Thomas leaving and my Boston Visit

Since Thomas left to start his mission on May 29.  We spent the 18th in Logan for his farewell, and Memorial day weekend in St. George for our the last family trip he could go on for a couple years.  We played pool, tennis, ticket to ride, and pandemic.  We went to the Tuachan street market on Sat. for their farmer's market and I got a cute new maxi skirt.  Then went to the outlets where I scored a pair of levi's for 15.00! We explored snow canyon, and played some frisbee golf. We were able to go to a temple session at the St. George temple (and then take tons of pics...)

"the boys"

Tuachan Amphitheater in St. George

at the farewell

On wed. when Thomas was going into the MTC we went out to lunch before hand at the Cheesecake factory (the exact same restaurant we went to for my "last meal" as well!)  It was really sad to see him leave and I already miss him a lot, but we've since heard from him and he is enjoying the MTC so far.

Last moment with him before shipping him to the MTC

This past week I've been previewing life as it will be in BOSTON!  (all caps because of how freaking exciting it is).  The neuroscience graduate program flew everyone in the incoming class our for an orientation.  There are 10 of us newbies ready to dedicate our lives to science.  I was nervous about meeting everyone, but they are all so fun.  It's 6 guys and 4 girls, and a diverse set of interests and backgrounds. We spent the week touring labs, learning where everything is, who's labs we want to work in, and getting to know each other.  We also scored some free tickets to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park!  (The Sox were playing Texas Rangers and beat them by a lot, I think it was 13-3 or something when I left.)


At the end of the week we were able to attend the annual retreat for all neuro students and faculty and hear about everyone's research in a relaxed, fun, overnight stay at a conference center in Essex.  We spent the afternoon kayaking and it was beautiful there! Now I feel like I have a better handle on the area, where I might live, getting to class, and meeting everyone so that when we dive in to classes in sep. it won't be such a steep learning curve.

Sea Kayaking tour in Essex, MA

This is where the conference retreat was held, GORGEOUS

While out there I realized searching for housing is a little crazy, they only have 1 year leases available and they only start on one day, sep. 1.  (after orientation at bu begins).  So that is rather inconvenient, but after making lots of changes in our original plans, we think we might have found something.

I was also able to spend some time with a college friend, Emily, her husband Ryan, and their adorable 1 year old Henry.

While I was gone, Nathan was finishing up the loan-underwriting for his internship (he recommended that they do loan the money, and after his convincing speech to all the big important people at RSF, they are going to :) Sorry, that was a little more bragging. ) He also played racquetball, ate at Panda Express (which I hate, so that never happens when I'm here), went out for some albanian food with a mission bud, ate lots of frozen foods, and went grocery shopping.  It is pretty funny to see what foods I buy vs. him.  One benefit though is that after he goes shopping there is always ice cream in the freezer. He also kept me entertained by periodically sending me pics of our hedgehog throughout my trip :)