Gillette Castle!!

Today we went to Gillette Castle! It was designed by and was the private residence of actor William Gillette. It overlooks the Connecticut River and even had a train that he used to ride around his property on!



The entire outside and many of the inside walls and floors are all made out of stone!



William Gillette is most famous for being the first actor to portray Sherlock Holmes on stage and make him into the character we know him as today. We had fun meeting with these people reenacting Mr and Mrs Gillette!

This is the living room, I've never seen any house like it!



The castle and grounds have a GORGEOUS view of the Connecticut River!



Fun times!! :)

Four AMAZING years!! XOXO

I can't believe that today is our four year anniversary!! It seems like just yesterday we went on our double date with Meg and James to see Pixar's Cars and got ice cream at Friendly's afterwards! I remember sitting next to Dan in the theatre and I kept looking over at him because I just couldn't believe that I was actually on a date with the most perfect, amazing guy I had ever met! He had a bunch of change in his pockets and every time he moved, coins would clink to the floor, soo funny and CLASSIC!! Then the next day, we went to my ward's annual YM/YW picnic at Stratton Brook Park. I went to Meg's before to hang out with Dan and I wore an orange Hollister shirt because I knew that orange was his favorite color, and I was AMAZED when he opened the door and was pretty much wearing the exact same outfit as I was!! We both had on orange Hollister shirts, khakis (but he was wearing shorts and I had pants) and brown flip flops! It was totally a coincidence but it just showed us how similar we are and that we are sooo perfect for each other!! That was also the day we held hands for the first time and became official!! I'm just soooooo incredibly lucky that we've been together for these four magical years, they really have been the best years of my life and I'm sooooo grateful for Dan and for our amazing relationship and I look forward to an amazing eternity!! I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH SWEETHEART!!! YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING!!!! XOXOXO

More news from Dan!!

6/10/10- "We had very good studies together, made out new planners (which was fun! They look good :) and then got out tracting for an hour and a half! No one was too interested but we got some contacts. We came back for lunch, I had a tuna sandwich and we played a Disney trivia game that Sister Tucker has! It comes in a round tin box, it was super fun! It's pretty outdated though... it's from like '97 so it doesn't have trivia from more recent movies. I bet they have a newer version! I love trivia games (well, with trivia to stuff I know about like Disney, Toy Story, Star Wars, ect...) Guess what? I actually won! It was great lol."

"I got 2 packages waiting for me at the door!!! One was my GPS charger (which works perfectly!! We're already using it to find referrals we've received recently! Rodriguez said it's like the best GPS cause he knows his stuff! Thank you mom and dad!!) and one was something I had my mom order for Brita's care package that I'm sending off soon!! I couldn't believe how fast it got to me! I was really surprised! Mom is on the ball!! Thanks so much for helping me with that! We tracted for another hour (after eating dinner- just cheerios :( I can't believe another dinner cancelled), got a couple potentials, got our contact goal (actually passed it :), got a call from the Spanish missionaries who gave us a referral (!!!) and went to Skip's for a lesson! Oh no! How could I forget!? I got an AMAZING letter from my Brita too!!! Yay! That made me so happy! :) Happy day! From Skip's we went to LeAnn's and had a really good lesson there too!"

6/12/10- "We weekly planned and I got a surprise package package from my parents!! I have gotten so much package/letter love lately! I got 2 boxes of one of my fave cereals that I can't get out here- Chocolate Chex! Thank you sooooo much!! I loved my letters too! Yay! Elders Terry and Quick picked us up, we order a pizza, went to Walmart (Terry needed to get something), picked up the pizza and went to a baptism interview. Terry, Quick and I waited in the car while Rodriguez conducted the interview. After that was done, we went to their ward building around the corner and enjoyed our pizza! Yummy! We just pulled up a table in the gym, got a pitcher of water and some napkins from the kitchen and ate it there. Lol only on a mission right? They dropped us home and we rode up near Russ to tract by him. The funniest part was a house that had a parrot right in front of the door in a cage that talked! The people weren't even home, so we just talked to it and laughed for like 10 minutes lol. It said "hello", "hi" and it meowed like a cat, whistled and clicked, did the flirty whistle (you know that one?) and made all the craziest/ funniest sounds! Super fun! Oh yah, it even laughed like a human! It was sooo creepy and sounded like a computerized male laugh! hahaha that was great. We tracted for 2 hours and went to Russ' for our lesson/ dinner at 5:30pm. It went great! He's still all for it and sooo happy these days!!"

You're in the mission loop!

I started preseason training for lifeguarding on Monday and I've been soo busy!! I've been meaning to update the blog with Dan's latest journal entries and here are some excerpts!!

5/31/10- "I offered to cook the baked beans for the Tucker Memorial Day cook out that we were invited to! I tried to make them just like Grandad! I put onion (chopped up slices), ketchup and brown sugar and put them in the oven on low all day till we had the cookout! (Then they went to Walmart and Target where Dan used his birthday money and giftcards to get some fun Toy Story books and toys that were out) We came back here for our Memorial Day cookout with Sister Tucker and her fam! Elders Barnard and Johnson also joined us! My beans came out great and everything was delicious! We had potato salad I great but STILL not as good as mom's! Just not possible!! :), chips, onion dip, fruit salad, steak and BBQ chicken! I loved it!"

6/03/10- "Another good day yesterday! We got picked up by Elders Terry and Quick at 10:00am to go to a president interview. While Quick and I were sitting in the office, the lady who sorts the mail came up to us and told us that we both got letters! I'm so happy we went there cause they hadn't even sent it out yet so I got it a day or 2 early! I love you Brita!! She [the lady who sorts the mail] asked us both how it was being on missions with girlfriends! I told her it's sooo different for everyone and most will say don't have one but I LOVE having my Brita wait for me!! :) I told her a little summarized version of our story and she liked it. She was a super nice lady. Anyways, after interviews we were off. We went to Bajio's for lunch (which is 50% off for missionaries :) and it made me think of Brita because we experienced it for the 1st time together out in Rexburg and went there often! Good times there and then we tracted for two and a half hours in the crazy 95 degree weather! It's still gonna get like 20 degrees hotter! That was hot enough! Good thing for my mister, fan and water bottle cause that helped me so much not to die from the heat! Every time I would run out of water, I would just ask the person who we tracted into for a water and then I would just put that water into my special bottle! People are nice about it here cause they know it's so hot and dry. It's actually illegal to deny someone water in the state of NV. Funny huh?"

6/05/10- "I can't believe it's been one year since starting my mission papers last June! All those stupid questions and interviews with LDS family services lol. I know I was meant to be here at this time though! So it all worked out...the Lord sees the bigger picture! Also almost a year since our totally classic NH trip!!! SOOOO fun!!! XOXOX"

6/06/10- "I gotta say... It's so cool to see how Chris has progressed since his baptism! In just a week and a half since he's got baptized he's: received the Holy Ghost, got the priesthood, went to the temple yesterday to do baptisms and he blessed the sacrament today! What a stud! He's on fire... that's so cool to see! What a blessing. Well another week gone already! Crazy! That's about all the details of this week I think. We're at 20 lessons already right now...4th week in a row to get 20 or more lessons a week! Now we need to get them baptised... we'll see how things go! I'm so grateful for this area, this mission and my incredible family and Brita!! Ok new news! Chris just bore his testimony!! :) Solid! Add that to his list of achievements in the last 2 weeks! Good times. Being a missionary is so cool! I love you all SOOOOO much and miss you everyday! Thank you for everything!!! XOXOX"

500 days to go :)

That fact just makes me sooo happy!! And in about three months, it will be 400 and then in three more months, it will be 300 days until Dan gets home, and that's less than a year!! I'm soo glad that time is going by soo fast :) I got Dan's latest journal copies today and he wanted me to post his entire birthday entry!! So here it is...

"Oh my gosh!!! Yay!! I officially had the greatest, most incredible, most amazing mission birthday EVER!! I can't wait to write all about it! Right now I'm just sitting at my desk (it's 6:50am, on May 28th 2010) eating my amazing cake for breakfast (yup! The tradition lives on! :), listening to "Wishes!" and updating my journal! Ok so yesterday: After I showered and got ready, I opened my package from my family and arranged all the presents on the floor so I could open them. I brought my CD plater and put on my Pixar CD for opening music. :) I can't believe I got a Toy Story themed birthday!! I don't think I've EVER had one! I can't believe we've never thought of that!!! Go Mom! It was perfect!! I never even thought of the theme being Toy Story until I saw the stickers on the outside of the box!!! Soooo fun!!! SO I was so excited to see Toy Story party goods that the first thing I did was make the table cute!! I set it up just like mom would have!! As for balloons, this is what I did: I took a ribbon that mom had tied the bag with, blew up the balloons, and tied the balloons to that ribbon. Then I hung it over the table with a tack! It worked out perfectly! After I had a blast setting up everything, I started opening my presents!!! :) WOW!! How does my family do it!? Everything was perfect and such a suprise!! I got: 3 new ties (one for my birthday- I was hoping I'd get a birthday tie!! One for Memorial Day- can't wait to wear that! and one for the summer with ice cream cones on it! :), all the birthday decorations of course (including super cute Toy Story character cake toppers!!), 5 new CD's (3 John Schmidt (!!!) and 2 surprise Disney CD's where they turned classic Disney songs into the style of different classic composers! So awesome! I love them! Where does my mom find all these awesome things!?), a Toy Story 3 view finder along with some slides from the 1st Toy Story (Yes! I'm so glad I got that! I love Toy Story products and a view finder is a classic toy! I already opened it and looked through it :) Fun!!), more Toy Story Legos (from Meg, James and all the Midgley fam!! Thank you!! I love them and I was actually hoping for some!!) BopIt (From the Hornes!! And this is crazy: like just 2 or 3 days ago, Rodriguez and I were randomly talking about how fun/classic BopIt used to be! And now I have a new one!! I was just talking about the new one to Rodriguez cause it has "shout it" now as part of it! Thank you so much!) Othello (Cause me and mom used to love playing it! It's classic! Thank you! Rodriguez and I are excited to play it! That will be really fun on a pday! :) I'm getting the Robin Hood soundtrack comin in the mail (from Rob and Laurie!! That was one of the soundtracks I wanted! Thank you Taylor family! I know I'll love it!), Avatar DVD (from Katie and Chad!! I can't believe I have it! Lol is this a test of obedience!? haha whether it comes home opened or still sealed? :) I'm sooo excited to see it! That was on my list of DVD's to get when I got home so it's perfect! Thank you so much!) A GPS system (Yes!!! I totally forgot I mentioned that!! We've needed it so much lately! They're not just good to have in a car... they're good for walking and finding directions too! It's so hard to find street addresses in our huge area- like when we get a referral. It's gonna be sooo nice to have!! It's the very one I wanted cause some other missionaries have it and I though it was awesome, small and simple to use! Great job! It's perfect! It only comes with a car charger though so I'll need the ac adaptor accessory that goes with this GPS. Thank you tons!! What a suprise! I'm so excited! :), GPS case and car mount (I love them! I'll keep it super nice and I'll have it for years! When I'm driving with it back home, I'll always remember I got it on my mission! :), pictures of Toy Story collection toys that are waiting for me back home (Yes!! WOW!! Jessie, Rex, AND Mr. Potato Head!! I was not expecting that!! I love them!! I thought Jessie was just a pre order! That's gonna be sooo exciting to go home to all of those amazing toys!! Thank you!!), a picture of some Toy Story games waiting for me at home (Man! You read my mind again! Every time I got to Target or Walmart or Toy's R Us, I always look at those games and always wish I could get them for my future kids! Thank you! That's so fantastic! Another great surprise!!) $50 (in a card from Grandad!!! Yes!!! I love a little extra money out here to get whatever! That was sooo nice!! Thank you grandmom and grandad!! :) I was wondering if I would get any and I did!), a Toy's R Us gift card + $10 (from OE!!! I was also wishing for a Toy's R Us gift card from somebody!! How did you know!? I can't wait!! Thank you incredibly much for that and the AMAZING cake!!! I'm so excited to find something at Toy's R Us that I really wanted! :), a visa gift card (from Mom and Dad!! That is sooo awesome!! I am sooo lucky to have the most incredibly incredible parents ever!! So many possibilities of stuff I could get with that!! :) xoxox), party favors (Toy Story Pez, Buzz lightyear gliders and Toy Story paddle ball! Perfect favors! I'm still having fun with them! :) Rodreguez likes his too! :), cards from everybody (that you all for the cards! I especially LOVED the one where you recorded saying happy birthday to me!! That was sooooo special!! :) I love those things!! I also loved getting one of Darin's classic creative homemade cards lol so funny!) and last but not least: My mom's special project!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!! What an amazing surprise!! Thank you everybody who helped and all my nieces and nephews !! WOW! It couldn't be more perfect! It's ALL the pixar characters and has film reels so it's sooo awesome for me!! I LOVE ALL the kids wearing those alien hats! Soooo funny and classic! Those projects always blow my mind!! Thank you! Thank you! I'm looking at it right now! I hung it up on the back of my study room door and it's perfect there! :) Ok that was my family's amazing package now I'll talk about my package from Brita!!! Oh no! How could I forget!? I also got 2 AWESOME V necks from Hollister!! They fit perfect and I love them! Thank you! Bring on pday!! :) Ok now on to Brita's: I got the Wishes DW firework show soundtrack (yay!!! I had been waiting so long for that! I thought of that way back when I was with Elder Brown in my greenie area! I love it!! I put it on right away! Thank you honey! It brings back SOOOO many memories!!), birthday cake batter body wash (Brita knows me soo well! I was totally hoping she would get me some! And it's perfect timing again cause I'm almost done with the pink frosting one! Thanks to Brita, I always smell so yummy and have never had to buy body wash on my mission! lol! :) I Love the smell of this one!), some food that I can't get out here (marshmallow fluff, peach salsa, chocolate HBOO, and also some of her classic fruit that she usually sends me! Yay! Sooo yummy! Thanks so much babe!!), a fancy water bottle to help the water stay bold in the blazing heat (it's perfect honey! I washed it out and used it right away and I love it!! Just what I wanted! :), a freezer pack to help me stay cooler in the sun (it's in the freezer right now as I write this sweetheart! Thank you!! That was so thoughtful! Now I won't get too hot and DIE!!), a mini fan (also to help me stay cooler! Between a nice water bottle, ice pack and fan, I'll be set to go!! You take such good care of me sweetie!! Thank you! It's perfect for me :), yankee candle birthday cupcake car fresheners (our car will smell so yummy someday when we actually get one! That's one of my fave scents! Thank you!!), a balloon animal/object kit (what a fun idea! xoxox Thank you! You're so thoughtful! I'll try to practice so I can entertain the kids out here! :), a letter and a SUPER funny, adorable Hoops and Yoyo card!! I love it!! Thank you sooooo much everybody for being so amazing and thoughtful!! You ALL made my birthday wishes come true and sooo much more!! Oh, Brita, thank you for them gum too! I just ran out so it was perfect timing again! After I opened I spent the whole morning + my lunch hour opening/playing with my new stuff, listening to new tunes and organizing!! I had an absolute blast!! And for lunch, I had a peanut butter and fluff sandwich!! Sooo delicious! :) I got into my missionary clothes, put on my special birthday tie and went to the park for AJ to show but he never did for some reason! We waited for like 30 min but he never came so we left. We had a lesson with Gary about some commandments since he wants to be baptised, helped him with some stuff and then went tracting for an hour till 4:30pm. We walked to Smith's to get milk (cause I ran out and needed to have some with my cake :) and fresh strawberries (cause I forgot to tell Sister Tucker to get them. She was nice enough to get everything else though :). We got back right on time for my 5:00pm party with Sister Tucker and her family that came (her 2 daughters , 2 son in laws, and her grandaughter, Savana, who loves missionaries lol) I came home, chopped strawberries, put whipped cream on the cake, decorated it with characters and the "20" candles and put it back in the fridge. I had a classic time eating chips, onion dip and m&m's!! Just like home! For dinner, we had chicken, bread and watermelon. Not bad but nothing compared to my mom's special bday dinner back home :). I checked the mail and I had 2 letters from my Brita!! Happy birthday to me!! Yay! We all wore our alien hats and had the amazing cake from OE!! They sung Happy Birthday to me and I made sure I got a classic "man or monkey" pic for my collection (and for Darin lol). I still keep all the traditions goin! The cake tasted perfect and kept amazingly in the mail! I just can't believe all the effort and time that went into making my birthday so special! Both my family AND Brita!!! I'm also grateful for the Tuckers for doing that for me! No one could have made a mission birthday that outstanding except for my out of this world family and girlfriend!! Thank you all again soooo much!!! I love every second of it!! After my party (around 7), we got a ride to LeAnn's, had a lesson with her, walked to Skip's while talking about deep doctrine, had a funny lesson with with Skip (as always lol that guy...) and walked home from there! When I got home, I built my Toy Story legos from Meg and James while listening to John Schmidt! I had so much fun and I love it! Thank you! Got ready for bed, planned and that was my out of control, mindblowing birthday! It made me feel sooo incredibly happy and loved!! I felt the love in every present!! I loved everything! Well, I have to get in the shower now but that's all the birthday updates and I can't wait for you all to see pictures! I forgot something again!! Sister Tucker and her fam were nice enough to get me some cards and hooked me up with a $20 gift card for Target!!! Yes!! I love Target! I just got sooo hooked up from everyone that it's unbelievable. I love you family!! I love you Brita!! Oh yah it was funny- when I blew out the candles, Sister Tucker said "I know what you wished for... a certain B-R-I-T-A." LOL! Ok that's it now! Bye!!!! XOXOXOXOXOX"