Next year...

After working in DC for the week, I made sure to get a few days of Ali and Boston in before my return to Utah land.

We were so ready for the Super Bowl, predictions and all.

Maybe the final score didn't turn out quite as planned... But at least I got some prizes!

Cheering for the Patriots felt depressingly similar to being a Jazz fan during NBA playoffs.

Can't catch a break. At least Ali took Monday off to play with me - saved her from spending a day with an entirely grumpy, bad-mood city.

Now I'm heading home with a box of cannolis in hand!

Pretty sure those need to be refrigerated.

But Michael needs to try one, and Rachel will still love one regardless of temperature standards.

Hopefully it's a fast flight!

Back to Beantown

Left DC with these on my lap. Naturally.

Got to Boston and picked up Al's. Naturally.

But yes, I do love my sister much, much more than cupcakes and sandwiches.

So this pic captures the best of Boston :)

And miss Rachel came along! 

I'm so glad she did. Except we took her to the beach in New Hampshire our first day,

and sent her home with a sunburn that committed us both to never getting a sunburn again.

For real this time.

Look at beautiful Boston! This is a view from a Duck Tour...

...driven by yours truly! I'm not even ashamed of how excited I look about it.

The Duck Tour boats go straight from the road, to the water, back to the road.

Incredible.

I really do promise this isn't turning into a food blog...

but we had to take part in the Cannoli battle in Boston.

Mike's Pastry vs. Modern Pastry!

Just get both.

This was Rachel's first time to Boston, so she needed the Freedom Trail experience.

I love the old cemeteries in the middle of downtown.

On Sunday we walked around Harvard after church.

We're thinking these steps had something to do with Legally Blonde? 

Mt. Auburn cemetery has a great view of Boston.

Stop noticing how sunburned we are.

We had a nice woman take a picture of us and Paul Revere,

but Paul Revere didn't make the shot.

He's there though. Picture him on a horse.

Beautiful Boston Common.

I'm sad the week is already over!

Independence.

America's birthday. In America's birthplace. WITH a sister.

Perfect, yes?

Two years ago we spent July 4th together in Boston. We kicked the day off by hearing a reading of the Declaration of Independence downtown.

Boston 2009 / DC 2011 

So this year...we did it again! This time at the National Archives.

Then we hit up the parade down Constitution Ave, consisting of all things American.

It was pretty great. It was no Delta parade though -- nobody threw any candy?

 Boston 2009 / DC 2011

Burgers on the 4th, definitely a must.

Last time, by the Charles River. This year, at the Chevy Chase chapel.

We walked around the International Folk Festival on the Mall for a while,

then staked out a spot for the fireworks show at the base of the Washington Monument.

Jo Dee Messina even sang to us while we played cards and waited for fireworks.

We thought we didn't know any of her songs. But then we knew them all.

Thank you, CMT.

Ali told me not to just smile for this picture. 

Then we both automatically assumed this Washington-Monumental position and facial expression with no vocal communication.

I love having a sister.

DC 2009 / DC 2011

Sure do miss the rest of our family! It's been too long since I've had a Utah summer.

I'd be ok with a burger from Delta next year, I think.

The fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I'm really grateful I spent this one in the nation's capital and experienced the patriotism that's overflowing here.

Proud to be an American.

Sisters M.

There's a party going on right now. 

A birthday party. I wish I was there! 

Yesterday was my sister's big b-day, and I MISS her. We are just on the same wavelength, you know?

Ever since these days.

I think we bugged Logan sometimes. But we sure love him. (He loves us too.)

Ali never wanted a dog. Obviously we had different opinions on the subject.

But for most things, we're pretty much on the same page. She has ALWAYS set an example for me. And I'm always trying to follow that.

I know we're not twins or anything, but we have the same vibes. If one of us is ever feeling an unexplainable emotion, it's usually because the other one is feeling it then too. 

I hope I don't throw up when she's pregnant.

I cannot explain to you how much I love my sister. We have the same random aspirations in life, and no one is more fun to check those off with than this girl.

For example, yelling off the Brooklyn Bridge just like (the beautiful) Jack and Spot Collins.

Or going to a Keith Urban concert just because.

Or touching all 50 states (getting there).

She moved out to the East Coast a few years ago because she's just fearless like that. And extremely cool. I love visiting her in Boston SO much. So much. 

Who else would take a night tour of NYC in the rain with me, on the top level of a double-decker? We frequently find ourselves in random situations like that.

We have mastered the art of the self-timer.

And the art of ridiculous nicknames. And inside jokes.

Kookaburra.

(No one laughed but Ali. Don't feel bad.)

She's an (extremely) avid NBA fan. Particularly the Jazz, but...well, it was a rough year for Jazz fans. Celtics are up there too. I owe her all my basketball interest, she keeps me posted.

I also owe her my stick shift abilities. My dad gave me a good foundation, but she taught me how to shift and turn the steering wheel at the same time.

That's kind of essential.

Sometimes people tell us we look like twins. Other times people don't believe we're sisters. ? 

I promise we are.

I love her because she will do illogical things with me. In fact, I think she is the person who taught me to do illogical things. Like, jump in the Atlantic ocean on New Year's Day.

It doesn't make sense to do that.

I loved doing it.

I love how open she is to traveling. I think I learned that from her, as well.

Spanish steps in Rome! 

Venice! If you ever go backpacking, take her. 

But if a bird poops on her again, don't laugh too hard. I mean, you can laugh later, but don't laugh right then.

It makes me sad that we went from sharing a room to living in different states, but we still talk just as much as we did then :)

Church in Rome! Just another area I've always looked up to Ali in -- she has such a strong testimony and dedication to the Church.

Like I said, take her backpacking. Some people just look at the Colosseum.

She has gladiator fights there.

(But it looks like I won.)

Easter Sunday in London! I love that she's always open to have an adventure with me. 

Fourth of July in Boston. I lived with her that whole summer, and I loved it.

We were sisters, roommates, friends, coworkers...pretty much everything. 

That's why I learned so much that summer!

She is one of the few people in my life that understands my love for driving.

She'll frequently take the long way home for me. It is definitely appreciated.

This is our future :) These lovely ladies are sisters, and residents at Hebrew Rehab (where we worked that summer).

She lets me wear her clothes. I miss that shirt.

This is right before she conquered a half-marathon in New Hampshire! I can honestly say she is my true source of inspiration in this area of life, too.

I read Harry Potter for two hours that day. She ran that whole time. 

It blew my mind.

She is always open to a road trip (this may go back to the "willing to do illogical things" principle). 

This was the Hill Cumorah pageant in New York a couple summers ago. We even slept in a car for it.

That's not really as adventurous as we thought it would be. Especially when you set the car alarm off at 6AM the next morning. 

I prefer my cell phone alarm, thank you.

DC and my dad's photography skills. He sometimes chooses to not count, which is never helpful on bright days.

I love that my sister has the same family as I do. That might sound slightly ridiculous, but I really do appreciate that we love and understand the same people in a way that no one else does.

Ali always understands what I need. Like this day, she committed to being my personal photographer for as long as I wanted. She followed me around to find all my friends even though she had just sat through a long and boring ceremony.

I love my sister. Always have, always will.

Happy birthday, Ali!

Boston. Finally, Boston.

I did actually make it to Beantown for New Year's...after failed attempt #4. The flight I was on that Wednesday night was canceled again, but not because of weather this time. Apparently Delta just could not find a pilot. There were a lot of people on my flight who had been waiting all week to get to Boston, so I felt bad for the nice Delta ladies that were taking the hit for it all. But still, missing pilot? They put all the passengers of my flight in a hotel for the night and made us a new flight for 6 am sharp Thursday morning. It was kind of fun. I jumped on my bed.

When I got into Boston I changed my flight so I could stay there until the last possible minute Monday night. Then we hit up some candle pin bowling! It's like real bowling, but much less satisfying. Even if you send your shotput-sized ball right down the middle, it might only knock down three of the ten straight sticks. Bogus. 

The shoes are definitely the best part. I wanted to keep them. I would wear these regularly if they didn't live in Boston still.

I can't be in Boston too long without a sandwich at Al's, so we hit it up the very next day! Go there. Get a chicken salad sandwich. It's famous. It should be more famous.

This is outside the Garden right before our CELTICS game! Best Christmas present ever :) Thanks Ali! Ironically, they played the Hornets, so I've seen New Orleans play twice this year. And ironically, the Celtics lost...even though they've only done that three times at home. Well, four, after they play the Jazz tomorrow.

We had a little bit of time before the game so we hit up Modern Pastry for a Canoli. These things are growing on me. Then we buried my water bottle in the snow so we could have a drink out of it after the game. It brought back memories of when Ali would do that on campus my freshman year with egg nog. She's so resourceful.

The boys! Shaq is so big. SO big. We were pretty high up, but he still looked big. (Seriously, big). There were no uncooperative Hornets fans providing sideshows at this game. Ali and I danced our way onto the Jumbotron though! We weren't going to stop until it happened. Our neighbors were very supportive. "You go girls, get us on TV!"

After the game we went to look at the ice sculptures and skaters in Boston Common. The fireworks were beautiful! And Boston had record high temps for New Year's, it was just wonderful. I'm carrying the Celtics shirt I bought in this picture because stuffing it inside my coat only lasted for so long. If you do that, it falls out and then you step on it and wonder what crazy person left their shirt on the ground. Then a man behind you tells you that you dropped your shirt, and you realize that crazy person is you. Whoops.

We made it home in time to officially "stay in" for New Year's Eve, because years of experience has taught us that's the best way to do things. We grabbed Thai food on the way, then got our annual dance party started. Highlights included learning Jessie, Lisa, and Kelly's timeless music video routine in the emotional Saved by the Bell caffeine pills episode.

The real crazy people in this post, however, are these guys...These Bostonians are on the beach on New Year's Day, ready to take a dive into the Atlantic. Who would do that?

Actually, we couldn't resist. I mean, with record high temperatures, it was the year to do it right? So we jumped out of bed, bundled up, and drove to Castle Island. Here we are, ready for Atlantic Dive 1102! We were going for 2011. Rachel told us we did it right, but apparently all three of us are dyslexic.

It was fun watching each group run into the water together...fun because we were avoiding doing it ourselves :) Finally, we had to make our dash. Weirdest Coldest Worst Strangest feeling ever. Ali dove under and I knew I had to do it, even though all my survival instincts were against the idea. So I dove.

Then I lost my (well, Ali's) shoe. I remember thinking, "Dang, too bad her shoe is lost forever" because the alternative was going farther out to find the shoe. That didn't even cross my mind as an option because survival instincts were still my dominant thought process. But Ali kept a cooler head through it all and pulled me out to rescue my (her) shoe.

Surprisingly, when we got out, it wasn't even cold anymore. I'm going to attribute this to numbness. We walked the mile back to our car with just a towel, and it didn't even faze us. When I noticed my flip-flopped feet were going through snow and I wasn't even aware of it, I decided numbness was definitely happening.

We gradually added layers as we made our way to our car (oh the parking in Boston), and then I felt my toes again.

And then, just hours before my flight home, I had to go to Al's again. Oh man, I miss that place.

Other highlights: meeting Ali's cute residents at her new job, ice skating and watching all of Ali's highly-skilled spins, going to Church in Boston's new Stake Center, driving by the Harvard chapel that is still recovering from the fire, buying new running shoes to bribe myself to March 19, seeing the piles and piles of snow that stole half of my week, playing with Rachel again...OK that's going to have to be the end of the list, because it could go on for way too long.

Thanks for the fun week, Ali! I'll be back soon :)