Lego Town

The following photo comes from Mike's Lego town. He's had boxes full of Lego bricks and finally decided that he needed to do something with them. Space for the town was limited to a tabletop, so he went with building facades along the back and side. There are a few surprises if you look closely. A couple of the buildings have have been changed since these pics were taken. The red and blue clock tower has been replaced with a building that holds a battery pack for lights for the church, so the church can light up at night and show off its stained glass.

Montreal trip

Here we are in front of Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica. Mike presented a paper at the American Educational Research Association's annual meeting, and Hallie came to cheer him on. We stayed at a B&B close to the Latin Quarter and took in all the fun sights and sounds of the city. Mike really enjoyed the feel of Montreal. It reminded him of Buenos Aires. We stayed for a week and toured around Old Montreal, took a bus tour, visited the botanical garden and Olympic Park, and ate way too much good food (poutin, smoked meat sandwiches, shwarama, fine fare, working folks' fare, etc.). We also did a lot of (Hallie thinks too much) walking to work it all off. Alas, or trip ended too quickly, and it was back to the old grind with renewed energy. Mike benefitted from listening to so many researchers that jazzed up his interest in the work of educational leadership, and for that we are grateful. 

Butterflies go free

This is a picture from the Montreal Botanical Garden. They are running an event called "Butterflies Go Free" where one of the greenhouses is dedicated to emrging butterflies from all over the world. You walk in and you see Owl, Monarch, and several other types float through the air, eat using their long straw mouths, rest, and otherwise just be. Pretty fascinating. 

Montreal Olympic Park

another experiment 

We trekked up to the Olympic Park and took in the sights and the Botanical Garden.

A Bit of New News

As of March 1, we will be living in some new digs. It is only about 1/2 block South of where we are now, but it will be a lot warmer for us. Our landlord is in our ward and we are quite excited about the prospects. She has a huge garden in the back and seems very excited to have us. Her name is Vola and she has a dog and a cat that seem friendly enough for Hallie to play with. Vola told us that we are awesome today. That makes ya feel good.
Today was busy as most Saturdays are. We left for Weight Watchers at about 7:30 am, then went grocery shopping at SuperTarget in Centerville, drive to Village Inn in Sandy for breakfast, went to Maxine's to do her monthly shopping, and finally got home about 3:30 or so. We turned around and did two loads to the new apartment stopped by B&D burgers for dinner and arrived home close to 6:00. Hallie read a bit in her textbook and then we have spent lots of time looking at maps that came in the mail of Montreal. Yes, for those of you that don't know we are going to Montreal in April for 8 days. Mike is attending a confrence with the University of Utah and they are paying for him to go. Hallie is tagging along as that is what she does best. Mike already wants to learn French. We are both very excited really to go. If you know us well enough you know that we will be of course staying in a bed and breakfast. Hallie spent about 5 hours last Saturday checking out all of the b & b's in Montreal. We finally found the one we think we will like and is a good price. A friend from the U will be staying there with us.
Hallie's brother Riley will be moving in with us on February 18th and we are looking forward to it. The two of us are happy to have an immediate member of the family so close to us. Hmmmm, maybe Hallie will have to have Sunday dinner ready for the three of us. Could turn into be a great tradition. If you call eating on the couch Sunday dinner, then there we go. Well that is really all the excitement from the twins here in Salt Lake City. Bye for now.

Just Plain Ill

I am sitting here watching the Bush Parade and I am coughing my head off. I have been sick since last Friday. The doctor on Tuesday said I have an ear infection and an upper respitory infection. The medicines that the dr. gave me definitely helped me sleep through the night. I went back to school today after missing two days and it was a lot of work. I will be home for a few days until I have to go to work. I am not looking forward to it in the slightest oh well. Last week at Weight Watchers I lost enough weight to put me back where I was this past June. Cross your fingers everyone that it keeps going down. Especially since the goal is Hawaii in October.

It Is A New Year

Well we stayed up and watched a bit of Rockin Eve with Regis. It was O.K. Then hit the hay till it was time for the Rose Parade to start at 9am. Pretty good parade this year. Sat around most of the day, and tried to start a puzzle. Mike did most of it. Yesterday I actually helped with a funeral in our ward. On Tuesday I help with our Primary Pianist funeral. So we will be busy once the week starts again. We are counting the minutes away until the Fiesta Bowl starts and we can cheer the Utes to victory. Everyone here is so excited about them getting to a bowl game. It is time for the decorations to come down soon. Not excited to realize school starts on the 10th. Oh well hopefully I can make it on the Deans List next semester also. Hope you have fun reading our blogs.