Welcome to a happy place :)

Acadia National Park, Maine

Over Memorial Day weekend, Steve and I drove to Mount Desert Island, Maine and enjoyed a four day stay at one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I loved Acadia and want to go back there (right now!). We had a lovely weekend filled with perfect weather, bike rides, hiking, good food, lots of exploring and spending good quality time together after a long and grueling semester.

These pictures were taken from the top of Cadillac Mountain- the highest peak in Maine (or on the Atlantic Coast... I can't remember... but it's some kind of high peak :) It was beautiful at the top. It looked out into the beautiful blue ocean and you could see all of the little islands that surround the coast. You can even see the coast of Nova Scotia from the top of this mountain!

I love this picture! What a good lookin' guy!

The only sandy beach in the whole park- unfortunately the day we went there it was about 65 degrees and the water was probably about 45-50 degrees- needless to say Steve only dipped his feet in and I didn't get in at all! I was sitting on the sunny rocks with my jacket zipped all the way to the top!

One of the most awesome features of Acadia is that there are miles and miles of carriage roads. John Rockefeller built this amazing system of carriage roads so he didn't have to compete with automobiles. He built them to near beautiful lakes and over rivers and streams. There stone bridges like the one above all over the place. They are so beautiful and we were always excited to see one.

The really great thing about the carriage roads is- only bikes, horses and hikers are allowed- hardly anyone used them and it was the perfect type of biking for me-- meaning we were in a beautiful place, on a road (not a scary mountain bike trail) and it was relatively challenging without being to intense. We biked miles and miles of carriage roads and saw beautiful places on them. We both felt like this was the best way to explore this park because you could see so much more than if we tried to hike them all. I'm not sure if you've figured it out already but I L.O.V.E.D. the carriage roads :)

A vista overlooking Eagle lake

On one of the gorgeous stone bridges, taking a break after a long uphill climb

One of the days we spent hiking a trail that overlooks Somes Sound- It is the only fjord on the Atlantic coast and it was really beautiful. For a while we were right near the water and saw some lobster boats come check their cages. Then, the hike took us into the forest where hiked to the top of one of the mountains and then back down.

A working lighthouse near Acadia- it wasn't the most beautiful but we had to stop and see it anyways! I don't know if any of you have seen the Disney movie Pete's Dragon but the whole time we were there I couldn't stop singing "I'll be your candle on the water" and other songs from that movie. In fact, Pete's Dragon is the next movie to come in our netflix queue and I can't wait to make Steve watch it!

After our hike in Somes Sound we drove in to Bar Harbor, Maine and got a seafood dinner- Steve got a lobster and I got fish n' chips. We went a saw a movie that night. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the town because it was cute- but oh well :)

On another carriage road ride...

This Jordan pond- isn't it lovely? There is a restaurant that sits right on the water and serves famous English popovers- we went to get some for a snack and there was a 45 minute wait! What???? So instead of eating popovers overlooking this lake- we ate nature valley granola bars and then headed out for another bike ride

This is a gate house to the carriage roads- it was pretty cool but you couldn't explore it because it was a private residence... It was cool but I don't think I'd want to live there :)
That was the last picture we took- So there you have it- Acadia National Park. One of the best vacations I've ever had. I hope we get to go back before we move too far away.

Remember me?

Hello blog world... it's me Kalli. I'm not sure if anyone remembers me because I have been absent since February-- but I'm back-- for now at least! So much has been going on lately that I haven't had a chance to even think about blogging. Okay well I think about it all the time but never actually get a chance to catch up. I should let you all know that I wasn't chronically ill or abducted since my last post, but I had a really hard semester and I was constantly working or sleeping. I'm happy that the Spring semester is over but I am already beginning the summer term. I am in denial of that though. Overall my semester was rewarding. I had my first clinical experiences with two preschool children. They were so awesome. Those little kids stole my heart and I feel more confident in my ability to learn all of the things that I'll need to know someday to be a competent speech-language pathologist. Before I get too far into the here and now I wanted to give you all a quick recap of the last 3 months....

February:

One word: Olympics!

We were lucky enough to be able to go to Canada and see the Olympics. We saw a hockey game, the mens snowboarding half-pipe competition,the ski jump long hill and a lot of Steve's family. We ditched school and our responsibilities for the week (don't worry we paid for it the moment we returned) and had a blast hanging out in Vancouver. Here are a couple of highlights, in no particular order...





















The rest of February was quite uneventful and full of Steve and I paying for the week we took off by having to do tons of work to catch up.

March: not much noteworthy here- We both had Spring breaks which did not match up so I spent my spring break home working and Steve spent his pretty much home and working-- Oh the exciting of life of graduate students- I know you all just really jealous of our lives by that description of spring break- Woo!

This March was the second rainiest month on record EVER. The first rainiest month happened when THREE HURRICANES passed through new england. Yup three of them. There was major flooding all over the state. Luckily only a little bit of water got in our basement and nothing was ruined. It seriously rained ALL THE TIME! And not just a pitter patter- I am talking like 3-4 days of constant downpour. It was crazy like nothing I've ever seen before in my whole life. Needless to say we were happy for the rain to stop!

We had our first 'visitors'. My cousin-in-law and her daughter were here for a conference and one day we were able to meet up and go to the new england aquarium and they were kind enough to take us out to dinner in the North End (little Italy). It was so fun to see family in Boston! *hint hint*

April:

This month also passed with very little exciting. We had so much work this whole month. However the weather improved and we were able to get outside and ride our bikes a lot. That has become our favorite form of recreation here.

Beginning of May:

I finished my semester in the first week of May. The day after my last final I flew to Austin to see my whole family!!! It was so exciting. I can't even tell you. I hadn't seen my parents or Mhari and James or Megan in a year. That is a super long time. It was also very exciting because we got to meet our new little nephew Andrew Keenan. Steve flew out a couple of days after I did and skipped school to stay for a couple of extra days. It was such a fun vacation. I wish I had pictures but I didn't have my camera and am waiting to get the pictures from that weekend. Soon you will see my little man Andrew!

RIGHT NOW:

Well I decided to move to Connecticut with Steve and commute to Boston for classes for the summer. I also have a clinical placement here- but it's on the days I have classes so I think it will work out okay. Here's to hoping anyways. So we found a subletter for our apartment for the summer and also have found an apartment in Middletown. We spent the day today packing our apartment and will be moving next Tuesday-- but not before we take an epic camping trip to Acadia national park in Maine. We leave for that tomorrow afternoon and will return Monday morning. After we get home, we'll pack up the truck and head out the next morning. Crazy, yes. Exciting, yes. I think although this sounds really crazy commuting back and forth to Boston that I'll be happier being with Steve and having a crummy commute than being by myself with an easy commute. And believe it or not, we'll be saving loads of money doing it this way. Yes- our rent is that high, its sad really.

Well I better get back to it but I just wanted you all to know We're alive!

Best in Show!!

Today is bittersweet day for me. After a month of carefully sculpting and grooming my beautiful mustache the time has finally come to shave it off. Mustache March has come to an end. That's the bitter part. The sweet part is that for my efforts I was awarded with the "best in show" mustache in a special awards ceremony today! Other awards given out today included "most disturbing," "most fitting," and "dirt lip." You can see the competition I was up against by clicking on the link below.

mustache-march-voting

The contest was never really in doubt, but it was still a special day for me to be formally recognized for my mustache growing ability. Despite all of Kalli's protests, I think that deep down she also grew to love my mustache. She seemed just a little sad tonight when I emerged from the bathroom with a clean shaven face. I may have even spotted a little tear in the corner of her eye.

Thanks to all those who cast a vote in favor of my mustache. And for those who disparaged my little work of art....well, it appears that you my friends have been outvoted. :)

The mustache came off tonight in stages so that I could savor every last moment. Here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Mustache March!!

While I don't normally venture into the blog posting world (this is Steve) I thought in this instance I would make an exception. I have a special matter that I could use a little support on from family and friends. As everyone knows March is the month of mustaches. In honor of Mustache March the men in my program (and women to if they'd like) are all neglecting their upper lips when shaving in order to produce their best offering for a friendly mustache competition. As a member of the MIT LGO community, it is my privilege and responsibility to give my best effort in this endeavor. My sweet wife, however, does not see things quite the same way. This morning, after carefully sculpting the fantastic mustache that you see below, I was shocked when the reaction I got from Kalli was one of utter disgust. She wants the mustache removed now and she's playing hardball (I think without further explanation you know what this entails). I happen to think the my mustache gives me a classy, sophisticated look. I'll let you be the judge. Cast your vote now in poll below to make your opinion known. Thanks for your support!

What do you think of Steve's mustache?

We found out...

where Steve is going for his internship. He will be working for Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut for six and half months starting in June. He's excited about the project. He will be redesigning and relocating the assembly line and supply chain for the Airbus airplane (You know the HUGE double decker airplane-- that one!). I think he's a little overwhelmed because it is a BIG project but I have no doubt he'll knock their socks off! The town is about two hours away from Boston. We've heard that the company he will be working for is very understanding if you have a spouse that is still living/working in Boston and will let you work 10 hour days M-Th. This means Steve could potentially only be gone 4 days a week and be home 3. That's not so bad right???? Well that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

We knew that going to school in Boston meant there was a possibility of being apart for six and half months. I always just really really hoped that he would get something where he could stay home and it would be no big deal. But this year there were very few local internships and A LOT of people in his program wanted to stay local. So they were VERY competitive. Since I found that out a couple of months ago I had to really prepare myself for the very real and distinct possibility that we were going to be apart. It helped a little.

I feel like I have been in mourning this week. I tried really hard to just accept it and be a big girl, knowing that it could have been worse. This worked for about two days.

On Thursday night it was POURING rain and the wind was HOWLING. I got off the train and decided to wait for a bus rather than walk the milehome in the rain and wind (Steve was in class so he couldn't come get me.) Well I waited and waited. And then I waited some more for the bus to come. After waiting about 35 minutes and getting pretty wet, I started thinking about the internship... 'How am I going to be able to do this all by myself? What am I going to do when I don't have the option of Steve picking me up from the train in bad weather? What will I do when he's not coming home every night?".... etc etc.... After having these thoughts for a while I take a quick glance down the street and there was the bus...driving away from me. I missed it because I wasn't in the right place for it to pick me up.

So imagine me, standing in the pouring rain, pretty wet, having these horrible thoughts, waiting for 40 minutes for the bus to come, then missing the bus and realizing I have to walk home in the terrible storm. I did what any girl would do-- I started to cry. As I started walking and crying, the rain became torrential and the wind blew my umbrella inside out like 15 times so my face was just getting pelted with rain and I was soaked in about 30 seconds flat. That's when the tears really started rolling. I cried the whole way home for everything... having to walk home, being soaking wet, and especially for the premature loneliness I felt creeping into my life.

Anyways the moral of that tragic story is I got home, got in a nice HOT shower and ate some chocolate and began to feel better. I felt especially better when Steve got home and I was able to tell him all about how I was feeling and how scared I was. After that conversation I felt like I could do it. I think I just needed to have a good cry and be real with myself about it. I think I just got really tired of hearing people say "Oh it's not a big deal", "You'll be okay", "It could be worse." I got tired of it because I knew all of these things were true (except the 'its no big deal' one-- this actually is a big deal.) and I knew I would get through it but I just really needed some time to be sad about it.

So, I've been sad about it, I've faced the facts and now I'm hopeful that I'll have a lot of help from my Heavenly Father that has blessed me with so much. I think that's key in my getting through this ordeal. I still feel sad about it, in fact, I've gotten a little misty eyed writing this post, but I also feel something I didn't before. I feel hope and peace. We can do this together and we will get through it. Somehow :)

Well just thought I'd fill you in on life here... I know I need to post about the Olympics but all the pictures are on Steve's computer and I haven't had a chance to steal it from him for a while to post. He has been working non-stop since we got home!

Sorry...

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. Holy Cow. I'm going to do a QUICK update on life here before I get even further behind!

First-- Christmas was excellent. Steve and I were away from Boston for almost a month. We had a great time with the Hale family playing cards, snowboarding, go-carting etc etc. I will direct you to my mother-in-law's post about the holidays for a more comprehensive post. (on the sidebar, the title is Sandra and Brent) Maybe someday I'll write a post of my own.

Second- We said goodbye to Steve's littlest sister Annie and sent her away to Winter Quarters Nebraska on a mission. She's been gone for about a month now and sounds like a great missionary! We miss her already.

Third-- I'M an Aunt AGAIN! This time it was extra special because it was my side. My oldest sister Mhari had the first grandchild for the Lund family. And he was the first boy born in my family to boot. I'm in love with him already. I'll post pictures of him... well soon :) Steve already met him because he was in Austin a couple of days after he was born on a school trip. I'm very jealous. However, my whole family will be going to Austin in May. And I CAN'T WAIT. I really really really miss my family.

Fourth- I started clinic. I have CLIENTS. I plan THERAPY. Weird. This is what I've been waiting for for so long and I'm loving it. It is stressful and I feel completely lost sometimes but I'm making my way.

Fifth-- This week or next we find out about Steve's 6 and half month internship. We are praying that he will be able to live at home for this but the worst it will be is Connecticut and he would live there M-F and come home for the weekends. I could do that for six and half months right? Maybe... I'm feeling quite anxious about this one.

Sixth- We had a great Valentines day. I love my husband soooo much. I can't even write it and I certainly don't have time to write everything I about him right now because....

Seventh-- Tomorrow... well actually in 3 and half hours ... we are hopping on a flight to go to the OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait. We are meeting up with Steve's parents and sister and brother in law, and niece, and the Canadian relatives and are going to hit up some sweet events. Look for us at the men's snowboarding half pipe qualifier and final, womens snowboarder cross, some hockey games and the ski jump. We'll be there!

This is the reason I had to post about all of these things before I have wayyyy to much to catch up on.

P.S. Happy Valentines Day Everybody!