While exploring

Here are some random pictures of discoveries I have made in Mad-town. I found an amazing park that is right on the lake. Which lake I am not sure I think it is Mandota. I found a bum sleeping in the shade, playing in front of a grocery store, and the other night Joey and I discovered that bums take over state street after finals are over and college students aren't swarming downtown. During the summer there are lots of sailboats on the lakes, and on sundays the public can watch professional water skiers practice on the lake from one of the parks. It is interesting sundays are busy days outside of utah. Many sports tournaments, state championships for high school etc are held on sundays in Wisconsin. The one picture with the lake and the downtown buildings in the background is part of the UW campus. It is an AMAZING campus. Mom there is a street named after you!.... Or you after it? hmmm

Few more from the museum roof

Madison's Museum of Contemporary Art

After the Farmers' Market we went down State Street to the art museum. It was alright, they are under construction for a new exhibit so there wasn't much to see. Also we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum but we took some on their roof area. There is also a really nice restaurant up there that I want to try.

Sunday walk in the park

This is a small park just up the street from us. There are LOTS of parks in Madison. I like to run in one that during the winter has cross country skiing trails! I am super excited for winter so I can get into the sport. I told Joey that I am going to the Olympics in it so watch out! I wish I had a small camera to take with me on my runs, there are so many things I want to take pictures of while I am on them. One morning at around 6 it was foggy and the sun was just starting to come over the hills. It was gorgeous! Running around here is magic I love it!

Downtown (and I think I figured out how to fix the pics!)

sideways photo frustration

Alrighty I still have tons of pictures to put up but I need to fix the sideways photos problemo sooo until then no more pictures sorry!

More of the Capital

sorry if the pictures are sideways I don't know how to fix that

The capital

The Capital of Wisconsin is Madison and we live here! The plans for the Wisconsin state capital building are almost identical to the DC capital building. Aka this building is quite large. The plans had to be made different from the nation's capital for obvious reasons, so the Madison building has a smaller rotunda and that is about it. Granted this is just what a local told me so who knows how true that is. Nonetheless it is a pretty cool did you know? type of info to log in your brain.

Sort of out of order sorry!

Welcome to Madtown

Madison is so amazing! We live in the burbs but can get to downtown Madison in just a couple minutes, which is great because there is so much to do!
Joey is enjoying work at epic. He had a staff meeting today(with 3000 employees!). At epic they have a meeting once a month with all the staff, and then lunch at the campus cafeteria is free! To keep the staff happy during the meeting there are personal popcorn bags and soda. Yes I think Joey will like it at Epic.
I just got a little job at pier 1 imports, and it is ok...not going to lie it's pretty boring, but hey it is a job! I might be getting another part time job at the local bank which would be better pay than at the pier. I am crossing my fingers I get it, and you can cross yours too.
Getting to know our way around town is taking some time but we (aka me Jessica) are getting pretty good at finding our way with out being attached to the ipod touch's maps app.
We went to the Dane county farmer's market (which is #1 in the nation!) on Saturday. It was really cool. It takes up the whole capitol square jam packed with booths and people. There is fresh produce, organic plants...organic anything. REAL meat that is kosher in my eyes. Cheese of any sort from any milking livestock. One of my favorite parts of the market was the assortment of baker's booths and all the yummy treats! Those will be hard to eat sparingly! When we arrived to the market parking was a little bit of a nightmare, but after that we grabbed a hearty and healthy breakfast at a baker booth. Joey had a cinnamon roll, and I had a rhubarb turnover. We bought some crazy thick and delicous asparagus and rhubarb. I actually cooked them tonight. I made asparagus flan and rhubarb crisp for dessert. It was delish.
Well there isn't much else to update now other than I am starting my own aquarium soon! Ha ha yes you may giggle a little. We bought a little 2.5 gallon tank, and I am going to attempt creating a "takashi amano" style tank. Who or what is takashi amano? just google it, his tanks are effing awesome.
Enjoy all the photos!

Orientation of the Plater Updater

Hello everyone and welcome to Joey and Jessica's blog! Since we decided to set out on the adventure to live in beautiful Wisconsin, we thought it was best to create a blog so our family and friends we left behind in the Wild West can be kept updated on our lives and not miss us too terribly...hopefully. Enjoy our story as it grows... and we will add lots of pictures don't worry!