NORTH OGDEN TO PITTSBURGH

We left early in the morning to begin our trek to Pittsburgh. This sad picture is the empty apartment with all of Laurel and Brady's belongings safely packed in the moving truck. We traveled 13 hours the first day, 12 the second, and after 12 hours on the third day, we arrived in Pittsburgh. We passed 5 states growing corn and more corn. We didn't see many different sights along the way....beautiful farm country was the norm.

The moving truck was bumpy to drive in, but John and I enjoyed our time together driving.

We stopped at the Winter Quarters Visitor's Center. As we stepped into the lobby, a beautiful young missionary, Sister Baur, came up to me and said, "I know you." She was a North Ogden girl, Weber High graduate and had helped me at the bank many times. The church can make the world a little smaller. They have a wonderful visitor's center.

A reminder of the MANY sacrifices that were made

for us to have the beautiful place we live and the

gospel as the foundation of our lives.

The Winter Quarters Temple

We made a stop in South Bend to see the College Football

Hall of Fame. Of course we had to also drive around Notre

Dame campus too. It is a beautiful campus and a busy

tourist attraction. Jocelyn made her choice of helmets.

One of my all time favorite coaches.

Jocelyn and Paisley in the Heisman pose

Brady is brainwashing Paisley at a very young age.

Laurel's hero from when she was a very young girl!

I had to make my opinion known when I saw a

certain display.

Thank goodness Brady was a wrestler and not a cheerleader

As we were checking into our Pittsburgh motel, the TV announced that 15 people had been shot in Pittsburgh. I wondered about this new city. My fears were put to rest the next morning as we met some of the friendliest people I have ever seen. The street Brady and Laurel live on is straight out of the 40's. A very narrow one way street with all the cars parked on the street and houses touch each other on each side. Brady and Laurel live in a row house which means OLD. I was able to meet all of the neighbors in the 6 units of Laurel's rowhouse. I also met Laurie, Grandma Reta, and Grandma Nancy from across the street. As we took walks each day, everyone tends to be outside on their porches. All the homes have big porches and some of the yards are straight out of a magazine and others are full of trinkets, like the trolls from Amazing Race. But regardless of the homes people live in, they all speak to you and smile.

Jocelyn and Brady were a great team putting

together this Ikea cupboard....

Unloading the moving truck

When unloading and unpacking, we found the infamous red wig. Jocey looks like someone else I could name......her beautful sister, Megan.

Paisley enjoyed the game

It this not the sweetest picture of Paisley????

I LOVE IT! Brady is all right too.

The city closes down one of its 32 bridges

so that baseball attendees may walk over the

bridge to the game.

We had to go to a Pirate's game. They played the Cardinals and we had a GREAT evening becoming acquainted with Pittsburgh.

Brady, Paul (who is married to Amanda and graduated

from the U and is a first year with Brady) and Josh who is

from Syracuse and is a 2nd year med student. Josh

graduated from Weber State also.

The wonderful new friends....Laurel, Jessica (lives two doors away

from Laurel and is from Boise--her husband,

Bryce, is a first year resident) Haley (lives next door to Laurel

and is from Syracuse) and Amanda (who lives across from the

Catholic High School and is from Bountiful.)

All these terrific young women were waiting to

greet Brady and Laurel as they arrived in Pittsburgh.

The Catholic High School was having a class reunion

and some of the "girls" decided to dress up as nuns.

Brady and Laurel live in a very friendly mostly Catholic

neighborhood. The Catholic school and church are about

6 blocks away. This evening was dedicated to fund raising

for the school. They had a great turn out and neighborhood

support.....booths, lots of food, a flea market, and carnival rides

for the kiddies.

Grandma is holding Paisley during the white coat ceremony so that

Laurel can keep a close eye on Brady receiving his white coat.

One of the highlights of our trip was Brady's white

coat ceremony. Each medical student is introduced and

a white coat is placed on them by some of the professors of the

school. These white coats symbolize the new life of medicine for

each student. We had two very good speakers from the medical

school and a very nice light buffet on the concourse and lobby of

the Pitt basketball arena.

]

Brady's medical school

Typical evenings with friends on the porch

The elders came walking along as we just finished unloading.

They visited and had lunch with us on the porch. The elders

told me they had never heard of three LDS families living next

to each other. What a blessing it has happened for Brady and Laurel.

HOME SWEET HOME!