Pittsburgh and Politicians: Joe Biden

Not going to lie, we get some sweet visitors here in Pittsburgh (Did I ever mention the new Batman was being filmed here when we got here? Yeah, our Mini Cooper dealership said 'Mini of Gotham City' for the first 2 weeks). The current administration loves Pittsburgh and their pancakes so they make appearances pretty regularly. On Friday, Vice President Biden came to speak at Pitt and I snagged tickets for us to go. Second row, less than 20 feet away... BAM! We were so stoked. Whatever your political leanings are, Joe Biden is amazing to listen to. His final words of all of it were especially meaningful as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (talking about Mitt Romney): "I find it preposterous that in 2011, we're debating whether or not a man is qualified or worthy of your vote based on whether or not his religion...is a disqualifying provision...It is not. It is embarrassing and we should be ashamed, anyone who thinks that way." He also shook my hand twice afterwards. I reached out, he shook it. He got distracted with a question and then put his hand out again. I didn't want to be rude, so I shook it, lol. 

Afterwards, "he" signed our tickets. He meaning, the intern in the back with the signature machine. :) Pretty great day!

When did we get married again?

So a few days ago, Pieter messaged me while I was up on campus.

Pieter: So what's the significance of June 9, 2009?
Me: Uhh, idk why?
Pieter: Well on your blog. It says 'Established June 9, 2009' I know you didn't start your blog then.
Me: Wait, I have our anniversary on there...oh, crap...seriously? Do you know how long that's been up there and no one's said anything? I'm so dumb.

So, we got married on June 6th...zero wife points for me. We all make mistakes, right? Anyway, it's fixed now. I guess a little proofreading goes a long, long ways :)

Falling Waters and Crystal

As Pieter says there are 2 words that never fail to bring a smile to my face: China and Crystal. Dang that boy knows me too well. Seriously, for my wedding registry what I cared the most about was the crystal. So when my parents were here, my mom mentioned that there was a Lenox Factory Outlet nearby that she used to visit, so why didn't we stop by there on the way to see Falling Waters. So the weekend was exactly my definition of perfect: parents, Greek food, architecture, china, and crystal.

We went in and my face literally lit up (just ask Pieter), aisles and aisles of china and crystal vases for cheap, cheap, cheap!. We were running late for our reservation at Falling Waters, so we stopped there, not once, but twice! Before and after so that my mom and I would have enough time there. I bought Christmas presents and then Pieter surprised me and picked out a gorgeous china bud vase for me as a surprise!

Falling Waters was great. I'd grown up hearing about it growing up and had visited the Dana house in Springfield, IL. Fun fact: did you know that a few years ago, Falling Waters was actually "falling into the water." Apparently in stretching the limits of architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright went a little too far and it was found, several decades later that the cantilevers (way the house is held up, think like a diving board) were bending with the stress of the weight. Don't worry, they put in reinforced steel beams and it's all okay now. Anyway, thanks to my parents we now own a popup coffee table book of his most famous houses. Come over and take a look! Seriously, it's THAT cool!

School begins

We started grad school!

I have a thing for 1st day of school pictures and Pieter...well, he humors me :)

Of course, now this mean that we never see each other: I have class from 2:30-7 M-Th and Pieter has class T-F, mainly in the morning, but whatever. Oh do you want to hear about Pieter's first day of school? 

-Rides the bus

-arrives insanely early (this is Pieter we're talking about anyway)

-Goes to his ONE class of the day

-Sits in class: no teacher but full class

-Waits, waits, waits

-Teacher never shows up

-The end

He later found out that the teacher forgot to check the class schedule and went to the wrong room (D'oh). What a 1st day, huh?

Moving day 5: the end is in sight

The last day we drove from Elkhart, Indiana to Hubbard, OH (right on the Ohio/PA border). We went to church in Indiana before hitting the road for the day. It was probably our most expensive day. Why, you ask? Two words. Toll roads. Blech.Don't get me wrong, the whole travel plaza/oasis idea is nice, but I can't get over being charged to drive on a freeway. Though if they charged for bridges in Pittsburgh like they do in CA, we'd probably go broke. Anyway, we couldn't get our keys until Monday so we stayed 90 minutes outside of Piitsburgh. Finally, the hotel had an indoor hot tub, which, after driving for a week felt so nice! We also went to Denny's for dinner. :) I have a passionate love for Dennys...I know, classy right? Pieter thinks it's the greasy scum of the Earth and stares at me in unbelief every time I talk about it. Maybe it''s a combination of the huge amount of food you get for the money and the fact that they used to always send me a coupon for a free smiley face Belgian waffle for my birthday. Anyway, that was our day!

Moving Day 4: We need a break: Chicago

Saturday, we kept things easy since we'd been traveling since Sunday, and hey, why not, it was Chicago! First we battled a killer rainstorm driving into Chicago from Rockford (Rockford Peaches!- I may or may not have chosen to stop there because of A League of Their Own). Is it bad to be totally grateful that Pieter was driving? We went and spent ALL day in the Museum of Science and Industry. Coolest museum ever...hands down, we spent 5 hours there and didn't get close to seeing it all. There was a whole room on the space program with video, simulators and artifacts.

Me geeking out over the Apollo 8 landing capsule. For those of you who don't know, Apollo 8 was the first to orbit the moon and piloted by none other than Jim Lovell, who I got to hear speak last year and geeked out then too :) 

Weather exhibits, trains, a 707 jet, baby chicks hatching, Body Worlds, fetuses from all stages of pregnancy, a person plasticized and then dissected out to just the veins, arteries, and capillaries, and THE U-boat, yes, the Uboat.

 Pieter by the German U-boat that the US attacked and boarded during WWII by Africa.
First time that we'd taken over an enemy ship since the War of 1812! This capture was a huge intelligence score and really gave us the upper hand over the Germans. It was a really patriotic exhibit and made me feel proud to be an American but you had to feel bad for the families of the men on the boat because their families were told that they died, since we had to keep them in hiding after capturing them (yeah, not so much within the Geneva convention) so that the Germans wouldn't change their cryptography codes.

Oh and that night we may or may not have stayed in South Bend, Indiana...another League of Their Own team.

Moving Day 3: Sioux Falls

 

We stayed in Sioux Falls that night and in the morning on Friday went to look at the falls. I had no idea that prisoners quarried most of the rock to make their own prison! The rest of the day was a pretty heavy driving day, crossing  Minnesota, Wisconsin, and finally, ending up in Illinois. There were tons of commercially grown sunflowers lining the roads!

Moving Day 2: Mount Rushmore and the rest of South Dakota

 We started out the day in Casper, WY and I drove in Mt. Rushmore. The change in scenery at the state line into South Dakota was incredible. That's something that's always amazed me: how deliberate those lines are: going from barren rocky land to hilly forests in less than a mile.

The entry to the viewing area of Mt. Rushmore has all of the state's engraved  along with their flags.

So here's my confession, I really wasn't excited to Mt. Rushmore. Pieter really had to twist my arm to get us to go here. It was out of the way, and I was convinced that it was going to be something where you stop, get out of your car, stare for a few minutes, remark on how impressive it is, and leave.  Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, we got there and I think the first word out of my mouth were, "Oh, there's actually stuff to do here." Pieter reminded me that that's what he'd been trying to tell me all along, d'oh!s We watched the movies of how it was made, went through the museums, and took a walking tour down around the base of it. 

 There was a Native American man on the tour who let us all know that the US government was cheating his tribe out of the land and paying  them nothing, while raking in millions in profits, while our college intern tour guide stammered and tried to get control of the tour again. To clarify, they're not making money there; there is a parking fee, but that is used to support the upkeep/running the center. You can read more about the controversy on the Mt Rushmore Wikipedia page if you're interested. Anyway, it was fun and I'd definitely recommend it now :). 

We spent  the rest of the day driving across all of South Dakota to Sioux Falls...long day.

Moving day 1: Martin's Cove, Independence Rock, Casper Wyoming

On our first day after leaving Utah, we drove up through Wyoming on our way to Mt Rushmore. We stopped at Martin's Cove and Independence Rock. Martin's Cove is a special place for members of my church and more specifically my family. In 1856, during the trek westward by pioneers, a group of Mormon immigrants from Europe called the Martin Handcart Company left for Utah pulling all of their worldly possessions in handcarts. Due to delays in their ship leaving Europe, they ended up leaving much later than anticipated and suffered delays and breakdowns throughout their journey. A wagon company with freight for the settlements in Utah followed them with supplies. My 3-great grandfather was a teamster for this company and my 3 great grandmother traveled with him. This is how they were able to afford getting to Utah from Denmark, having sent all of their other children(except my 2 great grandfather, Mads) on before them. An early and harsh winter storm hit, stranding them in a barren area of Wyoming, starving and unsheltered from the elements, unable to move forward. A rescue party was sent out from Utah to rescue these stranded pioneers, but as the scouts from the rescue party arrived, another storm hit and they were forced to bunker down in a little cove, now called Martin's Cove. The wagons and my family stayed about a mile away at Devil's Gate. My grandfather became sick and succumbed to the elements while there. Over 25% of those pioneers died, and many of the rest had limbs amputated and suffered residual ailments for the rest of their lives. This area and museum now stand as a tribute to the tragedy that occurred here.

Devil's Gate, where my grandfather died.

Independence Rock. Did you know all of the cool things from Oregon Trail are in Wyoming? Neither did I! I planning on having us do Chimney Rock too, but then I saw that it would add an extra 3 hours to the trip and it's really small from all of the weathering.

You can still see the wagon tracks from all the wagons cutting through the praire

So the biggest disappointment of the rock, you know how you always hear about how the pioneers carved their names in the rock? Well, it's so windy and harsh there that all of names have worn off. The letters in the picture that you can read if you squint are from 1900 and were carved about 2 inches deep into the rock.

ABF

So we used ABF to move our treasures (or junk, you choose) from Utah to Pennsylvania. We squeezed into 7 feet of a semi trailer, kissed it goodbye and hoped that our amateur packing skills would hold up! We were so grateful for our A+ team (Rob, Amy, Sean and Jake) who gave up an evening for the promise of pizza and Icee's!

Spoiler alert: It got there safe with few casualties (glass pitcher and 3 cereal bowls) PS I totally recommend ABF: cheap, helpful, flexible, relaxed-I was a little worried about that but it was fine

Amy and Sean's Wedding

Amy and Sean were sealed for time and all eternity on 8/6/11!

It was the 4 year anniversary of the day they met, or as I prefer to remember it: 4th anniversary of the day Sean jumped in front of my moving car (must have been one heck of a spiritual prompting to get Amy's number huh?) Anyway, after 4 years, 1 mission, single-handedly keeping UPS in business, and lots of disgustingly mushy moments later, Sean and Amy got married!

The reception was a dessert theme with peacock colors with orange mixed in. It was great seeing so many people. Anyway, I can't do it justice so here are the pictures taken by the amazing Kristina  (check out her website)!

Amy getting her makeup done by Amber before leaving for the temple.

The new couple exiting the temple! Look how happy they look!

That pin on Amy's sash was my Grandma Margaret's (Amy's named for her)

The Herd: Everyone at the temple

Look at my face! I'm quite proud of it!

Sean's Mom and Stepfather, Sean and Amy, Mom and Dad

Amy with Mom and Dad

Sean and his Dad

The Wedding Party

The Bridesmaids: Me and Natalie

Me and Amy

College friends Kat and Natalie

Overlooking the bay

Flowers by Natalie

Centerpieces by my Mom

 

 

The car was saran wrapped so good, it took them 15 minutes to leave!

Oh so the only bad part of the day: Scott and Natalie sidetracked on the way to the temple to the airport to pick up Amy's friend Kat. On the freeway, A 7lb steel brick was kicked up and got lodged in the grill of the Civic. They saw it coming at them and heard the clunk, but it was only after everyone got home that we realized that it was still lodged in the grill. If it had been 2inches higher, it would have hit the window and killed them.