BOSTON DAY 2

The 2nd day we were in Boston we knew we wanted to see as much of the history of Boston as we could. So, we got a free tour of the Freedom Trail and really enjoyed it. It was very hot again, but hearing about the "Boston Massacre" and the "Boston Tea Party" and the start of the Revolutionary War made it all worth it. I am not a big history buff, but it was so amazing to be there.

This is the where the tour began at the State House.

I thought this picture was quite amusing cause you can see Ben wiping the sweat from his forehead. It was ok when we were in the shade, but in the sun....SO HOT!

Part of the Freedom Trail is to see Paul Revere's House....again, not a history buff, but seeing it and being there was such a different experience than reading about it in a book.



This building isn't historical, but it just epitomizes the beauty of the old brick buildings in Boston. I loved the way everything looked. Oh...and the restaurant in this building was called "Carmen" so I am sure that had something to do with why I liked it so much.



Ben standing by The Paul Revere statue in the North End (which was also where we had our dinner that night and it was THE BEST Italian food I have ever eaten)



This was in one of the places on the Freedom Trail. It is a memorial to all of the soldiers lost in the War in Afghanistan. Each of those silver things is a set of blank dog tags representing one soldier lost. It was very moving.







I do not like this picture of myself, but who cares, I need to record our trip and if that means posting pictures of me I don't like, then so be it. This was us before we got on our "duck tour" of Boston. They use these WW II style amphibeous vehicle to take you on a tour of Boston on land and on the river. It was pretty cool, but I was TIRED and HOT and kept practically passing out during the trip. Plus, it was too long for any of us.




Adam and Tonna on our duck with us. We were so glad they could come down and spend the day in Boston with us on Friday. It was more fun with them.

After the duck tour we went to the Boston Public Library, which is the first public library in the country. The building was gorgeous inside and out, but it was closing as we arrived. We just had to make sure we got pictures of Ben being "gallant" or maybe just a little nerdy.

Sadly enough I left my camera in the car when we walked down to the North End and went to dinner. It was such a yummy dinner. Then we went to Mike's Pastry and got like a billion different kinds of Canoli's and an eclair that was to die for. It was very yummy and the perfect end to a great day in Boston. It did start to pour on our walk back to the car, but we welcomed the rain after how hot it had been.

The Boston part of our trip was over and we left and drove back to Portland Maine and to Adam and Tonna's cute house that night. Boston was awesome and we could not have asked for a more fun start to our trip (although Ben didn't get his Celtics hat or to get into the Garden..)

BOSTON DAY 1

We flew out of SLC late. It was about 11:50 PM on Wednesday, July 14th. That was also my last official day in my current position so I had been very busy and pretty stressed up until this point. But, hey..who isn't, right? Anyway, we got on the flight and I pretty much slept that full flight. Poor Ben didn't sleep at all. We flew into JFK and had a 3 hour layover until we flew into Boston. Needless to say, Ben was extra tired when we got into Boston. We couldn't check into our hotel until 4pm, so it didn't matter how tired we were. We had to keep ourselves busy amd keep Ben awake. That didn't end up being an issue.

Boston is a beautiful city. Just stepping out of the subway station and looking down the street was inspiring. We dropped our luggage off at our hotel and then walked over and got lunch at the Prudential Center, which was attached to our hotel and close to pretty much everything we wanted to see. We then walked outside and got to see the beautiful city of Boston.

This was a large fountain with tonz of kids running through it. It was SO hot and humid and I really would have loved to run through it too!

We went and took a tour of the first Christian Science church building. It was very beautiful, inside and out. We enjoyed learning more about this religion that we knew nothing about.

After leaving the church and deciding we would walk to Fenway park...my shoe broke. So, I improvised and pulled out a hairband and tied it around my foot and shoe...and then proceeded to walk a few miles. It worked.


We walked to Fenway Park where the Boston Red Sox play. Ben was happy.

This was even cooler though. This is the Bleacher Pub (I think that was the name). We were walking by Fenway Park and saw a sign by a door that said "come in and see the Sox play" so we did. As you can see behind me, there was an opening in the wall and there we were, right at field level. There was a game that night, so the teams were actually on the field practicing. It was awesome!


It was a better view that you could ever get with tickets. We ended up getting gravy fries and a sandwich to take some time to really take advantage of the view. You don't get that opportunity every day.

On the walk back we saw this firehouse. I thought this was so neat. It looks so old, like something you would see in a movie. That was my favorite part of Boston, the old historic buildings and the feel they give the whole city.

We took the subway to TD Garden, where the Celtics play. Both nights we tried to get in, but it was already closed. Ben was pretty disappointed, but we tried.


That first night we went to the Omni Parker House Hotel. Talk about a historical spot. We ordered the Boston Cream Pie, which was actually invented at this hotel. Other historical events took place here like John F Kennedy announcing his candidacy for Congress as well as proposing to Jackie Kennedy there. Plus, Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh both worked there. I am not someone who is really into history, but standing in places that you have heard about and read about your whole life is a thrilling feeling.

This was just the first day. As you can tell, it was a packed day, but a great one.

The Big Trip

I would love to write about every detail of our amazing East Coast trip, but I do not have the time and I am pretty sure none of you have the interest :). I am going to write enough though because I really need my blog to start acting as more of a journal. So bare with me...or don't, either way I will continue writing. It will probably be 3 or 4 blog entries, this one being the first.

It was a long trip, 9 days in all.

We spent Thursday and Friday in Boston

...then drove up to Portland, Maine for Saturday, Sunday and Monday to hang out with Adam and Tonna.


..then off to New York City until Friday.


It truly was a whirlwind, wonderful, crazy trip. It felt like the ultimate 'bon voyage' USA trip. It was kind of strange leaving for vacation when we have such a short time left here with family and friends, but we have always wanted to go to New York City and this was just our chance. Adam and Tonna have been living in Portland, Maine for the past year while Tonna is her Physicians Assistant program. She will be done in less than a year, which means that when we get back from our two year stint in the Philippines they will be somewhere else. We don't really think we will ever have another reason to go out to Maine, and since we were going to be there anyway, why not go see some other great East Coast places, right? So, off we went for our adventure.

I forgot to mention.....

They are just finishing the LDS Temple in Cebu! How lucky are we to be moving to a foreign country and still be within 30 minutes of a temple! This makes me happy.

Not Baby News, But Still Big News!

This is where we are going to be living in 4 months. The Philippines! I am sure I probably picked out the most beautiful pictures I could find of Cebu and Mactan, but hey I give you what I have got. Hello.......gorgeous right?



I know this comes as quite the surprise to all of you. It came as quite the surprise to us as well. Making the decision to go was a hard one, but for as long as I can remember I have dreamed of living overseas. The fact that I work for a company that has it's main offices in Orem, Utah and Cebu, Philippines can't be a coincidence, right? We are so excited about this opportunity. There will be more details coming up. I promise I will write more than once a month now...

We need your help!

You may wonder what I have been doing and why I haven't been posted for so long, but since the beginning of December Ben and I have been working on something extremely important and time consuming, our adoption paperwork, but now it is done. We are approved to adopt. We have sent out emails and I am sure most of you have already heard, but I thought posting on our blog was pretty important. This is what I sent out in the emails, so if I don't have your email address or if you hadn't heard through facebook...this is for you:)! I will be posting more soon.

As you may already know, we have been married for almost four years and have been unable to have children. We are looking forward to the day we can bring children in our home, and are especially grateful to so many of you for your love and support through this process. We are excited to let you know that we have decided to seek a child through adoption. We are writing to ask you for any help you can give us in building our family through adoption.

If you become aware of a birth mother who is looking to place her child in a loving home, we would appreciate help in recommending us to the birth mother. If she is willing to consider us as adoptive parents, please contact us at (801)850-7578 or email us at bencarmenhope@gmail.com or you may contact our case worker, Stefanie Sparks at LDS Family Services (801) 216-8000.

Also, please check out our online profile https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24184006/ourMessage.jsf . This is a place where we have provided photos as well as information concerning our background, family, careers, hobbies and interests. It is a great tool for birth parents.

We truly appreciate any help you can give us in helping to build our family through adoption.

December..(WARNING...lots of pictures)

Well, at least this time I have only gone one month between posts instead of 2 or 3:)

December was a wonderful month. We had a great Christmas holiday spent with family and friends. All of my family was in town except Jordan and Melissa who were in Wisconsin. It was so great to have everyone here and it was especially exciting to see Adam and Tonna who are living in Maine and have not been here since June.

I have included pictures below, some with explanations and some without. ( I got a new camera (love ya hon) so pictures are going to be much more frequent and much better from here on out)

My brother Nate, nice face huh? He is eating our traditional Christmas breakfast, waffles with ice cream and strawberries. yum!

My nieces, cutest girls ever, cheesin it on Christmas morning at Grandmas!

Ben with his presents from Santa...a new golf bag and Tiger Woods golf on the WII. He was quite pleased!

Ben and "Human Archie". Archie got to spend Christmas with the Utah Crisantos this year.

Ben's hilarious reaction when he opened his Taylor Swift CD's. He tries to hide the fact that he loves her music, but I knew he would love this gift!

My sis in law Tiff with one of her many awesome gifts!

Brother in law Justin....dressing Ben, haha. Ben didn't know how to tie the scarf so Justin is giving him some tips.

Me with my wonderful snuggie....don't HATE people!

Brooklyn T-Shirt, remembering the days from the mission.

Flashing the best smile ever for another horse...she is obsessed!

My mom in her cute apron (my gift)

My sister Jessica and her new purple ipod

Another of my adorable nieces. I love this girl!

My sis in law, Tonna, and her wedding photo album from Adam

My lucky parents got a trip to New York City...can't beat that!

My brother Adam, looking good in his new scarf. That should come in handy!

Archie the dog and his Christmas present. He loves stuffed animals!

Keeping up with a Crisanto tradition (at least one we did last year) and going out for Chinese for Christmas
Christmas is another special day in our family, it's Archie's birthday. So, Happy Birthday Chi!

I warned you there was a lot of pictures! There will be more to come soon.