BOSTON

Wow so apparently my blog about our trip to BOSTON in May was never actually posted. SO here it is!!

What an INCREDIBLE experience. Ken and I are so grateful that we were able to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity and visit Boston MA. It was an awesome week, truly amazing, though crazy, tiring, stressful, happy, exciting, ect ect ect. Lets start from the BEGINNING.

Wed. May 16th- We made our flight at 4:40pm in Lubbock (barely) only to find out that our 2 hour layover in Dallas had become a 5 hour layover, meaning we wouldn't be getting into Boston until 3am. BUMMER, but the airport in Dallas is actually quite nice. We had dinner, watched TV did a little browsing through the MANY airport stores and before we knew it we were on the road (um, in the air) again.

Thurs. May 17th- We arrived in Boston at about 3:30am... got back to Levi's (Ken's brother) house and into bed by about 5am, with the morning sunrise making its grand appearance. :) We only slept a few hours before hitting the town, and boy did we see a lot. Driving is pretty crazy in Boston so we walked, rode the bus, or took the subway pretty much everywhere. We walked all around downtown Boston, visited the Bay area, checked out some pretty OLD historical buildings, visited a drunken Revolutionary War impersonator (he was silly, and looked JUST like Liam Neeson) and walked and walked and walked until our feet were blistered.

Fri. May 18th- We slept in :) We toured Boston College, attended the rehearsal for Levi's wedding, went a mall where the only store I could afford to shop in was Victoria's Secret (and I can barely afford that) and visited the campus and surrounding area of HARVARD UNIVERSITY. We didn't spend a lot of time at Harvard, but it's still neat to say I've atleast been there. We walked and walked and walked until my blisters had blisters... :) That night Ken's family flew in from Utah and his little brother Oliver and sister Natalie stayed the night with us.

Sat. May 19th- WEDDING DAY, we spent all morning making sure everything was ready for the wedding. I had bought some CUTE new heels to go with my dress for the wedding, but after all the WALKING we had already done, my feet were miserable the second I put them on. What a shame. I did push through, but I took them off every chance I got! I'll have to show them off another time I suppose... ANYWAY it turns out that the table clothes purchased for the wedding weren't the right size, so about 15 minutes before the wedding started my Father-in-law, my little brother-in-law and myself took off to find the right size. We made it back in 25 minutes... which with Boston traffic and having NO IDEA where we were going is kind of AWESOME! Luckily they didn't start without us :) The wedding was beautiful and we were treated to traditional Korean Food for the reception! Most of it was delicious, some not so much my type... but over all it was a wonderful experience! I'm so happy for Levi and Jiyoung!

Sun. May 20th- REST DAY.... NOT!!! We got up early and left for the Freedom Trail. The trail runs through Downtown Boston and is around 2.5 miles or so. It takes you through the city highlighting historical buildings, and graveyards where many of our founding fathers are buried! It was pretty cool, though somewhat unnerving to see how many cemeteries are strewn throughout Down Town! Then we took of for Plymouth Rock. The little town was so beautiful and we were able to get right down to the water. It wasn't like any beach I've been to on the West Coast, but we chased crabs, looked for seashells and enjoyed the beautiful ocen view!

Mon. May 21st- GRADUATION DAY! We attended Levi and Jiyoung's Graduation ceremony from Boston College. It was wonderful, I can't wait to be in that position myself someday, hopefully in the near future! It gave me some much needed motivation! They both graduated with their Masters in Theology! After the graduation we went.... SHOPPING! FINALLY! After a few hours at the mall, and a small dent in our bank account we headed back to a birthday celebration dinner for Ken's Grandpa Jones and myself. It was so fun to have the whole family together talking laughing and sharing a meal!

Tues. May 22nd- Travel Day :( Kens family left early, about 8am. We were lucky enough to be able to catch breakfast and say good bye to Levi before leaving for our 11:55am flight. It rained....

Boston is a beautiful city! It was so much cleaner than I expected and it was so GREEN and LUSH! I couldn't believe how clean the air smelled! I just couldn't get over it. The weather was perfect. Levi said it rained for days before we got there, but it was sunny, about 75 degrees with low humidity every single day we were there, what a miracle, and nice change from New Mexico! We never had to use an air conditioner even once, and I was cold at night! It was awesome to go to out to eat in a little pub and grill in down town Boston and sit next to the large open windows and enjoy the cool evening air each night! We had such an extraordinary time! If you ever get the chance to visit, DO! But rememeber to bring your walking shoes!! ;)

I'M BAAAACCCCKKKKK

HELLO! It's almost DECEMBER! Yikes, I have been AWOL for a while, but I'm back and ready to update... We have been so busy the last few months. We moved to Vernal Ut, I got a new job, we totalled our car, ken had his hernia repaired and the list goes on and on and on. We are LOVING being back up north, closer to our families. We are so grateful to Ken's parents for letting us rent from them, and for all they have done and continue to do to make us feel welcome and get settled in. The weather is turning cold now and I am seriously enjoying the need to wear all of my winter clothes that have been packed away for the last couple of years :)

The week before we moved up here Ken was hit in an intersection in NM while driving our Hyundai (don't worry he was perfectly fine, the car however, not so much), 2 months later all the paperwork and insurance was processed and the car was totalled. It would take quite a bit of mula to fix all the damage, so we took what the car was worth and called it good. I miss the car, it was the first large purchase Ken and I ever made together, it was a great vehicle and we wore it out!

I was able to find a pretty great job here working in the child care center at the local Recreation Center. I love being around the kids (infants-age 8) and my co-workers are totally awesome! Plus getting this job opened up several other opportunities for me, I have taught a sports overview class for toddlers called Itty Bitty Ball, put on a Basketball Camp for youth (ages 4-9), and even dabbled in a little bit of management. It has been a wonderful place to work with a lot of variety in my job description and something new everyday.

Finding a job that pays decently and is something I actually like was so lucky and came right at the perfect time. In the end of October Ken's hernia (which he has been fighting for a while) really started acting up, to the point where work was becoming just too much for him, so we FINALLY made arrangements to get it fixed. On Novemeber 12th he went in for surgery and things went great. He was super silly and unfortunately very sick coming out of the anesthesia, but he has been recovering fairly well. He will be out of work for at least 6 weeks, which is a little bit scary but it was definitely long over due! He feels so much better that he forgets he still needs to take it easy sometimes and usually pays for it the next day, but we haven't had any serious complications so we are counting our blessings!

Overall we are settling in and loving it! The mountains, lakes, rivers, TREES, grass, family and little bits of snow we have had are just beautiful and it has been wonderful to see them everyday again! We sure do miss all of our friends (and year round SOFTBALL) in TX and NM though!

So there it is, my little update long over due...Until next time....
~The Checketts