California/ Graduation Trip

On Sunday we got back from our California/ Graduation trip. We left on May 7th and drove through Death Valley on our way up to Yosemite. It wasn't as hot as I had expected, but it was still in the high 90's. We also made a quick stop at the Badwater Basin.


Our trip took an unexpected turn when we got to the back entrance of Yosemite National Park... We had planned to camp in Upper Pines inside the park that night, but our plans changed when we found out that the back entrance isn't open until July! This added 5 & 1/2 hours more to our drive! We ended up getting a motel that night because after 13 hours of driving we couldn't take anymore. It would have been hard to set up camp that late anyway. (We would have arrived after midnight had we kept going).

We arrrived at the park on Friday the 8th and had such a great time wandering around and seeing all of the beautiful places. We saw Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, the huge Sequoias, and many more places.









After our day trip to Yosemite, we had reservations to camp at the KOA in Mariposa. As a kid, my family only went on one vacation that I can remember, and it was to this exact KOA after we had visited Yosemite. It was so fun to compare my memories from my childhood to what I was seeing as an adult. Everything looked so small! I remembered the red caboose, and the lake behind it.. well more like a large pond. I also remembered how the general store sold atomic fire balls that I pretended to like so my brothers wouldn't think I was a chicken!



The night we set up camp, we got pizza for dinner, at the "Pizza Factory" that my cousin Stephen works at. His sister Kacy met us there with her husband, Karim.



We left the next morning and spent the afternoon in Santa Cruz and Capitola. We walked on the beach and the boardwalk and got lunch before we drove to Monterey to check into our hotel. On Sunday the 10th we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I LOVED it!!







The next day we drove up to San Francisco. I love San Francisco! That is where Stu and I got engaged. We did some of the tourist things.. The Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Gardens, Ghirardelli Square, and China Town. We've been there several times together before. When we lived in Reno, it was only 4 hours away.





The next day we drove to Reno. Stu golfed on Wednesday with his classmates, and he got SO sunburned! I felt so bad!


On Thursday we went to the Dean's Dinner. This is Stu and Me with Bryan and Julie Noorda at the dinner. Bryan is in Stu's class, and we met them when we lived in Reno. Stu and Bryan were roommates when we got engaged, and when I'd come to visit him, I'd stay with Julie.


Friday was the big day!! Stu graduated from medical school on May 15, 2009. I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to this point, and I love him so much for it. His brother, John was his "hooder" in the ceremony, and all of his sisters came out for the occasion. It was so nice to see them all.




After the ceremony, we went to Olive Garden for lunch and were able to catch up on everyone's lives. We had a great time. After lunch, everyone but John had to start their drive back home. On Saturday, Stu, John, and I went to Lake Tahoe for the afternoon and visited Emerald Bay.



On Sunday John flew home and Stu and I made the 8 hour drive back to Las Vegas. We had such a fun trip. It was really fun to see all of our favorite places in California before we move to Texas.

We are very excited. Today was my last day at my job in Las Vegas. I will really miss the people I work with. They are so awesome and have been so good to me. Tomorrow they are having a going away party for me at South Point Casino's bowling alley. The day after tomorrow, we leave for our very belated honeymoon/ graduation present - OUR CRUISE!! We're going on a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise. We're going to the Cayman Islands, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. We're going to snorkel and see Stingray city, and swim with dolphins! I can't wait!! All of this vacation, and then the day after we get back we pick up the Uhaul and my sister, Karynne, and we start the move! Wow, so much all at once!! Can't wait!

My Last California Trip Until August :(

I had such a fun weekend! We drove down to California on Thursday, April 16th and went to see Hannah Montana that night. This is right after seeing the movie, we took a picture with our boyfriend :)



Friday we went to visit my Grandma. She is so cute and sassy. I just love her.



Then we went to Newport Beach and ate at Ruby's on the pier. It's one of my favorites, and I don't think they have one in Texas.



Saturday was such a blast. I got my hair done in the morning (finally.. my roots were getting so bad!) Then we went to Hollywood. We took some pictures with the Stars on Hollywood Blvd. Then we went to the mall and tried to take a few pictures with the Hollywood sign behind us, but it's so far away, you can barely tell it's there.







This chinese guy is an ATM machine...



When we were on our way back to the car, we found some very friendly pirates..





After Hollywood, we drove through Beverly Hills and went to Venice Beach and took some High School Musical pictures...









We had dinner at the Bondai Australian BBQ and sat in traffic for over an hour to get back in Chino Hills. We ended up seeing 17 Again that night, which was super cute!! When we finally got home we were all verrrryyy tired.

We went home this morning, and I took a few shots with my brother Michael before we left.





We had such a great time, I was really sad to go, but it is nice to be home after a long weekend :)

Last Weekend

Last weekend Stu and I decided to visit the strip because we are moving and we probably won't ever come back to Vegas. We figure we might as well make sure we've seen everything we want to see before we leave. My favorite casino is the Bellagio. When we were apartment searching before we moved here, we went to the Bellagio to see the fountain show and we walked through the gardens.




After the main sight seeing there, I noticed this crepe shop, and it looked soooo good. This lady was making these really yummy looking crepes by hand and decorating them with all kinds of things. I decided we must have one of these crepes before we left. So we went to the Bellagio and saw the glass flower ceiling (that i LOVE!) and we saw the gardens, and I got my crepe :) And it was awesome.

We're moving to Galveston, TX in June 2009

Last Thursday was "Match Day" (3.19.09) which is when all of the medical students find out where they will complete their medical training in their specialty of choice. We found out that we will be moving to Galveston, Texas where Stuart was accepted into their Anesthesiology program. Stuart interviewed at 14 programs, and Galveston was our 5th choice. We were pretty excited to get in our top 5.

I've never been to Texas, but I've heard that it gets humid and they get a lot of storms. I love the rain, but I'm not a fan of humidity. This is going to be a very big change for us. I'm just very pleased to move somewhere that it doesn't snow. We're scheduled to move out on June 4, 2009 and drive 12 hours or so, then spend the night in Albuquerque, NM then drive the remaining distance the next day and hopefully arrive before closing on Saturday, June 6th. It's a 23 hour drive total! That is so far! I'm really not looking forward to the move, but I'm excited for a new adventure.

Las Vegas has been wonderful to us. It is a few hour drive to my family and about a 6 hour drive to Stuart's family in Utah. We have really enjoyed being so close to them. I have also really enjoyed my co-workers at CVS/pharmacy. I will miss all of them very much. We are sad to leave, but excited to start a new adventure!