Arriving at our new home!

Each post I seem to put on our blog starts off with me being disappointed about how awful I am at blogging.  Well, hopefully I really mean it this time that I'm going to start trying to keep this thing up to date.  With us now being far away from both of our families this will be a great way to keep both sides up to speed. 

The past couple weeks have kind of been a whirl wind.  It's still crazy to believe that we are where we are.  

As most of you are aware, Kjarom will be starting Law School at Stanford on Friday.  I am so incredibly proud of him.  He has worked so hard to get where he is.  While it will be a long and stressful three years, it will be an adventure that I wouldn't want to be taking anywhere else.  We had quite a few options to choose from including BYU, New York University, Notre Dame, Duke, Michigan, Cornell and many more... but none of those were Stanford.  Kjarom was really doing his research on each of the schools he was truly interested in. I don't have any doubt in my mind that Kjarom would have succeeded and gone above and beyond at any of these schools, but with his research and many prayers, we knew that Stanford was where we were supposed to go.

This was the collage we posted to Facebook when we made our decision.

We had originally planned on renting a U-haul to take out to Palo Alto, but thanks to my loving mom and brother Kurtis we were able to cancel those plans.  They took the Tahoe and when I say you couldn't have fit anything else in there, you really couldn't.  My poor mom and Kurtis felt suffocated with all our things starting to poor into the front seats.  Kjarom and I both had plenty of room with each of us driving our own car.  I'm so grateful that they were able to help us!  It sure would have been rough without them.  

The drive from Salt Lake to Palo Alto is a little long so we decided to stay a night in Reno and finish the drive the following day.  On our way into the bay area we made a little pit stop at the Oakland Temple.  I had been there before when my oldest brother Eric got married, but I really didn't take in or appreciate how gorgeous this temple is.  There are Palm trees all around and it sits up on a hill overlooking all of Oakland and San Francisco.  It is absolutely beautiful.

After the temple we drove south to Palo Alto and stayed in a hotel for a couple nights before we moved into our apartment.  Kjarom, Kurtis and I made another trip into San Francisco to go to Ghirdelli Square, Fisherman's Warf and to see a Giants game.  

Row 9 on the 1st base side line.  Pretty sweet seats!  But we did have to pay attention the WHOLE time since we were in prime foul ball area.

We then moved all of our things into our new apartment.  It is definitely a change from what we are used to.  No AC, dishwasher, washer/dryer, gas stove and the list could go on.  But we knew that no matter where we went from our last place it would be a down grade.  It is kind of hard to think about what we could get in Utah with how much we're paying in rent here.  BUT in all honesty, this is part of our little adventure in California.  Come what may and LOVE IT!  We're on the 6th floor so we've got a gorgeous view.  My next post will show you our cute little place.  :)  I am very pleased that I will still have room to do insanity!  I was worried there wasn't going to be near enough room.

Well, as you can guess -- Kjarom will be incredibly busy his first year of school.  His future is pretty much based on the first year grades so he will be in the library a ton.  As for me I have sent in my application for a Hygiene license and am waiting to hear back about when I can take California's Law and Ethics exam.  Then hopefully it won't take too long to receive my license so I can start doing what I love again!

I'll continue to update this for you family that care!  Also... let me know if you blog or if I have the wrong link off to the right.  I need to be better about following everyone else as well!  Love you and and just remember -- WE LOVE VISITORS!!! :)

The Current Sitch.

And by sitch I mean situation. :) ... That's for those people like my mom who wouldn't know what that meant. LOVE YOU MOM! Life is going fairly well for us right now. Here's a little update on what the two of us have been up to lately.

ME:
I've just been bumped up to full time and am now working at Silverwolf Dental in Riverton 5 days a week (Tues-Sat). It's a little exhausting and not fun to think about waking up at 5 am on a Saturday. I can't say I've ever done it before... Unless it was when I was in high school and we were going back to Japan and had jetlag, which doesn't really count. Work is going pretty good so far and let me tell you nothing can beat NOT being in school and finally making good money. Have I splurged yet?? I wish I could say yes to that, but right now Kjarom and I are saving up to pay for Law School (see his update below). I think I'll splurge on Monday and get my hair done. I deserve to at least do that right?? :) SO, come visit me at work! My doctor does absolutely flawless work. I really am lucky to be where I am especially in this economy. I was so stressed when I graduated because it seemed like no one wanted to hire someone without experience. I'm lucky that someone gave me an opportunity to get that experience.

KJAROM:

My sweet sweet husband is such a hard worker. That is one thing I admire most about him. He has been so busy with school, work and with his internship... and he has now started an LSAT class that he takes 3 times a week. I can't believe it's almost time for him to take this bad boy! His plan is to take it either in June or October and then apply to law schools in the fall. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work. I know it's going to pay off someday soon. :) He is my rock and I love this man with everything in me. Please keep him in your prayers as he begins this new chapter in his life.

Well, I wish I could say I'll post again soon, but let's be honest, that probably won't happen. Our lives probably won't be changing much in the next few months. BUT if something does happen, I'll be blogging. Love you all! :)

As Time Goes On...

I'M BACK! :)

I'm really disappointed at how awful I have been about keeping this blog up-to-date. It's almost been 6 months, which I see as somewhat of a good thing comparing it to my last post. That means Kurtis is almost 1/4 done with his mission! I am so proud of him and all the hard work he has been putting into this time of his life. Although he may be away from his family, he is helping other families to be together for eternity and that is pretty incredible if you ask me.

Typical mission picture in Japan... Kurtis with Mt. Fuji in the back!

We got to talk to the amazing Elder Murray himself and that made Christmas just that much better. I love him!

Something else has happened since I've last posted. See in the last post how I'm wearing the ugliest scrubs anyone could ever make? Well, good news ... those are gone FOREVER! I am DONE with Dental Hygiene school and couldn't be happier. It was a long road full of stress, tears and I'll admit it... a few laughs. A HUGE thank you to those of you who came in to be a patient for me even when it was last minute. I could not have made it through without you. The biggest thank you needs to go out to my parents and my sweet husband. They're the ones that ALWAYS knew what was going on, how stressed I was ... they dealt with the tears when patients decide to cancel last minute ... they were there through it all. Thank you for your prayers, for your comforting words and just for being you. I love you!

I NEVER thought the day would come. Diploma, tassel and THE Golden Scaler.
What is the golden scaler you ask? Best Clinician in the class :)
(That means you'll want to follow me wherever I go so I'm the one to clean your teeth!)

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who was there for me when I needed you and even those of you who just dealt with all my begging on facebook for patients. It's over now! Now you can come see me in a real dental office because I've passed ALL my board exams with flying colors and I head out to the Department of Licensing on Monday to turn in all my papers so I can receive my license and start working. WAHOO!!

Saying Our Goodbyes

This week a few goodbyes had to be made... :(

The FIRST was a goodbye to my little brother, Kurtis on Wednesday. He will be serving in the Tokyo, Japan mission. I guess us Murray's are just meant to be in that country! My dad served in Japan and now him and my mom are living over there AND my two older brothers both served in Nagoya, Japan.

This was a HARD goodbye for me. Kurtis and I grew up doing everything together. He truly is one of my best friends. It's hard going from talking all the time to not at all. I haven't gotten a letter from him yet because I'm assuming his P-day is on Monday or Tuesday. I've sent him a few letters and one package. I told him I would send him a package every Friday. I was worried taking my first one into the post mart in Provo because I was thinking since it was same day delivery, it would be expensive. However, to my surprise it was ONLY $2! I can do this EASY. Maybe I'll send him more than 1 a week? We'll see :)

Kurtis and I outside of the condo before taking him up to the MTC. I was trying SO hard to fight back the tears and I was doing so well... until we gave our final hugs there at the MTC. Two years is a LONG time you guys! :(

The crew taking him up to the MTC

I love this picture. My mom didn't seem to get as sad as I did, but then again she is living where he will be serving and I have no doubt that they'll see each other fairly soon.

Our SECOND goodbye was to Kjarom's Subaru. We decided it was time to get rid of the car so we could start to look for a more family friendly 4-wheel drive. Right now we're leaning towards a nissan rogue, but we'll see! Anyone know of some great used car lots in the area? Let me know!

Hope your week was better than ours :(

Life is an Adventure

I'm really no good at blogging and it's something I definitely need to work on. I'm always on my blog, but just to look at friends and families blogs. Hold up -- I actually do update my COOKING blog quite a bit so I can't say I'm horrible at it.

Anyway, I just wanted to update everyone on what's going on in our lives right now (and what went on the past couple months :/). Kjarom and I had a couple weeks off from school and work so we had the chance to go out and travel. Our first stop was in Tokyo! It was only about a month after the whole earthquake disaster in Sendai and we were somewhat worried, but after the first few earthquakes that first day, it just seemed normal. It was funny though... Kjarom had never felt an earthquake before so when I was feeling one I told him to hold still so he could feel it, but instead he kinda freaked out and kept moving around so he wouldn't have to feel it. haha LOVE HIM. While in Japan, my dad took us all down to Hiroshima to see the peace museum and other sites close by. Here are a couple pictures from the Japan trip:

Okay so here we are with the Miyajima shine in the background. Apparently this is one of the top 5 most beautiful sites in Japan and I believe it! There is also so much culture at the island. I love it!

Yes! One of my favorite places to go while in Japan is the day spa. You get dressed up in yukatas and they have all sorts of things you can do. You can even have fish eat the dead skin off your feet and hands. YIKES... I couldn't get myself to do that. But the massages were wonderful -- as always :).

Our next stop was Pennsylvania (and Washington DC). Kjarom's family lives in PA so we went there to visit. His little brother and sister both recently got their mission calls (both to Brazil) and so we travelled down to Washington DC to go through the temple with them. Such a neat experience and man that temple is BEAUTIFUL! Sadly, we didn't take many pictures there, but here's one that I HAVE to post :

This is Rhonin - our nephew. On our drive down to DC we were entertained the entire time by this adorable little boy. (Seriously though... isn't he the cutest?) Kjarom kept him laughing for quite a big chunk of the drive down and back. I do have a video of him cracking up -- see my facebook.

This picture was taken at a Bee's game this past weekend. Kjarom has never been a fan of baseball, but I grew up around it and I played T-ball, Pitching Machine and then moved on to fast pitch softball. Was one of my favorite sports I played growing up. So I may have enjoyed this activity more than he did, but he still thought it was fun to get out and do something different. There were supposed to be fireworks after the game, but as you know baseball games can last forever when they go into extra innings. It hit 11:30 and they were still going so we ended up just leaving and missing the fireworks. Oh well! Maybe next time :)

I'll get better about updating this blog too -- promise :)

New Hobbies & Goals

How delightful do those look? Well, they taste just as good, if not better than how they look. My cousin Stephanie and I have found a love for baking and cooking. Yesterday we took on the challenge of raspberry filled cupcakes. I had never been much of a cupcake fan until then. CLICK HERE for the full recipe. We have decided that we're going to get together at least once a month to challenge ourselves to some sort of food that we may not have done by ourselves. Next time will be JAM. Have any of you tried making it? Do you have any tips?

Whether or not we take a class, or teach ourselves... this is another one of our goals. I would LOVE to learn how to make fondant cakes. I think it would be so much fun to be able to make a cake for a bridal shower, baby shower, birthdays, parties, graduation, etc. It couldn't be THAT hard could it? :/

World Travelers

Spring is upon us! I'm almost positive that we just had our last snowfall for this winter. At least we hope! We are especially excited for this spring because we will be traveling across the world! Most, if not all of you know that my parents live in Tokyo and that I used to. Now that I'm married I get to bring Kjarom back with me to show him my old stompin grounds. A few places I know I want to take him are:

• Japanese Spa
  
• Meiji Shrine
• Sumo Wrestling
• Shibuya
• Harajuku
• Light District
• Tokyo Tower
• Tokyo Temple - for Kurtis' endowments :)

I'm still trying to think of some really great things to do. For those of my friends/family members that have gone, what was YOUR favorite thing?

First Stop: TOKYO, JAPAN

Kjarom's family is from Allentown Pennsylvania and we'll be taking a flight from Tokyo to the east coast. Ick that'll be a LONG flight.

Second Stop: Allentown, Pennsylvania

Kjarom's younger brother and sister just got their mission calls on the same day ... BOTH going to Brazil and leaving on the SAME day. So they will be in the MTC together until they go their own ways to the separate areas. I'm so excited for them because Kjarom also served in Brazil. They will all be able to speak Portuguese together when they get back in a couple years! Okay so maybe I don't really like this because I won't understand a thing of it and hey what can I say... I like to be included! :) So, we'll be then traveling to the nearest temple in Washington DC for them to take out their endowments. I've never been there so I'm really excited to go to the temple there and explore the city! Maybe we'll see the president? hmmm...

Third Stop: Washington DC

I've never been to NYC before and we had planned to go at Christmas time while we were there visiting his family, but with all the crazy snow storms, we weren't able to make it. If all the plans work out, we will take a day to head out to NYC! Anyone have suggestions of their favorite places or MUST SEE'S?

Fourth Stop: New York City

Fifth Stop: HOME.