Time for July!

Hello, everyone!

After a ton of blog updates before in the last month, July is seemingly quiet in comparison. But, we are managing to keep busy and have some adventures to boot!

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In Jen's Family, the 4th of July is second only to Christmas in the hierarchy of family holidays. A small part of that is because Jen's oldest sister, Myra, was born on the 5th and the family usually gets together on the 4th instead. The real, main reason, however, is because Newark, where we live, is one of a few cities in California that still hasn't outlawed fireworks. The sales benefit different booster clubs, and there is just too much money to be made by blowing up your hometown, so every year the family meets at Jen's parents house to light off fireworks.. This year, the dogs made things interesting. Myra's dog, Mason, is not a fan of the loud popping (long story with his personal history) and our dog, Fox, was actually scared this year, so we put the three dogs inside of our RAV 4 so that they we're close enough to see us and know it's okay, without hearing too many loud noises. And, before anyone else asks, Christopher did fine. For some reason, he has always loved fireworks!!!

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The weekend after the 4th, Jen went to a conference put on by the National Urea Cycle Disorder Foundation. UCD is a disorder in which the body has a difficulty time eliminating ammonia from the body. It's a relatively rare disorder, but right now it is actually one of Jen's big research projects. Because of how rare it is, there is only one conference every year for it, and this year it was in Denver, CO. Jeff again went along, and so did our niece, Rachel, who wanted to look at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, an hour north of Denver and where Jen got her first degree. So we went back home to Ft. Collins while we were there and toured the campus and drove around the city. Jen put it this way: it was like going home and finding someone changed the locks. It was familiar, but a lot had changed in the city and the school, which is expected after having been away over five years, but there were a few homey things, like visiting our old apartment.

The hotel we stayed at in Denver was pretty nice as well. It has a rooftop pool that we hung out at, and while Jen was in her conference, Jeff and Rachel got to do some shopping. It was the shortest of the three trips, but still plenty of fun!

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That brings us to this weekend, another busy one for us. We already saw the last Harry Potter in a double-feature with the previous one, and today we went to the AIDS Walk in San Francisco. Jeff had volunteered a few times but didn't get to actually walk some of them, so we went out to Golden Gate Park and enjoyed the day. Although we got a late start, we still had fun listening to the music and enjoying the park and the people. In fact, Jen even got a t-shirt and a keychain from the Pixar Walk Team. The keychain is of the rubber ball that is part of their logo, and her shirt is in honor of Cars 2, with Lightning McQueen driving a red track made out to look like an AIDS ribbon. Between our trips, conferences and walks, we have amassed quite a collection of shirts!!

Well, that is it for now. We haven't uploaded any pictures yet, but they should be posted in one of our albums next to this blog. Hope all is well with our family and friends and we will see you all soon!!

What To Do In Utah When You Only Have Three Days There

Last summer, we had considered coming to Utah in May. Jen's graduation from her program was the first weekend in May, and we thought it would be fun for her to walk with some of her classmates. However, with work and school commitments getting in the way, we decided not to go in May. Fortunately, not long after the decision was made, Jen got an email to take part in a summer seminar at Utah State, and so we decided to go to the campus for the seminar.

While we were there, we decided to walk around the campus. Although we had been to Logan before, we didn't spend too much time there before. This time, we were here for about three days, and really loved the area. It reminded us of Jen's undergrad days in Fort Collins, CO, but a little more spread out. As you can see, Logan is surrounded by mountains and is a beautiful campus. While we were there, we got a few USU-themed items, including Jen's tassle. Now we just have to wait for her diploma to come in the mail!



Not satisfied with just staying in Logan, we also went down to the Hill Aerospace Museum. They have about 100 different airplanes to look at, from a recreation of the Wright flyer to stealth airplanes. Although Jeff had gone when he was younger, Jen had never been, so they decided to take some time to look at the cool airplanes.


While we were there, they were preparing for a retirement party, so we thought Stanley would enjoy being a part of the festivities!!!

We also went into Salt Lake City one night to meet up with our friends, the Crosbys. We met them when they served their missions in our area, and we haven't seen them in a few years, after they had gotten married. They've since had a little boy, and we had a blast going to dinner with them and walking through the mall. There is a picture of the five of us out there, but we still haven't found a copy, so hopefully we can add it soon!

Before we left, we walked around Logan one more time. Outside of the tabernacle, there was a small fair with handcrafted knickknacks that were so cool to look at, like paintings, carvings and photos. We really wanted to bring some things home, but worried about airport security and keeping our things safe, so perhaps next time, we'll make an allowance for that!

Such a short trip, but so much fun! We are definitely planning on going back to visit again, since we enjoyed the area so much.

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Now we are totally caught up with our adventures! Just in time too: next week we'll have a lot more to blog about. We plan on celebrating the 4th of July here, setting off fireworks (since Newark STILL hasn't outlawed them!) and then, off to Denver for Jen's last work trip of the summer (we think!) It will be nice to have more to blog about that ISN'T under the "June" banner, although I think we broke a record for most blogs in a month on here!

Alla prossima!

A Short Update Tonight...

Good evening, all!

Hope you all enjoyed our vacation photos and adventures in the East! Right now, we're winding down the night, but wanted to post another brief update before delving into the Utah trip.

This morning, Jeff had the opportunity to talk in our ward. It was a pretty great talk on sacrifice, and he managed to keep people's attention for almost 20 minutes! It was actually a great and informative talk, and several of the church members approached us afterwords and said what parts they enjoyed. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for the whole three-hour block, because Jen was in the back of the church, trying hard not to cough very loudly. It appears that the cough is fine for now, and she should be going to work tomorrow, but she still gets a few coughing fits.


Also, today Jen finished her first class in her program. Not only did she finish the first class, but she got an A! Tomorrow we hope to head out for a little treat to celebrate, but then it's back to the books for Jen. She already is halfway through her second class (which ends in the end of July) and starts another class tomorrow. It'll be like this for the next three years, except for breaks in December for Christmas, and another break every May.

The plan is, this week, to go over what we did in Utah, hopefully in one post since it was only three days, unlike the 10 for Philadelphia, and that this gets done before we enjoy the 4th of July and our last trip to Denver.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend, and we will be posting more later!