Moab

I had a few days off of work this last week so Todd and I decided to take advantage of it and headed down to Moab. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to be in warm weather instead of rain. We spent the first night in Provo at our friends, Kyle and Kina's house. We had fun playing the Wii and Ticket to Ride. The next morning we headed to Moab. We enjoyed camping by the Colorado River, biking on slickrock, driving Fins and Things 4x4 trail in the Rhino, and hiking in Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

Biking Slickrock

The RHINO!

Arches and Canyonlands

We love the outdoors and it's so nice that these places are so close to home.

We're trying to take advantage of this before we move.

Mount Kilimanjaro

One year ago, Todd and I were on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the world's highest freestanding mountain and Africa's highest point. Uhuru Peak, the summit, is at 19,341 ft. From base to summit, you ascend 15,100 ft.

There are many different routes to climb Mt. Kilmanjaro. We went on the Marangu Route which took us 5 days. During our trek, we experienced many different climates.

Day 1 the rainforest...

We spent our first night at Mandara Hut which is at about 9,000 ft.

We saw monkeys in the trees along the trail and heard them throughout the night.

Day 2 the rain forest transitioned to small forest/moorland.

We spent our second night at Horombo Hut which is at about 12,000 ft.

This is where we started to feel the effects of the altitude.

Day 3 we entered the Alpine desert. There wasn't much to see except dirt and rocks!

We then made it to Kibo Hut which is at about 15,000 ft. We went to sleep early just to wake up at 11:30 pm of the same day and started our trek to the summit.

Day 4, we hiked with headlamps all the way to Gillman's Point which is at about 18,750 ft.

On May 18th, 2009 we summited Mt. Kilimanjaro. Everyone in our group made it!

It was freezing- everything was frozen!

After the summit- we descended over 10,000 ft and slept at the Mandara Hut.

Day 5, we made it to the bottom and all enjoyed a nice, cold coca-cola!

Ogden Marathon

Saturday, May 15th, I ran my first half marathon.

The Ogden Marathon is very pretty.

It's fun to run around the dam, down the canyon,

along the parkway, and into downtown Ogden.

My father-in-law, Bryan did it with me.

Todd also ran. He did the first leg on a relay team and they took first place.

Everything went well and I felt good except for the last three miles. They really hurt!

I now know what people mean when they say you hit a "wall."

Next race is a 5K- I'm looking forward to that distance instead of 13.1 miles!

Africa

I can't believe it's already been a year since Todd and I were in Africa. It was such a great experience and something that we will never forget. We were there for little over 2 weeks and provided medical and dental care in the village of Matumbi. We went with a group called The Hope Alliance; it included students, dentists and doctors. Todd's dad was one of the dentists that went with us. I was going through some of our pictures that other day and here are some of the things we did in Kenya...

We played soccer with the kids every night and none of them would wear shoes!

The People

The Kinango Hospital

This was the closest hospital to the Matumbi.

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there by car.

This experience definitely made us feel grateful for what we have in America!

We loved Africa and hope to return one day!

Virginia

The day after graduation, Todd and I flew to Richmond, Virginia to look for housing for when we move out there in August. We found a cute townhouse that we should be closing on this month. It's in a great area and ward with tons of other students. There's also a new, big open-air mall (like the Gateway down in Salt Lake) right by where we'll be moving too. While we were there Todd was able to show me around his new school, Virginia Commonwealth University.

This is what every road, highway, and interstate looks like in Virginia!

So green and pretty.

Todd at VCU and with Hippocrates

Me at the State Capitol which is right by VCU and at

the Short Pump Open-Air Mall

The Townhouse

We were also able to head up to Washington DC, which is less then 2 hours away as long as you don't hit traffic.

We enjoyed the different museums, monuments and memorials.

Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Natural History Museum

Butterfly Pavilion inside the Natural History Museum

Air and Space Museum

Todd is by the the SR-71 Blackbird also know as Jetfire

that was in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

We also saw all these ducklings piled on top of each other and

an albino squirrel running around.

Thank you to the Bertonneau's and the Morgan's for letting us stay with you.

We're excited for this new adventure of living on the East Coast.