Alaska!

So Liz and I had the awesome chance to go up to Sitka, Alaska, to visit my sister Debbie and her family (thanks again, Boardmans!). We had a fantastic time with them. I am not going to post many pictures here, mostly because we took over four hundred and it would be too hard to choose which ones to post and which not to post on our blog, given the present tedious nature of such uploads. If you would like to see a much more complete set of pictures, please see my Facebook page.

Where to begin? We got there on Monday night, and Liz and I were pretty pooped out from the flights, so we just hung around Debbie and RD's cool house. The windows are amazing, with a great view of at least part of Sitka. On Tuesday we went for a hike up Harbor Mountain, which was pretty laidback for everyone except RD, who had a bit of a harder task because he was carrying Grace in a back-pack carrier (which he did the whole week on our hikes). The scenery was beautiful, with tall trees towering throughout the trek (along with bushes, shrubs, flowers, etc.). The top of the mountain offered a commanding view of the whole Sitka city and harbor, as well as the surrounding mountains and distant volcano protruding through the clouds. We had a great picnic lunch (anything with Doritos is great), I played some tag with the kids, and we sat around enjoying the sun and watching bald eagles flying overhead.

After the hike, we went to Sandy Beach, where RD and Grace played around in the cold ocean spray while Liz, Reese and I hunted starfish. Liz ended up finding a giant cache of purple and orange ones hiding beneath the rocks, while Reese went on to find many a crab and sea anemone. After playing there for an hour or so, we headed back to base camp to enjoy a yummy dinner and play Carcassonne with the adults (we played plenty of it that week!).

The next morning Debbie was doing a dance performance and wanted us to wait until Thursday's show to see her, so while the Boardmans went to support their mom Liz and I wandered over to the Sheldon Jackson museum, home to many of this old missionary's tribal items that he gathered during his many years in Alaska. It was pretty cool! Afterward we wandered down the main street and had king salmon and halibut at the Wild Spot, a small street vendor. The salmon was good, but the halibut definitely took the cake!

That afternoon we went on another hike to Mosquito Cove, which thankfully--despite its name--is not home to swarms of mosquitoes. With our bear mace to defend us, we hiked through to a nice little cove with tall grass to play in. However, some dogs off the leash came through to disrupt us, so we made a quick hike out, stopping to take some pictures of course! After the hike, we hurried over to Fortress of the Bears, where one of RD's colleagues graciously showed us the bears and small petting zoo. We saw five different brown bears, from a safe distance of course! Unfortunately they were mostly sleeping, but one did humor us a bit and walk around. They are huge animals! We then had a fun time feeding the sheep, dwarf horse, and goats. Speaking of goats, they are mean little buggers! The one ram would butt aside the little babies to get at the carrots we were offering, so we had to resort to subterfuge to get them to the babies (thankfully, goats aren't the smartest animals in the wild).

We had a lazy morning the next day, eating Debbie's delicious blueberry morning (think French Toast + blueberries + cream cheese + blueberry sauce = yummilicious!). Then we went to see Debbie's performance, and she did awesome!!!! She is part of the New Archangel dancers, a group of women that performs traditional Russian and Ukrainian dances in honor the Sitka's unique historical heritage, being the former capital of Russian America. She performed in four of the six dances, and was very graceful and had a great smile on her face :) The kids loved clapping for her, and RD and Liz were vocal in their cheers. After the show, the weather turned sour (for the only time in the whole week, luckily!!!), so we had another night of dinner and Carcassonne.

Friday, we went fishing!! RD, Liz and I went out early am to the same place I went last year where I caught my first fish ever, an Alaskan silver salmon. The pink were in season this time, so we went ahead and started our casting. Liz did amazing--she caught four fish her first time every fly-fishing!! I hooked a bunch of salmon, but only ended up bringing one in to shore (though I did catch a bass and another, small fish). After our great fishing trip, we went to Totem Park, which is home to many native Alaskan totem poles, which was a fun little hike. Some bear scad had been spotted in the park, so we brought along the bear mace again, but luckily we avoided any contact. Gracie and the boys loved around picking and eating wild berries; or rather, Reese and Cameron loved picking berries while Gracie loved eating them. She's learning quickly, that one!

After the hike, RD and Debbie got a babysitter and the adults went down to the city to see Harry Potter VII(b)! I loved it, and I think everyone else did too, though Debbie mentioned she wished everyone were more excited at the end of the epic battle. After the movie and dinner, RD and I headed out again to see if I could have any more luck fishing, but unfortunately it was just not my day! There were a number of salmon, but none biting my line at least. It was still fun and peaceful out there, though.

Saturday we went to Cameron's and Reese's soccer practices, which were a lot of fun. Cameron was acting out as Luke Skywalker in one of his drills, and he certainly did look like a Jedi, darting between the balls going for him. He fell valiantly in the end, but it was a good fight. Reeser was one of the fastest kids in his group, so it was fun to watch them.

That afternoon, we had a weenie roast! RD built a great fire, and Reese and I skipped rocks while Debbie and Liz relaxed on the rocky beach. Err.... Well, they at least sat on it watching us. After eating hot dogs, we roasted marshmallows and had delicious smores. A great way to end the week! On Sunday, we went with the Boardmans to church, and they have an awesome, log-cabin-style meetinghouse (kind of like the lakehouse, Mom and Dad). We had awesome fish tacos and some more games of Carcassonne.

Monday came far too quickly. RD had to go to work as well, which was unfortunate, so we just kind of hung around the house playing with the kids. One o'clock and our departure came far too quickly, but vacations must end at some point. After what seemed like forever, we ended up back in Cambridge, MA.

So we had a wonderful, wonderful time in Alaska! It was full of natural beauty and fun things to do, and above all, family! Thanks again Boardmans for the fun times, hearty laughs, Italias sodas (just one or three more, right RD?), great photos, and good memories.

Fourth of July / Hill Cumorah Pageant

At the last minute Dave and I decided to go to Michigan for Thanksgiving. We were wanting to go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant---and it was at least half-way to Michigan, so we figured why not? Plus I'm not sure we'll be able to go for Christmas---because I'll be 8 months pregnant.

So we had a lot of fun with Dave's family at their Lake House in Whitehall, MI, near Lake Michigan. It's so beautiful there!! Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures... drrr. But we did take some pictures from the parade in Whitehall. Here's a cute picture of Leah, Ava, Jacob and Hannah:

On our way home from Michigan we stopped in Palmyra, NY and went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was cool. I'd never been there, and it's been a very long time for Dave. So we enjoyed walking through the Sacred Grove. It was so quiet, peaceful and reverent there. That was probably our favorite spot to visit. We also toured Joseph Smith's farmhouse. Then we stopped by the outside of the Palmyra Temple--very beautiful. Then we headed over to the pageant. We were both very impressed with the pageant. No offense to Manti, but this pageant was so much better :)  Really though, it was put together very well and we really enjoyed it. I'm sure we'll take our kids there someday!

We're having a Baby!

Yes, we are expecting baby number one! We had the first ultrasound appointment on 30 June. It was so cool to see! He/She was very active, moving all over the place! I have a feeling it won't be very comfortable though in a few months :)

We actually found out that I was pregnant on Mother's Day---which was kind of funny. I didn't feel quite so guilty taking my chocolate that day that they were handing out to all the mothers :)  Not that I should have either way.

So, the doctor told me the due date was either Jan. 13 or Jan. 15. This is also kind of funny since my birthday is on Jan. 14. So we'll see when he/she decides to come!

We're very excited!! Here's a picture of the ultrasound-- so adorable. We are biased though :)

Apartment Tour

Here it is at last. The tour of our apartment! Instead of taking a bunch of pictures we thought it would be better to just make a movie. But first, here is a picture of the outside of our townhouse:


And here is the apartment video tour!!

Goodbye Utah!! Hello Massachusetts!

Moving across the country... where do I begin? It was NOT fun. We left on Thursday, 2 Jun.

The 12 hour driving days we estimated for driving here were quite a bit longer. When driving through hilly Wyoming with a heavy Uhaul we occasionally were only going 35 mph. So from SLC to Lincoln Nebraska it took us about 16 hours. We stayed with my cousin Mark Bernards. It was great to see him again! Then from Lincoln to Farmington Hills, Michigan it took about the same, 16 hours.

We stayed with Dave's parents for a bit longer. It was nice to have a bit of a break. We arrived there Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. It was great seeing Dave's sister Juliana who recently returned from her mission in Portugal. And we had dinner with all the family on Saturday evening. It was great to see everyone! Next time we plan to make our visit longer :)

So when we realized that Dave's passport expired the day we were going to drive through Canada we decided we better go the southern route to be safe. So instead of leaving early Monday morning, as was planned, we left Sunday afternoon to break up the trip and make sure we arrived to Cambridge in time the next day to pick up our key etc. We we stayed at a Laquinta hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania. Of course with our big Uhaul and car trailer they had half the parking lot closed for some maintenance. So parking was insane. But the hotel manager was helpful and we just parked by the front door---not actually in a parking space. And the next morning I had to do a 100 point turn to get out. Talk about stressful! But we made it :)

So we arrived in Cambridge about 5 PM, dropped off the car trailer. Then I drove the Uhaul to our apartment while Dave took the car to go get the keys. Our new ward (Cambridge 2nd) Elder's Quorum were there to help us unload. They were so amazing!!

So now we're here! Unpacked. I'm just looking for a job. Dave's been working already. He likes his job for the most part. We're trying to spend this summer getting to know the area---and all the tourist places---before Dave has to start school.

We really like our apartment and can't wait for visitors (hint, hint :)). We're grateful for all those who have helped us this last month---it's definitely been a crazy one! So thanks :)

Here's some pictures of Dave and I driving the Uhaul... so fun!

 

Western rodeo trip

So as a last hurrah out here in the West, Liz and I took a week off work to travel to Nevada and California to see Grandma Geiger and Aunt Karen in Reno, and Brian and Brooklyn Braithwaite and their family in Monterey, California. It was an awesome trip (and a small taste of our move to come). We stayed in Reno on Monday and Tuesday and hung out with the Geigers, eating tasty food, watching The Price is Right and Dancing With the Stars, and enjoying good conversation and of course some games of pinochle! Grandma is as much of a talented card shark as always, and she loved playing!


For dinner on Tuesday night we went to Toucan Charlie's at the Atlantis, which was amazing as always (thanks, Grandma and Karen!), followed by our game of pinochle. I had made an attempt to make buttercake as well, which turned out okay, though not great (less yeast and a smaller pan next time!). We enjoyed that during our meals.

After Reno we went to California, stopping off in San Francisco for a day. We had grand plans to see much of the tourist spots, but we underestimated the traffic, parking, and difficulty in biking around. When we finally found a parking spot and got our bikes out, we figured that we should first head for the Golden Gate Bridge. After a few mishaps (e.g., accidentally getting onto a highway with no bike lane), we found the right road to get to the bridge, though Liz's bike suffered an accident when her bike cleat got stuck in the pedal and came off her shoe. She was a trooper, though, and kept going even with that. We finally made it to the Bridge!



We biked across the bridge, weaving our way through oblivious pedestrians (Liz's bell came in handy). It was very windy, but offered a beautiful view of the bay and the ocean. I was a little nervous at times, given my fear of heights, but I survived making it across. When we got to the other side a pleasant German couple asked us to take their picture and then returned the favor.



On our way back to the car, I got a flat tire, so we decided to end our adventure in San Francisco. We managed to barely beat rush-hour traffic and escaped to Highway 1 to enjoy the scenic route down to Monterey. We got to the Braithwaites' house and enjoyed a fun first evening with them (the kids were very friendly from the outset). Adam and James had shaved their heads to be like dad, and they look like little tough guys. The next day we were tourists with Brian and Brooklyn, visiting the Fisherman's wharf, Carmel's expensive shopping district, and the beach. We ended the night by teaching pinochle to Brian and Brooklyn (they caught on quickly!).





The next day was full as well. In the morning we went to the military's language institute to see their International day, where the native teachers from various countries performed traditional dances and had booths with fun. It was pretty interesting, and it was fun to see everyone saluting Brian. After that, we did a short hike into a nearby canyon that had some redwoods.



After the hike we went to the Monterey Bay aquarium, which was really neat. I think my favorite was the octopus they had; apparently they are very intelligent creatures and can recognize humans by our 'taste' on their tentacles. Of course, there were also a few "save the planet" posters (or a lot of them).



Our last day we went ocean-kayaking, which was a blast! Unfortunately all of the pictures are on Liz's camera, which is currently packed away somewhere, so we will have to post them later, probably on Facebook. It was fun, though, especially with all of the sea lions around. I tried to get them to chase up by splashing water at them, but that didn't work. Oh well. They are very loud and very smelly, though, especially the big bulls that just spend their time sun-bathing on the rocks.

We bid farewell to the Braithwaites and spent the next night with Grandma and Karen, playing a final game of pinochle which went down to the wire! We both went under once and at the final hand were both playing for the game (the score was 116 to 108). Liz won the bid as the bidder, and she and Grandma went on to beat Karen and I by ten or so points to complete their comeback bid. Oh well! It was a lot of fun! We finished the trip back home exhausted but very happy that we were happy to see everyone we did before moving out to Boston!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! There is nothing quite like waking up on a beautiful, sunny Sunday Easter morning. It shouts out, "life is wonderful!" and, I think, testifies to the grandeur of God and the reality of Christ's resurrection. I love how, at least here in the northern hemispheres, Easter (typically) coincides with the start of spring, when life renews itself again for the year.

Well, a lot has happened since the last time we updated this post. The biggest news, in case you haven't heard, is that we have finally decided on a law school--Harvard! It was a difficult decision, coming down to Harvard and a full-ride at Virginia. I flew out to visit both schools, and liked both of them, but Liz and I both felt that, over the long-term, HLS was the better option. I just sent in my acceptance letter and first deposit (which is what they really care about) a week ago, so everything is official. I am sorry to my family in Michigan that we didn't end up going to UofM, but hey, at least we are a day closer! And Boston is a great place, so now you all have an excuse to visit us as well.

I finally heard back from Stanford yesterday--waitlisted. I was expecting it and so it comes as no surprise. A few months ago I figured that even if I got into Stanford, I would still want to go to Harvard (better clinicals, clerkship placements, more journals, etc.), so I am completely happy with where I ended up. (I almost withdrew from SLS but wanted them to have to work to earn the $100 application fee.)

And in more surprising news, we are moving to Cambridge at the beginning of June! I saw an open spot as a summer research assistant for a professor at HLS, Einer Elhauge, and so applied for it. The work is remarkably similar to what I do at CRA, and so I was well qualified for it, and they offered me the job! I am excited (and a little nervous) for it, because not only will I be doing some data analysis for the job, but I will also be responsible for drafting up expert reports and, likely, also managing some cases over the summer. It is somewhat daunting to consider being in charge of a case's progression, but as I consider it, every new thing that we do is daunting at first. Growth and experience really only come when we move out of our comfort zones, so this job will be a catalyst in that. Liz is also excited to move out early, both to (1) have more time to settle into Cambridge without the stress of law school, and (2) hopefully have an easier time finding a job since we will be there earlier in the summer.

We have already found a very cute (we hope) townhouse in Cambridge to live in. If you google "Shaler Lane Cambridge MA" you can find a link to the street. While I was at HLS for their admitted students' weekend, the LDS students hosted a little get-together at a different house on Shaler, and it was a nice little place, so we are looking forward to it. We took some measurements and it is approximately the same size as our current apartment, so thankfully we are not moving into someplace much smaller. We will have a second bedroom, so anyone who wants to come visit has a place to stay (at least until a baby comes...)!

So those are the biggest developments for us. We just bought a new road bike for Liz yesterday; she had sold her mountain bike a few weeks ago, since I have a road bike, and we had been looking around for a good deal. It is being shipped here, so we hope to have at least a few weekends to do some biking and/or hiking before we head out to Boston. Our new apartment is right next to the Charles River and a city bike/running path, so Liz is particularly excited about that.

It's rather strange to think about moving in a little over a month (and leaving CRA in three weeks). We have always known we would be leaving Utah this summer, but it had seemed so far away, and now we have the date circled on the calendar for packing and moving. It will be a huge change for us, but we are excited about it. Another branch of the Geiger family staking out a part of the country for itself. We are taking the opportunity, before we leave, to visit Grandma Geiger in Reno, NV, and Liz's brother Brian and his family in California. I have never been to CA, apart from the small section of Lake Tahoe that is in it, so that will be fun. They live in Monterrey, which is close to the ocean and also San Francisco. We are also hoping to visit the redwood forests, if we have time. Any suggestions?

And to end as we began, here is Elder Holland's Easter talk from last year...

Dave's Birthday / Valentines Day

Dave has been working on a huge project at work that in January took up A LOT of his time. But he finished on the first week in February. So, to celebrate, we decided to do something fun. We considered Vegas and St. George. But then we decided we didn't want to drive far. So we went to a B&B up in Midway. Midway is a really cute little Swiss town up by Heber, UT. We went the night before his birthday so I gave him his birthday present up there. I got him a Kinect for the the XBox. He loved it, of course. And I've enjoyed it too!

A Happy Birthday, for Liz

I don't like to draw a lot of attention to myself---but this post is actually about how wonderful Dave is.

So, for my birthday last Friday, 14 Jan, he bought me an Ingrid Michaelson piano music book and the BBC movie "North & South". Unlike Christmas, I had no idea what to expect so I was pleasantly surprised at what he picked!! I thought he was very thoughtful :)

I think Dave is wonderful and I'm so happy we're married now. Now I just need to decide on his birthday present!

I'm really excited now about buying piano music to learn. Dave's parents gave us a really nice keyboard for Christmas (thanks!) and I really am going to try to make use of it :)

A Very Merry Christmas!!

Dave and I had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The previous post shows that we went shooting with a lot of my brothers. And after that we went eat delicious soup my sister-in-law Ann made. Then we came home, put dinner in the crock pot, Dave went to Costco to get his snazzy new glasses, I put together our never-too-late cookie plates and then my brother Joe and his wife Liz and son Peter came over for dinner. So we ate dinner and played UpWords (AKA best game ever). Then when they left we delivered the rest of our cookies. Hardly anyone was home, as expected. But it was fun anyway! We ended the night by watching one of our favorite movies, "White Christmas". 

The next morning we awoke early so we could unwrap our presents before talking with Dave's sister Juliana on the phone. She is serving a mission in Portugal, so Dave's family all conference called with her. It was nice to hear from her (especially since I don't know her well, we've only met once really).

Dave and I really enjoyed giving each other presents---we both did a good job, I feel, on picking what the other person really wanted. So it was fun. We also made sure to start our own tradition of reading about the birth of our Savior in both the Book of Mormon and New Testament. And we watched a portion of the video "Reflections of Christ" which is really good!

After we finally go ready for the day we drove up to Perry to have dinner/celebrate with my family. It was a lot of fun. We played games, opened more presents, ate lots of food and just hung out. I even started to learn how to knit--thanks Brooklyn!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful for the reminder and emphasis on Christ's birth each year. We went earlier in the week to the production "Savior of the World" at the Conference Center downtown. It was so beautiful and so great to see their portrayal of Christ's birth and resurrection. I highly recommend you go next year, if you are close to SLC. We love you all and hope you each had a wonderful Christmas as well!!

 Our beautiful tree. We bought a star finally :)

I bought Dave an argyle sweater---I finally convinced them they weren't just for old men. And they go very well with his new glasses, don't you think?

 And here are the pajama pants I picked for him---I wasn't sure that he'd like them---but he does! Much better than basketball shorts :)

 And here is a coat I actually picked out myself. I love red coats! 
Thanks Dave :)

And here is a sweater that Dave picked all by himself. Good choice honey!!

Opening another present! By the way, the red pajamas were from Dave too :)

 Dave has been talking a lot about a game called "Dominion" and how much he LOVES it. So I got it for him---now I just need to learn how to play it!

Boots! Love them :)

 This is Dave closing his eyes because he was so scared that I hadn't gotten him StarCraft 2. He's been asking  me for the past month, "Did you get me StarCraft 2? Did you get me StarCraft 2?" So, now he can rest. He'll be taking the Monday after Christmas off, even though I work, so he can hopefully get it out of his system :) Time will tell....

Ah, true love (above!)

 But this is even better true love :)

Dave in his new Santa hat holding "Despicable Me" from his sister Becky. Thanks Becky for everything.

And thank-you to everyone one else too!!

Shooting Guns = A Great Christmas Eve Activity :)

My brother Brian is in town from California so we decided that one of the fun things we could do while he was here was to shoot some guns. So a lot of the brothers and brothers-in-law and just one sister (me) went out by Will's house in Saratoga Springs and did some target practice and skeet shooting. Lots of fun!

Getting ready for Christmas!!!

Dave and I had a lovely Thanksgiving with his Grandmother and Aunt Karen in Reno, NV. We did some Black-Friday shopping too and found our lovely Christmas tree! Aunt Karen gave us a lot of great ornaments for our tree, which we love!! Plus we got most of our Christmas shopping done, which was very nice.

Here are some pictures, right after we put up our new Christmas tree and lights:

NYU & University of Pennsylvania

In the past month Dave has been admitted to New York University and University of Pennsylvania. They are both very good schools---but being admitted was a bit anticlimactic after getting into Harvard we felt. But it's still very excited and we're glad he was admitted!

We're still waiting to hear from a few more schools and to know what financial aid and scholarship options are before we make our decision. So we hope to know by March.

Harvard Law!

So this Monday continued the string of excellent news regarding law school admissions! I was sitting at my desk when I got a call on my cellphone from a (617) area code. I am working a lot with our Boston office on a case, so I immediately recognized it as a Boston number, and I thought I recognized the number as the one that called me from Harvard a week prior, but I didn't dare get my hopes up. When I answered the phone and the caller identified himself as Josh Rubenstein, the assistant dean of admissions at HLS, I knew instantly that it was going to be great news--and it was! He offered me a spot in the class of 2014. To say the least, I was--and am--very excited, as was Liz.

The information package got to us on Saturday,which was a wonderful "welcome home" letter to find after spending a wonderful Thanksgiving with Grandma Geiger and Aunt Karen. Liz and I spent some time looking through it, and needless to say, we are very excited about the prospect of going to Boston for law school! It will be a bit tougher financially, since Harvard does not give merit-based aid and I doubt we qualify for need-based aid, but it would probably be worth it in the long run. That's not to say that we have decided anything, because we haven't, but it is definitely something that we are very interested in!

So what do you all think? UVA, Michigan, or HLS?