this one's for you.

and by you i mean Jamal. my aunt has been pestering me to post for a long time...and since a few days ago i went against everything she has ever taught me by buying a boxed hair color at the grocery store in a moment of spontaneity, i figured i'm going to owe her. and yes, my hair looks terrible, jaimi.

alot has happened since my last post about nick's graduation months and months ago. for one nick is now employed and not a student, which is nice. for two, we live on the opposite side of the country from where we were. the wonderful land of new hampshire. for those of you who don't know where nashua is, which i'm assuming is everyone, it is about 40 minutes north of boston. we live a few hundred yards from the border of massachusetts. it's a great place to live. especially this time of year.

new england fall trumps all other falls. 

there is also a lot of exploring to do. we have taken some trips into the city and walked along the freedom trail.we went to a red sox game. we took a weekend trip to washington d.c. we've driven about 45 minutes north of us and played at the beach. we've explored the fall leaves on the way to maine when nick's parents visited us. we've eaten a large amount of lobster and chowder. we've seen waldon pond and louisa may alcott's home...which nick was very nice to take me to seeing as how "Little Women," has not really made a profound impact on his life. we have even survived a "super-storm" named Sandy. (don't worry it didn't really effect us too much, although we did have to turn the volume up while watching Harry Potter because the wind and rain were literally howling)

nick's job is going well for him. he's learning a lot about the defense industry and even has a secret level security clearance, which he says isn't a big deal but i think its really cool. (i'll let you know when i get all of the secrets about what the government is really up to out of him..) he also keeps busy working with the priest aged young men in the ward. i have been really good at being a stay at home wife. (i don't say home maker because i don't do a ton of cooking or cleaning, but i have managed to stay married to nick so therefore i am a stay at home wife) i also teach dance at a local studio, which i absolutely love doing,and am the second councilor in the young women's presidency, which also keeps me pretty busy. the ward here is just wonderful and has made us feel so welcome. we even had two dinner invites our first day at church. yeah, we're pretty popular. 

I won't go into detail about everything that has happened to us so far, but i promise to be better about posting what happens to us from now on. 

here are a few pictures so that you don't forget what we look like. 

the beach

along the freedom trail. (bunker hill and uss constitution)

yup. we're in boston. it's wicked awesome.

D.C.

red sox.

mmmm. lobster.

fall leaves. (pictures don't do it justice.)

waldon pond

Halloween as lucy and ricky. we looked good i'm not going to lie.

one more because nick looks funny :)

 well, thats the update. we sure hope everyone else is having a fantastic time because we sure are. oh, and i should mention that we have an apartment with an extra room now...and a new air mattress that doesn't leak...just sayin.

done and done.

He did it! you may now call him Master. Although he was on campus until almost 1:00am the night before graduation....he finished with flying colors. we were so glad the parents, both mine and his, could come to celebrate and the ceremony was beautiful. CONGRATULATIONS NICK! 

it's late.

we've had a lot of late nights lately. i stay up hoping nick will be done studying soon, and then i bail and go to bed because he's never done studying. i don't know how he does it really. i'm tired, yet nick stays up way later than me and he wakes up way earlier! i'm about to give up on the idea of us going to sleep at the same time tonight....but i had to recognize the fact that this is the last time! i'm sure there will be nights to come where one of us is up late doing something important. but for now it is the last stay-up-all-night-studying night. and i have to say... nick deserves some sleep after tomorrow when he takes his final exam, (which won't be done until 10:00pm!) because he has been working so hard. nick is extremely diligent and i could not be more proud and more grateful for all of his hard work during this past year. he does not do things half way, or even most of the way, he gives it 100% and he has certainly done that here in Berkeley. 

(this is the poster session that nick did for his cap-stone project. lets just say i felt very blond there...)

(this is nick right now)

 

so good luck nick. you are almost there. tomorrow is a big day. big presentations. big tests. and then a big big sigh of relief....plus some partying with the parents on saturday! i love you and know you will be amazing!

chang's chats.

for those of you who don't know, i work at a p.f. chang's. we have a lot of customers, giving me a lot of opportunities to talk to strangers. more often than not, the conversation leads me to telling people i'm from utah, and when they hear the word utah they automatically ask me if i'm Mormon. i have discovered that people have a lot of funny preconceived notions about utah. this is usually a real blessing. i have talked about the gospel with so many people. i love all the questions that come, and i love getting to answer them. sometimes, like today, i get to catch people off guard. 

example #1. 

guy waiting for interview: it's freezing out there. i hate winter. 

me: its like 50 degrees... that's not winter where i come from. 

guy waiting for interview: oh really? where are you from?

me: utah. it gets really cold there during the winter. 

guy waiting for interview: utah, eh? they have a lot of... those "cliche" people there. 

me: cliche?

guy waiting for interview: yeah you know who i'm talking about. do you know any of "those people."

me: you mean Mormons?

guy waiting for interview: yeah. (eye rolling giggle)

me: yeah, you're looking at her. 

guy waiting for interview: (nothing)

then my manager came in and took him away to be interviewed. 

example #2

guy i was taking to his table: ya know i've only eaten at a p.f. chang's one other time. i was in salt lake city for a business trip. 

me: oh really! i'm... 

guy i was taking to his table: it was funny. i walked into the restaurant and everyone stopped eating and stared at me. they had obviously never seen an Indian man (the guy was Indian) before. it's not very diverse there, if you know what i mean? (then he looked at his friends and  they started laughing.) i'm sorry i interrupted you, what were you saying.

me: oh i was just saying, i'm from salt lake city! but hey, you gentlemen enjoy your meal. 

guys i was taking to your table: (no words, just awkward nods)  

i enjoy working at a place where i can do a little bit of missionary work on the job, but sometimes i just have to laugh inside.  

happy sabbath.

have a happy sabbath day. i will be extracting my happiness from church, a nap, skype, and being home at the same time as my husband.

this guy.

ok. be prepared. i'm going to do it. i'm going to do a "wifey" post. i just feel the need to talk about this guy for just a minute....

because lets be honest for two seconds here. how cute is he? pretty stinkin' cute. i feel he needs some recognition. for those of you who don't know nick is working on his masters degree right now. its a nine month professional masters of engineering program. because it's only nine months, and it's a masters, it is extremely intense. but guess what? nick graduates in 24 days. that's not very long. he studies and works a lot, and sleeps and  eats very little. {seriously, sometimes he forgets to eat. i have to remind him by sticking food in front of him} but i am very proud of this guy and know that he will finish up strong. even though he is so busy he still finds time to be a super husband, and not to mention a super cub scout leader. so send some good vibes nicks way and wish him luck on the home stretch!

a post-easter post.

so, obviously i'm a little behind. but that's ok.

 

we didn't have easter plans until our new friends, the gardners, invited us to their house to dye eggs. dying eggs turned into painting eggs due to the lack of egg dye and plethora of art supplies. so after i was done making dinner {while my family laughed at me on skype because my house was filling with smoke causing my fire alarm to go off multiple times, and the rolls had, shall i say, deflated} we headed over for some easter festivities. 

 

can you find nick in egg form? unfortunately you can't see his sideburns from here.

although we missed our family, and the HUGE easter baskets i'm sure they would have given us.... we were glad we could spend the day with rochelle and tyler. thanks for a great holiday new berkely friends!