We're homeowners!

We've been moved in for just over a week. Here are a few pictures of the new digs!

The front yard:The huge back yard:

Brrr, Boston in January

Last weekend we were in Boston for yet another library conference. When I wasn't in meetings, we walked the Boston Freedom Trail, which passes by historic places like the Old North Church and the Bunker Hill monument. We were fascinated by the old churches and burial grounds, and liked how compact and walkable Boston was.

We stayed an extra day on Monday and rented a car to explore New England. New England is kind of a novelty since, unlike the West, you can drive through multiple states in the course of a day. We drove up the Connecticut coast, then through Rhode Island, where we drove through Newport and stared at all the 19th-century "summer cottages" -- huge mansions built by rich industrialists like the Vanderbilts -- and up to Plymouth. Most everything was closed because it's off-season, but we were able to see Plymouth Rock and stand on the edge of the cold windy bay.

After Plymouth Don wanted to go eat real Maine lobster in Maine. So we drove another couple of hours to Portland in the dark. We found a nice seaside restaurant with the help of Aaron and his internet connection (thanks Aaron!), and this is the result: one happy diner and a bunch of steamed sea creatures (the lobster's name was Joleen). All this and we made it home by 11 p.m.

Don is now trying to talk me into getting a job back East. So please tell all your stockbroker and investment banking friends to help Harvard and Yale recoup their financial losses so they will start hiring again :).

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!