5 Whole Years

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5 years ago today I married my best friend. I know everyone says this and it sounds a little clique but in my case it's totally true. I am one lucky girl to have been so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life. Not only did I marry a wonderful man but I think it's safe to say that I have the BEST in-laws ever. I am very grateful for them always being so welcoming and putting up with me. They are the best. 

I was thinking about this the other day and I think that Brett and I make the best couple for lots of different reasons but we have such a great balance that it's kind of ridiculous. Brett is so laid back and easy going and I am mostly up-tight all of the time - because we are somewhat opposite in some areas, we make a great team. 

I am grateful for his hard work and diligence and once he FINALLY makes up his mind on whatever he is doing (this boy takes the longest time to make any sort of decision that sometimes it drives me bonkers!) but once he has decided he sticks by those decisions 100%. 

In our First Five Years we have done a lot! We have lived in Alaska for two summers in a row, working to put ourselves through school. I graduated with my Bachelors in Psychology in 2009 and Masters of Marriage and Family Therapy in 2011. Brett graduated with his undergrad in 2011 in English, an emphasis in Technical Writing. We have moved 3,000 miles across the country to attend Sacred Heart University's Physical Therapy Program. While in Connecticut we have got to see and experience so many wonderful things that I didn't know if I ever would experience in my life time and we got to do it all together. We've had our bumps and growing pains along the way but I am forever grateful that I made the decision to get married for time and all eternity to my best friend and I am sure glad he said "yes"!!

Just as a note, I am spending this anniversary alone - don't worry we celebrated plenty before he left. Brett decided to fly home earlier than expected in order to be able to attend the Aggie Football Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Game vs Toledo in Boise, Idaho. I was able to go home last year for it but was couldn't take that much time off of work so I stayed home to work while Brett got to enjoy some time with his family and the Aggies. Some people have said that I deserve a lot or that I am Saint for "letting" him go, but the way I see it, we've been "celebrating" our anniversary for 5 years and there's no reason why I should "make him stay home" just for one day. He gives so much to me and asks for so very little in return and sacrificing for each other is what a marriage is all about. So I am willing to sacrifice a "celebration" dinner so that he can enjoy time with the Aggie Football team. I know if the situation was reversed (and it might be in just a few years when he's at work and I go off with the kids somewhere fun) he would do the same for me. Marriage is about the give and the take and Brett and I have figured out just the right amount of give and take from each other. 

Happy 5th Anniversary Sweetheart! 

Girls just wanna have fun...

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Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

Just wanted everyone to check out the book I made about our recent girls trip!
Enjoy!

I love being a Mormon

Superstorm Sandy is still affecting many of our fellow brothers and sisters here on the East Coast. And every Saturday and an even a few Sundays we have been out with the Mormon Helping Hands, coordinated through our ward, to assist the people in our area that were affected by this Superstorm Sandy.
It has truly been a blessing a to be able to help those who were affected by the storm - even though the people we have been helping have not lost everything, they have still lost a lot and have needed help, mucking out basements, moving trees, cleaning up water-damaged stuff, etc. We have been blessed to be a part of this and hope that we can continue to be a part of this.
We were met by so many who were SO thankful just to have people checking on them, making sure they were ok, doing anything they can to help. And like this video describes, we have been able to be hope to people who were almost too overwhelmed to even think they could keep working.
Although, I am not thankful for Superstorm Sandy, I am grateful for the opportunities that we have had to serve the people who have been in need.
One of things that we have found amusing was before the election when we were out helping people, and I had a cute little old lady say to me, "I sure am grateful for the the things you have been able to do to help me and my neighbors today but I am sorry to say that I am still not voting for "your" presidential candidate." I just smiled at her and told her that there would be many Mormons who probably wouldn't be voting for Romney and that we weren't there to get votes but to help our brothers and sister who need help. She just smiled and said. "I  thought you should know."  I then gave her a hug and continued to help her. We had a few encounters like this and they just made us smile.
I love being a Mormon. I love what it means to serve our brothers and sisters and I am grateful for the work ethic that both Brett and myself were taught by loving parents so that we would have a desire to serve those in need with a smile. May the Lord continue to bless us with opportunities to serve our fellow brothers and sisters.
Enjoy the following video:
Mormon Helping Hands

IT'S A GIRL...

...Named SANDY! And she totally turned out lives upside down for a few days and for much New York City and New Jersey their lives are still that way. We have only been here a year and 3 months (ish) and have now lived through 2 hurricanes. Hurricanes rarely come the East Coast this far but we have been luckily enough to experience two of them! Hurricane Irene last August lost a lot of steam just before she hit us last year and although there was flooding, things did not get destroyed like they did this year. Much of the Jersey shore is completely gone. NYC is in a mess with flooded subway systems and power outages. Parts of West Virginia got 28 inches of snow. Fairfield County in Connecticut got the worst of the storm in Connecticut. Many houses along the shore, if they were right on the water have been washed away or so severely damaged by the hurricane that they will have to basically tear everything down and rebuild it. Fortunately for us, we just got the high winds and little bit of rain. We lost power from Monday evening to Friday afternoon but other than that we are safe with no property damage. Our landlord was kind enough to let us plug into his generator so we didn't lose any food and were able to enjoy some good movies during the storm and week without power. Brett's school was cancelled all week due to Main Campus not having power until late on Friday. I didn't have to work on Monday or Tuesday but went back to work on Wednesday.
Megan was unable to get a flight out of Boston on Monday morning due to them cancelling her flight. She was able to make it out of the Hartford airport on Tuesday afternoon and touched down in Juneau at about 1 pm Juneau time. She had to travel for over 24 hours to get home but she finally made it home just in time for Halloween with her boys.
Here are a few videos that we shot during the storm and after the storm just so you can all get a feel for the damage in our area, just click on the links below to get to the videos.
Start of Sandy
6 pm
In the Midst of Sandy
Old Apartment Destruction
Near the Church
Seaside Park
More Seaside Park
Seaside Village - we did service here after the storm
Enjoy the videos - sorry if I make you sick in some of them.... Driving in the car doesn't help.
We feel blessed that nothing worse happened to us or our friends and family. Please keep those who are less fortunate than us in your prayers, especially with the upcoming Nor'easter that we have headed our way.

Not just 1 but TWO additions

This past week I was able to have TWO visitors who were great travel companions for a week. We started out in The Big Apple and went up to Boston and Cape Cod. We had such a great time we have decided that we are going to have to do a girls trip somewhere every year or as often as possible.
Just so that I can remember what we did and how I/we can do the trip better next time some one comes to visit here's a fairly detailed outline of what we ended up doing each day... or someone else can take our itinerary and make it their own. I apologize in advance for the length and pictures but hope that it's helpful to anyone planning a trip back here.
Saturday - Mom flew into LaGuardia, tried to get pizza at Pepe's but the line was ridiculous so we ate at Chinese/Japanese Habachi place called Sweet Basil.
Sunday: Mom got to attend our beautiful Bridgeport Ward - glad she got to meet many great people who have had a great influence on our lives out here. Megan flew into JFK at 4:00 pm, drove to our apartment. We stayed at an apartment on 42nd street, we rented it from Emily Drennan on Airbnb (highly recommend!) who actually just released 2 CD's - check her our at emilydrennan.com. We had a gorgeous view of the city and we super close to everything. That night we walked around part of Times Square, ate a yummy Italian family-style restaurant, Carmine's, and went to the top of the Empire State Building.

Monday: As a side note, Taylor Swift was in NYC for the release of her RED album and was on GMA 2 mornings in a row. Times Square was packed with people in the morning so we tried to avoid as much as possible. We wanted to do a boat tour to Ellis/Liberty Island first thing this morning but when we arrived in battery park the line was a 2 hour wait just to get on the boat - so we bought tickets for the next morning and headed over to the Financial District. We saw Wall st, the Bull, NY Stock Exchange, Steps of the building were President Washington took the Oath of Office, Trinity Church, St Peter's Church, and Ground Zero. Then we ate lunch at J & R cafe and had delicious crepes - mom and Megan had lunch type crepe and I of course had to do a breakfast style...
Then we headed to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, only going about half way across the bridge. Then up to China Town where we did a little shopping. Then up to 42nd Street to NY Public Library, Bryant Park, and Grand Central. We stopped for a treat at Magnolia's Bakery in Grand Central and to do some people watching before heading up to Rockefeller Square, which is where we saw the ice skating ring, NBC Studios, Radio City Music Hall.
For dinner Mom and Megan had never eaten at 5 Guys Burger and Fries so we ate there before going on THE RIDE, which was totally cheesy but a great way to see the city and a enjoyable 60 minute ride through the main streets of Midtown.
And if that wasn't enough for us we decided to do a little shopping after all of that! Yup, nothing like shopping at 11 pm!

Tuesday: Started out going to Liberty Island, we almost didn't get off the boat here and I am sure glad that we did. I have seen Lady Liberty from the boat before but there was something about being so close to her and really getting a sense of her grander that I enjoyed. Totally recommend seeing her this way for anyone else who might be coming to the city. We went to Ellis Island next, which was also very cool but I was sad they make you pay $7.00 to see the name of your ancestor. Marius Jensen was my ancestor that passed through there but because of the great work my ancestors have done I have seen his signature before and didn't feel it was worth it to see the digital scanned version of his name when I could look at it on a piece of paper. I learned a lot about just how hard it was for people to get into America even back then when there were more jobs than they had people for. We headed up to the Guggenheim Museum and had lunch from a vendor outside the museum. We got to see the Black and White Pablo Picaso series. I am not much of a Picaso fan but it was neat to see all of the original artwork and the Guggenheim building is incredible. We hooped in a taxi to take us to the bottom of Central Park where we then paid for a guy to haul our fat butts around Central Park for 90 minutes. I would highly recommend this - it's overpriced but we knew that ahead of time and wanted to see the park. This is by far the best way to do it. You could always rent your own bike and bike around the park but our little guide told us lots about the park we wouldn't have learned riding our own bikes. After Central Park we headed to 5th Ave and went to Tiffany's, then to the East Village to attend the off-broadway show "Stomp", which was incredible. We were on the 2nd row - a little too close for my liking but it was fun to be able to see them up close. Very talented people and a great atmosphere. Again - Highly recommend! We picked up some pizza from a little place just outside the theater for dinner.

Wednesday: We slept in and packed up our stuff. We headed to the Temple to do a few initiatories. The matron who was helping us there then took us on a brief tour of the sealing rooms and then we sat in the celestial room for a minute. After running so hard for just a couple of days it sure felt good to just sit and take in the spirit of the Lord. Such peace dwells there. We had lunch as Pax and then went to Phantom of the Opera! It was A-MAZ-ING! I loved every minute of it and was singing it for days! I did get extremely cold in the theater and had to pull out our skirts that we wore to the temple to put over my legs. I had my scarf around my neck and my hood over my head and I was still freezing! We did some milling around Times Square after the show got out, merely to avoid rush hour traffic on our way home to Connecticut. We did get to enjoy some Pepe's pizza when we arrived in Connecticut and got to spend some time with Brett.

Thursday: We drove around Bridgeport/Trumbull area showing where Brett goes to school, our church, our first apartment, the ghetto parts of Bridgeport, and then drove to Newport Rhode Island to see the mansions of the Vanderbilt Family and the other builders of America. They were MASSIVE and gorgeous! I would recommend them to anyone who has at least 3+ hours to spend. We were there about 4 and could have easily spent more time there. It is a beautiful place.
Next we headed up to Belmont, Massachusetts to drive pass the temple there. We were going to do a session but didn't have a chance to eat and didn't have enough time to find a place before the final session of the night started. So we headed to Bertucci's to get us some fine Italian cuisine.
After stuffing ourselves we headed to our hotel to turn in for the night. We stayed in South Boston near Fenway Park area at a new hotel called Envision - we found a deal on Travelzoo for a discounted stay and we were very comfortable there. The staff was extremely helpful and very kind.

The most important house we saw that day...

Friday: Another busy day!!! We rode the T into Government Center and saw the Old State House, which the Boston Massacre happened just outside of this building. We hopped on the Trolley that took us around to the different spots along the Freedom Trail (excellent value). Along the Freedom trail sites we saw: Paul Revere's house, Old North Church, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, Christ's Church, Burial Grounds, State House, South Church and Harvard and we still managed to get a Boston Harbor Tour in there too! That night we ate at Salty Dog in Quincy Market and did some more shopping there.

Saturday: This was mom's last day with us and she wanted to head to Salem, Mass. which was a great idea but also a bad idea because it was the last Saturday before Halloween so there were lots of people there! But we had a good time. We learned about the crazy witched of Salem and learned just how sad that whole situation really was. We did get to learn a few random facts about Salem and the witch trials and enjoyed some great weather for yet another day. We sadly put mom on her plane in Boston and headed towards the Cape. Megan needed to stop at a TjMaxx to get an extra suitcase for all of the things that she had bought. So we found her one to go in. We course found lots of great deals and just had to buy more stuff to put in that suitcase! Once we spent all of our money we headed onward toward Provincetown, Mass. I had no idea that it is known for it's gay community but boy did we get to enjoy that while we were in town. It just so happened that we were there on Saturday night before Halloween, which is when the gays have a parade in costume. Talk about the BEST people watching EVER!!! I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time - and the best part is they were so down to earth and laughing right along with us. It was fabulous.
Oh and how could I forget! We had THE BEST lobster ever! We ate at the Lobster Pot and got a delicious appetizer and each of us got a lobster. Holy cow! YUM! This was by far the best food that I ate the entire trip. We stayed in a very quaint B&B and unfortunately didn't get the room that we had thought we were going to because of a mix up but it was still a fabulous place to stay.

Sunday: They fixed us a delicious breakfast, which we enjoyed with a gay couple that were super nice. They were from Atlanta and came up here just for the Halloween parade/party last night. They shared with us pictures of their costumes from the night before and we discussed how whenever the gays move into a neighborhood they always seem to clean it up, make it "the place to be" and then get run out of town by the rich families. Provincetown is a very quaint artist town. It's beautiful but if you are homophobic at all - this is not the place for you. We absolutely loved every minute of our time there.
We headed down the Cape back towards Boston. We found someone who would give us a massage on Sunday in Chatham - so we stopped for massages. While I was getting a massage Megan checked on the status of her flight out of Boston the next morning. Turns out - it was cancelled due to the incoming Hurricane Sandy! So we headed for home and arrived in Trumbull later Sunday evening.

Monday: We slept in! I think it was 10 am before I even rolled over and I don't think we got moving until around 11 am. We were beat! Work and school was cancelled for me and Brett and Megan got to hang out with us through the storm. I will have more details on the storm in my next post....
Tuesday: Megan was able to make it to the airport and finally arrived home on Wednesday at roughly 1 pm Juneau time. She had spend more than 24 hours traveling home. We are sure glad we got to weather the storm with us and made it home safely just in time to spend Halloween with her boys.

We had a fabulous Girls week and can't wait to do it again in a new location next year!

A BIG Announcement

As of Friday 11/2/12 I am no longer employed at NAFI (North America Family Institute) as an MST (multisystemic) therapist. I have had very mixed emotions about this big new change in our life but we feel that it's the best for us at this point.
So here's the run down with why I even decided to switch jobs.... Back in July I started a 2nd job at the outpatient clinic seeing 3-4 clients per diem. I have very much enjoyed being back in a clinic setting and realized I would eventually like to be back into a clinical outpatient setting sooner rather than later. At the rate I was getting face-to-face clinical hours at NAFI, it seemed like that was further away than ever. I spoke to my supervisor of the outpatient clinic about getting more hours so that I could license faster. She encouraged me to look into the other programs that Boys and Girls Village (BGV) offers, and even further encouraged me to apply for the IICAPS case coordinator position. After looking at 3 different programs within BGV and interviewing for all the positions, I decided that IICAPS was the most flexible, the least model adherent, and would help me achieve my goal of licensing ASAP. So I took the IICAPS Case Coordinator position and will start on 11/14/12, the day after I take my licensing exam! YIKES!
A little bit about what the new job entails: IICAPS stands for Intensive In-home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services. Instead of working with families that have youth that are involved in the juvenile justice system as I did with NAFI, I will now be working with families that have a youth with psychiatric issues which can range from ADHD to Bi-polar, to mood disorders to schizophrenia. Needless to say it will be a good learning opportunity for me and I will be able to grow in this new position. In this new position I will also be responsible for supervising 3 teams of therapists in how to best help the families they are serving. I have always wanted to be a supervisor of therapy and this will certainly give me the opportunity to find out if it's something that I like or not...
Wish me luck! I will certainly need it as I take on this new endeavor!

One Month Late

One month ago we moved! Don't get too exited.... we just moved to a different apartment in Connecticut. But we love our new place. When we moved we did move from our ward boundaries but we got special permission from our Stake President (Bruce Stratford) and our Bishop (John Neary) to allow us to stay in our ward. We are finally got everything moved in and it seems like we are getting settled into somewhat of routine.
One thing that we enjoy about our new place is the outdoor space and not feeling like there are SO many people around. We actually moved to the "highest point of elevation on the east coast" at a whoping 600 feet... so the sign across the street from our new place tells us....
This is the inside of our place. Still not everything we want but we've come to terms with the fact that we aren't going to get that until we buy or build a home - and even then, it probably won't happen. But for now, we are happy in our new place.

The cars - one is covered. 

The sign that tells about the elevation

The house (we are in the basement)

The office

Bathroom

The entry way - still not sure what we are doing with it ...

The kitchen/laundry

The TV room 

The bedroom

Our AWESOME backyard

Our patio and entry way

Last week I was able to make the trip down to Washington DC to run in a Ragnar Relay Race and let's just say it was A-MAZ-ING! Let's see if you can follow this.... Brett's sister's sister-in-law, Mallory Phillips lives just outside of DC and she ran in the Ragnar last year. I told her to let me know if she did it again this year - and she did. She actually was the Captain of the team. About a month ago we needed to find another runner for the team because someone had dropped out. Mal and me decided that Brett's sister Natalie should come out and run with us, since we did complete a ragnar in June in Utah. We continued to badger her until she finally gave in and booked her ticket and headed out here. She flew into NY, I picked her up, we came back to our place and then later that afternoon we headed to DC. I think I would have enjoyed the Ragnar even without her but having her here was so much fun! It was a blast and if I do it again next year, I just don't think it will be the same without her!
I had never been to DC before and on my final leg I got to be the one to run past through Arlington, right along the Patomac River. I ran across the river from National Mall. So the first time that I saw the Capitol, the Lincoln and Washington Monument I was running by it. It was pretty sweet! Unfortunately, I am not cool enough to have a smart phone so I didn't have a phone with me to take picture while on my run you will just have to take my word for it.

Mal, Nat, and me and our trusty rusty Raggin' Wagon

Sweet tats...

Love me some pickle juice! 

Just about to finish my last leg.

Almost done... with mile 17!!!

The team
Van 1: Sarah, Anna, Sarah's husband, David, Brittney, and Caitlyn
Van 2: Me, Nat, Mal, Kim, Adam, and Miguel.

Crazy story - I didn't know anyone else on our team until we got there and made all sorts of crazy connections with everyone being LDS. One girl had dated my Stake President's (in CT) son, one served in the same zone on his mission in Guatemala as one of my best friends (Scott Perkes), someone else's grandpa is one of Brett's grandpa's best friend who attends deer camp with the Petersen family every year (Uncle Norval Jones), Kim's parents were Natalie's sister-in-laws Mission President, and someone's older brother dated someone's roommate in college. By the end of the trip, we all felt like family. It just goes to show the world within the church is VERY small!

I sure loved running in the Ragnar back here - much more scenic and lots more fun then the one I ran in Vegas. I hope I can do it again next year. Next adventure: My mom and sister are visiting in a few weeks. We are headed to NYC, Newport Rhode Island, Boston, and The Cape. So excited!

Home Sweet Home

On July 8, 2012 Brett left Connecticut to go home to Utah for a few weeks to work with Greg and take some time off and get some much needed R&R from the busy life he leads here in CT.

He enjoyed being out there and spending time with those he loves. I stayed back to work and was able to get some good crafting done while I seemed to have so much extra time on my hands.
I joined Brett on Aug 3 and was able to spend some great quality time with the family. My sister and her family was visiting from Alaska and unfortunately we only get to see them about once every year to year and half, so most of our time was spent soaking up every moment that we could with them. And I must say, we are so extremely blessed to have in-laws that actually enjoying spending time with each other and we were able to take advantage of spending time with both sides of the family at the same time! Thanks for being so great guys! We sure love you and miss you!

I was absolutely terrible at taking pictures this time... I rarely had my camera out so I don't have as nearly as many pictures as I would like but I do have a few - mostly of our adoreable neices and nephews.

Petersen Family (minus Greg)

Petersen Kiddos

Beach Fun at Bear Lake

Golfing and Hanging out at Bear Lake

Water Babies! Ladies... that hot model is still single! :) 

Cache County Fair Fun!

We had so much fun while we were in Utah. We sure do love it when we are able to spend time with our families. I can't wait for Christmas!

While you were out....

Brett has been in Utah for the last few weeks which has given me time (LOTS of time... ) to stay up late, eat junk food and make lots of cute crafty things that of course I copied from Pinterest. I couldn't think of crafty things to make on my own but I sure do have fun making them.

Picture/note hanger for my office at work

Homemade Chalkboard for my office at work

A cute wreath for my door at home

A welcome wreath for my door at the office

Sunburst mirrors made with clothes pins for a wall at the office

 All of them were SO cheap and so fun to make! Thank you pinterest! But my budget does say thank goodness for a trip to Utah coming up in less than a week.... YEAH!

Happy Independence Day!

This year we were not quite sure what to do with ourselves for the fourth of July but it just so happened that I was checking things out on the FB when I spotted a picture of my dear friend Judit Stolpa who lives in Hungary. I met her while I was working at a YMCA in New Jersey 5 summers ago. This picture of her just so happened to be in NYC! I commented on her picture to see if she was still there only to find out that SHE WAS!!! Lucky for us it just happened to the fourth of July so we had the day off of work. We didn't have plans and I couldn't pass the opportunity to meet up with someone I never thought I would see again. So we headed into the city. We rode the train in and met Judit in Grand Central. We walked to Central Park, got a jumba juice and then meandered our way back down to 34th street. We were headed to grab some pizza at La Famiglia but Judit saw a Wendy's and had to have it. Her brother lived in the states for several years and was always raving about Wendy's so she just had to try some. It's kind of funny to think about someone raving about Wendy's and other people never having that experience.
After Wendy's we headed down to the piers to watch the fireworks. Let me tell you, this may sound like it was a completely relaxing way to watch the fireworks and I am sure it would have been had the 4 million other people in NYC would have stayed home. It was something that I always thought would be so cool and  nothing would be more patriotic than watching the fireworks exploding all around Lady Liberty. For all of you who thought this would be the case, let me assure you that this is NOT the case. Or perhaps it is, but only on TV OR if you pay nearly $300 a ticket to get on the piers or boats on the water!!
Don't get me wrong, it was still an experience - but one I never have the desire to do again. I will certainly be just fine watching my little town fireworks from where ever that little town may be. We had a great time with Judit and I am so very happy that Brett was able to meet her. I have wanted them to meet for so long - I've actually told Brett since the day I got back from camp that we would be going to Hungary to visit her because he just had to meet this incredible woman. Well, I didn't quite get him to Hungary (although I haven't given up trying to get him there... maybe someday. Anyone want to donate to our Hungary vacation fund?...)
but they sure did finally get to meet and they hit it off. Brett is now encouraging my younger brother to marry her - and heck I sure wouldn't complain if that happened.
Judit made such an impact in my life in just a few short months. She is an amazing person and friend. She is so very thoughtful and I am truly amazed at how much she impacted my life in such a short period of time. I think I only stayed through the whole thing because of her. I honestly thought that I would never have the chance to see her again but my heart filled with joy and joy leaked out of my eyes when we embraced. I love her very much and wish that we could have spent more time together. But now Brett is more motivated to get to Hungary because he loves her too. :)
And no post of mine would be complete without some pictures....

Walking to Central Park

Chillin (trying to) in Central Park in the HOT, HUMID weather

It was so hot and cramped and miserable
but we were still enjoying our time together!

NEVER AGAIN!

View of the fireworks

Memorial Day Weekend

I asked Brett about 3 months ago if he would be interested in heading to the NCAA Divison 1 Lacrosse Championship that was held this weekend in Boston, MA. He said he hadn't really been following Lax this year due to being too busy with school. But since school ended and he has had an hour or two here and there to catch up on the Lax world, he decided that he would really like to go to the tourny. So we headed up to Foxborough, MA to the Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots for the semi-final games on Saturday afternoon. Game 1: Loyola vs. Norte Dame, with Loyola winning. Game 2: Duke vs. Maryland with Maryland winning. Games were fun to watch, atmosphere was fun, but most of all it was enjoyable to spend a weekend actually watching Lax with Brett next to me rather than him on the opposite sideline coaching, which has never happened and probably won't for several more years (if ever) unless of course we go to Championship weekend again next year, which it held in Philly.

Loyola vs Norte Dame

Duke vs. Maryland

Sunday we slept in and then took a short drive up to Boston. We spent the day in the Cambridge area, most at Harvard University. It was so relaxing and very nice to spend some time together not rushing to see sites or visit  anything in particular. Harvard was different than what I expected but the surrounding area was very quaint and typified New England. There were a lot of street performers out and it was nice to listen to their music or watch their act for a little bit.

Center of Harvard

The Concert Hall

A law building

whole church was made from stone - very impressive

Monday was Championship Game - Maryland vs Loyola. Loyola ended up beating Maryland quite soundly but it was a pretty close/tight game until half. It was such an enjoyable weekend. It was so nice to finally have some time to just relax together, sleep in, and especially not have to worry about studying or work left undone.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get to do it again next year. :)

Maryland vs Loyola

Brett's heaven

Face off's were brutal...

A little update on Brett's schooling: he officially completed his first year of in-class work. Yipee!!! He is now in his clinical, working with actual patients and he is loving every minute of it! There is such a difference in his attitude about learning. He absolutely loves what he does and as frustrating as it was to have to wait 4 years for him to figure it out I am sure glad he took his time and didn't let his wife's impatience push him into doing something that he doesn't love. Can't wait to see where his career will take us in life.
Brett also has the privilege of serving as the treasurer on the Student Special Interest Group (SSIG) for Physical Therapy. While at one of the SSIG meetings, he was introduced to Victor Vaughn, who is a big advocate for PT. He does lots of stuff with the government advocating for PT. This was intriguing to Brett and he started asking more questions. Vic invited Brett to go down to Washington DC with him and the other Connecticut advocates. Brett enticed two if his classmates (AJ Cohen and Don Johnson) to go with him. So the 3 boys headed down to Washington DC for a "man-vaction" to do some advocating for PT on April 23 - 24.
It just so happened that while there the 3 of them, along with their professors sat down at a table with the professional advocates from none other than UTAH!!! Brett told them that he was from Utah and they asked him to join them in visiting Utah's senators wince CT would have 2 student advocates. So the following day he did just that. He tagged along with 3 Utah PT advocates, all of which are professors at University of Utah. Of particular note, the woman Kim Cohee, is head of the resident Orthopedic program at the U - Brett is really interested in doing this residency after finishing at Sacred Heart so it was a great opportunity to network with her - and the PRES of the APTA Tom Ward is also from Utah. Mark Anderson was the third representative for Utah, who was very impressed with Brett and seemed genuinely interested in helping Brett further his career. Brett had a blast and although he was with 3 "big-wigs" from Utah, he said they made him completely comfortable and he was very glad he was given the opportunity to join them.   As I said before: can't wait to see where Brett's career takes us in life. 

AJ Cohen, Brett, Don Johnson (Back row)
CT Delegation - Vic on the right

Mark Anderson, Brett, Tom Ward, Kim Cohee

Brett at the Captiol

Brett at the Capitol