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!