Welcome Back! An Update

Three and a half years can bring a lot of change!  Since the end of 2013 we've adopted a baby (now a three year old kid), moved across the country and bought another house.  

Our biggest life change was Gavin's birth three years ago.  We arrived at the hospital the day he was born and we've been learning how to parent a growing child ever since.  He's intelligent, fun and a barrel of laughs.  He'll make an incredible big brother and he's already excited about that.  He's given us the chance to see life through a child's eyes and to experience things that were never as much fun before he joined our family.  

When Gavin was 7 months old, Stewart accepted a job in Idaho so we moved across the country in November, leaving Buffalo less than a week before a snowstorm closed down the city.  After we'd been here for a year we bought a beautiful home in a great neighborhood in a quaint little town in eastern Idaho (more on that later).  

Near the end of last year we started talking about adopting again.  We spent the beginning of this year doing the necessary paperwork and other preparations and now we are excited to find our next baby.  Below are some photos to give you an idea of what our lives are like now.  We're happy to answer any questions you may have and look forward to getting to know you. 

 

This is us on the day Gavin was born.  I flew to NYC while Stewart drove our car so we had a way home.  We spent a few days there before bringing him home.  

 June 2015 on vacation back in Buffalo for a wedding.  

June 2016 on vacation in Scotland.  We love to travel and Gavin is becoming a great traveler.  We're excited (and a little scared) to bring a second child along on our adventures.  

We both still love to cook, but now we have a little extra help in the kitchen.  It's messier when Gavin helps but we love that it makes him happy and I hope he's as good of a cook as his dad.  

This past May we spent a week in Southern Utah hiking in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  It was nice to stay a little closer to home, especially in a place so gorgeous.  

Another Southern Utah hiking picture.  

And one of just the parents at Kolob Arch in Zion National Park.  

Thanksgiving and New York City

 Since we spent Thanksgiving 2012 in Florida with my family, we decided to spend Thanksgiving 2013 with Stewart's family in eastern New York.  We got up early on Thanksgiving to meet some of Stewart's family in Saratoga to run a 5k Turkey Trot.  It was really cold, just above 20 degrees, so we bundled up and anxiously waited for the race to start. This is us soon after crossing the finish line. 

 

Neither of us knew the course or had been training with hills, but we both set personal records for a 5k that day, so we were really proud.  I think we did it just to be able to get out of the cold as quickly as we could.  Several members of Stewart's family are runners, too, so they joined us for the cold, cold race.    

After the race, we all met back at Stewart's mom's house for  Thanksgiving dinner, followed by games and dessert.  

The day after Thanksgiving, Stewart and I took the train from Albany to New York City.  We met some friends from college who flew in from Utah (The Timmons and the Reeds).  We have known Dan and Nikki for a long time. They both lived in the same apartment complex where Stewart and I met. Needless to say, that was a long time ago. 

We got into town first, and did some sight-seeing before our friends arrived.  Neither of us had ever been into the Gugenheim Museum before, so after a walk through Central Park, we stopped there.  We're both so glad that we finally made it, and we can't believe it took us so long to get there.  Here is a photo of Stewart on the top floor overlooking the atrium.  The Gugenheim was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright who also designed several buildings in Buffalo. 

 

For late November it wasn't very cold in the City (much warmer than our Turkey Trot), and it didn't rain at all while we were there. We enjoyed being outside and being able to walk so much. Here's a picture of Stewart in Central Park with the Gugenheim in the background...    

...and here I am in Central Park with the Natural History Museum in the background.

After leaving the museum, we continued exploring a bit and eventually made our way to Rockefeller Center. Wewe saw a lot of Christmas decorations there, the Rockfeller Center Christmas Tree (it wasn't lit yet), and this little train that is set up for the holidays. 

Eventually we met up with our friends and grabbed some good New York style pizza for dinner. We then  headed down to the Broadway/Theater district to catch a play.  Here's a photo of the theater. 

And another one of us in front, waiting for the doors to open.  

 

Stewart and I started Saturday off by running all the way around Central Park (about 6 miles) with Jeff. After we were done with our run, all six of us went out for breakfast.  Our first stop this day was the Cloisters Museum. We have wanted to go there for years but have never made it.  It's all the way up on the north end of Manhattan Island, so it's a bit more difficult to get to.  We have some other friends who live closer to the Cloisters, and they met us there.  Just like the Gugenheim, the Cloisters was an amazing museum and well worth the trip. 

After dinner, we went back to the Cort Theater to catch another play.  We had such a good time with our friends, and it was such a nice evening, so we walked the entire distance back to the hotel that night.  New York City has a lot to see!  

On Sunday we did a bit more sight seeing and visited St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Natural History Museum before the Reeds and Timmons had to catch their flights home.  Since Stewart and I didn't have to catch our train back to Albany until later, we headed uptown to have dinner with some other college friends who live there.  

 

Matt and Kendra were some of our first neighbors after we got married and were still finishing college in Utah, so we've known each other for a long time.  Just like the old days, we play games and eat delicious food every time we get together.  I love that they live in NYC, so we get to see them every time we visit.  One final photo from our mini-vacation and it was time for us to catch our train back upstate.  

We spent the night in Albany before driving home on Monday.  It was an excellent weekend and we look forward to doing more trips like this now that Stewart is done with school and has passed the bar exam. 

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.