We went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra (TSO) concert two weekends ago. I am not much of a rocker and my rock concerts have pretty much just consisted of a Hootie and the Blowfish concert when I was 15 and Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band concerts at college. Love Ryan Shupe. I wasn't familiar with Hootie and kept wondering why it smelled so funny there.
We won tickets from a friend's raffle. Our seats were in a suite! I have never been in a suite, it was so sweet. The best part was that we had our own personal toilet. Here is the order of awesome things about being in a suite.
Personal toilet
Having water to drink the whole time.
Having a place to set your food and water on in front of you.
Feeling like a queen and referring to all the other people as "the peasants" for the whole night.
Comfy seats.
Being with 16 people you know because everyone from your ward won tickets.
Parking right across the street for FREE!
Me in the suite.
Our personal toilet.
There is horrible lighting in the suites, but there we are.
As you can tell, being in the suite was pretty cool.
The concert was fun, too. I wasn't sure what to expect as I was only family with TSO's Christmas songs. They played some Christmas songs, then had a Christmas story/music thing, played more Christmas songs, and then played other songs.
This man who was a rock singer and had Thor hair.
Electric violin power!
Andrew and I are so dumb at rock and roll. The lead guitarist said that his best friend Paul was there and he got the group together. Everyone was screaming. We were like, "YAY!" but didn't know why everyone was freaking out. And then later on the drive home when we talked with Shannon did we realize that it was Paul McCartney! ooooff! So that was pretty cool in retrospect.
The lights were amazing, it was really loud and I did put in earplugs, the music was great and fun. I really am not much of a rocker, but we had a great time. I am glad we won the tickets and I think we should go to more rock concerts in the future. As long as we balance those with symphonies because that is what I love.
In front of the Space Needle.
Here is a funny thing. Yesterday, a TSO song came on our Pandora, and it was one where they all flipped their hair like crazy. I started flipping my hair/head banging and I gave myself whiplash. My neck hurts so bad. Rock stars must have very strong necks so they don't get brain damage or whiplash after every concert. Also, they have amazing conditioner to keep their hair so smooth and shiny despite their rocking.
In February, Rachel and I flew on a lovely airplane to Utah for my friend Erika's wedding. We flew without Andrew, but things went pretty well.
Rachel liked looking out the window. I'm not sure what she was looking at, but she was looking.
Rachel in the thing that always makes me sing, "We'll put on the armor of God!" (See this clip for what in the heck I am talking about, at about 10:00 the song begins, but the part I always sings is at the very end.)
Rachel sitting in our seat on the airplane.
We survived the plane ride! Rachel was very good. She was hungry when we were taxiing, but I wanted to feed her when we took off. Oh well, I gave her the binky and she was just fine. When the businessmen saw us on the plane, they all rolled their eyes. But after the flight, they all said, "Oh, what a good and cute baby you have!"
After the wedding, we went back to Washington to be back with Andrew/Dad. Our flight got delayed by an hour and a half. It was bedtime.
Rachel enjoyed the delay and took a great nap.
After another successful ride. She slept (was passed out) the whole flight until I started moving around to get our things.
She is destined to travel the world. Hopefully I will be with her.
I have not done well documenting all of our outdoor adventures. That may surprise you, since every-other post is about an outdoor adventure.
Arches National Park
We went to Arches for our Spring Break in March. We had a good time and Wesley even joined us for an overnight campout.
Dark Angel
Delicate Arch
Greider Lakes
Our next hike was in a much different climate. It was May and still rainy and cold and there was snow. We went to Greider Lakes in Washington and it was tough. The road washed out so you had to hike 2 miles before getting to the trailhead (missed that in the trail description) and then we climbed incredibly high up 40 switch backs. I'm not sure if we'll do this one again. But, it was very beautiful up there.
The lower lake
Cherry Creek Falls
This was a pretty easy hike, but it was a good one. We went in June to Cherry Creek Falls. This place is beautiful. We went with Andrew's coworker and friend, Ben.
At the waterfall
Heather Lake
We are slowly discovering that everywhere worth hiking to here in Washington involves getting up on top of the glacial plain to the alpine lakes. At the end of July, we hiked to Heather Lake and it was beautiful. We will go again.
Heather Lake behind the trees
It seriously is that color--so clear and beautiful
Mt. Pilchuck
We hiked Mt. Pilchuck at the end of August and it was HOT and full of people (which we never like). But, we went with Ben and some of his friends and had a good time. You had an amazing view of EVERYTHING! The day was clear so we could see Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier (both are volcanoes), the rugged and beautiful Cascades, downtown Seattle in the distance, all of Snohomish county, the Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains in the west. Amazing. I also felt like a power woman cuz I made it to the top at 30 weeks pregnant! Don't tell my OB/GYN, I'm not sure she or other doctors would be too happy about that.
Great granite features on the way
On top of Pilchuck with the Three Fingers behind us (future exploration??)
I'm pregnant and I know it
Tonga Ridge
Just on Friday we hiked on Tonga Ridge. Like I mentioned before, everywhere worth going to is at about 5000 feet elevation (with us hiking up from 1000 or hopefully 3000 feet). Lucky for us, we got to drive to that elevation before starting the hike, so the hike was relatively flat. We saw some great mountain views, but missed the turn off to go to Sawyer Peak. Oh well. We were distracted by HUCKLEBERRIES! They were delicious. We picked a ton.
The view of mountains across from us
Me picking huckleberries
Andrew picking huckleberries
Wildflowers
Conclusion? The season ain't over yet!
We've had a great hiking season. I think that we will probably go on another hike or two before Baby Girl Platypus comes. And after she comes, we will have a few months and then we'll probably go snowshoeing.
Before I left Utah, I chilled a lot. I only got a few pictures. Cuz when you chill, you got to chill and not take pictures. Unless you are not really chill, and are only using "chill" as a synonym for "hanging out", which is the case right now.
I chilled with some of my old roommates from Merrill 310. Here I am with Tasha, Tessa, Michelle. I got sunburned, which made me happy but then I realized I got way more burned than I intended.
I said good bye to our paint dance shoes.
It was really hard to throw out our shoes from the paint dance. Mine are on the left and Andrew's are on the right. They are special to both of us, as old and nasty as they are, cuz when we first started to spend time together, we went to a paint dance and got a five-gallon bucket of paint dumped on us. Andrew said, "I could only tell it was Sarah because her smile was the only part of her face that didn't have paint on it." So cute and sweet and romantic. Good bye paint dance shoes.
I passed on the baton. I was the Robert M. Utley Fellow at the Western Historical Quarterly, and since my two-year fellowship was over, I passed on the senior fellow baton to Sean, the S. George Ellsworth fellow. He will be fine. That baton is full of wisdom passed down from many senior fellows from the past. Yes, I put something in it. When Sean looked inside, he said, "Whoa, that stinks." Apparently wisdom smells rancid. I also gave Sean some verbal parting wisdom, which he succinctly summarized as 1) No one knows what they are doing. 2) Don't work too hard. 3) Don't be nervous. I am freaking wise.
Most importantly, I chilled with Nigel. I get to be an aunt and then I have to leave. It is a sad sad world. I made sure to spend a lot of time with him to make up for the future.
Nigel sleeping on me while I rest my tailbone.
Happy little boy!
Hi there Nigel! How did you get so cute? Are you enjoying your afternoon outside? Me too. I will miss you! We hung out while his parents cleaned my apartment. I was happy I didn't have to clean, and they were happy they got a baby break.
Stop crying, here, have this orange binky.
My oldest best friend Erika came home from her mission! Erika (in the middle) came home from her mission to Leeds, England. We met in 7th grade orchestra and became friends in our 7th grade science class with Mr. Merrill. We are also with Monica, another one of my best friends. I'm so glad that I could see them again before I moved!
I did a lot of chilling. It was a busy last little while.
Well, yesterday I realized that it was March 27, and the last day I can defend my thesis and walk at the hooding ceremony is April 27. And that was in one month from yesterday. BUT yesterday I finished writing my thesis! Yay! So now I am going over it and making revisions and will give the whole dang thing to my adviser David on Friday, March 30. Then I will get it back from him a week later, so at the latest April 6. Then I will make more revisions, arrange the defense, and get some paperwork to the Grad School. And somewhere in there, my sister will have her baby and I will be an aunt! The paperwork and so on needs to happen by April 11 because that is the day Andrew and I are leaving for Washington to go apartment hunting. And then two weeks later, April 25, 26, or 27, I will have my thesis defense and turn in the final paperwork. The moving company will come on those same days and box everything up and put it into a truck. Then I will scrub this place down and move out on April 30! I will either couch surf or live with my parents for the week. The hooding ceremony is on May 4, Andrew will walk on May 5, and then we will fly up to Washington to start our new grown-up life on May 6. Then his parents will come up and we will get ready for the wedding. Then Wesley and Maren will get married in the Seattle Temple on May 11. And then the movers will come May 14. And then life can calm down and get back to normal. And all summer I will work on thesis revisions and getting it printed and bound. Fun fun times.
My Valentine got me new hiking boots! Yay! They are leather, have Gortex on the inside, have a high top, and so far I really like them!
Me on our first adventure around the block. Yes, we went to the side of the street that didn't have a sidewalk. It blends in with the dead grass.
And today we went on a hike on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail between Logan and Green Canyons. There was no snow and we got hot. What a weird winter, to be hiking (not snowshoeing) in February and wanting to take off our jackets! But there was a lot of mud so we got to try out the Gortex.
And we found this solitary tree, to which I cried, "How artistic!" Andrew agreed and took some pictures.
The solitary tree
How tranquil.
Tranquility and Tai Chi
My new boots! And they are so muddy already!
Making another dorky face while showing off my boots.
And a picture to prove that Andrew came on the hike, too.
Moral of the story: You should all buy new hiking boots and go hiking!
We bought these at a website called Camofire, and they have one deal a day.
We also got my hiking shoes (which I also love but are not waterproof) at a similar website called Steep and Cheap, where they have a new deal every half an hour.
So check them out and maybe your hiking dreams will come true!
I love Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon. We went with Andrew's family and it was fun but there were so many people. I got grumpy a lot. There are a lot of pictures so here are just a few highlights of our California trip.
The Norco Audio Family History Tour
Heidi grew up in Norco, CA, and we stopped by. This is a crazy place.
First off, they don't have sidewalks. They have horse trails. WHAT THE WHAT? Maybe in Wyoming, but not what I was expecting for southern California.
Some girl on a horse in a city in southern California.
Then we stopped at the Norco cemetery to find Heidi's grandparents' grave. We found it! It was a miracle because she had never been there.
Hannah, Heidi, and Wesley at the grave.
That was cool to be there. Heidi thanked me for suggesting it, since she had never been and being there brought her a lot of peace.
The First Disney Day
Christmas at Disneyland, where the wreaths are all Mickey-shaped and the castle has snow on it (I know, snow in Anaheim? But by now, we know that Southern California is not what you expect--snow, horses, what's next?).
Love it.
We wore a lot of 3-D glasses. They kind of give me a headache.
The Family sans me (taking the picture) and Maren (on an airplane)
And no family vacation would be complete without a picture of me coming out of the bathroom!
We rode Splash Mountain. It was great. Maren is there in the front. She and Wes are engaged now and they are so disgusting.
Our Wild Ride.
This is how Andrew feels whenever I drive. ;)
Andrew and I in front of the castle at night. How romantic.
The Day We Only Went to California Adventure
Wes and Maren about to go off a huge waterfall on Grizzly Rapids.
Andrew and some light bike from Tron.
Not a lot of pictures from that day. Oh well. I traumatized Hannah by making her go on Screamin' with me. I forgot to tell her that it blasts you off. Oops.
The Day We Went to Disneyland in the Morning and the Evening But Mostly Went to Los Angeles
Wesley and Andrew cleaning their ears. What a good brother activity.
I had never been to L.A., so it was pretty exciting.
A clear day for L.A., right?
Gas costs $5 here where it costs $3 in Utah.
And we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, but we didn't get out and walk around.
I like the palm trees. That is a pretty good picture taken from the back of a Honda Pilot, if I do say so myself.
And then we went to Santa Monica beach and we had many marvelous adventures.
Like this dog in a tree. The owner was completely chill. His dog is awesome.
And we went down to the beach and it was just lovely. I kept thinking of the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do", where she says she wants to have fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
We also had another unusual sighting:
Glenn took off his shoes. Apparently this is an anomaly.
Jumping picture--me, Hannah, Elise, Maren. I didn't get the memo that we were making L shapes out of our arms.
The Day We Were the Dorky Family Wearing Matching Disney Shirts
An epic moment occurred when I became famous for screaming so loudly on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I am awesome. This guy said I was amazing and he recognized me later on, too.
And I pulled the sword out with my pinky finger.
Family picture time! You get a sneak peek at the Christmas card. Lucky you.
Aren't we cute? I like how Wes and Maren are freakishly tall in the back.
We went on Star Tours and...
I was the rebel spy and Yoda said I was vital to the rebel cause! It made my life.
Also, Andrew was a good big brother and got Hannah to ride Space Mountain--and she liked it! She even has her arms up and has a big smile on her face. Yay!
From back to front: me, Hannah, Andrew, Elise, Bryanna.
We didn't take a picture, but WE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF THE LOG!!! Oh yeah, we broke the family record. I'm pretty done with Splash Mountain for a little while.
The Last Disney Day and The Most Crowded One Wherein I Had A Headache.
New Years Eve was the worst day to go to Disneyland. it was way too crowded and I was grumpy. I had a headache and that was not a good thing. It was Elise's birthday, too.
I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. We had to watch "Captain E.O." to please Glenn. Weird. So weird.
And we went on Space Mountain again!
Funny Space Mountain picture. Elise is a super hero, Hannah is pumped, Andrew is screaming and I am plugging my ears (I had a headache, remember) which is opposite of how it usually is, and Wesley is proposing to Maren (I love how she looks like she's saying, "Oh my gosh, why is it you?"
Also, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. Awesome. It was fun. And then I went to sleep and woke up when the huge fireworks show shook the hotel.
Then We Drove Home on New Years Day and There Was No One On The Freeway
