2014 By The Numbers

I like making lists. On our drive to Canada the other week we made a list of all the things we could number about 2014, a little list of counted blessings and adventures.

Visited 7 countries while traveling- France, Monaco, England, Spain, Germany, Canada and the US.

Went to 7 major US cities- Washington D.C., Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Salt Lake, Honolulu, and New York

^^Friends in DC^^

^^Friends in Dallas^^

Visited a few smaller cities- Arimo, ID, Martha's Vineyard, Bar Harbor, ME, Concord, NH

^^Arimo^^

^^Martha's Vineyard^^

^^Bar Harbor^^

Sarah planned two major parties - a wedding reception and the Ward Christmas party

Went to 3 concerts - Dave Matthews Band, Fleetwood Mac, Jim Gaffigan

^^Fleetwood Mac^^

Hosted 13 friends and family members for visits and tours of the city

Saw one Red Sox game, the US Open, BYU v. UConn football and BYU v. UMass Amherst basketball

Sailed on a boat 4 times including one trip all the way up the coast of Mass.

We planned and co-hosted 7+ summer BBQs and made 18+ racks of ribs

Thomas played 25+ games of tennis and Sarah crocheted 20+ blankets and other projects

Sarah had one sibling get married (Annalie to Keveren) and another get engaged (Seth to Miranda)

We celebrated 2 years of marriage, Sarah's 28th birthday and Thomas's 30th

So long 2014! You've been interesting and hard and full of adventures. Bring on 2015!

Oahu {USS Arizona}

Last time Thomas and I were in Oahu we got to the USS Arizona memorial just a few minutes before it closed. We didn't get to take the tour of the actual monument and had to quickly race through the museum. This time we planned ahead a little more, reserved tickets and actually arrived early. We're making progress.

The stories of sunken submarines during WWII were probably my favorite part of our visit. There were a lot of tragic stories but seeing the names of each of those men who fought valiantly at sea for our country was touching.

After a short movie about the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor we took a boat ride to the monument built over the USS Arizona. There's not much to say about the monument really, you can see the sunken ship just below the water. There are little droplets of oil that continue leaking from the hull of the ship. There are still hundreds of men trapped in the ship and others who survived the attack but have since been buried with their comrades. It's quiet and calm there, reverent.