He did it!!!!!

I'll be the first to tell you what an amazing man Stewart is and toward the end of October, he proved it a few more times.  On the 27th he ran his first half marathon!  And let me tell you that I'm sure that it was harder than the half that I did.  We live in Buffalo and it's very flat here and when I ran one, it was right along the Niagara River so the entire course was almost totally flat.  But Stewart ran his in Eastern New York where there are more hills, and it was a trail run so he had to avoid roots and twigs and rocks while running.  

Here's Stewart about 2 miles into the run.  I caught this photo of him as he crossed a street.  It was the last I saw of him until the finish line.

Here he is crossing the finish line.  His practice times were faster than this, but considering the hills and natural obstacles, he was happy with his time. 

 Here he is after the race, with his bib number and his gorilla medal (the race was called the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon so the medals were stuffed gorillas).  He wore it with pride and now keeps in on the dresser.

Then, a few days after this amazing accomplishment, Stewart found out that he passed the New York State Bar Exam after he graduated from law school!!!!  All the studying he did over the summer (see the photo in the post below) paid off.  He passed and will be sworn in as an attorney in January!! I was confident all along, but I think he was starting to worry when he heard that the results were coming out at midnight on Tuesday night.  

And here's a photo of the two of us this past Saturday, after we ran a 10k in a park just south of Buffalo.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and just a bit chilly.  But I earned the waffle and he earned the breakfast burrito that we had after we finished.  

All in all, it's been a great couple of weeks, with so much to celebrate.  Here's to even milestones!

Cathing up on Summer

Hard to believe that summer is already over, but it is.  This summer was unlike any other we've had, and I'm glad that it's over, but there were some really good things that happened. 

Stewart graduated from law school in May.  I'm truly proud of what he's done over the past three years.  He's worked incredibly hard and did really well.  Here's a photo of us after the graduation ceremony.  Doesn't he look handsome and smart?

Unfortunately for law graduates, graduation does not mean the end of studying because they all have to take the bar exam 2 1/2 months later.  So, the week after graduation, he started bar prep, spending almost every morning back up on campus for video lectures, then returning home for the afternoons filled with more studying and practice tests.  His evenings and weekends were filled with studying as well.  Here's a shot of him studying one afternoon. 

But he took the bar exam at the end of July and then he got to relax!!  He started reading books for pleasure, and not related to law at all!  Bar prep was a lot of work and I'm sure it wasn't fun for him, but he did it.  I was excited because finishing the bar meant that we get to spend time together again.  Two weeks after he took the test he started his job.  So far he likes it and it's much less work than law school was. 

One of the first things we did was to go to a Buffalo Bisons game at the baseball stadium downtown.  I made it to a few games earlier in the summer, but it was even more fun going with Stewart.  It was a beautiful summer evening and  a great night at the ballpark. 

To close out the summer, and to celebrate Stewart's birthday, we made a roadtrip to Charlottesville, VA for the BYU-UVA football game.  One of Stewart's law school classmates is a UVA grad and he got us great seats.  The game was good, but there was a 2 hour delay due to a thunderstorm.  I used the time to catch up with some people I knew from growing up in Pennsylvania who also happened to be at the game.  

 Here's a photo of us at the game, before it started raining.  It was really hot so I was relieved when it rained and cooled down a bit. 

Now we're looking forward to an Autumn filled with apple picking, gorgeous leaves changing colors, a weekend in New York City and baking.  We'll keep you posted. 

A Quick Trip to Utah

I'm trying to get a little caught up in posting about our goings on this summer but it's hard for me to sit down at the computer because we've been doing so many fun things.  So here's a quick history of my trip to Utah in June, to see my younger brother get married.  I left Stewart at home so he could focus on studying for the bar exam. 

I flew into Salt Lake City late on a Thursday night and then spent Friday with friends and doing some shopping.  Saturday morning came far too early after being up late Friday night, but I got up around 5:30 so I could get to downtown Salt Lake to run in the Color Me Rad race taking place that morning.  I met up with a friend from Buffalo and ran on the team with her family.  It was, by far, the most fun (and least competitive) race I've ever done.

 

This is what I looked like after being showered with colored corn starch for 3.1 miles.  Disgusting but awesome.  Then we went out for waffles.  

I then headed back to my friends' house where I was staying to get cleaned up for the wedding.  Nathan is the last of my parents' five children, and now we're all married.  He's known Grace since they were about 4 years old.  Our parents are great friends.  The wedding was beautiful.  The bride was stunning.  

 

I know they're not great photos but it's what I could get with my phone.  I'm sure the photographer they had got much better ones.   It was great to see all my siblings, their families, my parents and grandparents, and even some cousins and aunts and uncles.  I was a little worried that I'd be alone for much of the wedding since Stewart wasn't able to come along, but I was lucky enough to find a new date in my nephew Ben.  

He insisted on hanging out with me almost the entire evening.  For one dance, he and I were the only ones on the dance floor.  I'm sure we were pretty entertaining to everyone watching. 

My last full day in Utah was that Sunday.  I went to church with the friends I stayed with, and then we went to Salt Lake for the afternoon/evening, to wander around.  Salt Lake has a great downtown and I always love wandering around Temple Square and just seeing the mountains.  After we got home that evening, I offered to make tortillas to go with the taco fillings that my friend made.  I even got to teach her kids how to make tortillas and they each rolled out and cooked the tortilla they had for dinner.  It took longer than when I make them alone, but this was a lot more fun. 

I flew home the next day.  I'm always glad to get home after being away, especially when I go away without Stewart.  When he picked me up from the airport, he had some flowers for me, to welcome me home.  I was happy to see him no matter what, but the flowers were a definite bonus to coming home.   

 

 

Books

We had a really rainy day and night this past week and nothing makes us feel more like lazying around the house with a good book quite like a thunderstorm.  So we got talking about our favorite books and these are the lists we came up with (in no particular order):

Stewart:
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
Lord of the Rings books by JRR Tolkein
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Carolyn:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Dracula by Brahm Stoker
The Great Bridge by David McCullough
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

A favorite pastime that we share is to visit bookstores, especially those dedicated to used books, where we can often find something that's been on our list for awhile, at a great price.  Carolyn posts an annual list of books she's read, along with a brief description of each, and how she liked it.  Stewart started this for 2013 as well.  Hopefully this helps friends who can't decide what to read next as well as reminding us what we've enjoyed in case we ever want to re-read something in the future. 

A Boy, A Girl, and the Summer of Fun

This is the story of how we met, from Carolyn's perspective:

We met in the spring, at the end of our sophomore year at Brigham Young University.  We were living in Utah and were each taking a few classes over the summer and working some, but the workload was lighter than what it was during a normal semester so we had a lot of time to do the things we enjoyed.  We lived in the same apartment complex so it was easy to spend a lot of time together.

We spent our evenings and weekends enjoying the many things there are to do in Utah during the warmer months; we went hiking, had bar-b-ques in local parks, went swimming in the apartment pool, jet-skied in the lake, saw movies, and I'm sure there's more that I'm not remembering right now.  We stayed up late at night talking about everything.  Most of this stuff we did with roommates and neighbors and other friends and we all had such a great time that we still refer to that summer as 'the summer of fun.'

We didn't become an official "couple" at first, but instead we just became really good friends.  When I went home to Pennsylvania for a few weeks, Stewart started to realize that he missed having me around, and I missed being around him as well.

Toward the end of that summer, a few weeks before the Fall semester started, we officially started dating, but things didn't change a whole lot from the summer.  We walked to and from campus together when we could and we spent some of our evenings studying in one of our apartments.  We even took a class together.  That semester Stewart took me to the Homecoming Dance.  He and another friend wore kilts and got so many compliments there.  We went with a big group of friends and the guys cooked dinner for all the ladies.

I flew home to PA for Christmas break and Stewart flew home to NY but he came to visit so he could tour some graduate schools along with my older brother.  While he was at my parents' house, we decided to get married, and even though he hadn't bought a ring, we got engaged.  We spent Christmas break planning where and when to get married and decided on the end of April, as soon after the end of the next semester as possible.

We spent the Spring semester studying as hard as ever while also planning our wedding.  It was tough to make time for everything but we did it and ended up married on April 28. Even though it seemed a bit crazy at the time, it's been the best decision of my life so far and I'm so glad we're married.  Ever since then we've been trying to make every day an adventure.  

Thanksgiving in Florida

We had some airline credits from an earlier flight last year so we decided to spend Thanksgiving in Florida.  It's a pretty quick flight and though we had some headaches getting home this time, it was certainly worth it for a week of sun and sand and excellent company. 

My (meaning Carolyn's) parents live in Sarasota and we haven't had Thanksgiving with them in a few years so that was our main plan for the trip.  But we have some really good friends who live in Orlando and we couldn't make a trip to Florida and not visit them as well, so we split the time between Sarasota and Orlando.

I grew up with Alissa and we are still really close friends.  Luckily, Stewart and Matt get along well, too, and we love hanging out with their 5 kids.  We enjoyed late nights, belly-aching laughs, and reminiscing about the old days.  Here we are playing Qwirkle, on our first night in town.  

 

 And Abbie started teaching me how to play the piano.  I've never had lessons but we did ok, with me playing one hand and her playing the other, very slowly. 

 Next we had a few days in Sarasota, right near the beach.  Stewart and I ran a 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  It started on the mainland and we ran over a bridge onto one of the islands just off the coast, and then back.  This was probably the best start to a Thanksgiving that I've ever had.  Throw in my mom's turkey and a couple of pies and it was a a great day.   But the fun didn't stop there.  That weekend, we went with my parents to a game preserve a little way off.  We took a boat out on a lake and got to see a lot of alligators and birds and we did some hiking. This is photo of me and my parents at the top of a tower they had along one of the nature paths. 

And no trip to the beach would be complete without the two of us trying to throw each other in the ocean.  

Saturday morning, before we took off for Orlando again, the four of us went sea kayaking in the bay.  It was amazing but, wow, did my arms hurt afterward.  That is hard work!  But, again, it was so pretty.  

 

We spent Saturday night and Sunday in Orlando again, with Matt and Alissa.  After church on Sunday, pretty much everyone wanted a nap so I took the four older kids out for a walk on the bike trail just behind their house.  I can't express how much I love Matt & Alissa and their kids.  I'm so glad that it is so easy to visit so we can have more contact than what we get through the internet.  This one is by far my favorite photo from our afternoon walk.  

It's memories like these that make the New York winters a little easier to bear.  I'm incredibly grateful for the excuse we have to visit the sun and sand every now and again.  

A Weekend Back East

Stewart had spring break (his last one ever!) this week so we celebrated by taking off for the Albany area last weekend.  His mom had recently had knee surgery and we wanted to check in on her in person to give her some tlc.  We got in late Friday night and stayed with some friends in Saratoga.  We did some catching up with them before settling in for the night.  They all had to leave early Saturday morning to watch one of their sons compete in a competition for school so I went for a 6 mile jog with one of their German Shepherds while Stewart studied with the other puppy. 

Since we weren't expected at Stewart's mom's house until lunchtime, we made a quick stop in Lake George where we were able to venture out on the frozen lake because the ice is still thick enough.  There were a bunch of people ice fishing, even though they said that they weren't catching much, and even a guy parasailing on the ice. 

Then it was time to get warmed up and visit Stewart's mom.  She seems to be recovering really well from the surgery and I like to think that we brightened her day some.  We made her dinner and just spent the day chatting and letting her rest.  Hopefully she'll be back to swimming and doing all the things she loves before long. 

We spent Saturday night and Sunday visiting friends from when we living just outside Albany.  This was where we've spent most of our married lives, and where we owned our first home so it will always be special to us.  It's a great feeling to attend church and have so many people know us even though we've been gone for almost 3 years already.  One family who didn't even know we were coming to town invited us over for lunch after church without any notice at all.  I hope my home is that welcoming and always ready for visitors some day.

We stayed Sunday night with other friends and stayed up way too late catching up but since this is so rare I'm ok with it.  I ran another 4 miles Monday morning before we headed on our way home with just a quick stop for some pizza on our way.  It was great to get a away for the weekend and see so many of the people we love, but it's always nice to get home. 

Welcome to Our Blog

Hi.  We're Stewart and Carolyn and we've created this blog so you can get to know us a little better.  If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email us at carolynandstew@gmail.com. 

Here's a quick background on us:
we met when Stewart was 21 and Carolyn had just turned 20.  We lived in the same apartment complex while in school.  Because it was summer and we were living in Utah, it seems like we were always off doing fun things with our roommates and friends that summer.  It was a great way to get to know each other and by the end of the summer we were officially dating.  We dated until just before Christmas when we got engaged in my parents' basement and four months later we were married.  I know it seems really quick but it has turned out perfectly.  It's awesome to marry your best friend and I can hardly believe that we've been married for so long already. 

Since then we've moved across the country to New York State.  We lived in the Albany area for several years and a few years ago we moved to Buffalo so Stewart could attend law school.  Albany was great and we made a ton of great friends, but it was also really nice to live close to Stewart's family for so long.  His younger sister even lived with us while she finished college.  One of the really nice things about Albany is how close it is to cities like New York, Boston and Montreal.  Even Philadelphia wasn't very far.  And we made it to Cooperstown to see the baseball hall of fame while were were living there too.   

Since moving to Buffalo we've been trying to enjoy all that there is to do in Western New York.  We're less than 30 minutes from Niagara Falls so we take all of our out of town visitors up there to ride the Maid of the Mist and see the majesty of the Falls.  There are also some great hiking trails just north of the waterfalls which we've hiked, and used the nearby parks for picnics with friends.  Toronto is only about 2 hours away, so when Carolyn's sister came to visit we all spent a few days there. One of the really nice things about Buffalo is the huge park less than a mile from our home.  This perfect for running biking and rollerblading as well as for meeting up with friends for tacos once a week during the summer.

But we've also had a lot of adventures away from home.  We went to Paris just after our second anniversary.  Stewart speaks French so we had  no problems getting around.  A few years ago we went to England to visit friends, and while there, the four of us flew to Barcelona for a weekend.  I think that's my favorite place that I've ever been.  And we've seen a lot of the United States as well.  We've visited family and friends in Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Florida.  Last fall we roadtripped to South Bend, Indiana for a college football game. 

I'll post pictures of many of these and other adventures in future posts but I wanted to give you a brief idea of what our lives are like.  Again, if you have any questions, please feel to email us. 

Thanks for reading!