Halloween

This year JD and I were invited to a Halloween party put on by a couple of our friends. It was so much fun and so fun to watch all of the kids play. Here are some pictures:

We had the best costumes- I must admit. JD was a lumber jack and I was a Redskins football player.

Don't mess!

The men bobbed for apples while the women took pictures and then disappeared once the men declared it was their turn. We're not stupid!

Do you think my friends would mind if I stole their children?

Halloween pinata

My friend Lori's baby dressed as a flower. How cute is that!?!

And the best pictures of the night-- Kate (my friend Tennelle's daughter). I was going to lick up the sprinkles, but she beat me to it.

It's Worth It

So I have a pretty good job as a special education teacher. The position I have right now is working with one high school girl with autism. She's a great girl and it's a fun job. However, as always, there are days where I would rather be doing something else. Like shopping, sleeping, watching Project Runway....

But today I was rewarded. The student I work with is so much in her own world that I spend most of the day trying to get her out of it. She quotes movies endlessly and can't focus. But every once and a while, the fog lifts and I see the girl underneath the autism. Today was one of those days.

We were working on some math and all of the sudden, she stopped, looked at me and said "You my best friend, Santini."

Melt my heart!!!

Sister, Sister!

This week I was a lucky girl! My dear sister Paige came for a visit. We haven't seen each other in a year!!! It was so great to see her and I'm so glad it will only be 3 months until I see her again.

We stuffed our faces with a new discovery- Senora Hot Dogs and Mexican Mango-coconut-slushy-ice cream-stuff.

The hair do attempted above didn't turn out so good. She ended up totally fro-dified.

Trail Dust Town

I've been driving by this place every day for the past year. I've been very curious. So we went and were pretty much disappointed, but the there were many picture opps!





He's a natural!

Tucson Marriott Resort

During the summer I worked for the Marriott Foundation: Bridges Program. And it came with benefits. Namely, a discount on staying at Marriott hotels and resorts. So we were left with no choice but to take advantage and stay a weekend at the Tucson Marriott Resort and Spa.


We were able to take the Lazy River up a notch when we spent the afternoon trying to balance on our feet on the rafts. I must say that I was successful and some (I won't mention any names) were not.
Gotta love JD's face here!




We are totally doing this again!

Our Day in Baltimore

So here is the last post from our DC summer. What a fun time it was! We feel very lucky that we had all of the experiences we did. Thanks to Mom and Dad Santini for all they did and for the memories.

Here is JD at the main building at the University of VA. As you can see, it is very similar to Monticello. Thomas Jefferson designed the building and patterned it after his home.

Monticello has beautiful gardens. Jefferson kept quite an estate.
There was a children's section where kids could write with quill pens. I couldn't help myself- I had to shove some of the kids over so I could play too.




We also went to the National Aquarium. It was so much fun and one if the highlights of the trip for me.
This was indoors! This rain forest had birds, butterflies, bats, and other animals cruising around without being sequestered. You walk through at your own risk- a bat could poop on your head.

We were also able to see a dolphin show. It was spectacular!

Walking down the coast.

We ended the day over at Dave and Kerry's place. JD met Dave at BYU freshman year. It was great to meet some of JD's friends. Can't help but love getting dirt on JD's past!!

The Big Apple

Thanks to the help of Dad Santini, JD and I were able to go to New York for the weekend while in DC for the summer. You would have never known that we were only there for a weekend with the millions of pictures we took!


We traveled to and from New York City by train.





Who knew that Lady Liberty's twin is so styling?
This is a deli I have to go to every time I go to New York. It was JD's first time there- he had no idea the blissful carnivorous experience that awaited.

JD and sandwich

What girl doesn't want a pink sparkly Barbie house?
More meat-- we enjoyed a dinner at a Brazilian steak house. Look at JD's face!

No explanation needed....
A most necessary stop at the Hershey's Chocolate Factory.

Our next stop was the M&M Factory.
We took the subway looking for the Statue of Liberty. We are still unsure how we ended up there, and even more unsure how we ended up back at the hotel. We got a little lost, but we ended up seeing parts of the city we would have never seen!

Part of out "exploration" resulted in running into a rally. That was fun. It was my first rally and I'm not quite sure what it was for, but I was ready to march around with a sign hollerin' for the cause.

Maybe the reason we got lost is that we were too busy snapping pictures of the Subway to pay attention to where it was going....

JD got tickets for The Phantom of the Opera. It was so great- I cried through the whole thing. I grew up on the music. We had awesome seats and I got swept away in the music and the Hershey's chocolate hidden in my purse.
We were told this is the best place to try New York cheesecake. It was heaven.

Even more meat-- notice a theme?