Rose Bowl

Well, Nate and I ventured off down south to go to the Rose Bowl Game last month... UCLA vs. Fresno State. I am sure by now, considering it was almost a month ago, that you have all heard that the Bulldogs won. It was probably one of the hottest days that Southern Cali has ever experienced. Considering that we are supposedly "immune" to the heat, we shouldn't have had any problems. Let me put it this way, I have never sweat so much in my life. And I am sure I can speak for our close group of friends who were there with us, that they feel the same way. Seriously, the game could've been in Fresno and it probably would've been cooler. All I have to say is if the Bulldogs hadn't pulled away with the win, I'd be pretty pissed that we went all the way down there. All in all, it was a great time, even with the heat. Any time that we can hang out with friends is a great time. And YES, our shirts say "Bruins like it Doggie Style"!!! Awesome!

Aloha from Maui!!!

Well, we just got back from Maui two days ago and we are already wanting to go back! The weather was perfect, the condo was awesome, and the water was gorgeous, so warm and clear that you could jump right in. This is something we are not use to considering that the norm for us is putting on our wetsuits to go boogie boarding, and even then we have to get completely numb before we are somewhat comfortable. We went surfing almost everyday. It took us a day or two to find a beach that had both good waves and minimal amounts of corral, even then Aaron still stepped on a sea urchin and cut up his feet completely. On Tuesday night we got to go to a luau. The food there was great and the entertainment was amazing! On Friday we went to a recommended snorkeling spot, and it was totally worth the 30 minute drive. The reason??? We swam with sea turtles! They were so close we could have touched them and they even posed for many underwater pictures for us. Overall, the trip was fantastic.... thanks to Mama and Papa Dodd! We are so thankful that we were able to share this wonderful vacation with them! Enjoy the slide show of our tropical paradise get away!



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Chicago & James

Shortly after school was let out for summer we packed our bags for Chicago to go visit one of our best friends' James Elsea. We really didn't know what we were going to do, and frankly we didn't care, because anytime we are with James we know we are going to have a blast! We got to meet his serious girlfriend Molly, the four of us got along great, and we had an awesome time together. The first day we headed into Downtown Chicago to try and catch a Cubs game at the infamous Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, for us, the Cubs were in 1st place and tickets were almost impossible to get. We took in as much of Wrigleyville as we could, which was sweet, but then headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We met up with Molly and looked at the animals for a long time...especially the Flankamangos...it was a lot of fun. The next day, we stayed in the suburbs for a BBQ that James and Molly threw for us! We learned a fun new game which had no name, so I call it Frispole, and hung out with a lot of cool people. Day #3 was another trip into the city, this time for all four of us. We took in as much of the city as we could this day and went on an architectural boat tour along the Chicago River and out into Lake Michigan. By the end of the day we were so tired that we chilled at the end of Navy Pier and talked for about a half an hour! Day #4 was a quite uneventful day as far as planning goes, but we were pleasantly surprised by the WEATHER! It was stormy off and on all day and was really cool to watch the thunderstorm roll through later that evening...which woke us up twice that night, once at 3:30am! For our last day in Chicago we headed downtown to do some tourist stuff with James and Molly. Our first stop was the Planetarium, which was okay. We then went to the aquarium down the street, which was pretty cool. We saw a lot of neat things in there. All in all we had a great time, and were very glad to have made the trip out to see James and meet his lovely girlfriend Molly. Thanks to them for being such good hosts! Check out the slide show below to see some of our trip, and stay tuned for MAUI!!!!



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Nate's Graduation

I know it has been almost a month since Nate graduated, but I wanted to post some pics of the memorable day. Enjoy!

Well, gas prices are high...

Ok, so with gas prices now almost $4.50 a gallon my dad went out and bought a scooter. He gets 80 miles to the gallon on this hog. Well worth it I say. Here are some pics of Nate driving it around.... pretty hilarious!

School's Out for Summer!

Hooray! Nate and I are finally out on our, well awaited, summer vacation! This is the first summer that we won't have to worry about anything regarding school. I must say, it is a very good feeling. We are leaving on Wednesday for Chicago to see James Elsea, Nate's best friend who we haven't seen since September. It should be a lot of fun. Any of you who know James, you know that anything with with him is always a good time. We will be meeting his girlfriend, Molly, for the first time as well. In July we will be off to Maui! Neither of us have been there so it is sure to be a relaxing, well deserved vacation. Well, that's our summer in a nutshell. I'll post some pics from our Chicago trip when we get back. Much love to you all!

Nate Graduated!!!

Well, there are two firsts for us.... this is officially our first time blogging and Nate graduated with his master's degree in math about two weeks ago! I am so proud of him. He worked so hard for what seemed like forever. The past two years of our marriage has been focused around his studying, researching, reading, and STRESS! I am happy to say that he is now completely done with school, forever, and we can now enjoy each other without having to worry about what he needs to get done for school. I am truly blessed to have such a dedicated, hard working husband!