24 Hours in Atlanta

Stephanie and I have been planning a trip to Atlanta for a while, and we finally had our chance this weekend. I went in to work early yesterday so that I could leave by 3:00 pm. We drove to the Atlanta temple (before the traffic got too bad) and spent some time there. Afterward, we drove up to Woodstock to spend the night with Sister Brush, an elderly lady that used to go to church with us in Augusta. She treated us to a nice dinner out, and we had a great time catching up before going to bed. She's getting older and slower, but she is not losing her energy nor her optimism.

After a wonderful breakfast and goodbyes, Stephanie and I drove to downtown Atlanta. We started with a 9:00 am tour at the World of Coca-Cola. There were fun exhibits that talked a lot about the history of Coke, advertising, production and distribution, and its global impact on culture. Best of all, the final exhibit had kiosks with Coke products from different regions of the world, and we tried just about all of them. Stephanie really enjoyed the drinks from Latin America, and I was very impressed with a melon flavored soda from Israel. Since we were the first tour, we were able to be out before the huge crowds were there.



After enjoying some buffalo wings for lunch, we headed next door to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world. The crowds were starting to get pretty big by that point, but it wasn't too bad. We were impressed with the Ocean Voyager exhibit, which had a long walk-through tunnel, various windows and portholes, and a theater-like view into the tank containing 4 whale sharks, in addition to tons of other fish, sharks, rays, and sea creatures.


Overall, we had a blast! It was nice to take a break from our normal routine, and we got to see some pretty amazing stuff. We hope you enjoyed pictures. We love you all and can't wait to see you again!

Back in Business

Well, Stephanie and I are back in business. Our car had been in the shop for three weeks, during which time we almost brought it home twice. However, there was a gasket leak here or a computer problem there that kept it in the shop for three weeks. It runs great now though, and the best news is that we didn't have to take the bus shopping yesterday. Woo hoo!!!

In other news, I had my birthday on Monday, and Stephanie made sure it was a wonderful day (for more information, check out the previous post). The rest of the week was pretty typical of our long days at school/work, with long walks and reading books together in the evenings. We went out for dinner again on Friday and ate at a cute little Italian restaurant. We were very impressed with their tortellini and lasagna.

We're doing great here in Georgia, but we can't wait to see everyone in Colorado and Utah again. We love you!!!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Daniel Dear...

Yesterday* was Daniel's 23 birthday. We got to celebrate with ice cream, and brownies with mint frosting. It was a wonderful evening. Daniel really needed some new scriptures, so he got some. His guitar was in need of some nice strings, so the birthday fairy got some of those too. :)Here are some highlights of the evening...

After eating a big dinner of yummy enchilada's, Daniel anxiously awaits his presents.

Daniel shows off his presents. Look at how excited he is! :)

Daniel cuts the birthday cake(brownies with mint frosting). Our car was still in the shop at the time(we finally got it back last night), so I rode the bus to get ice cream. It was a little melted, but it still tasted really good.


We couldn't get this picture right...I am not even going to show the other ones...they are pretty bad. Hey, at least we were having fun!

We hope that every one is enjoying their summer! Love you all!

*His birthday was yesterday when I first wrote this...my connection was not very good, so it I didn't get to post it.

A Whole YEAR!!!

We have now officially been together a whole year. Well, sort of...We got engaged exactly a year ago today! At this time last year Daniel was working full time, I was going to school, we were planning a marriage, and totally wild and crazy about each other. We aren't planning a marriage, but other than that, nothing has really changed. Except now, we are not only wild and crazy about each other, we are totally, completely, and eternally in love. We can be very wild and crazy though. :) This past year has been wonderful. We have both grown so much and realized how much we really need each other.

These past couple of weeks have been crazy! Our car broke. We had to replace the transmission. We are just really glad that we followed the prophet's advice and saved for a rainy day. I still have not been able to get a job, so unless something amazing happens over the weekend, I am just going to continue doing school. I have found at least three more classes that I could take through independent study if I need to. I am already planning to do four classes and am almost done with three of them, so I may just be able to get them all done.

Daniel's internship is going well, he seems to really enjoy working with his group and he talks about new things everyday. I don't really understand everything, but I know they were just working on RNA extraction. Apparently, it is very tedious, and you have to do everything just right, or you have to start over again because it didn't work. Daniel is also getting excited about his research opportunity in Bioinformatics with Dr. Xu, and Dr. Dam. He will be working on a Bio-fuel project. He has been doing lots of research on it. It sounds very interesting, and I think he will enjoy it.

We miss everybody and we hope that you are all enjoying your summer. We are!!

Mi Casa es...Casa Mia

Stephanie and I just got back from a wonderful dining experience. With limited storage and cooking space here on campus, Stephanie and I take Friday nights as an opportunity to leave our dorm and eat out.

Tonight's venue was a little place called Casa Mia. We guessed from the name that it was a Mexican restaurant, but the food was actually inspired by Latin American countries further south. The food was very tasty, not quite as spicy as Mexican food, but rather a refreshing blend of natural flavors from the meat and vegetables. Stephanie ordered the night's house special, a plate of chicken nachos, with authentic tortilla chips and a great vegetable topping. I ordered a lomo saltado, which was small steak strips sauteed with onions and tomatoes, served over french-fry style potatoes, with a nice cream sauce on top. In addition to the great food, it was a nice, clean, simple, yet elegant atmosphere. The entrees were really affordable too, which made our visit all the more worth it.

Athens, Georgia has a lot of unique restaurants, and we look forward to trying out some new things while we're here!