Even cooler

I want to be like Aunt Alicia when I grow up

My youngest sister Alicia graduates from high school tonight. Yowza! Congratulations Alicia!

When we were in Idaho Falls I got to help a little bit in making her graduation announcements.

Alicia just recently had a birthday and got a cool jacket from her boyfriend. Tessa got a hold of it and was struggling to put her arms in the sleeve...so I stepped in to help.

Check out our home girl.

Did any one know...

...that on the end of the tin foil and saran wrap boxes there are little tabs you can push in that hold the roll in place so that it doesn't fall out when you pull it?

To me, this is pretty big news, but apparently this as been there for years. Yet I haven't met a single person who knew it was there. Go on, go check...

...see. So now you know.

The better bookend

I got to stay with high school friends on my way too and from Idaho Falls (IF).

On the way to IF I stayed with Maria. I was so excited to see her life. I got to see the wall where the buffalo head once hung. I got to go to swimming lessons. I got to see what an actually food storage looks like (in pretty good detail..wink wink, maria). I got to eat KRISPY KREME donuts. I am always so grateful to spend time with an old friend with whom I can just jump into a real conversation without all the "and where did you go to school?" mumbojumbo.

On the way back I stayed with Emily. She made me a vunderbar dinner which I could smell as soon as we walked in the door. I got to spend some time with her two boys. Rett climbed right up in my lap to snuggle (i.e. get some of the food I was eating) and Nixon and Tessa made eyes at each other through the gate that we put up to seperate boys from girls (I really was hoping for a cuter picture but Tessa, for once, wouldn't look at me when I took her picture). I also got to watch my first ever full episode of American Idol.



Also on the trip I got to visit high school friend Tara and meet daughter #4. Erin is just as cute as her three sisters.

And finally, because I am that kind of person, I also got to see Mindy's mom. Tessa was really shy with her but when 10 year old Mackenzie got home from school she went right to her and off they went to play in the toy drawer (I've got to get one of those ...a 10 year old or a toy drawer, either would work.)

Tessa's First Architectural Convention

The AIA convention came to Boston and we went to the AIA convention. Tessa really seemed to appreciate many of the vendors...particularly those that had flashy lights or gave her a pen.

One of our friends from school was in town for the convention. Aaron showed him around town a bit, took him on the highway to give him a good scare (we like to make people feel welcome) and the whole family went to dinner with him on Friday night. (His wife is a blogger so I'll give a shout out to her for managing all five kids while he was away!)

After the convention we went to the beach to eat our lunch. But it was too windy to really have much fun.


While we were walking on the floor of the convention I realized how I was nearly completely out of touch with the "practice" part of architecture, This was emphasized when we were perusing the AIA bookstore and I was enthralled with the stacks and stacks of books on architecture and urban theory. I guess one more example of how Aaron and my experience and interests are complimentary, as opposed to equivalent.

Rexburg Temple

My mom, Tessa and I drove up to Rexburg to have lunch with my Dad. Then we drove to the Rexburg temple to take some pics. I know you are all thinking...so many words, so few pictures... so here you go.

Get the Jordan barbie doll out of storage!

New Kids at Rockefeller Plaza

Click it - you know you want to!

Driving in Idaho Scares Me

Yes, Really.

You see, in Mass. - people are pretty much expecting you to pull out in front of them to make a left turn and as long as you give them time to slow down, they will. That is how people get places in this state, otherwise NO one would be able to turn left. But in Idaho...well - I got all shaky and sweaty as I tried to pull out of a neighborhood onto a semi-busy two lane road. I mean I had to wait until there was a break in both the right hand, and left hand traffic! Can you believe it!? And if I miss judged the speed of either direction and ended up in the middle of the road waiting for a break in traffic - they wouldn't slow down...they would hit me.

Give me Massachusetts driving any day.

Vomit at both ends of the trip

I just got back from a trip to Idaho to visit the fam.

Tessa and I left Aaron here to hold down the fort while we traipsed around eating a lot of food. I think that instead of facing the daunting task of posting about the whole trip at once I'll just post little tidbits as the mood strikes.

Tessa was a good flying baby if I do say so myself. The only real pickle was that she threw up all over herself and me on the first flight from Manchester to Cincinnati. But really - it wasn't so bad. In fact I was pretty proud of my mommy skills. Not many people noticed. I had an extra set of clothes for her. I didn't freak out that I had throw up down my sleeve. She had been eating ginger crackers so it didn't smell bad. I changed her fairly quickly in the lavatory without dropping a thing on that nasty floor. I had made friends with a grandma while we were boarding and she was thrilled to hold Tessa while I cleaned myself up. I know...this story is the epitome of coolness!

At the other end of the trip...

Tessa was THRILLED to see the cat when we got home. I really wish I could have had a camera on her as we came up the stairs. However I think that she caused him some real stress crawling at high speeds after him because within 5 minutes of getting home I had to clean up hair ball yuck from under the bed.

(Don't worry - none of my other trip stories will have to do with any bodily fluids)