All the way from Okinawa!

My brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Cat, came for a visit last weekend. They brought their two little boys, Matt and Ethan. It's always so fun to see how the boys grow up - they live in Japan so we don't see them that often. For their visit we played some Wii, rode the train to Center City, ate cheesesteaks at Geno's, toured Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, and ate some handmade Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels at the Reading Terminal Market. Lots of fun! They're our first family visitors, and ironically they live the farthest from us!





NOTE: I amend myself - My sister Megan, all the way from Ireland, was the first family visitor we had. She helped me drive our car across the country to my empty apartment in Philadelphia. :)

Fire Safety

So last night Alex was going to teach his scouts about fire safety. As an object lesson, he took one of our smoke detectors so he could show them what it should sound like.

About a half an hour after he left, I was jolted out of my chair by an ear-splitting beeping sound and flashing lights. I honestly thought I was going to die. I ran outside and saw that the whole building was experiencing the same thing. I frantically tried to figure out how to “fix” our missing smoke detector, to no avail. I even had a neighbor come in to try to help me, but he assured me that it wasn’t because of the missing smoke detector.

I finally evacuated the building along with everyone else for a half an hour until the fire department and police came and determined that everything was ok.

I kept thinking how ironic it was that Alex was out teaching his scouts about fire safety while the fire department was at our house. Was it just a coincidence that it happened while our smoke detector was missing? Guess we’ll never know…

I (heart) NY

Feeling spontaneous? Alex and I were last week. In fact, that's what happens a lot of the time when we take short trips to fun destinations - we (mostly I) suddenly decide that it sounds fun to go to Seattle, or San Francisco, or New York. And then, thanks to Priceline, Southwest, and travel boards (and a wonderful husband who humors my passion for travel), we successfully get a little vacation lined up in no time, and for little money! Sometimes it pays to do last-minute traveling!

I've had the hankering for awhile to get up to New York to enjoy the sites. And, in my opinion, there's nothing better than NY during the holiday season! So on Wednesday I put in a bid for a hotel room for Friday night, and got it. It was right across the street from Ground Zero, and this was our view from our hotel room. It's a pretty humbling experience to look out across the remains there, especially when I have stood in the World Trade Center once before.


We walked over to Rockefeller Center and looked at the grand Christmas tree - along with thousands of other tourists.


We feasted on "authentic" Brazilian cuisine, and then had some fun at the m&m store in Times Square. I think there were 4 floors of m&m paraphernalia. Who knew that there was such an m&m craze?!


Saturday morning we did something totally fun. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It's actually pretty amazing to stand in the middle of the bridge and look out in all directions. And the bridge itself is pretty neat. Highly recommended!


And for our final destination on this whirlwind of a trip, Canal Street, aka the place to go for knockoff goods. I've heard stories about going there and being ushered into hidden rooms to look at the knockoffs, so I was a little intimidated. It was definitely an experience! I've decided that I'm just not decisive enough to do that kind of shopping. I like to look at things and deliberate over them. I'm notorious for buying things, looking at them every day for a week, and then deciding to take them back. I have serious buyer's remorse. I did have fun, and ended up getting a couple of things, but Canal Street is probably something I'll save for when my mom or sisters-in-law come out. And now that I know the ropes, I'm happy to go with any of you! :)

Thanksgiving in Virginia

We successfully made it down to Virginia, stuffed ourselves silly (the pies were amazing), and had a rousing game of soccer about an hour after eating (the old men and me vs. the young men - we whooped them!). It was great!

We decided to go into DC to check out the sites. We walked around and saw the monuments, and went in the museum of natural history, and the air and space museum. There's just something about our nation's capitol that gets me excited every time I go there. I even got to sneak away for a little bit to buy a White House ornament as a memento of our trip! This is a picture of Alex, his cousin Eric, his Aunt Diane, and Uncle Jim in front of the state capitol.

Surprisingly we found out that my brother and sister-in-law were in Virginia for Thanksgiving (they live in Japan, so it was actually a huge surprise!). We were able to stop by and see them and their kids for a couple of hours. It was nice to visit with them and see the nephews. It's amazing how fast kids grow. They're so cute! We'll get to see them in Utah at Christmas time, so that'll be nice, too.

For the last leg of our trip we went to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. It was great to learn more about what happened there and the role Harper's Ferry played in the civil war. We also got to stand at the place where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet. In the town there are all of these old buildings that are depicted as they would have been during the civil war, and you can read all about what life was like then. There's so much to learn about! After we sufficiently toured the town, we went and had a little picnic. It was hilarious! We sat out on this picnic table, and it was FREEZING! We were all shaking from the cold and our teeth were chattering. Finally Alex's aunt was smart enough to say, "I'm going to the car to finish my lunch." Thank goodness for Aunt Diane!

The start of the Holiday season

For me, Thanksgiving has always been the official start of the holiday season. There’s nothing like gathering around a big turkey dinner, overeating, and then taking a nice afternoon nap. It never hurts to squeeze in a little football either - how fitting that the BYU v. Utah football game is Thanksgiving weekend…

This year we’re headed down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Alex’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Diane. We’re excited about the adventure the drive will be sure to bring, and the time getting to know our relatives better. Even though I don’t know Alex’s uncle and aunt very well, I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a blast.

It’s funny because after Thanksgiving I feel like I’m justified in beginning to think about Christmas (or at least publicly, since we all know I’ve been thinking about it long before Thanksgiving). One of my favorite things is putting up Christmas decorations and getting a Christmas tree. Alex and I have been collecting ornaments from all of our fun travel adventures over the years, so our tree is starting to actually look nice. We also have these awesome red fabric balls that we inherited from my Grandma that add the perfect touch!

Here’s wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll leave you with a list of things that I am thankful for: my husband, family, friends, the Gospel, rain, snow on Christmas day, hot chocolate, tulips and roses, puppies, fresh peaches and strawberries, traveling, memories, and the list goes on. Happy Thanksgiving!

Scenic Byways

Alex and I took a road trip today up to the Delaware Water Gap and the Poconos mountains. Our mission: find fall foliage. We decided to avoid all major highways so we were driving through some pretty rural areas. At one point we were driving along and there were about 5 wild turkeys waiting to cross the busy road. I tried to get a picture, but they were too quick. I have never seen a live turkey in person, let alone crossing the road - it was awesome! We stopped at a Farmers Market along the drive and stocked up on fresh apple cider and homemade fudge. Yum! The drive was beautiful, and led to a very scenic picnic along the Delaware River.


As we were driving along through a small town, I noticed this amazing tree. I made Alex turn around so I could get a picture of it. There's something about a tree with leaves that turn red in the fall...


At one of the scenic overlooks of the Delaware Water Gap, we found a hiking trail that led to the Appalachian trail. We decided to go for a little hike, and we were not disappointed.



All in all, I would have to say mission completed.

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Mel - so here go my answers! I tag Natalie, Sara, and Shannon!

1. Best thing you cooked last week.
Definitely my apple pie. In Alex's words, "the crust is tender and flaky, and the inside is not too soupy."

2. If money and time were no object, where would you go and with whom?
I would buy one of those around-the-world plane tickets and Alex and I would hit places like Japan, Australia, Brazil, Africa, any island in the Pacific. And then to top it off Alex and I would move to Ireland. :)

3. When was the last time you cried?
I think it was when I was watching High School Musical 2 when Gabriela is breaking up with Troy... :)

4. 5 things you were doing this month 10 years ago.
1) I was a Junior at Woods Cross High School
2) I was playing soccer
3) Although I have no concrete evidence of this, I'm pretty sure I had a sleepover with my friends this month
4) I went to Sadie Hawkins with JD Dunn
5) I'm assuming I went to a halloween party

5. 5 things on your to do list today.
1) Make a roast for dinner
2) Pack up my work computer for work tomorrow (my team got to work from home on Friday)
3) Get Sam's b-day card ready to go
4) Get Alex's cousins wedding cards ready to go
5) Email my family about my mom's b-day present

6. 6 favorite snacks:
1) Red vines
2) Jelly Bellies
3) hummus and pita chips
4) a bowl of fresh fruit
5) chips and salsa
6) beef jerky - especially when traveling

7. 5 bad habits:
1) I have bad skin and I itch it
2) I don't write in my journal
3) I let the recycle bin overflow and take over our house before I take it out
4) I take the clean clothes out of the dryer and put them in the hamper to be folded, and then never fold them
5) I check travel websites at least once a day to see if there are any good deals

8. 5 favorite foods:
1) Gyoza
2) Cheesecake
3) Kung-pao chicken from PF Chang's
4) European chocolate
5) Gelato

9. 5 places I've been:
1) Ireland
2) The Bahamas
3) Germany
4) Portugal
5) England

10. 6 favorite memories:
1) Traveling with Alex
2) Playing soccer and being awesome at it :)
3) Spending Thanksgiving up in Park City with my family skiing, drinking hot chocolate, and watching Anne of Green Gables
4) Any family get together because it's always an adventure, especially with the family growing!
5) Doing my MBA with Alex
6) My dog, Indiana

Great Harvest - The Freedom Franchise

As I was driving home from work today I was listening to NPR and there was a story on Great Harvest Bread Company. They were interviewing a man who owns a franchise, and he was talking about how much he likes the freedom that this franchise gives him. Freedom franchise means that they are pretty flexible with how the owners run their own stores. The only three things that are required by Great Harvest are:

1. The franchise has to display the Great Harvest logo
2. The franchise has to make the signature honey wheat bread
3. The franchise has to grind their own flour every day

That's it (well, I guess the franchises are encouraged to offer free samples)! Other then those three things, the owners are free to run their stores any way they want to and to make whatever kind of bread they want. It's suddenly making sense why I see Great Harvest at farmer's markets all of the time...

After hearing that story all I wanted was Great Harvest bread! I had flashbacks of high school when we would go down to Keva Juice and get smoothies and then go next door and get a free hugely thick slice of bread at Great Harvest, and we would put butter and honey on top of the bread. Smoothies and bread - you really can't ask for a better combination! Yum!

I don't want to get old

So my grandma has been having a hard time this past week. She has been overdosing on her meds, and had to go to the ER last Friday night. It's hard because I'm so close to her, and part of me wishes I could be there for her. But the good thing about my grandma (and my mom) is that we can always find humor in the silliest things.

I guess grandma wasn't taking one of her medications that calms her, and she was very anxious and emotional. My mom took her on a walk and when they got back my grandma burst out in tears. My mom was trying to figure out what was wrong, and she said she knew something bad had happened to me and my brother. After some coaxing, my mom found out that she thought I was on drugs (I know, so characteristic of me :)). My mom called me and asked me to reassure my grandma that I wasn't taking drugs and our conversation went something like this:

Grandma: "Kristin, tell me that you're not on drugs."
Kristin: "Grandma, I'm not on drugs."
Grandma: "Are you sure?"
Kristin: "Yep, I promise."
Grandma: "Oh good."

Now, this is a conversation I honestly thought I would never have - especially with my grandma. All the while Alex was sitting in the other room listening to only my end of the conversation...

Anyway, so this whole story reminded me of my old roommate's grandma. Mel's grandma lived near us in Provo, and she would call and leave the most classic messages on our answering machine. "Melanie, this is your grandma." It just brings a smile to my face and reminds me of how I don't want to get old! :)

Here's a picture of Grandma in a hat my mom knit for her a couple of years ago - isn't it great?!

Fall is here!

The temperatures have definitely dropped here in Philly. Early last week it was record high temps in the high 80's, and then one day the temperatures were in the low 60's. We're still waiting for the leaves to turn, but I have a feeling it won't be too long until that comes. We tried fresh apple cider donuts yesterday for the first time. We didn't think they tasted a whole lot like apple cider, but Alex ate one while drinking apple cider and he said it was the perfect combination!

On Friday night we made our first visit to the Museum of Art. We ate dinner at the museum restaurant, in which we were surrounded by a lot of "older" people (I think we were the youngest ones there by about 50 years). And then we enjoyed some jazz by a New Orleans style band. It was a great atmosphere! We visited the Japanese tea room in the Asian art wing where they have authentic Japanese buildings, and live plants growing. Very cool!

Saturday we had a ward mission temple trip. We went to Manhattan, and had a great experience. It's so hard to go to Manhattan and not stay to see or do anything! Alex and I keep saying we need to just take a weekend and head to Manhattan to go to a nice restaurant and see a show. And, of course, maybe stop at Canal Street and do some bargain shopping!

I put up all of my Halloween decorations, and now I'm just ready for some trick-or-treaters! I have a feeling I won't be getting any, but I can always hope! Every year since we've been married I've bought bags of candy in hopes of handing them out, and every year we don't get any trick-or-treaters. Maybe we're living in the wrong places, or maybe times are changing. It's so sad because I remember going out to trick-or-treat with my friends, and there were always loads of other kids out. Now when you drive around on Halloween night, you're lucky to see any. So sad.

Taste of Philly

This week was restaurant week in Philadelphia so we got to try out a few different restaurants. Our first night we went to Valanni, a mediterranean/latin tapas restaurant. It was fabulous! The baked brie we got was the best I've ever tasted. It had pears and cherries in it, and was the perfect consistency. Alex said that while he was eating it he was having fireworks going off in his head (those of you who've seen Ratatouille will know what he's talking about).

We also ate at Jake's, a restaurant close to our home that "unofficially" participates in restaurant week. And last night we hit the City Tavern with Natalie, Marc, MaryAnn and Sam. The atmosphere is kind of fun because everyone is dressed in period clothing, and we had a man come around and speak with us a little and then he sang us a song. I have to say that the company was the best part about the evening, though.

I'm excited to say that I will be starting my new job on Monday! I'll be working at SAP, a business software company that's headquartered in Germany. I'll be at the Americas headquarters in the global HR department. It's funny because I was having such a hard time pinning down exactly what it was I wanted to do, and then when this job appeared I knew it was perfect for me. I get to do the global aspect (which is what I loved the most about my job at the Church), the HR aspect, and I will be doing it at a well-known, respected company. The other great thing about the company is that they are all about social responsibility, and they're building a LEED certified campus (which basically means that everything will be environmentally friendly).

My official title is Global Mobility Process Advisor, and I'll be working on relocations of employees all around the world. I'm excited because I get to work on VISAs, taxes, logistics, and everything in between when it comes to relocating somebody. Wish me luck!

Philly MOA

As of today we are officially members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (you know, where Rocky ran up the stairs). We get free admission to the museum for a year, and free admission to various events they have - all for a small donation, of course. It's nice to be supporting the arts now that we're out of school. We almost feel like contributing members of society! Anyway, I guess every Friday night they showcase a local jazz band at the MOA, so Alex is pretty excited about that.

We went to the Washington DC Temple for a Stake temple trip last weekend. The DC temple is the largest temple in the world, and there's a big visitors center which is nice to take new members to. After the session we were starving, so we headed into Silver Spring and ate at a Chinese restaurant. It was fun to be in Maryland, and I was telling Alex stories of my time living there with Dan and Ashley. We found a farmer's market on the side of the road near the temple and stopped to buy some tomatoes and peaches. I love that there are farmer's markets everywhere out here!

We decided to stop in Baltimore on the way back to Philly and drove around trying to find a German bakery that Alex read about on the internet. Amazingly we found it - Alex's directions were that it was on a street that started with a B and it was a diagonal road...Anyway, we bought a peach cake and a schmearkase, which apparently translates to cottage cheese in German, but it was more like a cheesecake. They were both great, but the schmearkase was amazing!

One entry at a time

Well, I'm averaging about one post a month here. Let's see if I can start to do a little better. I'm sitting here chatting with a friend back in Utah while Alex plays the Wii. Ahh, the life of "responsible adults."

Alex and I have been doing a vegetarian week. We ran out of meat, and then just never bought any more, so that resulted in us being vegetarian. It's actually been kind of fun. We've had some great meals like vegetable lasagna, black bean and corn stew, and tofu thai curry. Alex actually told me last night that he's decided he's not vegetarian, he's Mormon (i.e. eat meat sparingly...). We're going on 8 days and counting.

On Labor day we went to an arts and crafts show in Lancaster. Alex actually saw a few ceramicists that he was impressed by. I loved looking at the photography and getting ideas for how I can improve my own photography. In the end we commented on how nice it will be when we have a lot of money and can afford to buy things that we find at arts and crafts shows. There are some amazingly talented people out there and it's nice to appreciate their work.

Restaurant Week is coming up in Philly, and we're pretty excited. We haven't had a chance to try very many restaurants downtown, so this will be an adventure. I'm thinking of making a reservation for every night. We'll see if I actually do! There's nothing like trying good food at discounted prices...

Philly!

Um, so we never finished writing about our adventures in Europe. In a nutshell, the trip was awesome and we are so happy we did it. The only problem is that now I just want to live there. Maybe one day...

So Alex and I are in Philly. It's beautiful out here - when we first got here and were driving around to find an apartment, we were amazed at how green it was and how many trees there are! We live in the city, but it actually feels more like a suburb. It takes Alex about 25 minutes on the train to get to work. Alex is enjoying his job, and is keeping very busy. Our church callings keep us busy on Sundays and in the evenings. We get to work a lot with the missionaries, which is great because I always wanted to serve a mission and now I am!

We're loving how close we are to great day-trips! We went up to Manhattan with some new members and went to the temple (see picture below). And last weekend Alex and I went to Ocean City and enjoyed the boardwalk and beach. It's crazy how much there is to do out here.


Early this morning we heard a loud crash, and Alex jumped out of bed to see what was going on. He came back into the bedroom chuckling because the crash was a large tree falling down in the back and hitting our back door. Luckily it was just a tree and nothing else!

That's all for now.

Abenteuerland

Kristin, Megan, and I went to Germany on Monday morning. Most of our time was spent in Megan's mission borders, so she was our tour guide/interpreter. We flew into Friedrichshafen airport, which is right down near the Austrian/Swiss/German border. Our first night we tried to go to a small town the black forest, Triberg, to get a cuckoo clock, but all the shops were closed. We think it was a holiday or something, since even the grocery stores were closed at 5:00. That night we got lost trying to find our hotel B&B thingy, just over the border into Austria, but finally got checked in and checked out right afterward.

The first two days in Germany it rained. And rained. I've lived in Washington, so I've seen rain, and this was an impressive, never-ending rain. No breaks or let ups, just rain. The clouds were low and mist was floating all about, so we didn't have much of an idea that we were smack-dab in the middle of some really cool mountains.

We started to figure out the mountains were something neat when we went to Neuschwanstein and saw the base of the mountains under the cloud cover. There was a hit of snow on the hills above the fairy-tale castle. The castle was cool and sort of creepy at the same time. It was like a 19th century Neverland, Micheal Jackson's ranch in California. I imagine that it's cool, but still creepy.

The best part of our day was our trip up to some castle ruins above Reute in Austria. This was later in the day, and by then the rain was starting to soak through our jackets. We climbed up to the first castle in 15 minutes although the signposts said it would take a half an hour. We figured it was quick and we were already wet and cold so it wouldn't hurt anything to keep going up to the second castle, also posted at 30 minutes away. If we'd come so far, why not?

As we started on the trail up, we realized that gravity functions differently in the Alps. The Rockies are cool mountains, but this mountain was straight up! After struggling up to the top of the mountain to an impressive view of the surrounding valleys we realized that it had started to snow. Kristin was ready to kill me when I was unsure of the best way to get back down the mountain and the snow and wind had picked up. I like to think her love for me kept her warm. The castle was worth the hike, and we were the only tourists tough enough to hike for an hour up a vertical mountain in a snowstorm to see it. It was a nice change from the Disneyland feel of Neuschwanstein.

We spent the next day in Munich. We walked a lot and saw the sights. We stopped at a market downtown and got some crazy fresh juice and some yummy strawberries. I got a passionfruit, pineapple, mint drink. It was wiggity-wacky, but kinda good. The strawberries were super fresh and perfectly ripe. The city was pedestrian friendly and cool looking. We went to the Hofbraus (there's an umlaut on the a--but I'm too lazy to figure out how to do that. Pretend with me) a big beer garden. The food was very German, and we sat with some German tourists at our table. The polka band played some songs off of the German beer drinking album I bought in high school, which was funny.



The next day we drove back through the alps, on our way to the airport. We were heading to London, or so we thought. The nightmare of our England trip was about to start. Stay tuned for that . . .

The West Coast

We made our way up the west coast of Ireland. Our first stop was the Cliffs of Moher, also known as the Cliffs of Insanity, and lucky for us it was a sunny day (the last time we were there it was pouring horizontal rain). We wanted to get away from the touristy side, so we headed to some other cliffs. There was a huge sign that said, "Do not go past this point," so of course we did! We walked along this dirt path right along the edge of the cliffs. Alex and Megan would lie down on their stomach's every once in awhile and look over the edge - they're the tallest cliffs in all of Europe if that gives you any idea of how high they are!



Then we headed to the Burren, which is a windblown limestone wasteland. The landscape is completely different than the rest of Ireland. We saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen, which is a portal tomb that looks just like a big stone table. Pretty fun! After the Burren, we drove to Gort which is Ireland's little Brazil. We stopped in at a grocery store and Alex was having so much fun buying up all sorts of food that he used to get in Brazil. Alex said that if he were to live in Ireland, he would live there because there are a ton of Brazilians!

We stayed in Galway for a couple of nights, and made a day trip out to the Aran Islands. On our way there we drove by the "Quiet Man" bridge. Then we took a ferry out to the biggest island, Inishmore. We had so much fun there! We rented bikes and rode around the whole island. We rode up to the highest point on the mountain, did some rugged mountain biking through some rocky terrain, and saw a stone fortress that's over 2,000 years old! An added bonus was that we saw some seals playing in the bay. Biking the island is definitely the way to go!

We then made our way up to County Mayo. We went to Cong, which is where the "Quiet Man" cottage is. We did a lot of driving through the country, and it was so beautiful! There are wild rhododendrons growing everywhere. We saw a few memorials dedicated to the people who died from the potato famine, which was kind of somber. We also saw Croagh Patrick, which is the mountain on which St. Patrick cast out snakes from the island. Then we took a slog in the bog! We walked out onto the boglands and played around. You can stand 20 feet away from someone else and if they jump, you can feel the ground shake. Pretty neat!

We'll post soon about our trip to Germany and London!

Ah, vacation!

Well, we're here in Ireland. It's green and rains a lot - we love it! We're staying at Megan's apartment in Cork city. It's a pretty fun area to live - it's right downtown where all of the shops and pubs are. The night life is pretty crazy here, and it's loud until late at night with lots of drunk people running around. But Megan's got tons of friends that stop in at night which makes it fun.

We've been driving around County Cork, visiting a lot of the small towns. When we first got here we went to Kinsale, a small harbor town. The streets are pretty tight in the small towns and hard to navigate. It was a cute town that lives off of tourists. After we visited there, we went to Charles Fort which was Britain's biggest star-shaped fort. The fort protects the town of Kinsale, and was occupied by the British until 1922 when the Irish achieved their independence. It was a very cool fort!

We went to Portugal last week, and it was fabulous! When we first got there we drove out to Cape Sagres - where Prince Henry's navigator school was. Vasco de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and Christopher Columbus all studied there. When you stand at the tip of the cape, it really does look like the world is flat. It's pretty neat. Our hotel was right on the beach, and it was beautiful. At night these fishermen would come out and stand out on the rocks when it was low tide. It just added to the ambience of Portugal.

We went to a small town in the middle of the country called Evora. We loved that town! It had so much character, and a lot of the shop owners didn't speak English, so Alex got to try his Portuguese out on them. The area is known for their cork, and they had the coolest souvenirs and trinkets made out of cork - journals, shoes, umbrellas, cowboy hats, bags. We also stopped at a flea market in the town we stayed in and Alex got to try out his bartering skills for something we wanted. It was pretty fun! The small towns were definitely the best because they have tried to preserve their traditional charm. We would recommend Portugal to anyone!

We've been back in Ireland for a few days now. We've been doing a lot of stuff with people from Megan's branch. Saturday night there was a big party at a member's house, and the young adults got a rousing game of monopoly going. As the Irish would say, "the craic was mighty!" We went over to a member's house for dinner on Sunday and then we were taken on a tour of some ruins of the oldest powdermill in Ireland.

We were going to go surfing today, but the ocean was as flat as a lake. Here's a picture of Alex and Megan in front of the ocean. We drove out to the beach, and then went exploring in some small towns. We went to the Dromberg stone circle, like a mini replica of Stonehenge, and the country was beautiful there. We stopped in at a pub for some lunch and there were these old men sitting outside with their pints of guinness speaking gaelic. Ah, Ireland!

Graduation and other stuff

Well, we've made it. We're both graduating this Friday, and it's hard to believe! The two years for a master's degree fly by and we both agree that it has been completely worth it. We were both able to get extremely involved in our programs and build up a strong network in the Salt Lake valley. And now we get to enter the real world!

For our graduation and anniversary (5 years!) celebration, we decided to take a trip to Europe for 5 weeks. We figured it was the best time in our lives to do it because we both have a break from all responsibility! We'll be leaving the country on May 8 and we'll return on June 13. We're heading to Ireland for the majority of the time (Kristin's sister Megan lives in Ireland so it's convenient - plus we loved Ireland the last time we were there and wanted to go back), and then we're going to Portugal, London, and Germany. So, stay tuned for our posts on our adventures while we're in Europe!

When we get back from Europe, we're moving to Philadelphia. Alex got a job with Comcast Interactive Media, and he'll be doing marketing for them. Kristin will look for a job once we move out there. It's pretty exciting and scary at the same time. We won't have any time to go out there before we have to move, so we'll be living in a hotel until we can find housing. We'll be driving out, and we're planning on leaving June 19. Any advice is appreciated!

So that's all of the news for now. We're starting a new chapter in our lives and it's exciting! Keep checking back for our new posts.