Digging out

We had our first Nor’easter of the season this weekend. We had about a foot of snow on Thursday, a break on Friday and then the Nor’easter socked us - it started snowing Saturday night and snowed all day Sunday. It was bad enough that church was cancelled. We got snow, then some freezing rain, then some more snow and then some wind. The roads looked scary so we only ventured outside once on Sunday and it was to unbury our cars and dig ourselves out. Then we went back inside to warm up since it was pretty cold. NYCC was on a 2 hour delay on Monday morning, which was very good since it took a while to unfreeze the car. We’re just grateful that it looks like decent weather this coming weekend since that’s when we are flying home – good thing the Nor’easter didn’t decide to come then or we’d be in trouble.

Cory is done with his 5th trimester of chiropractic/nutrition school!! YEA!! He’s done 16 finals, 2 powerpoint presentations, 2 big papers – all in 2 weeks!! We are both really happy that he is done and definitely looking forward to the break and going home to Utah.

From left to right: Cory digging out our sidewalk; our car covered in ice from the freezing rain; the highway in front of our house (nice plowing, huh?)

What decade are you?

I confess I found these funny things on Cassidy's blog, but I hope you think they are as funny as I do!

You Know You Grew Up In The 80's if:
1. You used to buy cassette singles … and still have some stashed somewhere …
2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton
3. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy
4. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own
5. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls
6. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom
7. Two words: Hammer Pants
8. You watched "Fraggle Rock"
9. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey- dokies or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect
10. You watched "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!)
11. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
12. You (your sister, cousins) wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
13. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen ... and still know the turtles names
14. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side
16. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it
17. L.A. Gear ... need I say more?
18. You remember reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and all the other Judy Blume books
19. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
20. You wanted to be a Goonie
21. You ever wore fluorescent clothing (some of us ... head-to-toe)
22. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted
23. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf
24. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets
25. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence
26. You remember Hypercolor t-shirt
27. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band
28. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up
29. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets
30. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"
31. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
32. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
33. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide
34. You have ever played with a Skip-It or Elastix
35. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds or Hardees
36. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement
37. Don't worry, be happy
38. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks
39. You wore socks scrunched down
40. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that
41. You remember watching both Gremlins movies
42. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"
43. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales
44. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot
45. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac
46. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool ... and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"
47. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class
48. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART
49. You just sang those words to yourself
50. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird
51. Homemade Levi shorts ... (the shorter the better)
52. You remember when mullets were cool!
53. You had a mullet!
54. You still sing "We are the World"
55. You tight rolled your jeans
56. You owned a bannana clip
57. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"
58. You had big hair and you knew how to use it
59. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!
ROCK ON!!!

Okay, so I can confesss to most of these ... born in 1981, I was half a child of the 80's and half a child of the 90's. Cory, however, relates to all of these. He secretly still wants to be a Goonie :) Rock on 80's children!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Well, we got our first big snowstorm for the season this weekend. It rained for a while, and then it turned cold ... so we got freezing rain. Not fun. Then it snowed on top of a layer of ice. We didn't venture outside the house on Saturday - Cory studied and I watched some college football (and cleaned, my favorite Saturday activity). Both our phones rang Sunday morning as we were trying to convince our bodies to get out of bed - it was people from our ward telling us that church was canceled. I thought Cory was playing a joke on me - I must have asked him like 5 times if he was kidding. No jokes - church was actually canceled since the roads were so bad and it was so cold. So we stayed in all day Sunday - I even did some scrapbooking! I can't ever remember a time that church has been canceled - so yesterday was a first for me. It started raining again and most of the snow washed away before we got around to taking a picture - but never fear! We're still under a severe weather alert - more snow is coming our way :)

A Great Holiday

Hmm, where to start? We had a fabulous Thanksgiving!! I realized how grateful I am for so many things. I am grateful for Cory and grateful that we have been sealed in the temple, making him mine forever. I am grateful to a wonderful family and grateful that some of them took the time (and money) to fly out east to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. I am grateful for awesome friends – I am truly blessed by wonderful friends who are great examples to me. I am grateful that I was raised by loving parents who did all they could for me and instilled values and ethics into me (and continue to support us in so many ways). I am also grateful for my awesome extended family! I am grateful to be a member of the true church, restored here on earth. And I am grateful that we can live in the birthplace of the Restoration – it really is a neat place to spend a few years of our lives.

Now that the mushy stuff is over … we had the best time in Washington D.C!! Man, what a cool city. It was my 2nd time being there and it was Cory’s 1st, so it was fun to share it with him. We did some sightseeing on Wednesday morning – we saw the Washington Monument, the WW2 Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The boys went rock-climbing in the afternoon to a state park in Virginia, and climbed along the cliffs that run alongside the Potomac River. On Thursday we played a rousing game of football and ate ourselves silly. My aunt Karan produced a feast and it was delicious!! I thought I might never be able to eat again, I was that full. Mom, Dad, Cory & I got up at 5:30 a.m. to participate in Black Friday shopping. We found some good deals on stuff we actually needed, so it was good to go. Plus it was Cory’s first Black Friday shopping experience, so that was fun. We did more sightseeing on Friday – we went to Manassas, which is where the Battle of Bull Run was fought (Civil War for those of you who need to brush up on American history). It was a very peaceful place to visit, and neat to see. We also went into the Air & Space Museum at Dulles airport and that was neat. They have all sorts of historic planes, including the Anola Gay (the plane that dropped the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima). We had our last day of sightseeing on Saturday, and we went into Arlington Cemetery. It’s such a neat place! There’s such a feeling of reverence and respect there. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched the changing of the guard. We also saw John F. Kennedy’s grave, along with the eternal flame that burns next to it. We took plenty of pictures there, since it’s such a large cemetery!! Mom, Joel, Em, Brett, Cory & I also got to go into the National Archives – we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. They are all very faded, but still – we were actually there looking at them! It was sweet!! My family had to split for the airport, so that left me, Cory, Em & Brett to explore some of the Museum of Natural History. We saw the Hope Diamond (largest in the world) and some cool mummies! It got cold so we went to dinner and then back to Em & Brett’s to watch Missouri trounce Kansas in college football. Oh well – at least LSU lost, too!

Pictures (from left to right): Manassas, WW2 Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, a rousing game of football in Karan's backyard, JFK's grave, Lincoln himself, Joel rock climbing, General Stonewall Jackson (in Manassas), Sarah holding her adorable cousin Paige, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, and the FEAST we ate.

Another book plug ... and Happy Thanksgiving!

My mom found me this great book! It's called Austenland and it's by Shannon Hale. For all you Jane Austen/Pride & Prejudice fans out there - this is the book for you! It's a modern day spoof on Jane Austen and it's hilarious! Never fear - it's still romantic and has the sweetest ending. So for those of you looking for an easy read, go get Austenland.

I just have to throw in here how excited I am for Thanksgiving!! We are headed down to Washington D.C. to spend time with family and friends. We’re going to (of course) go sight-seeing, so I will be uploading some new cool pics in the near future. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

In love with a vampire

Okay, I did something impulsive. I had New Moon (the 2^nd book in the Twilight series) on hold from the library and I was 4^th on the waiting list … then I placed a hold request for Eclipse (the 3^rd book) … and I was 16^th on the list. 16^th! I would be waiting forever … and you all know I am not that patient when it comes to waiting for good books! So I ended up buying all three books online, so I didn’t have to wait. Plus, now I own them so I can read them whenever I want – and they are sooo good that they are definitely worth owning! They finally came in the mail! I spent a good part of the week reading them … and I must say that I haven’t been this invested in the characters of a book since Harry Potter – which is partly why I find these books to be so good. Any author who can create fictional characters who feel so real that the readers are invested deeply in their lives – now that’s a mark of a very good author. Stephenie has created some wonderful characters! If you are reading this post and you still haven’t read the books in the Twilight series – go out and get them! They are as good as the Harry Potter books – which is the highest recommendation I can give a book - and that makes my heart very, very happy. Plus, she’s currently writing book 4 in the series, and that gives me something to look forward to reading!

Sacred Grove

This weekend was stake conference for us, which meant a trip to Palmyra (only about 45 minutes away). Elder Jensen from the Quorum of the Seventy was the visiting general authority, which was neat because he is from Huntsville (as is Cory), so we got to chat with him and his wife for a few minutes on Saturday night. After the general session on Sunday, we decided to take a walk through the Sacred Grove. It’s absolutely beautiful in the fall – I think it may be one of the prettiest times of the year for the Grove.


The Palmyra temple sits on part of the original 100 acres owned by the Smith family and you can see it clearly from the Smith home (which is next to the Sacred Grove). It's beautiful in the fall, framed by all the colors of the fall leaves.











We stopped by the Hill Cumorah on our way home and took a couple of pictures there, too. It was so pretty with all the fall colors surrounding the Hill. You can see the statue of Moroni in the top left hand corner.

Happy Halloween!

With midterms and both of us getting sick, we haven't really had the time to do much Halloween related fun. Too bad! And since we live in the middle of nowhere, we are not going to be getting any tricker-treaters. So ... sort of just a regular day for us. We did, however, take some gorgeous pictures of the fall colors out here, and so I figured I would post them. Fall really is a beautiful time of the year out here on the east coast!

These first 4 pictures were taken at our church - the Peter Whitmer Farm.

This one was taken down the road from our house, overlooking the lake. The last one is taken on the NYCC campus.

A really, really good book - take two

Okay, so yesterday’s post about this awesome book might have been a bit premature. Don’t get me wrong – the book is still awesome – but I posted that I was about 1/3 of the way done, and I should have known that I was going to go home after work and read obsessively until I was done with the book – which is exactly what I did. I stayed up until around 12:30 p.m. (which is late for me :) and I finished the book. I texted my cousin about halfway through and told her that I was in love with Edward – and she wrote back and said she was, too. This book sucks you right in, so be prepared to keep reading until the end … one simply can’t stop reading. I am not normally one for romance stories (sorry all you Jane Austen fans) but this book is just so, so good. It kept me reading until the end, desperate to know what happens with Edward & Bella. In my mind, that is a mark of a really, really good book ... and I'm very happy to have found another excellent author that I can recommend to everyone. I’ve got the next one in the series (New Moon) on hold from the library – I can’t wait for it to come! As one dear friend pointed out, I guess good things can come from BYU! :)

A really, really good book

I usually always post stuff about what’s going on in our lives … our travels and adventures here in New York. But I feel like simply waxing on about a subject dear to my heart … so consider yourself warned. :) On the topic of books: now for some rambling thoughts … many of you know how much I love the Harry Potter books. To me, they are spellbinding books … they are so well-written, so well thought out, so intricately woven, so very funny and heartwarming and teach so many good principles … all at the same time. I think they are truly literary masterpieces. After I had finished reading book 7 (twice) I was pretty bummed out. The series was over and though it ended brilliantly, I was sad that I could never look forward to another Harry Potter book. What had been a big part of my life was ended. I had a hard time finding things to read after Harry. I read some books with very lackluster interest. Nothing seemed to measure up and I honestly wondered if I would ever find another book that sucked me into its world the way that only Harry Potter books have ever done. I am happy to report that I have found such a book. On the recommendation of some dear friends, I got the book Twilight from the library. It’s written by Stephenie Meyer. And though I am only about 1/3 of the way through, I am hooked. She has drawn me into her world … all I want to do is read the book until I finish. Up until now, only the Harry Potter books have had this affect on me. I am happy that there is life after Harry (I know that I sound a bit pathetic) - but I am telling all of you to get this book! I’ll post something else when I have finished it!!

Pumpkin walk

This weekend was another nutrition one for Cory, and it was also right in the middle of 2 weeks of midterms.

Nevertheless, we went out to dinner with friends and to a pumpkin walk. I had a great time! Volunteers had carved over 700 pumpkins and they lined the path of a park. Someone even carved a Harry Potter pumpkin! We went with Jonathan & Jaime and Carlos & Erica (along with Alena, pictured, and Jacob, their 2 kids) - friends from NYCC. It was a nice night, even if the boys all had to go to school and take a test the following morning. I also got to watch most of the Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats college football game, and I am happy to report that my Gators won!

In over my head

Since Cory is so busy doing school, I got the bright idea of taking up a new hobby. After thinking about it for a while and taking suggestions from friends, I decided to buy a big puzzle. I want to put it together and then frame it. I ordered one in the mail and it arrived a few days ago ... so I finally got to work on it last night … and I think I might be in over my head. I bought a 1500 piece puzzle, which might be a bit much. Maybe I should have started with a 100 piece one :) I spent a few hours last night separating out the pieces with a straight edges so I could put the frame together first. This is definitely going to take lots of my time … and so begins my puzzle adventure. Stay tuned for future puzzle postings.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Cory! His birthday was Sunday, and we celebrated with a chicken cordon bleu dinner and peanut butter fingers for dessert. Besides church, he spent most of the day studying for the tests he has this week – aah, the fun of midterms. Birthdays just aren’t as much fun when you’re doing school full-time … in his case, more than twice full-time, with 34 credits total. Yikes. :)

Fall weather has definitely arrived … no more 80° days for us. We put away the air conditioners and rescued the sweaters from the deep recess of the closet. I’m still walking on air about the LSU Tigers losing on Saturday … and the #2 ranked team (CAL) lost, too. First time in 11 years that the two top ranked teams have lost on the same day … gosh, I truly love college football. Stay tuned for the Gators game next week … should be a good one!

The Wildcats win!!

We just got done watching the #17 ranked Kentucky Wildcats take down the #1 ranked LSU Tigers ... YES!!! It was a game that went into 3 overtimes and the Wildcats pulled it out! Guess LSU won't be ranked #1 when the new polls come out and I am ECSTATIC about it! And my USC Trojans pulled off a win, too. This year's wide open ... can't wait for next week!

What a great weekend

What a lovely weekend we had! I took off a little early from work on Friday, and Cory and I headed down southwest of us to a little city called Naples. It’s known for being the grape pie capital of the world … though we did not eat any of the grape pie. :) The weather was gorgeous – near 80° and bountiful sunshine. We’ve been having an Indian fall, though it is starting to look like fall, even if it doesn’t quite feel like it yet. The area was beautiful with half green leaves and half red & yellow. We hiked up a glen and saw some waterfalls, which were very pretty. We found a huge county park and walked around, looking at the views of the valley and playing on the swingset. We drove by Bristol Mountain, the tallest ski resort out here. It looked like Nordic Valley, only shorter. Alas, these are not the mountains of Utah, but it was very, very pretty down there. It was good to get away from our normal routine just for a night and see another part of this pretty state. Cory even took me out to dinner and we went to a new place that was delicious. The rest of the weekend we lounged around on the couch and watched general conference, which was (of course) very good this year. As always after conference is over, I aspire to be a better person. The time I got to spend with Cory this weekend was wonderful, especially since next week brings the icky midterms. He will spend all this week studying for the 8 or so tests he has next week … aah, the joys of taking 34 credit hours. :)


This is Cory in the county park, over looking the beautiful fall colors, practicing his yoga stance.

The country park had a teeter-totter so we got in touch with our inner child and played on it – and had a blast!! Cory was trying to throw me off ... he was almost successful.

A chiropractic widow

Cory went to a very useful seminar this weekend in Toronto, leaving me to fend for myself here at home. It was a seminar on the activator method, which is one of the tools a chiropractor can use to adjust people. It’s like a little clicker gun (see attached picture) that can be used instead of a manual adjustment (i.e. using his hands). I had a productive, if lonely weekend. Thanks to Jaime for hanging out with me as another chiro widow! (Her husband also attended the seminar). We had a missionary themed day at church, and I had the chance to speak as one of the ward missionaries (and also as the gospel principles teacher). It was a beautiful 3 hours of church – all about bringing people into the fold of God. I am more motivated than ever to be a better member missionary. The best part of the weekend was when Cory got home Sunday night and we could eat dinner together and I could hear all about the seminar. I’m definitely looking forward to general conference next weekend, and some time spent with Cory.

Relaxing weekend

Not too much to report on for this last weekend, but I am on such a role, posting every Monday that I don’t want to miss a week. We had a fairly normal Saturday - Cory did some studying, I cleaned the house and watched some college football – Go Trojans and Gators!! We went out to dinner Saturday night, which was delicious. On Sunday we had some really awesome meetings at church, and then got to be a part of a baptism. Her name is Nicole and she’s a 16 year old that the sisters have been working with … and she’s amazing. She fits right into the young women’s program and she was so excited to get baptized. The program was made up with all youth speakers who did an awesome job and one of the priests in the ward was the one who baptized Nicole. It was really neat to be there and be a part of it. I love convert baptisms! We also had the chance to have the sister missionaries over for dinner. We’re blessed to have 4 of them serving in the Fayette ward and they all are amazing! 2 of the 4 are going home tomorrow, so we’ll be getting some new ones. It’s always sad for me to have them leave, since we grow so close. The pictures above are of me & Sister Muhlestein (the blond) and me & Sister Henwood (the brunette) – the 2 sisters that will be going home. I will miss them both!

Nutrition program

Cory started the Master's of Clinical Nutrition program this past weekend. The program is 2 years in duration, with classes one weekend a month. He has 2 classes this trimester - one all day Saturday and one all day Sunday. One class is on macronutrients, which he says is a lot like organic chemistry (poor Cory!) and another class on vitamins, minerals and amino acids. This is a relatively new program at NYCC, but it's going to be a very good opportunity for Cory. Just think ... when he leaves NYCC, he will have earned 2 degrees ... a doctorate and a masters. Not too shabby for 3 1/3 years work! It's going to be a little rough on me, with him being gone one weekend a month (on top of all the time he spends for the D.C. program), but at least I have college football on Saturday and church on Sunday to keep me company ... plus, there's always scrapbooking :) I do need a new hobby though ... if anyone has any suggestions.

Hey it's the Broncos

My brother Tyler came into town on Friday for a visit. We showed him around on Saturday by hiking into see a waterfall and going down into Ithaca to see Cornell University and to soak up the intelligence in the air :) On Sunday, we went into Buffalo to see the Bills take on the Denver Broncos. We had pretty good seats and enjoyed the game. The Broncos were behind the entire game, but managed to kick a field goal in the last 2 seconds to win the game by 1 point. It was a nail biter, that's for sure. Even better, it was just nice to have Tyler hang out with us for a few days and have a first-hand taste of what we are doing here in western New York. Too bad he had to go home! We love having visitors!

Go Yankees

This past weekend, we went down to New York City - again! This makes 3 times within one year that we've visited NYC. We stayed in New Jersey, and there happened to be a big indoor climbing gym right down the road, so Cory took the opportunity to do some bouldering there for a few hours. On Saturday we drive through the Lincoln Tunnel and into Manhattan. This was the first time for both of us to drive in NYC - usually we use the subway system. We drove right past the NYC temple, up through Harlem and into the Bronx to Yankee stadium. Now we can say that we've driven in the city, but next time we're going to go back to using the subway :) We got to see the Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was so cool to be there in Yankee stadium and to see them play in person! Yankees won the game, topping off a really neat day in NYC.

Some good movies

Cory and I went to see 2 movies over the weekend. We drove up to Rochester where they have nice theaters, with stadium seating and large screens! These theaters do not exist here in Seneca Falls, so a one hour road trip was necessary. We saw “Stardust” & “Hairspray.” Both were excellent movies that I would recommend! “Stardust” was cleverly written – not your run-of-the-mill sappy love story – though it did have a really cute love story and ended happily ever after (the best kind of ending). “Hairspray” was tap-my-toes and groove-in-my-seat fun. If you haven’t seen these movies, go out to see them – or rent them when they get to DVD. I know I will be watching for them to come to DVD so I can buy them!

Letchworth State Park

This past weekend we took some time to drive down to a state park named Letchworth. It's called the "grand canyon of the east" and it's about an hour south of Rochester (which is an hour west of us). It was beautiful down there - very green with lots of trees. It's a big gorge that was cut out by a river a really long time ago. There were 3 main waterfalls and lots of hiking trails. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed ourselves very much. It was nice to have a weekend away from home!

Sister Missionaries

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner last week since it was right before transfer calls came out. I must say, I am very fond of the sisters and it's hard when they have to move on. But it's so fun to get to know so many of them as they come and serve in Fayette. We are lucky that we have 4 full-time sisters and 2 full-time elders assigned to our ward!

Cory's done

Finally! It's been a long 2 weeks of finals, but at last Cory is done! He's finished his 4th trimester of school and did very well - he's on the Dean's List again. I'm so proud of how well he is doing and he's grateful to have a few weeks of a break. He starts back up on September 5th and he'll be doing 2 programs - doctor of chiropractic and starting a master's in nutrition. He'll certainly be busy. But for now we are going to enjoy the time off and spend as much of it outdoors as possible!

Domestic Sarah

I just want to say that I am so domestic! :) My friend Jaime came over on Monday so we could do corn together. We cook it and then freeze it in baggies so we can have delicious corn all year long (I can't stand frozen corn from the store). We bought the corn from a local farmer and it was yummy! Jaime's husband is in Cory's class, so it was the girls doing some bonding while the boys studied for finals.