Hauser Street

Well, we're homeowners. On November 19th we closed on our first home. We worked our poor realtor to the bone. He has never shown so many houses to one family. It was a long somewhat frustrating search, but, luckily, we loved our realtor. We just clicked. He is kinda like our Kansas City uncle now. We even spent Thanksgiving at his house with his family. We were very blessed to find him.

We are very excited about having our own place. It is nice to finally put down some roots. I have been "rootless" since 2002 and it feels great to know where we'll be in five years. In the last few places I've lived I have never really fully unpacked because I knew I would be packing it all up again soon. I also never really took the time to decorate like I wanted to because it seemed pointless to spend time and money on it and when we knew it wasn't going to be our home for long.

The house is only 15 minutes from KUMed (where I work and Scooter goes to school), has great highway access, is close to a grocery store, and near lots of parks and walking trails. It is also in such a nice quiet residential area. The yard is a good size, and there is room for guests and our future family. It was hard to decide what size we needed because we really wanted to make sure we wouldn't grow out of it in the next six or seven years, but we feel like we found the perfect home for us!

KU Football

A while ago Scooter and I drove to Lawrence, Kansas to watch a KU football game. It was a beautiful day and the stadium was packed.

The only college football games I have ever been to have been those where BYU was one of the teams on the field. It was weird to experience another schools chants and cheers. KU had some strange ones - for example, they kept yelling "Rock Chalk! Rock Chalk!" The cheerleaders even had signs that said it. We were puzzled until we finally asked a nearby student the meaning of it. After consulting lots of other people they decided it had something to do with the bedrock that the school was built on. Weird, huh? Never has there been such a huge, loud tribute to the bedrock under a school.


We saw other strange things like the shirts people were wearing.

"Our Coach Can Eat Your Coach!""Our Coach Beat Anorexia!"We were confused until we spotted the coach...
Let's just say that he is a big boy.
It was a fun outing but next time we have to buy some KU shirts before we go. We were the only people in the stadium not wearing blue or red. We didn't even think about it before we left. Oops. I guess that's what happens when you don't really care who wins. Sorry, but we are still BYU fans at heart.

Another Girlie Get-Together

After our California trip in August we weren't sure that we would all be together for a while, but happily, it happened sooner than we anticipated! These lovely ladies came to Kansas City for a visit a few weeks ago. They were too curious to see my new stomping grounds to stay away! I think my sisters just wanted to make sure that this place wasn't super boring because I'm sure they'll be visiting at least a few times over the next few years. Luckily, they liked it a lot. We had a very girlie weekend complete with cooking, shopping, giggling, and sleepover-style sleeping arrangements. Luckily for Scooter, it was the weekend before a test so he had a good excuse to hole himself up in the library and not be forced to attend the girlie activities.

We went to the farmer's market (I promise these are the last farmer's market pictures I will post for a long time) which was fun and interesting as always.
Sorry for making you look into the sun!
Do you know what these crazy things are? Chestnuts!
Who knew that "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" involved such weird shells? By the way, when we were travelling during Christmastime last year there were tons of street vendors doing that exact thing - roasting chestnuts over an open fire. You had to eat a couple of nuts before you got used to flavor, but then they were quickly addicting!Aren't they beautiful? We still call them the "little ones", but they are all grown up now!I think everyone's favorite place at the farmer's market was "Al Habashi Mart." It is fun to have a place to get authentic naan bread, fresh homemade hummus, and weird spices and sweets. The farmers market is close to downtown so the skyline looms over the stores and booths. It is a weird clash of modern and old when you see all the Amish farmers selling their baked goods with the skyline behind them.
In the spirit of autumn we went to the Louisburg Cider Mill. It was a lot of fun. The cider donuts were absolutely delicious and the cider was even better. You can watch the cider being made right there. Mmmm...I have such beautiful sisters. See?Gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
Gorgeous.

They are pretty silly as well. That or they really like cider donuts...


There was a pumpkin patch next to the cider mill. Complete with petting zoo, hay-wagon rides, and silly wooden signs. By the way, this sign - completely inaccurate. Since when have I been under 5' 6"?It was interesting to see the pumpkins still attached to their vines. It reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie book "Farmer Boy." Does anyone else remember the milk-fed pumpkin in that book? Was that book anyone else's favorite in the series? It was mine. I think it was all the descriptions of the food (I put all of the blame for my fifth grade weight gain solely on that book...).

Next we went to the corn maze. We discovered that my mom had somehow never been through a corn maze even though the rest of us had been to multiple mazes. She said the only times she had ever been were with groups of kids and that she was "always the adult getting all the donuts and cider ready." Right before we went in she got a little apprehensive and had to reassure her that it wasn't a haunted corn maze. My mom was thrilled to see that there was still some corn left. I can't even tell you what a high percentage of my photos have them doing something like this. They love to pose.
Especially this one.
I can't get her to stop.
It really is so hard to take normal photos of her. You usually have to snap a few like this before she will stand still and smile. We had a little trouble finding our way out of the maze so Rachelle came up with a great solution - corn whispering. That's right folks. She became our personal corn whisperer.
"Hear the corn. Feel the corn. Be one with the corn."
Andrea's version of corn whispering (involving - can you guess? - more posing!).



More corn whispering from Rachelle. We were at a hot dog stand when Rachelle had an epiphany.

Oh my gosh! The "KC" on this barbeque sauce stands for "Kansas City" doesn't it!? 'Cause Kansas City is famous for it's barbeque! I've always wondered why that was on there!
So happy we could help you solve that nagging question 'Chelle.

I miss them already!

Workin' Girl

Well, my job search is finally over. I've been working in the cytology lab at the University of Kansas Hospital for a couple weeks. It was such a struggle to find a job. It's obviously a terrible time to be looking for a job and it was really frustrating. I was basically sitting at home for two months spending all my time searching online, applying online, and waiting to hear from places that never called. I hate online applications. I hate sending my resume into the internet abyss. I hate not knowing if the application that I just spent two hours filling will ever be read. But, I digress, I don't even want to recount the experience because it makes me frustrated all over again. I'm just happy to have a job. There are some perks to my job - I only have to work Monday-Friday, which is really nice. It has been a while since I have had a set schedule and it is nice to not wonder whether or not I will be working the upcoming weekend. Another bonus is that KU med school and the hospital share a campus so Scooter and I will be driving to school/work together everyday. It is sad when your life gets so crazy and busy that driving ten minutes together twice a day is something to look forward to, but that's what med school has reduced us to. The other great benefit is that the health insurance is awesome. Overall, I'm really happy to be a workin' girl again!

Josie's Visit

Scooter's darling sister, Josie, came to visit a couple weeks ago. It was so fun to have her! We did a lot of things, but one thing we did was go to the Kansas City Farmer's Market. You can imagine, with this being Kansas and all, that the farmer's market here is pretty amazing. They have all the regular stuff like tomatoes and corn but they also have tons of weird stuff like bitter melon and whatever these huge things are...

We heard a rumor that they are some weird type of bean, but I have never seen a bean that looks like that!




I loved these albino eggplant.

Have you ever seen zucchini that size in your life?! I have seen it in numerous backyard gardens here. The soil is so rich and the weather so perfect for growing, that people don't even water their gardens. Amazing.

I wanted these so much. Wouldn't they be gorgeous in a salad?



This guy is my favorite because he sells really cheap spices. Talk about a money-saving tip. Every huge scoop of his spices is just $1! I was out of cloves so I got some from him and I don't think I will ever run out of cloves again. I didn't even have a container that was big enough to hold my lifetime supply, so they are just in a baggie in the pantry now. 1/20 as much would have been a few dollars at the grocery store - what a bargain!

Ginger root. Mmmmmm... A sweet man in my ward here knows that I would love to have a garden but I don't have a yard. He is deeply distressed about it, and after weeks of pondering has finally figured out that ginger root is something I could just grow in a pot in my apartment.


No idea what these are. Some type of squash? If there is ever a doubt as to what a funky looking vegetable is, some type of weird squash is always a safe bet.


The tiny things on the left are actually Asian eggplant. No idea what the things on the right are.

Orange watermelon?

When Josie was here we also found a great outdoor theater. I kinda reminded me of Tuacahn without the stunning cliffs surrounding it. We went to Mamma Mia which was really fun.


Thanks for coming Josie!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we dragged 5 suitcases, 2 carryons, 2 backpacks, and one camera out of Heathrow airport and got on a bus bound for Oxford. We were apprehensive, but mostly excited.

So many things were uncertain. We weren't sure that our bank cards would work. We didn't have a bank account. We didn't even know how to get to our flat. We weren't sure how demanding Scooter's schedule would be. We didn't know if I'd be able to find a job. We weren't entirely sure that we wouldn't run out of money. We also could not have known, when we arrived that day, how wonderful our year was going to be. We had no idea how much we would love riding the buses and walking the streets. We didn't know then that all of the things we were nervous about would be fine. We didn't know how many amazing places we would have the chance to see. We didn't know that we would be able to make so many great friends. We had no idea how attached we were going to become to the place - no idea how deeply we would miss it when we left.

Before we left we even questioned our decision some days. Going to Oxford meant a delay in starting medical school. It meant throwing off our life plan by a year. It meant a bit more financial uncertainty. It meant a lot of hassle - moving internationally is never easy. It meant hours of complicated paperwork and lots of international phone calls. It was knowing that we would be missing every family get-together, birthday, vacation, holiday, and not seeing or speaking to our friends very often. It was scary, but we have never regretted doing it. It was the best year of our lives.

We are so grateful that the opportunity was given to us. We hope no one ever thinks that we took it for granted. Every single day we couldn't believe that we were there. Sometimes we would just look at each other a laugh because it was so amazing. We are extremely grateful for whatever committee decided that Scooter should receive a scholarship. We are so grateful for the support of our family and friends. We are so grateful for the people we met and the conversations we had. We are grateful for the great education Scooter was able to get. We are most of all grateful for the experiences we shared and the time we were able to spend together.

Today, on the anniversary of the beginning of our adventure, I decided to just put up some pictures of the place that, to me, still feels more like home than Kansas. Some of them aren't good pictures and are even blurry but they represent a part of the city that I love.

California Girls Trip

I love these fabulous ladies! We had the chance to go to California together for a few days. Our generous dad had already taken a ton of time off of work this summer to come visit me in England so he decided to not come and let it be a "girls only" trip.
We spent lots of time on Newport Beach. Every day that we went to the beach this van/camper was parked in the same spot. The owners must be so addicted to the beach that they just live there.

I just LOVE this darling cowgirl!

Look at my poor mom's nose. It was all bandaged and bruised. Good thing that sunglasses are good at covering Steristrips.

This one just makes me laugh. Andi poses for the camera every chance she gets.

This was our favorite spot.

We brought some boards that we bought at 7-11 so we could body surf. They were ghetto and one was broken in half, but they still served their purpose and we had lots of fun.

Run, Rachelle, Run!

Andi kept me laughing by screaming dramatically every time she caught a wave.

Every trip I've ever taken to a beach I'm initially turned off by the salt water, but after you just let it get all over your face (as Andrea is demonstrating below) it gets a lot more fun.

Rachelle just looks like she belongs in the ocean. The salt doesn't bother her at all which makes me feel pretty wussy.



She catches the wave...

and gets closer...

and closer...

and closer!

I can only pray that I look like this when I've raised four rambunctious, dramatic, crazy kids.

The round one body surfers.

Big sunglasses are a blessing at the beach for blonds. It hides the no mascara or runny mascara eyes. Right, Andi?

Lauren? Do you agree?

OK, looks like it is not just Andrea that likes posing for the camera. Who knew waiting for the elevator could be so sexy?

Andrea, mom, and I spent lots of time on the phone with our distant husbands.

Newport Beach. Day two.

Even my mom loves playing with the boogie boards.

I love this girl! She is so stylish. Hoop earrings to the beach? It wouldn't have even occurred to me.

Why are you all laughing at me?! Did a seagull poo on me?!

Run! Catch those waves!


Rachelle is in a little over her head...

Oh, never mind. She's fine.

Wow. I guess she's better than fine.

Notice that we haven't seen a picture of me so far. This is not a coincidence. I'd rather post pictures of Andrea.

Or Rachelle.

The sand had this little metallic flecks in it. It made me think of the California Gold Rush. I'm a nerd like that.

If I'm going to post pictures of myself I'll just stick with those taken from far away.

Or of me hiding under the water.


It would be unfair it everyone had a swimsuit picture except for me. Notice how I've cropped most of myself out? Very intentional. I love being the self-designated photographer.

My mom is beyond paranoid about getting sun damage on her face. It has been that way for years but on this trip her obsession hit epic proportions. We called her "Mulan" because she would put SPF 70 on and then not rub it all the way in, making her look like her face was painted white. Smile, Mulan!





Let's not forget about Lauren. For some reason I have less photos of her. I think because I was usually in the water with her so I didn't have my camera. Sorry Lauren! I still love you even if the wind is blowing your bangs and they look crazy.



My mom had to have some pictures of her girls.

Who knows when the next time we'll all be together is?

I hate not living close to each other. We do a good job of calling each other though.

You can imagine with five girls showering and primping there was lots of waiting for each other. Lots. This is when my dad is happy he wasn't there.

We went to the Orange County Performing Arts Center to see Fiddler on the Roof.

It was Topol's last tour. Topol was the original Tevye in the 1971 film adaptation. He was fantastic! I was so surprised at his energy. He is 74 years old, but he played the role so well. He did all the dancing while singing and seemed to be in perfect shape.

The next day at Laguna Beach we, unfortunately, sat down wind if the toilets. The worst part was that every part of the beach was down wind that day. We left early. We couldn't help it. We were gagging. Before we left we were harassed by this flock of seagulls. They could tell we had Whaet Thins with us.

Everyone likes a good Wheat Thin.

At least the drive wasn't smelly at all.


On the way back to Utah I snapped a picture of may favorite exit.

We also stopped at our favorite Greek food place.

Mom and Rachelle couldn't help pretending they were Greek statues.


Thanks for a great trip! Let's do it again next year!