Jeremy and Melody

Valentines Day

2012-02-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas, things have been pretty quiet around here. I think this is the time of year that i hate the most: New Years through February...it's just so cold and gray and just gross. The one good thing about the month of February is Valentines day. I've been trying to do a few things to be festive this month. Last week i made red velvet heart shaped whoopie pies with marshmallow frosting. They actually turned out really well. Here is a picture and the link
I got the recipe off of pinterest. Pinterest is my new found obsession. For those of you who have never heard that word, the best way to describe Pinterest is to think back to the days before we had internet and how we used to cut out magazine pictures for outfit inspiration, ideas for hair styles, home decor, crafts, outfits, etc. and pinned them on our push-pin cork boards. Now… imagine doing that but without the magazines and without the cork board...all virtual. It is basically just a website for sharing good ideas. I have found tons of great recipes that I can't wait to try. Here is a link to my boards. Let me know if you want me to send you an invite!
Last night we had an early Valentines day celebration. Jeremy got me some really pretty flowers
and we to dinner at the Melting pot. It had been a long time since either of us had been there and we had a great time. I think the cheese fondue is my favorite. I could eat that stuff all day.
Happy Valentines day!

Christmas with the Kuhres

2012-01-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

This year, Jeremy's family flew in from Provo and Texas for Christmas. It was great to have them here. On Christmas Eve, Jer and his family (I had to work) went to the Franklin Institute. They have a lot of really awesome, interactive exhibits there. One of them gives you age enhanced photos of yourself. This is Jeremy at 70 years old.

This picture scares me. Apparently this is best care scenario, without obesity or sun damage...love you Jer. We had fun doing all of our Christmas traditions with Jeremy's family. We went to look at Christmas lights, read the Christmas story, watched a Christmas Carol, and had a yummy Christmas dinner together. I made garlic prime rib, homemade rolls, asparagus and red mashed potatoes (it was the first time I had ever made prime rib and it was actually pretty easy).

On Monday night, Jer's dad took us out to a Italian restaurant in Philadelphia called Vetri. According to a couple of reviews, Vetri is the best Italian restaurant on the east coast. They only have a "grand tasting menu." They just bring you out random plates from the menu. Here is a link.
Some of the more adventurous items we tried were texas antelope, black angus tar tar, and chestnut fettuccine with boar and cocoa. It was quite the experience. Really yummy but I don't think my palette was quite refined enough for some of the items on the menu. We took our Christmas decorations down a couple of days ago and now our house is empty, sad and naked. At least there is Valentines Day to look forward to in a month.

Holiday Time!

2011-12-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

It's crazy that it's almost Christmas again. I thought I would catch up with a few pictures that we've taken during this holiday season. We had our friend Sam over and had a nice Thanksgiving at home

I made a caramel apple pie for dessert and I was pretty proud of how it turned out. It was delicious!
It's been really fun having a house to decorate for Christmas this year. The day after Thanksgiving we went out to pick out our tree. They always look so much smaller when they are in the lot...we cut a bit off of it and it ended up looking great!
One of my favorite ornaments from this year...excuse the nudity
Here are a few more pictures of the house decorated for Christmas...
found this cute card holder
We did peppermint cupcakes for our neighbor gifts this year. Last weekend we went to Longwood gardens to see their Christmas display. The theme this year was "gingerbread fantasy." They had a couple of pretty awesome gingerbread replications of the buildings at longwood
all of the windows were made out of sugar, I wanted to poke one really badly! Here are a few more pictures of longwood
Have a wonderful Christmas!

Colonial Williamsburg

2011-11-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took a little mini vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia with my parents. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. The first day we visited colonial Williamsburg. In the early 1900's, the historic district of Williamsburg was restored by the Vanderbilt family to look like it did during the revolutionary war. A lot of the buildings are original. It is pretty amazing (we are big history nerds). We went to the reenactment of a trial in the old courthouse, went to the actual jail where blackbeard's pirates were held, and toured the governor's mansion

They also had a bunch of cool reenactments, like when the town was captured in the war by Benedict Arnold. The next day went to the battlefield at Yorktown, where the last battle of the revolutionary war was fought. We went on a pretty great ranger tour of the battlefield (I do love those rangers!). We also went to the original settlement at Jamestown. My family is pretty big into genealogy and family history and while we were there we saw a picture of one of the ancestors on my dad's side, one of my great great (lots of greats) grandfathers, Thomas West the 3rd "Baron de la Warr."
(can't you see the family resemblance?)I didn't know anything about him and I guess he was the first Governor of Virginia and was a big reason that the Jamestown colony didn't fail. Thanks mom and dad for a really fun weekend!

Lots of Updates

2011-11-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

It's been forever since I updated our blog and a lot has happened, so the task is a little bit daunting...We moved into our new house on August 27th, the same day that hurricane Irene hit. We were lucky that so many people from our ward came out to help us in the morning so we missed the deluge later on that day. Our neighbors were shocked at how quickly we were able to move in...they had never witnessed the marvel of efficiency that is a Mormon move! Here are a few pictures of the house that I took today. It's still a work in progress, but we are mostly settled in. We bought a townhouse about 15 minutes away from the old apartment. I've always had a love for townhouses every since I studied abroad in London during college. We'll grow out of it at some point, but it's perfect for what we need right now

This is the BYU london Center. Loved that place!
This is the exterior of our house, it was taken before we moved it...it was just rainy today and so i didn't want to go outside
Here is the kitchen
And the dining room
The sun room. It's a perfect place to curl up and read a book. I'm still looking for a rug for this room, let me know if you have any ideas!
This is our deck, we're going to refinish it in the spring.
This is the family room. I'm still a little bit unsure about the furniture here...let me know what you think
And the basement
The guest room...where you will stay when you come visit!
The master bedroom...Jeremy did a great job painting this room. The whole room was moss green before...gross.
This is our master bathroom
and finally, my favorite room in the house, the closet! I think it makes Jeremy nervous just how much room there is for future clothing purchases!
In other news, I had my 26th birthday in October. You can see in the picture the cute flower cake Jeremy sent to my work.
We had a great time having some visitors in October. Our friends the Vaughns came at the beginning of the month. It was so good to see them. The next weekend, my good friend Merrilee came to visit from Provo.
We went shopping, watched gilmore girls, and went into New York City and saw Mary Poppins and went to the French Culinary institute. Jeremy did a great job as our designated tour guide.It was so great to have her here!
The last week in October, my parents came to visit from Boise. We went into Amish country, toured an old Amish farm, browsed in the shops, and went to Wilbur Chocolate factory. I love Amish country, it's just gorgeous in the fall.

Jeremy was so excited that we were going to get trick or treaters this year. He decorated the front of the house. He had scary music playing in the background and even a fog machine. Pretty sure next year he is going to be one of those creepy guys that dresses as a scarecrow and then jumps out at people when they try and take a piece of candy
We feel really grateful and blessed to be in our new home. We love visitors, so come visit anytime!

Oregon Coast

2011-08-21T14:20:00.001-07:00

Last week, we were able to go on vacation with my family to the Oregon Coast. We all stayed together in a cute beach house in Depoe Bay

I have great memories of visiting the Oregon Coast growing up, and it was really great to visit again with some new members added to the family this time.We had a great time looking in the tide pools, playing games, making sand castles, eating yummy sea food and roasting smores on the beach.

Jeremy was very serious about the moat on this sand castle. It actually held out for while against the tide. On our second to last day, Jeremy, Heather, Chad, my Dad and I took some kayaks out on devils lake. It was really beautiful. We even saw a couple of bald eagles while we were out
We had such a good, relaxing time. Now it is back to the gross reality of packing, cleaning and moving, yuck!

Kuhre Reunion and New Home

2011-07-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that we've been on a plane every month this year. In mid-July Melody and I attended our first ever Kuhre family reunion in Brighton, UT. It was a very brisk retreat from the oppressive late summer heat of Philadelphia.

This is a special spot for the Kuhre clan as we used to own a primitive cabin that the family would visit from time to time. I believe there were 26 people present, with only three Kuhre descendents (of Calvin and Roma Kuhre) not present. Lots of memories were made through hiking, searching for and replacing time capsules, story-telling, family history, game-playing, and getting to know each other better. There were also some epic meals eaten and enjoyed by all.

It was strange to now be in the "middle generation" and to see our parents become the grandparents. Everyone seems to be doing well, and we loved seeing all! We are looking forward to the next reunion in Santa Cruz, CA in a couple years.

After returning from Utah, Melody and I went into "home closing" mode. For the uninitiated this basically consists of intermittently being excited out-of-your-mind about the prospect of owning a house, and getting cold feet and wondering if you are making a mistake. There's also plenty of papers to review and correct leading up to the closing date.

Well, we closed on the 29th (an interesting story, ask us about it sometime...) and spent the last few dollars to our name (just about) on a nice dinner at the Capital Grille, which also served as our three year anniversary. Here are some photos:

This is just a preview, we'd like to have a housewarming party once we get settled in, maybe October or so. Melody has taken on the job of being the interior decorator, which I'm sure she'll do a fabulous job with. I'm not sure if she's going to go for the "Lord of the Rings" themed master suite idea I've been looking into...

Atlantic City

2011-06-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on one last beach trip with our friends, The O'Farrells. We are so sad that they are moving! We went to Atlantic City, New Jersey. We had a great time walking the boardwalk and playing on the beach.

One thing all of us didn't quite understand was all of the lifeguards on the beach. There were like 4 of them every 20 feet(why not just post a sign that says "no lifeguard, swim at your own risk"? Sometimes i still do not get the East). They had this little rowboat that they took out to go "save" people a couple of times we were there. It was weird, none of the people looked like they were in any trouble. The boat itself seemed kind of dangerous though, it could really do some damage if it came down on someone' s head or someone got hit by the oars
I thought the boat was pretty great, so while Jeremy and Mike were out swimming, I asked the lifeguards if they would go out and pick them up as a joke. They told me no. Here is a picture of them frolicking in the water
It was nice to just have a day to relax in the sun and fly a kite. We'll miss you O'Farrells!

June Brides

2011-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

They say if you marry in June you'll be a bride all your life. I'm not quite sure what that means, but regardless, I think June is the perfect month for a wedding! I got to be a part of two this month. Two weekends ago, I was in my friend from work, Jess's wedding. She was a really gorgeous bride and it was fun to see a bunch of people from work there.
Her cake was amazing. It was inspired by Cinderella's castle
Last weekend, I got to go home for my good friend, Cami's wedding. The night before her wedding, "the quad" (my best friends from high school and college, and yes, I realize that there are 5 of us :) got together for a bachelorette party. It was so good to see all of them, it was like no time had passed since we had seen each other. I think it's been almost 3 years since we've been in the same place. It was really special that we were all able to be in the Boise temple together for Cami's wedding. She was such a beautiful bride!
Cami had her wedding reception at the Boise train depot. That's always been one of my favorite places in Boise
it has a really great view of the whole city.
This is a picture of me, Brooke and Merilee up in the bell tower.
While I was at home, I went through some old pictures and found a few gems. This one was actually taken at the train depot almost 8 years ago
I think this one is from new years eve maybe 7 years ago
It really doesn't seem like that much time has passed. It was so good so see friends and family last weekend. Hopefully it's not 3 more years until the whole quad is together again!

New Orleans

2011-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

These last couple of weeks have been a little bit crazy for us. Jeremy had been sick for a little while and actually had to go to the hospital for 3 days with pneumonia last week. We were supposed to leave for New Orleans Saturday morning with Jeremy's family but we weren't sure if the doctors would release him by then. On Friday, Jer took matters into his own hands, he got dressed, shaved, told all the nurses he was being discharged that day, and even walked out into the hallway to greet the doctor. Luckily, the doctor agreed with him that he shouldn't be in the hospital anymore and we were able to go on vacation with Jeremy's family. We are so glad that he is feeling better! We had a great time in New Orleans. The first day we were there, we went to Jazz fest. We saw Jimmy Buffett and the Strokes.

That night, we walked down Bourbon Street to find somewhere to eat. I don't get the fascination with Bourbon street at all. It's crowded and it smells like a lovely mixture of body odor, urine, and garbage. Pretty sure being there for Mardi Gras would be my worst nightmare. The next day we went to the Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

They were delicious and definitely lived up to the hype. Also that day, we visited the aquarium and went on a walking tour of the French Quarter. The French Quarter is such a charming place. It has such a rich history, even long before it was a part of the United States. While we were walking in the French Quarter, I stopped and had my palm read. Here are a couple of the things that I learned about future...I will get married in the next five years, the man I am currently involved with will stop playing so many mind games with me, hehehe.

That night, we went out for a mother's day dinner to the Commander's Palace in the garden district. Jeremy and I agreed that this is one of our favorite restaurants of all time. The Bananas Foster we had for dessert was to die for!

The next day, we took a swamp tour at the Jean Lafitte national preserve. We saw tons of alligators. They just came right up to the boat. I guess they used to feed them marshmallows, but they aren't allowed to anymore. I wonder how long it will take the alligators to figure that out.

That night we went on a ghost tour of the French Quarter. I think that was one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. New Orleans is thought to be one of the most haunted places in the world. This is the old Lalaurie mansion. According to story, the LaLauries conducted horrible experiments there on their slaves. When they fled the country after they were discovered, they buried 30 of their slaves alive under the floorboards.

This is an old Catholic Abbey. There is an old story about vampires coming over in the 1700s from France. Supposedly, vampires still live in the attic of the church, that's why the shutters on the dormer windows are always kept closed.

On the tour, we learned that there is actually a group modern day "vampires" that live in New Orleans called sanguiners. They drink human blood from willing donors. I guess recently, when they were putting up power lines along the Mississippi river, a group of these sanguiners came to protest at a City Council meeting because they were worried that they would get tangled in the power lines during their nighttime flights.....right. On our last day in New Orleans we went on steamboat dinner cruise down the Mississippi river.

We had a wonderful time in New Orleans and a great time seeing Jeremy's family. Thanks for a great vacation!

Caribbean Cruise

2011-04-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jer and I got home from our cruise to the Caribbean. We had a perfect vacation and are both in a little bit of cruise withdrawal right now. We sailed aboard the Crown Princess. It is a really beautiful ship

My favorite part of the ship was the atrium where there are two beautiful spiral staircases.

Also in the atrium is the International Cafe where they had every kind of pastry you can imagine. Jer and I stopped by there several times each day.

The first night on the ship was "formal night." Some people got really decked out in evening gowns and tuxedos.

Every night it was like going to a nice restaurant with a four course meal. We had lobster, scallops, fillet mignon...I think both of our bodies were a little bit shocked when we came back and it was fast sunday today! Here is a picture of one of their signature desserts, "the Love Boat"

The first stop on our cruise was the Cayman islands. We went on a boat out to "stingray city" which is a sandbar a couple of miles out into the ocean. They are surprisingly docile animals. They rub up against you like a cat and even let you hold them.

On our way back, the captain of the ship said, "See! No one get hurt! Now you must all spread the good news of stingray city." So I guess that's what I'm doing! After stingray city, we swam with dolphins. This is Pepe the dolphin

I think this was maybe my favorite thing from the whole trip. They are just such happy animals!
Our second stop was Roatan Honduras. On Roatan, we went to Gumbalimba bird and monkey preserve.
On the way to the monkey preserve, we had to cross a rickety hanging bridge. Jeremy did his best to terrify me and make the bridge swing back and forth as we were crossing

The monkeys were really cute. Our guides told us to leave everything on the bus because the monkeys love to grab anything loose, run up a tree, break whatever they have, and then throw it back to you.

Our third stop was Cozumel Mexico. We decided to be a little bit adventurous and rent a convertible smartcar. It was so tiny!

We drove around the island, visited some Mayan ruins, snorkeled, and found a yummy taco place on the beach to eat lunch.

I think my favorite part of Cozumel was actually watching everyone reboard the ship. One of the veteran cruisers we talked to told us to board early, go up to one of the higher decks and watch all the drunk people come down the gangway. It was pretty entertaining. We were docked right across from a big Carnival ship. As the ships were about to close their doors, two drunk men came running down the gangway and barely made it. They got a round of applause from all the people on the decks on both ships.

On the last day of the cruise, we stopped at Princess's private island in the Bahamas. It was a great day to swim, relax, and read under the palm trees.
On the ship, they gave out an award for the person who had been on the most cruises. There was one old lady who had been on a cruise ship for 864 days total!! Who knows...maybe someday I will beat that old lady! Probably not, but we had a great time and would love to go on another cruise someday!

Cherry Blossom Festival

2011-03-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have wanted to do most since we moved to Pennsylvania is to see the cherry blossoms in bloom in Washington D.C. Yesterday, Jeremy and I went to the Washington D.C. temple, and then met our friends Matt and Kim to go see the blossoms at tidal basin park. It was the perfect day to go, almost all of the trees were in bloom, which was surprising since it's been so cold here all week. It made me feel like spring is finally here!
We took a walk around the tidal basin by the Jefferson memorial. There were tons of people out on the water in paddle boats, painting and just walking around enjoying the blossoms.

We stopped and listened to a ranger program for awhile and learned about the history of the trees. The Japanese gave 3,020 cherry trees as a gift of friendship to the United States in 1912. In 1939, society women of the Washington D.C. area chained themselves to the trees in an effort to save them from being cleared for the building of the Jefferson Memorial. The women won out, and most of the trees were saved and planted around the tidal basin.
I'm really glad we got to see the trees in bloom. Definitely go in the next week if you are in the area!

Organic Experiment

2011-03-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all. I'm sure you have all considered those products at the grocery store that have the word "Organic" printed on the packaging. While I knew that "organic" meant "grown naturally", or something akin to that, I didn't know much more than that. So, in an effort to be more responsible to our own health as well as considering the effects on those ecosystems these foods are produced in (i.e. everywhere), Melo and I embarked on a little organic food pilot program for the Kuhre household. I'm calling it Operation Organic Kuhres.

For some background, Melo and I love food in all its glorious forms. We often find ourselves contemplating it, discussing it, and then, inevitably, cooking and eating it. I suppose we all do this though- right? Well, everyone eats anyway. Knowing that we are what we eat, Melo and I wondered what kind of harmful things ended up in our bodies as a result of the foods and drinks we ingest. I had recently read the excellent, though slightly outdated "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. The book was largely responsible for banning DDT in the United States. Despite the myriad of reforms by the USDA and FDA since then, you wouldn't be surprised to know that many synthetic substances still make it into our foods in varying concentrations. It turns out that our bodies act as repositories for some of these chemicals and that they can build up over time.

The USDA "Organic" label shown above in the food photos, can only be applied on foods that contain 95% plus organic ingredients. I found out that "organic" is defined, roughly, as a product that includes (courtesy of Wikipedia):

avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of biosolids;
use of farmland that has been free from synthetic chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);
keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
undergoing periodic on-site inspections.

So you see, it's a pretty robust certification. Something I thought was interesting is that the organic requirement goes all the way back down the food chain. For example, organic beef must only be fed organic cornfeed. So to go back to Operation Organic Kuhres, the idea was to eventually see if we could apply the same 95% USDA Organic label to ourselves. We're not even close by the way; but if we do get there, Melody has promised me we will get matching USDA Organic tats (just kidding! but seriously...).

One of my hang-ups with organic foods in the past, is that it was my understanding that crop yields were significantly less than conventionally grown crop. It didn't seem responsible to eat something that the world as a whole couldn't be fed with. It was also my understanding that the majority of the cost difference between organic and conventional foods was a direct result of the lower crop yield issue--more on that later. It turns out that according to one study, "...organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base." I'm hoping to find more about this when I read Michael Pollen's book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," over the next couple weeks.

So, Melo and I went to our neighborhood Giant to purchase as many organic products as we could in place of what we would normally buy. It turns out, there wasn't that large a selection. Although a full two aisles were marketed as "natural/organic", the vast majority of the products were not USDA organic. A great example of this is the popular Amy's brand. IMPORTANT: Just because a package says "natural" on it, this has no bearing on the organic nature of the product. It must have the seal.

We found that on average, the organic products were 70 to 80% more expensive than the conventional sort. Some items of note include milk and eggs, which were a full 100% more expensive. Interestingly, carrots and Oreo knock-offs were the exact same price as the conventional products--why wouldn't you purchase these? In short, we are not going to be able to "go organic" overnight, nor would most folks with a budget for groceries. It's my feeling that as the fad nature of the organic food movement wears off, the prices will come down. We'll see.

If you're still with me, this is the interesting part. We didn't notice a big difference in taste for most products, especially products with multiple ingredients (e.g. breakfast bars, etc.). With commodities like milk, there was a large difference. Organic milk doesn't have rBST (hormones) nor antibiotics. The cows also have a slightly different diet. As a result the milk tasted different; if I had to pick an adjective--"milkier".

I might update this post or follow it up later, but I've got to get going. Shoot me a line if you have any comments, questions, complaints, or good-jokes.

Valentines Day and Lasik

2011-02-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

I've always really loved Valentines day, even when I was single. I guess just because it's a day that celebrates pink, chocolate, and flowers...three of my favorite things. This year, Jeremy did something really sweet. He got a beautiful bouquet of flowers

He also had a remote start installed in my car. I'm so excited that i won't have to go outside to scrape the ice off my car in the mornings when I start my 3AM-3PM shift. Yay! In other news, Jeremy had lasik surgery done on Friday afternoon. Everything went really well and when he went back the next day for his followup appointment, they told him he had 20/25 vision. It takes about 3 months for your eyes to really settle after the surgery, so it's very possible that they could improve even more. Here is a picture of Jer in his awesome eye protectors
It's going to be really strange never to see him in glasses again!

Visit Home

2011-02-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have not been a very faithful blogger lately, but I'm going to try to be better! Last week I was able to visit family in Boise and Provo. I kind of considered this my Christmas break since I had to work the holiday this year. I had a great time in Boise with my mom and dad. We went to a few of the restaurants that I had been missing in PA (Tucanos and Cafe Rio), went shopping and just had a fun time hanging out.
I tried to edit out the "crazy eyes" on the dog but couldn't do it, I guess he is more like himself that way anyway.
I don't have many pictures from this trip because I forgot my camera. (That is what I get trying to pack after working 3 night shifts and getting basically no sleep afterward). On a side note, night shift is coming to an end for me in April, YAY!!!
I was also able to spend time with my good friend Brooke while I was in Boise. (Notice the dog in the picture waiting to go in for the kill for the cupcakes as soon as we are distracted). It was so good to be able to spend some time with her! On Wednesday I flew to Provo to stay with Nic, Noelle, and Luke. It was really great to be able to spend some time with them. Luke is getting so big! On Friday, my friend Merrilee and I went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU and out for cupcakes at the Coco Bean. It is a really neat exhibit, definitely go if you get the chance! It's at the BYU museum of art until May. It was kind of gross to come back to real life...work...ice storms...but it's good to be back home with Jeremy!

My Stimulus Package to the Economy

2011-01-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

Around summer '10 I decided I wanted to build another computer. I used to build them back in high school and had a lot of fun with it (read: wasted a lot of time on videogames). Our laptops were getting older, and we really needed a solid home computer since I do some building modeling and I work from home once a week. I figured I'd document the process in case it held value for anyone.

From the outset, I knew that I wanted to balance energy efficiency, quiet, and performance. I also had a budget of $1,000 for the entire system--including a monitor and copy of Windows. A lot had changed in the computer world since I left and returned from my time in Mexico. I found tomshardware.com to be a real handy research tool. They have some great articles like a monthly guide to the best videocards for a variety of budgets. They also have head-to-head benchmarks for CPUs and hard drives, etc.

I ended up going with the following equipment. The list is roughly in order of most important components to least important, which is the same order in which you should select them. I always purchase all my electronics at newegg.com because they are always within a dollar or two of the low-price internet-wide and they have an unbeatable return policy and customer service. Watch out for their combo deals too--you can save quite a bit by buying certain components together. A short explanation follows each item:

Motherboard - ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 - $110 after rebate
The motherboard determines all the rest of the equipment: computer size, type of processor, etc. Asus and Gigabyte are both great brands. I knew I wanted to "future-proof" the design to the extent possible, which meant I needed native USB3, eSATA, AM3+ socket, and at least 16 lanes PCI-e lanes for my videocard. This board also came with a lot of extra goodies like an auto-overclocking tool and an application that increases your energy efficiency when your computer is only doing light stuff.

Case - Antec Sonata III - $90 after rebate
Known for its ultra-quiet operation which is due to the ultra-large 12cm fan and some other cool features like silicone hard drive mounting brackets which reduce vibration. It's also pretty slick looking. It comes with a 500W power supply which is 80 Plus Certified which means it is more energy efficient than your average bear.

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz - ~$140
The AMD processors are generally cheaper, but beyond that, the Intel-AMD debate could rage forever. Modern processors use much more energy than older processors did, but they have also gotten pretty clever with minimizing power consumption. This is one of the largest areas you can save energy. The other is the video card.

Video Card - Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB - $135 after mail in rebate
A great way to save money is to get a motherboard with integrated graphics. The other extreme is to get two identical videocards and run them in parallel. For most, a single graphic card is sufficient. This card is great if you are a casual gamer and/or watch HD media on your computer.

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black - $65
The big choice with hard drives is conventional vs. solid state. Solid state is faster and more expensive. It's also more energy efficient and has no moving parts. I went with conventional, although I plan on upgrading to solid state in the near future. Western Digital also makes a Caviar Green which is touted for energy efficiency. Really though, it simply sacrifices performance for the energy efficiency. My external hard drive (for backups ONLY) is a 1TB GreenDrive from Fantom Drives--also energy efficient.

Memory - Patriot G Series ‘Sector 5’ Edition 4GB - $45
I was really surprised how much the price had come down since I purchased this. Not much to say here, just try to make sure your memory is compatible with your motherboard according to the motherboard manufacturer's technical sheets.

I'm nerding out even myself now, so I'll wrap things up. I rounded out the system with a DVD writer (don't bother with Lightscribe, it's not pretty), media card reader, 21" Asus monitor (ENERGYSTAR labeled), Logitech 2.1 speakers, ergonomic keyboard, wifi adapter, blu tooth adapter (for working from home with headset), and a wireless mouse. I also got Windows 7 Home which is fantastic by the way. Drop me a line if you're building your own system and need help.

The Holidays Are Here!

2010-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe it's already December! It makes me kind of agitated to see Christmas displays or to hear Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but now it makes me happy! Jer and I had a fun Thanksgiving with Jeremy's family. They flew in for a couple of days from Texas, and Jeremy's brother from BYU. We went to Longwood Gardens for their Thanksgiving buffet dinner
They had a yummy mashed potato bar and a fun mini dessert bar with miniature creme brulee shooters and apple pies. We had a fun time walking around and looking at all the beautiful Christmas displays
a few days ago, Jeremy and I decorated for Christmas and put up our own Christmas tree. We decided to get a real one for the first time this year. I've decided I really like having a real tree. They make the house smell so nice and it just really feels like Christmas now. Here's a picture of our tree

Christmas Cards

2010-12-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

I never really know what to do about Christmas cards every year. We did a newsletter last year, but I feel kind of silly doing a newsletter just for the two of us. This year I think Jer and I will order some from Shutterfly.com. I saw a post on a friend's blog recently, and they have some really cute Christmas card designs this year. Here's a link to their Christmas cardshttp://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards They also have really cute photo card designs, which is what I think Jer and I will be doing this year. Here's the link to those ones http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards. On their site, you can also make picture calendars. We have pretty much all of our Christmas shopping done this year, but I thought that might be a cute idea for another year. They're pretty cheap too! Jeremy and I have had good experiences with Shutterfly in the past. They do a really good job with everything. Shutterfly is doing a promotion now until December 14th, that if you post about them on your blog you get 50 free Christmas cards. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me! Here's the link to the promotional offer http://bit.ly/sfly2010. Look for our card in the mail!

Favorite Pumpkin Recipes

2010-10-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite pumpkin recipes. I love the way the house smells when you make any of them. You know fall is here!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

3 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 cups Sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil

1 t salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 t cinnamon
2 t baking soda

Combine first four ingredients, then sift dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry. Bake in 2 9 by 13 pans for 20 minutes at 350.

Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup butter
8 oz cream cheese

Pumpkin Doughnuts

4 1/2 cups flour
4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 cup sugar
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
2 T melted butter
1/2 t vanilla extract
3/4 cup pumpkin

mix the dry ingredients. Combine the remaining ingredients and add to the dry ingredients, stirring only until just blended. Roll onto a well floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Fry in oil until brown. Put granulated sugar in a paper sack. Shake warm doughnuts in the sugar sack. Enjoy.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chip (I don't mess around with the semisweet chips, yuck)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake for about an hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean

Fall Festivities

2010-10-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, my parents came out for a visit from Boise. On Saturday, we spent the day at Longwood gardens. We were all really impressed by the giant lilly pads. Apparently, they can support up to 100 pounds.
It was a perfect fall day to walk around longwood.

It was fun to see all of their fall displays. They had a bunch of huge pumpkins. I think the one above weighed over 600 pounds! We had such a great time with mom and dad. We think you guys should just move out here.

Last weekend Jeremy and I drove up to Vermont to see the foliage. This has been something I have wanted to do for a long time, so Jer decided to take me there for my birthday. It really was as pretty as I had hoped it would be. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Manchester, Vermont. All of the residents were very proud that it was voted the "foliage capital" of Vermont this year. It was a really cute little town

That night we went to a restaurant in town called the "Reluctant Panther." I was a little bit sleepy on our drive into Manchester because I had worked the night before, and I kept accidentally referring to it as the, "Awkward Panther." Despite the name, the food there was amazing. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Wilburton Inn, just outside of town.
It was built in 1903 and is owned now by a psychologist with a real passion for unique art.

At night, it actually got a little bit creepy. Definitely the most interesting place we've ever stayed. This was the view outside our window when we woke up in the morning. It was a little bit overcast all day, so you can't really see how bright the colors were.

That morning we went on a five mile hike to lye brook falls. It was just gorgeous

That afternoon we browsed through some of the shops in town and went to Manchester's annual pumpkin festival. It was great, they had a public judging of a pumpkin dessert contest, and hot apple cider and apple cider doughnuts. Thanks Jer, for a really fun weekend!

Fun Fall Visits

2010-09-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weekends we've been really lucky to have people come out to visit. Two weekends ago, Jeremy's mom, Phyllis came out for the weekend. On Saturday, we enjoyed a beautiful fall day in New York City. We went to the French Culinary Institute for brunch, and saw Mama Mia on broadway and took the elevator up to the top of the Rockefeller Center

The view from the top is pretty amazing! That afternoon we went for a carriage through central park. That's something I've always wanted to do. Along the way, our driver pointed out where various scenes from Home Alone II were filmed. I think we all left there feeling a little bit more complete as human beings.

That night we went to Serendipity for dessert, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The desserts were delicious and HUGE! We got the broadway blackout cake, the ultimate creme and the frozen hot chocolate.

We were tempted, but decided not to go with the $1,000 dollar golden opulence sundae.

Last weekend, my good friend, Brooke, came to visit from Boise. On Saturday we went on a double date out to Amish country. We went to Cherry Crest Adventure farm for the annual potato festival. I love little places like this. They had a petting zoo with little baby chicks that you can hold.

They also had a potato sack slide, a corn maze, potato slings, potato sack races, and potato eating contests. We got in on the action during the potato sack races, but the potato eating contests were more fun just to watch and bet on who was going to win each heat. Another favorite from the day was this blow up bubble thing you could bounce on. All the little kids loved it when Jeremy got on, we could hear them all saying to each other, "Get ready, here he comes!"

It was really great to spend some quality girl time together!

Hawaii

2010-09-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have kind of been a blur for us. Last week we took a trip to Hawaii with my family and then we moved 2 days after we got home. Jeremy and I had been looking forward to this trip for months and months. It was really great to see everybody. Jeremy hadn't seen our nephew, Luke, since he was only a couple of weeks old. We had an absolute blast in Hawaii. On one of the first days, We went on a hike in the Waimea valley. All of the trees and flowers were gorgeous
There was a little waterfall with a pool at the end that you could swim in.

We also went out sailing on the Ko Olina Cat, chased dolphins, and went snorkeling.
One of my favorite things that we did was visiting the north shore. We went body surfing at the bonzai pipleine. I love seeing people get knocked over by all the big waves. Although, out of all of us, I am pretty sure I'm the one who ate the most sand.

At the North Shore, we also went snorkeling at Shark's cove. Jeremy and I both agreed that this is the best snorkeling that we had ever done. We were only inches away from a sea turtle. I really like them, they are very wise, kind looking animals.

Another highlight of the trip was the Fia Fia luau with "the chief." It was such a pretty night

On our second to last day in Hawaii, we drove to Waikiki to take surfing lessons. As I was paddling out for the first time, I got hit in the face with someone else's surf board. Jer and I had to take a little trip to the emergency room in Honolulu to get stitches. It seems to be healing really well and I don't think it will scar too bad.

This picture was taken on our last day in Hawaii at the Pali Lookout ( I was having a hard time smiling at this point in time). We were both really sad to leave Hawaii and come back to real life. Hopefully we'll all be together again before not too long.

A hero of mine...

2010-07-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

Robert E. Lee that is. Melody prepared an incredible birthday surprise for me last December by getting tickets for the 147th Anniversary Gettysburg Reenactment. We arrived on Friday and enjoyed staying at the Battlefield Bed & Breakfast. This establishment delivered in all three areas providing a bed in addition to a breakfast the next morning--all within sight of the battlefield.

The event actually takes place north of the actual battlefield. There was a Confederate camp and a U.S. camp and everything. Some of the reenactors took this division very seriously as can be seen in the "arrest" of Joshua Chamberlain by General Pickett for loitering in the Confederate camp:

As for the battles themselves, we were able to watch the "Wheatfield" portion of the battle which took place on the second day between General Sickles' 3rd Corps and General Longstreet's First Corps. This wheatfield changed hands up to seven times within a few hours and some of the most vicious fighting of the war took place here.

We also saw a cavalry battle, which I won't post right now. This fight took place during the third day during and after Pickett's charge.

All in all, this was one of the coolest experiences I've had. Almost since Melody and I met (but not right at first, because let's face it, it would have just been creepy), I've been telling her that I want to be a part-time reenactor. I think she actually started believing me as I asked Major Pickett (i.e. General Pickett's bro) how one got "in" with the reenactor scene. Bring on the beard and banjos I say!

On a more serious note, Melo and I were able to walk Pickett's charge from Seminary Ridge to Cemetery Ridge. It was July 3 2010, exactly 147 years to the day after. The field is very similar to how it would have been that day- uncut grass, Emmitsburg road cutting down the middle, about a mile and a half slightly uphill. For those of you unfamiliar with this final episode of the battle, over 6,000 casulaties were reported alone for the Confederacy. We were very impressed with gratitude for those that came before us and sacrified little or all for our freedom. May God bless America, and we wish you a Happy Independence Day!

A Wicked Fun Anniversary

2010-06-27T15:23:00.001-07:00

This past Monday, Jeremy and I had our second wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a little trip to visit New York this weekend. On Friday night we went to the temple and then took a little walk in Central park

The next morning we took the ferry and went out to visit the statue of liberty and Ellis Island

Ellis Island was so interesting. We went on a ranger tour when we got there and followed him from room to room. He gave us a pretty good idea of what it was like to be processed through Ellis Island. One of the most interesting things he told us was that as the immigrants were walking up the stairs, they would watch them really carefully and then put different chalk marks on the clothes of the people, depending on what they thought might be wrong with them. If they put an X on your clothes you were "likely insane." If they put and X with a circle around it, you were "definitely insane." (We saw quite a few people on the New York subways that I think might have gotten that mark). The main building at Ellis island is beautiful, it's crazy when you stop and think about how many millions of people came through there.

After Ellis Island, we went to see "Wicked." It was fantastic, we loved it!

Afterward, as we were leaving the theater some of the cast came out to sign autographs,

This is the actress who played Glinda, she was my favorite! As we were window shopping on 5th Avenue after the show, we just happened to see Glinda and Elphaba again, hehe
Definitely my favorite part of our trip was our dinner that night at L'Ecole, the restaurant associated with the French Culinary Institute. The food there was some of the best I've ever had. Here is a link to the menu for the night we ate there: http://www.frenchculinary.com/pdf/TRS060710.pdf. They even brought us out a special dessert for our anniversary!

Row Row Row Your Boat

2010-06-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jer and I went to Fitzwater station in Phoenixville and rented a canoe to take down the Schuylkill river. To get to the river, you row to the end of the canal and then walk over a portage to the river. That canoe was actually really heavy. I was not a fan of the portage. The rest of the trip was really fun though. The river was beautiful and there was a lof of wildlife.

Captain Jeremy!

There were a couple of little islands along the way. We thought it might be fun to take a picnic next time.

Ocean City

2010-05-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a little road trip to Ocean City, New Jersey with some friends from the ward, the O'Farrells. I wasn't sure what to expect from a New Jersey beach, but it was actually really pretty. There was a cute little boardwalk with an amusement park, shops, and every kind of fried food imaginable. I think something about being next to the ocean makes it taste even better. We had heard rave reviews about one of the restaurants along the boardwalk, Mack and Manco's pizza, so we made that our first stop.

Very yummy! After that, we spent some time on the beach.

It was definitely a bit chilly. Jeremy and Mike actually got all the way in and went body surfing. They were just about the only people in the water. I heard the people next to us on the beach saying that they "must be from Canada." Afterwards, we took a walk along the boardwalk

and tried a few more of the restaurants. The funnel cake, fried oreos, and salt water taffy were amazing. I think we all left the boardwalk very satisfied!

Sunny Dallas

2010-05-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I got home from our trip to Dallas yesterday. I had forgotten just how much I like Texans, they are great.We had a really fun time spending time with Jeremy's family and relaxing a bit. The first night we were there we spent at rough creek ranch. It was a really fun place, they had swimming, rock climbing, biking, fishing, and lots of random puppies to play with. This was in our welcome bag when we got there.

I appreciate little touches like this! Here is a picture of all of us at the restaurant at the lodge. The food there really was amazing.

The next day we stopped by Fossil Rim, which is an African animal preserve. They give you a bag of feed and then you just drive through the park. The animals come right up to your car. I loved feeding the giraffes

The zebras were a little bit too grabby for my taste.

The rest of the week we did a few things around the Dallas area. We were able to tour the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, which I now know has the largest high definition television screen in the world. Jeremy was really excited about seeing that! We also went to a western mystery dinner at the Gaylord Texan resort.

Our table (the Macgyvers) even guessed right about who had committed the murder. It was a little bit sad coming back to Pennsylvania, we had to ride back on a tiny turbo prop plane (I hate throwing up on planes, everyone just looks so horrified) and we got to drive home from Allentown through a monsoon. Welcome home!

An Ode to Lasagna

2010-04-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Those that know us, will also know our love for good food and cooking. With that being said, we had the Stouffer's over for dinner last night...

Please note the words at the top of the packaging - "Party Size" - Giddy up. It takes Melo and I about three or four nights to finish this, but it gets better every night. My favorite three things about Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna are 1) Stouffer's doesn't use any preservatives, 2) you don't even miss the meat while eating it, and 3) it tastes great!

Anyway, you should pick one up at your local grocery store. On another food related note, my brother, Brandon, recently gave a speech at the Sloan Showcase at BYU. He describes the science behind spicy foods and even includes a practical demonstration. Wait till the end to see the volunteers choke over a dot of special hot sauce.

Well, now we say goodbye to our Pennsylvania friends for a week as we are heading to Texas soon. We'll see if we can't bring back some of the good Texas weather with us.

Trip to Boise

2010-04-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I was able to fly home to visit family in Provo and Boise. I get a little bit more time off than Jer does, so unfortunately I had to go solo this time. It was so much fun to see my nephew, Luke. Last time I saw him, he was only about 3 weeks old. He is the cutest, most social little guy.

I had a great time catching up with some friends in Provo. I was able to attend one of my favorite nursing professors' "last lecture." I was so glad I was able to be there, she had a lot of great advice. It was so much fun walking around campus, it made me want to be a student again! My friend Merrilee and I made a much needed trip to Cafe Rio. Cafe Rio is hands down the restaurant I miss most in Pennsylvania!

After spending a couple of days in Provo, we drove home to Boise. It was so good to be home and to spend some time with my family and with another special friend...

It was great to spend some quality time together going on walks, eating meat, and finding ned (he finds his teddy bear named ned when we hide it). It was also really good to have some girl time with Brooke and Cami.

I had a great time seeing everybody, but it was really good to get back home and see Jeremy. He had a big bouquet of flowers waiting for me at the airport, what a good husband!

Spring is Here!

2010-03-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally come to Pennsylvania and snowmaggedon is over! On Saturday Jeremy and I went out to enjoy the sunshine with a picnic at Valley Forge. We weren't the only ones who had the idea, there were tons of people there. We met a couple with a cute little dachshund named Duncan. He was very pleased to share some of the fried chicken from our picnic. I thinking that when we move in August, we definitely need to go someplace where we could get a puppy! On an unrelated note, We are so excited that Nic and Noelle will be in New York City for the summer, only 2 hours away!

Spring Mountain

2010-02-21T18:45:00.000-08:00

Melo and I went to Spring Mountain Ski Resort this weekend. Think bunny hill, not multi-peak ski resort. We decided to go tubing. You start by hooking your tube to a wench that pulls you to the top of the mountain. When you get to the top, you choose a lane and let her rip. You can actually get going pretty fast (maybe 25 mph?) if you get yourself into an aerodynamic position and limit contact with the snow. Anyway, here's a video I took that basically explains it all:

Melody's lesson for the children at church was on light and dark (these are 3 year olds so they keep the lessons pretty simple). We went to the library across the street from where we live to see if we could find a book on light and dark. They didn't have Goodnight Moon, a childhood classic; but they did have this book:

I would have totally gone for it. I can think of few illustrations of light vs. dark that are more memorable to me as a child than this.

Snowmageddon

2010-02-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, snowmageddon has officially arrived in Eagleville, PA. I'm not sure who coined the term, but they certainly succeeded in creating mass hysteria in the mid-Atlantic region this weekend. My theory is that the weather stations have a racket with the retail stores where they get a cut of any snow shovels, melting salts, or other snow-related purchases. To be fair, Philadelphia did receive over two feet of snow, setting a record for 2nd highest accumulation for any snow storm ever in the area. The western suburbs received much less, probably 12" to 18". Here are some photos of our apartment complex:

We are also in the midst of purchasing plane tickets for our travels this year. Already purchased are the tickets to Dallas in April. We will be visiting my family for a week. We're biding our time on tickets to Hawaii to see if the price comes down. We're also looking at tickets prices to SLC to get Melody home a week with her family. By the way, if you have not used farecast.com, you should. It searches all flights and predicts trends in pricing. It will even recommend purchasing or waiting and give you a percent confidence that it is correct.

I will be doing a weekend winter encampment with the scouts this weekend at Valley Forge National Park. This particular encampment is the longest running encampment in the United States and is the only encampment that takes place in a National Park. I think it will also be cool to remember George Washington and the other soldiers that made it their winter home so long ago. Needless to say, these are my justifications for (potentially) freezing this weekend in (potentially) a foot of snow. Good times.

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that the year is already over. So much has happened to us this year, we're kind of hoping for a quiet 2010, we'll see. I haven't written in a couple of weeks, so here's a quick update. Jeremy turned 25 a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture of the birthday boy!

There was a big blizzard on the night of his birthday. We had reservations at PF Chang's, but they called us that afternoon and told us that they were closing down because of the storm. We tried about 5 other places before we gave up. Both of us were kind of blown away, we had never seen anything like that happen in Utah before, even with all the big snow storms they get there.

We had a fun Christmas by ourselves, although it was sad to be so far away from family. We tried to do most of the traditions from both of our families...We went out to look at Christmas lights, watched a Christmas Carol, and made a bunch of yummy appetizers on Christmas Eve...I made so much we ended up eating it for about the next week! It was nice to be able to talk to both of our families on the webcam on Christmas day, just not quite the same as being home.

On New Year's Eve, we drove out to Salisbury, PA to visit some friends back for the holidays from BYU. Jeremy had a great time doing manly things with Matt...playing with a chainsaw...burning an 18 foot Christmas tree...lighting off fireworks. We're so excited that this fall, Matt and Kim will be moving to the Washington DC area, so we'll get to see them more often!

New York City and Becoming Urnal

2009-12-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

This week has been a busy one for us. This week, I went back to working the night shift, 7pm-7am. Jeremy and I have a joke that since I stay up all night I'm not diurnal any more, I'm just plain urnal (just because it's sounds like a word you would use to describe someone who is grumpy). Although, Jeremy can vouch for me, I've actually been a lot less grumpy with this round of nights.

This weekend, Jer and I took a little day trip into New York City. We had been pretty busy all week with work, and so we didn't realize that it was only going to be 32 degrees and we were going to be walking around all day outside. Jeremy was really sweet and made a midnight run to Walmart to pick me up some pink long underwear and hand warmers. We were actually both pretty comfortable all day, those hand warmers worked great. I stuck a couple in my back pockets and gloves Jer put some in his hat and in his shoes.

First, we went and saw the tree in Rockefeller Plaza. You can't really tell in this picture, but it was huge! It looked so pretty lit up when it got dark.

Afterward, we walked over to Bryant park and went iceskating on the pond. They had a special promotion going on that day where you could iceskate for free, your rentals were free, and they even gave you free hot chocolate We thought it was a pretty good deal! I think this was my favorite thing we did all day. It was just kind of magical, everyone was just so happy and frolicking around on the ice.

That afternoon we went and saw "Newsical" on broadway. It came very highly recommended from the people in the discount line, but we both thought it was just ok. I think next time we'll try and see "Wicked." After the show we did a little bit of window shopping on 5th Avenue and went to FAO Schwartz. It's a pretty amazing toy store. Jeremy had a great time looking at all the Lord of the Rings stuff.

Afterwards we went out to dinner at Broadway Joe's on restaurant row. They have amazing cheesecake! As we were walking back through Times Square to the train station, we noticed an little convention of Santa Clauses

All day we had seen people dressed up as different things...a toilet, bacon, the statue of liberty...Elmo (he looked as if he had fallen on some hard times....) I guess it's a New York thing. I'm really glad we got to see the City during the holidays, what a fun day!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

This year we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, and we think it was a success. Jeremy's family flew in from Dallas and Jeremy's brother came from BYU to spend the holiday with us. I made cranberry sauce, rolls, and apple pie, and Jeremy was in charge of the Turkey (he did a really good job!). It was an awesome experience finally finding out exactly what giblets are...

The next day we took Jer's parents into Philadelphia. We went on a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary and saw Al Capone's cell. We also went to Reading Terminal Market for lunch and then took a tour of Independence Hall. That night we went to Gino's for cheesesteaks to complete the Philadelphia challenge. Jeremy thought that Pat's was a little bit better, but I thought they were both equally good. The next day we drove out to Lancaster county to a little town called Lititz. First we visited the Wilbur Chocolate Factory. They have pretty much everything you can imagine covered in chocolate. I think my favorite were the chocolate covered potato chips. We also went on a tour of the historic Sturgis pretzel factory while we were in Lititz where we all became certified pretzel makers. Apparently, pretzel makers were the second highest paying profession at one point in the United States...sometimes I question the accuracy of the information on some of these tours...

Saturday night we visited Longwood Gardens with Jer's family. We had heard a lot about the gardens from everyone here, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The outdoor lights were gorgeous, it reminded me a lot of temple square

They also had some pretty spectacular indoor displays

The trail you can see leading up to the tree is made up of lots of poinsettias and ivy. All of the garlands around this tree were made up of beautiful real red flowers. There was another tree there that had hundreds of blue butterflies on it. Every now and then, one or two of them would flap its wings slowly, just like a real butterfly. It was amazing. We were really sad to see Jeremy's family leave. We don't have any visitors to look forward to for awhile, so you should come out to PA and play!

History and Cheesesteaks

2009-11-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, my parents came for a visit from Boise. We had a great time, it was sad to see them go. On the first day they were here we did some sightseeing in Philadelphia. We saw the liberty bell, Independence Hall, and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art

That night we decided to get a taste of true Philadelphia culture and get philly cheesesteaks at Pat's. I was a little bit nervous because we heard that they get mad at you if you use too many words when you order. You basically want to communicate three things: 1) that you want a cheesesteak, 2) what kind of cheese you want, and 3) with or without onions. Chad did the best..."American with" The cheesesteaks were amazing, we'll definitely be back.
On Saturday we drove out to Gettysburg and spent the day exploring the park. We saw the cyclorama (which I thought would be a movie where your chair would spin around a little bit) it's actually a huge old painting that goes in a circle around a whole room that shows all of the major events in the three days of the battle. We also went to little round top, the devil's den, and then went for a ranger walk on the spot where pickett's charge took place. It was great having my dad there with us, it was like having our own personal tour guide.
Gettysburg truly is "hallowed ground." It really makes you feel reverent when you think of all the men who died there and what a significant event took place on that battlefield. I think Jeremy and I might come back in July to see the reenactment of the battle. I am so glad that we are both nerdy and like those kinds of things.

Avoiding the Swine Flu

2009-10-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I came home from work on Monday to what seemed like an empty house. Instead, something I can only characterize as an undead Ben Franklin jumped out of the closet to greet me. Melo said that my reaction was half scream, half hysterical laughter. I guess this was Melo's way of encouraging me to get into the Halloween spirit!

We are definitely in full Halloween mode this time of year. This was always in contention with Christmas as my favorite holiday as a child. We had a great night decorating halloween cookies with some of our friends in the area last week. Here are some sample cookies:

As you can see Melody made some jack-o-lantern and manatee shaped cookies. We're planning on going to a pick-your-own-pumpkin pumpkin patch tomorrow. We'll see how they turn out.

Swine flu hit home this week as some of the members of our church congregation came down with it. On another note, Melody and I had a good time walking along the Perkiomen creek trail this afternoon. It's really incredible how vivid the trees become in the fall up here:

I'm settling into my new position as an 11 year old scout leader. I've really enjoyed it so far. My old scout shirt even fit! Apparently I still need to make some modifications to my old shirt for it to be suitable for a scout leader (i.e. removing some badges, changing epaulet color, etc.). I guess I could still pass as a Boy Scout however, because one of the scouts asked me if I had "received any of my eagle palms yet". I laughed and could only reply that I was still working on them. (For those not in the know, eagle palms are an award available only to scouts 18 years of age and younger).

We had a lot of fun baby-sitting for a couple we know recently. One of the children referred to Melody as "Jeremy's mommy" haha. This coming on the tail of the comment from the scout was just too much! At least Melody knows that I'm a full-grown adult... Right Melo?

Fall Is Here!

2009-10-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

This has been a fun week for us. Tuesday was my birthday, I turned 24. Jeremy surprised me with a "pajama gram" filled with a really soft pink robe. Apparently this particular kind of robe is one of Oprah's favorite things. I think that is cute that Jeremy did his research! That night Jeremy took me out to an Italian restaurant by our house called Maggianos. They had such yummy food!

This weekend we went for a little trip out into Amish Country. We stayed at a little bed and breakfast called the Inn at Twin Linden. It was such a fun place. They had a beautiful grounds and an amazing three course breakfast in the morning. The owners gave us a lot of great tips about what to do in the area. We have decided that we are definitely bed and breakfast people. Here is a picture of the Inn, our room and one of the grounds.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Amish Country. We stopped by Kitchen Kettle village and did a little bit of shopping. My favorite thing there was the petting zoo The leaves are really starting to change now. It's amazing how bright some of the trees are! The whole time we were driving through Amish country, I kept wanting to stop and take pictures because everything was just so gorgeous

Afterwards we went for a genuine Amish buggy ride

On our way home, we stopped by Reading Hospital so that Jeremy could see where I work, I think it is a really pretty building. Here is a picture

We're excited to come back to Amish country in the future and do even more exploring!

Our New Home

2009-09-15T13:33:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of our new Apartment. It's still a work in progress but it looks a lot better than it did a couple of days ago. We made the long drive to Pennsylvania on August 25th. It took us 3 days to get there. (Thanks Matt for the tip about the rolling sagebrush...definitely not to be missed...it was definitely the most exciting thing we saw along the way.) Once we got to Pennsylvania we camped out for a couple of days until all of our stuff got there. (It's so nice to sleep on a mattress again...still haven't quite gotten over it!) Jeremy started his new job as a building consultant for Sustainable Solutions Corporation last Monday and he is loving it so far. It seems like the perfect job for him. I recently got a job at the Reading Hospital on the labor and delivery unit. We feel really blessed that I was able to find a job so quickly because it's a tight job market for nurses here as well as in Provo. Although both of us miss being in Provo in the fall, we really like Pennsylvania a lot. Our new ward has been so nice, the area where we live is beautiful, and there's a lot to do nearby. We're going to try to take little trips on the weekend as much as we can.
We took our first little trip to Valley Forge National Park last weekend. It's only a couple of miles from our Apartment. We plan to visit Amish Country and Gettysburg in the next few weeks.

A Few Summer Updates!

2009-08-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer for us, so I feel like I need to give a few updates before I start with current posts, here goes...

This April we attended my graduation ceremony at BYU. I actually graduated from the nursing program in December, but it was fun to come back and kind of put closure on my BYU experience
In May we took a trip to the Washington D.C. area to go to our friends Matt and Kim's wedding. We had a blast!

One of our favorite things that we did while we were there was visiting the Civil War battle site, Antietam. Jeremy was in his element there. I think our move to Pennsylvania in a few days is all a strategic move on his part to be in the right place to be a civil war reenactor after retirement

In June we took a trip to McCall, Idaho and stayed in a cabin with my family. Jeremy, Nic, my dad and I went on a river trip on the Canyon Run of the payette river. It was pretty intense. The right side of our boat ended up getting launched into the river. Check out Jeremy's facial expression in the first picture. In the second picture, you can actually see my dad in mid flight...priceless.

On August 8th our little nephew Luke arrived. He is adorable. We are sad that we are moving away and won't have more time with him!
In August, we took a trip with Jeremy's family to Yellowstone National Park. It was just gorgeous. We were actually at old faithful the same time as President Obama. He was on our list of "wildlife" to see, but unfortunately, we didn't get to cross him off our list

We really liked all of the educational pictures posted around the park. This one was our favorite. We learned not to stand on top of old faithful.

Although we didn't get to cross President Obama off our list, we did get to see a grizzly bear!

Jeremy graduated from the construction management program at BYU a few weeks ago. He has accepted a postition with Sustainable Solutions corporation in Pennsylvania. We will be making the long drive to in just a couple of days. We're both a little bit sad to be leaving Provo, but we're excited for our new adventure together. Our next post will be from Pennsylvania!

Of Kuhres and Koorays

2009-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Melody and the world at large have beat me in a long war of attrition today. I never thought I would be posting anything to anyone’s blog, much less my own. Through long therapy and sleepless nights however, I have come to realize that blogs can be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. So, hopefully we'll see you around here from time to time!

Part of the reason it's taken us so long to get a blog going is that I didn't want to put anything out there that wasn't perfect. As you can see, we aren't perfect yet, so consider this blog a work in progress. While the design and even title might change, the url will always be the same, so feel free to bookmark us! Our first title, "Of Kuhres and Koorays" will be familiar to many of you. Ever since I gave up on other people pronouncing "Kuhre" correctly (i.e. at about 12 years old), I've accepted the most common mispronunciation, "Kooray," as a nickname. Please note that Melody has not adopted this nickname as of yet :)

Well, see you later!