More highlights from this weekend

1. Brushes with celebrity. Don got to get his picture taken with Homer and Bart at Universal Studios (Homer said this was going to be a really boring photo, by the way).

At Disneyland, we ate dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant. Seated at the next table was Curtis Armstrong, who you may remember from "Better Off Dead" and the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies. We kind of wanted to talk to him but he was clearly celebrating his wife's birthday, and we felt like we shouldn't bother him.


2. Don got creeped out by the Small World ride. Methinks he's watched too many horror movies! Granted, the music gets old really fast, but it was full of Christmas cheer and all.

Can you believe it's been a whole year?

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary this weekend. In some respects it doesn't seem all that long ago that we got married, but it also seems like forever ago. We escaped single-digit temperatures in Utah to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios for the weekend. Unfortunately we got rain and rain and rain at Disneyland, but it was still a great day at the Magic Kingdom despite the cloudy wet skies. But 60 degrees and wet is much better than 7 degrees and icy in my book. It was sunnier the day we went to Universal, which was fun, but we kind of wish we had gone to Disneyland a second day, or at least left a day later to go back to Disneyland.

How do you mix Halloween and the World Series?

Maggie's weekend trip

This weekend I went to go visit my friend Catherine and her family in the Bay Area. They have an almost-5-month-old who I hadn't met before! Isn't he a cutey patootey? He fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting his costume on for the ward Halloween party, and slept through the entire trunk-or-treat mayhem.

On Saturday I tagged along with their family to Half Moon Bay on the Pacific coast south of San Francisco, which is a prime hub for Halloween pumpkins and Christmas trees. It was foggy and cold (but not as cold as Utah is today. Brrr! Somebody remind me why I came back to Provo!) The farm we went to had a straw maze, plenty of pumpkins, and get this -- sword fighters!

It's October and you know what that means

Yes, it's October, the temperatures are falling and the leaves are changing color. I'm shopping for Halloween decorations and starting to bake more. We've survived ten months of marriage.

But what October really means in the Kopp household is baseball playoffs. It means that Don is regularly glued to the tv, and our downstairs neighbors probably hate us because of all of the jumping, yelling, and stomping going on. It means that I am often keeping an eye on scores while Don is at work so I can text him with regular updates. It means that there have been serious debates about flying to Minnesota or LA to go to a game (we decided to stay home. Sorry, neighbors). It means I just bought a Yankees-themed pumpkin carving kit, which should arrive via UPS sometime this week, and I have to wash Don's Yankees shirt weekly.

Not that I'm complaining -- I love that my husband is so enthusiastic about his favorite sport and his favorite team. The next time you see me, I even might be wearing Yankees gear!

Another glimpse out our window

There were actually two of these guys on the hill across from our complex, munching on leaves. They stayed around long enough for me to search frantically for my camera and let me take a picture.

I looked out the window and what did I see...

This was the view from our balcony before I left for work this morning.

Fun weekends

Two weekends ago we went to see The Reverend Horton Heat up in Salt Lake. Last weekend was a 3-day weekend for Pioneer Day. We went camping with Megan, Matt, and Wyatt and some of their friends and family near Scofield and went hiking in the heat. We went fishing at the lake and on the river below the dam, but all we really caught was the grass on the river bed even though there were fish jumping all over the place. Did I mention I finally got my own fishing pole? And I was the only one to actually catch a fish (but it was only an inch or two longer than my hand).

Chi-ca-go

Last weekend Don and I went to Chicago - I had to be there for the American Library Association conference. We spent Friday night and Saturday sightseeing; Sunday I was in meetings all day and Don went to a Cubs game. Some of the highlights:

--The huge Picasso sculpture a block away from our hotel. I remember seeing a cool photo of it in one of my elementary school textbooks, or maybe the encyclopedia. Yes, I was a nerd and actually read the encyclopedia for fun sometimes.
--Meeting up with my old friend Sara and her husband, John. They took us to a cajun restaurant and Don ate a huge plate of crawfish.
--The weather was surprisingly good -- just humid enough.
--Navy Pier at night. We walked all the way there from our hotel. We ate ice cream and played mini golf. We said hello to the guy who was handing out clubs, and he said that we were the first people who struck up a conversation with him in his entire shift. Kinda sad! He gave us a free round but the people in front of us were super slow - I think they thought they were playing against Tiger Woods or something.
--Tall building tours. We went to the top of the John Hancock Center building on Saturday, and went to the top of the Sears Tower on Sunday. They have this new thing at the Sears Tower where they've built these glass observation booths onto the side of the building, on the 104th floor. I think they've only been up for a few weeks. You step out from the main room onto a glass platform -- it's kind of freaky but amazing at the same time. Here is our view from one of the booths. Too bad it didn't turn out better, I forgot my real camera (shocker) and had to use the camera on my phone instead. Click on the photo for a better view!

Vacation Awesomeness

Yeah, we met Spongebob. Jumpin' Jupiter is right!

Our latest travels

We got back Sunday night from our 9-day trip to North Carolina and Virginia. We spent five nights with Don's mom. We played lots of Killer Bunnies with Malorie and went with her to an amusement park called Carowinds (Maggie can officially add South Carolina to the list of states she's been to).

We rented a car and drove up to Charlottesville, where Maggie had a conference. On the way we stopped in a town called Valdese, North Carolina, where Don's great-great grandfather and his family immigrated from Italy. We came at the wrong day and time, everything was closed, but we did take pictures. Don's great=great grandfather helped build the town's big Presbyterian church:
Charlottesville involved Maggie sitting in meetings all day while Don got to play and have fun! We got to hang out with Don's friends the Joneses and his cousin Nick and Nick's wife Amanda and their new baby.

Magic Mountain

We needed a Weekend Away From Utah, so we drove down to Six Flags in Southern California and rode roller coasters until our heads were spinning (which happened by coaster #3, but we kept on riding). We went on all the major rides except one which wasn't running. Don insisted on riding in the front all the time. It was pretty intense! One coaster the seats extend off the side of the track and actually rotate while you're going through the curves and loops. You don't know what to expect. Another one you actually ride suspended on your stomach so it's like you are flying.

It wouldn't have been a real California trip without Don inhaling In-N-Out every day, or stopping at the store in Vegas to get his own In-N-Out beach towel. Now we just need to take a beach trip.


This picture is from one of the few quiet moments of our day. We went on a water ride and got pretty soaked -- so we rode the carousel to dry off.

Our weekend

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday, we went to dinner with my brother Doug and my grandparents and aunt and uncle who were down from Boise for the weekend. Saturday we ran errands in the rain (and snow), in particular for Wyatt's birthday present. We took him his present that evening and then went home and rooted for the Sharks, who came back for an overtime win. We probably woke up some neighbors screaming around midnight or whenever the game ended. We'll be yelling like crazy tonight too, once the game finally comes on!

Yesterday was Don's dad's birthday party, with the regular Don-and-Wyatt mayhem! Here's them actually sitting still for a change. Wyatt hasn't been brainwashed or anything!

Freedom, and my mean husband

Last night was Don's final night working graveyard shift. We're confident he'll find a new job soon; he just applied for a job at BYU which will be great for letting him take the pre-requisite classes he needs to get into grad school.

So last night he got in around 2:30 AM, having only needed to work half a shift. This is basically what happened when he walked in.

Don: Maggie, get up, it's time for you to go to work!
Maggie (groggy and too blind to see the clock without my glasses or contacts): Groan. I'm so tired!
Don: Get up, you have to be at work!
Maggie: Give me fifteen more minutes!
Don: No, you'll be late for work.
Maggie: Fifteen more minutes!
Don: Do you know what time it is?
Maggie: Fifteen more minutes!
Don: No, you'd better wake up.
(At which point I stumble out of bed scowling, grab the alarm clock and figure out what time it really is. Don starts laughing, I groan again and crawl back into bed)
Don: Aw, you have such a mean husband.
Maggie: Hmph!

I don't know why he thought it was so funny last night, although I am laughing about it this afternoon.

Another Friday night with Wyatt

This is what happens on Friday nights when we have Wyatt come over:




1. Playtime with Uncle Gonny














2. Making messes with Aunt Maggie










3. Uncle Gonny conks out for a bit (Wyatt took this picture!)

The Best Birthday Ever!

I met Don shortly after my birthday last year, so this was the first time I got to celebrate my birthday with him. And what a wonderful day he made it!

We got me a Wii Fit and it's been lots of fun playing the balance games this week. We went out to dinner the evening of my actual birthday. Don took the night off and then came to work with me on Friday to help me with my conference presentations. It was fun having him around for most of the workday! Saturday we went with Megan, Matt, and Wyatt to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3-D. We had been talking about going up to Ikea to get some storage stuff and some plants and I thought we'd head up there, but Don insisted on going home and cleaning (which was on my list to do anyway, but we spent all morning watching Spongebob instead). This should have tipped me off, especially since Don was only focusing on cleaning the living room when I was thinking we'd do a bit more work on the bedrooms. Anyway, we went up to Ikea (we hit the 100,000 mile mark on the Toyota in the process). Then we came home and there was a surprise party waiting for me -- balloons, streamers, and everything! We ate pizza and cake and played Wii games. Wyatt made a new friend in my brother Doug, and we had lots of fun!

I'm not sure how I'm going to top that for Don's birthday -- we'll be in North Carolina then.

8 Amazing things about my husband

1. His smile - it was the first thing that attracted me to him.

2. He owns more books than I do, and I'm a librarian!

3. He puts up with nursery kids using him as a horsie on a weekly basis.

4. He can make instant friends with strangers, and in several languages to boot.

5. He still enjoys jumping on the bed and playing air guitar.

6. He can do this weird thing where he pops out his shoulders. I can't describe it, but it feels funky when he does it while holding my hand.

7. He inspires me to be a better person.

8. He puts up with me - enough said!

Friday night with Wyatt

Tonight we took Wyatt to a movie and brought him home with us for pizza. Afterwards Don and Wyatt had a wrestling fest and some quality computer game time. Here they're playing a Pirates of the Caribbean game. I think Wyatt wore his Uncle Gonny out!

Your Moment of Zen

Sorry to steal that from Jon Stewart, but here is some random weirdness from our Spain trip. We were in Toledo on the night before Three Kings Day/Epiphany and got caught in a three kings parade. It took a really long time for the three kings to arrive, but we stayed the whole time. We survived chain smokers, loud music, people throwing penny candy (and other people acting like maniacs because of the free candy), fire trucks with sirens, and even camels. Note the ubiquitous product placement too. And no, we didn't stick around to see if we could tell the three kings what we wanted for the holiday. I guess we were supposed to put our shoes out for them to leave us some toys?

More wedding pictures

These were taken by my dad and my friends the Hunsakers.

We tried haggis, but not in Scotland.

January 25 was the 250th birthday of poet Robert Burns. At BYU Special Collections, I have responsibility for the Robert Burns Collection and have an exhibit up in the library. I was also invited to take a few books from the collection over to the Robert Burns Supper that the Utah Scottish Association held in the Wilkinson Center. Between the Robert Burns exhibit I've been working on for the past 6 months and the paper I was working on, I sometimes feel like I have had an extra man in my life.

Neither Don nor I have ever been to one of these dinners, and it quite interesting. There are lots of traditions associated with Burns Suppers, from piping in the haggis to traditional toasts to poetry readings and singing "Auld Lang Syne." And tons of food using products traditionally grown in Scotland, from salmon to oats.

Haggis tastes really strange. I can't describe it, but it wasn't so good to me. After we tried the haggis, Don leaned over to me and said, "Remind me to tell you later what I think this tastes like." Uh-oh, I thought, this can't be good. I know some of the meats he's tried -- I even tried alligator with him! Sure enough, after we left, he confirmed my suspicions: haggis reminded him of dog meat. I don't know what I'm going to do if I have to go to the Burns Supper next year!

The dinner (and me) are on BYU Weekly this week!

Our Honeymoon

For our honeymoon, we spent 18 days in Spain, Morocco, and Scotland. In Spain, we went to Toledo, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, and Santiago de Compostela, and spent a little bit of time in Madrid and Tarifa. We stayed in Fes and Rabat in Morocco, and in Scotland, we visited Edinburgh and Glasgow.

This picture is from the bullfighting ring in Sevilla. They only have bullfights in the summer and at Easter time. The box at the upper right is where the royal family gets to sit, though we were told the queen is against bullfighting.

The weather was very uncooperative. We only had a few days of sun. We experienced rain, fog, snow (in southern Spain!), sleet, and even a hailstorm.

We saw a lot of museums, palaces, and old churches on our trip. We literally walked around the old city of Toledo and tried hiking Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, but didn't get very far, since my shoes kept trying to slip off. We also did some pretty random things, like going to a bowling alley in Madrid. Don won -- surprise, surprise. He creams me at bowling on the Wii too (the only thing I can do really well is hula hoop).


In Scotland, I spent most of my time in conference sessions, while Don got to go explore on his own. He walked up a lighthouse in Glasgow and toured underground in Edinburgh. He also got to experience the British health care system because of some dental problems. We definitely want to go back to Scotland and see more of the countryside. We also didn't get to spend enough time in Morocco. We hope we will get the chance to travel again soon!