Happy Father's Day!

So I just wanted to take the time to wish my Dad a very Happy Father's day! I am eternally grateful to have such a wonderful father. My Dad always believes in me, always encourages me, and never lets me quit or stop short of my goals. He knows what I am capable of, and motivates me to keep going when the going gets tough. My Dad has taught me so much over the years, and it has been mostly through his example and watching the way he lives his life. My Dad is smart, funny, organized, hard-working, spiritual, humble, selfless, generous, patient, diligent, and the list could go on forever. Many of these qualities I possess myself, or at least I am striving to obtain...because after watching the way my Dad lives his life and watching how he makes choices, well, it has made me want to live my life more like his. I love you, Dad! I am so glad you are my Dad! Thanks for teaching me about the gospel, about how to be happy, about how to survive in the world, about the importance of appreciating other cultures and other parts of the world, about the joys of running and skiing and lots of other things active and outdoors related. Thanks for being there to cheer me on through my adventures, whether it was in person at my swim meets, through letters on my mission, or through your prayers and phonecalls in the last couple years. I love you, and am so excited to share my world here in Boston with you in August! Happy Father's Day, Dad! I wish I could be there to spend the day with you! A couple of Christmases ago, Dad tried on this wig from the girls' dress-up clothes and a pair of my fake, red glasses. Nice look, eh?! I would love him even if he did look like this everyday...you might get more stares in Tokyo though.

My Dad loves the gospel and is so diligent in his gospel studies. I hope to know as much as He does someday. His diligence in studying the scriptures is evident in this picture. Here he is a couple of Christmases ago in Ally and Luke's very small kitchen in London-he sat on a stool in the middle...it really is the size of some people's closets. He didn't want to be in the way or wake anyone.My Dad, Alex and I-a bunch of monkeys?! Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil.

Here is Dad, doing a little manual labor :) We were spending time at a playground in Kingwood with James, Ruth, and the kids.

Here is my Dad and I in Kamakura, Japan. I love how much my Dad loves Japan and everything Japanese. It is fun to learn from an expert of sorts, and we had a fun day showing Ally and Luke around.

I love when my Dad comes to visit me and spend time with me. When he came to Salt Lake City last spring, we had a fun day at Park City with the Zip line at Olympic Park and then a yummy picnic.

Here is Dad and I going up the lift, to then ride down the Zip line at Olympic Park. I would say I look like my Dad...and there are not many people who I would rather be like.

I love you Dad. I miss you everyday. Happy Father's Day to you!

Scooper Bowl

So for three days in downtown Boston, there is an annual event called the Scooper Bowl. This year was the 27th annual, each person pays $8 to enter, and it is all you can eat ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, etc. The $8 goes to the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber cancer research. In the end, it is a great exchange, yummy ice cream for finding a cure. We tried to get a big group together, but alas, in Boston, we have so many lame people who always back out of activities. Only a few of us stalwarts showed. It was rainy, superwindy, and really cold for the middle of June, but we had lots of yummy ice cream and a fun time, despite the weather. Katie, Me, Maddie, and Alison-here we are with our ice cream cups, one scoop per cup...I totally won with 12 cups (and I honestly could have had more, but I decided not to make myself sick)

Me posing with the stack of ice cream cups-this stack is all of our cups stacked together, but I could have umm....eaten that much if I wanted?!

Katie is obsessed with ice cream, but was sorely disappointed that she could only handle 9 cups.

Maddie and I got downtown first, so we had an early start and got to spread our ice cream consumption over more time; she ended up eating 9 cups, too.

Alison had the latest start, but she still ate 7 or 8 cups. After this picture, she took the entire stack over to the trash can, and one of the employees was staring at her in utter shock...he honestly thought for a minute that she had eaten all of that...no way!

My favorites: Brigham's Black Raspberry Frozen Yogurt, Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, and Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia. There were some interesting ones-like Maine Lobster Tracks, Take a Cake, and Rock n Roll Swirl.

I LOVE ICE CREAM! I will definitely have to do this event again next year!

Saturday is a Special Day

I love Sundays, but Saturdays are often wonderful days, too. I woke up Saturday morning, and lay in bed debating whether to go straight to the temple or whether to go running first thing. I decided to change and head to the temple, and I am so glad that I did. A friend from my ward, Luke Stoddard, has received his mission call to Panama and was going through the temple for the first time. What a privilege to be there!!! He was there with his older brother, other siblings, his father, his roommates, the bishop, etc. I was so happy to be there with so many people that make living in Boston so grand. I love being in the temple, and I learned a lot, and was reminded of my first time through the temple, like 4 1/2 years ago-crazy how time flies, I went through the London temple in December 2004. It was so great to be there with people who love me, accept me, and who were so happy to see me there, too. After a fabulous session at the temple, I headed home. After a little bit of reading, I got a call from my good friend Cassie, inviting me to the beach with her and some other friends. It was lots of fun. We played frisbee, played in the huge, freezing cold waves, ate snacks, sat huddled together to stay warm and dry off, and had great conversation. I am so so so excited for more beach trips this summer!!! Charlotte, Katie, Me, and Cassie after playing in the waves (I have never been so cold from swimming/being at the beach...I guess the east coast is colder, and I am going to have to remember to pack warm clothes...I had to borrow Cassie's hoodie!)

The 4 of us out playing in the waves, they got much bigger!!!

A view of the sea shore; we were also joined by 3 other friends (Andrew, Emily and Matt-but they didn't make it into the pictures). I love the water, guess that is why I chose swimming!?!

WOOHOO!

So I am pretty sure that I can say that I have some of the most awesome friends ever, and they are right here in Boston with me. On Monday, we had FHE (Family Home Evening, an activity that members of the church have in their homes, but as single adults, we have at each other's homes every Monday night) and my 2 friends, Amanda and Rachel, said that they had a surprise for me in the kitchen...This is my surprise!!! It is a super fun, fabulous yellow bag. It will be perfect for summer, and I had just been thinking that I needed a new handbag, a fun one, but a nice one. Rachel and Amanda went to Maine last weekend, and I had planned to go with them, but I had to cancel the fun and stay home to do lesson plans and paperwork for student teaching all weekend. They knew that I had really wanted to go, so while at the big outdoor market in New Hampshire, they picked this purse out special for me and gave it to me as a gift. It is a Coach (knockoff), but still so great.

I think it is perfect and I really love using it already!

OPA!

So I have no idea what that means, other than greek people say it all the time and it's fun to say while throwing your arms up in the air. My friends and I have made an extensive list of all of the things that we want to see and do and experience in and around Boston this summer. Alison called me today to remind me that the Arlington Greek Festival was on our list, and was this weekend. We decided to make it an outing, and invited a few other friends. Alison also just got a new cd, which we decided will be our summer 2009 theme music. So we listened to it in her car, and tried to learn the words on the way to the Greek Festival.This is us looking excited for summer and all the fun that we are going to have! Amanda, Me, and Pat riding in the backseat.

Here is Alison and her sister, Madeline (Maddie) riding in the front seat. Don't worry, we were stopped at a red light to take the picture.

We literally sampled a little of everything. We started off with 2 gyros, shared amongst the 5 of us, to hold us over while we waited for our main meals in the long line. Then we had 2 platters to share which had: spanakopita, tiropita, mousakka, pastitsio, rice pilaf, greek salad, chicken souvlaki, etc. For those of you who know me, you know that I love Greek food, and that my favorite restaurant in all of Salt Lake City is Aristo's on 1300 E, by the U. It is awesome, and I have probably been there some 15-20 times. We also had desserts-baklava, keifti, and galaktobouriko (say that 10 times fast). It was amazing, and I loved it all.

Here is Alison, Maddie, Amanda, and Pat about to enjoy our spread!

Here is Alison and I, we were so hungry and waiting so patiently to split up the food and eat. We also got to enjoy a live Greek band, music, dancing, etc. We got up and learned some of the Greek dancing with a bunch of Greeks, it was a blast! I guess if there are not any more Greek festivals anytime soon, we will just hope for some other fun festivals. We ended the night watching a movie and chatting. We will see what tomorrow holds...I think there is a Strawberry festival several blocks away...