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!

You've probably heard...

...but it's exciting enough to say it again.

I'm going to marry him!

Then we'll have the same initials. That will be fun.

Saturday I played with penguins.

See that necklace-lanyard-badge of a ticket? 

That baby gave me direct access to feed my love for penguins.

(Not to feed the penguins. That's not allowed.)

This family came with Michael and me to spend some quality time with the birds.

Jaren and Lydia were told multiple times that if you are loud or you move a lot, 

you have to leave.

They sat wide-eyed and dead still the entire time.

But... they still said they loved it :)

And how could you not! Look at this little guy.

The eleven penguins at the Sandy Aquarium have their own names and personalities.

And their own mate. Except for Ghost Rider. None of the other penguins really like him?

He was kind of a bully. But I thought he was cool.

Lydia got a little freaked out when he came over to nibble on shoe laces.

You can't touch the penguins, but they can touch you.

Jenny had a dream that I put fish oil in my shoes before the aquarium,

and the penguins attacked my feet.

Wasn't a bad idea, really.

This man knew everything about those little guys.

Best job ever, right?

Except for the smell, the 40-degree water, the "bruises the exact shape as their fins" (true story),

the bites from serrated beaks, and cleaning up poop.

Almost the best job ever.

Here's a little sample of the experience:

Such a blast. Throw in lunch at IKEA and putting up a Christmas tree that night,

and life is seriously, seriously good.

Then and Now

I wish I knew how many hours it took to get this piece of paper!

Mmm, no I don't. It's probably better not to know.

It was a lot of hours. And dollars. And late nights. And projects. And tests.
And late nights.

But more than that, it was a lot of great classes, memorable professors, (43!) wonderful roommates...

and many much-needed naps in Memorial Hall of the Wilkinson Student Center.

That paper came from four great years.

Now I'm happily working at THIS place:

I'm an event planner there, which I love.

It's a great company, and I'm so grateful to work there!

I work with seriously talented (and happy) people.

Everyone sincerely enjoys what they do and believes in what we're working toward.

Bonus: the job is close to these cute kids,

so I'm still loving living with family!

Every morning after breakfast Jaren questions me.

J: "Where are you going?"

M: "To work!"

J: "Again??"

Moral of the story: no more asking me if I want to go to grad school, deal?

I just don't. Not now. Maybe later. Maybe not.

And I need you to be ok with that. I'm definitely ok with that :)

Auntie M

I want to be a cool aunt.

There is no shame in pursuing that status. 

It involves letting movies go past bedtime,

driving through those way fun car washes,

and letting my bed serve as an in-house trampoline.

So what happens when the cool aunt is in charge of making dinner?

Yep, cookies and milk.

Lydia can't contain her joy.

I assured Jenny that she could ignore nutritional norms when it involves my future kids.

Cookies are a great way to earn brownie points.

Forever.

I love my family.

And that's all I wanted to say today.

Just Running Around.

It's a good thing I love driving, 

because that's pretty much all I do these days.

In the last three weeks, Saturn-Saturn has gone from:

 Provo to Lehi to Salt Lake to Cedar to Provo to Lehi to Provo to Lehi to ...

you know. Lots of places.

But it's great, because my destinations always involve friends, family, or job interviews.

Kind of loving limbo.

And always loving grandma:

We stopped to visit her on our way down to Cedar today.

Cedar is just a two-day stop on our way to DISNEYLAND!

Happiest place on earth, right? 

(Even if you get there with all eight Miners in one car? We'll find out.)

 I've been trying to get Jaren excited about his glorious near future...

M: "There are these teacups, and you sit in them and spin fast, and it's really fun!"

J: "You sit in...cups?"

M: "Um, yeah, big cups. It's cool!"

J: "And what makes them...spin?"

M: "Um, you turn a wheel thing. It's cool!"

J: Skeptical look of a four-year-old.

I gave up and let YouTube convey the coolness of spinning teacups.

I probably could have picked a more exciting ride to describe.

Doesn't matter. Two days and he'll see it all for himself!

Creativity in a Bottle

Sorry my blog took some time off.

I'm still taking some, but my blog is back in business.

I've been running around BostonNewHampshireFloridaAlabamaTennesseeKentuckyIndianaUtah...

but I'm back now.

I'll tell you more soon.

Possibly the tomorrow kind of soon.

But for now, you just get this playdough hint of what I found in Florida.

It's kind of a big hint.

(For the record, that is a smiling dolphin. Jaren kept calling it evil, 

so I don't want anyone else getting that very wrong impression.)

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!

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!