Tyler's Game Winning Score in Double Overtime

Three for One!

Three states I've never visited before!  And I got to visit all three in one day.

Eataly (8/5/11)

Eataly in New York is the most amazing Italian marketplace I've ever seen.  Mario Batali is own of the owners so you know the food is good.  I think it might have been the best meal I had in New York City. If you get a chance, I highly recommend you visit Eataly.

 

A Phillies Game (7/31/11)

A philly cheesesteak at the Phillies game.  I think it's only appropriate.

Only in Times Square (7/30/11)

There is so much going on in Times Square!  This "naked" lady was outside our hotel, taking photographs with tourists for tips.

  

A close up view.

The Empire State Building (8/3/11)

The weather wasn't great the night we decided to visit The Empire State Building and we considered scrapping our plans at the last minute, but I'm so glad we ended up going.  The rain and fog meant no lines whatsoever and no crowds on the view decks.

I think the city looked beautiful, surrounded in fog.

Once we were back on the street, I thought the light from the observation deck looked really pretty.  And although I didn't plan it, I really like that you can see the corner of my umbrella.  I think it really captures the moment and what the environment was like that night.

The Liberty Bell (7/312011)

During our visit to see the Liberty Bell, we stood in a long line and took the requisite shots standing in front of the bell.

Chris is perfectly blocking the view of the crack in the bell.  Oh well.

I wanted to try again with getting a picture of Chris and the bell without him blocking the crack but that would have required that we wait in line again, so we decided he should stand behind it.

This led to us realizing that Chris was going to be in the background of many photographs and the people taking them would have no idea.  So he started getting silly.

I particularly like this shot because if you zoom in on the screen of that guy's camera, you can see Chris.

Giving them the old thumbs up.  What fun we had that day, laughing about his antics.

Mother's Day Pedicures

Tyler was such a good sport and went with me and Colette to get pedicures for Mother's Day. What a good kid.

Tyler's Graduation

Tyler got his Associate's Degree and during commencement they got to walk through this big D. I thought their graduation ceremony was a lot of fun. There was nothing formal about it; it was just one big party, which is the way I think it should be.

The Great Food Truck Race

Colette found out that The Great Food Truck Race from The Food Network was going to be filming in Salt Lake City for their next season. She talked us into going to check it out and we ended up waiting in a line for THREE HOURS. Yes, you read that right. We waiting in line for three hours. For a grilled cheese from Roxy's Grilled Cheese out of Boston. We had a lot of fun though and we can't wait to see the episode on TV in the fall.
















We ended up standing in line behind some real weird people. The guy kept talking about how Roxy's was here by the Rocky Mountains (Umm, hello, these are the Wasatch Mountains!). We also watched a homeless man eat food off of the parking lot and then listened to him tell us how he used to be an alien and he was stuck in limbo for 2,000 years as just an eyeball. At least they kept us entertained during our three hour wait.

When we finally got to the front of line, we ordered one of everything on the menu. I figured if we were going to wait that long, we would be tasting everything. The Rookie grilled cheese (with grainy mustard) was our favorite sandwich but the fried pickles and french fries were pretty good, too.

Mia McPia

Mia is such a dork. We were trying to play Phase 10 and she felt left out. She just kept crying and whining so finally Shawn told her she could get up on one of the chairs.























After awhile, that wasn't good enough for her and she hopped right up on the table and demanded to be the center of attention. We had to stop the game and disinfect the table. That is, after we stopped laughing at her antics. I like how Codey is just playing around her. He was dead set on winning.

Graduation!

Me and my friend Heide at our graduation. It only took me ten years, but I finally graduated!

Communication Department Awards

The plaque I received for being named the Outstanding Organizational Communication Graduate of the year.
























Accepting my award from Dr. Hafen, after her wonderful speech about me. She said such kind things.
























My certificate for presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Flowers (part 2)

The flowers the Codes and Albretsens sent me this week had this card:

















We haven't been able to stop laughing about the use of the word "granulation." I guess I'm now a college granulate. And I granulated at commencement. With all my other co-granulates.

The fun never ends!

Flowers!

The Albretsen and Code families sent me this bouquet of flowers at work. What a nice surprise!

The Grove Park Inn (Asheville, NC)

The Grove Park Inn lobby has a very large fire place. I don't think you can really see the scale from this photo, but let's just say I could stand inside that fireplace.























But the best part about the inn is the elevator that is behind the fireplace. In the rock. It has an actual operator as well (look closely through the window and you'll see him). I got a kick out of riding it and especially loved overhearing someone else on the elevator with me say it reminded him of Harry Potter.

The Biltmore (Asheville, NC)

A self-portrait outside the Biltmore in Asheville, NC.





















This is one big house. It has 250 rooms and covers four acres. There are 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and three kitchens. I am so amazed that this was built in 1895 - they even had an indoor swimming pool and a bowling alley. The bowling alley obviously didn't have automatic ball returns or pin setters so butlers had to fill that role.

Unfortunately, they don't let you take photos inside. But they will sell you a $20 photo book. Go figure. And of course, I bought it. So if anyone wants to borrow it.....























I liked the gargoyle detail on the roofs.



























The view of the lawns from the front of the house. The grounds originally had 125,000 acres of forests, farms, and a dairy. It also had a 250 acre wooded park, five different pleasure gardens, and 30 miles of roadways.


















I loved the way they have trimmed these plants.

Covered Bridge in South Carolina

While in Asheville, North Carolina we decided to drive over to South Carolina for dinner. We didn't come across much just over the border,but we did find this really cool historic covered bridge.




















A view from the parking lot, a little further away.




















The story of the bridge.



















And for those that are engineering buffs, a diagram of how the bridge was made.