Midterms

Sean starts his midterms today! He takes his BioChem midterm today, then has Histology on Wednesday and Anatomy on Friday. I can't believe that he's already halfway through the term. In just another 2 months, he'll be taking his finals (and we'll be having a baby!), then 2 months after that, we'll be back in Utah! Crazy!!!

Sean has been working so hard and studying like crazy, especially these past few weeks in preparation for his midterms. He leaves for campus around 7 am for labs/lectures/studying, then usually comes home for dinner around 7 pm before it's back to the books for a few more hours of studying before bed. And that's just during the week--his weekends are full of even more studying!!!

The 2 desks that came with our apartment are both pretty small, so Sean has taken over the kitchen table so he has some room to spread out. He also likes things quiet when he studies, which is sometimes hard for me to remember--I apparently have a tendency to start telling him stories and asking him questions when he's home and have to be reminded that he's studying :) (he even asked me to go eat my cereal in the other room the other day because apparently the crunching was too loud for him to concentrate, haha). But what does he expect when I only see him for a couple of hours in the evenings--I've got to get it all out while I can! :)

Needless to say, I think we are both looking forward to this week being over. I don't know what we'll do with ourselves this weekend when Sean doesn't have to study. Probably we'll go see some of the things we've been wanting to, but haven't been able to yet. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to eat my cereal at the kitchen table...

Good luck Sean! I'm so proud of all of your hard work! You'll do great!!!

My "Pregnantness"

Since we moved to Newcastle, I've had several friends and family members tell me I needed to put up a pregnant picture on our blog. I figured I'd give in this one time, just as long as people don't expect it to be a regular occurrence, haha :)

So, here I am at 30 weeks...

Personally, I think the black is quite slimming...I dare you to say otherwise!!!

Looking Back...

Sean and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on January 4th, the day before we flew out to Newcastle, UK for Sean to start medical school. When we got here, I realized that by the time Sean finishes school, we will have been married twice as long!!! So as we look forward to all that these next four years have in store for us (our first baby; living in England, Grenada, and who knows where else; Sean graduating from medical school; etc.), here's a look back at some of the highlights from our first four years together...

• Hawaii

• Cruise to Alaska

• Graduating from BYU

• Backpacking in Wind River

• Texas

• Cruise to East Caribbean

• Bear Lake

• Havasupai

• Road trip to Arizona/Las Vegas (Camping and Blue Man Group)

• Lake Powell

• BYU football/basketball games and Jazz games

• Our first triathlons and century bike rides

• Fishing, hiking, camping, boating, and snowboarding

The first four years have been amazing and I can't wait for all the adventures that are yet to come. I love you Sean! Marrying you was the best decision I ever made!!!

Newcastle United vs. Arsenal!!!

Last Saturday we went to the Newcastle vs. Arsenal football match with some friends. I don't think we could've asked for more exciting game! (Although it didn't look like it in the first half...)

Arsenal scored at 1', 3', 10', and 26' to take a 4-0 lead into the half. Needless to say, the home crowd was pretty quiet while the Arsenal fans were chanting and cheering non-stop.

However, the second half turned into a different story. Only about 3 minutes into the half, an Arsenal player got a red card and was kicked out. Then Newcastle went on to score at 68' (PK), 75', 83' (PK), and 87' making one of the biggest comebacks ever in the Premier League!!!

Sean had fun with the camera and took TONS of pics!!!

I've been to a few professional games back in the states, and as fun as they've been, they don't come close to the energy/excitement from the crowd at this game (especially in the second half when the home crowd got back into things)!!! It was awesome!!!

Evidence of the post-game celebration...

(Don't worry, not ours... :)

Around Town

Just a few random pics we've taken since we got here...

Sunset from our living room window...

The Tyne at night...

Sean's White Coat Ceremony

Last Thursday Sean's class had their White Coat Ceremony. It was almost like sitting through a graduation, but before they even started school...

They had a few speakers then the students went up on stage 5 at a time and had their white coats put on them.

Sean will definitely make one good-looking doctor!!!

Welcome to Newcastle!!!

Well, after a long couple of days of packing up everything we own, and traveling, we finally made it to Newcastle!!! We've been here for a little over 2 weeks now, and between getting settled and dealing with spotty Internet, this is the first time I feel coherent enough to attempt posting something. The first few days were filled with pretending we could find our way around on foot, getting lost, and eventually giving up and calling taxis to come rescue us (funny stories for another time...).

We found a place to live--a 2-bedroom flat on the 4th floor with no elevator. Between climbing the stairs and walking pretty much everywhere we go, we are definitely getting our exercise in (there's a metro stop just around the corner from our flat, but it's annoying to have to pay, and the walking is actually quite nice most of the time).

The view from the front door...

Our little kitchen...everything in it is miniature! I'm taller than the fridge/freezer...

The mini oven and washer...in case you were wondering, no, there is no dryer in the flat (apparently that's pretty standard). Definitely makes it so I have to stay on top of laundry so that we have clean/DRY clothes to wear...

The "lounge"/dining area/Sean's study corner :)...

Our bedroom. Nothing fancy, but when you have to buy all new stuff, what can you expect....

Bedroom #2. a.k.a "the laundry drying room"/guest room/future baby room...

We think we did pretty well to find a decent, clean fully furnished place in our price range and ideal location, especially considering that we literally just spent Friday walking around downtown Jesmond and going into different letting agencies hoping they had something available immediately!