One if by land, two if by sea

Okay, so for family night tonight, Ryan is being lame and playing the Wii (I knew it would come to this sooner or later), and I am here typing up a new blog. Luckily, we have some good things to blog about or I'd be really upset. :)
Two weeks ago, our buddy Jeff Brown came out to visit us. We were planning on going to Boston with him and ended up telling some new people in the ward about it. The wife, Rachel was way excited for us and told us she was jealous. Ryan said, "Why don't you come?", and believe it or not, they did! I'm so glad they (Rachel, Charles, and little Hannah) did come. They still have a few weeks before podiatry school starts, so they had nothing to do just like us. Anyway, We ended up taking a lot of pit stops, spending a fun day in Boston, and going to Plymouth on the way back home.
About Ryan's crazy sunburn story....Ryan and Josh and I had gone to the beach a couple days before we went to Boston, and Ryan, being the whitey he is, got burned. Well, while on the way to Boston, with the Hunter's (Ray, Chuck, and baby) behind in their car, Ryan starts flipping out (while driving) about his itchy back. He starts getting pretty desperate, and I start getting pretty mad because he won't pull over and he was acting crazy... He pleads with me to find some lotion to put on it (does that sound like a good idea?), and all I can find is Desitin....haha. I put it on and a few seconds later, Ryan practically goes into hysterics. He's driving all over this little hick town trying to find a store to get some aloe vera. The Hunters thought we were playing "cat and mouse" with the cars because Ryan happened to run a red light before finding a store. He ran in and bought aloe vera, then made me run in to get anti-itch cream when that didn't work. That didn't really work either, but we moved on. Later that night in the hotel, he soaked in the tub, and Jeff and I heard these pitiful moaning noises coming from the bathroom. I thought I should probably check on him to be a good wife. I went in, and Ryan still was hurting and itching (and he was honestly afraid of going crazy), so eventually Jeff gave Ryan a blessing. He was able to go to bed, although still pretty itchy, and it improved a bit the next day.
Looking back, I probably should have been more sympathetic because I hate itching, and if his was painful as well as itchy, I'm sure it was miserable. All said and done, though, Jeff and I like to laugh about it at Ryan's expense because of how he was acting, but I honestly do feel bad for his bad experience.
Thanks for coming out Jeff. It was so fun to have you here! It makes us miss Utah a lot more when good friends and family come out, but that's okay. And thanks, Hunters for becoming our new good friends here in Staten Island!


Our little Allen family in front of a famous person's grave. Really, look, they're famous.


Josh and Hannah trying to play nice.


Rachel and I working the guns on the USS Constitution.


Here we are in front of the Old North Church in Boston.