Boston Bound

Alright, I think I'm done with all "The Big's...." and I've moved on with my life to even more exciting titles. Anyway, last weekend Ben and I decided to take a weekend trip to Boston. We knew we wanted to go sometime this semester but our spring breaks did not line up. Ben has his this week and I have mine the first week of April. So for my spring break I get to go see my new nephew Jackson Tyler Jennings, and for Ben's.... he got a weekend trip to Boston, with his wife of course.
I didn't have school on Friday the 19th, so we decided that would be the best time to go. We got to Boston in about 6 hours and our first destination was the Boston Temple. Wow. It was so beautiful and the weather was amazing from the moment we arrived.


Of course we saw Ben's second cousin and another couple that knew his grandparents while we were there. After the temple we made our way through the city and finally made it to Ben's friend's house downtown. That night we ate at a great Italian restaurant and went to Mike's for dessert (a cannoli and huge cookie).

Saturday we were blessed with the most beautiful sunny day ever! We had breakfast at a different "Mike's" and then got out on the town. Our day began at the freedom trail, classic tourist city sites. We then headed toward Harvard, MIT, and the river. Our afternoon ended up being over a 6 mile walk around the city and jumping on the T to different hot spots. Ben's favorite part of the day was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I enjoyed soaking up a bit of sun myself as well, hence Ithaca's shortage of sunshine (as well as finding a Paradise Bakery and buying a dozen cookies).



The night ended in good eats and watching sad defeats (BYU). The next day was Sunday and we attended Stake Conference in Boston instead of our own. We sat behind Danny Ainge and his family and headed to Walden pond afterwards. It was very pretty out there and looked more like Walden lake to me. After our interaction with nature we headed home to Ithaca to real life. It was a great trip and totally worth it... and I totally wouldn't mind living there!

The Big Pay Day

So I guess all the sayings about teaching are true... your reward will come after you have taught and THEN you will realize your importance and impact. I had a similar experience on my last day of student teaching in Ithaca at Cayuga Heights. It was a difficult placement and there was a lot expected from the parents (who teach at Cornell) and the other staff. The students were very bright and they always kept me on my toes. Some days I did not want to show up, and other days I couldn't wait to send the kids home on the bus. But overall my students were great and I had a lot of fun and learned even more from the whole experience. We had a nice little "party" on my last day which included card giving, a song made by a student, and of course peanut butter and chocolate. I received a nice gift from my teacher, homemade soap from a student, a homemade necklace from another girl, and an assortment of cards with animals, aliens, and other such items. I will surely miss Cayuga Heights 4th grade, but now I'm off to Newfield Elementary School to have some other great adventures.

The Big Crash

So I was sitting at my usual location, at the kitchen table, when I heard the loudest crashing. It just so happened to be right next to me in the family room. The crashing consisted of an assortment of noises including crashing, banging, ripping, and rattling. The incident involved our amazing large clock and the flimsy family room wall. Guess who won... yep, the clock. No worries because the clock is in perfectly good condition. I thought for sure the clock had broken during its fall to the ground, but oh no it was just fine. The wall on the other hand took a very hard beating. First of all, our apartment complex will not let us nail anything into the wall. So we took the alternative route of using the plastic hooks and hanging a few things. Apparently the hooks or the clock did not want to cooperate in this situation and therefore we are left with this.... two big holes in our wall... pulled off the dry wall and it's going to be a beast to repair it! Ha. So much for no nails... we're gonna go ahead and nail the heck out of that wall now, since it is already ruined and everything :)

The Big First Visit

This blog post is a bit delayed from when "the big first visit" occurred, but better late then never right? Alright, so I am currently doing my student teaching at the first of two schools. The school I am at right now is called Cayuga Heights Elementary School. It is a pretty good school with students whose parents are professors at Cornell, geniuses, and mostly very involved. Another very good thing about this school is that they had a "winter break." This consisted of having 3 days off, Monday-Wednesday, and it was a perfect chance for my mom to come out and visit Ben and I. My mom booked her flight and flew in to the Ithaca, New York airport which has an entire four gates for planes to fly in/out of. She flew in on Saturday night as we were being the D.J.'s for the "Feb-Con" YSA Dance (Which was a blast and hilarious). So she flew in and I had to bring her back to the chapel where the dance was being held to finish the last half hour of D.J.ing with Ben. Not only did we have/get to D.J. the dance, but we also housed four girls that attended the conference. That meant we had four girls in our living room, Ben and I in one room, and my mom in the other = a total of 7 people trying to use ONE bathroom on Sunday morning before 9. Ha. It ended up being fine and the girls were gone before we knew it.Sunday was fun because my mom and I were able to cook a big "Valentines Day" roast and potatoes meal. We also made the best strawberry cream cake and got to relax and hang out.This was our final product with everything put together... (hooray for wedding dishes!)

Then Monday came and we had our big list of all the things we wanted to do in the next three days. We were able to complete most of the list and have a great time. Monday was the best weather by far, as we did not have to turn on the heater or have umbrellas, or trudge through the snow.

Monday highlights included:

*Finding great deals at TJ Maxx on a clock, mirror, and pillow.
*More great deals and cute stuff at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.
*Driving through Cornell when the sun was out


*Lunch at College Town Bagels. Yumm.*Seeing all the pretty (frozen) gorges.



*Hanging out in the Commons
* Trying to get a picture of the deer outside our window...smiling :)




Tuesday highlight included:

*Some more shopping for do dads and nick nacks (however you spell that)
*Staying inside away from the snow*Reorganizing my entire house/kitchen/office
*Making my house look like a home*Driving to the Palmyra temple in the snow*Stopping at the Peter Whitmer Farm where the church was organized
*Seeing a beautiful sunset

*Doing a session at the Palmyra temple after Ben called them and asked them to hold the session for us (which they did, as there were less than 20 others there)


*Trying to find a place for dinner in Palmyra, New York at 10 p.m. and hitting up Mark's Pizzaria


Wednesday Highlights:

* Taking a mini-tour of Cornell
*Hiking to the top of the bell tower and listening to this girl play the bells


*Dinner at Aladdin by campus
*Watching Dream Girls with the girls (and Ben of course)
*Finishing touches on the house



It was a sad day Thursday as we had to say goodbye, but it sure was great having my mom here and showing someone where we live! We would love to host any other visitors sometime soon! :)