Brad and I moved away from Florida at the end of August. It was definitely bittersweet. Although we were excited to move on with our lives and start preparing for dental school, it was sad to leave some of our friends and to leave the beautiful beach! I have also since left behind my wonderful, glowing tan, but we don't need to talk about depressing things like that... :) Before we left, we had the chance to stay a few extra days with our dear friends Amy and Adam along with their adorable girls Ruby and Vivienne thanks to the storm of Hurricane Irene! We had a great time. We even saw a manatee the day before we left. Finally!
Silly faces!
Brad and his buddy Vivi!
Bradley also had to say good-bye to his beloved banana tree! It has grown so much since he got it for Christmas. Hopefully our friends are giving it a good home... :)
On our way out of Florida, we stopped at the happiest place on earth! No really. Everyone likes to pretend that Disneyland or Disneyworld is the happiest place on earth, but they are all WRONG. The happiest place is most definitely THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER. Yes, I said it. I was in absolute heaven. I think I may have spilled a few happy tears. The only thing I would change would be to make a whole Harry Potter theme park, but maybe that would only appeal to fanatics like me. I mean, really, if I could just go to Hogwarts, my life would be complete. We have wwaaayy too much photo evidence of our fun at HP land, so I will just share a few of my fave moments.
Hogwarts Castle!!
Hogsmeade!
Mmm Pumpkin Juice!
Enjoying my chilled Butterbeer!!
The Three Broomsticks!!
Have you seen this wizard???
My take-home gift, a delicious chocolate frog! I received a Godric Gryffindor hologram card with it. Can't wait to collect all the wizards and witches!
As you can probably tell, I was extremely giddy the entire time. The ride in Hogwarts castle was AWESOME. We even watched a live viewing of a future Hogwarts student receiving his wand from Ollivander! No photos were allowed in that part though. Obviously I had to wear my Gryffindor t-shirt along with my time-turner. Although by our looks you can tell that it was swelteringly hot, we had such a blast!
After our fun times at Harry Potter, we drove up to Tallahassee to stay the night. From there we drove all the way to San Antonio so we could make it in time for Kathy's baby shower the next day! It was a looong 15-hour drive, but it was so worth it!
Our theme was: A little birdie told me...Kathy Bell was having a baby boy!! (As most of you know, Ivan is now here, and he is sooo cute!!
We ate some delicious food and just hung out with some family and friends from Kathy's ward. Somehow I didn't get the pic of me, Jen, and Kathy...someone needs to send it to me! :)
We had such a blast in San Antonio. We stayed there for a few weeks just hanging out and playing with the triplets, Jen, Pete, Jeff, and Kathy. Brad also flew to his interview at LECOM from San Antonio. We definitely loved spending so much time with our cute niece and nephews, Taylor, Carder, and Cruz!
Sweet Tay Tay taking her nap.
Look at those laughs from Tay Tay and Carder!
What a giggly little boy!
Chubby little cheeks!!
Brother and Sisterly love :)
We had so much fun playing, I probably could have stayed there forever. Alas, we had to move on. From San Antonio we drove to New Mexico, then from somewhere in New Mexico we made it to Gilbert, Arizona. What a party we had there too! We got to stay with Erik and Dawn, play with Lizzie, and meet baby Liam for the first time. He is sooo tall! Definitely a Jurgensmeier :)
Erik and Dawn spoiled us by taking us to the lake for the day. We had an awesome time water skiing. I finally got up on the water ski's thanks to Dawn's mom's awesome coaching skills!
We even did a little "cliff" jumping.
We had such a great time! Too bad we couldn't stay longer. We are excited for our family trip in May with the Jurgensmeier clan. We will be partying it up in Outer Banks!!
Lizzie was so cute. As soon as she walked in the door, she told us, "I love you!" Big improvement from last year when she wouldn't talk to us! haha. It was so fun.
After Arizona we drove to our final destination (or so we thought) of Huntington Beach, California. Mom and Dad were kind enough to let us stay with them while we were waiting to hear on dental school plans. While there, Brad when to SEVEN more interviews: Loma Linda, Roseman, Ohio State, VCU, University of New England, Indiana, and Oklahoma. Whew! What a smarty pants!
We had some fun times while in California. We spent a few days at the beach, freezing our butts off since we were used to the Miami weather and waters! We even got to go on a sailing trip thanks to Kathy's parents! We had a great time.
Ahoy Mateys!
The Fam Damily!
Brad steering the boat.
Playing up front!
Another day, Mom drove us to some tide pools down by Laguna Beach. It really was a beautiful area. We wished we had brought our swimsuits and snorkel gear! It was still fun just to walk around and see the sea life.
What beautiful views! One thing I do love more about California beaches are the beautiful cliffs and rocks all along the water. It was a fun day with the family.
Brad and I then decided to drive up to Utah together for his interview at Roseman. We had a great time seeing some friends, family, and football! I even chopped off 13 inches of hair, which felt awesome. Karee and Josh were able to get us some sweet tickets for the BYU Blackout game. Although we lost, it was still fun to relive our BYU days. We will always be COUGS! Brad also had a great interview!
After going back to California, we spent a lot of time trying to find jobs, to no avail. So we begrudgingly decided to move up to Rupert where at least Brad could have a job working with his Dad and we would be able to be around for the Thanksgiving festivities. I have since gotten a job here with the Minidoka School District office, which starts January 3rd (score!). That means we can still go to Cali for Christmas! My job is pretty sweet because it is only a temporary thing until May, which is perfect for leaving for dental school. So it looks like we will be here until around May, depending on our dental school situation.
If you follow me on Facebook, then you most definitely know that after three tries, Brad has gotten into dental school! I can't tell you how excited we are. I am so proud of Brad for all of his hard work and for not giving up. He definitely deserves it. So far he has gotten into Roseman (in South Jordan), LECOM (in Bradenton, FL) and Oklahoma. We also just found out that Brad is #3 on the wait list at Ohio State, which basically means he will be in coming January! Ohio State is probably our #1 choice, but we will let you know when we decide for sure. Brad also got three more interviews at NOVA, Detroit Mercy, and UNLV, but he is canceling those since we already got in. He could also still hear from any of the other schools he interviewed at because he hasn't been rejected from any yet. Way to go Brad!!
So that's what has been going on the past three months. Nice long update. I promise to be better in the future! Next up, Kimmie's wedding at the end of this week! We are excited for her and Andrew and are excited to see everyone! Much love!
