UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO!!!

After many interviews and many pros and cons lists, Mark has accepted the invitation to attend pharmacy school at the University of Colorado!  We are SO excited!  It has been something that has been on our minds for months, especially the last two months, and we both feel really good about our decision.  I am so grateful that we had so many options to choose from and that we were able to make a choice that we both feel so at peace about. 

I am also so excited to finally have a PLAN!  I know it sounds silly, and Mark is always kidding me about it, but as much as I wish I was just a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of gal, I am not.  I LOVE to have a plan.  And now we finally have a little bit of one! 

Mark will be attending the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.  Aurora is just a suberb of Denver, so we will be living somewhere thereabouts.  He begins school the second week of August so we will probably be moving down the first week of August to get settled in.  It is a four year program so we will be there for at least the next four years, and then after that - WHO KNOWS!  I guess that is kind of the exciting part of it though - it's our own adventre. 

There are so many reasons why I am grateful that we are going to Colorado.  Here are a few of them:

-The University of Colorado has a great pharmacy school with a new medical campus and some of the nation's best pharmacy professors teaching there

-We are not completely exiled far away from our families.  We feel it is a good distance for us as a newly married couple, close enough to our families that we can still see them, yet far enough away that Mark and I can still establish our own little family on our own.  I hope that makes sense. 

-Denver has a temple! 

-It is a metropolitan area which (hopefully) will make it easier for me to find a teaching job

-It is still located in the west - we LOVE living here in the west and are grateful to stay out here

Anyway, there are more reasons, but here are just some of the bigger ones.  We are so grateful for this new adventure that is before us and all of the support that we have received from our family and friends!  We love you all!

Drum Roll Please...

So a couple years ago I came up with what I believe to be a FANTASTIC idea and Mark has jumped all over it and I couldn't be more thrilled!  Don't ask me WHY I was thinking about this a couple of years ago, but I thought that someday with my own little family, that we could do something a little crazy for our family vacations.  I thought it would be a fun idea to put all of the states in a hat and pick one out and that would be where we go for our family vacation for that year.  Yes, I know your first thought is, well what if you pick out a really boring state?  Well, I think that every place has something fun to offer - granted you might have to dig a little bit more for activities - but I still think it would be fun to experience some places that you normally might not think of. 

ANYWAY, so I presented this idea to Mark a couple of weeks ago and he liked it.  In fact, he immediately agreed as long as we came up with some rules first.  I hope I remember all of them, if now, I am sure he will correct me :). 

RULE #1: Each member of the family gets to draw a state from the bag.  Then a final drawing is conducted from the states drawn. 

RULE #2:  Each member of the family is allowed one veto a year - which means if a member of the family is disgusted with the idea of the vacation spot for the year, another drawing is done, however that is that individual's only veto. 

RULE #3:  This process does not eliminate the possibilities for other "just for fun" family vacations to a state already gone to.  For example, California has an IMMENSE amount of possibilities for vacations: San Diego, Disneyland, Redwoods, etc. 

I think these were all of the ground rules, though I guess we can maybe add to them as needed. 

SO...all of that being said, we had our first drawing for our first Berning family vacation!  We did this a couple of weeks ago on our eleven hour drive home from Mesa with only a few minor adjustments.  We used our fast food paper bag for our "hat" and the back side of Mark's pharmacy interview itinerary for our paper.  But here was the outcome:

Mark----------------ARIZONA

Elise-----------------IOWA

Haha, it still makes me laugh at our first choices.  First of all, we were already IN the state of Arizona at the time of the drawing AND Iowa is probably one of those states you don't immediately think of vacationing in.  However, during our final drawing ARIZONA was picked! 

After making sure that Mark was aware that our current trip did NOT count for our family vacation, we started brainstorming ideas for places to go.  I have had so much fun researching about different things to do in Arizona but it was pretty easy for us to decide what our "main attraction" was going to be - THE GRAND CANYON!  I went to the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago with my family to Havasupai but Mark has never gone.

We decided to go the end of May before my crazy summer job starts (and before the EXTREME hot weather of Arizona hits).  We are going to an Arizona Diamondbacks game and then heading up to the Grand Canyon and will stay at the Bright Angel Cabins located on the rim of the Grand Canyon for a couple of days of hiking and just taking in the whole thing. 

I am SO excited - and it will be nice to get away without any interviews!

One Month!!!

I cannot believe that we have already been married one month!  It is absolutely crazy to me!  But yesterday was Mark and I's one month anniversary.  It is just a small milestone - but I was pretty excited!  We had kind of been brainstorming a couple different ideas for things we could do, and we ended up having a bit of a crazy day.

We woke up early because we had building clean-up duty at the church with another family in the stake.  We finished that up pretty quick and came back and got ready to head out.  Mark had gotten tickets to the Utah Jazz game for that night against the Dallas Mavericks.  Mark (and I must admit I am joining him in this) enjoys watching the Jazz - but the REAL reason we were going is because of Jason Kidd.  For those of you (who like me) are unaware of who this individual is - he is the Mavericks Captain AND just so happens to be Mark's favorite basketball player.  Mark had heard rumors that Jason Kidd might be retiring, so he wanted to make sure he could catch a glimpse of him one more time - just in case. 

So we got ready and headed down to Salt Lake.  We stopped by my parent's house for about an hour to just chat and such and it was great to see them as always :).  After that Mark and I went to the (somewhat overwhelming) store of IKEA.  We went to get some ideas for different things that we will need as well as check on pricing and that sort of thing.  We only had an hour to go through so we were hurrying, but we are going down this next weekend for General Conference and so we plan on actually getting some stuff then.  We will keep our fingers crossed.

After that we headed up to Salt Lake and we went out to dinner at the Gateway and then headed over to the Jazz game.  We did have some pretty awesome seats on the twentieth row and so it was a lot of fun.  The Jazz played great until the last five minutes of the fourth quarter and then they lost.  A little bit of a bummer but it was still fun nonetheless.

Then we battled the snow and headed back home.  We finally rode into home at 12:15 AM.  As much fun as it was to go, I must admit I was happy to get back home.  I really don't know if we will ever have a weekend when we aren't traveling somewhere.  I continue to look forward for that day.

I did get a little one month anniversary surprise for Mark though.  We had a little chocolaty cake and it was a perfect little topper.  I am so happy that I have Mark apart of my life.  He makes me so happy everyday and I am so grateful that I get to be with him forever.  I love that man.

Our Humble Abode

So many have asked to see pictures of our little abode - so the wait is over - HERE THEY ARE!  We are currently living on the Bear Lake KOA Campground in Kabin 300!  Haha - It really is funny.  I almost have to laugh every day because I NEVER thought that I would live on a campground in my life, let alone as my first little home with my hubby, but here I am.  It really is fun and we are so grateful to have a place to live and call our own, even if it's just temporary.  We will probably only be here a couple more weeks and then find somewhere else in town to live.  We are keeping our fingers crossed! 

KABIN 300!

Here is our SPACIOUS kitchen! ;)

Our family room/living room/office...

Our bedroom...

And the bathroom...

And finally, this post wouldn't be complete without adding our loveable neighbors (which are completely accustomed to our being here)...


Deer




Bunnies

I unfortunately couldn't snag a picture of our little moose friend that occasionally makes an appearance in the campground, so I guess you will just have to imagine on him!

Whirlwind Weekend

So this last weekend was aboslutely crazy!  Mark and I left Wednesday night after he got done with work to drive down to Draper to spend the night.  We got there around 10:30 PM, started some laundry and headed off to bed. 

I woke up around 7:00 AM the next morning to MapQuest our different destinations, finish up our laungdry and left around 9:00 AM.  We then went to Jiffy Lube and got our oil changed in the car, a chip in our windshield repaired and then scooted next door to Big-O Tires and got our tires rotated.  Finally, we were on the road south by 10:00 am.  And the craziness began!

The drive down was uneventful but we did make excellent time!  We passed the time by talking and jamming out to various music (which may or may not have included the entire Phantom of the Opera soundtrack) J.  We finally made it into sunny Mesa at 9:00 PM that night.  My cousin MaChel and her husband were great and let us stay at their house.  We had fun talking with them that night and finally fell into bed around midnight.  We woke up at 5:30 AM the next morning and got ready and we drove to Glendale where Mark was having his interview with Midwestern University.  I then drove the hour back to Mesa after dropping him off and went back over to MaChel's house. 

At 12:15 PM I filled the car with gas and headed back to Glendale to pick up Mark from his interview.  He enjoyed the interview and the campus and we feel blessed that Mark has had so many options with pharmacy schools.  We will hopefully know where we will be going by the beginning of April!  WOOT WOOT!

After picking up mark we headed straight bak on the road back to Utah.  It was a hot 89 degrees that day and boy were we feeling it!  IT WAS HOT!  We did make one stop outside of Page (I think it was Page, the whole trip is a bit of a bluf), and went and walked around the bridge and dam that is there.  It was beautiful with the red rock and such, but Mark was also introduced to my fear of heights.  I am not that fond of them - that is putting it lightly.  But just like I knew he would be, he was the sensitive man he is and was so nice about the whole thing.  We figured we should take one picture of our "vacation" and that was all we got before my camera died.  But we did promise that we would be better about taking pictures - let's hope so!

After that we cruised down the road and I am so grateful that I have a husband (yes, it is slightly weir to say that still J), where we are truly each other's best friends.  Once we finally pulled into Draper we realized that we hadn't had the music or anything on the entire eleven hours back, we had just been talking.  I love that man!  I love that we can just sit back and talk for hours and horus. 

I will say, once we pulled into my parent's house in Draper at midnight, we basically just fell into bed once again.  We got up early the next morning to talk with my parents and get ready because Mark's friend Matt was getting married in the Bountiful Temple that morning.  I was so excited to be able to go to a sealing so soon after our own.  It was so great to hear the wonderful promises and advice that was given to them. 

After the sealing and pictures we drove up to Sunset for their wedding luncheon at 3:00 PM and it was fun getting to know some of Mark's friends from Ogden.  By 5:00 PM we drove up to North Ogden to visit Mark's parents and his grandmother, Esther.  We watched the BYU game, ate dinner, and then headed out.  After stopping in Logan to get groceries and gas, we finally rolled into Garden City around 10:30 PM.  It was a LONG three days!  As my mom would say, "good thing we are young!"  J

Home Sweet Home

So Mark and I have been officially married 11 days now - and I honestly couldn't be happier!  My whole life I have been so excited to be a little wifey and I was pretty sure that I would love it, but it is even better than I imagined!  I am so unbelievably happy.  Life is great. 

But I will stop rambling on about marriage bliss and move on to how things have been as of late.  Mark and I went on a short little honeymoon to Denver where he had an interview with the University of Colorado for pharmacy school.  We were there a whopping 48 hours, but we were able to take in some of the sights of Denver.  We went to the Denver Aquarium - which was awesome and we even had it to ourselves! And then we just walked around downtown, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed the 60 degree weather they were having. 

We flew back in and opened presents with our parents, where it was confirmed that we have been incredibly blessed.  We have such amazing families and friends and we feel so grateful for all that everyone has done for us.  We are so excited to use all of our fun new things!

Which brings me to our next event, which is moving in to our little "honeymoon cabin" as everyone enjoys calling it.  We are currently the only residents on the Bear Lake KOA Campground - as long as you don't count the deer and occasional moose :).  I must admit, I never imagined my first home to be a KOA cabin but it is fun none the less.  I foolishly thought that I would be able to get everything set up in one day.  Granted, it isn't the roomiest of places, but that was my problem, finding places for things!  But yesterday, I finally felt like I got everything where I wanted it to be and are happy to report, that our little "honeymoon cabin" is quite homey now.  Mark and I are just grateful to have a place to live right now, and are grateful for my wonderful cousins who let us live here on the campground. 

Anyway, Mark and I leave tonight to start our journey down to warm and sunny Mesa, Arizona!  The forecast is sunny with a high of 88 - I'll take it!  Mark has another interview with Midwestern University and although we won't even be there for 24 hours, it is still fun to get away!  Life is GOOD!