Comó se llama su llama

Well, we made it!!!! And our first week has been INCREIBLE!!

Out of our 4 flights to get to Peru, the one from Lima to Cusco was by FAR the best. I enjoyed breathtaking views of the Andes while eating my own little (FREE) snack pack filled with Peruvian cookies and crackers. 

Here are some of the sweet views from the window

 

Due to its high elevation, we had to nose dive over a mountain and bank left to fly into the city and land, it made for amazing views, like the one above. 

This city is BEAUTIFUL. Surrounded by mountains, houses fill every space possible. Here are some of our favorite pictures. 

We also love our new home!! We live in a volunteer house with 12 girls and 4 boys (it was going to be 15 girls and just Brigham, but thank goodness they switched it around so he has some buddies!) We have meals made for us everyday and they are delicious! The people in charge of the house also clean our rooms everyday... we are so spoiled!

I love to sit here and blog or read, I love bay windows!

We also love our placement as well!!! We work at a clinic up a big hill called Picchu Rinconada. Its a big blue house and has a couple of different offices, including a lab (for testing), orthodontist, OB, pediatrics, and family practice.

I have been working in pediatrics for the past week and Brig has been working in OB. I have loved working with little kids!! I even got to help to physical exams, like checking their thyroid and fontanels. i have taken a lot of weight and height and i even was able to give someone a flu shot!!!!

I took some pictures of the pediatrics room! It is tiny, notice the scale in both pictures. Also, try to imagine 8 adults (or more) and 2-3 babies at a time in the room, its always super crowded! Also, there are no doctors, its always nurses and assistants that examen the patients, hand out multi nutrients or order labs to take place.

 The supplies are also very limited. The scale is broken, so you have to take away 2.5 kilos every time you weigh a baby that cannot yet stand on its own. However, they function very well without the supplies.

This past weekend we hiked up to Cristo blanco (direct translation= White Jesus), a big statue that looks out over the city. It was a sweet hike that passed ancient Incan ruins (a really cool military fortress at the top of the hill to help protect the city).

hiking up steps on our way to Cristo Blanco

At the Top!

Incan Ruins: legend has it that the stones are so perfectly carved that a piece a paper or knife will not fit through any of the cracks

After we left Cristo Blanco, we ended up going to some AWESOME caves nearby. Our group (7 of us) ended up exploring so many caves!

Incans carved these! Don't they look like faces?

 We ended up rock climbing, crawling on hands and knees, and squeezing through the many holes and crevasses.... it was seriously amazing

squeezing from one side to the other

One particular cave was the hardest, but most thrilling. We ended up having to rock climb this wall in the dark to come out of the small hole on top. 

On my way up!

MADE IT

We will definitely be going back to do more exploring :)

We had so much fun with our group (All of them live in the same house with us :))

the girls

Well, we LOVE this city and cannot wait to explore it even further! We feel so blessed to be here and are learning so much from our medical placement and from the Peruvian people. It has been an awesome week :)

P.S. I totally touched a wild llama, wearing my llama shirt nonetheless (thank you 9th grade Spanish Club)

Boston Strong

If any of you have Instagram and are reading this blog, you probably saw the overload of pictures this past week of our trip in Boston!

Let me just say, it was AWESOME!!!!!!

We were able to to go on such an incredible adventure because my sweet and genius husband Brigham was able to present his Alzheimer's research at the Experimental Biology conference! He is also an official member of the American Association of Anatomists. We were so lucky to go with his lab and Dr. Wisco, who is the professor leading all the research. It was wonderful to listen and learn more about the efforts to tackle Alzheimer's disease, especially because it hits so close to home. (My grandpa had Alzheimer's for 12 years before he passed away).

Brigham and his poster presentation

in action

When we were not at the conference center, we took full advantage of all the wonderful sights and activities in Boston, including

RED SOX! We were so lucky to get in, and we had great seats for cheap because we scalped tickets in the 4th inning. We were also lucky to see them play the Royals, Brigham's home-town team.

We loved the feel of a smaller stadium. It felt so intimate and it was so awesome to be in a place where everyone was so united, especially after the bombings. I even got to take home one of these posters!

We also were able to go on the Freedom Trail! We ended up just going to see a couple of the sights and did the tour on our own. We LOVED seeing all of our nations history--here are some of our favorite pictures.

George protecting his city

One of our favorite spots was this old cemetery. We loved the blooming trees above the old headstones.  However, we unfortunately could not find my ancestor's grave (he is buried somewhere in Boston) since everything is so worn away. 

The victims of the Boston Massacre and major Revolutionaries such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock are buried here. 

We loved the skull angel on the headstone.

Harvard Yard was also on our list of go-see's! We ended up sitting in a building and saw all the students going to class. Brigham noticed that EVERYONE had a backpack on.... a very heavy backpack. 

We also ended up going to this delicious chocolate store (thank you Ginnie!) called L.A. Burdick. As we sat and enjoyed our delicious hot chocolate (tastes just like the chocolate shots at Cucina Toscana) while sitting by two Harvard professors grading papers, it was a cool place.

YUM!

One of the coolest and saddest things in Boston was the aftermath of the bombings. For most of our trip Copley Square was completely shut down, including the subway stop. We ended up having to go around it a lot because our hotel is 2 blocks away, but we didn't mind, and neither did anyone else. Here is the first memorial by trinity church. 

On the day we flew out, Copley square re-opened and so we decided that we would go see it and the new memorial before we left.

There were running shoes everywhere to show support. The bottom left photo is where one of the bombs went off, all the windows were blown out. 

As we walked around we were able to go inside Trinity and Old South Church. I was in heaven because it brought me back to my Spain days where we saw every cathedral in every town. 

Trinity Church was only open for prayers and meditation. As we sat there in the beautiful building you could definitely feel all the love and support for those hurt in the bombings.

Old South Church

Trinity Church

Trinity Church

We had such an amazing trip!!! We feel so blessed that we were still able to go to Boston after everything that happened. 

We are currently in Cusco, Peru and are soooo excited to begin our Volunteer Program Monday! Ill post more later :)

Anatomy Academy

Last friday was the LAST DAY of all of our AA meetings... AA as in Anatomy Academy!!!!!

Anatomy Academy is a 7 week program that teaches 5th and 6th graders all about their anatomy, physiology and nutrition. Each week we taught a certain area in the body--for example one week we taught all about the heart, including taking our pulse before and after physical activity. All the kids love it when we come because we pretty much do fun activities that promote being healthy... and they also get no homework. 

The program also conducts research aimed at fighting the childhood obesity epidemic, a HUGE problem in our country today. 

Here is a video they made after the program began in LA last year!

For our program, we went to Freedom Academy, a charter school in Provo. Brigham (sorry for the major brag session ahead) is the head coordinator for the school, meaning he was over all 6 classes which have around 25 kids each, as well as all the 60 mentors (those are the BYU and UVU students that teach the kids). He did an amazing job :) The principal was even asking him to speak to all the students at an assembly. 

I was in a 6th grade classroom and my mentor partner was none other than Isabel!!!!! (Isabel and I were on study abroad together in Spain :))

Here is our awesome group!! We both had sooooo much fun teaching all of our amazing kids! 

 

If you are at BYU or UVU and want an awesome service experience, do Anatomy Academy! It is the best:)

Contact Dr. Wisco for more info! (He is the awesome professor that started this incredible program)

Crandall Cousin Party!!

My whole life, my parents have shown and taught my siblings and I the importance of family! I remember many long road trips going to weddings, holidays, reunions, and family visits. I cherish those memories playing with my cousins, having my Grandpa chase us down the hall saying "flat footed flat feet", eating delicious homemade treats, and playing at the cabin!

Here are some old pictures I found :)

The Rachel's and Rebecca's!

Alexa and I with our Party Hats

The Cabin

I also admire how close my parents are with their siblings! My mom is always chatting with her sisters or brothers, and my Dad just went on the 'annual' trip with all his siblings! I love how they are always there to support one another, no matter what. I hope that when my siblings and I are older and have our own individual families, we can be that close as well.

Anyways, this past Friday night we had a CRANDALL COUSIN PARTY! There are so many of us in the Provo/SLC area going to school or almost out that I decided to throw a party so we could all catch up before everyone leaves!

We had some delicious food (being Crandall's it's a requirement) including pizza, and yummy desserts

Strawberry-lime shortcake

mint brownies

We also called Grandma! She was soooo happy to hear from all of us!! in her words, "Oh, how WONDERFUL!!"

Grandma looking regal with her bottle of Coke and popcorn ball!

I am so glad we were all able to catch up before:

Kathryn and Nate head to Boston (Kathryn is going to Boston University to get her PhD!)!

Melanie and Nick go to Creighton for Medical School and become parents!

Lynne goes to Toronto for her Mission!


                                              Here are all the 'Crandall' girls :)

The whole group! (minus Brigham)

Thanks so much for coming guys!! I loved talking about cooking blogs, hemoglobin, needles (sorry Nate!), and our future adventures!

And thank you, Brigham, for helping me clean and cook :) I love you!

Sometimes I like scrap booking inspirational quotes :)

The Good Life

Can I just say that coming home and having NO homework, tests, or school stress is SOOOO NICE!!! People always say that once your out of school, you will miss the days of being a student.... well I don't--at least not yet. It has been sooo nice to go to work and then come home and relax, maybe cook a good dinner, settle down with a good book, or (lets be honest) watch another episode of some silly addictive TV show.

Right now I am working two part time jobs. The first is the same job I have had for the past 2 1/2 years as a physical therapy technician. I treat patients (ultrasound, E-STEM, etc) before they see the therapists and I love being able to interact with all the patients! One great thing about therapy is that you get to see the same people 3x a week instead of 2x a year, so you get to build stronger relationships with everyone that comes in.

My other job is at a flower shop!! Click here to know more :)

Come check us out on University Ave, right before Center St

I get to arrange flowers etc and its pretty awesome. Valentine's week was insane, but it was a lot fun! My family came out for Presidents Day Weekend (drove in at midnight on Valentines Day to be exact) so my dad recruited my new arranging skills to make floral arrangements for my mom, my sister and I.

these are the flowers I made

Brigham and I had a wonderful Valentines Day! After picking me up from working all day at the flower shop, we went to a yummy Indian restaurant in Orem. For some reason the decorum of little India reminded me of what Madam Puddifoots tea shop would look like in the Harry Potter novels (the shop in Hogsmeade where all the couples went, you know with stuffy, paired off tables etc?). I thought it was pretty sweet not only because I LOVE Harry Potter but also because it was perfect for V-day... The tiny restaurant was full of couples.... Except for the nice man eating by himself right next to us :( Brig thought he got stood up :(:( How much would that suck on Valentines day? After dinner we headed over to go to the movies! We were gonna see Safe Haven but of course it was all sold out so we saw Beautiful Creatures instead (it was surprisingly witty), and of course we had to stop by sweet tooth fairy beforehand so we could sneak in yummy cupcakes into the theater! That place is ADDICTING.

  After the movie we speeded home to greet my family that had already arrived and was waiting for us to get home.

When my family was here we skied at Deer Valley on Saturday and it was beautiful!! Of course, my dad had his annual ski race and without my cousin Brian or Jeff there to beat him, he won.  However, Brigham has become as good as me in skiing and he has been like not even 10 times (our kids will be experts!). Thank you BYU ski class. 

We also took my younger sister Becca and her best friend Glenna on tour of BYU! The weekend after they came they got their ACCEPTANCE LETTERS!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! I am so excited to have my lil sis here with me in Provo!!! I know she is gonna love it :)

Congrats Becca! Im excited to be reunited:)

Hello All!!!

Well, guess what? I am returning to the blogger sphere! I know its been like a year and a half since I've blogged so hopefully I can keep it up on a regular basis. I feel like the next step would be to do a wedding post.... and I will once I get my wedding video... yes, I realize its been over a year and yes I still dont have it (mini freak out session). However, my videographer has assured me its still coming (please cross your fingers with me!!). He is doing it for free :).

Anyways, most of the people who read this blog know I just graduated (WOOOOO HOOOOOO)!!! Let me tell you, it feeeels good!!! I love not having homework, and I love having a college degree under my belt. However, im definitely in a transition phase and its a little odd to just preoccupy myself with organizing and re organizing every room and closet in our apartment. I am on the lookout for jobs and and currently still subbing at my old one.

And then I am getting ready and doing all the paperwork for Brigham and I to go to PERU!!! Thats right :) We will be travelling to the beautiful city of Cusco. We leave at the end of April and come back at the end of June. We will be volunteering in medical areas of need---mostly hospitals that need people to take vitals, help move patients and translate for others. I cant even begin to express my excitement to go!!! I have always wanted to go to South America and do humanitarian work. And to be able to speak spanish for two months straight??? STOKED. Im also a little anxious because we dont really know what to expect, but we are so excited to go on this adventure together!!

And we are also so excited to get to know the Peruvian people and Incan roots in the region.... We will also get to see this beauty. Cant wait!!!!