Bulletin Board Purchase

We bought a couch! We decided that our front room was not very comfortable for more than two people (and not that comfy for two either), so we went looking for more furniture. We looked on Craig's list a lot and on the laundry-room billboard. Then one day Brad found one on a school bulletin board and we drove out to go see it. It was about a half hour away, in a really nice neighborhood. We were getting excited because rich people give away nice things. We saw the couch and we loved it. It is a green color which goes ok with our decor. There was only one problem, it would never fit through our door.

This is where the fun begins. Brad had helped our neighbors get their couch in through the window last sumer and was sure he could do it again for ours. I was a little skeptical but Brad convinced me he could do it. So we bought it, borrowed a ward members minivan and brought it home.

Then on a freezing winter night with a foot of snow on the ground, Brad took our window apart while I watched, half snickering the whole time. I felt an "I told you so" coming on any minute. We were going to have the same neighbors help us get ours in but when we called they didn't answer and all their light were out! (turns out they had gone to bed already, this shows how late it really was). Good thing we have lots of friends close by; another neighbor was willing to come help. Brad was able to get the window out, all five panes, and the couch came in pretty easily, I was surprised. Then he even got it all back together only loosing one screw in the snow. I was pretty impressed and my trust in men was strengthened.

We had to rearrange our room but now we are very comfortable. We had three guests over yesterday and we could all fit on the couches comfortably. I napped on it yesterday as well, very nice. So now we just need some family to come stay and enjoy all the seating around here.



We got the coffee table on Craig's list for $20, we also put up coat hooks by the front door. Both of which improved the room immensely.

Our Snowy Thanksgiving

After weeks of preparations and hours slaving away in the kitchen we finally pulled together a meal for the six of us. (not really, we planned it about a week in advance and I only made three things) I made a pumpkin pie, first one ever, and I loved it. We had it for breakfast the next few days with ice cream ( can you tell we are on vacation?). I also made rolls from my Lions House Cookbook. They turned out great too. Brad made mashed potatoes all by himself (he really is great in the kitchen). And we had famous cranberry sparkle and Sun Chips.

Of course we ate at out favorite place, Brett and Seleta's. Seleta cooked the turkey which turned out excellent. We ended up having one other first year Owen and his fiance Anna over with us as well. They were very pleasant and we all had a good time watching the dog pageant and just a little football. Brad had us doing some puzzles with Popsicles sticks which turned out to be very entertaining and we just hung out all day.


Here is our winter wonderland


Seleta is such a hostess!



The Grinch, himself carved the... pies.

I love Christmas trees!

OK so we are a little early with the tree this year. We actually put it up on Brad's birthday. But it is after Thanksgiving now so please forgive us. I love having a tree all lit up in the front room. It gets dark by about 4:30, so it's really nice to come home to it's inviting glow in the evenings. We both had great birthdays. Brad took me out to eat and I made a cake for Brad that we shared with all our friends. Brad got a much needed coat and I got gloves and a scarf and a whole evening with Brad (not to mention the whole box of things that came from my family; Thank you guys!) Thanks again Millie for the tree decorations that made it another year; the gift that keeps on giving, and we still love them. Brad did his part and read to me while I put up the decorations.

(in case you are wondering Brad is behind the camera in these)

Halloween

We went to a potluck-dinner party with our first year friends. Brad went as an Air Force Officer (we got to get our money's worth out of that uniform some how) and I went as a nerdy missionary; don't ask me why, I just felt like it. We had tons of desserts and cookies to decorate. Brett and Seleta are excellent hosts, good thing we are going over there for Thanksgiving too. They have a really nice apartment too (we love their new carpet). We are debating about moving there next year when our contract ends. So we had a good time,we hope you all did too. We would love to see pictures!



Love to all!

Amazing Maize Maze

Brad and I went on a date this weekend even though there is a big test on Monday; we wanted to get out of the house. We actually wanted to go with another couple or two but we ended up going alone and loved it. We went to Long Acre Farms and the Amazing Maize Maze. We have been trying to go for a few weeks now and it always seems to rain or we are too tired. It rained on us a little but I thought the weather was perfect for a night in the corn field. There were mailboxes with pieces of the map on them scattered throughout the maze, you could tape then on to a paper and find your way around. I thought it would be lame but it was very exciting to find a mailbox. We did it in a little over an hour with no cheating or shortcutting! Then we shared an ice cream cone like a couple of kids. It was very fun to be out in the cold wind with Brad by my side.

We got cheeseburgers on the way home and now Brad is back to studying for the rest of the night so I am blogging and such. Just wanted to share some pictures and love with you all! Hope you all have an excellent weekend!






(Secretly Brad really wants to be a farmer)

Can I decorate for Christmas yet?

I wish we could skip past this whole Halloween and Thanksgiving thing and get ready for Christmas already. I guess all I have are Christmas decorations so that might be some of my motivation. Is is really too early to break them out? Brad said I have to wait 'till at least Thanksgiving. Can I at least go buy ribbon and wrapping paper and such? I guess maybe I should go get a pumpkin and some fall items to decorate with. What I really want is one of those candle warmers or at least an air freshener. How festive are candles!

On another note the two baby birds are both male (I'm pretty sure) and we have two more in the nest. That brings us to a grand total of 6; I don't think we can handle any more.

Palmyra In The Fall

Brad and I went to the temple on Saturday afternoon. It was a blustery day but beautiful non the less. We stopped to take some pictures outside the temple. The temple grounds are so beautiful (ignore us standing in the way) the leaves are just beginning to turn.

Life Update

I just thought I should put a little update on us here for all to see.

Brad--Has been studying hard but enjoys the subject. He studies at home now, which Hannah loves. His two best friends are Brad and Bret, both first year med students, both married with no kids. He home teaches three families, including a single, new-convert guy. He now works with the Wolfs in the scouting program (leaving Hannah to fend for herself in primary). He thinks we should get rid of our male finch so that we don't have any more babies because our cage can't handle any more. He is really good at making dinner when Hannah comes home late from work, and is really patient with her when she is worn out from a long day.

Hannah--Is starting to work part-time at the day care so that she can look for a new job and take care of things at home, leaving Brad more time to study. I am thinking about getting rid of the birds all together because they are noisy and messy and not cute anymore. Also, they stink up the house if we leave all the windows closed, can you imagine what the winter would be like? I also am best friends with the wives of Brad and Bret, weird how that works out huh? I love baking things, I have been experimenting with rolls and muffins lately. It is just so fun to have fresh baked rolls for dinner, or even freshly thawed is fun too. Muffins are so yummy, I just can't seem to get the tops to be right. They always volcano up in the middle no matter how little I mix them. Or they stick to the baking cup really bad. But, we still love them. I decided to take control of our finances, not because Brad has been doing a bad job, but because neither of us were doing it. So I am curious what, if any, programs you guys use for budgeting?

Family--Are doing great. Out apartment is warm and comfortable, we have been converted to Walmart and The Salvation Army for most of our household needs. We have been hosting students as they come to Rochester to interview just like Brad did last year. It has been fun, we have meet some very smart people. We just hosted a couple from Montana that were very cool. They had been married for a while when the husband decided to go to med school, so they both were going to the interviews so that she could see the schools. She is interested in getting a PhD wherever he gets accepted (I don't remember what in though). We hope they come here because we could totally be friends. We love our friends out here, I guess when you don't have family close by you cling to your friends.


So that is our life right now. It's getting cold here,we are anxious about the winter because it's supposed to be really cold (long underwear time). We hope you are all doing well, especially all the grandkids, we miss you a lot.

More Baby Birds

Here are the next few pictures I took of the developing babies. They grew so fast I hardly had time to stop and take a picture. Here they still have wispy feathers. You can pick out a beak in the back left corner and a wing in the front; the rest is all fluff.




But give them a few more days and they look like this...


Just a couple of birds in the nest, you could never guess that they have never been out of it, or flown at all.

And, of course, the proud parents are enjoying a bit of play time now that the babies are grown up a bit. The dad is the one with the orange cheeks, he is also the noisier of the two.


So that's it for pictures right now. We are very excited to see them venture out of the nest and fly, should be any day now.

Baby Finches!

I realize that most of you won't be as excited about this as I am, but after taking care of three females and watching dozens of eggs never hatch, we were pretty frustrated. We bought a male bird, and viola, three weeks later we have two baby birds in the nest. We noticed two eggs one day and then the couple were constantly on the nest, so we thought they were probably laying more eggs because that is what they used to do when they were all female. But then on Monday I scared them all out of the nest and there were two little dark-shaped masses wriggling around in there. I about wet my pants I was so excited. Here they are on Tuesday.



By Saturday they have doubled in size. And they cheep and chirp and open their mouths really big to eat. Both parents feed them and both sleep with them at night. I will try to get better pictures, but I didn't want to intrude on the family too much. They don't look like much I agree, but it is really exciting to have new-born life in our apartment.

Hannah's haircut

Ubercute with short hair.

Hannah's been debating about cutting her hair for a while now, and I think her job at the daycare center helped tip the balance. I think it's great. She's happy with it too, so far. Read more of Hannah's comments at her family's blog: plcarter.
Let us know what you think.

The Daycare

I started working at Child Time a week ago. It was quite the struggle at first. They are way understaffed right now, so there is no routine or stability. I was juggled around a lot between rooms and ages, but I spent a lot of time with the four year olds and infants. Mostly I feel bad for the kids, especially the young ones, that they have to be there all day. Some of the kids are there from 7am to 6pm. They have had infants in there as young as 6 weeks old. But it is a good place to work. I get home cooked lunches everyday no charge and it's air-conditioned. I have started liking the kids too. At first they were just a bunch of kids in a room, but now they are my kids and I probably know them better than their parents do. I probably change their diapers more than their parents do.

I have mixed feelings about daycare in general. For some parents I would suggest they leave their kids in day care forever because they are getting taken care of so well and they might actually learn something there. Of course these are the parents that I don't think should be allowed to be parents at all but that's another story. Most kids should be at home though. With a mom that will teach them manners and how to behave and how to work, and will play with them and not let them watch too much TV. I know that I don't want to put my kids in daycare, not because the daycare is bad, just because I feel it is my responsibility to raise and teach my kids, not the daycares'. If you think of it as a pre-pre-school setting it isn't bad at all, except for the infants who aren't being breastfed. I think it is very wise to get your children in social settings early, but all day every day? Anyway, there are my thoughts of late. Anyone seen any good movies?

Cars

This is the pinewood derby car that I made last week. It doesn't go too fast, but it was fun to make. I came to an impasse halfway through digging out the inside until Hannah reminded me that I have a Dremel (it was Hannah's birthday gift to me last year). The Dremel made all the difference, and all the guys were jealous. Thanks Hannah!





Check out our Empire State plates. We're official.


This is a picture taken from our front yard. Can you see the 30 mph speed limit sign (center background)? Another 50 feet beyond the sign is the Erie Canal. There's a nice paved path that runs along it for biking and walking. Hannah and I like taking walks there, though there are lots of bugs at times. There's also a lock about 200 yards from our apartment that's fun to look at (it doesn't look like it's been operated for 20 years).

Letchworth Park

Last Saturday we went to Letchworth State Park with our friends the Reids. We were planning on doing a lot of hiking, but the park turned out to be a lot more established than we thought it would be. There were short walks to these amazing waterfalls and lots of people there. But it was lots of fun and good to get out of the house. It was very humid! We are enjoying discovering the area; there is a great park close by for picnicking or softball, we still haven't found a good (cheap) camping place yet.

P.S. Any ideas on curly hair in the humidity? I'm pretty much ready to cut it short.








Brad and Becca

Beware the Jalapenos!

So I was going to write to everybody and tell them this story but maybe posting it will be easier. Friday night we were going to a BBQ. I, being the aspiring homemaker, wanted to bring homemade salsa. So I looked up a few recipes, picked one out, and headed to the store. Brad and I cut everything up quickly, because we were late, and then took off to the BBQ. On the way there I noticed that my hands were tingly and hot and I resolved to wash them again when we got there. The evening was cool and I didn't notice my hands, but if I touched my face it would burn where I touched it. We went home and my hands started burning pretty bad so I washed them again and took hold of an Otter Pop. We concluded that it was acid in the jalapeños that reacted with my skin/nerves. I had cut them up and then mixed the salsa with my bare hands (I had no idea!) As the evening wore on, the burning continued to worsen. I could cool them for a bit in some cold water or with something frozen, but the burning would come back regardless. It felt like I was pouring scalding water on the palms of my hands! We tried everything; aloe, hydrocortisone, benadryl, a wet wash cloth. Brad even ran to the store at midnight to get some Lanacane. He was so worried; it was really sweet. Nothing worked. Brad read online and apparently this is not uncommon. He read about someone who just put their hands in ice water and slept that way all night. I was holding back tears and totally exhausted (probably from the benadryl) as I told Brad to go to bed and pulled out all our blankets and put ice water in a pie dish. Brad, of course, didn't go to bed until I was settled on the floor with my hands in the pie dish holding ice cubes. I think I was asleep within two to three minutes. In the morning my thumbs were tingly but the burning had gone thank goodness! My only question was why didn't somebody tell me that jalapeños can burn your skin like that? Turns out that in the Chiles section of my cookbook it says that the oils can burn your skin or eyes so wear gloves while cutting chillies. I guess I learned my lesson the hard way. Warning to you all-wear gloves when cutting chilies!

P.S. The salsa was hot at first but after a day it was really good. I don't know what to do with the other jalapeños though. I certainly don't want to touch them.

New York City

We recently visited New York City. The trip was a little fast for all that we wanted to see;
next time we'll plan on 4 or 5 days, and spend less time at the most common tourist sites.
Transportation worked out really well for us; we drove 6 hours to Harrison, NJ, and then paid
$1.50 to take the PATH train into Manhattan. We were able to carry all of our clothes, etc. in 2
backpacks, which was nice.

Notice how the streets of Manhattan are arranged in a relatively simple grid.

Unfortunately (for Hannah especially), when Brad's navigating, the streets seem to look more
like this. We never got lost, we just took some scenic routes--I was trying to show Hannah
more of the city.


One of the first things we did was a boat tour around the island.

The cranes you see are working on the new WTC building.


Ellis Island w/random tourist.


subway


This is an early morning view looking west from our hotel room
(27th floor). Thanks to Stryker and my 56,000 Marriott points,
we stayed free for 2 nights in an $800/night room. Pretty sweet deal.


View from hotel of WTC construction.


Statue of Liberty




Trinity Church yard

Trinity Church steeple from Wall Street. "Let's stop in the
middle of the street and take a picture, OK?"


more WTC construction

The Turtle Pond was our favorite part of Central Park


There were tons of turtles

We though this was very funny! Is someone campaigning here?

ART:


Ellsworth Kelly


Brancusi (Romanian)


Pollock


Ubercute at Grand Central


Warhol


This one's for you, Adam!


Boccioni


We spent a lot of time in museums, we had to walk around a lot
but sometimes we found treasures

Rothko (one of Brad's favorite artists)

Manhattan skyline from the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Our 27th-floor view

recovery back in Rochester