The zoo train

Below, Matt and Mike on the Hogle zoo train.


After years away, Matt will ride again.....


This time the caboose!


Matt fearlessly takes on the drinking fountain, and conquers.


Me as a giraffe.


The giraffe's view of Asher, son of Mindi and Will whom we went to the zoo with. Fascinating.


Goodbye to the zoo. We'll be back in no less than 20 years for another train ride.

Sesame Street

Matt and I were checking out Sesame Street clips from our generation on YouTube the other night.

Capital I is my all time favorite. I loved it a lot when I was a little kid.



Lowercase n, another great one. This one made me tear up when I was little. That sad, lonely letter n all alone on the hill....



We also looked up The Letter People. I had a recollection of this from the first time I went to kindergarden (the letter O specifically), but hadn't seen it since. Matt thinks that Mr. N should have gone through a focus group to make sure it wouldn't traumatize the kids. He didn't like it at all when it saw it in first grade.

Yay for Alan!

My brother Alan graduated from the University of Chicago Law School today. Yay hooray! What an accomplishment. I miss the whole Alan and Maren family and hope they will move back to Salt Lake one day.

I was able to scrounge up some random media--audio and two pictures--to document his time in law school:

Here (near the end and only if you are patient) you will find audio of Alan chatting with the former Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales, when he addressed the law school in a presentation entitled "Foreign Law and Constitutional Interpretation." About a year ago I was listening to audio on the internet of speeches given at the law school and was surprised to hear Alan's voice questioning the Attorney General :)

Below is a picture of Alan and a group of LDS law students with Elder Oaks, a University of Chicago Law School graduate. Alan is on the very top row in the center.

And with Maren (in grey, smiling for both)

Tomatoes and Toast

There are two ways to categorize people:

1) Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t.

2) Those who like tomatoes, and those who don’t.

Before I met Matt, I knew there was a possibility that I might marry a tomato hater. It would have been a sad fate. I love that Matt and I have so much in common, and this includes us both liking tomatoes enough to make a whole meal out of tomatoes on toast: Toasted bread, a thin layer of mayo, and tomato slices on top with some salt and pepper.

The other day, Matt took me to Memory Grove to feast on tomatoes on toast picnic style.

A little inch worm dined with us.

MarioKart Wii

We just got our hands on the game MarioKart Wii. First of all, BIG THANKS go out to our friends Thayn and Holly for gifting it to us (Thanks guys!!!) and to Mom Linda for gifting us the Wii (Thanks again, Mom!) It is turning out to be a LOT of fun, and highly addictive.

You can drive your car totally wirelessly with the Wii Wheel, which houses the Wii remote. You can steer with the wheel just like a regular steering wheel, and your on-screen car responds beautifully. Or, you can opt for more-traditional joy stick or classic controller methods. But as the ever-adorable CA said last night, "I like to use the wheel. It makes me feel like I'm driving a real car!"

With this version of MarioKart, you can now race people anywhere in the world. Last night we had a bout of fun three-way races with "Twinlet Mike" (as CA calls him) in New York City, thanks to our hi-speed internet connection, my cellphone on "speaker" mode, and free evening minutes. Due to his racing prowess, Mike has now unlocked the ability to use his Mii--a self-designed Wii avatar used to represent oneself in Wii games, for you uninitiated--as his on-screen driver. (CA's and my Miis look like ourselves; Mike has one named "Dwight S." made to look like the character Dwight Schrute on The Office. I'll have to find a way to post pictures of our Miis here later.)

This last pic is of CA's favorite character: Waluigi ("Nyaaaa!")

Three Months

Sunday marked our three month wedding anniversary. We have now been married for as long as we were a couple before we got married--a total of six months together. It has been fantastic! :)

Family and friends were so kind and generous to us for our wedding, and it was a great day. We haven't even begun to compile pictures or organize mementos.

The other day, we found our friend Kris's blog. She is a professional photographer and did our wedding for us. She did a great job and we really appreciate her. We found a couple of entries in her blog about our wedding--currently the only known written documentation of the day!

Click here and here to read Kris's blog entries.

Thanks Kris!