer who is demanding and unreasonable and makes you want to pull your hair out, but what about the rest of us. The people who just want you to stop talking to your friends behind the counter long enough to ring us up at the register or want to be able to ask you a question with out an enormous exaggerated eye roll. Or acknowledge our existence at all.

Anyway, I've come to expect sub-par service (maybe I lived in Baltimore one too many years). That is why I really appreciate a happy and helpful employee.

I've seen many lately. The lady who cuts my fabric at JoAnn, the bank lady who always has a complement for her customers or the entire crew of every chick-fil-a I've ever visited. But the best of all has been has been Canvas on Demand.

My mom had purchased us a canvas as a Christmas present last year. I had requested a sepia photo and although the photo looked great, it was a little too yellow for my liking. I saw that they had a 365 day return or exchange policy so I called to see when the canvas was ordered and if I could get an exchange.

To my dismay, I found out I had missed the deadline by about a week. To my excitement, the service rep informed me that a week was no big deal and that they would happily exchange my canvas.

Canvas on Demand really knows what they are doing. Once I called and requested an exchange, I dealt with that same employee throughout the entire process. I hate when I have to call back a million times. I wait on the line for hours just to explain my situation again to a representative who puts me on hold to look up my account. Usually you end up talking to multiple people and no one knows how to help you.

My Canvas on Demand rep e-mailed me an easy exchange form as well as a detailed instructions and her personal extension and address. How easy it was. I filled out a form and mailed it to the company along with a cut out of my original canvas.

I made a black and white file of my picture and e-mailed it to the representative. I got an e-mail back from her an hour later. In my e-mail I had mentioned that I wanted a black and white photo but she had noticed the file I sent her had a few dark brownish tones in small areas. She wanted to know if I wanted her to convert the file to a true black and white image before she sent it to the printer. Wow, talk about going the extra mile. I couldn't believe she actually read my e-mail, let alone, looked over the file before she placed an order.

Needless to say, my canvas arrive a short while after and looked amazing! Just the way I had wanted it. I know this was a long worded post about a very simple thing, but I'd like to give credit where credit is due to a company who goes above and beyond the status quo and demonstrates stellar service to its customers. Thanks Canvas on Demand!

Halloween!

2011-11-13T17:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Late Halloween!

Ann Arbor is teeming with fun things to do in the fall. And Halloween is no different. Unfortunately, only three kids came to our house to trick or treat. Good thing we filled our time with loads of Halloween festivities of our own! With a few of our friends we went to a cider mill and had donuts, watched the best Halloween movies ever made - Hocus Pocus and So I married an Axe Murder, gave out candy at our wards truck or treat AND we picked pumpkins at a pumpkin patch...

Lots of the pumpkins at the patch were huge! They were also very awkwardly shaped. James tried to pick this one up but he couldn't quite get his arms all the way around it.

Since most of the pumpkins were flat on one side, we spent quite a while walking through the patch trying to find round ones. We decided to pile all the good pumpkins on our cart and pick from the bunch after it was full.

With our pumpkins purchased we headed for Ann Arbor's Nature Conservancy where we watched a special "Halloween" animal show and ate even more donuts. We got to see all kinds of scary animals. They featured a raven, a vulture, a large snake, a gila monster, a fruit bat, cock roaches, and an owl. The owl was extremely beautiful.

We also got to touch the gila monster. I've never touched a live one before (Awesome!).

After the show, the group carved our pumpkins. They turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

10 Years on 10-10

2011-10-29T17:13:00.000-04:00

October 10th this year marked 10 years since James entered the Missionary Training Center, ready to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Managua, Nicaragua Mission.

Apparently, when James opened his mission call no one knew where Nicaragua was. His brother actually thought he had been called to Africa. Wherever it was, James was excited to go.

James loved his mission. He loved the people he met, the places he visited, the experiences he had, and the effect those experiences had on his priorities and his testimony of Jesus Christ. He loves to tell stories about his mission, and I love to hear them.

I spent the last week scanning the last of his massive stack of mission pictures, and so, I thought I'd share a few favorites to celebrate the 10 year mark. (Get ready, there are quite a few)

Baptism in the Pacific Ocean

Climbing a palm tree

Playing "Dust in the Wind" on a recorder

Burning trash

James and his Companion, Fausto Barillas

Killing his dinner

Filling the font for a baptism with help from the fire department

Information booth in city park

In the city park

James with companion Jose Ortiz

Knocking Doors

Making nacatamales

Buying ice cream, riding a bike taxi and stopping for some scripture reading

Friends in Nicaragua

Walking through the rain forest

Holding a pet monkey

Washing clothes in the pila (washboard sink)

Holding an old church sign

I LOVE these pictures! Isn't little mission James so adorable?

Anyway, We didn't do much to celebrate but James did get out his original name tag to wear around the house for a little while. It still has his "new missionary" orange dot stuck to the back from his first day as a missionary.

I'm very proud that I have married such a wonderful man and an honorable return missionary. I'm a very lucky little lady.

A Little Amateur Applique

2011-10-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

Oh man, I've got some serious blogging to do! I have been MIA for a little while, but I'm back with a few pictures and stories to share.

My lack of job has left me bored and lonely at times in good old Ann Arbor and so I've picked up a new hobby or two to pass the time. One of these being quilting.

You may recall from an earlier post that my Aunt recently had a baby. I thought this a perfect time to pick up a few how-to books and teach myself to applique quilt. I was almost certainly pretty fairly sure that I could possibly maybe do it on my own from the instructions in a book.... and so that's exactly what I did. I must say, considering my "jump into it" attitude, it didn't turn out too terribly awful.

I first made a few applique squares, like this one ...

And this one ...

Then I framed the squares, sewed them into rows and columns, added a border, pinned some batting, slapped on my backing, quilted the three layers together, and bias taped that sucker finished! Phew! Hours (more like weeks) later I had myself a baby blanket. Not too shabby, huh?

Of course, the final product had to be quality tested to make sure it was comfy enough for new baby Crew. James was the closest thing I could find to a baby around my house - so he got to be my baby blanket Guinea Pig.

James deemed it baby worthy with two thumbs up. After the James stamp of approval it was shipped off to be with its new owner. Happy Birthday baby Crew!

Raspberry Picking

2011-09-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

Ann Arbor is a unique place. Yes, it's a college town but it still has a very small-town feeling. There are a lot of perks to living in Ann Arbor and the city goes out of its way to make families feel comfortable. They even have city reps that come to your door with a welcome packet outlining some of the fun things to do in and around the area. And man, are there things to do.

One of which we tried out for our Saturday date this last week. RASPBERRY PICKING!

A farm in Ann Arbor has pick your own fruits. Right now it's raspberry season. Tie an old milk jug to your waste, walk through the fields and start filling quarts!

It was a beautiful day to pick berries. Say what you will about the Michigan winters, but the falls are Heaven.

The fun of picking isn't the only perk to this date. It also comes with an "all you can eat" while you pick buffet. James might have gotten a little carried away.

Yum! Aren't they beautiful?

Like I said, Ann Arbor is a unique place. I am a six minute walk from the middle of a bustling down town with shops and restaurants and people gallor AND within a five minute drive from farms and dairies and orchards to explore.

It's very ... midwesty. It feels more like a home than a city. I like it.

Oh yeah, That's plankable

2011-09-06T14:53:00.000-04:00

On our most recent visit to my parents house, a discussion arose about one of Amanda's dates where they had taken pictures of themselves planking all over BYU campus.

HA! "Who comes up with this stuff?" we said. "What a ridiculous waste of time," we said. "How could something so dumb be entertaining," we said. "Hey look at me! I'm planking!" we said sarcastically as we flung ourselves onto the kitchen island.

"... I'm a little embarrassed, but that was kind of fun. What else can we plank?"

Quickly the giggles of teasing turned into the laughter of joy as the magic of planking took over our lives and, consequently, our Friday night. The planking extravaganza had begun.

We planked high,

and we planked low.

Some planks were easy,

while others were a little more difficult.

We attempted the backwards plank...

the unthinkable plank...

the multi-plank...

the log cabin plank...

and the kissing plank.

We planked in door,

and out door.

Everyone wanted to get in on the planking.

We soon realized that we could plank anything,

and even nothing.

Before the night was through we had planked the whole town.

A Superior Vacation

2011-09-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

We wanted to go on a camping trip before James started his classes and so we decided to go to the upper Peninsula of Michigan. We decided the Pictured Rocks National Park on the Superior Lakeshore would be the perfect vacation spot.

Our camping site was very close to a beach on the lake. We really loved playing in the waves and picking up lots of rocks.

We also hiked to some huge dunes along the shoreline.

I LOVE fires. They are mesmerizing. There were lots of yummy campfire meals to be eaten. And for dinner... roasted starburst! Delicious!

We went on 6 mile hike to see a beautiful rock formation on one of the beaches called "Chapel Rock." On the way we found the roots of a huge tree that had fallen over. Cool huh?

It was awesome to be able to sit on the beach by our tent and watch the sun set. What a great trip.

An Addition to the Family

2011-08-27T12:50:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my Aunt Amy and Uncle Trav on their new baby boy!

Crew Colledge

Born Wednesday August 24, 2011 at 10:10 A.M.

8 lbs. 20 inches

Our Move to the Mitten

2011-08-21T21:54:00.001-04:00

Even after the violent lip-stick protesting of our friends the Burtons, we moved our little family to a new state this month.

We sold our furniture yet again, packed our bags, filled our car and drove ourselves half way across this great country of ours.

We are now Michiganites! Or wolverines, which ever you prefer.

James will start school just after Labor Day which gives us a little time together before we have to get back to business. That also gave us the time to visit my family before Amanda left for BYU and decorate our apartment.

The apartment proved to be a struggle. Our apartment door is down a very narrow hallway which made it impossible to get any normal sized couch inside. Know how I know, I tried it ... multiple times. We kept getting new couches we thought would fit - but none of them would. How frustrating! After two or three weeks of searching, we found a couch that can easily be taken apart. Our house is finally coming together.

We have a couch ...

See how much I love having a couch I can nap on! It's one of my favorite things.

We have a reading nook ...

And we have a T.V. corner ...

All the essentials. Now all we need is a job for Megan! I think we might really like it here in Ann Arbor.

The Deathly Hallows

2011-07-24T18:17:00.000-04:00

Work the next day or not, we went and saw the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie.

We were all very excited!

Mandy and her friend wore shirts befitting the occasion....

And I broke out the radish earrings.

Snacks were included, Harry Potter themed, of course. Horcrux Pops and Lemon Drops.

Lately + Amanda - Part 2

2011-07-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

Some of Mandy's, uhhh ..... Talents

Lately + Amanda - Part 1

2011-07-15T18:57:00.002-04:00

Inheriting a teenager is hard work. We've been pretty busy since Amanda came to live with us.

Want to see a few of our Exciting adventures? YOU DO!

Well then, let's start with our visit to good ol' PA. My dad's parents live there so we went up for a day excursion.

Of Course we had to take our picture by Monn Road. Does this road bare your maiden name as a tribute to your family you ask? Why yes, yes it does.

I presume your next question might be something like - Do your grandparents live on Monn Road. Oddly enough, the answer is a big fat NO. I don't know that anyone from my family has ever lived on this road. Curious...

But the fun doesn't stop there, oh no! There was more to be had on the 4th of July. But instead of the gayeties stemming from cool road sign, they came from Baltimore's fireworks on the harbor.

After a tiring day of chasing kids around a crowded Science Center, Mandy and I met James and waited around for the celebration of our independence. There wasn't all that much to do. Some of our company found some very interesting ways to entertain themselves.

Our non-profit employers may not be able to shell out the cash but they always try to sweeten the deal with a few employee benefits. One of those gravy perks is an open roof that looks out over the harbor during the firework show.

The river has been a frequent hang out spot lately.

We go running on trails or climb on the river rocks. Mandy only fell like once...

Or Maybe Twice...

Or Three times...

It's hard to recall the exact number. But she always came up smiling.

Somehow, after all this madness, we were able to fit in a little Friday night putt-putt date. We were pretty excited about the whole thing.

We took turns practicing our golf modeling ....

... and generally just had a good time.

You know the date is good when it ends like this -

Putt-Putt, Santa Pants, Chicken McNuggets and a movie night = AWESOME!

Lately, but still pre-Amanda

2011-07-10T08:20:00.000-04:00

It's been a while. Since the our last blog post I've started summer camps at work, we visited Michigan, we've celebrated three birthdays, we've started packing for our move, I've applied for jobs, Amanda came to live with us and a bunch of other random things.

The next two posts are for catching up.

First, the pre-Amanda post! A few highlights...

I taught James how to make homemade ice cream using an old coffee can and a cannery can.

Delicious!

James added a new computer to his growing family of Macs. Happy Birthday and Graduation!

He's so Happy!

And we finally rode on the Fearless, Baltimore's full on working pirate ship! Unfortunately, we needed to use a coupon by a certain date and the only available ride was on a family ride. This basically meant it was in the middle of the day and it was strictly for moms and kids. We still had a good time. It was a really cute and fun thing for the kids to do. the adult ride was basically a night booze cruise anyway.

It was a bunch of fun. How could a pirate ship not be?

More to come on our recent adventures. Look for the "+ Amanda version" soon.

Another Graduation!

2011-06-10T17:09:00.004-04:00

The day after James graduated, we headed for Indiana for Mandy's high school graduation.

She was the class president all four years of high school. Mandy had some speaking parts during the ceremony so they gave us special seats.

Naturally, family photos came right after the ceremony. Nice face dad.

Typical Mandy.

Mandy and one of her best friends shared a fiesta themed open house the day after graduation. There was a cake featuring a picture of the two from when they were in elementary school. Marissa designed most of the decorations for the event. Regan and I made all the hanging decorations from tissue paper.

And that, everyone, is my mother. Taking pictures with our mouths wide open seems to be a family characteristic. Although, I do believe I am the original owner of the wide mouth pic - and proud of it. It's second only to a jumping picture.

During the open house James taught the family how to play bocce ball. I think some of them might be addicted. Regan was pretty darn good.

Now Mandy is all grown up and out of high school. I'm excited for adult her to come live with us this summer. I'm sure there will be lots of blog posts to share. It's going to be fun!

Graduation!

2011-06-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

On May 25th James graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Degree of Master of Science in Public Health!

The week before the actual graduation, James was inducted into the Alpha chapter of Delta Omega (the Public Health Honors Society). Here he is receiving his certificate.

Both James' dad and my dad were able to come for the graduation ceremony. Before the convocation we went to a lunchin at the Bloomberg Building and took a few pictures. First James showed us the roof...

Then we went to the hospital were James took a picture with Johns...

And with his dad in front of the Cristus Statue.

Outside the concert hall before the ceremony we took family pictures with James in his cap and gown and hood. The stole he is wearing is for the honors society members.

It was a wonderful day. I'm very proud of James for his accomplishments. He is a very smart guy and a hard worker. I'm excited to see how well he does in Michigan!

Another Baltimore Original Scratched from Our To-Do List

2011-05-31T19:01:00.002-04:00

Every year the Baltimore Visionary Art Museum holds a Kinetic Sculpture race. What's a kinetic sculpture race you ask? Exactly what it sounds like - giant man powered moving sculptures racing through the city streets. These sculptures are not only mobile but also amphibious in order to cross a section of the bay and are required to go through a mud pit. AMAZING! There are crazy outfits for the racing teams and the spectators, bubbles everywhere, free temporary devil tattoos, men dressed like old cat women, a huge Alice in Wonderland caterpillar, rubber chickens, a Brazilian percussion band, balloon animals, dancers, and sock monkeys all before the race even begins - What a day!

More info can be found on the race website along with a complete list of official rules. I would strongly suggest checking out the 2011 photo album. http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/

This year marked the 13th annual race. James and I caught a glimpse of the the sculptures before they took to the road. Here are a few samples of what we saw. The event is very hard to explain; the pictures don't do it justice.

"I'm glad we were here together in our Nation's Capitol" ... By Megan, not James

2011-05-22T17:32:00.000-04:00

Amy, Regan, and Travis came to D.C. a few weeks ago for a family vacation. Since we live so close, we were able to hang out with them for a whole day!

It was a lot of fun. We stayed in a wonderful hotel that was more like an apartment and went to the National Mall to check out the sites.

First we stopped for a little bit of food in Chinatown.

Then we went on a tour of the Capitol Building. It is a really beautiful building. Our tour guide Leo was able to let us go out onto the Speaker of the House's Balcony that looks over D.C. You can look straight down the mall. That was pretty cool.

Every state also has two statues somewhere in the Capitol. Each statues is a famous or influential person from that state. Leo knew we would be excited to see this one ..... Go Cougs!

After our tour we went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.

It was a fun weekend in D.C. Thanks to Amy and Travis for letting us crash their vacation!

Whirl Wind Baltimore

2011-05-15T20:07:00.000-04:00

Dang, it's been a while. We have been completely neglecting the blog lately, and we have so much to say! We've been quite busy the last couple of weekends, so get ready for a bunch of pictures...

Our topic... a Baltimore excursion! We wanted to make time to see some of the cooler Baltimore sites before we head out for Michigan, so we listed the places and activities we wanted to visit and started planning city trips.

Our first "last days in Baltimore" adventure took us to Mt. Vernon. This part of the city is absolutely beautiful. We began with a visit to the Baltimore Basilica, which is the oldest cathedral in North America. The Cathedral is open for the public to view and tour most days. They have beautiful art work on every surface, a crypt, cathedral museum, and an organ overlooking the congregation from a balcony. While we were there, a gentleman was practicing a vocal piece for the next days service. It was really beautiful.

After the cathedral we visited the oldest Baltimore city library and also went once again to the Walter's Art museum to see the exhibits we hadn't been able to see during our first visit. The Walter's museum is amazing. I absolutely LOVE that the museum is set up like an old mansion. Instead of having paintings and artifacts hanging on the white walls of a huge hall, the art is displaced in rooms. They hang on the walls and in cabinets, just like Mr. Walter would have displayed them in his own house. It feels just like a home (a very expensive home with fine taste, but still, a home). In fact, the man who lived in the town home next to the museum donated his house when he died. The house is now part of the museum and the art is displayed over the original house's furnishings, over fire places, and around beautiful bay windows. We discovered this portion of the museum during our last visit. Here is a picture of James walking up the spiral stair case of the adjoining town home.

Our last stop was to see the grave site of Edgar Allan Poe. The monument below is the grave stone for his mother in law, himself, and his wife. Poe's last home is also in Baltimore. Since it's quite literally in the ghetto and I don't believe that it is open for viewing on Saturdays, we did not get to see the house. However, the grave yard was very neat.

Bang-A-Rang Cupcakes

2011-05-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

This week we had a bunch of friends with Birthdays, so we decided to make cupcakes. But not just any cupcakes....

They look a lot like the food fight from hook, so James named them Bang-A-Rang cakes.

Anyway, they are really easy to make. I got the idea from Marissa.

First make a box batter as directed. Split the batter into separate bowls and add food coloring. We decided to do green, blue, red and yellow.

Add spoonfuls of batter, one color at a time, to each cupcake paper.

Put the cupcakes into the oven as directed by the box mix.

Pull cupcakes from oven.

Let the cakes cool before adding the frosting.

Delicious!

And the winner is...

2011-04-12T08:51:00.000-04:00

I just committed to the University of Michigan. Megan and I will be moving to Ann Arbor in August, and I'll be working with a project in Ecuador doing infectious disease epidemiology.

Hail! to the victors valiant

Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! to Michigan

The leaders and best!

Hail! to the victors valiant

Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! to Michigan,

The champions of the West!

A Day in D.C.

2011-04-09T11:41:00.002-04:00

The Friday before General Conference, James and I went to D.C. to see the cherry blossoms at the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It was cold and rainy, but the blossoms were beautiful. There were hundreds of trees. I think we picked the best day to go. Since the weather wasn't the best, there weren't too many people and we could easily walk around and take pictures. After the cherry blossoms, we also spent a little time in the Museum of Natural History and then met up with one of my best friends from high school for a delicious greek dinner.

What is your Flu IQ?

2011-04-06T22:11:00.000-04:00

Flu IQ Widget.Flash Player 9 is required.

Poll Results

2011-04-03T21:34:00.000-04:00

So, the poll turned out to be a much bigger headache than expected. Blogger's poll widget did not work at all, so I used another website. The poll was linked to that site, and then the site went down for several days. So, I apologize if you tried to vote and could not. The results (out of 33 votes) are as follows:

In case you were wondering, our preferences are 1) Michigan, 2) UNC, 3) Hopkins. We should have an official decision in the next week or so. We'll keep you posted.

Crafting with Clay

2011-04-03T15:55:00.001-04:00

I have found a new crafting interest/obsession! I started sculpting with baking clay and have made multiple sets of earrings. Here are a few that I made during the Priesthood Session of Conference. Most of them are just fun earrings I can wear to work. The little kids LOVE stuff like this. The "Y" was by far the hardest to make, but one of my favorites. I have been thinking of beginning a crafting "How To" blog; what do you think?

Watch Bald Eagles Hatch Live!

2011-04-02T11:37:00.002-04:00

This is really cool. 1 already hatched. 2 more should hatch today or tomorrow.

Live Videos by Ustream

Your Vote Matters!!!

2011-03-29T21:35:00.000-04:00

No it actually doesn't matter, but I thought it would be interesting to get people's thoughts. So, take a look at the poll on the right ---------------------->
and cast your vote.

THE LETTERS ARE IN!

2011-03-18T14:48:00.001-04:00

Recently my sister Marissa wrote a post about her husband's Medical School acceptances. It sounds like he has been given some great choices. Now it's our turn for a post. James has finally heard replies from every school that he applied to.

He has received acceptance offers from ... drum roll please ....

#1 in Public Health - Johns Hopkins

#2 in Public Health - University of North Carolina

and

#4 in Public Health - University of Michigan

Pretty great options if you ask me.

We've been given the chance to visit all of the campuses and are now in the process of reviewing the offers and picking a school. He was offered some serious financial assistance from some of the schools so it will be difficult to choose, but hopefully we will have an answer in the next couple of weeks.

I am very proud of James! He is such a little smarty pants!

Bowls of Chocolate!

2011-03-13T18:42:00.000-04:00

Recently James and I made chocolate bowls and chocolate covered strawberries for our Saturday Date. We had a lot of fun and the bowls turned out pretty well. Here is how we did it...

Step 1. Melt chocolate and blow up some balloons. Dip the balloons into the melted chocolate so that the bottom half of the balloon is covered.

Step 2. Place balloons onto cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. Put the cookie sheet into the freezer.

Step 3. After the chocolate has frozen, carefully snip the top of the balloons and allow the balloon to deflate.

Step 4. Carefully peel the rest of the balloon from the chocolate bowl.

Step 5. Fill the chocolate bowl with whatever you want... pudding, mouse, fruit. We chose ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries. Enjoy!

Another New Apartment

2011-03-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

We haven't been keeping up with the blog lately but we are back to the United States and settled in Baltimore. Another new apartment. We are quite the little vagabond family. We've only been married for three years and we've already lived in five apartments, if you count our car as an apartment, which I do. I realized the other day that we've lived out of our car almost as long as we lived in our Guatemalan apartment. If that isn't the definition of nomadic...

Anyway, we were lucky to find a cheap, month to month basement apartment. It's very small but cozy and enough space for us. Here are a few pictures for those who are interested...

Pan-American Highway

2011-02-24T20:45:00.001-05:00

Most people are surprised to hear that it was not hot where we lived in Guatemala. Xela is a city in the mountains and the temperature is pretty much perfect all year round. On our way home from our trip we stopped to take a few early morning pictures along our drive. Here are a few of the pictures from the mountain drive to Quetzaltenango on the Pan-American Highway.

Mount Pacaya

2011-02-21T11:11:00.000-05:00

Day Five: The Last Day

Mount Pacaya

The last day of our vacation we hiked active Mt. Pacaya. The hike went through the lava fields. The basalt was extremely fresh since the volcano had just erupted 5 months prior.

You're supposed to be able to see moving lava on the hike but there wasn't any surfaced lava when we went. It was really hot though. We were able to build a fire just by laying a few sticks on the ground next to a vent. The guide couldn't take us all the way up the volcano because the soles of shoes melt off.

Here we are in one of the lava tubes. It was pretty steamy.

The hike was pretty interesting and the view was excellent.

Monterrico

2011-02-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

DAY FOUR:

Monterrico Beach

Even though it was really hot and I complained a bit, we also could have called this day "Megan's best day ever!" because it was just that good.

The trip down to southern Guatemala to Monterrico Beach wasn't a for sure thing originally when we planned our big trip, but James really wanted to take me there to see some baby sea turtles.

Monterrico is a small coastal town with a sea turtle hatchery. You can visit the turtle hatchery for free. During the night, they collect eggs that were laid on the beach and then re-bury them in a confined sanctuary so that they don't get eaten or stepped on. There were a couple hundred pipes sticking out of the ground in the hatchery. Each of these pipe has approximately 40 eggs buried around it.

After the turtles hatch, they keep them in a small pool until dusk when they are released into the ocean. Here they are swimming around in their pool. How adorable!

We were able to see and hold babies that were only a couple hours old. During the turtle breading season they release hundreds a day.

The best part of the hatchery is that they let you release turtles for a small fee. We arrived in the morning and needed to wait a while before we were allowed to librate the turtles, so we took a tour of the mangroves and played on the beach while we waited.

Right before we left we met the hatchery attendants on the beach and James and I each liberated three baby sea turtles. They were so cute. I LOVED it!

My three little turtles right before they were let go.

They were strong little guys and kept trying to jump out of my hands.

Here is one of the babies running to the ocean.

BEST DAY EVER.

The Spanish Fort

2011-02-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

DAY: THREE

The Spanish Fort at Rio Dulce

On our third day we started our drive back to Guatemala City and passed through Rio Dulce. In the park they have a 15th Century Spanish Fort on the water. They let you climb all through it. We had a great time looking into all the rooms, seeing cannons, climbing the stairs, and visiting the super dark dungeon. It was a beautiful place with a beautiful view of the river.

And We're Back...

2011-01-29T10:50:00.000-05:00

Sorry all. It's been some time since the last post; mostly because our computer crashed a lost all our files. Luckily, James was smart enough to back up the pictures!

So.... here we go where we left off. Our Awesome Christmas Trip!

DAY TWO: TIKAL

Tikal was one of the largest Mayan cities.

It's HUGE! The residential area of Tikal covers around 23 sq miles. It's estimated that 500,000 people lived in and around the city of Tikal. There are loads of temples and archeological sites and they say there are at least three hundred more unearthed.

Now that you have the feel for the size of this Guatemalan National Park, time for some pictures!

Our day started out with a drive through the still forested areas of Tikal. There are all kinds of protected animals inside the park. Here is James with a Jaguar Crossing sign. That's right, Jaguars.

Once we got into the park there were so many things to see. We had so mich fun walking around and taking pictures. We saw really tall temples, religious carvings, the Ceiba (Guatemala's national tree and a sacred tree to the Mayans), palaces, and we climbed them all using rickety wooden stairs!

During our trip James was amazed how many jaguars you could hearing roaring through the forest. He was even more amazed, however, when I told him that it wasn't jaguars but monkeys making that noise. Insert James' introduction to and obsession with the howler monkeys. We found two groups of monkeys yelling at each other and recorded their howls. Pretty cool huh?

There were also entrances sign to the park warning visiters about these little devils. Apparently, as if they weren't load enough, howler monkeys like to make sure you know they are there. They do this by pooping on people's heads. Many a traveler has left the park covered in monkey fecal matter. I was crossing my fingers and hoping it would happen to James, but alas, we emerged clean.

All of the ruins were MASSIVE, especially the temples. However, the palaces were very grand as well. You can see James standing up in the left hand corner of this picture on the top of one palace. This was just a small part of the palace which opened up into a ball playing court surrounded by other towers. It's really impossible to describe how big Tikal really is.

We got lots of pictures in front of the Great Jaguar in the Grand Plaza, one of the most famous temples in Tikal.

But after all of this, James' favorite place was a the top of the tallest temple in Tikal. The view was amazing. Through the trees you can see the temples of the Grand Plaza.

It was a wonderful day and a great way to begin our Christmas trip!

Merry Christmas to Us

2010-12-13T15:59:00.000-05:00

This year for Christmas, James and I gave each other a trip around Guatemala. It was a BIG trip, so the posts will be coming in parts.

After getting up at 4 a.m. and driving for 11 hours, our first stop was the beautiful island of Las Flores.

James fell in love with the town right away. The island is small enough that nearly every building has a water front. The whole island is surrounded by a stone walk way and beautiful piers. This was the view from our $10 hotel the first night we stayed in Las Flores.

The hotels also had a look out on top of the building. The weather was wonderful and I loved laying in the hammocks and listening to the birds.

That night we went on a boat ride around the island and were able to climb an un earthed Mayan watch tower that one of the kings had built.

Salcaja

2010-11-29T13:13:00.000-05:00

This weekend James and I went to see the Church of San Jacinto, the oldest church in Central America! It's very close to Quetzaltenango in a town called Salcaja. The church was built in 1524 and still looks pretty good for its age.

The town is also known for cloth weaving. I heard that 5 out of 10 houses in Salcaja have a cloth weaver. This is a great place to buy traditional Mayan clothing. Much of the clothing is elaborately hand embroidered. Since it's almost completely cloth, it's really a beautiful market. The great thing about this market is that it's not catered to tourists. All of the weavings for sale are meant to be worn. I took a quick picture of one vendor's merchandise to show all the different colors, patterns, and styles of the Mayan cloth.

Mexico

2010-11-23T11:38:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago James and I realized that our Guatemala visas had expired. We were illegal aliens. Luckily, all we really needed to do was apply for an extension, which just means they give us another stamp and authorize us to stay in the country for another 90 days.

There are two way to do this...

1) We can go to Guatemala City, hand over our pass ports for a week, pay a fine, and go back to the city to retrieve the pass ports.

2) We could leave the country for 72 hours.

Taking a trip sounded like a lot more fun. We only live about 2 hours (if your driving in a car) from the Mexican border and the beach is only 30 to 45 mins past the border, so we decided to go the a beach for the weekend.

Unfortunately, taking the chicken buses may have saved us $75 but extended that 2 1/2 hour trip to 6. We made it to the border but still had a long way to go.

HOWEVER - after 5 buses, 3 taxis, and a lot of walking we made it to the beach! We found a nice hotel for $20 a night and the next morning spent our time soaking up the sun on this pretty little number ...

The beach was VERY long and we had it all to ourselves, except for a fisherman. The water was a great temperature but was a little difficult to swim in because it was so strong.

We decided that our time would be best spent building a sand castle. I must say, it turned out quite well.

After the beach we took off to see the city of Tapachula. In the afternoon we visited a small ruins site called Izapa.

That night we ate a nice dinner, walked around the central park, and watched an outdoor movie about the life of Central American immigrants as they make their way through Mexico. The morning brought us to a church service in Tapachula and then the long journey back to Xela. Over all it was a pretty good trip. We are currently legal!

Kite Festival 1 - Giant Kites!!!

2010-11-10T19:33:00.001-05:00

Last Monday, Megan and I traveled to a small town called Sumpango Sacatepequez to visit a festival of kites. During the All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead, kite flying becomes super popular all over Guatemala. People told us that is in an ancient Mayan tradition of communicating with one's ancestors.

The festival was spectacular. The festival takes place in a dirt soccer field on top of a hill. While climbing up the hill, we saw hundreds of small kites in the air.

We bought a couple of small kites and spent a while flying them. At the top of the hill we found the main attraction, Los Barriletes Gigantes, or giant kites. The small ones were about 10 feet wide, and the largest were around 60 feet!!!

Kite Festival 2 - Kite Details

2010-11-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

There were probably about 50 giant kites on display. Each was very unique with an incredible amount of detail. The colors and patterns come from small pieces of tissue paper. The frames were typically made of bamboo.

Each kite had a specific message. Some were environmental, others human rights, and others political.

(Pride in indigenous culture)

(The riches of our beloved Guatemala)

(Pollution)

They were very beautiful from far away, but even more beautiful close up.

Kite Festival 3 - Giant Kites Flying

2010-11-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

The grand attraction was the flying of the giant kites. Megan and I got really good seats on the edge of small cliff.

As you can see, there were a lot of people, and they didn't leave much room for the 100+ pound kites to fall. There were some close calls

Most of the kites flew for 20 or 30 seconds, but were too heavy to stay in the air. However, one smaller kite (a mere 10 feet across) got up pretty high and stayed there for more than an hour.

Crazy Market Road

2010-11-09T19:34:00.001-05:00

Today, we had to drive through one of the markets in Central Quetzaltenango...

It was a tight squeeze.

Crazy Dirt Road

2010-11-08T19:36:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, my team and I were out doing interviews up in the mountains. The view was amazing, but the temperature never got above 50 degrees. I decided to shoot a video of part of the drive along a dirt road. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera that day, just my laptop with built-in camera.

View Aldea La Cumbre in a larger map

Alfombras

2010-11-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the day of the dead, alfombras (or carpets) are made with colored saw dust in the streets of many towns in Central America. We were lucky enough to get to see some of the alfombras in Xela. All of the alfombras were extremely beautiful and detailed. Because this is a religious holiday, they also have religious themes of scripture or picture.

The saw dust is laid while damp so that it is able to keep shape. The shapes are made with stencils or by creating shapes by hand or with knives.

Here are a few more examples of the types of alfombras we found in Xela.

This one was our favorite ...

PJ PARTY!

2010-10-31T19:02:00.000-04:00

The night before our ward had our big service activity for EFY, I had a slumber party at my apartment with some of the young women. We had a lot of fun. I taught them how to make carmel corn, we listened to music, and played the peanut game.

Tour d'Guatemala

2010-10-29T00:04:00.001-04:00

Today while I was out surveying in a small town, news came that the bike race was going to pass through town. I had no idea, but Guatemala hosts a cross-country cycling race every year. This year was the 42nd. I was a little skeptical, expecting that 'Team Guatemala' would look something like this...

I was actually pretty impressed. Once the cyclists went buy, I could tell it was a pretty well-managed event. The only drawback was that spectators thought it was helpful to throw confetti in the cyclists' faces as they rode by.

They even shut down traffic to let some of the smog clear. I did get worried a few times when a stray dog would wander across the road or a 6 year old shoe-shiner wouldn't pay attention to the traffic as they combed the crowd for customers.

Props to Guate for pulling it off.

Guatemala EFY 2010!

2010-10-11T23:54:00.002-04:00

Hey Everyone!

As many of you already know, this year will be the first year that the youth in our Guatemala ward will be able to participate in EFY. They are all extremely excited to go!

We are currently holding a "fundraiser" to earn the money for the youth in our ward to attend. I know that I have already mentioned our sponsorship fundraiser to many of my friends but we are still a few donations short of our goal and are looking for anyone who has not yet heard and would be interested in participating.

Here are the details of the fundraiser.

It works like this....

The sponsorship is a $25 donation. The youth in our ward and stake will be earning their $25 sponsorship by participating in a large-scale service activity and will also be writing a letter/e-mail to the person that has sponsored them. As a sponsor you will also receive a picture of the specific youth to whom you have given your donation. Hopefully, I will also soon be creating a blog with pictures of the service activity and EFY week.

My mom in Indiana is gathering all donations and will be depositing them into a bank account so that I can access the money from Guatemala. The money will be donated to the church and will then be payed directly to the church educational system for EFY payment.

Unfortunately, we will be needing the money pretty soon. The money will be deposited on October 19^th because all EFY payments are needed by October 23^rd for participation.

If you are interested in sponsoring a youth, let me know and I will send you an e-mail with my mom's mailing address and any other information that you might need inorder to participate.

Thanks for reading! If you have any more questions, please ask

http://efy-guatemala.org/

Cerro Quemado

2010-10-10T18:25:00.000-04:00

James and I went for another hike this weekend with our friend Mario. It was a bit longer than our last hike. It tok us 3 1/2 hours to get to the top and about 2 hours to come back down.

This hike was very foresty, green and beautiful. Since all the hikes are in Xela are through inactive volcano cites, we always get to see lots of natural vents.

One part of the hike is called the "Chimney" (or at least that's what James said it was called). Basically you climb upwards through a narrowish cave to get to the peak. I'm not a big fan of heights and so two particular rocks gave me a little bit of trouble. We had to climb up onto one rock from the other, which is situated a little lower and to the left. What is in between these two rocks you ask? Only a hole with 20 foot drop to a floor of jagged rocks! That was a little dramatic, but remember, I do not like heights. Also, my poor little Newey legs weren't quite long enough for the crawl over the giant hole. I would get my entire body all stretched out and would still have a few inches to go before I could plant a foot. I made it up ok by myself but needed a little assistance getting back down. James went first and just lifted me right over the hole. What a gentleman.

The view at the top of the hike was beautiful. You could see the city and all the surrounding lava rock fields. On this trip I brought dental floss to catch a lizard. Mario and I had a deal that if I went hiking and caught a lizard, he would touch it. He had never toughed a lizard and was very excited to find out they are not slimy.

Nerd Stuff

2010-10-04T21:28:00.002-04:00

Here is a little update on my nerdy activities. The CDC does respiratory disease surveillance in 2 areas, Quetzaltenango and Santa Rosa. From that data, I can figure out a crude rate of influenza infections in each of those areas. Using some of the formulas below, I extrapolate that information to the other areas of the country. The result is a pretty map with some colors, which should be taken cum grano salis.

Obviously, there can be some serious problems with extrapolation...

Source

Another New Food

2010-10-02T12:05:00.001-04:00

Lately my spanish teacher Mario and I have been trading cooking classes at each others home, both to learn to cook and to make me practice my spanish. He teaches us to make Central American food and I teach him to make things like chocolate cookies and homemade pizza. It's been a pretty good deal.

This week we learned to make jocón (a very tradition Guatemalan food based in cilantro). It's pretty yummy and I've been wanting to make it ever since we got here.

First you boil chicken and save the chicken stock for later use.

The chicken stock, along with bunches of cilantro, onion, green pepper, boiled tomatillos, lettuce, and garlic clove are put into the blender and made into a liquid. The boiled chicken is lightly fried on the each side in little bits of oil before going back into the big soup pot along with the liquified ingredients.

The soup is boiled for eight to ten more minutes. Chicken bouillon, salt and pepper are added to taste and small amounts of flour are added for thickening.

In the end you get this....

A very green looking, yet delicious, soup-like guatemalan food. It's always good with a little side of rice and tortillas. Yum! Get ready family - you're trying this at Christmas.

Pupusas!!!

2010-09-29T20:06:00.000-04:00

Its still raining like crazy here. But in other news, Megan and I made pupusas for dinner tonight. They are delicious, but just a tad-bit greasy. Check here for a good recipe.

Glass Blowing Factory

2010-09-27T17:39:00.002-04:00

This weekend we went to a cool glass factory just outside of Quetzaltenango. Everything in the factory is made of recycled glass. It was really cool because they allowed us to go out onto the factory floor and interact with the workers.

The first thing you see is a huge pile of broken glass.

Then they put the glass into a very hot oven until it melts. Once it is melted, they put a hollow metal rod into the molten glass and pull it out with a glob of glass "jelly" on the end.

Then they blow the glass through the metal tube until it makes a bubble. The workers let us do this part.

Then they form the glass into a product by rolling the bubble on various surfaces and using wooden tools that have been soaked in water. They also use scissors to cut off excess melted glass.

After 24 hours in a furnace, the product is ready for market. They have a cool store attached to the factory where you can buy all sorts of things.

So thats why its raining

2010-09-25T16:24:00.000-04:00

Its been raining for 2 days straight. Fortunately the center of the storm is supposed to stay to the north of us.

This is what the main highway usually looks like after a heavy storm.

Tigers

2010-09-14T10:26:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Independence Day. Down in the park they have some tigers in a cage. You can touch them if you want...

La Muela

2010-09-11T19:47:00.001-04:00

James and I hiked one of the inactive volcanoes near Xela with our Spanish School. The peak we went to is called La Muela.

My Spanish teacher, Mario, was our guide.

There were A LOT of volcanic rocks.

We went around some rocks.....

And down some rocks....

And up some rocks.....

But we finally made it to the very top.

The view was very beautiful. You could see a few cities and pueblos from the peak.

There was also a volcano behind us with basalt rock as far as you could see.

On the way down we stopped to take a few pictures of the view and a small natural sauna in a hut. Mario told us that many of the indigenous people bathe there because they don't have their own showers.

The sauna was too hot for me to try but I took pictures of James and Mario.

Panajachel

2010-09-01T15:27:00.012-04:00

This past weekend Megan and I went to a little town called Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitlan. We had to take 4 buses and then walk 2 km to get there. We had to walk because there was a landslide on the highway which caused a big traffic jam. The bus driver decided that he had taken us far enough and kindly asked us to get off his bus. It was a little frustrating at first, but the walk was beautiful.

The town is very beautiful with a nice lakefront walkway with tons of shops and restaurants. We ate lunch, did some shopping and then headed to a nearby Natural Reserve.

The natural reserve was amazing. It cost $5 a person to get in. We went on a short hike through the jungle.

There were swinging bridges...

Waterfalls...

And wild spider monkeys!!!

We're definitely going back sometime. They also had zip lines through the jungle, but we decided to do that next time.

View Panajachel in a larger map

Graffiti Numero Dos

2010-08-20T15:49:00.000-04:00

The Fatty

Apartamento

2010-08-19T12:43:00.004-04:00

Megan and I recently moved into our apartment. Here is a map of the location along with a few other key sites in the city.

View Our Apartment in a larger map

It is located downtown in a very convenient and busy area. It costs Q 2,000 per month, or about $250. That includes electricity, water, trash, wi-fi, and all the furniture inside. Its not as nice as some other places we looked at, but it is a good price and a great location.

The bathroom

The closets in the bedroom.

The bedroom

The kitchen

The door, living room/dining room.

Graffiti Numero Uno

2010-08-15T22:54:00.000-04:00

I LOVE the graffiti that I keep finding around the city. I've decided to make a collection of pictures documenting all the amazing graffiti that I come across while staying in Xela. I'll try to post one new addition to my collection every week.

This week's graffiti: The Graffiti Monster!

This spray painting was the first that I saw when we got here, and quite possibly my very favorite. It was the beginning of the collection.

Xela

2010-08-15T22:46:00.000-04:00

This weekend James and I went to the Xela central park and walked around one of the open air markets.

It's unbelievable how many Mayans live in Xela. The city is approximately 65% indigenous. I took some pictures of a mother and little boy who were at the park for the afternoon.

People stand on the streets and sell all kinds of merchandise. It's usually hand woven materials or produce. None of the vendors are pushy, with the exception of this lady. I told her that I did not need a woven scarf... She told me that I did. She followed us around lowering the price of her fabrics each time I gave the "no thanks." As you can see, she won. It was $2 well earned.

We made it to Guatemala

2010-08-12T22:56:00.004-04:00

Megan and I made it to Guatemala Wednesday. We were picked up at the airport and taken to Quetzaltenango, the city where we will be staying until December. The drive was beautiful, but pretty wild, as many parts of the highway were shut down from mudslides.

View Trip to Quetzaltenango in a larger map

A lot of the trip through the highlands looked something like this

Last night we stayed in a really nice hotel right on the central park. It was a little pricey, so we moved to a hostel temporarily until we can find a more permanent apartment.

This map shows a few of the places we visited yesterday and today.

View First Days in Xela in a larger map

Flicks From the Hill

2010-07-18T19:09:00.001-04:00

Apparently, outdoor movies are a big thing in Baltimore. There are lots of them.

This week we decided to go to one on Federal Hill with our friends the Rosas-Morenas.

It's sponsored by the Baltimore Visionary Arts Museum so before the movie from 5-9 the museum has free admission. We only got to go inside the museum really quickly but I liked a lot of the pieces that we saw.

The movie began at 9 o'clock. All the movie watchers sat on the side of Federal Hill and the movie was projected onto the side of the museum. This weeks the movie was The Princess Bride. I forgot how much I like that movie. We had a great time.

How Many Times Can two Grown People go to the Zoo in One Summer?

2010-07-14T08:20:00.001-04:00

Let's see... this will make three!

Last Zoo trip was with my Aunt Deena and Uncle Randy and their grandkid Kaiden.

On this trip we explored "the petting zoo " area of the zoo.

James found a turtle shell and we both decided to get into the hanging bird's nest.

A couple of weekends ago, James and I went back for our last zoo visit. For Christmas my mom had given us one date a month until July. This month's date was a pair of zoo tickets. It has been VERY hot on the East coast this summer so we didn't stay for more than a couple of hours but we did make time to see my favorite little friend Sampson the baby Elephant. He is so cute.

We had a new fun adventure at the zoo this time around... Camel Rides!

We had a wonderful time!

What I (James) get to do at work

2010-07-09T10:55:00.002-04:00

Look What I Can Do At Work!

2010-07-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

Light Painting!

Birthday Bash Extravaganza!

2010-07-05T19:59:00.002-04:00

The last week of June is a BIG week for birthdays in our family. My little sister Amanda's birthday is on the 25th, my dad's is the next day, and James has a birthday the day after that. To celebrate, my mom set up a very fun weekend in Indiana. My dad and Amanda didn't know we were coming so we surprised them both. Here is a quick run down of the birthday events!

Wednesday:
Went to the DC temple
Drove to Indiana (well, James drove... I napped)
Scared the poop out of Amanda and Bob
James also got to meet Snooks. They were fast friends

Thursday:
Painted mailboxes for a couple of hours
Ate our first Maryland Blue Crabs (We gave my dad some crabs for his birthday)
Beat Michael Schulte at ladder golf

Friday:
Painted sign posts for a few hours
Went to an outdoor mall (Each birthday person was given some money to buy a present)
Went to see Kansas, Styx, and Foreigner in Concert!

Saturday:
Went to a Lebanon branch youth temple trip in Chicago
Went to Medieval Times
Watched the movie the Burbs

Sunday:
Went to church
Visited the Fagan Family
Drove back to Baltimore

We had a wonderful weekend with lots of fun things to do. My mom planned some awesome events. We were really sad to go.

Bananagrams!

2010-06-17T08:54:00.000-04:00

I really LOVE games; like really love them. James and I play at least one game a night. I usually specialize in games that include dice or cards but I've recently become a fan of word games. My new found love is Bananagrams. See...

Here I am giving a hug to my new friend. He is just a bunch of tiles in a banana bag, but he is great fun.

It's kind of like scrabble. Everyone starts out with 21 tiles. You build your own scrabble board with the letters that you have. Once someone has used all their letters, they yell "peel" and everyone takes one more. This just keeps on going until there aren't enough tiles in the middle for everyone to go another round. The last person to use up their tiles says "Bananagrams" and wins the game!

James and I have played this game quite a few times since we got it. Here is how the game looks when everyone is finished.

It's root root root for the home team, If they don't win... Well, it's Baltimore, they often don't

2010-06-16T08:52:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago James and I went to a Baltimore Orioles game with some of his friends from school. Amazingly it was one of our cheapest downtown dates yet. James' department paid for his ticket and I was able to get in for the student price. A $6 date? That's right!

Right after work I met James on the harbor and we walked to the field to meet his classmates. One of the many perks of my job is that I get to park in the downtown lot for free, whether I'm working or not.

Camden Yards is a beautiful stadium and although James looks unammused in this picture, we really did have a good time.

There was one person, however, that was non-too pleased with our little excursion. I sent my mom a text while we were watching the game telling her where we were and what we were doing. Approximately two seconds later I get a phone call from a slightly jealous father. He seemed a little distraught. You see while he was stuck in Indiana his daughter and son in law (neither of which care all too much for the watching of baseball games) were currently seated in a stadium he has always wanted to visit. We decided to send him a picture of the stadium to make him feel a bit more included. I'm not sure that it completely appeased him, but it was the best I could do.

Guatemala Update

2010-06-14T10:06:00.000-04:00

It's getting to be crunch time!

In a little less than two months James and I will be in Guatemala looking for a place to live.

I'm getting excited (and a little nervous). BUT there is no turning back now...

We recently purchased our plane tickets, told my boss my last days of work, and confirmed with our apartment complex that July 24th would be our move out date.

Guatemala is going to be a big change/great experience for our family. I'm starting to get a few things ready but with only 2 months to go we still don't know exactly where we will be living and are still looking for the funding to support the internship. I know that everything will work out but I've always been a big worrier.

However, I am excited to learn spanish. I think that James and I have decided that I will take Spanish classes once we get settled into an apartment. Hopefully I will be able to find a job or place to volunteer. I think that will also really help with the learning of the language.

Cardiovascular Disease Never Tasted So Good

2010-06-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

We got James a George Foreman outdoor grill for his birthday. It's a pretty good addition to our porch; in fact, we've used it three times in the last three days.

Our favorite meal so far has been guacamole/bacon cheese burgers. Not at all healthy, but completely delicious!

James = The most easily entertained 28 year old in the entire world

2010-05-31T18:57:00.000-04:00

This week for our Saturday night date, James and I bought styrofoam planes from the dollar tree.

James loves playing planes. He's gone outside every since day since we got them to fly them around.

Each of us decorated a plane; we want you to vote on which one you think is the best: the Purple Dart or the Space Shuttle.... Place your votes in the comments

A Wee Walk Near Waynesboro

2010-05-31T10:17:00.000-04:00

Before our trip to the Twin Kiss we tried to make a hike up to the Chimney Rocks on the AP. We started out well and took some pictures of the pretty surroundings.

The green ferns floors of the woods.

A happy and excited Megan standing on some rocks over looking a cliff.

A bridge over the creek that cuts through the trail.

Anyway, the trail ended up being quite a bit longer than we thought. It started out very pretty and green, then got rocky, and finally turned into an old road - so it wasn't as fun to hike as when we began. Also I got tired and hot and realized I don't really like to hike as much anymore.

Needless to say we didn't finish the trail. Instead we turned around, visited my grandparents, and ate ice cream.

Epidemiology = Different Names for the Same Thing

2010-05-28T16:02:00.001-04:00

After studying Epi for a couple of hours, I decided to watch a few music videos. This one reminded me of epi.

Different Names For The Same Thing from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Check out more videos similar to this one at iTunes

LONG LIVE THE TWINKLES!!!

2010-05-23T13:34:00.001-04:00

We are back! It's been a while since we've blogged due to finals weeks, family decisions, and laziness but we're here now and we have a lot to talk about. First on the list, The Twin Kiss. If you're already excited because it sounds amazing then you are right where you should be. The twin kiss has been a family favorite since I was a little girl.

This glorious ice cream establishment opened it's doors in the year 1955 and hasn't stopped pleasing the public since. It also happens to be conveniently only 100 steps from my grandparent's home in PA (that's their house in the background). As a kid I loved it for two reasons. Firstly, the owners keep a pair of white deer on the premises for you to look at and feed. That's right, White deer. They are cute and friendly and always put you in the best of moods.

Second reason for my twin kiss love affair are the Twinkles. At any ice cream parlor you can ask for sprinkles to top your cone but only at the twin kiss can you find Twinkles. These little bits of joy are crushed up pieces of peanut brittle, jimmies, and I'm pretty sure they add a dash magic. I don't know how something so simple can be so utterly amazing - and yet they are.

James had not yet taken his first journey to the kiss but on our last visit to PA the time had come. I'm pretty sure he loved it. I really don't know how you couldn't.

Burn Notice

2010-04-24T18:34:00.009-04:00

James has been in search of the perfect pair of sunglasses for quite sometime. He finally found a pair he really likes. The only reason he likes them is because he thinks they make him look like Michael Westen. You know, the guy who used to be a spy but then he got blacklisted. I'm pretty sure one of these days James will come home with a Dodge Charger full of yogurt.

She's crafty, She's just my type

2010-04-13T19:26:00.000-04:00

I haven't been doing much crafting lately but I don't believe I have blogged about these two yet.

I made these earrings for a friend at work out of an old vinyl record.

I learned to crochet baby booties. These were not only the first booties I have ever made but also the first pattern I've ever read. Hopefully the next set will turn out a little better.

"I'm glad we were here together in our nation's capital"

2010-04-13T08:59:00.001-04:00

Last weekend my family was visiting to celebrate my Pappy's 75th birthday! We took my mom, Amanda, and her friend Annie to DC for the day to see the sites.

We went to the Lincoln memorial ...

The WWII memorial...

And the Smithsonian's American History Museum

A Tortilla Dilemma

2010-04-13T08:27:00.000-04:00

In Utah James and I were never without Tortillaland uncooked tortillas in our fridge. They are amazing.
Unfortunately, it seems these delicious tortillas are not sold on the Eastern Coast. I must tell you that I came upon this information after a truly EPIC search. I am very sad, but we have tried to adapt and overcome. In fact, James has found a talent for making his own tortillas.

First he rolls out the dough.

Then he uses a pan lid to cut out a perfect circle.

Then he pulls away the excess tortilla dough.

And TA-DAH! A Tortilla!

They aren't quite the same as our beloved Tortillaland tortillas, but James does a pretty great job!

A Day in the Life

2010-04-01T22:11:00.004-04:00

Some days are more eventful than others. Today included vomit, car repairs, homework, scholarship applications, and Lost.

7:00 AM - Woke up; got out of bed; dragged a comb across my head

7:30 AM - do homework, prepare lunch, eat breakfast

9:00 AM - leave for school/work

9:30 AM - wander Homewood campus so I can drop off a check for $31.80. I needed to pay in person to get a serial number to install some software I need

10:00 AM - catch JHMI shuttle (my first time on the shuttle)

10:30 AM - arrive at school/biostats

10:45 AM - Install software during class and realize it isn't what I needed

11:50 AM - class is over, start on scholarship application that is due in 5 hours

1:25 PM - finish and submit scholarship application, skip lunch

1:30 PM - go to computer lab (since my software doesn't work) to learn SAS

3:15 PM - finish work in computer lab

3:20 PM - eat lunch on the terrace and enjoy the 75 degree weather for 8 minutes

3:30 PM - pick up biostats final exam from last term (I got an A...barely)

3:45 PM - walk to work

4:00 PM - arrive at work to find the door is locked. consider going home

4:05 PM - find a secret back entrance

5:00 PM - Megan picks me up at work. She is feeling very sick

5:15 PM - Megan throws up in the car (on the floorboards!) while I'm driving us home.

5:45 PM - Arrive home, put Megan to bed

6:15 PM - repair the Jeep and actually get it to crank for the first time in several weeks

7:30 PM - watch Lost on Hulu

9:00 PM - clean and vacuum the vomit out of the car

10:00 PM - realize I don't have any epi homework due tomorrow

10:15 PM - eat dinner (cereal)

10:30 PM - finish Part I of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables on the porch while watching the deer graze 100 ft away.

Just a Fine and Fancy Ramble to the Zoo

2010-03-27T16:06:00.003-04:00

Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo.

Megan and I just had a great all-day date. We went to The Book Thing and market in the morning and then had lunch at Elvis's in Federal Hill. Afterwards, we went to the Maryland Zoo at Baltimore. We got in gratis (that's free bro) and saw lots of bizarre animal behavior.

We paid $2 and fed Zoe the giraffe. It was awesome being up so close. The zoo has a baby elephant (Samson), but unfortunately he was hiding. Due to the warning, we decided to give the polar bears their privacy. We'll see them next time.

Our next date will definitely include a trip to Dangerously Delicious Pies (DDP).

Crafting Update

2010-03-21T08:06:00.000-04:00

I've been making a bunch of things lately. Most of them have been recycling projects but a few are crocheted. Last week I crocheted a baby sweater for my friend who is having her second little boy soon.

James wanted to sing the "Fat guy in a little coat" song but the sweater was a little too small.

Anyway, the almost finished project. Since she will be having her boy in the summer, I decided to make it a size 4 month so they will be able to use it come winter time. For a thicker sweater I crocheted two strands of yarn with each stitch; one white and one blue for a textured look. Now I just weave in the ends, add a few buttons, and the sweater will be ready for shipping.

I also made this little girl's tweed jacket just for fun. I actually really love it. I hope one of my friends has a baby girl so that I can give it away!