No school!

The weather this past week has been absolutely beautiful! I figure maybe the weather gods are trying to make it up to us for putting us through such an awful winter! To celebrate such good weather we went down to Ithaca on Friday – a very cool city – and bought me a new bike! Of course we had to try it out so we went for a bike ride on Saturday morning, before a HUGE rainstorm came in. It was beautiful! We rode to a place called Montezuma Wildlife Refuge – a 36,000 acre wildlife habitat. Lots and lots of species of birds call Montezuma home. It was a beautiful ride.

We also stopped by New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) on our way home to take some pictures, since it’s such a striking campus. We went out to dinner after our ride, to this very tasty Mexican place and then to a movie - we saw Forbidden Kingdom – and it was really quite good. It was an actual date with my husband! We seriously haven’t spent a Saturday together like that since January so it was VERY nice. I love him not being in class for these 2 weeks!!!

We’re headed down to D.C. tomorrow for more fun and I am REALLY excited!

Let the good times roll!

Cory’s done with school! Well, done with his 6^th trimester! He had 13 tests these last 2 weeks, and a lot of the tests doubled up on days, which means he actually took 13 tests in only 8 days (with some extra days thrown in there for studying) PLUS all the stuff he had to do for the Master’s in Nutrition. He’s amazing!! He did so well that he’s on the Dean’s List for this trimester. I’m so proud of him!! He’s got 2 weeks off from school before he goes back to start his 7^th trimester – and I’m soooo ready to enjoy it with him!

So to kick off the enjoying … we went up to see a replica of the Dead Sea Scrolls on Friday. The LDS church has replicas and they were on display at the Hill Cumorah visitor’s center. We went up with our friends Carlos & Erica (and kids Jacob and Elena) and Jonathan & Jaime. The visitor’s center is shaped like a U and they had the displays set up all around. We got to watch an intro video about the Scrolls – the community who kept them and where they were found. I copied this from the internet: “The Dead Sea scrolls consist of roughly 1000 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1979 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) in Israel. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include practically the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents made before 100 AD, and preserve evidence of considerable diversity of belief and practice within late Second Temple Judaism.”

It was all VERY interesting. We wore walkmans (it totally felt like the 80’s again!) and walked around the whole exhibit, while listening to some British sounding lady tell us all about the Scrolls. I went online to look up more information, so if anyone is interested, here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran

Pictures left to right: A replica of the community Qumran, who were the keepers of the Scrolls; Sarah, Jonathan and Jaime in front of the Isaiah scroll (the Isaiah scroll is over 20 feet long!); Cory, Jonathan and Jaime in front of the Isaiah scroll; and Jonathan, Jaime, Erica, Sarah (holding Elena), Carlos (holding Jacob) and Cory, outside the Visitor's center at the base of the Hill Cumorah.

We also had all the same people over to our house for Sunday night dinner. I made a couple of pizzas and everyone got to pick their own toppings. It was really tasty! Jaime brought this yummy spinach salad with strawberries and it was delicious. The kids were hilarious to watch eat - Jacob ate all the toppings (including the sauce) off his pizza and then munched on the crust. Elana kept dipping her spinach into her glass of water and kept telling me it was her dressing. It was sooo funny! We sat around and talked, threw the frisbee around, and just enjoyed the fact that finals are over!! It was an awesome Sunday evening.

I’m so glad finals are done!! We are going to enjoy our gorgeous weather this week! Next week we are going to head down to D.C. for a few days and we are STOKED!

2008 Getting to Know You

Well, I have nothing to post since it's week 2 of finals for Cory. Danielle sent this to me by email and I thought it would work for a blog posting. So here goes nothing! (and no, I'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to do it, if you want - it's pretty fun)

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:10 – late start!

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds … or anything else that sparkles!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Seriously I have no idea … Enchanted at the dollar theater and before that … ?? … it’s been a while!!

4. What is your favorite TV show? CSI & Bones

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? If I had my way I would have French toast every morning … but it depends on how much time I have. Usually cereal or an omlette.

6. What is your middle name? Tate! (or Sue – depends on who you ask :)

7. What food do you dislike? Squash and peas

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? The soundtrack to Hairspray

9. What kind of car do you drive? A red Honda Civic

10. Favorite Sandwich? Turkey, spinach, swiss cheese and bacon! Yummy!

11. What characteristic do you despise? Is immorality a characteristic? Cause that's my answer.

12. Favorite item of clothing? Flip flops

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Oh sheesh, anywhere. I am currently really looking forward to Boston & Maine!

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Aah, I don’t care. Whatever fits. Is Kohl’s a brand?

15. Where would you retire to? Southern California!

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Birthdays when I was younger and we used to go downtown SLC and take horse-drawn carriage rides, and have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate by the Church Office Building.

17. Favorite sport to watch? Ooh it’s a tie between football and basketball.

18. Farthest place you are sending this? Back to Utah, I guess

19. Person you expect to do it? I don't know, surprise me!

21. When is your birthday? December 20

22. Are you a morning person or a night person? Neither … I think I am getting old! :)

23. What is your shoe size? Last pair of shoes I bought were running sneakers and they are a 3 ½! I had to buy them in the kiddie section!

24. Pets? Nope

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Cory is done with finals!!!!!!!!!!! (not new but definitely exciting!!)

26. What did you want to be when you were little? A lawyer, architect, astronaut, CIA agent … the list is very long.

27. How are you today? Just peachy

28. What is your favorite candy? Sour gummy bears (or worms)

29. What is your favorite flower? Roses and lilacs

30. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? April 29^th – we’re headed down to DC!!!!

32. What is your full name? Sarah Tate Bingham

33. What are you listening to now? Nothing … people talking

34. What was the last thing you ate? Leftover homemade pizza for lunch!

35. Do you wish on stars? Totally – when I was younger.

36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Orange

37. How is the weather right now? Oh my gosh, it’s absolutely gorgeous!!

38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Cory

39. Favorite soft drink? I love crème soda, wild cherry Pepsi … but I drink more water than anything else

40. Favorite restaurant? Oh where do I start! Wingers, Robintinos, anything Mexican, Friendly’s …

41. Hair color? Brown, same as it’s always been

42. What was your favorite toy as a child? My big wheel

43. Summer or winter? Summer all the way!!

44. Hugs or kisses? Both are wonderful

45 Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate – or a swirl of both flavors

46. Coffee or tea? neither

47. Do you want your friends to email you back? sure

48. When was the last time you cried? This morning – anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech makes me very sad.

49. What is under your bed? Dust, probably

50. What did you do last night? Went for a walk with Cory, made pizza together, watched American Idol and sewed a blanket.

51. What are you afraid of? Losing a loved one

52. Salty or sweet? Both – especially together! (hello Wendy’s fries in your Frosty!)

53. How many keys on your key ring? I had to look – 7

54. How many years at your current job? 1 ½

55. Favorite day of the week? Saturdays

56. How many towns have you lived in? Um, 5 I think (Farmington, Rexburg, Wuhan, Logan, Seneca Falls)

57. Do you make friends easily? Usually

Happy birthday Mormons!

Yesterday was April 6th - the day the LDS church was officially re-organized here in Fayette, New York. Happy birthday to us Mormons! We're now 178 years old :) I had a testimony of Joseph Smith before we moved out here ... but now having walked through the Sacred Grove, sat at the top of the Hill Cumorah, stood in the room where the angel Moroni first visited Joseph Smith and been in the home where Joseph received some of the revelations that became the Doctrine and Covenants ... I can now say that my testimony has increased. I know without a doubt that he was visited by the Father and the Son, and that he restored the full and everlasting gospel to the earth. I know he was our first prophet and having walked where he walked - I can say that I love him.

Pictures from left to right: Sacred Grove, Peter Whitmer farm house, and room inside the frame home where the Smith family lived.

General Conference over the weekend only served to re-enforce those feelings. I said to Cory the other day that I was so grateful to be a Mormon and to have been raised by wonderful parents who instilled in me such good values. Living in an area where Mormons are the minority (ironic, since it all started here) I am so grateful to have the standards and direction that I do. Watching other people struggle through life without much direction (or many standards) makes me ever so grateful that I have all the direction I need. I'm so grateful to be a member of this church and know for myself that it is true!