Go Karts and the Draper Temple

Last weekend, Tyler and I were able to spend time with some of our good friends, Kent and Cassie. It was Cassie's birthday, so we all went go kart riding. Cassie, I'm stealing some of your pictures because I can't get to mine right now! I sat out, but was the official photographer.

Here's the three racers: Kent, Cassie, and Tyler

Waiting to go

We also went to a movie together that night, at the dollar theater. Honestly, living next to a dollar theater (they recently raised their prices to $1.25) makes us so dang cheap. I just can't pay full price for movies any more. What a waste. We went to see Twilight. Cassie had just recently been seduced.....so it was her first time. It was my forth and Tyler's third. He's so nice for taking me so many times. I promise I won't make him go again! (In the theaters that is)


On Friday we had the opportunity to go to the Draper Temple open house. We went with Tyler's cousin and his wife, Travis and Heidi. We moved to Spanish Fork and they just happened to live lest than half a mile down the road. So we hang out with them a lot. We had dinner together, then drove up to Draper. Our appointment was for 8:40 pm. I'd heard that a lot of people who went later in the evenings had to wait in long lines so we were a little worried that we might be waiting forever. We got a little lost so we were a few minutes late. They let us sneak in to the video you have to watch before you go in for the tour. Then they bussed us to the Temple. It was really cold outside. Much colder at the Temple than at the church. We were very happy that they had white tent-tunnels built up for us to wait in line in. They had little heaters blowing warm air into the tunnel. The four of us tried to stall the line whenever we happened to be in front of one. They started the tour in a little tiny entry way. They had said that the Temple was a "small" temple. When we walked into the building, I couldn't believe how tiny it really was. As it turns out, they were taking us through the entrance for the Baptismal Font first. The workmanship was amazing. Everything was so beautiful. The last room of the tour was one of the sealing rooms. Each family got the stand in front of the Eternal mirrors together. On our way through the chapel to get to the bus we each got a cookie. They were fresh, warm, and soft. What a perfect evening!


Because of the nice warm tunnels, the only time we were able to see the outside was when we were dirving up to the temple and when we were driving away. When we were boarding our bus to go back to our car, I ran up the sidewalk to snap this shot. What a beautiful building!

Empanadas

Tyler used to have empanadas on his mission in Bolivia. He talks about them ALL the time. It was one of the only things he could eat off the street carts (he wasn't actually supposed to eat anything at all from those guys). When we were in New York City last summer, we ran across a street party on the 4th of July. Several of the vendors were selling authentic yummy food from all around the world, and one guy had cheese empanadas! Tyler got one for me and one for him. He was hoping I wouldn't like mine so he could have it, but no such luck. We've been talking about trying to figure out how to make them for a while now, and while we were in Logan, we found some cheap mozzarella we decided would work great. Jump forward to today! As a fun Sunday afternoon activity, Tyler and I decided to try to make some empanadas. They turned out great. The more we made, the more "authentic" they became. We finally perfected the method on the very last one. But all the practice runs were still really yummy!

Australia!!

Last night Ty and I went on a date to see the movie, "Australia" in the dollar theater. For any of you who haven't seen it, be prepared. It's almost 3 hours long. We didn't notice the length before we went in, and we were pretty shocked when we got out. You definitely notice how long it is while you're in there, there are about 4 times when you're SURE the movie is over now.....but it just keeps going and going. This isn't a bad thing. Every time they continue the story, you're quite glad they didn't end on that last sour note. The actors were amazing. I LOVED Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (who doesn't, right?) but most of all I loved little Nullah and King George. Australian and Maori accents are awesome, and Tyler and I got a good laugh at the slang and how similar it seemed to Pigin English (in Hawaii) at times. Worth the time. I loved it.

SPOILER ADDED

There's this one bad bad guy in the movie that you just LOATH every time they show his face. I kept secretly wishing that the heroine (Nicole Kidman) would just slit his throat already. (I COMPLETELY believe that she was capable of such an act.) When he finally got what he deserved, the whole theater clapped and cheered. It was awesome.


Oh yeah, and on the way out of the theater I had to wait for Tyler on the side of the hall. When he reached me, I stepped back into to flow of people. Someone was coming from the opposite direction and didn't see me before I stepped right in front of him. To get around me, he put his had on my arm so he would know where I was headed before he stepped in front of me again. His hand was ICE cold. (YES, I just twilighted you).

Bear Lake Cabin

Just a few quick pictures of the fun weekend we had at the Bear Lake cabin with Ty's family.

Everyone playing out on the frozen lake.

Someone drove their car out there, and the ice obviously wasn't THAT thick. It was cracking just under our feet.

Pretty view, but DANG cold.

All the nieces and nephews skating around.

Cool. I know, right? Saw this at the local gas station and just HAD to try it on.

Weird saddle chairs at this weird store

Washintgon D.C.

These are backwards again, but the order hardly matters. When my family went back to D.C. this summer, Tyler and I took a lot of pictures, as usual. But they somehow got erased from the camera so we had very few photographic memories of that day. So when I got to go back to D.C. for a conference (TRB-Transportation Research Board) I took a lot of pictures. Here are just a few.

Apparently, D.C. wants to be a state.... Can we handle 51?

Yeah, I know, I look like a 'tard. I just really like the fact that I could handle the subway.

So apparently, you're not allowed to take pictures in here. There are no signs, so it must be one of those "unspoken rules" that everyone is just supposed to know. I snapped a shot before I got yelled at. It really was spectacular.
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

The Puffy Shirt

Kermit the Frog

The Ruby Slippers!! Did you know they were supposed to be white or something silly like that? The director made them red so they would stand out against the yellow brick road in the film.

In the Smithsonian, a subway exhibit.

One of the several Smithsonians

Looking out one of the windows at the top of the Washington Monument. Now that was a really neat place to go. I highly recommend it.

Look how tall I am in money!!

How it's made....

It's kinda funny that the pictures are actually in better order if you look at them backwards....I always took a picture of the station sign in the subway after we left whatever sight we were at.

The changing of the guard.

This place was amazing. Wendy and I were there pretty much all by ourselves. We were there almost at closing, and we were able to walk through the thousands of graves undistrubed.

A view across the rier.

The eternal flame.

Solemn and beautiful

Another Smithsonian.

Oh. My. Gosh. I HAD to have a pictuer of these old stewardess uniforms. Check out the leggings on the pink one.

Cool bomb....


The white house....through the bars.... just days before the innaguration. Very cool.


Never ending construction. This year was the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth (if I remember correctly) so there was a huge stage going up for honorary programs and things.


Looking up

SUPER zoomed in. Porbably the closest we ever got to the capital. We just didn't have enough time.

Amazing sunset

When it was constructed, this excalator was the largest sinlge-shot escalator in the world. Seriously, I got dizzy looking up and down it.

Huge subway tunnels. This place feels so much more opened than the New York subways.


Church. Very cool old building. I loved it.