Mary had a little lamb

We were reaching on this one, but Ginger's nieces were staying with us and we couldn't travel too far, so this was the best we could do. Besides, Natalie was weirded out by the largest set of wooden praying hands that I wanted to see. I know, unnecessarily oversized religous artifacts and the opportunity to traumatize my niece, how did I get talked out of that.

This is supposedly the schoolhouse that Mary and her lamb went to. Brooke and Natalie were kind enough to act it out for us. They were surprisingly very excited and actually regretted that they didn't have costumes to go along with their reenactment... um, yeah. It was about this time I was having a few regrets of my own.

We wanted to see Mary's house, but it was burned down by arsonists a couple years ago and all they have now is this monument in the town center of Sterling, MA.

So that was our visit into the world of nursery rhymes. It was fun, but I'm thinking our next trip needs to be somewhere in "Guinness Book of World Records" territory. I would love, for one day, to just visit something so horrendously ridiculous and absurd that it makes people question my ability to reason and make judgements, not that people don't already.

Saved by the Bell Reunion

I have been a supporter of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from the start. I listen to it while I am working during the day. Jimmy Fallon has been trying to get the cast of Saved by the Bell together for a reunion show. There have been a few that have committed. Mark-Paul Gosselaar was on last night and acted like Zack Morris the whole time. It really was the greatest. You can watch for yourselves. I just love Saved by the Bell and have even got a few of my nieces and nephews addicted to it! Great times. I am excited for when they have the reunion show if they can get Kelly and Screech to commit!! See the clip below, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Conan time is here again!!

Is anyone else as excited as we are for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to start tomorrow? Sam and I have always enjoyed Conan and have missed him the last few months that he has been off. Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon just aren't as entertaining as Conan is. It is good to have him back!

Chipotle Obsession!

We have been loving Chipotle ever since it opened near us. Here are some signs that I know we go there too much.

-When I went to visit Utah about a month ago, we made a trip to Chipotle! This was breaking my #1 rule while in Utah: Do not go to any eating places that we can just go to out here in Boston. I just couldn't resist!

-the manager practically knows us by name (well I am sure he would remember them if we told them our names of course). Whenever we go in he always says "Welcome back!"

-The funniest thing of all happened yesterday. My sister, Kelly had me watch Carley while she went to the temple and then she wanted to try the famous Chipotle after she got back. We went there and my best friend, the manager was there. He greeted us and said to me, "You came alone?" I then explained that Kelly had never been there so I was introducing her to it. He then went and got us some chips and guacamole and said they were on the house. Wow we felt so special with the VIP treatment! Sam was mad that he wasn't there for the free guac.

I am starting to think that I even like Chipotle better than Cafe Rio. I know that is terrible to say but I think it may be true! I crave Chipotle way more than I ever craved Cafe Rio. Chipotle is here to stay!!

More Birthday Fun!

The rest of my birth week was wonderful. On Friday (my birthday), I had to work but it wasn't too bad. I was surprised with some flowers from my work. That was so thoughtful of them to have them delivered to me. Sam didn't get home until 6:30 but then we drove up to New Hampshire and met my sister, Kelly and nieces, Brooke, Natalie and Carley. We went candlepin bowling. I just love bowling the New England style especially with the disco ball and black lights. You would think this type of bowling would be easier but it is a lot harder for me than regular (big ball) bowling. We then made a yummy trip to Coldstone and played cards at Kelly's. Perfect Birthday!!

(I couldn't resist posting Natalie's ghostly picture)

On Saturday, Sam and I wanted to go to a double feature. We are so obsessed with the double features lately. We first went and saw Star Trek which was so wonderful! I am not a Trekkie by any means. I really have never seen an episode of the show and I did see one of the movies, I think it was number 6. I couldn't tell you one thing about it though. I was so surprised by this movie. I highly recommend it. Our next movie was State of Play which was also a really good movie. Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams are both great actors. Definitely not as good as Star Trek but still entertaining.
Sunday, the last day of my birthday week was great. Every year for my birthday, I have a strawbery pie instead of cake. This has been a tradition for a while now. My dad has always made it for me and this is the first year that we didn't happen to be with him so Sam took over the role as pie maker. It was so yummy. He passed the test! We also had chicken and steak kabobs for Birthday/Mother's Day. Sam also got me a game I have been wanting forever! Stratego! I loved this game growing up and have been wanting it. I am thinking Sam is going to regret this purchase. We are going to be gaming it up all of the time now. I also got a new purse (started using it about a month ago, I couldn't wait), a new nice shower head and Ranch Rush (a computer game to play while I am "working").Overall the first Birth-week celebration was wonderful. I am sure there will be many more... right Sam!

Today is my Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me!! I am the Big 2-8 today! It is so crazy. I feel so old now. A couple of months ago I was talking to Sam and I was saying how I was 26 and he just looked and me and said, "I thought you were 27." I did the math in my head and then was a little sad that I had lost a whole year of my life without even knowing it! I have decided I am going to embrace my new mature age of 28. I possibly may even stop making Sam play Life and Disney Scene It with me. Probably not but I will at least think about it.

I started out the week with expressing to Sam that I though this year we should really start celebrating birth weeks instead of just the birthday. He wasn't totally on board with that but he played along. To kick off the week, on Monday we went to my favorite eating place, Chipotle and then rented Bride Wars (wasn't the greatest but still a little entertaining) and we played one of my favorite games rummikub. Wow what a fabulous way to start my birth week! Well let's just say that we kind of forgot to continue on with this fun streak. Dont get me wrong, those days were still enjoyable, I love just hanging out. They just weren't as "birth week" worthy as Monday was. (yes, there were guidelines) Last night was a continuation, we went to PF Changs (crazy busy for a Thursday night!) and then were going to go mini golfing but we were at the restaurant until 10:00 so mini golf didn't happen. Well now there are a few days left in the week and they are going to be wonderful. I love birthdays!! This birth week is going to be a hit.

Back from Utah

It is nice to be back with my own stuff. I hate living out of a suitcase! It was so much fun to be able to go to Utah for these last 2 weeks. It was kind of sad that I had to work most of the time but I guess I will let it slide since they are the ones that flew me out. I got there right before Easter so I was able to be there for the kiddies' egg hunt.
My sister, Crystal was my own personal driver. Anytime I was going somewhere, I would ask her if she and Judson wanted to come and if she could drive. (it kind of reminded me of when I first met Sam. He was my FHE brother in college and anytime my roommates and I would want to go anywhere, we would "conveniently" invite Sam and then throw in at the last second that he was also driving us there. We didn't have cars so he was always a good sport.)

We went bowling with my niece, Sadie and nephew, Christopher (pictured above). This is always a tradition when Sam and I come to town. It was so much fun. It does seem like I get worse and worse every time I go and I even took 2 semesters of bowling at Ricks! You would think I would be professional by now.

(only picture of bowling I had. Oh...isn't Judson so cute. And that is Crystal's half face)

I got in all of my favorite places to eat: The Old Spaghetti Factory, Cafe Rio, Paradise Bakery, Noodles & Co, Training Table, Pei Wei...etc. If it wasn't on my list then I wouldn't go, oh except for Geckos thanks to Cami.

It was fun to have several game nights with the fam, go to my nephews, Griffin's soccer game and Josh's musical, and hang out with friends a few times. It is hard to shove everything into 2 weeks so it will be nice when I come out to Utah again in July. I will be there for my usual month and can do more things.

Griff's Soccer Game. He was so much fun to watch.

The best part of the trip was to be able to see my new nephew, Benjamin. He was born about a month ago and I wouldn't have seen him until he was 3 months so that was a fabulous surprise. He is so precious.

Benjamin's Family

I had a great time but I was so happy to come back to Sam. It is hard being away for so long and talking on the phone for a couple hours a day just doesn't make up for it. It is good to be home again! Plus he is the picture taker so sorry about the pics. I just took most of them with my phone because I was too lazy to go into my suitcase and find my camera. Ooohhh... Sam, you were so missed!