First of all, I (Monica) am officially a graduate again. I finished my double degree program a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier to be done with school for a while. Chris finished his fall term of school as well. It is hard to believe he will have his Master's degree in only two more terms, it seems like he just started. I don't know how he manages to do all that he does, but I have been blessed with an amazing husband.
You would think with school done things would have slowed down for us, but think again. As soon as finals were completed, Chris was on "operation finish grad school applications". For those of you who have applied to grad school, you know what I am talking about. But, I am happy to say he is done with his portfolios, letters of intent, etc. FINALLY!!
On the 13th of December (right after finishing Chris's portfolios), we flew to Kentucky with two missions: 1. Meet with grad schools and 2. Visit family. Chris had never been to that part of the country and wanted to check out some various schools he was interested in before applying. We visited, University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, and University of Cincinnati. I am glad we took a few days of the trip to visit the different schools, it allowed for us to see the campuses, meet with admissions and more importantly, Chris got to sit down with various people in the Arch. departments to ask questions and tour various classes. It was a neat experience for me, since I was able to see what Chris's life will be like for the next 3-4 years. Let me tell you it is INTENSE.
When campus tours were completed we were off to Evansville, IN for a week to visit my dad's side of the family! We finally were able to sleep in, sit on our butts and watch TV, eat yummy food, and relax! Chris met my gazillion family members (slight over exaggeration), and I visited aunts/uncles/cousins that I haven't seen in over 10 years, my trip was long overdue. Although I have been a little freaked out about the possibility of moving so far away from my parents and sister, this trip eased my fears a bit knowing I have so many family members a short drive away.
After a week in southern Indiana, we were headed back home (kinda). After flying from Louisville to Chicago, we were informed that we missed our flight to Portland. We were extremely lucky to get tickets on the next flight to Portland since there had been people waiting to fly to Portland for 3 days. As were were about to board our flight to Oregon we were informed via loud speaker that the Portland Airport was closed due to ice on the runway. After many moans and groans from frustrated travellers, we were able to board the flight as they would have the runways cleared by the time we arrived. 4 hours later we landed in what looked like Alaska not Oregon, to find that the runways were cleared but there was still too much ice leading from the runway to our gate so we were going to have to wait for the ice to clear. 2 1/2 hours later we arrived at our gate surrounded by pandemonium in the plane! It was bad (I won't even tell you what was being yelled, but I am sure you can imagine).
Thankfully, United comped all of us with a discount on our next flight otherwise there may have been injuries.
After waiting at the airport for 3 hours, my mom picked us up and took us for a crazy ride back to Vancouver. Chris and I couldn't believe the winter wonderland we witnessed. It was amazing trip but we were glad to be home.
This was the view of my parent's driveway on Christmas Eve!
I will post more pictures later!
I woke up early Sunday morning this fall and this is what I found above our house
Monica decorating the Christmas Tree
Another Hot Air Balloon
Taking Diggy for a walk in Newport, we were celebrating our 1 year anniversary. 
My action shot of Diggy in the snow
Fourth Street Live in Louisville, KY
These last two pictures are from our visit to the University of Cincinnati. I was really excited to be able to tour this campus and meet with various staff in the School of Design. Out of all the schools I am applying too, this is the most prestigious for Architecture. U of C has been ranked in the top 10 every single year. The architecture at this school is crazy, I felt like I was at a museum. The picture above is the entry to their student recreation center, it was massive, Probably 5 times the size of OSU's and best of all it overlooked the football stadium, so you can work out and watch football.
I included this last one because it reminded me of Monica. This is the 3 story Starbucks on the U of C campus. Cool huh, it also overlooks the football stadium too (this might mean Monica will actually watch a game with me, because she can stay warm)
