Recent Happenings....

Over Mother's Day weekend we got together with all of my family for a quick reunion before Steve and I took off. We had a great weekend filled with good food and lots of fun. We hung out played games, went to the zoo, watched movies and ate at Bahama Bucks twice... yum. We spent Saturday at the Phoenix Zoo and saw all sorts of animals. Unfortunately it was sooo hot and the animals were all quite lethargic and were mostly being boring. The orangutans we super cute and very entertaining to watch though! I am soooooo glad we got to do this before we moved so far! Love you guys!

Me and my beautiful sisters!

Trying to be tigers... :)

Keeping cool at the splash pad, really it was meant for kids but we took full advantage. The only bad part was we were always dry like five minutes after we soaked ourselves.

Random frog picture-- Mom Hale this one's for you again :)

I'm a college graduate! It all seemed a bit anticlimactic but I am glad I walked anyways. I can't believe I'm done. I keep trying to think of all of things I want to cram into the next week before I have to "go back to school" but I have three and half months until I start again, woohoo! Luckily my graduation was only about an hour and half. Then Steve, my mom, mom hale, dad hale and my aunt nanette went out for a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden to celebrate. The next morning was moving day.

We started our road trip to Boston on Friday morning and drove to Amarillo, Texas that night. The next day we went through Oklahoma, and stopped in St. Louis, MO. The next day it was onto Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and stopped in Pennsylvania for the night. Monday we drove the rest of the way through PA, then into New York, Connecticut and finally Massachussetts! I have never ever driven so far and I'm not sure I want to do it again. We had a great time driving with Mom and Dad Hale though. Thanks so much for all of your help guys!

We stopped for some Braums Ice cream, we had heard that it is really good and we weren't dissapointed!

What I looked at for the better part of 4 days...

Almost there...

When we got to Boston at like 5 in the afternoon, the traffic was CRAZZZZY. It was like there were no rules and we were driving in Mexico or something. I couldn't believe it. When we pulled in to our apartment our new ward was there to help us unload the truck and they were GOOD. We had it unloaded in like 45 minutes. It was awesome! I will post more pictures of the apartment when it is all put together. It is coming right along.

Graduation Celebration dinner #2. We went to Ruths Chris steakhouse in Boston and got a yummy steak for dinner after a very LONG day of trying to figure out how to register our car... It doesn't sound that bad but it was terrible!

We went to a Boston Red Sox game on Wednesday, everyone there was super into it! The red sox won and we had a great time! Thursday we left to head back to Utah for Lake Powell with Steve's family. So in one week we crossed the whole country in a truck, and flew halfway back on a plane. Call us crazy-- We know it! I will try to keep this thing updated about what is going on! But this is what i have for now! Love you all!!!

New Do?

Maybe you know, maybe you don't but I am NOT very experimental with my hair. I like it long and layered with some bangs, and I have had that since forever! Today I got it cut and decided to be a little crazy... for me... She cut off at least three inches and put a lot of layers in and cut some more bangs. I just think it's funny that this "new do" is being dangerous for me! Haha, I am kind of a dork but it works right?!

P.S. We move in 9 days!

Weird, Weird, Weird.

I just noticed that the last post I did was when our move was 5 weeks away. It is now two weeks and two days away. I am starting to get a little weirded out by the whole thing. I am so close to being done with school, only two tests tomorrow, then a paper and a final next week. After that, my family comes in for the weekend (woohoo!), then mom and dad Hale come (woohoo!), we pack (umm... boo?), I graduate (woohoo!) and then we leave (umm...). Holy Cow. Tonight we are selling my car, which is a blessing that we have been able to sell it so quickly but that is really making this move real for me. Is it strange that this is all just starting to sink in?

Anyways, I am really excited about our move and everything it just hasn't quite hit me that it is so soon. Wow.

Behold our future

We went out to Boston last week for the MIT admitted students weekend. It was really fun. It really reaffirmed to us that this move is going to be a good thing for us. We really enjoyed Boston too! It rained pretty much the whole time we were there. It was a strange kind of rain, it would just mist and you would hardly know it was raining. It was like this every day except the last day when it POURED- which was a bummer because that was our site-seeing day. Needless to say we didn't get a lot of site-seeing done because we were carting all of our luggage. We did go see Emerson and walked around the Boston Common. We are excited to get to see more!

This is on the Boston common- there are a bunch of monuments around it.

These pictures are for you Sandra-- there is a "frog pond" at the Boston Common-- it was empty while we were there though...

Emerson is right in the middle of downtown Boston! It is well disguised amongst a host of skyscrapers and theaters with huge marquees, it is right smack in the middle of the theater district! My building is an old renovated bank and the program is housed on 3 floors- that' s it!

In front of the Harvard library... I think...

In the subway station by MIT there are these pipes in the middle of the tracks and you swing the handle (what steve is doing above) and you try to get the hammers to hit the pipes and it makes music! We entertained ourselves with this a lot while waiting for the train!


These Pictures are our new apartment! We looked at probably 20 apartments without finding anything we really loved. This was the last apartment we looked at and as soon as we walked in this apartment we were pretty much sold! It is the third floor of a three story home. The house is a super cute old white house with yellow shutters. It was one of the nicest apartments we saw for the money. It's a one bedroom, 1 bath with a little office space and right outside of Harvard square which seems like a really nice safe area. We are really excited about it!

Bay window in the living room

Living room/ dining room

Little Bathroom

Kitchen

Bedroom closet

Bedroom

Office Area


We really had a great time and are getting really excited for our move! It is coming right up- we have five more weeks in Tucson!

NEWS!!! again...

Well, we have made our decision... drumroll please... BOSTON! We are really excited and a little overwhelmed because we will be moving in about two months. Obviously we have a lot of work to do! We have felt really blessed with this opportunity and guided in our decision. We can't wait to see what this new chapter of our life has in store! We are really sad to be living so far away from family- but don't worry, we will be back! And- if anyone wants to visit Boston, now you have a relative you can stay with for FREE! :)

BIG NEWS!!!!

Ok, for those of you who don't know, Steve and I have been going through the painful process of applying to graduate school since about December. We have interviewed and then waited for what seems like forever, but we are starting to hear back! First of all, I heard that I got into the University of Utah. We were really excited! Then this Sunday, we were on a walk and Steve got a phone call which told him that he has been accepted to MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing program (it's a combined MBA and Master of Engineering)!!!!!! WE WERE SOOOOO EXCITED! Then the worry began. Like what if I don't get into the Emerson (the school I applied to in Boston), what would we do etc. etc. Anways, the very next day (yesterday), I went to the mailbox and what did I find? A big fat package from Emerson. I called Steve so we could open it "together" and.... I GOT ACCEPTED TOO!!!! I felt like Rory on the Gilmore Girls, when she is waiting to hear from college and she and Loreli go the mailbox and there is a package for Rory. Loreli says- It's a big one- they don't send the big ones to the one's they reject! We also got the official word from BYU MBA that Steve has been accepted there too.
So that is our big news for now. We are so excited. Now we are trying to make that really big decision of where to go! Just thought we would let all of you know!

A bit of catch up... a bit of new!

Sorry that i haven't done any "real" blogging for a long time. Steve and I are still alive I promise! We've had a lot going on lately so blogging has taken a back-seat! I just wanted to post a few pictures from our Utah trip way back at the beginning of January. We spent a week in Centerville with Steve's family and had a great time as always, snowboarding, playing cards, and hanging out! The biggest surprise was to find out Steve's sister Laura is pregnant! We were so excited for her and Jordan!

Grandpa Hale came with Steve, Brent and me on the first day we went snowboarding! We all had a great time together

On a couple of days, Rach and I decided to let the boys go to the mountain early so we could sleep in. We had a great time getting more sleep and chatting on the way up!

Playin' Hale family favorite- Rook. I can't believe I used to hate this game

This next segment is just a funny story about how much of an engineer Steve is. It goes a little something like this.... I decided to get my bike back from the house I lived in before we got married (I know it's been a while!). I had a padlock on there and had long forgotten the combination, so after I picked it up I decided that I would just leave the old lock on and buy a new one. No big deal right???? WRONG!!!! Steve thought that was a terrible because "it would look stupid". So we go on a trip to Wal-Mart and Steve decides that if got a hacksaw he could saw through my masterlock. We get home and the hacksaw idea doesn't work. I suggest just buying a new lock like I wanted to in the first place, but Steve discovered that a Dremel tool (high powered rotary tool) can cut through a masterlock (Thank you, you-tube). This story ends with Steve buying a Dremel tool and cutting through my masterlock. Two hours and a cut padlock later, I don't have to buy a new bikelock... Haha

Steve with his new Dremel tool about to cut through the lock. (Yes those are ski goggles, he couldn't find his safety goggles)

The cut masterlock... The End!!!

The last weekend in January Steve went to Boston, MA for an interview with MIT. He went alone because we didn't want to spend the extra money for me to go! He had a great time! He loved the city, he loved the program and the school. We are anxiously awaiting the admissions decision that comes next month!

This is is Fenway Park, it was right by the hotel he stayed at. My sister Megan got Steve a killer deal on a hotel in the perfect location. Thanks Meg!

Random cool building....

This is a room in the Boston Public Library, Steve said it was a really cool building and most rooms were like this. Wierd huh?

Steve in downtown Boston...

For Valentines Day, we decided to forego giving eachother gifts and take a weekend away. We went up to Flagstaff, AZ, went snowboarding and spent the weekend. We had a total blast and it was sooo worth it! Luckily, Flagstaff got a record snowstorm a couple of days before we went boarding and there was great snow, and it was so beautiful! The first night we were there my friend Katie let us stay in her Dad's empty house. It was so nice, however the only drawback was the room we stayed in had twin beds. I felt like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo!!! We went snowboarding all day Saturday which was awesome! I learned how to CARVE, woot woot, and I finally got enough courage to go into the terrain park to watch Steve do some sweet tricks! After boarding, we checked in to our super cute bed and breakfast and got ready for dinner. We decided to avoid the fancy shmancy restaurants and head to Flagstaff's "favorite" pizza place. It was a good choice-- Yum! On Sunday we headed to Mesa cause my cousin Brock came was reporting his mission. We saw a lot of family and it was great to be there with all of them. Oh yes, Steve had another interview on Saturday with Kellog business school (Chicago), he could do an off campus interview and luckily his was in Gilbert. So we got to spend the night with my lovely mother and go to the temple on Friday afternoon. It was the perfect weekend!!!!!!!!!

Lucy and Ricky Beds

Beautiful Snowbowl ski resort

Us on the SLOW lift!

This was the first time the WRX really drove in snow, Steve thought it deserved documentation :)

The super cute Bed and breakfast we stayed in for the night- the Abineau Lodge

The view out of our window- we looked for animals but unfortunately saw none.


Last but not least, Steve has bought himself a mountain bike that he is practically in love with. I like to call it his mistress. Haha. But really the man loves this bike, he knows everything about it, each component, and why it's good, etc. etc. It has been really fun to both have bikes though. We have been going on night bike rides together. The other night we went on a bike ride and apparently rode through a huge sticker weed patch. When we got home I pulled some stickers out of my tires and immediately heard the hissing of a punctured tube, not just one tube but both the front and back. Only Steve's front tire was punctured! Anways we tried to fix mine tonight, and I found 6 holes in one tube and 8 in the other. We decided to just get new tubes instead of trying to fix all of those holes!