Monday, June 30, 2008

Leg 1 of our US Coast to Coast trip

Well Ashley and I have completed leg one of our Summer USA coast to coast drive. This past weekend we drove to Oregon for Dane's reception there. We also took my mustang back to my dad's house to store for now and then we brought Dane's mustang back for him. It was a marathon trip. We left and drove all day Friday. Then we hung out and did the reception on Saturday and all that fun stuff. Then we loaded up and came back to Utah on Sunday. We left a little later than usual, so we didn't get home until 4am on Monday morning. Ashley and I were both exhausted to say the least. It wouldn't have been so late getting back, but we had to drop off Dane's mustang to his house in Orem as well as all their gifts and things we brought back from Oregon and some other misc. stuff for someone out here who used to live in our ward in Oregon. Then we had to go do the night drop with the Uhaul trailer and then drive back up to North Salt Lake to our house. So we drove by our house on the way to Dane's at about 1:40am, which wouldn't have been so bad.


But it is all over now, thus completing our Oregon to Utah leg of the Oregon to Pennsylvania summer road trip 2008.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Blog Neglect

You know if there was a law against blog neglect I would be guilty as charged. It has been a long time since I posted anything, so I guess I better get everyone caught up. I have a bunch of pictures I need to add to my online album too. I will try and get to that soon as well. (Just follow the link there on the right.)

Well I did it. I graduated from the U of U finally. It is so good to be done. The last few weeks of school went by quickly and finals weren't too bad. So now I am a college grad!! It is a good feeling not to have to do all the undergrad busy work anymore. I really did enjoy life at the U though, and I think I will miss it as well as being here in Salt Lake. But on the other hand, I am looking forward to classes at Temple, and learning stuff that actually applies to what I want to be doing. I really look at dental school as more of a job training than actual school. Sure there will be a lot of class work and tests, but I think it will be fun to be gaining all this practical career knowledge.

For the summer I have just been working full time at Clearlink. Our Operations officer had some projects he wanted me to help with this summer so I have been keeping busy with all that. It hasn't been too bad, but I am looking forward to not having to work any more while I am in school.

Ashley has been working full time as well at the hospital as a Rad Tec and also teaching tennis on Wednesday at the club up the street from our house. Things are going well for her as well and we have been able to actually add to our bank accounts rather than just break even. That has been a nice change. Ashley also graduated from Weber State as well. She has to finish up some summer class stuff, but then she is 100% done. She also takes her board exam next week so that is exciting. I am sure she will be really happy to be done with all the tests and busy work she has had to do as well. She is also all done with tennis. So far she says she doesn't miss it. I think she is enjoying the rest and the extra time she has now the she doesn't have to go to workouts and practice and leave on rad trips. I think she will start to miss it more as time goes on. But she does want to continue teaching some on the side.

Speaking of teaching on the side, she may have found a job already for when we move to Philly. Let me preface this a little. About 3 or so weeks ago we both went out to Philadelphia to look at houses and apartments in preparation for our big move. We found some houses we liked as well as an apartment that would work great for us. We decided to do the apartment thing for now until Ashley has a good full time job all set up. So that makes the impending move a little less unsettling since we know where we are going to live. Then the last day we were in Philly we took advantage and went around to a few hospitals to see if they were hiring. We didn't have very much success there, but then Ashley thought to look for some tennis clubs where she might be able to teach. We went to 2 clubs and were able to meet with the directors of the tennis programs. They were both pretty excited about the prospect of having Ashley come teach part time. They both wanted her to send in resumes to them.

Then just the other day, the director for the second place we stopped called Ashley to see if she was still interested. They have had some hours open up and he wanted to know if she was still interested. It just happened that this is the same exact weekend that Ashley was going back to Philly with her family. So she went out to with the director and taught some classes as a working interview. She said it went really well so hopefully she will be able to work there some. So that is good news. She was actually in Philly last weekend because her Dad got inducted into the gymnastics hall of fame which just happens to be there in Philadelphia. She said she had a good trip with her family and they were even able to go and see some of the sites there in town.

Also, Dane and Jamie got married last weekend. Most of the people reading this were there, so you all know how it went. This weekend they are having the reception in Oregon. Ashley and I are leaving tomorrow to drive out there. The trip serves a dual purpose, the reception and then taking my mustang back to my dads to store while we are in Philly. We are actually also going to bring Dane's mustang back out here for him to have in Utah. So it will be a marathon weekend road trip for us. That also means that combined this summer Ashley and I will have driven coast to coast across the USA. From Oregon about as far west as we can get to Philly about as far east. That is a lot of driving. I know the driving won't be all that fun, but I am looking forward to seeing a few of the stated between here and there. We are planning on stopping off in Kansas City with my brother and sister-in-law to stay one night. Their place is pretty much right in the middle between Salt Lake and Philly, so it makes for a good stopping point.

Well that pretty much sums up what we have been up to so far this summer. We have about 4 1/2 weeks left here in SLC. Then we will have about 3 weeks free in Philly before I have to start school. Aug. 21st and 22nd I have orientation, and then classes begin the following Monday. I am getting excited.

I think that covers it, keep checking that other site for pictures and I will try and get some new ones up next week.