ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

The trip started with a night in NYC. I flew out after work. After a long wait for my bag at the airport, I headed into the city to meet up with Kip. He texted me a picture of some guy sitting at a pizza place and I could have sworn it was the exact same pizza place (and only pizza place) that I've eaten at in Manhattan, based on the color of the wall. Well, turns out it was. Random! On the way, while I was waiting for my train, a woman told me I was handsome. Thanks. We checked in to our hotel. We are trying to pay less so we can do more on this trip, but I didn't expect just how small our room would be. Seriously, the bed just about fit in there, and there was no bathroom, just a sink. After laughing about that for a while, we went out to explore. Our first stop was the Google New York building. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We wandered around for quite a while, played pool, drank sodas and ate some snacks. We even found the roof which had a decent...

Fresh from the news of their upcoming move to Utah, and as a complete surprise from Emre's grandad, grandma was able to come and visit and meet her first grandson for the first time! We were really excited to introduce our son to his grandma, and after a bit of airport drama, the meeting took place! After meeting up with Alastair after work, we showed grandma around Ann Arbor and ate at Zingermans, a local highlight.  The next day was Friday, which meant that it was time for Emre to cross his first international border! We planned a road trip for the weekend, with a stop in Toronto for the night. The drive there wasn't bad, just seemingly long after Alastair's day at work. The next morning started early as we headed downtown Toronto to take a ferry out to Centre Island. The view of the Toronto skyline was great, even if we did have to enjoy it while changing a stinky little boy. We enjoyed our short time in Toronto, where Emre got to take his first b...

Since taking the GMAT a few months ago, I have been completing applications to business schools. I have been looking for programs that I believe can help me to achieve the life goals that I have, and allow Laleinia and I to live the life that we want for ourselves and our future family. I had interviewed with a number of schools, but I had never flown out to visit a school. This all changed when I flew out to New York City to visit IESE's New York center. IESE is a business school in Barcelona, but has a few campuses throughout the world. I was invited to interview with them in their New York center, and also to attend an assessment day also, where the school can get a better idea of how I would perform if I were admitted. I had a great time with IESE and the other candidates. It was amazing to be with so many smart and talented people, and I would love for more in the future. Manhattan Temple I didn't see too much more of New York while I was there, but I ...

Even though Alastair had been to Niagara Falls in four separate occasions, he was never able to do the two things that everyone raves about: Maid of the Mist and Canada. This time, both would be accomplished. No time was wasted as the trio headed to Maid of the Mist. We grabbed our complimentary ponchos and stood first in line for the next boat tour. We went straight to the front of the boat. Alastair and Connor expected to have a blast, but it was even better than they had anticipated. The spray of the falls got heavier as they got closer to the iconic Horseshoe Falls. As they looked back, they saw a beautiful rainbow. Drenched is not the word, we were literally soaked to the bone! But it was worth it as the boat tried to go as close as it can. As the boat pulled back, we were all smiles as we talked about how that was one of the greatest experiences of this trip. After the boat tour, we walked up to the side of the American Falls. A little Asian boy said to us “it is like a b...

I am so grateful that I got the chance to go back to my mission. So many people never get the chance to go back, but I am so glad that my mission wasn't too far away. It was amazing to go back and see the streets that I used to walk on, and roads that I used to drive on, some people that were so special to me, and of course the wonderful sites in Palmyra and Fayette. I wish we could have been there longer, there are so many more people that I would love to visit with, but hopefully next time we go we will be out there for much longer and be able to see many more of my friends. We definitely had to go and see the sites, and Palmyra was our first stop. We took the tour and learned about the history of Joseph Smith, took some pictures, and then went to the Sacred Grove. It is such a wonderful place to visit. I had a great time in there, contemplating back and forth between the history of Joseph Smith’s first vision and the experiences that I had personally there. It was great t...

Alastair was confronted with the task of leaving Washington DC at 11 at night and driving straight through the night to get to a city north of New York City. Connor did a great job staying up all night and keeping Alastair awake. We arrived to Lain’s cousin’s house, Jill, as the sun was coming up. We rested for a few hours, and got ready to take the train to New York City. The train took us right to Grand Central Station. Our first sight we wanted to see was the Statue of Liberty. To soak it all in, we decided to walk all of 5 th Avenue. It took a couple of hours, but we enjoyed just walking around and seeing all the buildings and all the people. While walking, we saw the Empire State Building, Flat Iron Building, and NYU. While walking, we imagined living in the city. (This is something we always do when we visit major cities.) We ended up in the Financial District and spent a little bit of time at Ground Zero. It was a powerful experience to reflect on what had happened twe...