"Baby, it's cold outside"

Brrrrrrrrr. And repeat, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. With wind chill, temperatures in Boston have been in the negative numbers. One morning was even -11. Hot cocoa, sweats, and double wrapped blankets (at all times) have helped up survive to this point, but so far the meteorologists say that end of the cold snap is nowhere in sight. It gradually warms up to the high twenties this week, but that is without wind chill which we have learned is a very significant variable in local temperature calculations. Please send warm thoughts in the direction of the East!

Back to Back Dates

Before Chase starts his 18 credit hour spring semester on Monday (winter semester ended on Thursday), we decided to enjoy the weekend. On Friday night we went to a session at the Boston Temple, and on Saturday night we went waffle iron shopping and sea food eating. We are grateful to the gift certificate from our credit card points which made both evenings virtually free. This is also because our waffle iron search was a complete failure- whose idea was it to stock only $200 waffle irons? We will be sticking to BBB from now on.

Back in the Routine

We have been getting back in the routine: law school classes, parent teacher conferences, etc. However, we did make time over this long weekend to have some fun. Last night we went out for Thai food and to see Avatar with Kristen and Bryson. It was a great to get out and go into Boston. We really love living here, and Avatar was even better the second time. Check out our sweet 3D glasses below!

Weekend at Hogwarts

This Saturday, Jenny took the day off, and we went to the special Harry Potter exhibit at the Science Museum in Boston. The exhibit had a large display of props, sets, costumes, and its own Diagon Alley. Tragically, we were not allowed to take pictures except in the Diagon Alley store at the end. The pictures below are from that area, but they are not nearly as cool as the actual artifacts. Our favorite things were throwing a quaffle through a quidditch hoop; Hagrid's hut and the actual Monster Book of Monsters; life size and detailed models of Dobby, Kreacher, Buckbeak the hipogriff, Fawks the phoenix, and the Hungarian horntail dragon; the costumes (especially from the Yule Ball); and the actual wands from each wizard. Despite the evidence below to the contrary, both Jenny and Chase realized that they probably would be sorted into either the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff houses. This realization came at an actual ceremony with the sorting hat at the beginning of the Hogwarts tour. We are still geeking out!

Chase standing in front of the actual knight chess piece that Ron rode in The Sorcerer's Stone!

Jenny rooting for Gryffindor!

Chase reviling in his evil Slytherin ways!

Picking up some school supplies at Flourish and Blotts.

Remember, the wand chooses the wizard!

This t-shirt in the museum store reminded Jenny of a shirt with the same cartoon that Peter wore years ago. Math geeks are almost as cool as Harry potter geeks :)

Christmas Break in Salt Lake

We had a lovely Christmas vacation in Salt Lake full of friends, family, and lots of movies! It was great to see our friends at Brent's wedding, get yogurt with Paige, Matt, and Ryan, and to visit with the Lords and Okazakis. Family time was spent either over delicious food or at the movie theater. We would rank the movies we saw in the following order:
1. Avatar
2. The Blindside
3. Sherlock Holmes
4. Invictus
Needless to say, we saw more movies in these last two weeks than in the fifty prior weeks of 2009!
Thanks to everyone for making this an incredible holiday vacation. We both had a great time and loved seeing those we care about the most!

Snowed In!

We made it through Week of Survival III, and Chase is finally done with finals! He celebrated by gathering information for his upcoming internship interviews and cleaning the apartment for Jenny's Christmas present. Poor guy! Actually, he has had a little time to relax, go shopping, and watch movies with his adoring wife. Hopefully more relaxation is in store for him over the holidays.

Jenny's nonfiction research reports continue to take up all of her time. She wonders how students are allowed to go on to eighth grade thinking that Wikipedia is a credible research source, without knowing what a bibliography is, and with zero understanding of what citations are! To her, it sounds like a recipe for unwitting plagiarism. She has given personal tutoring to over 25 of her 65 students everyday at lunch, during her prep time, and after school to ensure that they go on to high school knowing how to write a research report. Jenny is thrilled to get to spend this unprecedented one-on-one time with each student but is unfortunately left little to no time for anything else such as grading and lesson planning.

Today, church was canceled due to snow. In the North East, everything is driven to a halt at the mere rumor of snow flurries. This time, however, we got much more than a few snow flurries. Today has been our first taste of a real Massachusetts Nor' Eastern! Jenny suggested that she and Chase put on their snow gear to play around on the Cambridge Common as a way to channel the famous scene from Love Story but more prepared for the snowy conditions than the actors had been. To this Chase replied, "And more in love." Jenny is still mushy over that one!

Week of Survival Part II

Chase took two eight hour tests last week and spent the rest of his time preparing for the tests he has this week. He studies at home which means that Jenny gets to see him, but he only leaves his desk for the necessities like food :) The picture below is of Jenny distracting Chase long enough to document what two weeks straight of constant studying can do to a person.