First Trip to CHICAGO

We took our first trip to Chicago yesterday. We both have to say that we never thought that we would be standing in the middle of Chicago and still just hours away from were we live. It is still kind of crazy to think that we are so far from home. We went to the temple with our friends Mike and Robyn. Then to downtown Chicago. Mike and Robyn had tickets to see Wicked and we were playing tourist. We found out that some streets just close down at night, we could not find an open restaurant for the life of us, so we ended up eating at this random surprisingly good priced cafeteria type steakhouse. Let me just say that the real Chicago deep dish pizza does not compare to the imitations we have back west. After Mike and Robyn left for their show Brad and I went exploring and found lots of open restaurants, a beautiful sunset over the river and a park full of magnificent gardens, sculptures and outdoor amphitheater. Now we know where to start next time we are there. Enjoy our slideshow of the day.

White Coat Ceremony

The week of Orientation has culminated with the White Coat Ceremony, where the medical students were adorned with their white doctors coat that will set them apart at medical students. Brad won't be wearing this to class on monday, but he will wear it as he has patient interaction in clinicals.

Our Wauwatosa Bungalow!

We made it to Wisconsin!! Here are some pics of our new place.

We added some hanging flower pots to brighten up the front porch.

Here is Brad in the kitchen making lunch for his second day of school.

Here is our fireplace. Brad is sad that it is not real, but I have found it as a good use for our books and pictures.

And here is our new dinning room, you can also see our couch in the back. Overall we love our new place and hope to stay here another 4 years becasue moving is a lot of work.

Kings Peak Trip

We decided we wanted to make a trip to the highest point in Utah before we left. This started the Kings Peak adventure. After finding out that our friend Eddy had done the hike before we enlisted him as our guide along with his amazing wife Krissie. The trip included a 7 1/2 mile hike in with our gear for day one, a 7 1/2 mile hike to summit on day two and 7 1/2 mile hike back on day three. The hike in was beautiful, full of trees, rivers, and lakes.

Oh, and some kissing. We had a wonderful meal of chicken and rice that night followed by chocolate pudding (thanks to Ben). Day two started with a nice hike over Watchman's Pass, back down and around the base of King's Peak and then the summit...

The last mile or so was straight up these huge boulders and then up more boulders and even more boulders (there were two false summits). But once to the top it is breathtaking with 360 views of lush green valleys and mountain ranges.

The pictures don't even do it justice. Well after the long hike up we had to go back down. We thought it would be a good idea to take a shortcut and go straight down the saddle, but that included straight down a sheer rock face with loose boulders. We somehow made it down without harm or accident with all the falling rocks (we decided next time we go back around). Day three was the hike back out, but let me tell you it was so good to get back to the car and have a real seat and then to get back to our home and sleep on a real bed. Though I would still suggest this hike to anyone because it is a real feat and you feel amazing after conquering the highest peak in Utah.

Ogden Marathon

Well all this running had to start somewhere and I blame Chelsea Beauchamp. She was my running partner from the beginning (including sparatic runs sophmore and junior year when we were roommates) to the end finishing the Ogden Half Marathon. The race itself was really beautiful and relaxing I would have to say until the last three miles. We had to meet the bus at 5 AM. We were still pretty much asleep to realize how crazy we were about to be. We waited for two hours for the sun to come up in the canyon before we could start the race. During these two hours we warmed ourselves by the fire, talked to other runners, did a warm up dance, and used the port-o-potties while we still could. The race started at 7 and we were off down the canyon. Chelsea and I had a long conversation about how beautiful the canyon was as we ran by, since we were not actually going that fast we had time to look around, we would especially enjoy the cool breezes when they came off the lake or down the canyon walls. As for the refueling stations I think my favorite was the one that had gummy bears, we weren't stopping for water by then but I saw gummy bears and grabed at the plate without slowing down. I think more gummy bears ended up on the ground than in my hand that way. Many people were running by themselves and listening to their music, but I was glad for Chelsea to run with so that we could help keep our minds off the actual running part. We took the time to remenice about how awesome we are and good times we have had as roommates. We also would check out all the cool running outfits people had on that day. There were also a lot of people that came out to cheer us on, my favorite was the plumber that was showering water for us to run though (also advertising for himself). Once out of the canyon we had three miles to run on the river trail through the park and downtown to the finish. This was the hardest three miles of the race and the last 100 yards was especially the hardest 100 yards I have ever had to run. As the trail dumped out onto Grant Street you could see forever down the road but you weren't sure where the finish actually was. Every step from there was taking all the energy I had. As we finally saw the finish line Chelsea says to me I don't think I can go any faster than this, I was thinking the same thing. It wasn't until we were surrounded by the crowds that we pulled every bit of energy that we could find to sprint to the finish. Two hours and four minutes after the start we were done!!! And with that we somehow found more energy to walk around to get free food like Jamba Juice, Great Harvest, Powerade and all the fruit you could want. Now I can say that I have completed a life goal and wait another 24 years before I think about doing the full marathon. And I do have to say that Brad wanted to run also but waited too long so the half marathon was full, but he did an awseome job on his 5K!!!

Goblin Valley

So what makes a camping trip memorable? If you guessed a huge accident that closed the road to where you were trying to get to, rain, hail, and snow as you're getting to your improved back up plan, a fire made in that rain and snow, tasty tin foil dinners, 4 persevering people and a trip to mars on earth, then our trip was definitely memorable! Goblin Valley is amazing-- a must see at least once place that makes you really feel like you've come to another planet!

The Cambridge Crew

When we first got married we moved into this tiny one bedroom apartment at Cambridge Court. Everything about the apartment complex turned out to be a bad experience except for the friends that we made there. Though they were out first married friends we have continued our friendship since moving out of Cambridge and hope to continue our frendship as we all move away from Provo. (I'm hoping we all move to Colorado some day)

Skydiving

We stepped aboard a perfectly safe and perfectly good plane, flew 13,000 ft. above sea level, opened the door and jumped out! It was such an adenaline rush! Kjirstin's tandem trainer forgot to put her goggles on before she jumped out! Midway out the door he realized and so as they're free falling he had to put them on. She focused on smiling for the photographer free falling next to her and gripping on to her parachute as tight as she could in the chicken position. Brad did a gainer as he jump out and did so many flips and turns in the air that when he finally landed he took 3 or 4 steps and threw up! He got to control the parachute when it finally opened out, choosing which way to turn it and when to speed it up and slow it down! Sky diving is awesome! We highly recommend it to everyone-- you've got to try it!! At least just once in your life!