Friday, August 28, 2009

The big day- Janelle and Hoeun's Wedding

On Saturday August 22, 2009 my best friend in the entire world Janelle was Married to the love of her life Hoeun Pronounced (Owen) in the Boston Temple. It was so special and awesome to see Janelle and Hoeun get married in the temple and share such a special bond with one another. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and touching and I couldn't ask for a better sealing for my best friend. She had her reception at the Rogers Park casino in Providence Road Island and it was more like a beautiful mansion were we ate a cultural interesting and yummy dinner and then danced the night away. I love Janelle so much and am so happy for her that she has found some one to share and spend the rest of her life and beyond with. I wish them all the luck in the world on their future up's and down's in life and know they will be blessed forever!

The day was extremely HOT and humid and a hurricane was right on the coast of where we were but It was so much fun to meet new people and build relationships that all started with the new couple. The food that evening was so much fun because I can honestly say that I have eaten Cambodian for the first time in my life! A few things I was brave enough to try was, teriyaki beef, shark soup, and QUAIL!!!! It was an adventure for me but so rewarding to know I was brave and tried new things! Janelle and Hoeun choreographed their own first dance which was AMAZING and HILARIOUS but besides that everyone rocked it out and danced like crazy!

***Bridal party at the temple
***WWOOOHOOO to the Bride and Groom

Congratulations Janelle and Hoeun Nuon
August 22, 2009

Boston

Last Friday my Mom, Raquel, Joe and I spent our day in Boston touring all the fantastic historical sites. We made our way through the subway system, walked part of the freedom trail, ate at local food places, and took a duck tour. It was a lot of fun and so neat to be back there after 10 years. It was my mom and I's second time back however Joe's first time so it was extremely exciting to show him all around the cities amazing sites. For those of you that have never been to Boston it is so rich with historical history and a must see place. The day was extremely hot and humid with 90% humidity and 95 degrees so you could only imagine how tired were where when our enlightening day was over.
***This is us on the sub way trying to find our way to get to downtown Boston!
***The freedom trail is this really cool thing that has a painted or brick red path all around downtown Boston that follows the exact trail that Paul revere rode his horse to warn the British were coming. At each historical site you find one of these plate monuments, this one was taken exactly where the Boston massacre happened on March 5, 1770.
***This is Joe and I in front of the Massachusetts State House. This was our first stop on our freedom trail path. One cool thing about this is that the gold dome at the top is 100% real gold plated!
***This is The park street church where Paul revere attended and were many first public christian leaders came to speak.
***This is Joe and I on the duck tour which is a tour that took us everywhere land and water in Boston.
***This is a picture of another duck tour bus that looked exactly like what were were riding on at the time.
***This is us entering the Boston harbor in our duck bus
**Joe and I in the water on the bus with Boston behind us
***I got chosen to drive the duck tour and so this is a picture of me driving the old war vehicle. The tour director said I would have a bright future if I went into the duck tour business because I was such a great duck driver.
**This is a picture of what the duck looks like in the water
***These 6 pillars are in remembrance of the Holocaust and have all the engraved names of every person that was killed during the tragic time- This was super cool!

***This grave yard is the resting place for some of our most famous fore fathers such as, John Hancock, John Adams, Paul Revere and many more. ***The yellow flag says CHEERS on it which is the actual cheers bar and grill that the popular TV show was filmed.
This is a great shot of George Washington on his horse statute in the Boston Public Garden with the beautiful Boston landscape behind him!!
***This is a reflection shot of us on our own duck bus.

Such a fun day and cant wait to go back, maybe when its a little colder next time! :)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Jackson Hole with the Taylor's

2 weeks ago we decided we needed a family reunion between the Taylor family before David (Joe's youngest brother) leaves for his mission. We all gave the deciding choice of where to go to David and of course David choose the wonderful thrill seeking adventure to white water raft with the whole family! We all drove to Jackson Hole Wyoming where we camped for 2 nights and while we were there went on a white water rafting excugin! The vacation was so much fun and so relaxing to be sourrounded by nature! I loved being able to sit around the camp fire as a family and just chat with one another. I want to say a special Thank You to Dorothy (Joe's Mom) for setting up such an amazing trip. She really went above and beyond to make this trip so much fun and Joe and I really appriciated the time and energy it took her to organize all the small details! Thank you so much dorothy! So all in all we had a great small family vacation with the Taylors this year and hope to make this a yearly tradition, so Cassie, Dave, Cody & Ginger, plan accordingly so you can make it next summer! It was a very long drive to Jackson Hole with no radio because i forgot my ipod and not much senory for us to look at but so relaxing to just leave life behind and finally go on a vacation with no computers or cell phones! :) I cant wait for next year!

Here are some pictures of us white water rafting and going over what they call the big kahuna! David fell out of the boat but my quick thinking and fast reactions from practicing with the kids at my work from falling over, I caught him barely by his leg and helped pull him back in! It was such a fun trip!




Monday, August 17, 2009

Hiking Mt. Timpanogos

About a week ago Joe and I decided we would take a day off of work and go and do something fun together just the two of us, since we haven't done really anything with just us two in awhile. So we decide we would take the 14 mile trek up Mount Timpanogos to the lake at the very top! Starting out on this hick I don't think either of us REALLY realized what we were doing, but it is pretty much 7 miles straight up hill and 7 miles straight down hill. It was extremely beautiful and took us 9 hours to complete but definitely worth the time and energy! We had one experience that I can say not many people get the opportunity to have while on this hike and it was that about 3 miles into our climb up the mountain Joe stopped very rapidly in front of me, as I proceeded to ask him why he stop he said "look ahead" and right in front of us about 5 feet away was this HUGE wild moose (bigger then a horse with antlers like chairs). I think this was one time that I have never been so sacred for my life in a long time. These wild moose are very dangerous if they feel threatened in ANY WAY and because of the wonderful animal planet that Joe and I watch quite often, I knew we were very close to their mating season which makes moose especially male moose( which this one was) extremely aggressive. So after we waited in frozen movement, another hiker came up behind us and decided he would be stupid and luckily for him and us the moose moved off the trail into the bushes to eat and we were able to pass unharmed.
I'm glad Joe and I got a chance to climb Mt. Timpanogos and even though Joe, two weeks later to this day is reaping the pain still of the 14 mile hike it was definitely an experience we will never forget!

**Beautiful waterfall that passes threw the trail

**Me standing in SNOW almost to the top of Mt. T in the middle of August......CRAZY!!!!

***The beautiful lake where we ate lunch at the top of Mt. T (there was still ice that covered the top of the lake)

Monday, August 3, 2009

How im feeling...

*Tired
*Bored
*Relieved that my summer classes are over
*Sad I didn't really get a summer
*Frustrated that I never have time to work out
*Excited that I go to Boston to see my best friend get married in 16 days
*Jealous that my sister and her husband and my mom and dad went on a cruise to Alaska last week
*Tired
*Excited my nephew David is coming to stay with Joe and I next week
*Sad that my brother moved to Oklahoma
*Happy my brother got into law school and is pursuing his dreams
*Frustrated that we don't have a lot of money because of school
*Happy I see an end in my schooling career
* Annoyed I don't get enough sleep at night because my wonderful husband kicks and rolls and I am an extremely light sleeper :/
*Tired
*Happy, excited and joyous that Christmas is in 143 days (the happiest time of year)
*Worried that we have no Idea where we will be going for Thanksgiving with Joe's family and we need to buy plane tickets soon...eeepp
*Pumped about my money plan so I don't have to work next summer
*Thrilled that our trip to Disneyland at Christmas time is a for sure!
*Tired
*Enthusiastic about the new school year at my work
*Frustrated that my computer gives me problems daily (even though we got it a new power cord and battery...finally)
*and oh... did i mention TIRED!!!!

That's all for now....