Birthday Adventure

Yesterday was my 23rd Birthday and Will made it a great day! First he surprised me Tuesday night with my favorite cereal - Malt O'Meal Golden Grahams - so I could have a delicious birthday breakfast and two pumpkins! Earlier in the week Will told me that we had plans on Wednesday after I got out of class at 3pm. All week I wondered what my birthday surprise was going to be...I love surprises. I got home from class and Will presented me with the beautiful yellow daisies - see above photo. Then I opened my birthday package from my mom. She got me a cute new scripture bag and stuffed it with tons of fun surprises - Oh Chocolates, post it notes, soup mixes, a new notebook, and marshmallow pumpkins! Thanks mom! Then Will handed me my birthday presents - also featured in the picture above - he got me Huger Games and Catching Fire both by Suzanne Collins. I'm really excited! I was on the waiting list at the library for catching fire, but it would have been months and months before I got to read it. After opening presents Will told me what my birthday adventure would be...a visit to the Kennecott Copper Bingham Canyon Mine. Now that might sound like a strange birthday adventure to some of you - but two years ago I saw a video about the mine in a chemistry class and I've been wanting to visit it ever since - which Will knows. So we went. It was awesome!

These first two pictures are what you see from the lookout platform at the visitors center. The Mine is HUGE! It has produced 18.1 million tons of cooper - more than any mine in history. The mine is 2 and 3/4 miles across the time and 3/4 of a mile deep. You could stack two Sears Towers on top of each other and still not reach the top of the mine. The second picture of of the haul trucks. These trucks carry from 255 to 320 tons of material in a single trip. They are roughly the size of a house - there's a picture later on of me next to one of the tires - it gives you a better idea of how big the trucks are.




After gazing into the giant hole we went into the visitor's center to see a video that follows the entire process of mining and refining the copper. It's pretty sweet - there are underground tunnels and all sorts of things involved. I would highly recommend a visit to the mine to anyone. It was really fun! We finished off the night with dinner at Olive Garden and ice cream at Marble Slab. I have the sweetest husband! He really made my birthday special! Thanks Will!

P.S. You can see Uncle David's campaign sign in the back of that first picture - it's in our window at Wymount. Bob did a great job designing it! Vote Acheson for council!

Saturday In San Francisco

On Saturday there was more sleeping in (I have no idea what I time I got up but it was a lot later than everyone else) and we got ready to head back into the city. We started out by heading to Golden Gate Park which is a big park in the middle of the city. We had a great time eating lunch by the pond with the ducks. We walked around the pond and found a pretty cool bridge.


After the park we headed around to the other side of the bridge to get a different view. Saturday was pretty cloudy. So cloudy that the Blue Angles had to cancel their show but we weren't planning on seeing it (the jet engines would be too loud for Zack, he got a little freaked out on Friday when they were practicing).

(We think we take the best pictures on the beach)

As we were trying to get to Pier 39 we ran into some traffic on the renovated military base so we decided to just park and hang out for a while. We found that they have a Walt Disney Family Museum. It's a museum of Walt Disney and his life. We didn't go through because it was $20 a person but we did see the lobby which had his Academy Awards of which he won over 2 dozen. The best was the one for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was a normal Oscar with 7 smaller ones next to it.

(After the museum I decided to spend some time in a tree before we drove again)

Lee and Allie just dropped us off at Pier 39 and we made our way to the end to get a nice picture of Alcatraz and experience the wonderful scents of the sea lions. We continued on check out Ghirardelli Square where they have two shops where just for walking in you get a square of free chocolate. We enjoyed a Peanut Butter and a Caramel square.

(I wish I could lay out all day and randomly push other people in the water)

We called Allie and Lee and they came and picked us up but they experienced a little problem, their driver's seat got stuck laying almost all the way down. Allie drove all the way back to San Ramon with the seat back and it took us over an hour just to get onto the bridge! It was fun to experience the traffic and see what it's like to be in bumper to bumper city traffic but we decided that next time we'll come during the summer and go the cabin.

We did finish night with a trip to Top This Frozen Yogurt. Delicious.

Friday In San Francisco

We flew into the Bay Area late Thursday night and went to bed exhausted. We slept in and headed headed into San Francisco. Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a nice clear day and it also happened to be the day before the Fleet Week Airshow so the Blue Angles were out practicing. They were only there from 3-4pm and we got there at 3. We had no idea that they were going to be there but it was pretty cool.

(We were standing on the bridge here)

(Even the workers took an hour break to watch the show)

After the bridge Allie then drove us over to Lombard St, along the way she pointed out the parking meters that Monk touches in the beginning of the show (Sara's never seen Monk so she had no idea). As we drove down it I was surprised at how narrow the street was.


After that we decided to just drive around until 5:30 so that we could enter the Wicked Lottery. Wicked was in town and for every show they have some tickets in the Orchestra seating that are limited view that they put in a lottery. You show up at the Box Office two and a half hours before the show and enter your name with how many tickets you want (1 or 2) and then two hours before they spin the container and start pulling names. If your name is called you can purchase those tickets for $25 a piece. We both put our names and Allie did too. Lee showed up at 5:57 to get his in too. They started calling names and about 7 names in mine was called! Then as I was purchasing the tickets Allie's name was called and she said she didn't need them (but Lee was considering it, he could drop Zach off at his parent's and be back before the show started, Allie said no). Sara's name was called at the end as well, but we passed again.

(Us with the Lottery Man)

We enjoyed the show. It was limited view but the people next to us didn't show so we moved over to make it a little less limited view. I can't wait to see it again with a more proper view and a little better sound (it's not as good as close to the front). It was a crazy and busy day. Saturday was a little slower but just as fun.

Pumpkin Chocaolate Chip Pancakes

Before we get the trip to San Fransisco I figured I should post about our breakfast today.

(You know you want some)

Just You Wait

So this past weekend we had an adventure in the Bay Area but before we can update you on what happened there we need to catch up to what we missed here (ie: I have an Econ test that I have to take on Thursday before we venture up to Bountiful to go the the Temple with Ann on Friday).