cAliForNia

So this last week was Fall Break and was much needed for Andrew more then me. Andrew found out about a month ago his boss wanted to send him to California for a seminar for his department and it just happened to be this last week so we bought our plane tickets and were on our way last Tuesday afternoon. We got there and went to dinner with my cousin Brent and his wife Emily at Lala's! It was super good and we all tried the Empanadas thanks to Costco paying for it! Emily and I also went to a baby shower for my cousin's wife, other side of my family from my cousin Brent. My cousins wife Ammie is deaf but so full of life and energy, she just glows and will be such a great mom, they actually live in Provo so it was pretty funny when Emily said that it just happened to be that night. Brent and Emily live in her parents ward, it was a pretty good shower she made out with a load of stuff.
Wednesday and Thursday Andrew had his seminar all day from 8 to 5 with a few breaks in between. He was there with his supervisor Rich and another coworker Janae. We all went out to dinner Wednesday at Islands and we went all out we all ate way to much. Thursday we went to dinner again and ate way to much.

Newport Beach

Newport Beach

Haunted Mansion

The Pier in California Adventure
Honey I Shrunk the Audience

Disneyland is doing the year of a million dreams and we won but nothing big or special just these Mickey Ears, hey something is better then nothing right!






Andrew, Rich, and Janae

Brent and Emily and Myself
Outside Islands
Me, Rich, and Janae at the Pier
Santa Monica Beach
Hollywood Blvd

Friday and Saturday we went to Disneyland and had loads of fun. We took it easy and didn't rush ourselves. It was so nice both days not to hot. Andrew loves the Haunted Mansion especially at Halloween and his new favorite is also the new Toy Story ride. We ate to much food, but it was worth it and had too much fun which was needed. On Sunday we got up way late and went out to Newport Beach and walked along the Beach and went to Balboa Island which was a zoo. We then went to this mall looking for my favorite candle store and it was the nicest mall the type with all the stores you can't afford anything at! All in all it was a lot of fun and the best part was Costco paying for our hotel and food the first three days and Andrew's plane ticket. It was a nice getaway and now we are back into the daily routine with only 7 weeks left of classes! Who's counting right?!?

P.S. Andrew had two of his interviews at Memphis and New York and they went great. He was invited to three more at Indiana, Boston, and Pacific in Portland. He is going to the one in Pacific and the others he is still deciding. Our decision should be final in the next month so stay tuned!!!

Sunday Dinner with Jocelyn

Jocelyn came over to my mom's house today for Sunday dinner! She is now 4 days old and just a doll, we all fight over her and we are learning to take turns to hold her!

Introducing.....

Jocelyn Sage Pond
Born: October 8, 2008 at 4:39 PM
She is 6 pounds and 11 ounces and 19 inches long!
She is perfect. She is the first Granddaughter of my parents! She is so sweet, she has dark hair and has my brothers mouth. Congratulations Jared and Celyn!

First Bath

Vacation Part 4: New York (FINALLY)!!!

WARNING: Long Post Ok so we have been home for a month and a half now and I am just finishing up my vacation posting, bad I know. We have been super busy and I rarely have a second to do it. On Tuesday the 12th of our trip it was my birthday! We left Boston and drove to New York City. It was a pretty drive. We got to our hotel but we were an hour early for Check in but we were able to because we met this cool guy named Charles, he was so nice and got us in early and gave us a better room. We then got ready and rode the bus into New York. We were told this was the better way to go by Charles so we did it. He ended up on our bus with us. It took forever. We got on the bus at about 4 and he told us it took about 30 minutes to get into the the City. It took a lot longer then 30 minutes it took an hour and forty five minutes. It was awful. We ended up being 20 minutes late for our dinner reservations. We ate at the the View Restaurant atop the Marriot in Times Square. It was very good we both had Filet Mignon. The restaurant actually turns while you are eating. It goes slow enough you don't even notice it but it gave us a good view on the entire city. After we were done with dinner we had to run so fast because we had 4 minutes to get to our show 7 blocks away. Not the best thing to do after eating a huge piece of meat. We made it just in time. We went and saw Wicked. It was so good. I wanted to see it again and again. It was defintely worth the money we spent on it. After the show we rode the bus back to our hotel and it only took 30 minutes thank goodness because we were both so tired. Wednesday we went back into the city, this time we figured out how the train works and found a station close by. It was so much better then the bus and it cost about the same. We headed first to get our bus tour tickets then off to the Statue of Liberty. We won't bore you will all the details but we saw the Statue and the bus took us through all downtown New York like China Town, Little Italy, and Soho. It was nice to not walk everywhere and from the top of the bus you get a pretty good view of the city. We also took a night tour over the Bridges after it was dark. It was amazing to see the city so bright off in the distance. Thursday we did the city again. We did more uptown we saw the Manhatten Temple, went to the Museum of Natural History, The MET, and saw the actors from Night at the Museum filming the second movie! We walked through Central Park for a bit and also saw the Empire State Building. This day it poured so hard for almost an hour and there was a lot of lightening and thunder. It kinda freaked me out a bit. Thursday night we also had bought tickets to the Blue Man Group. We could not find the theater for the life of us we walked in the rain and were soaked for almost an hour and we finally found it with only 15 minutes to spare! The show was awesome it was a small theater. We were on the ninth row. If anyone every gets a chance to see it go it is worth it and tickets really weren't that much (Vegas is a lot more I know that). After the show we figured out the subway system so we wouldn't have to walk the 50 blocks back to the train station. It was actually really easy, cheap, and not scary like I thought it would be.

Here are a few pictures I picked through over 250 from just NYC!

Manhatten Temple!!!

Museum of Natural History
Central Park

Empire State Building

Times Square!
Top of the Empire State Buiding! It was Raining to hard to go outside!

I put this picture of the mean french lady, I

tripped over her and she did not like it! Like I



liked it and meant to she glared at me the whole



rest of the ride!

I look awful thanks to the rain! Wicked Rocks!

Interviews!

Andrew received an email and a letter in the mail yesterday for two interviews for Optometry Schools! The first one is the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis and the Second one is for the State University of New York in New York City. He is so excited! Wish him luck!

P.S. Someday I will put our pictures of the last part of our trip in NYC on here.

Vacation Part 3: Boston

After a good nights sleep for the first time on our trip we started our day in Boston with a trip to Finagle a Bagle. It was delicious! We then spent the rest of the day touring Boston and walking along the freedom trail. It was a nice 70 Degrees out and there was light rain off and on during the day which was nice cause it deterred a lot of people away. We enjoyed Boston very much. The last stop on the Freedom trail is the Bunker Hill Monument. Andrew and I both climbed it, it was 294 steps! We are so out of shape we were dying by the time we got done. It was an awesome view of the city from the top though! We had a lot of good food in Boston. Some good hot dogs, Dinner at Durgin Park where we had the best pot roast ever! After we got done with the freedom trail we went and did a little window shopping. We then went back to our hotel and crashed for two hours we were so exhausted. We woke up and went to a great ice cream place a guy I work with suggested called Picco. We had cinnamon, raspberry chip, mango, and carmel swirl. They were so good! I was a little hesistant to try the cinnamon at first but it was the best one by far. Who would have thought?

Vacation Part 2: Palmyra

So on Sunday the 10th we went to Palmyra. It was a quick like 20 minute drive from Rochester and it was so pretty and green. It poured the whole night before so it was more green then usual. Our first stop in Palmyra was the temple. No one was there but us. We walked around and enjoyed the cool 75 degree weather for a while then we headed to the Sacred Grove visitors center. We had two sister missionaries both from Utah that gave us a tour. We were the only ones there so we got a personal tour. We first toured the Smith family home and then the home that Alvin Smith was building for his family. We also saw where Joseph hid the plates in the floor boards and then moved them a few days later to the ceiling of the little barn and later that night the mob came and tour up the floor boards and didn't find a thing. After that we entered the Sacred Grove and had it all to ourselves. They was no one else around. It was so peaceful and calm. It is such an awesome experience to be there. I was so excited to share it with Andrew. After we left we went and got lunch at Nima's a little pizza/burger place in Palmyra. It was so good and we stuffed ourselves. Then we went and saw where the first Book of Mormon was printed and the Hill Cumorah.

After we left Palmyra we headed for Boston. It was another 4-5 hour drive but upstate New York it so nice to drive through. We arrived in Boston and our hotel didn't have our room clean. You would think at 10 at night they would but no. So we went and parked and walked around and got Lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs. On our way back to the hotel to check in we stopped at Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream. Andrew goes to pay and they inform him they don't take debit cards only cash, well our luck we left all our cash in the car so we look really stupid at this point. The girls were really nice and told us not to worry they were closing in 10 minutes so it was free! It was good and even better since it was free. That was a great way to end such a great day!

Vacation Part 1: Philadelphia and Lancaster

So we got back late Friday night from our week long excursion on the east coast. We had a lot of fun and wish we would have extended it a few more days. We flew the red eye last friday (the 8th) out of Salt Lake to JFK. Neither of us slept on the plane so the whole next day we were exhausted and drove over 400 miles. Our first stop was Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We had reservations for Independence Hall because that is the only way you can see it, well I fell asleep in the car and we missed the exit so by the time we got there we were to late but its ok we got to see the outside and we only paid $3 to reserve our tickets. Then we went to Lancaster County home of the Amish. It is so pretty and green there. We ate at a family style restaurant called The Good and Plenty. We then went to the outlets there. There are hundreds of them. Then we took the scenic route to Rochester where we stayed. We got there at about 1 in the morning and they gave us a smoking room and it was all they had left. It was so disgusting we put got our stuff out of our bags for the next day and put them in the car for the night so everything wouldn't stink. All in all the first day was tiring but we sure had a great day!

The Yummy Restaurant we ate lunch at in Lancaster
One of the three outlet centers in Lancaster
The red thing in the background is for buggies in Amish town!
This guy was in the Independence Hall visitors center
Us at the Liberty Bell. I look awful I had been up all night!
Independence Hall
Our pretty white Corrolla. Excellent gas mileage!Our lunch at the Good and Plenty. The couple next Dennis and Jackie were hilarious and the couple on the other side used to live in Murray!