"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!