Just an FYI

Ladies-

I will be in California from April 9th to April 25, roughly. The dates are not set in stone yet. For the most part I think we will be in Southern California. I will get in touch with everyone to try to get together of course. I love you all and miss you!

Book Recommendations, Please.

So, my dearest and well-read friends...I decided that while I am here in England I would like to read a lot of British literature. I am sure that I could do a Google search and find out on my own, but what is the fun in that? I dare say, none. So, without further ado I make my request. Could you ladies be kind enough to recommend to me your favorites from the British author libraries? I can't wait to get started.

Right now I am reading Anna Karenina, a very long book, but a classic nonetheless.

I love you all and miss you. Don't forget that you are welcome to come and stay with me here in London.

It's a...

GIRL!!

We found out today we're having a little girl!

Finally I'll get to play with dresses and bows :)

K-SWISS and Randizzle reunited...

Happy Birthday Kristen!! Even if you are married with kids, you will always be K-Swiss to me:) 26? pretty darn old. Then again, we've all hit that mark this year. crazy how time flies. Well, I hope the best for you and the fam, and all that lies ahead....life is so exciting now that we're all over the place, doing different things. We should have a reunion sometime. soon actually.

Randizzle, I miss you!! I miss your spunkiness and zest for life. And of course, your b-ball skills fo sho. P-town is not the same without the tall, mandolin-playin Randilyn. I swear you know everyone and their brother, and that's because you make people happy to be around you:) Happy Birthday!!!!

And to the rest~ sorry my blog posts are few, just know that I love and think of you all the time. Sadly I'm still stuck in the good land of Provo...where it all began our freshman year. Sometimes I think, man I wish they were still here. Every time I go to a dance, or play intramurals, drive by the creamery, or reminisce on ANYTHING that reminds me of our old Apt...I will forever think of you all!!!

And No, I am not dating anyone. ha. just to clarify.

Happy Birthday to my Ladies!!!

Kristen gets first dibs since I forgot to wish her a happy birthday. My top five favorite things about Kristen are:

5 - her sweetness, as in so kind
4 - amazing listening abilities
3 - she is so cultured...I still remember our dorm door with quotes and pictures on it
2 - Solid and loyal friend!!!
1 - her daring personality...most daring being willing to head into the unknown (BYU) with me!

Sorry that it was late! I love you and miss you!

Randilyn, ahh our Randi...my top 5 favorite things about you are:

5 - when you say you are going to do something, you do it; whether it's to learn the mandolin or go to law school.
4 - Solid and loyal friend, like Kristen, man we sure lucked out with our roommates, didn't we!
3 - mad dancing skills
2 - So much fun to be around
1 - Love and Passion for life

Love you and miss you too!!!

I'm at the library, again

Hello my lovely ladies--

Well I am sitting here at the library for my weekly 6 hour night shift (yes, in case you didn't know, I am a librarian, haha). And I reached the point where I can't study anymore tonight, so I resorted to blog-catch-up-ing. As a natural result, I shall be updating you on my life. Unfortunately, my life is rather boring. All I do is study. And law review. And then study some more. I was thinking the other day how sad it is that I don't do many of the things I love anymore. Like seriously, I can't even remember the last time I picked up my mandolin. Or played tennis. Or stayed up late girl-talking with someone. Law school has made me so boring! And tired! If I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep, I cannot function. Holy moly, I'm not THAT old...

BUT, I did go to Mexico this summer! And China! And it was fun! (Until I came back and had to write a bunch of papers... 9 to be exact). But here are some pictures of me in China:

The Great Wall!

Forbidden City

Purple-Gold Mountain in Nanjing (where the University is)

I can't wait to see you all again! Tara, I aspire to come visit London sometime in the next few years. And the rest of you at NATALIE'S WEDDING! So excited. And K-Swiss--when do you find out if you're having a girl or boy? Love and miss you all!

Henderson Update

Kristen attempted to start the ball rolling and here I am a month and a half later and finally responding.

As you all know we are here in London. We live an hour tube ride/walk outside of the main city, which is about 8 miles or something. I will take pictures of our house today and post later on my regular blog. It is a cute little townhouse called a semi-detached house out here. We just moved in last Friday. To give you an idea of how long our transition has taken, we moved out of our Michigan house on August 30 and moved into our London house on October 15. A month of that was spent in the heart of London and we had a blast being close to everything, but we are also excited to have a more family-friendly place out here in the "burbs."

We have enrolled Ethan in "Reception," but he is on a waiting list because all of the schools are so full. Reception is full day for 4-5 year olds. So, while Ethan would not be in Kindergarten yet if we lived in the states, he does start full-day school here. We are a little nervous for the big transition, but I think he will have a great time making friends and learning.

Dylan is 20 months old and definitely has a mind of his own. He pushes Ethan around sometimes, and Ethan is so sweet that he lets it happen; they do play well most of the time though.

I do my mom thing, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. I love to read books when I find one worth my time. I don't have any tv shows that I am following at the moment and have not been to the movies lately. I have tried lots of new restaurants though. Kevin and I even went on a date the other night without the kiddos and found a cute area in London with lots of different types of food. We were going to eat at a Spanish Tapas restaurant but the wait was an hour and we were hungry so we opted for Italian instead. For dessert we had the best cupcakes ever!

I am trying to eat less sugar. I did well for a few days, but you all know me and my obsession with sweets. I just wish I had more time to run, then I could eat sugar and not worry about it!

Kevin is having a great time at his firm. It is challenging but a great opportunity. We are still awed by the fact that we are here in London.

Our ward here barely maintains its ward status, any less Priesthood and it would be a branch. They were very excited to have us move in and have put Kevin right to work. I still don't have a calling, but hopefully soon.

I love you all and miss you!

Updates, Please Ladies...

Hi everyone,

I was sitting at my new laptop (my old one broke...ugh), and was thinking that I need some UPDATES from everyone on what they're up to! I've been trying to keep up with you all with blogs, etc, but I still don't feel like I know much (especially from Heidi and Natalie!).

So, I'll start the ball rolling:

We just got back from our big trip of the summer- driving to CA to visit my Mom. We decided to try to drive through the night, so Nathan could sleep for the 12 hours- it worked well in that aspect, but Joe and I were T-I-R-E-D! Can't decide if we'll do it again...

Joe graduated from BYUI in April-yay! We're taking a year off and then we'll (hopefully) be off to law school (so Randi and Kevin, any advice would be great for the application process :).

And, if you haven't seen our blog yet, I'm pregnant again! Hopefully the 'morning sickness' period will end here in the next couple of weeks... Due date March 24th! (A depressingly long way away, if you ask me...)

Ok, so it's YOUR turn :) I want to hear it all! Email me if it's too long to post on the blog!! :)

Love,
Kristen

Summer Fun

If you look at my blog you can see just how busy we have been the last few weeks. I wish it could have worked out to see some of you, but alas life is crazy for each of us.

Me and the boys have been hanging out with my family in Utah and California while Kevin studies for the Bar Exam. He has been studying 10-14 hours a day, going to a bar review course, and working. We can't wait to return home to him in a week. He takes the Bar July 27 and 28 and we can't wait for it to be over.


Ethan and Dylan have loved being around their family. It is rare for them to be around cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandparents. Wendy lives here with her family. My little brother Jacob is here with my parents and my Grandma too. They are soaking up the attention. My older brother, Conor, got home from Afghanistan yesterday and he got to visit us in Folsom. The boys were excited to see him.

We head to London on Labor Day in September. We have been looking online at neighborhoods, schools for Ethan, and other details of London that are important. Ethan will be in Kindergarten there and will wear a little uniform. I am sure the boys will get British Accents, so cute!!!

We are doing well. My boys keep me super busy and I love it. I would love to hear how you gals are and what you are up to. Sometimes I forget where you are at, what you are doing, and what your plans are. I love you each and I miss you. And, is Natalie on here yet???

Destination.......

London, England!!!

We have had a change of plans. I wasn't sure if all of you had heard yet. But, Kevin's law firm asked us if we would be willing to start in London instead of New York City, and of course we said, "Yes." We aren't sure exactly when we will be moving, but sometime in the early Fall.

Also, I will be heading out west in a few weeks. I will be in Utah the last week of June if any of you are still there this summer. I hope to see you!

summer....please come please!

real fast. updates on my life- i am going to Scotland for an internship in 2 weeks. yea, kinda random, i know. i won't have my phone, so email or facebook, or blog me...haha that sounds so high class. well, i am struggling to finish my first year of grad school. it's the hardest thing i've ever done, and i don't really like it sometimes :) but, life is good. no loves, no funny stories to tell, just a boring student life. of course, i still do eat tons of sugar in case you wondered if i'd overcome that. same old calista, don't you worry.

sorry i'm not good at keeping in better touch, but i love you all! you are my dearest bosom buddies and i'm happy we are stillllllllll friends.

ps. tara & kristen-cute kids, heidi- happy graduation soon!, randi- you are a champ, and i wanna do a triathalon now!, natalie- well i see you in person, so this is weird.

quick update

Per Heidi's request, I shall post of my triathlon experience...

On Sat, Feb 27 I competed in my first triathlon! It was in Los Alamitos and was called the "Race on the Base." I was super-excited--especially since the weather had been gorgeous for the previous two weeks. As luck would have it, however, the weather turned sour on the day of the race and it started raining right before my race started. And it rained the whole time--right up until I was ready to jump in the pool for the swimming portion. (Oh yeah, this was a reverse triathlon--running, biking, then swimming. I'm not a strong swimmer, but the swim was super-short so I figured it couldn't be that brutal...)

So I knew the 5K run would be the easiest part for me, but I told myself that I would take it easy so as to not tire myself out. That didn't happen. Because I am so competitive, I ended up running my fastest 5K ever! Kind of exciting, too, I guess :)

The biking was the hardest because it was pouring and there was a strong headwind. It took me 43 min to bike 12 miles. When I finally jumped into the pool for the short 200m swim I was pretty tired. I ended up breast stroking part of it. But I was pleased with my time: 1:12:27. I finished 6th in my age division and was the 30th woman finisher (out of 325). I placed 228/762 )overall. Not bad! And it was so rewarding--I totally want to do another one! (Maybe sometime when I have more time to train because I'm not bogged down with all the law school stuff!)

(not the best pics, but you get the idea)

As for other news--I am studying abroad in Mexico and China this summer! I'll be in Mexico City for 3 weeks and will hopefully get an externship at a Mexican law firm. I'll only be in Nanjing, China for 2 weeks, but I'm super-excited. I'll get a total of 7 or 8 school credits this summer!

Annnnnnnnnd, I am for sure coming to Utah for Conference! I'm hoping to attend either the Sat morning or Sat afternoon session at the Conference Center. I would love to meet up with anyone who will be there also!

Just an Update

After Heidi's awesome post mine will be kind of boring. But, I will give you a simple update anyways. A huge accomplishment this week for me was to reach my pre-baby weight. Wahoo. Dylan is a little over 1, so that is not too bad. I finally made it because I have been working out a little and eating really healthy (for the most part...hahaha). I was very excited.

Kevin is not going to be deferred for a year, so now we will be moving to NYC sometime in October. We actually decided that we are going to live in New Jersey because it is way cheaper. I have been having a lot of fun scoping out apartments and houses online. I am excited for this next chapter in our life. We probably will not settle there forever, but for another few years at least. And, by the time we leave, maybe, just maybe, all of our student loans will be paid off. If there is any advice I can give you girls, DO NOT accumulate too much debt. Obviously you may have to for school a little bit, but pay it off ASAP. I hate debt and can't wait for it to be gone.

Dylan learned how to pucker his lips this week. Usually babies give open-mouthed slobbery kisses, which are adorable, but now he has learned to pucker. It is the cutest thing ever to see him concentrate so hard just to get his lips to stick together.

Ethan is a crazy and smart 3 year old. He can be so sweet with his little brother or take all of his toys away and hide in his room. We love him though. Kevin has trained him to say nice things to me so he always tells me how sweet and pretty I am. What a stud!

Kevin and I are doing wonderful. We are super busy, but go out on dates whenever possible. Of course, going out to eat is my favorite thing to do. We find every coupon and deal possible to take advantage of.

I have not taken very many pictures lately, so here is one of my 2 boys trying to fit underneath/inside an end table. They are so silly.

I miss you all. Like always, feel free to visit, which I am sure you will be more excited to do once I live a train ride away from NYC!! I love you. Take care.

Ragnar Relay Adventure

Hi girls! It's been a while since I've blogged...lol, well, honestly, it's been a while since any of us have! So...hopefully this will start a trend again!
I had an awesome adventure recently that I definitely wanted to share with you guys! I got to run in the Del Sol Ragnar Relay! It is a 204 mile relay race between Prescott, AZ and Mesa, AZ. Each team has 12 people.

There were 3 teams that went from the Institute here in Tucson. My team was called Team S.A.M.U.R.A.I. (Singe Adult Mormons Undertaking Ragnar Are Insane). We started at 10 am on Friday, February 26th and ended Saturday, February 27th. Your team is divided into two vans with 6 runners in each. Each runner is assigned three legs throughout the entire race. So Runner #1 starts and runs their leg, then #2, etc. til the first van is finished, then the second van meets up with them and starts their legs. Each runner passes off this wristband to the next runner on their team. You just keep going, through the day, through the night and then through the day again until everyone has run all their legs and you've finished the race! I was Runner #7 so my legs were classified as follows:
1st leg: Moderate, 4.3 miles
2nd leg: Very Hard, 8 miles
3rd leg: Moderate, 3.7 miles
I trained a lot for it-I had definitely never done a running thing like this before. I was expecting my first run to really be no problem. Unfortunately, it was at the highest elevation, which I definitely had not trained in and it was definitely hard! It got me way nervous for the rest of the race-especially the 8 mile leg I was going to be running that night! When all of our van had finished their first legs we went to the house of a brother of one of our teammates to try and sleep for a while before waking up and running our second legs in the middle of the night. I could not sleep for anything! All I could think was that I was going to go out in the cold, in the middle of the night (probably around 1 am) and run 8 miles along the Arizona highway-crazy! And then it occurred to me that I hadn't asked for a blessing before embarking on this whole crazy adventure-what was I thinking?! So...I wrestled with that thought for a while in my sleeping bag and then crawled out, went and found one of my friends and asked him for a blessing before my next leg. He gave me one and I am so glad. I didn't fall back asleep, the other van was running faster than expected and I think I ended up starting the 8 mile leg before 1 am. Lol, when you run at night they make you wear a reflective vest and reflective lights on your front and back side. I had also donned some pink leggings under my running shorts to try to be warmer-not planned, but definitely the fashion statement! I was ready, had my playlist on my ipod, pink leggings, family praying for me and a blessing to boot. I started out pretty slow and steady. I told my team to meet me at the halfway point which from the map looked like where the course would start downhill (the first 4 miles were uphill). I felt really good that first 4 miles and my team captain met me at the 4 mile mark to encourage me along. Unfortunately, that hill never stopped! It kept going the whole 8 miles! In the end, most people said they liked their night runs the best. I can now see why. Even though it seems crazy at the time, once you are out there, there really is a stillness and you realize it is just you and the road and the Lord. Its kind of a neat time and there was definitely a prayer in my heart the whole way!
After I finished my second leg and our 8th runner took off, they stopped all the other runners and vans on the highway because there had been an accident. Apparently, one of the runners was hit by a drunk driver. We have since learned that he died. So sad. There was pretty much massive confusion for a while. Imagine its 3 in the morning and you have hundreds of cars and runners along some highway in Arizona. Finally a little before 6 am they had all teams start their 1st van of runners on their final legs. So, a significant chunk of the race was skipped for 4 of the runners in our van but we worked it out so that they ran for some other teammates, etc.
My final leg was the shortest and I remember looking at the map seeing some hills, and one big hill before the last mile which was completely down hill. At this point I had not really slept in over 24 hours and most of the time I had been munching on food but had kind of stopped after the night run. That last hill was a beast! Seriously, I came over the big one before it and just gasped when I saw it. I saw some people start walking at the top of it. Again, I decided just slow and steady but I was NOT going to walk. It was tough but some of the boys on my team pulled their van over to cheer me up that hill and I am so grateful! I made it and it was so amazing to have accomplished that! 16 miles and an incredible team and absolutely awesome experience! Was it crazy? Yes! But would I do it again? Yes!!
Sorry, this is sooo long, its the first time I've written about it and got all excited again. Hopefully, it was entertaining. I'm including some pics so you can see how we all cheered each other along the way, etc. Oh, and link to the website...
http://www.ragnarrelay.com/index.php?option=com_dynamicpages&Itemid=35&page=legMaps&raceName=delsol&paceID=4&leg=7#legmaps

P.S. I wanna hear about Randilyn's triathlon!

P.S. 2 Thanks to all of you for your recent help! I love and really appreciate that I can still always count on all of you!