Longing for Liberation

Chris and I are so ready to be done with school. I'm going to have to apologize for never writing on here. I miss the blogging world. It's been so long that I have no idea where to start...

Chris only has one more year left of law school. And let me tell you, it has been hell, and I'm not even in it! I advise anyone who is thinking about law school to stop and change your mind. I do have to say though that I am extremely proud of all of his hard work; it has really paid off. Literally, since his school is practically free.

This summer Chris and I will be apart. I hate even thinking about it, but what can you do? He has an internship in West Virginia with Jackson and Kelly and I have my school here in Utah atAveda. School for me is going pretty well. I'm diggin it. And that is pretty much what we have been up to except for the best news of all times....

We got a dog for Christmas and her name is Io. Yes, the letters I and O. She is amazing! I'm very sure that she is the best dog ever and I'm not partial at all... She loves everything, sometimes a little too much because sometimes not everything love her as much. I would have to say that she has stolen Chris's heart from me, but that's okay because I love her just as much! She's 6 months old now and already 60 pounds. She's kind of a monster...

The Joys of Summer

So this summer has been full of adventures! Some good, some not so much. We left Utah in May to go on vacation with Hanna's family to the Outer Banks, which was awesome because the beach is our favorite place ever. We had a great time chillin with everyone and soaking up the sun. Hanna more than Chris, as you can see from the farmer's tan. Hanna went for a jog one morning with Leah and found this shark washed up on shore. It was really sad. No one believed her, so we had to get a posse to go check it out.
Hanna's Aunt really wanted to climb up this lighthouse but no one would go with her. Hanna finally volunteered, and as you can see she really loved the experience. But eventually she warmed up and got to check out the view.

One of the things we love the most about the beach is having a campfire right on the beach. So one night we planned a massive cookout for everyone. We all roasted hot dogs over the fire and then hunted for ghost crabs. It was a good time but still no one is as fearless in hunting crabs as Coty! Sammy and Leif caught a ton of them.






Grammy and Grandpa also planned a treasure hunt for the kids. They got some good booty out of it. We're pretty sure Sammy has a bright future in pillaging.
We're so thankful to Liz and Phil for setting this whole trip up. It was such a good time.

But most importantly from the beach trip, we were all reminded that Jared is always right!

After the beach we headed off to Charleston Wv for Chris's summer internship at Jackson Kelly. This is the luxurious condo we had waiting for us. That's what happens when you rent an apartment online without seeing it first. The guy said it was a "cute little place." And while we recognize that cute is a subjective term, I think this place definitely stretched the word's definition...


We moved into another place, which was about half a step better. It was infested with cockroaches and covered with cat pee. And the water was off and we couldn't get it on for the four days we lived there. But that hadn't stopped the previous tenant from using it anyway. So the whole place was pretty putrid. So then we moved again, and the one we have now is inhabitable. Then Hanna went to visit her family for about a month in New Mexico. She had a great time out there and was really happy to spend some time with her mom, dad, sisters, and mainly her little nephew Lewie.
When Hanna got back into town we went to Asheville NC to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Crazy! It was a cool place. Tons of good food. Way too much of it. Had the best pizza of our lives there, Mellow Mushroom. If you ever find one, drop whatever you're doing and eat there. And send us some too. We also got to see the city's firework show while we were chillin at the hotel's pool. It was really awesome, mainly cause there was no one else there.

We have used every chance we get to sneak away from Charleston to see family and friends and different parts of West Virginia. Hanna spent a week in Shepherdstown with some friends, and this weekend we went to Fayetville to check out the New River Gorge Bridge. It's crazy tall.


All in all its been a pretty good summer. We really hope that yours has been as well! Up next for us is a quick trip up to Boston to spend some time with Hanna's cousin Jeremy. Then it's back to Utah for us so Chris can finish school and Hanna can start hers at Aveda.

Over The Last Five Months

So we're still alive! Its been a crazy couple of months, and we have been super busy. But its all starting to slow down now, kinda. Since we last posted, Hanna got into Aveda, which is a really awesome cosmetology school which just opened a location in Utah. She starts in October and is super excited about it. So everyone will be getting Aveda stuff for Christmas!!!!
Chris just finished his first year of law school and is really glad to be done. Just two more to go. Grades don't come out for at least another week, so he's pretty nervous about that.

We just got back from a trip to Vegas with our friends Jed and Ali Goodell. That is one crazy city. But we had an awesome time and managed to leave without blowing our whole life savings, so that was a plus. We saw a Cirque du Soleli show which was probably the coolest thing we've ever seen. But we're glad to be back in a state where prostitution, gambling, and most other things are illegal.
Now we're spending the next week packing and moving. Chris got an internship with a firm in Charleston, WV so we'll be spending the summer there. We're super excited about it. Just a couple hours from home, and we'll be around on weekends to hang out. Then it's back to Utah in August and tons and tons of school. Can hardly wait!!!!!!!

Christmas!!

We escaped Salt Lake for a couple weeks to spend Christmas with Hanna's family in New Mexico. Hanna's work ended well, and she has thoroughly enjoyed the time she has gotten to spend with her family so far. Chris's semester is over. We'll see in mid January if it went well... Before we left Hanna made this sock monkey for baby Lewis, which was super cute.



We went on a hike with Sarah, Phil up this mountain. Since Phil was leading the hike, there wasn't actually a trail. So we climbed straight up rocks through cacti and bushes. The view was awesome.





This house had a million Christmas lights. Obviously, Sarah was very shocked by it.


Leah with baby Lewis. He normally is pretty happy....

See?

We built gingerbread houses, and "we" means Hanna. Chris just ate the M&M's and watched the Utah game.



And it snowed, which was pretty nuts since it's New Mexico. But it was way cool and we made this rad snowman. And that's Dad's arm in the corner. He was sweeping, big surprise...